The principal mosque of the place stood at the further end of a large open space, reaching to the sea-shore, in the centre of which was the solitary cannon used as a saluting battery on particular occasions, and the touchhole of which vied in extent with the bore of the piece. Occupying one side of the open space was the square enclosure of mats, with little huts of the same material, which had been erected for the use of the English agent in Tajourah, Mr. Hatchetoor, on the occasion of the last kafila, or second division of the stores, being sent up to Shoa with Messieurs Bernatz and Scott. Here, during one night, three of the native servants were treacherously murdered as they lay asleep, by some of the inhabitants of the town. On the other side were a few native houses, standing in the usual compounds, or courts, and out of the doors of which peeped, with a mixture of curiosity and alarm, several little slave children whenever we passed by. This mosque stood between the commencement of two narrow lanes, the one leading through the town, the other to the Sultaun’s house, and completed the third side of the irregular square, which was open towards the sea. The mosque was built in a square form, with the untrimmed branches of trees, as they were cut off in the jungle, and thatched with leaves of the palm-tree, fastened down by the common string of the country, made of the leaf of the doom palm split and twisted by the hand into a strong rope; a small fence of stones, two or three feet high, enclosed in front a little semicircular court, in which were planted four palm-trees, two on each side of the entrance. In this court, squatting under the shade of the trees, or idly lounging upon the top of the wall, were collected all the idlers of the town; and as these, besides gossiping and dozing, were particularly attentive to the daily prayers and ablutions as prescribed in the Koran, I had not a doubt that they were the worst characters in Tajourah, for I never met among the Mahomedans a strict observer of the stated hours and forms of prayer, but I always found him to be crafty, designing, and treacherous. The only man I ever met with during my subsequent journey, who deliberately, and for days, watched for an opportunity to assassinate me, was one of these pharisaical rascals, who always chose the largest boulder or detached piece of rock he could find, on which to exalt himself above every one else during the performance of his prostrations or prayers.