THROUGH SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA TO THE SUDAN. 787 



like .structures, about 15 feet high and 50 to f)0 feet long-, entirely 

 covered in with grass. Here the rainy season was ushered in by 

 terrible tempests, and for the next two months we had thunderstorms 

 nearly every day. Near a place called Dereta we passed the " Kella" 

 or gate of Kaffa. 



These south Ethiopian kingdoms — Kaffa, Jirama,Gera, and P]lnarea- 

 of which we have still but an imperfect knowledge from the journeys 

 of the Italian Cecchi and the Frenchmen d'Abbadie and Borreli, are 

 separated from each other by an interesting system of fortitication. 

 Where the countries are not bounded by high mountain chains, diffi- 

 c-ult to cross, they are surrounded b}^ deep ditches and strong fences, 

 which can onl}' be passed by means of a guarded gate called the 

 "Kella." The Abyssinians, after having taken these countries, retained 

 this system of fortification and the custom duties between the different 

 countries. The export of slaves is absolutely forbidden, that of cattle 

 onh" allowed bj^ permission of the governor. The whole south of 

 Kaffa is one large forest; there is a broad road leading from the Kella 

 to Anderacha, the new capital. It is absolutely impossible to pene- 

 trate tlie forest which l)orders the road without using axes or bush 

 knives. Scattered in clearings in the forest are the villages and coffee 

 l«)lantations of the inhabitants, the Kaficho. These are said to be the 

 descendents of the. old Ethiopians, who were isolated when Mohammed 

 (Tran3re, Sultan of Tajura, smashed the old Ethiopian Empire, in the 

 3^ears 1528-43. It is a fact that most of the Kaficho were Christians 

 when the Emperor Menelik conquered Kaffa, about five years ago. Also 

 tlie " Gez," the ecclesiastical language of the Abyssians, was still in 

 use, but the language used l)y the Kaficho of to-da}" has noaftinity what- 

 ever with the modern Abyssinian. Kaffa was f orpierl}^ ruled bypower- 

 ful independent kings, to whom also nearly all the countries west of 

 the Omo were subject. The last king, Savo Teheno, who had sub- 

 mitted some 3^ears ago to Menelik, revolted, was defeated by the 

 Abyssinians, and brought as prisoner to the old Abyssinian ca])ital 

 Anivober, where he still lives. Kaffa and all the countries south of 

 the Gojeb and west of the Omo were given to Ras Wolde Georgis, one 

 of the favorites of Menelik. Kaffa was forraerh' the principal coffee- 

 producing land in Africa, but when the Abyssinians took the countr}' 

 many of the plantations were destroyed, and it is now inferior in that 

 respect to the Kingdom of Jimma. The national dress of tlie Kaficho 

 f ormerl}' consisted of long capes of reed, grass, or hemp. The men 

 wear hats made of goat and colobus monkey skins; the M^omen conical 

 hats of bast. These national costumes are now seldom seen in Kaffa, 

 where the inhabitants dress like the Abyssinians, but they are still 

 exclusivelv used in the trilnitary land of Gimirra, in the west. 



My headman reached Anderacha ten days after my arrival, and 

 brought with liim some new men and some mules; but now my most 



