ADIGRAT. 59 



Alekwa and Andale, — looks from a distance as if it could 

 not be less than 200 feet thick ; probably it is more. 



Adigrat itseK stands on the sandstone terrace at the 

 base of the traps. It is a considerable town, with a fine 

 church, containing some remarkable mural paintings, in 

 which Scriptural scenes are portrayed, as they might 

 have appeared, perhaps, had the scene been Abyssinia 

 and the actors Abyssinians, just as the Italian painters of 

 the Middle Ages introduced the costumes of Italy and 

 the great buildings of Florence and Sienna in the repre- 

 sentation of events which occurred in Palestine. 



On the road, a few miles north of Adigrat, numerous 

 large rolled blocks of granite lie scattered about, appa- 

 rently derived from the sandstone. This is the only 

 instance I noticed of the occurrence of rounded granitic 

 blocks on the table-land. 



As fax as Fokada, all the Abyssinian dwelling-places 

 seen had been square, with flat roofs like those at Senaf^, 

 and usually built against the slope of a hill ; but about 

 Adigrat we came upon the round huts with conical 

 thatched roofs, which appear to be the prevalent form 

 throughout Central Abyssinia, for no great change took 

 place between this and Magdala. The difference may be 

 partly due to the heavier raius further south — mainly, 

 however, I was told, to the paucity of grass for thatching 

 in Agame. The round thatched huts are certainly far 

 better adapted to keep out rain. 



At Adigrat I left a collector and a peon, with instruc- 

 tions to obtain for me skins of as many mammals and 

 •large birds as they possibly could, Captain Newport 



