Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/393

 there than in any other part of Abyssinia; and that the inhabitants retain more of the ancient customs and peculiar manners of their forefathers than either of the other two states, which, together with them, once constituted the empire of Abyssinia.

The effect of my late journies has tended to increase the preponderance of Tigré: and it appears to me that the only plan, which offers a hope of restoring any thing like a regular form of government into the distracted country of Abyssinia, would be to promote still further the welfare of that province, by removing the obstructions which interrupt her communications with the coast, and by establishing thence a free intercourse with the British settlements in the East. Were such a measure to be accomplished, and a branch of the royal family to be placed by the consent of the chiefs of Tigré on the throne at Axum, it might again revive the political importance of the country, and ultimately lead to the most desirable results.

At present the possession of the ports of Massowa and Suakin by the deputies of the rulers of Jidda, forms a decided obstacle to all effectual intercourse with Abyssinia, owing to the unjust exactions which are extorted from the merchants who attempt to trade in their ports; and the power of these chiefs in the Red Sea may comparatively be considered as formidable, from their possessing several armed ships of four and five hundred tons burden, with a fleet of dows, carrying each from six to eight guns, which, when manned with the desperate ruffians who constitute the population of Jidda, give them complete command over both sides of the Gulf. The most effectual plan, I conceive, of opposing this influence, which appears to me fraught w4th remote danger, even to our Indian possessions, would be best accomplished by forming a native power in the Red Sea, sufficiently strong to counteract its effects, and likely to prove more friendly inclined to the English interests. This could be brought about without any great difficulty by means