THE HAMASEN AND SIMEN UPLANDS. 



133 



The crest of this mountain is a chaotic mass of rocks of all sizes, which might be 

 supposed due to volcanic eruptions, but which are indebted for their present form 

 to slow meteoric action. These rocks, lying obliquely on each other, form the 

 arched roofs of numerous caves, which have been artificially worked into dwellings 

 and in many places connected by galleries. One has even been hewn into a 

 monastery and a church, which is annually visited by thousands of pilgrims from 

 every part of Abyssinia. South of Keren stands the Isad Amba, or " White 

 Fortress," another rock famous in the religious annals of Abyssinia. This 



Fig. 44:. — The Simen Highlands. 

 Scale 1 : 1,000,000. 



K:^^t-:i^tM&f^ 





^ii .. 



58° 



5S°50 L . Qi bfeenwicK 



16 Miles. 



mountain rises almost vertically about 4,000 feet above the Barka Yalley, its sharp 

 peak scarcely affording sufficient space for the site of the convent walls. 



The Hamasen and Simen Uplands. 



In Abyssinia proper, commencing at the Hamasen plateau, the base of the 

 uplands is at once broader and more elevated than in the Bogo (Bilen) country, 

 its mean height exceeding 7,460 feet. Like most of the Ethiopian mountain 

 masses, Hamasen is covered with trachytic or basaltic lavas, which are themselves 

 overlaid by a reddish or yellowish earth. There can be little doubt that this 

 ochrous soil covering the Abyssinia plateaux consists of decomposed lava, like 

 the vast latérite masses stretching over the Dekkan and most of southern India. 

 In various localities basaltic columns are found partially changed to masses of 



