VOLCANIC FOEMATIONS. 185 



its feet, and the lower terrace-lands sloping towards the Awash Valley and the 

 affluents of the Abai, In no other region of Abyssinia is the land more cut up 

 into distinct sections by the running waters. From some of the heights on the 

 plateau the country seems at a distance like a vast and almost level plain, where 

 the valleys are scarcely suggested by the interrupted vegetation, but on a nearer 

 approach these valleys develop into vast chasms of enormous depth. One of these 

 gorges, some 36 miles north-west of Ankober, is over 5,100 feet in depth, with a 

 breadth scarcely exceeding 2,000 feet. Amongst the abysses occurring in this 

 rocky region are Tegulet-Wat, near the ancient capital of Shoa, a fissure some 

 600 feet long with a breadth of less than 3 feet. Stones dropped into this rent 

 are never heard to strike the bottom. The rivers rising on the eastern slope of 

 the Amba-Shakka, some of which have to descend from an altitude of about 6,600 

 feet on their way to the Blue Nile, rush through these chasms in a series of 

 foaming cascades or magnificent rapids. 



YoLCANic Formations. 



East of the main range, the base of Amba-Shakka is flanked by a collection of 

 rounded hills, while parallel chains, such as the Argobba, rise in its immediate 

 vicinity. Farther on an undulating plain stretches away towards the Gulf of 

 Aden, here and there studded with volcanic cones which have ejected vast 

 quantities of lava. One of these extinct craters, near the right bank of the 

 Awash north-west of Ankober, forms a vast chasm many miles in circumference. 

 Another much smaller crater still emits vapours from the summit of an isolated 

 crag ; this is the Dofaneh volcano, which lies on the left bank of the Awash some 

 36 miles north-east of Ankober. Its state of activity may be compared to that of 

 Yolcano in the Lipari Islands. On its sides are deposited layers of sulphur, pre- 

 senting every shade from bright yellow to reddish brown. The group of Mintshar 

 volcanoes, in the southern district of Fatigar, contains other craters in which the 

 sulphur becomes sublimated. One of these igneous mouths, that of Winzegur, 

 forms an enormous caldron, according to Harris nearly 6 miles in circumference, 

 with walls rising to a height of from 800 to 1,000 feet ; two breaches in the 

 enclosure have given vent to streams of molten lava and black scoriae which wind 

 amid the surrounding vegetation. The pool of Burtshatta in the vicinity fills a 

 circular bed of black and yellow lava surrounded by vertical cliffs ; the rock is 

 honeycombed with hundreds of caves, whose entrances are half concealed by the 

 climbing plants growing to its sides. Through one of the extinct craters the 

 elephants and rhinoceroses have opened a passage to the brink of this lake. In 

 the western district of Dembi, Antinori describes another volcanic group inter- 

 spersed with numerous lakelets, but their water being destitute of fish they are 

 evidently of recent origin. Farther on to the south-west the isolated Zikwala 

 peak, about 10,000 feet high, already mentioned on Fra Mauro's famous map, 

 encloses a lake in its terminal crater, on the margin of which stands a monastery 

 founded by a " vanquisher of demons." Many hot springs rise in these volcanic 



