APPEARANCES IN ADAL. 600 



connected probably with that which has occa- 

 sioned the fault across the table land of Abyssinia, 

 has in this position, severed the country com- 

 pletely; and in the gaping chasm, filled up to a 

 certain level with the debris, has formed the bed 

 of the Hawash, which gradually progressing on 

 every side, its wide circumference of sources en- 

 croaches every year upon the elevated lands which 

 surround it. 



A traveller in Ada! cannot help noticing the 

 singular character of the situation of the river 

 Hawash, for he crosses over its bounding ridge to 

 the east, and has partial opportunities of observing 

 the bluff scarp-like terminations of the Angotcha, 

 the Abyssinian, and the Hurrahgee table lands, 

 all of which are being rapidly denuded by the 

 numerous little tributaries which flow to swell the 

 Hawash. But this extending operation is most 

 strikingly illustrated in a line with the fault which 

 has extended from the sea-coast to Fazuglo, in the 

 west of Abyssinia. Here, to the south of Shoa, 

 the Hawash has already approached within one 

 day's journey from the deep valley of the Abi, and 

 removes annually great portions of the surrounding 

 table land, which had previously determined the 

 rain drops to flow into that river, but subsequent 

 to which removal, all falling water must for the 

 future, aid in swelling the insidious river of the 

 low-land of Adal. The valleys of numerous 

 small streams, the sides of which, denuded 



