170 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. 



the route between Gondar and Massawah by way of Tigré. Dobarik is the place 

 where Theodore caused two thousand persons to be massacred in cold blood in revenge 

 for the death of his two English favourites, Bell and Plowden. North of Simen are 

 scattered the villages of the province of Waldebba, one of the " holy lands " of 

 Abyssinia, the personal property of the echaghe, and mainly peopled by monks. 



Lalihala, east of and not far from the sources of the Takkazeh, is another 

 sacred region. This town stands on a basalt upland terrace, forming a spur of 

 Mount Asheten, whose wooded slopes rise to the south-west. Seven irregularities 

 in the soil serve as a pretext for its priests to boast that, like Rome and Byzan- 

 tium, their city is built on seven hills ; like Jerusalem, it has its Mount of Olives, 

 on which stand trees with huge trunks, brought from the Holy Land many 

 centuries ago. The town and the churches are surrounded with trees which, 

 together with the perpetual spring of this temperate region, combine to make this 

 place a charming and salubrious residence. Still Lalibala is very sparsely popu- 

 lated ; its old buildings are crumbling away amidst the rocks, while its under- 

 ground galleries have no longer any outlets. The inhabitants consist almost 

 exclusively of priests, monks, and their attendants. The churches of Lalibala are 

 the most remarkable in Abyssinia, each being hewn out of a block of basalt, with 

 altars, sculptures, and columns complete. Unfortunately the rock has been 

 weathered in many places, and of the monolith peristyle of one of the finest 

 churches nothing survives but four columns. The buildings of Lalibala evidently 

 belong to various periods, but it seems certain that most of these monuments must 

 be attributed to the king whose name is preserved by the city, the Abyssinian 

 "St. Louis," who reigned at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The work- 

 men who carved out these curious subterranean churches are traditionally stated 

 to have been Christian refugees from Egypt. 



KOBBO — GURA — SOKOTA. 



East of Lalibala, the depressions of numerous passes, running over the Abyssi- 

 nian border-chain into the Angot and Zebul countries, contain the waters of the 

 picturesque lakes Ardibbo, Haib, and Ashango. In this region of alternate forests 

 and pasture-lands are several large villages wherein the sovereigns of Abyssinia 

 have often resided. A convent, formerly one of the richest in Abyssinia, stands 

 on the woody " Island of Thunder " in Lake Haïk. On the bank of this lake is 

 the village of Bebra-Mariam, chiefly occupied by the priests' wives, who are not 

 allowed to visit their husbands in the monastery. The waters of the lake were 

 inhabited by a solitary hippopotamus at the time of Lefebvre's visit, respected by 

 the natives and dreaded by navigators. Lower down, on the eastern slope of the 

 Red Sea, stand the large markets of Kohho, Giira, and Waldia, frequented alike by 

 Abyssinians and Gallas, and described by Lefebvre as veritable towns. 



Sokota, capital of the province of Wag, stands at a height of 7,500 feet, north 

 of the Lasta Mountains, on both banks of the River Bilbis, which flows to the 

 Takkazeh through the Tsellari. Sokota is a commercial town, as till recently 



