THE SOURCES OF THE HA WASH. 353 



Surrounding the head of the Hawash, separated 

 only by the narrow valleys of denudation around its 

 sources, are three elevated countries, all forming 

 part of the table-land of Abyssinia, and between 

 which, in the course of ages, this river has intruded 

 itself by slow degrees, and is still progressing annu- 

 ally farther to the west. These three countries are 

 Zingero to the south, Enarea to the west, and Shoa 

 to the north, whilst the corresponding portions of 

 the scarp are Gurague, Maitcha, and the ancient 

 province of Fatagar, the more westerly portion of 

 which is now possessed by the Soddo Gallas. 



This now excavated portion of Abyssinia must 

 have been at a former period one continuous 

 table land, and the countries of Zingero and of 

 Shoa then could only have been separated by 

 streams that flowed to the north into the Abi, 

 or to the south into the Gibbee, the ancient 

 Assabi. The same convulsion which has deter- 

 mined the peculiar course of the Abi, or Bruce's 

 Nile, seems to have influenced the direction of the 

 encroachment of the Hawash into the limits of the 

 plateau of Abyssinia; and also the position of the 

 debouche of the Red Nile from its summit to the 

 plains below. An examination of the map will 

 show T a curious correspondence between the situa- 

 tion of the sources of the Hawash, of the southern 

 curve of the Abi, and of the break in the table 

 land where that river joins the Red Nile near Fa- 

 zuglo. A great geological fault seems to extend 



VOL. IT. A A 



