ANTALO — SENAFEH. 



175 



Fig. 56. — KuMAÏLi Valley. 

 Scale 1 : 650,000. 



plateau intersected by deep ravines. Farther on comes Addigrat (^Add* Igrat) or 

 Aftegra, standing in a fertile valley about 8,000 feet above tbe level of the sea, and 

 commanded west and south- west by heights rising to a still farther elevation of 

 over 3,000 feet. To the west, on a sandstone amba whose terminal escarpment, 

 some 100 feet high, can be scaled only by means of ropes, lies the monastery of 

 Dehra-Damo, one of the most 

 celebrated in xVbyssinia. Here 

 all the surrounding populations 

 come to deposit their wealth on 

 the least indication of war. The 

 summit of this rock, covered with 

 a vegetable soil and provided 

 with one hundred and fifty peren- 

 nial wells, although carefully cul- 

 tivated, yields but an insufiScient 

 crop, so that the monks have to 

 trust to the generosity of the 

 faithful on the plains. Formerly 

 the younger members of the 

 reigning house were banished to 

 this amba. 



Senafeh, a town situated still 

 farther north, occupies a sheltered 

 position at the foot of precipitous 

 rocks. As the first mountain sta- 

 tion on the route followed by the 

 English army to rescue the pri- 

 soners in the hands of Theodore, 

 the camp of Senafeh, during the 

 campaign of 1868, was one of 

 the greatest strategic importance. 

 When the English carriage road, 

 from Adulis Bay to Senafeh 

 through the gorges of KumaïK 

 is repaired, this village will pro- 

 bably become a flourishing city. To 

 the west Haldi, or the " ascent," 

 which was till recently entirely 

 Catholic, and Digsa (^Digsun^^ are 



the first upland towns on either branch of the river Hadas, and have also gained a 

 place in the history of Abyssinian exploration. 



The capital of Tigré is connected with the Red Sea coast by two routes. The 

 shortest runs north-east towards Senafeh ; the other takes a northern direction, 

 crossing the Mareb at an elevation of about 4,000 feet, and thence ascending the 



bQ'ZO 



E of Gr 



59°40 



Depths. 



to 32 Feet. 32 to 64 Feet. 64 Feet and 

 upwards. 

 12 Miles. 



