Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/229

 plateau intersected by deep ravines. Farther on comes Addigrat (Add' Igrat) or Attegra, standing in a fertile valley about 8,000 feet above the level of the sea, and commanded west and south-west by heights rising to a still farther elevation of over 3,000 feet. To the west, on a sandstone amba whose terminal escarpment, some 100 feet high, can be sculed only by means of ropes, lies the monastery of Debra-Damo, one of the most celebrated in Abyssinia. Here

all the surrounding populations come to deposit their wealth on the least indication of war. The summit of this rock, covered with a vegetable soil and provided with one hundred and fifty perennial wells, although carefully cultivated, yields but an insufficient crop, so that the monks have to trust to the generosity of the faithful on the plains. Formerly the younger members of the reigning house were banished to this amba.

Senafeh, a town situated still farther north, occupies a sheltered Position at the foot of precipitous rocks. As the first mountain station un the route followed by the English army to rescue the prisoners in the hands of Theodore, the camp of Senafeh, during the campaign of 1868, was one of the greatest strategic importance. When the English carriage road, from Adulis Buy to Senafeh through the gorges of Kumaïli is repaired, this village will probably become a flourishing city. To the west Halaï, or the "ascent," which was till recently entirely Catholic, and Digsa (Digsan) are the first upland towns on either branch of the river Hadas, and have also gained a place in the history of Abyssinian exploration.

The capital of Tigré is connected with the Red Sea coast by two routes. Tho shortest runs north-east towards Senafeh; the other takes a northern direction, crossing the Mareb at an elevation of about 4,000 feet, and thence ascending the