Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/385

 disputes on the borders, the dissensions among the several chiefs, the usurpation of power by a few of the more considerable of the nobles, the degraded condition of the sovereign, and the frequent incursions of a barbarous enemy, too strongly bear out the comparison: though I fear that the result of the struggle in which Abyssinia has for so long a time been engaged, is not likely to terminate in so favourable a manner as that which ensued in our own country, owing to a variety of causes, which it would be here foreign to my purpose to enumerate. At this time I consider Abyssinia as actually divided into three distinctly independent states; the separation of which has partly arisen from natural causes, and partly from the intervention of barbarous tribes of Galla, as may be seen by a reference to the general map given in this work, which I have thought it advisable to have coloured, for the purpose of more accurately marking out their respective limits.

The high range of mountains in Samen, extending from Waldubha to the south of Lasta, together with the line of the Tacazze, which shapes its course north-easterly along its base, sufficiently point out the boundaries of the two larger divisions of Tigré and Amhara: and when we consider, in addition to these natural obstacles to communication, that the inhabitants of both countries speak distinct languages, and are so materially different in character, it can only remain matter of surprise, that they ever became united under one government. In fact, the union appears at no period of time to have been very cordial; the conquest of one by the other has been frequently effected; but the possession of either state has been always held by very precarious tenure; a natural jealousy existing between the two classes of natives, which renders impracticable all attempts at establishing any intimate or permanent connection between them. The alliance of Tigré with Amhara was indeed more uninterrupted while the latter held the whole southern range of country; but when the irruptions of the Galla had weakened it by breaking off the provinces of Shoa and Efat, Tigré regained its independence; and though it has since been nominally held by a Viceroy, under the orders