370 THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA 
For item 8 we have : — 
Purchase of 38 baggage mules at Harar 
Dollars. 
. 1500 
Ho. 2 riding mules 
120 
Do. 33 pack-saddles . 
75 
Do. 12 water-tins 
36 
Conveyance from Harar to Gildessa, and 
care while waiting 
at Gildessa, say 
40 
That is, about £255. 
$1771 
Ail alternative wliicli might be easier would be to keep the mules wait- 
ing at Harar, and bring the caravan loads up to Harar from Gildessa by 
hired donkeys, arranged for to be waiting at Gildessa beforehand. Of these 
donkeys fifty-three would be required, and the hire would be three dollars 
for four donkeys for the two days’ trip from Gildessa to Harar ; drivers, I 
think, included. 
Item 9. — Yery high prices would have to be paid to get the best Somalis 
to go for long into Abyssinia — practically double pay ; for it is a cold 
country, has an uncongenial people, and the Somali learns to think in 
dollars instead of rupees. 
Thus we have : — 
Dollars. 
Somali head shikari and interpreter per month . . 40 
Second shikari . . . . . .17 
2 saises (17 each) . . . . . .34 
Cook . ..... 20 
Presents at end of trip . . . . .40 
151 
6 
Total for six months. . . $906 
or about £130. 
If any of these men know Amharic or Galla, so much the better ; they 
will probably have a smattering knowledge of Arabic, Hindustani, or 
English. 
Item 10. — Expenses in the interior, hunting presents, hire and presents 
to headmen and muleteers, purchase of mules to replenish stock, purchase 
of food at points on the road for the muleteers. 
For all these expenses for six months I should allow $3500 or about 
£500. It is nearly impossible to make an accurate estimate ; the money 
would have, I think, to be taken up in dollars, unless agencies can be 
established at Harar and Addis- Abbaba. The country is rather more 
than twice as expensive as Somaliland. 
Purchasing, Hire, and Prices in Abyssinia 
Currency . — There are no coins current in Abyssinia except the 1780 
Maria Theresa dollars, which are used all over the Red Sea coasts ; they 
