OHELGA— AMBA-MAEIAM— IFAG— DEBEA-TABOE. 163 



Chelga — Amba-Martam — Ifag. 



Towards the north-western angle of the Dembea plain are the scattered hamlets 

 forming the town of Chelga, which, though less famous than Gondar, is of more 

 commercial importance. Lying near the water-parting between the Blue Nile and 

 the Atbara, it is frequented by the Abyssinian merchants and the traders from 

 Galahat and Gedaref, who reach it from Wohni, the first station on the Abyssinian 

 frontier. In the upper valley of the Goang, which flows to the Atbara, are beds 

 of excellent coal, disposed in layers some two to three feet thick, and very easy to 

 work. From the plateau which rises west of the town to a height of over 8,800 

 feet, a view is commanded of the vast circle of hills and valleys enclosing Lake 

 Tana, the Tsana of the Tigré. At the foot of the basalt crag of Gorgora, rising 

 near the north-western shore of the lake, stands the large village of Changar, 

 which possesses a port serving as the outlet for Gondar, Chelga, and other towns of 

 the province. 



The only coramimication between the plain of Dembea and the riverain districts 

 east of the lake is by a defile, in which stands the custom-house of Ferka-her, much 

 dreaded by travellers. Beyond this post the towns and villages belonging to this 

 lacustrine region are built away from the banks at a considerable height above the 

 bed of the streams. Ainha-Mariam, or the " Fort of Mary," with its famous 

 church, stands on a level and treeless table-land, at whose base the villages of the 

 district of Emfras nestle amongst the tufted vegetation. Ifag, or Eifag, forms a 

 group of villages encircling the foot of a barren volcanic rock some 1,600 feet 

 high, which commands from the north the abrupt plateau of Beghemeder. 

 Situated at the northern extremity of a fertile plain watered by the copious rivers 

 E,eb and Gumara, and commanding the narrow passages which wind round the 

 base of the mountains at the north-eastern angle of the lake, Ifag is an important 

 commercial emporium with a central custom-house. The caravans stop and reform 

 at the town of Darifa, farther east. The plains of Fogara, stretching southwards, 

 are said to produce the finest tobacco in Abyssinia, while also yielding rich 

 pasturages for the numerous herds. Like Koarata, farther south, Ifag was 

 formerly celebrated throughout Abyssinia for the excellence of its wine, obtained 

 from plants introduced by the Portuguese ; but the vines, which generally grew to 

 a gigantic size, nearly all perished in 1855 of oïdium, at the same time that the 

 European vineyards were wasted by this destructive fungus. 



Debra-Tabor. 



South of the plains of Fogara stretches a ridge running east and west, and over- 

 looked from the east by the cloud-capped cone of Moimt Guna. This broad ridge, 

 covered with a thick layer of black earth and furrowed by the rivulets flowing 

 from the marshy sides of Guna, is the plateau of Debra-Tabor, or " Moimt Tabor," 

 so-called from a church formerly a place of pilgrimage, but which, since the time 

 of Theodore, has become the chief residence of the Abyssinian kings. From a 



