THROUGH SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA TO THE SUDAN. 781 



large divisions, and these ai^^ain into smaller tribes, which are at the 

 same time relio'ious connnunities. Each of these tribes has its hio-h 

 priest, or Gailan, who resides near a sacred o-rove. On certain days of 

 the year the Gailan shuts himself up in his house, and after working- 

 himself into a state of ecstasy makes inspired communications to the 

 people standing- around. The Christian Ab3\ssinians arc forbidden by 

 their priests to attend these ceremonies; nevertheless, they believe in 

 the mysterious power of the Gailan, whom they hold to lie in league 

 with the devil. The Gallau here was an interesting-looking man, 

 standing over 6 feet high, with long hair and beard. From Adaberga 

 I went to Falle, a place given l)y the Emperor Menelik to Mr. Ilg, and 

 here I stopped some days to observe and collect specimens of the black 

 Jellada })aboon, a species not previously met with, which lives on the 

 rocks of the steep precipices leading to the Muger River. After four 

 weeks' absence 1 returned to Adis Abeba, and now prepared for my 

 expedition to the Sudan. 



The route I chose did not lead directly westward, because the 

 chain of lakes situated in the northern part of the great East African 

 rift valle}" seemed to offer some interesting geographical problems, as 

 the existing maps on that part pul)lished by the Italians Traversi and 

 Bottego, by the Frenchman D'Aragon, by Donaldson Smith, by the 

 late Captain Wellby, and a new one published by Count Leontieff, 

 which came into my hands just before starting from Adis Abeba, could 

 not be brought into agreement with each other. By the different 

 position assigned on these maps to the lakes situated between Lake 

 Zwa] and the large Lake Abaya, called Lake Margarita by Bottego, 

 1 calculated that there ought to be one or even two lakes in that region 

 not 3'et known. This calculation was afterwards contirmed by the 

 discovering of Lake Langanna or Korre and the double Lake Abasi. 



I left Adis Al)eba on November l-i, and at Mount Zekwala met the 

 caravan of Baron Erlanger, who had started some days previously. 

 The HaAvash was now so low that we easily marched through it. From 

 here to Lake Zwa'j the country is covered with typi<'al acacia bush, in 

 the middle of which I found the grass and moss-covered ruins of an 

 old Al)yssinian settlement. Round Lake Zwa], and on down the whole 

 of the rift valley, as far as I followed it, game was plentiful. On the 

 hills and mountains bordering the valley we have the large kudu, while 

 farther south, at Lake Abaya, there is the lesser kudu. We saw on 

 the plains the East African zebra {J{quus f/ranti), hartebeest {Buhalls 

 smaynei)^ and Grant's gazelle; in the forests, elephants and rhinos. 

 Tlie reeds Ijordering the lakes are inhabited l)y large herds of water- 

 buck and reed-buck. 



The region near Lake Zwaj is very interesting from a geological 

 point of view. We an* here at the northern end of the great East 

 African rift valle}-, which extends south to the mitldle of German 



