414 SCENE FROM PALACE HILL. 



wherein stand the royal buildings. The lower 

 portion of the palisades skirt for some distance the 

 road into Ankobar from the valley of the Airahra, 

 and the first house upon the elevated ridge may be 

 said to be the palace, for its large and rudely- 

 formed wooden gates on the left hand, are the first 

 doorway perceived by the weary traveller after 

 having ascended to the level of the town. 



If, however, he look over the precipices to the right, 

 the whole way up, he will perceive hundreds of the 

 thatched roofs of little circular houses, in which 

 the greater number of the Royal slaves and servants 

 reside with their families. These descend by a 

 quick succession of little gardened terraces to the 

 meadow-like but limited plateau that intervenes 

 some distance, before the actual bed of the Airahra 

 river is gained. If the traveller looks from his 

 elevated position in this direction, and if it be a 

 bright 1 day, a splendid prospect extends before 

 him. Houses, the straw tops of which he could 

 jump down upon, so steep is the descent, conceal 

 the view of those which are immediately below; 

 but jutting beyond these, fringe-like enclosures 

 of the thick foliage of the shokoko-g woman and 

 the amharara trees, and low-thatched roofs buried 

 in gardens of the broad-leaved ensete or koba 

 banana plant, appear, falling rapidly to the undu- 

 lating broad meadow, studded with numerous 

 little eminences, where solitary, but snug-look- 

 ing farmhouses are sheltered by tall flat-topped 



