In a message dated 12/17/01 12:37:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> But what is an > Ethiopian wall, aside from a wall in Ethiopia? Is this a reference to > poetry > or literature that I'm not getting? > I don't know either Bob, but I'd love to know. I did some research about these walls in Ethiopia. Before entering the city, today's traveler, like those of the past, has to pass through its famous 3,342 metre-long encircling wall, locally known as the Jogal. This structure was erected in the sixteenth century by one of the city's best remembered local rulers of medieval times, Nur ibn-Mujahid, who is said to have dug a defensive trench around the town. This wall, which ensured the city's safety in former days, is made of locally quarried, untrimmed Hashi stone or carcareous tuff, held together with mud, and reinforced with stout juniper planks. The walls of Harar were pierced in early times by five gates, a number supposed to symbolise the Five Pillars of Islam. These gates, known to the Hararis as bari, were situated respectively to the north, east, south-east, south, and west of the city. Each had its own distinctive name, and provided entry and egress to caravans travelling to and from different stretches of the surrounding country. Each of these gates thus played a different role in the economy of the city and of neighbouring lands. The northern gate, for example, was known as the Assum Bari, because it was used by traders importing assu, or pepper and salt, from the Gulf of Aden coast of Africa; while the eastern gate was called the Argob Bari because it served merchants handling the lucrative trade from Argobba, one of Ethiopia's inland regions. The gates of Harar in olden days were strongly guarded, and were strictly closed at night - for no one was allowed to enter or leave the city during the long hours of darkness. Strangers wishing to enter Harar in daytime had first to deposit their spears, guns and other arms with the city's guards, who would look after them scrupulously, and return them when their owners were ready to leave. The walls had, however, a number of holes placed to allow the drainage of water and sewage and to enable hyenas, who constituted the principal garbage collectors, to enter the settlement at night and leave it before the break of dawn. The subsequent integration of Harar into the greater Ethiopian realm led to the construction, in the twentieth century, of two additional gates. To the west, the Shewa gate, so called because it afforded access to the important Ethiopian province of that name; and also the Berbere Bari, called after Ethiopia's hot peppery spice which seems to have been handled in the area. The first of these gates is today by far the most used, for it links the Old and New Towns, while the Berbere Bari has long since been closed. Still very confused, can someone shed some light on this? Who was this song written about, anyone know? Did Joni know someone from this part of the world? Did she ever travel there? ~rose in NJ
