or any thing else, to Gondar, in order to distress the king and Michael's Tigré soldiers, who were then there.
The church of Mariam is on the hill S.S.W. of the town, and east of Adowa; on the other side of the river, is the other church, called Kedus Michael. About nine miles north, a little inclined to the east, is Bet Abba Garima, one of the most celebrated monasteries in Abyssinia. It was once a residence of one of their kings; and it is supposed that, from this circumstance ill understood, former travellers[1], have said the metropolis of Abyssinia was called Germè.
Adowa is the seat of a very valuable manufacture of coarse cotton cloth, which circulates all over Abyssinia instead of silver money; each web is sixteen peek long of 1¾ width, their value a pataka; that is, ten for the ounce of gold. The houses of Adowa are all of rough stone, cemented with mud instead of morter. That of lime is not used but at Gondar, where it is very bad. The roofs are in the form of cones, and thatched with a reedy sort of grass, something thicker than wheat straw. The Falasha, or Jews, enjoy this profession of thatching exclusively; they begin at the bottom, and finish at the top.
Excepting a few spots taken notice of as we came along from Ribieraini to Adowa, this was the only part of Tigrè where there was soil sufficient to yield corn; the whole of the province besides is one entire rock. There are no timber trees in this part of Tigrè unless a daroo or two in the valleys, and wanzeys in towns about the houses.
At
- ↑ Gol. p. 22. proem.
