Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/261

 historically more famous than the others, as a place where many European explorers have rested, and as the point of departure or arrival for the Red Sea caravans, Ankober, the very name of which place recalls the fact that from the remotest times dues were here levied on foreign wares, is also the residence of the higher ecclesiastical functionaries. Ankober, a labyrinth of paths winding between the city buts, is delightfully situated on the ridges of a sphinx-shaped mountain which projects eastwards of the main chain, commanding a valley whence the waters drain southwards to the Awash. Close by to the north is the station of Let-Marefia, which the Italian explorers Cecchi, Chiarini, and Antonelli chose for their astronomical observations. Let-Marefia lies at the bottom of an old crater, whence the lava-streams were discharged to the south-west. These lavas and adjacent terrace lands are encircled by an amphitheatre of hills, two of which, or rather two fragments of the Abyssinian plateau connected with the uplands by narrow ridges bordered with

precipices, bear the two ambas of Emanbret, or Ememret, and Fekereh-Gemb, which are regarded by the Abyssinians as impregnable. The latter fort contains in its terminal tower the treasures of King Menelik and the supplies for his army. To the north, in the valleys of the spurs, the villages of Aramba, Kokfara, Daweh, Majettieh, and several others follow in succession as far as the country of the Eju Gallas.

In the remote future, when the question of connecting southern Abyssinia with the Red Sea coast shall be seriously thought of, three natural routes indicated by running waters cannot fail to be explored: to the north that which descends from the plateau of southern Lasta by the river Golima, and is lost in a depression flooded by brackish waters; and farther south, under the latitude of Magdala, that following the Melleh or Addifuah River valley as far as the confluence, and thence to the Awash and Lake Aussa, where it rejoins the caravan route towards Tajurah Bay. Another route, as yet unexplored by Europeans, descends from the Argobba