136 THE MEKANET. 



duced, and some ten bread, a large manuscript- 

 like roll of which Walderheros carried tied 

 up in his mekanet or girdle. This useful part of 

 an Abyssinian dress is only worn by the men when 

 engaged out of doors. It is one long piece of 

 cotton cloth, about one cubit, or from the point of 

 the elbow to the ends of the fingers, broad, and 

 fifteen, twenty, or sometimes even thirty cubits long. 

 A girdle similar to this was worn by the Jews. 

 Sometimes in Abyssinia it is taken from the loins 

 of a prisoner to secure his hands, exactly as it is 

 said to have been done in Judea. 



After breakfast we proceeded along the base of 

 the large hill upon which Ankobar stands, the road 

 winding around its south and west aspects. We then 

 fell into the usual high road on the west of the town, 

 which proceeds along the steep face of the valley, 

 midway between its crest and the level of the stream 

 below. We crossed, by gentle undulations of the road, 

 several short projecting spurs, all of which seemed 

 to be the productive farms of industrious individuals. 

 Thatched residences of mud and sticks, with yellow 

 stacks of grain, were perched upon their extre- 

 mities, overlooking the sudden cliff-like termination 

 of these subordinate ridges, cut by the action of the 

 constantly running water of the Airahra. 



Fording this river, we commenced the fatiguing 

 ascent of the Tchakkah, and after little less than 

 an hour's trot were breathing ourselves at the 

 " resting stone," Koom Dingi. After a short halt, 



