The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-25
AN ABYss1NIAN CITY.

The city of Harar seen from a dis
 tance has an impressive aspect which is hardly borne out on entering within it's walls. But even before you reach the gates you can see the signs of a popu- lous town. The road for miles before hand is covered with camels, mules, herds and fiocks, messengers and cour- iers, all vending their ways towards the old Gala capital. The position is well adapted for a trade center. situa
 ted as it is on the southern slopes of range. of mountains which bar the ap- proach to the next plateau on your journey northwards. The round cupo- la-shaped church dedicated to St. Mi chael and St George and erected in commemoration of the conquest of Ha- rar by the Abyssinians, standing on the crest of hill overhanging the town, can be seen from afar long before you come within sight Of the city itself. Tie roads. or rather tracks, by which the vast plain is traversed, all converge towards Harar. From without little is visible except the long line of black, sunburnt stone walls by which the city is girt in every direction. There are, was told, eleven gates to the city, and each one opens on roads leading to diff ferent provinces. The one we entered was supposed to be the principle gate, as standing close to the custom house. It is characteristic of the country that while for some dozen miles south of Harar we rode over a fairly good road provided with bridges along which a cart could have passed safely; we had before entering the city to climb for a quarter of a mile at an angle of some forty-five degrees over mass of jag ged stones, from one to another of which our heavily-laden mules skipped with an agility equal to that of goats
 The gates of Harar are closed at D.. me and not re-oOened till 5:30 a. m. During this period no one can enter or leave without the special permission of the governor. No inhabitant of the town is allowed to reside outside the wall, though there is any amount of un- occupied land on the hillsides close at hand, where the air is far fresher and healthier than inside the town, within which the houses are crammed togeth- CT higgledy piggledy. In defiance of all considerations of sanitation or comfort, however, the city is said to be very free from epidemic disease, and the climate, especially to one coming from the sul- try sea shores of the Indian ocean, is absolutely delightful, it's height above
 the sea being close upon eighteen hum dred metres.
 The partisans of the French route were confident tha. the railway would completely suDersede the caravans. The opponents of the railway contended | that considerable portion of the Ha- Tar traffic would continue to go through British Somaliland. owing to the pref 1 erence of the natives of British admin | istration as compared with French. They argued-as it seems to me with l more reason-that it would never pay l the natives to export agricultural ,JrO- | duce to the coast, even at very reduced rates, and shat tobacco, hides and ivo- 1 ry, and. under certain conditions, cot ton, were the only articles which could afford to pay for export even at very l reduced rates of transport from those
 existing at present. No official tariff of | freights chargeable by the railway has
 yet been formally published. As things
 are, the cost of transport by camel from l Harar to the railroad is about twenty shillings per ton. But this amount
 would be very materially reduced if a
 cart road could be constructed between