Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/274

 monarchical states, with uncertain frontiers, mostly divided from each other by desert tracts, or "hernes," as D'Abbadie calls them on his map. Gurageh, on the upper affluents of the Waisa and Wabi, is one of these states, an upland region separated from the Awash and the kingdom of Shoa by the Soddo country. This state is looked upon as holy by the Abyssinians, because, according to a legend, the five islets in Lake Zwai are said to be the only Christian land which was left unconquered by the terrible Grauheh, whose soldiers were afraid to venture on the rafts built to transport them to the archipelago. On these islets are convents in which some ancient MSS. are preserved. All the people of Gurageh still claim to be Christians, although they have neither priests, churches, nor religious tenets. They content themselves with repeating the names of a few saints, and cursing the Pagans and Mohammedans. Although relapsed into barbarism, the people of Gurageh have still preserved the art of building far more elegant dwellings than those of all other Abyssinians, excepting those of Gondar. In order to protect themselves against the Soddos and other nomad Gallas, the people of Gurageh have excavated pits here and there in which they conceal themselves on the approach of the enemy, whose passage they watch, often attacking them unawares, and even occasionally cutting off their retreat when in sufficient numbers. Gorieno is the capital of the country and Ghebisso its chief market, although a less important place than Mogar, which lies farther westwards in the Kabena country. Gurageh and Kabena, often held as belonging to the same political group, differ entirely in manners, religion, and speech. The Kabena are fanatical Mussulmans, and were the King of Shoa not to keep good order, they would be continually warring against their Christian neighbours; they are the chief slave-hunters for the markets of Rogeh and Abderasul. The Kabena country produces the best tobacco in all southern Abyssinia.

The Galla region, where the Awash rises, and which separates the two great curves of the Blue Nile and the Gugsa, is mainly occupied by Liben communities. Farther west the valleys overlooked by the lofty Jimma-Lagamara Alps are peopled by republican tribes, as are also the plains of Gudru, tributaries of the Blue Nile. Beyond this point, towards the region of the Bertas, follow in succession the Alatus, "Wobos, Washitis, and Wasas, all tribes of Oromo origin, concerning whom travellers have hitherto collected the most contradictory accounts. The Italian Cecchi is as yet the only traveller who has succeeded in crossing at this point the large river Ghibeh, a northern affluent of the Gugsa. This formidable watercourse, some 4,000 feet broad after the rains, is crossed in narrow canoes hollowed out of tree-trunks. The portion of the country stretching westwards to the mountains of Jimma-Lagamara towards the sources of the Jabus, is covered with vast forests.

To the south the two kingdoms of Guma and Limmu are still mainly in the basin of the Orghesa or Didesa, one of the largest but one of the least known rivers in the Abai system. The town of Chora, capital of Guma, is situated on an affluent of this watercourse; whilst Saka, the great market of Limmu, stands on a rivulet flowing to the Indian Ocean. Similarly situated are the towns in Innarya