THROUGH SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA TO THE SUDAN. 788 



mach Balclui, is situated. Abera lies about 10,000 feet above the sea 

 level and is three hours north of the old capital Daressa, visited by 

 d'Arao'on. Looking northward one has good views back as far as 

 Lake Abassi; looking- westward 3^ou have glorious views of Lake 

 Aba3'a or Margarita, with the mountainous countries of Walamo, 

 Borodda, and Gamo on its western shore. 



The reception the dejasmach had prepared for us was most magnifi- 

 cent. Hundreds of horsemen dressed picturesquely came out to meet 

 us. Between our camp and the bamboo palace of the dejasmach there 

 was a double line of Abyssinian warriors in full attire, dressed with 

 silk skirts interwoven with gold or .silver, or covered with lion and 

 leopard skins. Hundreds of shields, covered with gold and silver 

 ornaments, glistened in the sun. The dejasmach wished us to con- 

 tinue our journey by the great Abyssinian road running south along 

 the ridge of this large mountain chain, but 1 intended to descend to 

 Lake Abaya, in order to have some shooting, and to visit one of the 

 large islands in the lake. It was long before the dejasmach would 

 give permission for this. Pie told us dreadful stories of the bad roads, 

 the absence of food near the lake, and the immber of people killed by 

 lions there. The reason for these stories probably was that he was 

 afraid that we would shoot too many elephants, of which we after- 

 wards found large herds on the shore of the lake. Descending I 

 passed the country of the Gudji, or Uata Dera, who in their physiog- 

 nomy reminded me very nuich of the Wandorobo tril)e of East Africa. 



Quite a different population called Gidicho live on the largest island 

 of the lake. The Gidicho have good-looking, Somali-like faces. iVh' 

 Somal found, to their great astonishment, that a great part of the 

 Gidicho expressions were almost identical with their own; as, for 

 instance, the words for the various parts of the body and for the best- 

 known animals, such as lion and leopard. 1 consider this discovery to 

 be of great importance from an ethnological point of view, as the 

 Somal were always thought to be the last Intruders in Northeast 

 Africa, and here we find an isolated tribe sui'rounded by a population 

 of an apparently older origin. The boats of the Gidicho are very 

 inter(>sting. They are rather rafts in l)oat form, being made of the 

 very light w^ood of a species of ambach. The liovv is often ornamented 

 like that of the Venetian gondolas. Formerly there were constant 

 quarrels and wars between the inhabitants of the islands and those of 

 the shore, ])ut now. under Abyssinian rule, all live in peace with each 

 other. 



At Lake Abaya my caravan sepai-ati^i from that of Baron Erlanger, 

 who had to return to Abera and Sheikh Husein. South of Lake 

 Abaya lies Lake Ganjule, whose water has a wonderful dark azure blue 

 color, and may be compared to the most beautiful lakes of Switzer- 



