212 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



monarcliical states, with uncertain frontiers, mostly divided from each other by 

 desert tracts, or " hemes," as D'Abbadie calls them on his map. Gurageh, on the 

 upper affluents of the Waisa and Wabi, is one of these states, an upland region 

 separated from the Awash and the kingdom of Shoa by the Soddo country. This 

 state is looked upon as holy by the Abyssinians, because, according to a legend, 

 the five islets in Lake Zwaï are said to be the only Christian land which was left 

 unconquered by the terrible Granheh, whose soldiers were afraid to venture on the 

 rafts built to transport them to the archipelago. On these islets are convents in 

 which some ancient MSS. are preserved. All the people of Gurageh still claim 

 to be Christians, although they have neither priests, churches, nor religious tenets. 

 They content themselves with repeating the names of a few saints, and cursing the 

 Pagans and Mohammedans. Although relapsed into barbarism, the people of 

 Gurageh have still preserved the art of building far more elegant dwellings than 

 those of all other Abyssinians, excepting those of Gondar. In order to protect 

 themselves against the Soddos and other nomad Gallas, the people of Gurageh 

 have excavated pits here and there in which they conceal themselves on the 

 approach of the enemy, whose passage they watch, often attacking them unawares, 

 and even occasionally cutting off their retreat when in sufficient numbers. Gorieno 

 is the capital of the countr}', and G/iebisso its chief market, although a less im- 

 portant place than Mogar, which lies farther westwards in the Kabena comitry. 

 Gurageh and Kabena, often held as belonging to the same poKtical group, differ 

 entirely in manners, religion, and speech. The Kabena are fanatical Mussulmans, 

 and were the King of Shoa not to keep good order, they would be continually 

 warring against their Christian neighbours ; they are the chief slave-hunters for 

 the markets of Rogeh and Abderasul. The Kabena country produces the best 

 tobacco in all southern Abyssinia. 



The Galla region, where the Awash rises, and which separates the two great 

 curves of the Blue Nile and the Gugsa, is mainly occupied by Liben communities. 

 Farther west the valleys overlooked by the lofty Jimma-Lagamara Alps are 

 peopled by republican tribes, as are also the plains of Gudru, tributaries of the 

 Blue Nile. Beyond this point, towards the region of the Bertas, follow in succes- 

 sion the Alatus, Wobos, Washitis, and Wasas, all tribes of Orômo origin, concern- 

 ing whom travellers have hitherto collected the most contradictory accounts. 

 The Italian Cecchi is as yet the only traveller who has succeeded in crossing at 

 this point the large river Ghibeh, a northern affluent of the Gugsa. This formid- 

 able watercourse, some 4,000 feet broad after the rains, is crossed in narrow canoes 

 hollowed out of tree-trunks. The portion of the country stretching westwards to 

 the mountains of Jimma-Lagamara towards the sources of the Jabus, is covered 

 with vast forests. 



To the south the two kingdoms of Guma and Limmu are still mainly in the 

 basin of the Orghesa or Didesa, one of the largest but one of the least known 

 rivers in the Abaï system. The town of Chora, capital of Guma, is situated on an 

 affluent of this watercourse ; whilst Saka, the great market of Limmu, stands on a 

 rivulet flowing to the Indian Ocean. Similarly situated are the towns in Innarya 



