286 
THROUGH SOMA LILA HD AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
namely, that the cheerful, self-respecting, and willing service 
rendered by the SomMis is the greatest source of comfort to the 
traveller who has to depend upon his servants for society. 
The text of the treaty with Menelik is given in. the book 
already referred to. The Somali frontier was finally drawn at 
the line which, starting from the sea at the point fixed in the 
agreement between Great Britain and France — opposite the wells 
of Hadou — follows the caravan-road through Abbaswein till it 
reaches the hill of So-madu. From this point on the road, the 
line is traced by the Sau mountains and the hill of Egu to 
Moga Medir, whence it is continued by Eylinta Kaddo to Arran 
Arrhe near the intersection of long. 44° E. with lat. 9° N. 
Thence a straight line is drawn to the intersection of 47° E. with 
8° N. The line after this follows the frontier laid down in the 
Anglo-Italian Protocol of 5th May 1894 till it reaches the sea. 
Tribes occupying territory on either side of the line are entitled 
to use grazing grounds or wells on the other side ; but in their 
migrations they are subject to the jurisdiction of the territorial 
authority. 
In briefly reviewing the political situation it is necessary to 
state that any views advanced are merely personal, and are not 
to be regarded as possessing any official authority. 
When Egypt handed over the Somali coast ports to England 
in 1884, as a sequel to the general scheme of withdrawal of the 
Soudan garrisons, the Egyptian garrison of Harar was likewise 
withdrawn ; the Mahomedan Emir Abdillahi being left in charge 
as an independent sovereign. In those days Harar, whether 
Egyptian or independent, had for many generations stood as a 
buffer State between Christian Abyssinia and the Mahomedan 
Somalis. Abyssinia was a distant country, of whose doings 
occasional rumours filtered through, but whose politics did not 
trouble the SomMi tribes. In January 1887, however, a great 
change occurred. Harar was attacked and taken by Menelik, 
King of Shoa, and his nephew Has Makunan ; and two or three 
years later, in order to secure the frontiers of Harar, Abyssinian 
blockhouses were erected and garrisoned at Jig-Jiga and Biyo- 
Kaboba by the North Somali tribes. These forts were more 
than once visited by my brother and myself in 1892, and 
every one on the coast knew them to exist ; but the garrisons 
were allowed to remain, and by 1897 the Abyssinians, having 
been unmolested so long, had established a moral claim by 
actual occupation to the territory on the Harar side of the posts. 
