^ 



MAHDEEA-MAEIAM— XOAEATA. 



165 



of the Gumara on an enormous basalt rock, " grouping its garden-encircled houses 

 around the clumps of junipers which mark the sites of churches." The town is 

 surrounded on three sides by chasms, but connected with the neighbourino- plateau 

 on the fourth by a narrow isthmus which might be easily fortified. Mahdera- 

 Mariam is no longer a royal residence, but its two churches — those of the " Mother " 

 and the " Son " — are still much frequented by pilgrims, and numerous merchants 

 visit its fair. Two distinct quarters were till recently occupied by Mussulmans 



Fig. 51. — Mahdera-Makiam. 

 Scale 1 : 20,000. 



550 Vards. 



who differ from the other Abyssinians merely by their peaceful and business-like 

 habits. The hot springs of Mahdera-Mariam are retaUed by the priests, who also 

 practise the medical art. 



The most important commercial town on the eastern bank of Lake Tana is 

 Koarata, situated about six miles north-east of the spot where the Abai emerges 

 from the lacustrine basin, and near the mouths of the Gumara and Reb. Were 

 Abyssinia well provided with routes, this town would form the converging point 

 for the routes of many river valleys. A rounded basalt hill stands in the middle 

 of the plain, its western spur projecting into the lake. The town covers a con- 



