538 
than in any other part of the em- 
pire, the trade, as I have before 
remarked, resting almost entirely 
in their hands. 
The chief production of Adowa 
consistsina manufactory of coarse 
and fine cloths, the former being 
considered unrivalled in any other 
part of the country, and the latter 
being thought little inferior to 
those manufactured at Gondar. 
The quantity of cloth made at 
Adowa occasions a great demand 
for cotton, a considerable portion 
of which is procured from the 
low countries bordering on the 
Tacazze, and this is considered of 
a finer quality, and consequently 
more valuable, than that brought 
up from Massowa. The latter, 
notwithstanding, finds a ready 
sale, and though its importation 
behampered byarbitrary exactions 
on the road, and a heavy duty on 
its being landed, fetches a con- 
siderable profit. The other im- 
ports, which pass through Adowa 
for the Gondar market, are lead, 
(in small quantities) block tin, 
copper, and gold foil ; small Per- 
sian carpets of a shewy pattern 
and of low price, raw silks from 
China, a few velvets, French 
broad cloths, and different colour- 
ed skins from Egypt; glass ware 
and beads, which find their way 
from Venice, and a number of 
other pretty articles, which are 
brought by different conveyances 
to Jidda. 
The exports which are carried 
down to the coast in return, most 
of which pass through the hands 
of the traders at Adowa, consist 
of ivory, gold, and slaves; a very 
considerable quantity of the first 
article is procured in the province 
of Walkayt, and in the low coun- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1815. 
try northward of Shiré, and the 
sale of it is so certainat Massowa, 
that the price at Adowa only dif- 
fers in the expenses of carriage 
being deducted. A great part of 
the gold collected in the interior 
findsalso its way through Adowa ; 
but this commerce is carried on 
by the traders with so much se- 
cresy, that it is impossible to 
form any accurate estimate of the 
quantity. The number of slaves 
exported, may be computed an- 
nually at about a thousand, part 
of which are sent to Massowa, 
and the rest to the small ports 
northward of that place, whence 
they are privately shipped off by 
the natives, for the purpose of 
avoiding the duties levied by the 
Nayib. The proyinces to the 
south of Adowa chiefly abound in 
cattle and corn, which, together 
with the salt procured on the 
borders, constitute their chief 
articles of barter. There is a 
manufactory of small carpets car- 
ried on in the province of Samen, 
some of which were shewn to me 
at Adowa, and they really were 
much superior to what might 
have been expected, as the pro- 
duction of Abyssinian workman- 
ship. At Axum, and in its neigh- 
bourhood, the inhabitants are ce- 
lebrated for the manner in which 
they prepare skins for making 
parchment, and they likewise par- 
ticularly excel in finishing this 
article for use. The working of 
iron and brass is general through 
out the country; but the more 
highly finished chains, wrought 
from the last material, are brought 
into the country from the south, 
and are said to be manufacture 
among the Galla. 
All workers in iron are called 
