ABSTRACT
We went right through the town until we came to the great bazaar quarter, and there, after going down a dark lane which turned at right angles from the main street, we entered an irregularly shaped courtyard without dismounting from our donkeys. In the middle 83was a well, shaded by a sycamore. On our right, along the wall, a dozen black men were standing. They seemed uneasy rather than unhappy, and most of them were dressed in the blue smock of the poorer classes. They were of all possible shades of colour and form. We turned to the left, and there, came to a row of little rooms, the floors of which were continued like a platform into the courtyard for about two feet. Several dark-hued merchants had already surrounded us, crying, "Essouad? Abesch?" (Blacks or Abyssinians?). We went on towards the first of the rooms.
