74 Geographical Society of Paris. 



and left Massowah in May 1843, having been exactly two years and 

 a half in Abyssinia and the lowlands adjoining it. 



" In his arduous endeavours to construct a map of a large tract, 

 Dr. Beke carried a series of thermometric levels across nearly seven 

 degrees of latitude (from Tajurrah to Banja), having been the first 

 to ascertain the remarkable depression of the salt lake Assal, which 

 he roughly estimated at 760 feet (since ascertained by Lieut. Chris- 

 topher to be 590) below the level of the sea; and he has fixed by 

 astronomical observations the latitude of upwards of seventy sta- 

 tions. 



" Whilst in Shoa he visited and mapped the water-shed between 

 the Nile and the Hawash, along a line of nearly fifty miles north- 

 ward of Ankober ; and he obtained information of the existence of 

 the river Gojeb. 



" After leaving Shoa he proceeded westward across the Abai, into 

 the plateau of Gojam, where he remained in all a year and a quarter, 

 so traversing it in various directions as to be able to construct a map 

 of the country. 



" He is the first traveller since the time of Bruce who has described 

 the sources of the Abai (the Nile of Bruce), and I rejoice to say that 

 he completely sustains the accuracy of the narrative of the great ex- 

 plorer of Abyssinia. By reaching the river Abai at various points 

 around Gojam and Damot, he has determined its course approxi- 

 matively ; and it may be mentioned that near Mota he discovered a 

 second bridge over that stream, described by no previous traveller. 



" During a long stay in the neighbourhood of Baso, in the hope 

 of being able to penetrate from thence southward, he collected in- 

 formation respecting the countries to the south of the Abai, from 

 which he has constructed a rough map comprising near 70,000 

 square miles of country, hitherto very partially explored by one of 

 the brothers d'Abbadie, and as yet, of course, very imperfectly laid 

 down. 



" On his way from Gojam to Massowah, Dr. Beke took a hitherto 

 untrodden road, passing by Mahhedera Mariam, Debra Tabor, 

 Ebenat, and Sokota to Antalo ; and from thence again by a route 

 never travelled by other Europeans, round by Takirakira (a place 

 described by Ruppell) to Adowa. On this route he crossed the 

 Takkaze much higher up to the south than others had done, by 

 which the course of that river in the maps is corrected ; whilst by 

 this new line through the heart of Abyssinia, an important addition 

 is made to the general map of that country. Dr. Beke's maps and 

 journals have been handed over to the Royal Geographical Society, 

 and a small portion of them has already been published in our Jour- 

 nal*. Various other portions of the information obtained by him 



* The map of Dr. Beke's route and the remainder of his Itinerary have 

 since appeared in vol. xiv. of the Society's Journal, part 1. For other in- 

 formation published by him, see vol. xiii. part 2 of the same Journal; the 

 Friend of the African, vol. i. andii. passim; and A Statement of Facts re- 

 lative to the Transactions between the Writer and the late British Political 

 Mission to the Court of Shoa. 



