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The National Geographic Magazine 



tinues to carry it when his back and side 

 have become lacerated to a most sickening 

 degree. These mules are bought at the 

 average price in our money of $25, and 

 horses for about half that sum. They 

 can be more readily had for purchase 

 when one has reached the Abyssinian 

 country than camels can be had in Somali 

 Land. 



At Harar the donkeys and camels are 

 dropped and the mule, whose services 

 thereafter are almost universal through- 

 out Abyssinia, comes into use. For the 

 journey to Addis Abeba a mule cara- 

 van of twenty-five mules can be gotten 

 together in the course of a week at 

 Harar, if one is very industrious, but it 

 would be impossible, apparently, to get 

 any' one man to contract for twenty-five 

 mule loads. There were in m}' small 

 caravan of twenty animals six independ- 

 ent owners. Fortunately they all have 

 pretty nearly the same habits and this 

 constitutes the only bond between them. 



Having become after the first ten days' 

 march from Harar quite desperate on ac- 

 count of daily disputes as to where we 

 should camp, I insisted upon the appoint- 

 ment of one spokesman, with whom I 

 might deal every evening in determining 

 the following day's march. All solemnly 

 agreed to stand by such decision as their 

 chosen spokesman and myself might 

 reach, and they held to the agreement 

 for just two days. I learned, however, 

 that they were not altogether a vicious 

 lot; they were merely stubborn children, 

 so far as conduct was concerned, and, 

 moreover, in respect to the marches 

 which the mules could stand, were much 

 wiser than I. 



My agreement was that I should be 

 landed in Addis Abeba in twenty-five 

 days from the start at Harar, and after 

 all my vexations they carried out that 

 part of the contract. Two-thirds of the 

 contract price was paid at the beginning 

 of the journey, the remainder in Addis 

 Abeba. They all expect something in 

 the way of backsheesh, and those who had 



been most troublesome were, of course, 

 most importunate. 



In pushing beyond Addis Abeba it 

 was impossible to get a hired caravan, 

 as tliere is no such regular means of con- 

 veyance. I was able, however, after a 

 twelve days' stop, to purchase seventeen 

 mules ; but this was by happy chance, 

 due to the fact that Colonel Harrington, 

 the British diplomatic agent, had thir- 

 teen of these mules already in hand, left 

 in his care by some English traveler whO' 

 had passed through eight or ten months 

 before. Here also, hoping to find the 

 horse a little more variable in his paces 

 than the mule, I bought two, one for my 

 assistant and one for myself. It was a 

 relief as compared with the slow dog 

 trot of the mule ; but in the exceedingly 

 rough marching which had to be accom- 

 plished on reaching the Blue Nile, the 

 horses soon played out. One of them 

 had to be shot, and the other was turned 

 into the caravan and bore about half a 

 load. 



The camel men from Zeila and the 

 Somali, whom I had engaged as personal 

 attendants, were all Mohammedans. 



The mule men from Harar to Addis 

 Abeba were Abyssinians, but of mixed 

 faith, there still being a considerable Mo- 

 hammedan element in southern Abys- 

 sinia, due to a great invasion which took 

 place two or three hundred years ago 

 under a leader who was doubtless of 

 Arabian family and whose first followers 

 were the Mohammedanized Somali. 

 Many Galla, who constitute one of the 

 most widely distributed people in north- 

 east Africa, were also converted and 

 many have been permitted by their pres- 

 ent rulers, the Abyssinians, to retain 

 their faith. 



From Addis Abeba on to the Sudan 

 my followers were of Abyssinian Chris- 

 tian creed, with only four or five Mo- 

 hammedans, these being the Somali who 

 accompanied me from the coast through- 

 out the journey. Although they could 

 not eat of the same food, there was not 



