We continued along the side of the hill in a country very thinly inhabited; for, it being directly in the march of the army, the peasants naturally avoided it, or were driven from it. Our road was constantly intersected by rivers, which abound, in the same space, more than in any other country in the world. We then came to the river Derma, the largest and most rapid we had yet met with, and soon after a smaller, called Ghelghel Derma. In the afternoon, at a quarter past three, we passed another river, called Gavi-Corra; these, like the others, all point as radii to the center of the lake, in which they empty themselves. A little before four o’clock we encamped on the side of the river Kemona. Upon the hill, on the other side of the river, stands the village of that name; it was full of cattle, very few of which we had seen during the fore-part of the journey; we had all that day travelled six hours and a quarter, which we computed not to exceed 14 miles: the reason of this slowness was the weight of my quadrant, which, though divided into two, required four men to carry it, tied upon bamboo, as upon two chair-poles. The time-keeper and two telescopes employed two men more. We pitched our tent on the side of the river, opposite to the village, and there passed the night.
On the 29th of October, at seven in the morning, we left our station, the river Kemona; our direction was W. S. W. after, about an hour, we came to a church called Abba Abraham, and a village that goes by the same name; it is immediately upon the road on the left hand. At the distance of about a mile are ten or twelve villages, all belonging to the Abuna, and called Ghendi, where many of his predecessors have been buried. The low, hot, unwholesome, woody part of the Abyssinian Kolla, and the feverish, barren province of Walkayt, lay at the distance of about fourteen or sixteen miles on our right. We had been hitherto ascending a gentle rising-ground in a very indifferent country, the sides of the hill being skirted with little rugged wood, and full of springs, which join as they run down to the low country of Walkayt. We saw before us a small hill called Guarré, which is to the south-west. At half past ten we rested under the before-mentioned hill; it stands alone in the plain, in shape like a sugar-loaf, and seems almost as regular as if it had been a work of art. At a quarter past eleven we resumed our journey, our course always nearly west south-west; we passed the small village of Bowiha, at the distance of about a mile; and, on the left, about six miles, is Gorgora, a peninsula that runs into the lake Tzana for several miles.
There was one of the first and most magnificent churches and monasteries of the Portuguese Jesuits, in the time of their mission to convert this country: Socinios, then king, gave them the grounds, with money for the expence; they built it with their own hands, and lined it elegantly with cedar. The king, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, chose afterwards a country-house for himself there, and encouraged them much by his presents and by his charity; it is one of the pleasantest situations in the world; the vast expanse of the lake is before you; Dembea, Gojam, and Maitsha, flat and rich countries all round, are in view; and the tops of the high hills of Begemder and Woggora close the prospect.
The lake here, I am told, has plenty of fish, which is more than can be said for many of the other parts of it; the fish are of two kinds, both of them seemingly a species of what the English call bream. I never could make them to agree with me, which I attribute to the drug with which they are taken; it is of the nature of nux vomica, pounded in a morter, and thrown into streams, where they run into the lake; the fish, feeding there, are thus intoxicated and taken; however, it would admit of a doubt of this being the reason, because the queen and all the great people in Gondar eat them in Lent without any bad consequences.
The great elevation of the peninsula of Gorgora makes it one of the healthiest, as well as beautiful parts of the country; for, out of this neck of land, at several different seasons of the year, the inhabitants of the flat country suffer from malignant fevers. From Gondar hither we had always been edging down to the lake.
At a quarter before noon we halted to rest upon the banks of a small river called Baha; the country was rich, and cultivated; great part of it, too, was laid out in pasture, and flocked with an immense quantity of cattle. At one o’clock we resumed our journey, going west south-west as before; we were apparently turning the north end of the lake as short as possible, to set our face due south to the country of the Agows. At a quarter before three we pitched our tents at Bab Baha, after having travelled five hours and three quarters, which we computed to be equal to twelve miles. The first part of our journey this day was not like that of the day before; the road was, indeed, rough, burled through very agreeable valleys and gentle-rising hills; it appeared, on the whole, however, that we had ascended considerably since we left Gondar.
The country about Bab Baha is the richest in Abyssinia; this on the south, and Woggora on the north, are the two granaries that supply the rest of the kingdom. Bab Baha is a parcel of small villages, more considerable in number and strength than those at Kemona, and is near the lake Tzana. The queen and many of her relations have here their houses and possessions, and these, therefore, being respected by Michael, had not been involved in the devastation of the late war. The villages are all surrounded with Kol-quall trees, as large at the trunk as those we met on the side of the mountain of Taranta, when we ascended it on our journey from Masuah to enter into the province of Tigré; but the tree wants much of the beauty of those of Tigré; the branches are fewer in number, less thorny, and less indented, which seems to prove that this is not the climate for them.
The 30th of October, at six in the morning, we continued our journey from Bab Baha still rounding the lake at W. S. W. and on the very brink of it: the country here is all laid out in large meadows of a deep, black, rich soil, bearing very high grass, through the midst of which runs the river Sar-Ohha, which, in English, is the Grassy River; it is about forty yards broad and not two feet deep, has a soft clay bottom, and runs from north to south into the lake Tzana.
We turned out of the road to the left at Bab Baha, and were obliged to go up the hill; in a quarter of an hour we reached the high road to Mescala Christos. At seven o’clock we began to turn more to the southward, our course being S. W.; three miles and a half on our right remained the village of Tenkel; and four miles and a half that of Tshemmera to the N. N. W.; we were now close to the border of the lake, whose bottom here is a fine sand. Neither the fear of crocodiles, nor other monsters in this large lake, could hinder me from swimming in it for a few minutes. Though the sun was very warm, the water was intensely cold, owing to the many fresh streams that pour themselves continually into the lake Tzana from the mountains. The country here is sown with dora, which is maize, or millet; and another plant, not to be distinguished from our marigold either in size, shape, or foliage; it is called Nook[118], and furnishes all Abyssinia with oil for the kitchen, and other uses.
At a quarter past nine we rested a little at Delghi Mariam; the village called simply Delghi, adjoining to it, is but small, and on the S. W. is the hill of Goy Mariam, where the queen-mother has a house. All the habitations in this country were burnt by Ras Michael in his return to Gondar after the battle of Fagitta. The mountain Debra Tzai above Koscam, was seen this day at N. E. and by E. from us.