164 



NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



strategical point of view the position has been admirably chosen. To the west 

 stretch the riverain plains of Lake Tana, the most fertile in the kingdom. From 

 the summit, exceeding 8,600 feet, on which his palace is perched, the sovereign 

 overlooks the lands which furnish his army with supplies. From this point he 

 can easily reach the Upper Takkazeh valley towards the east, or the valley of the 

 Abaï and the routes of Shoa to the south. The capital of a country engaged in 

 perpetual warfare could not be more fortunately situated. But the royal camping- 

 ground has often been shifted on the plateau of Debra-Tabor. 



The village of Debra-Tabor, where the " king of kings " often resides during 

 the rainy season, bears the name of Samara ; some miles to the north-west is the 

 village of Ga/af, formerly inhabited by blacksmiths who were reputed sorcerers. 

 Theodore had assigned it as a residence for a numerous colony of Protestant 



Fig. 50.— Debka-Tabor. 

 Scale 1 : 350,000. 



:^iij.^'>^ , ^ 



t ^ of breenwich 



58° 10 



6 Miles. 



missionaries, employed, not for the evangelisation of the inhabitants, but for the 

 manufacture of harness, weapons, and materials for war. Gafat was at that time 

 the arsenal of Abyssinia. 



The watercourses of Debra-Tabor flow to Lake Tana through the Eeb, which 

 latter river, not far from Gafat, forms a superb cascade nearly 70 feet high. West 

 of Debra-Tabor, on a lowland promontory of the plateau, are the ruins of the Castle 

 of Arengo, the " Versailles of the Negus," built beneath some large trees, on the 

 edge of a precipice over which falls a cascade, its waters disappearing in the virgin 

 forest below. Thermal springs from 100° to 107° F. abound in this region. 

 The most frequented are those of Wanziglieh in the valley of southern Gumara. 

 The neighbouring village is the only place in Abyssinia where vines have been 

 introduced. 



MaHDERA-MaRIAM — KOARATA. 



The basin of the Gumara, like that of the E,eb, has also a town famous in the 

 local records. Mahdera-Mariam, or " Mary's Rest," stands between two affluents 



