XXV THE COURSE OF THE ABAI 277 



was untied, and he sat down in the circle and was 

 soon talking away with every one, as if nothing had 

 happened. At my suggestion, all the other jars were 

 returned to the owners, and we all parted the best of 

 friends. 



On the way back, I struck a little more inland and 

 climbed a hill, on which stands Estomete Mariam, a 

 small church surrounded by the usual grove of trees. 

 From this point I had a fine view of the lake, and 

 could clearly see the curious alluvial formation of the 

 tongues of land, on either side of the river-mouth. The 

 land on the side we had followed runs out in a long 

 tongue pointing north, and thus forms a deep and narrow 

 bay between itself and the mainland, while another 

 shorter tongue at its northern end bends to the west 

 and thus forms a second bay. It was curious to see 

 how sharply the stream of mud-coloured water con- 

 trasted with the deep limpid blue of the lake, reminding 

 me vividly of the Rhone, where it pours its muddy 

 glacier waters into the bosom of Lake Leman. There 

 is, however, this difference between the two cases, that 

 the Rhone flows in at one end of the lake of Geneva 

 and out at the other, whereas the Blue Nile, or Abbai 

 (as the native name is), after rising some 60 miles south 

 in the hills round Sakala, flows into the south-west 

 corner of Lake Tana, and, curving round the southern 

 shore, leaves it again on the same side at a point 25 

 miles to the south-east, so that the two streams flowing in 

 contrary directions pass each other within about 20 miles. 

 On leaving the lake the river first makes a wide sweep 

 south-eastwards, then curves south-west and west, passing 



