The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-05-22

and the mountains rise from it to the height
of 10, 900 and $4,000 feet, the country being
broken and tossed about IN remarkable
degree. With the exception of the first so
or 60 miles after leaving Massowah there
seems to be generally no want of water
There are numerous paths between the vii
lagos, but none that deserve the name of
roads.
Besides the main road from Massowah to
Gondar by Adowa there is also, according
to DR.. Beke, second great caravan road
from north to south of Abyssinia from Mas
sowah, through Antalo and Socota. Anita
10 (about latitude 1871 deg, longitude 800
degrees) may be reached either through
Addigraht by the route followed by Rup-
pell and Ferret and Galinier, or through
Adowa, as Travelled by Beke, or by an in
termediate route followed by Salt. Magda-
la, according to DR.. Beke and Dr. Blanc,
can be more easily reached from the direc-
ton of Socota than that of Debra-Tabor.
| There are numerous streams and rivers
and high mountain passes to be traversed
on these highlands.
THEIR WATER SYSTEM
is peculiar. The water shed runs very near
their eastern edge, from which it results that
all the great rivers have their rise near the
eastern side of the table land and then take
westerly course. The principal of these
are the March, Takazze, Atabara and Abai
or Blue Nile. The Takazze crosses the
principal caravan road from Massowah to
Gondar, and is most formidable obstacle.
1t is described by Parkyns, who crossed it
in the rainy season, as nearly equal in vol
ume to the Thames at Greenwich, but re-
sembling in rapidity the Rhone when it
leaves Lake Geneva. In the dry season it
is fordable. Bruce describes it as flowing
! in "prodigious valley" Ferret and Cali
nier say :-"The ravine in which it runs
| is one Of the steepest possible. At Tchel-
latchekenne it is not less than 1900 feet
deep the breadth of the river is about six
ty feet, and its depth in March not more
than three or four feet it is then fordable
almost everywhere In the rainy season it
overflows its bank and its depth is often
from fifteen to eighteen feet" Parkyns
says that mountains almost impregnable by
nature are common in this country.
MOUNTAINS.
One important feature of Abyssinia is the
existence of ranges of snow-topped noun
tains in the province of Samen and Lasta,
which stretch at right angles to the roads
leading from the north towards Gondar and
Magdala, and the passes through which are
described as of the most formidable charac-
ter. The two principal passes leading to
Gondar are the Lamelmon and Selki. OF
the first, Ferret and Galinier say :-"We
found ourselves in the Lamelmon, whose
summit, 5000 feet above the sea, sinks into
the plains of Niagara. All at once an i'm
mense gulf opened under our feet. We got
off our mules and, leading them by the
bride, descended the mountains by pre-
cipitous path, blocked with fragments of
rock, which threatened at every step to pre-
cipitate us into the abyss on our left.n
Bruce says of the same pass 1--WE were
now ascending the Lamelmon through q
very narrow road, or rather path, for it
scarcely was two feet wide anywhere
1t was spiral, winding up the side
of the mountain, always on the very
brink of a precipice. Torrents of water,
which in winter carry prodigious stones
down the side of the mountains had divided
the path in several places, and opened to
us view of that dreadful abyss below
which few heads can bear to look upon
We were here obliged to unload our bag
gage and by slow degrees crawl up the hill,
carrying them, little by little upon our
shoulders round those chasms where the
road was intersected."
Combs and Tamisier thus speak ofthe
Selki Pass ave then abandoned the
banks of the river to mount by an internal
path. Il At length we arrived at the
top of the prodigious mass. On every
side still more colossal mountains raised
their heads, between which was the path
which we had to follow. y After march
ing two hours we passed the gate called
Sancaber, closing the finest and perhaps
the only road in Abyssinia carried along
the side of high mountain inaccessible
from the top to the bottom"
CLIMATE.
These highlands are very healthy. They
are stated by Parkyns to "enjoy probably
as salubrious climate as any country on
the face of the globe The heat is by no
means means oppressive, fine light air
mountaineering the power of the sun. AT
certain seasons of the year the low val
leys, as of the March and Tacazy, especially
the former, are much to be feared from the
malaria which prevails and which brings
on, in persons exposed to its influence, most
terrible infammatory fevers, of which four
cases out of five are fatal" Harris thus
speaks of the highlands of Shoa -"As if by
the touch of the magician's wand, the scene
now passes in an instant from parched and
arid waste to the green and lovely high
lands of Abyssinia, presenting one sheet
of rich and thriving cultivation. Each
fertile knoll is crowned with its peaceful
hamlet, each rural vale tfaversed by its
crystal brook and teeming with herds and
flocks. The cool mountain zephyr is redo
, lent of eglantine and jessamine, and the soft
green turf spangled with clover, daisies and
buttercups, yields at every step the aromat-
ic fragrance of the mint and thyme.'-
Krapf when travelling near Lake Haik
says 1.-THE climate in these plains is
beautiful, neither too hot nor too cold the
air being always refreshed by the winds
blowing from the mountains. There is
plenty of water poured out from the veins
of the neighboring mountains"
There is dry and rainy season in these
highlands. The latter extends from May
to September, and, with the exception of a
few showers in the beginning of November,
little more rain falls during the year.
Bruce gives the rainfall from register kept
at Gondar and Koscam as follows =
GoNDAR, 177o. KosoAN 1771
Inches. Inches
/ March and April. ............ $3.50 .T46
aiay ......................... Eli 2,OOl
june ........................ 45oI 6.3Se
July OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 10OS9 1850
August Observation-Disclosures. 1850 10.0l9
Spntpn1bpr 2S3l a3S