Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/230

 valley of this river along the heights of the western slope. North of the point where the river is crossed the escarpments of the plateau are broken into basalt headlands, columns, and peaks of fantastic shape. On these detached crags are the scattered villages belonging to Gundet, a district famous in African history. Here began the series of military disasters which, combined with financial loans and extortions, crushed the power of Egypt, making the country the sport of bankers and European diplomatists. At this period (1875) the Khedive of Cairo was one of the great potentates of the world so far as regarded the extent of his dominions. His captains had penetrated up the Nile as far as Lake Albert Nyanza and the watershed of the Congo. Egyptian garrisons had been stationed at the ports on the west coast of the Red Sea, and even farther south had gained a firm footing in the Ilarrar district and Somaliland. The invaders had already enclosed Abyssinia on the south, and thought the time had come to take possession of the plateau; but they were utterly routed at the battle of Gudda-Guddi, or Gundet. Nearly the whole of the invading army perished, together with its two leaders, Arakel Bey and the Dane Arendrup. The invasion, which was to have once for all reduced Abyssinia, restored its political unity from Hamassen to Shoa, and revived Christianity throughout the whole of this upland region, which seemed already a prey to Islam. In 1876 a second army, commanded by Hassan, son of the Khedive, again scaled the Hamassen plateau and occupied the strong strategic position of Gura, east of the Upper Mareb. But the lower part of their camp being surrounded by enemies, the Egyptian troops were almost entirely exterminated. They left their cannons and small-arms on the battlefield, and Prince Hassan only succeeded in obtaining his liberty by paying a heavy ransom. According to a report, which appears however to have been groundless, circulated immediately after the battle, Hassan and all the other prisoners were tattooed on the arm with the sign of the cross, a symbol of victory over the crescent. The most populous and commercial town on the route from Adua to Massawah, by way of the western slope of the Upper Mareb, is Kodo Felassi (Godo Felassich), capital of the province of Seraweh. As a trading station it has replaced the town of Deharon, farther to the north, which, although now of little importance, was formerly the residence of the Bahr-Nagash, or "Sea Kings," as the governors of the maritime provinces were called. Unlike the round houses of Central Abyssinia, with their stone walls and thatched roofs, those of Debaroa are partly subterranean, resembling the dwellings in many districts of Caucasia and Kurdistan. The slope of the mountain is cut into steps, and the rectangular space thus obtained is transformed into a house by means of a clay roof, which at the back rests on the ground, and in front is supported by pillars ; the smoke escapes by means of an aperture made in the roof, which is closed in rainy weather, excluding light and air, and converting the dwelling into a loathsome cavern. The houses of all the Hamassen villajres are constructed in this fashion.