Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/241

 its feet, and the lower terrace-lands sloping towards the Awash Valley and the affluents of the Abai. In no other region of Abyssinia is the laud more cut up into distinct sections by the running waters. From some of the heights on the plateau the country seems at a distance like a vast and almost level plain, where the valleys are scarcely suggested by the interrupted vegetation, but on a nearer approach those valleys develop into vast chasms of enormous depth. One of these gorges, some 36 miles north-west of Ankober, is over 5,100 feet in depth, with a breadth scarcely exceeding 2,000 feet. Amongst the abysses occurring in this rocky region are Tegulet-Wat, near the ancient capital of Shoa, a fissure some 600 feet long with a breadth of less than 3 feet. Stones dropped into this rent are never heard to strike the bottom. The rivers rising on the eastern slope of the Amba-Shakka, some of which have to descend from an altitude of about 6,600 feet on their way to the Blue Nile, rush through these chasms in a series of foaming cascades or magnificent rapids.

East of the main range, the base of Amba-Shakka is flanked by a collection of rounded hills, while parallel chains, such as the Argobba, rise in its immediate vicinity. Farther on an undulating plain stretches away towards the Gulf of Aden, here and there studded with volcanic cones which have ejected vast quantities of lava. One of these extinct craters, near the right bank of the Awash north-west of Ankober, forms a vast chasm many miles in circumference. Another much smaller crater still emits vapours from the summit of an isolated crag; this is the Dofaneh volcano, which lies on the left bank of the Awash some 36 miles north-east of Ankober. Its state of activity may be compared to that of Volcano in the Lipari Islands. On its sides are deposited layers of sulphur, presenting every shade from bright yellow to reddish brown. The group of Mintshar volcanoes, in the southern district of Fatigar, contains other craters in which the sulphur becomes sublimated. One of these igneous mouths, that of Winzegur, forms an enormous caldron, according to Harris nearly 6 miles in circumference, with walls rising to a height of from 800 to 1,000 feet; two breaches in the enclosure have given vent to streams of molten lava and black scoriæ which wind amid the surrounding vegetation. The pool of Burtshatta in the vicinity fills a circular bed of black and yellow lava surrounded by vertical cliffs ; the rock is honeycombed with hundreds of caves, whose entrances are half concealed by the climbing plants growing to its sides. Through one of the extinct craters the elephants and rhinoceroses have opened a passage to the brink of this lake. In the western district of Dembi, Antinori describes another volcanic group interspersed with numerous lakelets, but their water being destitute of fish they are evidently of recent origin. Farther on to the south-west the isolated Zikwala peak, about 10,000 feet high, already mentioned on Fra Mauro's famous map, encloses a lake in its terminal crater, on the margin of which stands a monastery founded by a "vanquisher of demons." Many hot springs rise in these volcanic