168 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



market-town greatly frequented by the Gallas. The surrounding district is the 

 richest and best cultivated in Go jam, whilst its mixed Abyssinian and Galla 

 population presents the most remarkable types of female beauty. 



ASHFA — GUDARA BaSSO. 



South of Mount Naba, highest peak of the Talba Waha Mountains, Damhadsha 

 is much frequented by Mohammedan caravans, and possesses a sanctuary like that 

 of Dima. Close by to the south-east stands Monkorer^ the fortified residence of the 

 King of Gojam, whilst farther to the north-west are the towns of Mankiisa, Buri, 

 and Gudara, the last mentioned standing on a volcanic crag near an intermittent 

 lake and the sources of the Abai. Ashfa, situated west of Gudara, in the midst of 

 picturesque valleys, groves, and pasture lands, is the capital of the province of 

 Agaumeder, which is peopled with Agau emigrants from Lasta. These populations, 

 still half pagans although each village has its church, are the bravest, and the only 

 Abyssinians who succeeded in evading the razzias ordered by the ruthless Theodore ; 

 in no other region of Abyssinia are the people more distinguished for courage and 

 honesty. South of Gojam, in the vicinity of the Liben Gallas, are situated in two 

 tributary valleys of the Abai, close to its southern bend, the two neighbouring com- 

 mercial towns of Yejihbeh and Basso, where Abyssinians and Ilm Ormas assemble 

 to barter the products of their respective lands. The merchants of Damot and 

 Kaffa bring a little gold-dust to Basso ; hence the country where this precious metal 

 is found is looked upon as a land of marvels by its covetous neighbours. Arch- 

 bishop Bermudez, formerly the Catholic Abuna of Abyssinia, tells us that the 

 El Dorado of Damot is also in the popular estimation a land of unicorns and griffins, 

 where amazons contend with fabulous monsters, and the phœnix springs again from 

 its ashes. At the end of 1883, a bridge was constructed by an Italian engineer 

 over the Abai, between Gojam and Gudru. 



Magdala. 



East of the Abai, on a promontory above the upper valley of the Beshilo, stands 

 the famous fortress of Magdala, which was, like Debra-Tabor, one of Theodore's 

 residences, where he preferred death at his own hands whilst still free, and defying 

 his English assailants. The amba of Magdala, rising to a height of 9,100 feet, or 

 3,300 feet above the Beshilo, resembles the rock of Mahdera-Mariam, although 

 higher, more difficult of access, and of a more imposing aspect. Apparently insur- 

 mountable, the basalt cliff terminates westwards in an almost vertical crescent- shaped 

 wall sloping north-westwards, where it culminates in an isolated peak. The 

 portion of the plateau on which the fortress is built is connected with the southern 

 part, which is occupied by the Gallas of the WoUo tribe, merely by a narrow path, 

 all the other approaches to Magdala being blocked by fortifications. The upper 

 platform, some two square miles in extent, bears the arsenals, barracks, prisons, 

 magazines for corn and other provisions, and blockhouses for the king's women 



