CHAPTER XXVI 



Gorgora and the sacred isles — A courteous priest — Dedjatch Cubudda 

 and his unlucky elephant-hunt — An unwelcome "present" — My ex- 

 robber guide in danger of punishment — The governor of (iondar — 

 Refusal to let me enter the city — A game of bluff — The bluffer bluffed 

 — The legend of St. Tecla Haymanot — A ruined church and fortress. 



After a night of heavy wind and rain, we started along 

 the northern shore of the lake towards the rocky pro- 

 montory of Gorgora, which runs south for some four 

 miles. It was here that the first Jesuit churches and 

 monasteries were built during the reign of the Emperor 

 Socinos (1605- 1 632). The peninsula, which is hilly and 

 well wooded, has three islands lying close to its southern 

 extremity, the first of which, called Biheet, is little more 

 than a massive rock and is uninhabited. Jebberar, the 

 second and largest of the three, is not so rocky, and has 

 several patches of cultivation, on the produce of which, 

 in addition to her flock of goats and sheep, a hermit nun 

 lives. The third and furthest south is called Gellelar ; 

 the greater part of this is taken up by a barren hill, but 

 its solitary tenant, an aged monk, finds enough soil to 

 till, and grass for his flock, to keep him alive. Both 

 these personages, who are looked upon with much rever- 

 ence by all the inhabitants of the northern shores of the 



286 



