Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/228

 It is a monolithic obelisk some 83 feet high, but of a style entirely different from that of the Egyptian obelisks. Its ornamentation consists of a nine-storied tower pierced with windows and surmounted with a small pyramid with fluted base, curved and spherical sides. About fifty other obelisks are scattered over the neighbouring space, some fallen down, others leaning against the trunks of the trees, with ancient altars still standing amidst these ruins. Not far off unfinished carvings are still to be seen in the trachytic quarry whence the workmen obtained the materials for these obelisks. Amongst its other buildings Aksum also possesses, in the enclosure of its gedem or sanctuary, a Portuguese church flanked by an embattled tower. An aqueduct is cut in the rock, and close to the town the side of a mountain is undermined by catacombs which are said to be the tombs of the kings, and the place where "the great serpent, the ancient King of Abyssinia, is concealed." Autalo, the former capital of Tigre, is situated at a height of some 8,000 feet, on an amba surrounded by deep gorges, where rise the affluents of the Takkazeh. A higher plateau, crowned by the natural fortress of the Aradom amba, rises to the west, whilst to the south and east stretches the vast fertile plain on which the English established their head-quarters during the expedition of 1868. Antalo has since been abandoned, and its quarters, separated from each other by deep ravines, are nearly all in ruins; its inhabitants have migrated to Chalikut, about 6 miles to the north-east, one of the most charming towns in Abyssinia, its houses and churches surrounded by gardens and thick masses of trees.

Situated on the border-chain of eastern Abyssinia, at the very fringe of the terrace-lands sloping to the plain of the Danakils, Antalo and Chalikut are of some importance as depots for the salt merchants passing from the country of the Taltals to Sokota. Between this latter town and Chalikut the chief marts are Samreh, situated near the former lacustrine plain of Samra; then the lowland towns of Atsbi, or Absebidera, and Fisho. The new town of Makaleh has been built by the present negus on the very crest of the Abyssinian chain, and like Debra-Tabor, Adua, and Magdala, occasionally serves as a temporary capital of the kingdom. Here an Italian engineer has erected a palace in the "European" style of architecture. From this commanding site King Johannes overlooks a large portion of the still unreduced Danakil territory. He has even made some conquests in these lowlands, and on one of the four terraces, which fall in a series of gigantic steppes down to the plain, he has founded the market of Seket, much frequented by dealers in salt.

North of Antalo and Chalikut, and parallel to the border chain of Abyssinia, several other commercial towns follow at long intervals on the main road which connects the uplands with the forts of Zulla and Massawah. Some of these miserable collections of huts have acquired a certain importance in the history of Abyssinian exploration as the camping-grounds and places of observation of European travellers. One of the most populous of these villages is Haussen, situated on a