chap, x.] THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SHOOA . 281 
five miles to the west by north, at the foot of the 
Faloro hills. 
By Casella’s thermometer, I determined the altitude 
of Shooa to be 3,877 feet—1,002 feet above the Asua 
river, and 89 feet lower than Farajoke. These obser¬ 
vations of the thermometer agreed with the natural 
appearance of the country, the Asua river forming the 
main drain in a deep valley, into which innumerable 
rivulets convey the drainage from both north and 
south. Accordingly, the Asua, receiving the Atabbi 
river, which is the main drain of the western face of 
the Madi mountains, and the entire drainage of the 
Madi and Shooa countries, together with that of exten¬ 
sive countries to the east of Shooa, including the rivers 
Chombi and Udat, from Lira and Umiro, it becomes 
a tremendous torrent so long as the rains continue, and 
conveys a grand volume of water to the Nile ; but the 
inclination of all these countries tending rapidly to the 
north-west, the bed of the Asua river partakes of the 
general incline, and so quickly empties after the ces¬ 
sation of the rains that it becomes nil as a river. By the 
mean of several observations I determined the latitude 
of Shooa 3° 04', longitude E. 32° 04'. We were now 
about twelve miles south of Debonos outpost, Faloro. 
The whole of the Shooa country was assumed to belong 
to Mohammed Wat el Mek, the vakeel of Debono, and 
we had passed the ashes of several villages that had 
been burnt and plundered by these people between 
Farajoke and this point; the entire country had been 
laid waste. 
There was no great chief at Shooa; each village had 
a separate headman: formerly the population had 
occupied the lower ground, but since the Turks had 
been established at Faloro and had plundered the 
neighbouring tribes, the natives had forsaken their vil¬ 
lages and had located themselves among the mountains 
for security. It was the intention of Ibrahim to break 
through the rules accepted by the White Nile traders, 
and to establish himself at Shooa, which, although 
