202 NORTH-EAST AFEICA. 



towards the Awasli by the market- towns of Daweh and Mejettieh. Abargues de 

 Sosten claims to have explored these two northern routes in their upper part, in 

 spite of the vicinity of the dreaded Dawri tribes. Bianchi has recently attempted 

 to explore another and more northern route, from Makaleh to the port of Assab, by 

 way of the country of the Taltals ; but he was compelled to retrace his steps. The 

 presence of ferocious peoples on the spurs prevent traders from visiting this part 

 of the Abyssinian watershed, whilst the caravans coming from the Red Sea coast 

 or Tajurah Bay are compelled to make a complete detour from the direct route to 

 reach the provinces of Shoa. From Tajurah to the town of Ankober, the usual 

 caravan route is about 360 miles, some 120 to 150 miles longer than the direct 

 route towards the plateau. 



At present the most frequented route between Ankober and the shores of the 

 Indian Ocean is that which passes through the principality of Harrar, terminating 

 in the port of Zeila. From the Shoa uplands, it descends at first to the town of 

 Aliu-Amha, inhabited, like the neighbouring village of Abderasul, by merchants, 

 slave-dealers, hotel-keepers and muleteers of all races, nearly all of whom, how- 

 ever, are zealous Mussulmans. After paying the custom-house duties, the caravans 

 pass on to Farreh, or Farri, the last village of the province of Efat, built at a height 

 of 5,560 feet on a projecting terrace ; then skirting the craters and lava-fields, 

 they reach the Awash, which they cross to enter on the great plain of Mulln. 

 Beyond this point the caravans proceed over the hills of a watershed, belonging to 

 the country of the Ittus, thence redescending into the plain of Harrar. Some 24 

 miles west of this town is the little Lake Haramoya, near which the French 

 explorer Lucereau was assassinated in 1881. 



Harrar and Zeïlah. 



The town of Harrar, also called Harrayheh by the Abyssinians, Ada or Adari 

 by the Somalis, and Herrer by the Egyptians, is stated by travellers to be exactly 

 midway between, or 170 miles from, Ankober and Zeila. Lying at an altitude of 

 5,600 feet, Harrar enjoys a relatively temperate climate, from 54^ to 59° F., and 

 is surrounded by fertile fields and groves of diversified vegetation. A delightful 

 and well-watered oasis situated on the border of the arid regions, Harrar could 

 support itself, even if it had no commercial relations with the neighbouring 

 countries. But it is moreover an important market-town, and its two ports, Zeila 

 and Berbera on the SomaK coast, keep up a brisk trade with Egypt and Arabia. 

 In 1883 it had an European settlement of five persons. Said to have been founded 

 three centuries ago, it is the most populous city in the whole of Abyssinia, and 

 even one of the largest on the continent, for from Cairo to Zanzibar, a distance of 

 2,400 miles, its only rival is Khartum. Accordingly the Egyptian Grovernment 

 took possession of it in 1875, so as to protect this precious market from the attacks 

 of the surrounding Somali and Gralla tribes ; but the garrison of from four thousand 

 to five thousand soldiers, more dangerous than the nomads in the vicinity, has 

 exhausted the country by oppression and plunder. The English, who as they 



