176 NOETH-EAST APRICA. 



valley of this river along the heights of the western slope. North of the point 

 where the river is crossed the escarpments of the plateau are broken into basalt 

 headlands, columns, and peaks of fantastic shape. On these detached crags are 

 the scattered villages belonging to Gundet, a district famous in African history. 

 Here began the series of military disasters which, combined with financial loans 

 and extortions, crushed the power of Egypt, making the country the sport of 

 bankers and European diplomatists. At this period (1875) the Khedive of Cairo 

 was one of the great potentates of the world so far as regarded the extent of his 

 dominions. His captains had penetrated up the Nile as far as Lake Albert 

 Nyanza and the watershed of the Congo. Egyptian garrisons had been stationed 

 at the ports on the west coast of the Red Sea, and even farther south had gained a 

 firm footing in the Harrar district and Somaliland. The invaders had already 

 enclosed Abyssinia on the south, and thought the time had come to take possession 

 of the plateau; but they were utterly routed at the battle of Gudda-Guddi, or 

 Gundet. Nearly the whole of the invading army perished, together with its two 

 leaders, Arakel Bey and the Dane Arendrup. The invasion, which was to have 

 once for all reduced Abyssinia, restored its political unity from Hamassen to Shoa, 

 and revived Christianity throughout the whole of this upland region, which seemed 

 already a prey to Islam. In 1876 a second army, commanded by Hassan, son of 

 the Khedive, again scaled the Hamassen plateau and occupied the strong strategic 

 position of Gura, east of the Upper Mareb. But the lower part of their camp 

 being surrounded by enemies, the Egyptian troops were almost entirely exter- 

 minated. They left their cannons and small-arms on the battlefield, and Prince 

 Hassan only succeeded in obtaining his liberty by paying a heavy ransom. Ac- 

 cording to a report, which appears however to have been groundless, circulated 

 immediately after the battle, Hassan and all the other prisoners were tattooed on 

 the arm with the sign of the cross, a symbol of victory over the crescent. 



Debaroa — Kasen — Arkilo. 



The most populous and commercial town on the route from Adua to Massawah, 

 by way of the western slope of the Upper Mareb, is Kodo Felassi (Godo FelassiehX 

 capital of the province of Seraweh. As a trading station it has replaced the town 

 of Debaron, farther to the north, which, although now of little importance, was 

 formerly the residence of the Bahr-Nagash, or " Sea Kings," as the governors of 

 the maritime provinces were called. Unlike the round houses of Central Abys- 

 sinia, with their stone walls and thatched roofs, those of Debaroa are partly 

 subterranean, resembling the dwellings in many districts of Caucasia and Kurdis- 

 tan. The slope of the mountain is cut into steps, and the rectangular space thus 

 obtained is transformed into a house by means of a clay roof, which at the back 

 rests on the ground, and in front is supported by pillars ; the smoke escapes by 

 means of an aperture made in the roof, which is closed in rainy weather, excluding 

 light and air, and converting the dwelling into a loathsome cavern. The houses 

 of all the Hamassen villages are constructed in this fashion. 



