MASSAWAH. 



179 



obliged to take refuge in the interior. It also happened that the Abyssinian 

 sovereigns, in whose interests it is essential that the port of Massawah shotild 

 remain open to the outer world, have wasted the country to retaliate on the slave- 

 dealers and corsairs. By virtue of recent treaties, the approach to Massawah, now 

 an Italian port, although the Egyptian flag still flies on the walls, is to be made 



Fig-. 58. — Massawah. 

 Scale 1 : 100,000. 



vV -, 



39°25 



L . of GreenwicK 



'sQ-e?- 



Depths. 



to 32 Feet. 32 to 80 Feet. 80 Feet and upwards. 

 2^ ]Mile8. 



completely free to the trade of Abyssinia. This port of the Eed Sea is therefore, if 

 not politically at least commercially, more than ever a natural dependency of 

 Abyssinia, and its importance, already considerable, cannot fail to increase rapidly 

 if peace is maintained on the plateaux. Detached forts command the approaches 

 of the town and mark the limits of an intrenched camp in which the Egyptian 

 governor formerly maintained a corps of 3,000 troops. 



