ate 
THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 123 
or any thing elfe, to Gondar, in order to diftrefs the king 
and’ Michael’s Tigre foldiers, who were then there. 
~ Tue church of Mariam is on the hill S. S. W. of the town, 
and eaft of Adowa; on the other fide of the river, is the other 
church, called Kedus Michael. About nine miles north, a 
little inclined to the eaft, is Bet Abba Garima, one of the 
moft celebrated monafteries in Abyflinia. It was once a re- 
fidence of one of their kings; and it 1s fuppofed that, from 
this circumftance ill underftood, former travellers *, have 
Zaid the metropolis of Abyflinia was called Germe. 
‘Apowa is the feat of a very valuable manufacture of 
‘coarfe cotton cloth, which circulates all over Abyflinia in- 
ftead of filver money; each web is fixteen peek long of 13 
width, their value a pataka; that is, ten for the ounce of 
goid. ‘The houfes of Adowa are all of rough ftone, ce- 
mented with mud inftead of morter. That of lime is not 
-ufed but at Gondar, where it is very bad. The roofs are in 
the form of cones, and thatched with a reedy fort of grafs, 
Yomething thicker than wheat ftraw. The Falafha, or Jews, 
enjoy this profeflion of thatching exclufively ; they begin 
at the bottom, and finifh at the top. 
Excrptine a few fpots taken notice of a5 we came along 
from Ribieraini to Adowa, this was the only part of Tigre 
where there was foil fufficient to yield corn; the whole of 
the province befides 1s one entire rock. There are no tim- 
ber trees in this part of Tigré unlefs a daroo or two in 
the valleys, and wanzeys in towns about the houfes. 
Q2 AT 
* Gol. p. 22. proem, 
