SOURCES OF THE GIBBEE. 117 



the south, instead of, as modern travellers invari- 

 ably represent it, as being divided through its extent 

 by an anticlinal axis, which divides the waters that 

 flow to the north-west and to the Nile, from those 

 which, on the contrary, proceed to the south-east 

 and to the Indian Ocean. This impression, and 

 Tellez's apparently positive statement that the 

 Zibbee flows to the southward, I am afraid, how- 

 ever will still be proof against my arguments, and 

 until some enterprizing traveller visits the countries 

 of Enarea and Zingero, and decides by actual 

 observation, my readers may still amuse them- 

 selves by forming opinions upon this debatable 

 subject. For their assistance I have, therefore, 

 recorded the results of my observations, and the 

 information I received in a country scarcely one 

 hundred miles from these interesting and remote 

 localities. 



The Gibbee, or Zibbee, by Ibrahim's account, rose 

 in Enarea, where its sources were called Somma, 

 which, in the Gonga language signifies, "head." 

 At this place, annually, many superstitious practices 

 are observed, the last remains, I expect, of the 

 ancient river worship that was once general 

 throughout the whole of Abyssinia. The Agows of 

 Northern Abyssinia, who are of Gonga origin, still 

 profess to worship the Abi, although no traveller . 

 has yet given us any account of their ceremonies; 

 the more to be regretted, as it would throw con- 

 siderable light upon the ancient customs of an 



