Arizona republican., 1892-02-19
THE RED SEAS SHORE
DAVID kER WRITES OF AN AFRl-
 CAN MONTENEGRO.
Mighty Wall of Bare, Burning Sand stone That Stretches for Scores of Miies-The Famous Port of Massowah Picturesqueiy Described.
Cores pondence of THE REPUBLICAN.

Cores pondence of THE REPUBLICAN.
 LONDON, Feb. 9.-There are few drear- fer landscapes upon the face of the earth than that mighty wall of bare, burning sandstone that stretches unbroken, for scores of miles together, along the west ern side of the Red sea, like an embodi- ment of that destroying heat and hope less desolation which the very name of Africa never fails to suggest. Greatly would any raw traveller be surprised to learn that behind this grim rampant lies one of the most beautiful and fertile regions in the world, and one of the most romantic likewise-Christian for ages past, yet utterly savage, pictur- esquely blending ancient civilization and modern barbarism-a perfect African Montenegro, first introduced to the mo- tice of Europe a century ago by the dar- ing explorers of AbyssinA.
 The gateway of this strange regionris quite as curious as itself. Sweeping northward along the African shore you descry far in the distance, on the edge of q strip of level beach, which forms as it were the doorstep of the Abyssinian highlands, row of flat, white objects, suggestive of a game of dominoes left unfinished by two mountain giants. As you approach, these nondescript objects gradually shape themselves into bril- liantly white houses, built entirely of coral, beyond which hutter jauntily over the smooth, sunlit waters of small land locked bay the smart scarlet of the Brit ish union jack and the green, white and red of the Italian merchant ensign. An English cargo boat from Liverpool and an Italian steamer from Naples have just come in, and the latter has brought not a few passengers who haye come to stay, for this is the famous port of Mas sowah, coveted for ages by the fierce mountaineers who look down upon it from those shadowy heights above us, ceded by Turkey to the late khedive of Egypt in 1866, and now occupied by Italy without any cession or formality at all
 This future avenue of African trade and European enterprise, and perhaps of
 
 little town of 4,0OO or 5000 inhabitants, perched on low islet a mile long by 400 yards broad, lying at the northern end of Arkiko bay and connected with the mainland, like Venice, by cause way nearly mile in length through the smooth, shallow water of the roadstead, which is sheltered from storms by the long, struggling Isle of Dhalak across the mouth of the bay.
 The streets, or rather lanes, of the miniature fort have q curiously diversi- fled appearance, tall houses of coral or stone alternating with little nests of sticks and palm leaves or of cane and dried grass, such as one sees along the sunny hill sides of Algeria or along the burning plains of Tripoi. Nor is the population less motley than the town itself Handsome, black haired, olive checked Italians; big, heavy, wooden faced Turks; supple, keen eyed, brigand- like Greeks; sturdy, red whiskeTed Brit ish sailors, looking down with a grand, indulgent contempt upon those ill fated beings whom the inscrutable decrees of Providence have doomed to be foreign CTS" instead of Englishmen; black, bulky Nubians, with thick lips and rolling eyes; tall, gaunt, high checked, savage looking Somaulis, from the wild African No Mans Land," between Cape Guar dafui and the straits of b-El-Mandeb; dark, sinewy, bare limbed Arabs, with shaven crowns and flowing black boards, and stately, white cloaked Abyssinians from the overhanging mountains, whose bold, warrior bearing, erect head and swaggering stride carry me back in moment to the wild mountain glens of Albania and Montenegro.
 The merchandise, too, is as varied as those who handle it. Knives, hatchets and striped cloths from England, rifles and daggers from Italy, Turkish sabers, Persian carpets, bags of Arabian coffee, and embroidered sashes and turbans from Bengal, lie side by side with the ivory, beeswax, gum, hides, butter and grass mats which have just come down from the Abyssinian hills and arc about to be shipped of to Europe via the Suez canal.
 To reach Massowah itself is now an easy matter, thanks to the monthly line of Italian steamers from Naples; but to penetrate thence into Tigre (the ad- jacent province of Abyssinia) is not quite so simple as formerly, the Italian invasion and the severe fighting that fol- lowed it having embittered the native mountain clans against all foreigners alike. However, the thing may be done with proper management, though the journey itself is by no means a holiday trip. Over the dusty, scorching plain of the lowlands nothing can carry you safely but camel, and the camels or dinary motion (as any man who has ever ridden one will readily admit) is very much like being perched on the top of a particularly high omnibus which keeps upsetting every two minutes
 When the mountains arc reached at last, and you exchange your two bumped engine of torture for one of the hardy and untirng native horses, matters i'm prove considerably, though nervous man might object to ride at full gallop along the edge of a 300 foot precipice, or to pass outside laden pack horse on ledge path barely two yards wide. The heat is terrible