TOPOGEAPHY. 



201 



historically more famous than the others, as a place where many European explorers 

 have rested, and as the point of departure or arrival for the E,ed Sea caravans. 

 Ankoher, the very name of which place recalls the fact that from the remotest times 

 dues were here levied on foreign wares, is also the residence of the higher ecclesiastical 

 fimctionaries. Ankober, a labyrinth of paths winding between the city huts, is 

 delightfully situated on the ridges of a sphinx-shaped mountain which projects 

 eastwards of the main chain, commanding a valley whence the waters drain south- 

 wards to the Awash. Close by to the north is the station of Let-Marcfia, which 

 the Italian explorers Cecchi, Chiarini, and Antonelli chose for their astronomical 

 observations. Let-Marefia lies at the bottom of an old crater, whence the lava-streams 

 were discharged to the south-west. These lavas and adjacent terrace lands are 

 encircled by an amphitheatre of hills, two of which, or rather two fragments of the 

 Abyssinian plateau connected with the uplands by narrow ridges bordered with 



Fig. 65. — Chief Towns of East Shoa. 

 Scale 1 : 650,000. 



L . oT breenwich 



d9°40 



12 îliles. 



precipices, bear the two ambas of Emanhret, or Ememret, and Feliereli-Gemh, which 

 are regarded by the Abyssinians as impregnable. The latter fort contains in its 

 terminal tower the treasures of King Menelik and the supplies for his army. To 

 the north, in the valleys of the spurs, the villages of Aramha, Kokfara, Datveh, 

 Majettieh, and several others follow in succession as far as the country of the Eju 

 Gallas. 



In the remote future, when the question of connecting southern Abyssinia 

 with the Red Sea coast shall be seriously thought of, three natural routes indicated 

 by running waters cannot fail to be explored : to the north that which descends 

 from the plateau of southern Lasta by the river Golima, and is lost in a depression 

 flooded by brackish waters ; and farther south, under the latitude of Magdala, that 

 following the Melleh or Addifuah River valley as far as the confluence, and thence 

 to the Awash and Lake Aussa, where it rejoins the caravan route towards Tajurah 

 Bay. Another route, as yet unexplored by Europeans, descends from the Argobba 



