The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-31 00:00:00

ROUTES IN ABYSSINIii.

A Blue-book under the above title has been pub-
lishel in accordance with an order of the House of i
Commons made on the 26th of November hest. It
consists of a compilation from the writings of
various travellers in Abyssinia, int( n led to show
the character of the country, the roads by which it
may be entered, and to give an account of the social
and political condition of the people. This some:
what laborious work• has Veen done:Ma2r the super-
intendence of Colonel James, and the chief facts
that were known about• Abyssinia prior to the pre-
sent expedition are gathered together in the Blue-
book before us.
If, as is stated, a company of Sappers were sent
out from England with no supplies of warm cloth-
ing, it was not because the necessity for such arti-
cles was not known at the War-office. All the tra-
vellers whose experiences are here related found
that in the highlands the cold was often very severe,
but none of them record so low a reading of the
thermometer as our correspondents recently stated
had been experienced. A temperature of 55 deg.
appears to be the lowest which Bruce encountered
at Gondar, and Major Harris found it 41 deg. at
Aukobar, the capital of Soha, 8,200 ft above the
sea. Stendhe.r, who accompanied the King of
Abyssinia's army in 1862, noticed that the natives
were glad to get under cover at night—the officers
in tents, the natives in grass huts. The Sappers
appear to have been sent out under the influence of
the following fascinating description of the high-
lands by Major Ilarris :—" Each fertile knoll is
crowned with its peaceful hamlet. The cool moun-
tain zephyr is redolent of eglantine and jasmine,
and the soft green turf, spangled with clover,
daisies, and buttercups, yields at every step the
aromatic fragrance of the mint and thyme." Un-
fortunately, it is not always May in Abyssinia.
From Masso wall (which lies 380 miles from Aden)
to Magdala or Debra Tabor the distance is 350 or
400 miles, and to Gondar 300 miles. From An-
nesley Bay the distance is about 15 miles less.
The route from the desert to the mountains we
have already heard about from our correspondents,
but according to the experience of ether travellers
the actual difficulties of the journey commence in
the highlands. The greatest obstacle of all, the
Taranta pass, may be evaded, as was pointed out
• by Dr. Beke, by taking the caravan road through
Antalo and Socota—and this appears to have been

decided on, the' Umtalla" mentioned by our occa-
sional correspondent as destined to be " post No.
3," being doubtless no other than Antal°. No two
persons spell Abyssinian names in the same way,
and hence Colonel James acknowledges that ho
has found some difficulty in tracing certain places
on the map. Debra Tabor is, or was, the residence
of King Theodore, and near to it—at Gaffat—his
European workmen lived. Adowa is the capital of
Tigre, and the second city in the kingdom. An-
talo is another of the principal towns of Tigre,
but, according to the French travellers, Ferret
and Galinier, it contained only from 200 to 300
houses. .
The road from Autalo to Magdala is described
by comparatively recent travellers. Drs. Beke and
Krapf both traversed it in 1812, and as Krapf is
with the expedition now his knowledge cannot
fail to prove of great service. The routes vary,
but they seem to correspond nearly in one feature
—they are all rugged and beset with difficulties.
Krapf speaks frepently of the inhospitality of
the natives, but, as Colonel James reminds us, he
travelled with very little money, and that is a cir-
cumstance which toes not always invite hospitality
in the most highly civilised countries. Travelling
in April, Krapf wrote enthusiastically of some por-
tions of his journey, especially of the country around
Totola :
" The whole scenery is so beautiful that I cannot recol-
lect ever having seen such a fine sight in Abyssinia. You
can scarcely imagine that you aro in Africa. The cool
climate—the fresh and healthy air—the green plaint
watered artificially by acqueducts from the river—the
activity of the inhabitants in cultivation—the quantity of
cattle grazing, and the multitude of travelling mer3hants
whom you meet on the road with their goods—all these,
_ and many other things, give the place an European ap-
pearance."
' But he warns the traveller to beware of certain
troublesome tribes when Lasta and Agan are ap-
proached. They are called the Ana and the Raia
_ Gallas, and they have never been subjugated by
the Abyssinians "on account of their mountains,
which appeared from a distance to extend to the
very sky." A remark made by Colonel James
. . suggests means by which these rind other impedi-