pass or possess any other money. Nothing can be more simple than the system of taxation; the cultivators pay 10 per cent. taken in kind, and traders are charged 16 cubits of cotton cloth per donkey load; the consequence is that the animal is supported through the gates by four or five porters.

*

After sitting for an hour at the eastern gate, waiting the permission of the Emir to enter his walls, we were ordered by a grim guard to follow. Arrived at the prince's court-yard, we were told to dismount and run, as the subjects of H. H. must never cross the gateway or approach the palace but at a long trot. I obeyed the former and resisted the latter order. Then, leading our mules, we stood under a tree close to the state prison, whence resounded the ominous clank of fetters, and turned deaf ears to the eager questions of the crowd. It was a levée-day, and troops of Galla chieftains, known by their heavy spears and zinc armlets, passed in and out of the palace prolonging our anxious delay. At last, after being ordered to take off my slippers and to give up my weapons, a mandate to which I again objected, we were escorted by the grim guard to the palace-door. A curtain was raised. I entered with a loud salam, which was courteously returned by a small yellow man, not unlike an Indian Rajah, dressed in a conical turban and a red robe trimmed with white fur. As I advanced towards the throne, four or five chamberlains seizing my arms, according to custom, hurried me on till I bent over the Emir Ahmed bin Abubekr's extended fingers. Leading me back, they then seated me in front of the presence, while my two Somali attendants were kissing the palm and the back of the thin yellow hand. Looking around the room I remarked the significant decorations of its walls-bright fetters and rusty matchlocks. The courtiers stood in double file extended at right angles from the throne; all had their right arms and heads bared in token of respect, and whoever approached the Emir saluted his hand with exceeding reverence. At the end of my survey I was called upon by the wazir or prime minister, who sat upon a rug at the right of and below the throne, to answer a variety of questions concerning my name, nation, and business at Harar. The replies proving, it is presumed, satisfactory, I was invited to become the prince's guest during my ten days' residence, and received every day three dishes of bread and beef from his own kitchen. At subsequent visits I was admitted to the honour of a seat next to the wazir, and the Emir did not disdain to be indoctrinated with the principles of free trade in coffee and cotton. Slavery was a more delicate topic, and not being authorized to treat upon the subject officially, I contented myself with observing its operations and with preparing a scheme which will easily and surely remove this curse upon the

country's industry. During my residence at Harar, the two Somal who had been sent with me from Aden behaved admirably. As small-pox was raging in the town, I found an easy pretext for hurrying my departure. These African cities are all prisons on a large scale. "You enter at your own bidding-you leave at another's"—is the native proverb, true and significant. My speedy dismissal was perhaps owing to a report that three brothers had been sent by the Government of India to Eastern Africa. Visions of cutting off caravans induced the Emir to get rid of me, he being, it is said, much puzzled how to treat so uncommon a case. Yet I had no reason to complain of him; and as a proof that my modest endeavours to establish friendly relations were not unsuccessful, the Prince wrote, immediately after my departure to Aden, requesting to be furnished with a " Frank physician." He finally dismissed me with a mule for myself and a letter addressed to our Political Resident in Arabia.

66

I offer no description of my return route to Berbera, as it was a mere adventure of uncommon hardship. The accident which has for the present terminated our wanderings is deserving of some detail.

On Saturday, the 7th of April, the H. E. I. Company's schooner Mahi (Lieut. King commanding) entered the harbour of Berbera, where her guns roared forth a parting salute to the Somali expedition.

The great emporium of Eastern Africa was, at the time of my second landing, in a state of confusion. But a few hours before the Harar caravan had entered ; and purchase, barter, and exchange were being carried on in the utmost hurry. All day and during the greater part of the night the town rang with the loud voices of buyers and sellers. To specify no other valuable articles of traffic, 500 slaves of both sexes were in the market.

On the 9th of April, about 3 P.M., a shower, accompanied by thunder and lightning, came up from the southern hills, where rain had already been falling for some days, and gave notice that the Gugi or Somali monsoon had begun. This was the signal for the Bedouins to leave Berbera: the mats were rapidly stripped off their frameworks of stick and pole, the camels were laden, and thousands of travellers poured out of the town. On the 15th it was wholly deserted; the last craft left the port, and our little party remained in undisputed possession of the place. We awaited the mid-April mail. In their utter security the Abbans or protectors accompanied their families and property to the highlands, leaving with us their sons as an escort. The people were decidedly friendly: the most learned of the Somal, the Shaykh Jami, whom I had met at Harar, called repeatedly upon us, ate with us,

1

and gave us abundant good advice concerning our future move

ments.

On the 18th April a small craft belonging to the port of Aynterad entered the deserted creek, and brought from Aden ten Somalis, who desired to accompany us southwards. We objected to taking more than four of these men: fortunately, however, I ordered our people to give dinner to the captain and crew of the craft. That evening we were visited by spies, who deceived not only us, but even their own countrymen: accordingly, the usual two sentries were posted for the night, and we all lay down to sleep.

Between 2 and 3 in the morning of the 19th inst. I was aroused by the cry that the enemy was upon us. My first impulse was to request Lieut. Herne to go out with his revolver in the direction of the attack; secondly, I called to Lieuts. Stroyan and Speke that they must arm and be ready; and thirdly, I sent my servant for my sabre. Meanwhile Lieut. Herne returned hurriedly from the rear of the tent, exclaiming that our twelve servants, armed with swords and muskets, had run, and that the enemy amounted to about 150 men. Lieut. Stroyan, who occupied another tent, did not appear: the other two officers and I were compelled to defend ourselves in our own with revolvers, which the darkness of the night rendered uncertain. Presently our fire being exhausted, and the enemy pressing on with spear and javelin, the position became untenable; the tent was nearly battered down by clubs, and had we been entangled in its folds, we should have been killed without the power of resistance. I gave the word for a rush, and sallied out with my sabre, closely followed by Lieut. Herne, with Lieut. Speke in the rear. The former was allowed to pass through the enemy with no severer injury than a few hard blows with a warclub. The latter was thrown down by a stone hurled at his chest and taken prisoner, a circumstance which we did not learn till afterwards. On leaving the tent I thought that I perceived the figure of the late Lieut. Stroyan lying upon the ground close to the camels. I was surrounded at the time by about a dozen of the enemy, whose clubs rattled upon me without mercy, and the strokes of my sabre were rendered uncertain by the energetic pushes of an attendant who thus hoped to save me. The blade was raised to cut him down: he cried out in dismay, and at that moment a Somali stepped forward, threw his spear so as to pierce my face, and retired before he could be punished. I then fell back for assistance, and the enemy feared pursuing us into the darkness. Many of our Somalis and servants were lurking about 100 yards from the fray, but nothing would persuade them to advance. The loss of blood causing me to feel faint, I was obliged to lie down, and, as dawn approached, the craft from Aynterad was seen apparently making sail out of the harbour.

With my little remaining strength I reached the spit at the head of the creek, was carried into the vessel, and persuaded the crew to arm themselves and repair to the scene of our disaster. Presently Lieut. Herne appeared, and closely following him Lieut. Speke, who had escaped from his captors, was supported in badly wounded. Lastly, the body of Lieut. Stroyan was brought on board, speared through the heart, with the mark of a lance piercing the abdomen, and a frightful gash apparent in the forehead. The lamented officer had ceased to exist; his body was stark and cold we preserved his remains till the morning of the 20th instant, when we were compelled to commit them to the deep, Lieut. Herne reading the funeral service. We were overwhelmed with grief: we had lived together like brothers. Lieut. Stroyan was a universal favourite, and truly melancholy was the contrast between the hour when he lay down to rest full of life and spirits, and the ensuing morning when we saw him a livid corpse.

*

In conclusion, I must remark that a number of little combinations gave rise to our disaster. Our arrangements were hurriedly made. We could not take from Aden the number of well-trained Somali policemen upon which I had originally calculated, and we had to depend upon raw recruits, who fled at the first charge. But we had ever been led to believe that Berbera was as safe as Bombay itself, and we expected, after a month's march, that the men would be educated to fight. Political events at Aden also prevented our detaining the war-schooner Mahi, whose presence would have rendered the coast safe, and once in the interior we should have been secure from the Bedouins, who have a horror of firearms. Had our letters despatched from Aden arrived when expected, we should have been enabled to leave Berbera with the Ogadayn caravan.

Yet my opinion of the Somal is unchanged; nor would I assume the act of a band of brigands-for such was the cause of our disaster-to be the expression of a people's animus. They have learned to respect us: four or five of their number were, it is reported, killed or mortally wounded that fatal night; and if my plans for punishing the outrage be carried out, it will be long before a similar event occurs again. The officers whom I have had the honour to command profess themselves ready to renew the attempt; and when the ferment has subsided, we would start from Kurrum, a safer though a less interesting route. Should we be deterred by the loss of a single life, however valuable, from prosecuting plans now made public in Africa, we shall not rise in the estimation of the races around us. Briefly, permission to carry out our original projects is the sole recompense we hope for what we have suffered.

VI. On the supposed Sources of the River Purus, one of the principal Tributaries of the Amazons.

By C. R. MARKHAM, Esq., F.R.G.S.

Read, March 12, 1855.

ON the 1st of May, 1853, I left the little town of Paucar-tambo, which is 40 miles N.E. from Cuzco, the ancient city of the Incas, with the intention of exploring and collecting information concerning the valleys to the eastward, and, if possible, penetrating to the banks of the Madre de Dios, or Purus. From the level plains on the summits of the last range of the Andes, where the clouds, charged with particles of ice, roll along the ground, and snow covers the long grass, the road descends rapidly into the Montaña. In less than half an hour the trees of tropical growth began to rise on either side of the steep zigzag path, the heat became oppressive, torrents of rain fell continuously, while, as the mists at intervals cleared away, hills became visible on every side, clothed with gigantic trees and tangled underwood.

After a journey down the steep path, of three hours' duration, I accomplished the descent, which was 8 miles long, and reached the banks of the torrent of Chiri-mayu, where a little shed had been erected. It was near sunset when I thus found myself at the entrance of the Montaña. The torrent, descending by a splendid waterfall at the side of the path, swept by the little level space where the shed was built, and disappeared almost immediately between the spurs of the hills. From the small amphitheatre thus formed, the hills rise up perpendicularly on every side, covered with tangled brushwood, ferns, and creepers of most brilliant colours; and wherever a projecting point gave room for roots to take hold, the space was occupied by lofty palms and other forest trees. The Chiri-mayu (or cold river) falls into the Tono, one of the tributaries of the Purus. Towards sunset it ceased raining, and the mists clearing away, a scene was presented of unequalled loveliness. The brilliant and varied colours of the foliage and flowers, the splendid butterflies of immense size, and birds of the gaudiest plumage, humming birds shaking the dewdrops from the scarlet salvias, parrots crowding on the upper branches of the trees, with the sparkling fall of the torrent, combined to form a fairy-like scene of surpassing beauty.

"The passage into these valleys, where the coca grows, is over that high mountain called Canacuy,' descending 5 leagues almost perpendicular, which makes a man's head giddy to look down: how much more laboursome must it be to ascend and descend those ways, turning and winding in form of a serpent!"— G. de la Vega, b. iv. ch. xvi.

†The tropical valleys and plains to the eastward of the Peruvian Andes are called the Montaña,"