Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/347

 Several observations were taken by Mr. Stuart and myself, at Dixan, to ascertain its position, which gave the following result.

The longitude of Dixan, deduced from a set of lunar observations, is 39° 38′ 30″. This brings the latitude to within two miles of that given by Mr. Bruce, (14° 57′ 55″.) The longitude differs from his about twenty-nine miles; that gentleman having laid it down in 40° 7′ 30″; but as this appears to have been only computed from a longitude ascertained in the province of Siré, and not from any actual observation on the spot, no great stress can be laid upon it. Dixan was formerly a fief under Axum, and even to the present day its inhabitants retain a high respect for that city; most of them being marked with a cross, burnt in the skin of the right shoulder, as a token of their attachment to its ecclesiastical establishment.

On the 19th, early in the morning, we left Dixan, and after travelling about four miles up a continual ascent, passed over a low ridge of the mountain, which constitutes the north-western range of Taranta. The descent from this point was extremely steep, and much incommoded with loose stones, but bore no proportion to that of Taranta. On arriving at the bottom of the pass, we came to a plain, thickly interspersed with caper bushes, and in part covered with fine turf, presenting a singular contrast to the parched appearance of the country on the opposite side of the mountain; and throughout the whole extent of the plain we occasionally met with loose piles of stones, resembling "cromleks," from which the earth had been washed away by the force of the periodical