LAKE OF OUROOMIA. 
577 
merous hills, whose wildly various extremities towards the lake 
we were marching over. This place is surmounted by a fortress, 
and blessed with the shade of a few trees. We passed it. A 
quarter of a mile farther shewed us Tedja, a smaller village; 
and another hour’s ride brought us the grateful view of a little 
wood, in which stood the village of Ballistan, almost close to 
the lake. At this spot one of the bays curves off to the north, 
leaving a fine open tract of four or five miles; and the inha¬ 
bitants have profited by this opportune present of nature; cotton, 
castor, and grain being planted over it in every quarter. Not 
far from Ballistan stands another thriving village called Galwaz ; 
and at the distance of half a mile to the south, a beautifully 
fertile valley expands from the hills, watered by a mountain- 
stream, and cultivated by the industrious population of a village 
in its bosom, called Shitoon-Awa. Proceeding on this com¬ 
parative champaign ground, in the course of four miles we 
passed two other villages, Dashagul and Raskam. The edge of 
the lake stretched off N. 10° E., when we began gradually to 
ascend a high hill in the same direction. After an hour’s 
difficult riding, we gained the summit; and then the whole plain 
of Ouroomia was laid open before us, spread with villages and 
fertility; a little world of plenty, bulwarked on all sides but 
one, by apparently sterile, and, in many places, inaccessible 
rocks; and where they were not, there stretched the no less 
secure fosse of the Jake. 
When we descended the mountain into the vale, we found the 
river Balandooz, a rather considerable stream. It rises in the 
Bilboss valleys, and after spreading this fine track with verdure, 
falls into the lake. About the distance of two miles from its 
northern bank, stands the fortress and village of Maki. We con- 
4 E 
VOL. II. 
