Visited by Ibrahim.--Map of the Hawash.--Its effect upon
table-land of Abyssinia.--Future juncture with the Abi.--
Its early tributaries.--Effects of denudation.--Zui lake.--
Popular tradition.--Abyssinian geographical work.--Galla tribes.
_August 16th._--Ibrahim, the retired slave-merchant, who had not called
since I had made the improvements in my house, came in to-day. He was
rather astonished at the transformation I had effected, gave the table
a good shake, sat down in my chair, and _tabored_ with his fingers
against the parchment window. “_Ahkeem e moot_,” said he at last, “may
the doctor die! if it is not good; you are a _tabeeb_, and the house
of your Queen is not furnished so well.” The old gentleman had brought
his work with him, a piece of blue sood, which he was embroidering
with green and red silk in a large cross-bar pattern, and which he
told me was intended for a holiday guftah for his wife. Here I must
observe, that although the Islam women in Shoa usually wear clothes of
some common material dyed red, upon festival days they display very
rich headdresses of foreign silk, or embroidered cotton cloth, such as
Ibrahim was now working.
Walderheros placed the low Abyssinian chair for his accommodation, and
then, as was generally the case when Ibrahim came to see me, a long
conversation commenced respecting the town of Hurrah, of which he was
a native, although he had not been to that city for the last eight or
nine years. As usual, we had a map sketched upon the floor before us,
which, however, on this occasion was not a very complicated one, merely
the southern portion of the Hawash, where it encircles Shoa, and which
formed the conclusion of the course of that river, the northern portion
of which, as far as the ford of Mulkakuyu, I had already received
information of from my Dankalli friends, Ohmed Medina and Ohmedu.
The principal features of the geography of the country included in the
sketch map, were the three principal streams entering the Hawash from
the scarp of the Abyssinian table-land, all of which flowed nearly
to the south; but the most remarkable and interesting one was the
great indentation in the outline of the high country, which in this
situation seemed to be approaching to a separation into two parts
by the denudation of the sources of the Hawash on the east, and a
corresponding degradation on the west, occasioned by the action of the
waters of the Assabi, or Abiah, the red Nile falling from the elevated
plains of its earlier tributaries to join the Bahr ul Abiad at Kartoom,
where its height above the level of the sea does not, I believe, exceed
three thousand feet.
Surrounding the head of the Hawash, separated only by the narrow
valleys of denudation around its sources, are three elevated countries,
all forming part of the table-land of Abyssinia, and between which, in
the course of ages, this river has intruded itself by slow degrees,
and is still progressing annually farther to the west. These three
countries are Zingero to the south, Enarea to the west, and Shoa to
the north, whilst the corresponding portions of the scarp are Gurague,
Maitcha, and the ancient province of Fatagar, the more westerly portion
of which is now possessed by the Soddo Gallas.
This now excavated portion of Abyssinia must have been at a former
period one continuous table land, and the countries of Zingero and of
Shoa then could only have been separated by streams that flowed to
the north into the Abi, or to the south into the Gibbee, the ancient
Assabi. The same convulsion which has determined the peculiar course of
the Abi, or Bruce’s Nile, seems to have influenced the direction of the
encroachment of the Hawash into the limits of the plateau of Abyssinia;
and also the position of the débouché of the Red Nile from its summit
to the plains below. An examination of the map will show a curious
correspondence between the situation of the sources of the Hawash,
of the southern curve of the Abi, and of the break in the table land
where that river joins the Red Nile near Fazuglo. A great geological
fault seems to extend across Abyssinia in the direction of these
several points, one effect of which (that of the great disintegration
of the material of the rocks along its course) appears to me to have
favoured the denudation observed on the eastern and western borders of
this country. To this fracture I also attribute the sudden curve of
the Abi to the west, after flowing nearly due south from lake Dembea;
the physical barrier to its farther continuance in that direction not
being a ridge of hills, or what is generally termed an anticlinal axis,
but the presence of the opposite wall of the disjointed rock, which
characterizes the extension of the fault across the table land. This
is neither unfounded assertion nor rash conclusion, but the deliberate
opinion I have formed by a careful examination of the mighty operations
of nature that appear to have acted upon the surface geography of
Abyssinia from the most remote ages.
Let my reader return with me for a moment to the country of Adal, an
extensive plain, scarcely one thousand feet high above the level of
the sea. Its river, the Hawash, peculiarly its own, distinct in the
non-existence of opposite corresponding water-sheds to identify it as
having formed part of the original surface level of the surrounding
countries: an intruder, in fact, between the opposite slopes of the
river Tacazza to the north and of the river Whabbee to the south; the
countries of which were once continuous, but some convulsion connected
probably with that which has occasioned the fault across the table land
of Abyssinia, has in this position, severed the country completely;
and in the gaping chasm, filled up to a certain level with the debris,
has formed the bed of the Hawash, which gradually progressing on every
side, its wide circumference of sources encroaches every year upon the
elevated lands which surround it.
A traveller in Adal cannot help noticing the singular character of
the situation of the river Hawash, for he crosses over its bounding
ridge to the east, and has partial opportunities of observing the
bluff scarp-like terminations of the Angotcha, the Abyssinian, and
the Hurrahgee table lands, all of which are being rapidly denuded by
the numerous little tributaries which flow to swell the Hawash. But
this extending operation is most strikingly illustrated in a line
with the fault which has extended from the sea-coast to Fazuglo, in
the west of Abyssinia. Here, to the south of Shoa, the Hawash has
already approached within one day’s journey from the deep valley of
the Abi, and removes annually great portions of the surrounding table
land, which had previously determined the rain drops to flow into that
river, but subsequent to which removal, all falling water must for the
future, aid in swelling the insidious river of the low-land of Adal.
The valleys of numerous small streams, the sides of which, denuded to
the required depth, have been thus gradually opened into, and as this
is naturally aided by the steep fall of the scarp, denudation goes on
rapidly when the first inclination towards the Hawash has been given to
the stream, that had previously meandered upon a nearly level plain.
In this manner I contend, that the valley of the Airahra, between the
narrow ridges of Ankobar, and the edge of the table-land at Tchakkah,
has been acted upon, and that the waters falling to the west of
Ankobar, and which now flow into the Hawash, were formerly conducted to
the Jumma, and so to the Abi, when the two elevated points mentioned
were continuous, as they most certainly have been.
The geology of Abyssinia also favours these strange alterations of
its own face; for it is composed almost entirely of volcanic rocks,
easily decomposable, the operation, in fact, scarcely requires the
aid of water to occasion it; for the atmosphere alone crumbles the
hardest rocks, in the course of one year, into a stratum of loose
earth; and water appears to be merely the carrying agent, to remove
the soft soil, and expose a fresh surface to the action of the air. It
is this which adds so considerably to the fertility of the Argobbah
counties, situated on the scarp of the Abyssinian table-land; for every
fresh year, virgin earth of the most fertile capability, is offered
spontaneously, for the benefit of the cultivator, to whom, in this
situation, the use of manure is unknown.
Rain, however, aids considerably in removing vast portions of the
table-land; for during the wet season, generally some few days after
the commencement of the rains, and again, near its close, severe
thunder storms, with slight earthquakes, occur; and the devastation
which results, is not so much to be attributed to the latter, as it is
to the previously fallen rain; which, having penetrated to a certain
depth of the easily disintegrated rock, the least agitation brings down
immense quantities, from the nearly perpendicular cliffs. An earthquake
scarcely perceptible, and which, perhaps, is only consequent upon
meteoric explosion, by the reverberating vibrations being communicated
to the loose, yet prominent surfaces of the hilly scarp; there always
precipitates ruinous masses of earth and rock, whilst not a trace
of its effects can be perceived upon the table-land. This is the
real character of all earthquakes in Abyssinia I have witnessed; and
although the death of twelve or fifteen people, have been consequent,
it has only been in different situations of peril, the proper
precaution could have easily obviated, as it was where denudation had
been long undermining the foundation of their houses, or of those
on the terraces above; and which, when a moment of extraordinary
atmospheric commotion occurred, were shaken from the sides of the
valleys into the stream below. No leaping of the earth, or those
violent commotions, which mark these convulsions in other countries,
occur in Shoa. In Ankobar, during the severest landslips, for they
are nothing else, a loose stone building thirty or forty feet high,
and a still more rickety arch built by Demetrius, although in exposed
situations, were not affected in the least.
The tremour of the earth consequent upon portions of its surface
being detached, was only felt upon the situation on which it
occurred; and were it not for the heavy fall of rocks from the
overhanging table-land, no evidences of a violent convulsion could
be ever observed; so that I am justified, in attributing to external
influences, rather than to internal operations, the occasional
agitations of the earth which are experienced in Abyssinia during the
wet season.
The combined effects, however, of all these disintegrating agents
of the table land of Abyssinia, is to increase farther westward the
course of the Hawash, and we find that in the situation most favourable
for the operation of denudation there is contained, its most distant
sources. Already, by the testimony of M. Rochet d’Hericourt and Dr.
Krapf, the head of the Hawash reaches within thirty miles of the Abi,
the Nile of Bruce, and that in that direction it will still progress,
may be safely assumed, whilst the present order of things established
by nature is continued; and in the course of time a communication
will most certainly be opened between this river and that of Northern
Abyssinia, when probably, by this addition to its volume of water,
and a continual denudation going on also towards the east, diminishing
daily the barrier between it and the sea; the Hawash will then enter
the sea, and open a fresh highway into the interior of Africa.
Geologists may observe in this mighty operation, something analogous to
that to which they attribute other natural phenomena with which they
may be familiar, and the facts that I have stated, singular as they
may appear, are as easily demonstrated to be true as is the westward
progress of the falls of Niagara towards the lakes of Northern America.
Within the indentation in the table land to the south of Shoa, Ibrahim
placed three principal streams, all of which appear to flow south from
the scarp in that situation. These were, one stream which separated
the Maitcha Gallas from the Soddo Gallas; the second, called Hashei,
which separated the latter from the Abitshoo; and the third was the
Kassam, which flowed through the province of Bulga. On inquiring the
situation of the Zui lake, which, from previous information, I knew
was not far from the Hawash in this situation, Ibrahim explained to
me that it received the waters that flowed from the opposite scarp to
that of Shoa, and which constituted, with the high land to the north
of the Gibbee in this situation, the country of Gurague. On the other
side of the stream of the Gibbee was Zingero. Zui, called also Lakee,
has several small islands situated in its waters, each of which is
inhabited by monks, but on the largest a very celebrated monastery
exists, in which, according to vulgar ideas, all the wealth and books
relative to the ancient empire of Abyssinia have been concealed since
the celebrated Mahomedan invasion of that country in the sixteenth
century, by Mahomed Grahnè. There may be some truth respecting the
manuscripts that are contained in the monastery of Lake Zui, but I
question much if any treasure is to be found there, for in that case
Sahale Selassee would, before this, have attempted to subdue the Galla
tribes intervening, which could be accomplished in one campaign, for
already, in that direction, the country as far as the Hawash has
submitted to him, and Zui is not more than two days’ journey to the
south. That its conquest is intended by the Negoos of Shoa, I have
no doubt, and I think he only postpones it until he can effect the
reduction of the whole of Gurague, at the same time the inhabitants of
which are very much affected towards him, and in fact consider him to
be their monarch. I have witnessed two or three interesting interviews
between parties coming with unsolicited tribute from Gurague; and when
the monarch endeavoured to induce me to remain with him, he held out
the opportunity I should have of visiting that country in the course of
the next two years, by accompanying him, and which he supposed would be
a temptation for me to stay.
The Negoos himself corroborated the statement of Ibrahim, who had
visited the shores of this lake several times, that there was no
outlet for its waters, but that it was entirely distinct from the river
Hawash. Karissa, a Galla, from Cambat, who when enslaved was first
taken to Gurague, and lived near Zui several years, also told me that
a number of small streams fell into the lake from all sides and that
there was a tradition that a long time ago, the length of which he had
no idea of, all the country now occupied by the lake which is about
fifteen miles in diameter, was possessed by seven chiefs, whose lands,
for their sins, of course, or it would not be an Abyssinian legend,
were swallowed up in one night, with loud subterranean noises, and
stars shooting out of the earth, and that the next day nothing could be
seen but the present lakes, and the islands it contains. Considering
the character of the country, and the phenomena still witnessed in
Adal, whilst the country around Zui appears to be situated upon the
same elevation above the sea; I have no doubt that this tradition
is partly founded upon fact, and contains the national remembrance
of an extensive and appalling incident connected with some volcanic
convulsion, that at a former period occurred in this situation.
My morning’s lesson in geography terminated with a promise that Ibrahim
should get me the title of a Geez book upon the subject, which he
asserted he had seen in Hurrah, for I must observe he ridiculed the
idea of anything having been preserved during the invasion of Grahnè
into Abyssinia, by being taken to the monastery of Zui. He stated
that in the city of Hurrah, which was then the capital of the kingdom
of Adal, there was at the present day an entire library which had
formed part of the spoil of the conqueror on that occasion, and that
in the same building with the books is preserved the original silver
kettle drums that were formerly carried before the Emperor. He had also
seen a map which had been made by the orders of Mahomed Grahnè, of
the countries he had subdued from Massoah and Gondah in the north, to
Magadish in the south, and upon which was particularly marked the site
of every Christian temple he had destroyed. A copy of this map could,
I think, be easily obtained by means of our Berberah acquaintance,
Shurmalkee, whose connexion with the city of Hurrah is much more
considerable than it is supposed to be by our Government.
Upon both banks of that part of the Hawash which partially encircles
Shoa, numerous tribes of Galla find sustenance for immense herds of
cattle. Among these, the most important are the Maitcha and Soddo
tribes, situated upon the earliest of its most western tributaries;
next to these, proceeding from the west, is the Tchukalla; then Lakee,
or those living between lake Zui and the Hawash; to these succeed the
Gilla, the Roga, and then the Gallahn, the chief of which, Shumbo, is
a son-in-law of the Negoos, baptized and married the same day, whilst
I was in Shoa. Through his district lies the safest road to Gurague,
and accordingly it is the one principally taken by slave merchants,
who, however, seldom return that way, preferring a more circuitous
one, around the sources of the Hawash, among the tribes situated upon
the table land of Abyssinia. Adjoining to the Gallahn Galla are the
Aroosee, a powerful and warlike nation of the same people, but who
appear to be considerably in advance of their barbarous brethren. The
Aroosee are large agriculturists, and great quantities of coffee, and
of a red dye, called _wurrsee_, which is exported from Berberah to
India and Arabia, is produced in their country. They occupy all the
district between Hawash and the north-western streams of the Whabbee.
Where they terminate on the east, the possessions of the Hittoo Galla
commence, who also “drink of the waters of the Hawash,” and are, it
will be recollected the tribe, some of whom attacked the Kafilah of the
Hy Soumaulee, at Dophan, on the occasion of my coming up to Shoa. On a
map of a limited size, it would be impossible to introduce the names of
the numerous tribes of these people that border upon Shoa to the south,
nor would any benefit arise from the list beyond that which may be
obtained by the general designation, “Galla tribes,” and which I have,
therefore, employed to mark the localities of these people.