272 Agricultural and Land produce of Shoa. [No. 148. 



the Gallas. For the better security of his own monopoly in this article 

 at the ports of Zayla and Berberri, the plant is successfully and ex- 

 tensively cultivated ; but the price given at Hurrur is high in compa- 

 rison with what is paid in Abyssinia, and the average prices demand- 

 ed for the commodity by the Hurrur merchants at Zayla and Berber- 

 ri, seem to be exactly those customary at Maysawa in the Red Sea, 

 varying from five pence to seven pence a pound. 



58. The impracticable state of the tedious road to the sea coast, 

 the lazy indifferent character of the Danatiel camel owners, who, re- 

 gardless of the value of time, spend months upon the journey, and 

 the fitful caprice continually displayed by the various chieftains 

 throughout the whole tract which the caravans are necessitated to 

 pass, all form great obstacles to the conveyance of the cheaper produce 

 from Abyssinia, which might, however, be overcome by British power 

 and British perseverance. 



59. But according to all collected native reports, in Caffu and 

 Enarea the coffee grows like a weed over the rich surface of the coun- 

 try ; the beverage is in universal use among the inhabitants, the price 

 paid is almost nominal, and the conveyance of water carriage, which 

 may be afforded by means of the great river Gochof, is alone requisite 

 to transport the product to any quantity to every portion of the globe, 

 to the great profit of the speculator, and to the honor of the Govern- 

 ment which should carried this beneficial measure into effect. 



60. Cotton grows in the sheltered nooks, on the eastern face of the 

 mountains, and in the vallies at the extreme foot of the range ; but 

 from the superior luxuriance of the plant, and the amount of crop 

 which is produced in the valley ground, the natural climate seems to 

 be in those sheltered spots which much resemble, in atmosphere, the 

 more favored parts of Kandeesh and Guzarat. The plant is a shrub 

 which varies in size according to the locality and supply of water, from 

 three feet in height to upwards of seven ; it assumes generally the 

 shape of a pyramid, the lowermost branches extending in width to 

 nearly the entire height of the bush, the leaves are of a large size, the 

 stalk appears more soft and yielding, and the whole appearance of the 

 plant in every situation is more healthy and luxuriant than any of 

 the species I ever saw in India, with the exception of the Bourbon 

 cotton, to which the Abyssinian cotton bears a considerable external 



