ing on their frontier. Wojjerat is a wild country, abounding with elephants, lions, rhinoceroses, and every species of game.[1] It is said that in this province the rains are not so periodical as in the rest of Tigré, owing possibly to the extensive forests with which the country is covered. Between Wojjerat and Lasta lies a small and low district called Wofila, bordering on the lake Ashangee; here the Galla have become mixed with the natives of the country, many of the former professing the Christian religion.
The rugged and almost inaccessible mountains which form the province of Lasta, have been before noticed. It is frequently called by the Portuguese writers Bugné: but for what reason I could never ascertain; as that name is at present unknown in the country. Bora and Salowa also form two mountainous districts northward of Lasta: and between them and the Tacazze lie the comparatively low countries of Waag and Gualiu, which are inhabited by Christian Agows.
Still advancing northward, the province of Avergale follows in succession, consisting of a narrow line of country, which extends about fifty miles in a north and south direction, along the eastern bank of the Tacazze. This district is also in the hands of the Agows, of whose manners and language some account has been before given. I have in addition to remark, that their buildings seem invariably to be put together without mortar, and that the better sort of houses are constructed in the characteristic form of ancient Egyptian temples. On the eastward side of the Tacazze, in this latitude, rises the lofty province of Samen, which may undoubtedly be considered as the highest point of land in Abyssinia; the whole range of its mountains extending in a northerly and
- ↑ This province is famous for its white honey, which is brought in great quantities to the market of Antalo. The mode of domesticating the bees which is practised by the natives is as follows. Having found a wild hive, they hang near it a wooden box, called muggil, rubbed over with old honey, the only access to which is through a small hole in one of the sides. The bees, allured by this stratagem, collect in great numbers in the box, which when the owner perceives, he goes at night, closes up the box, and carries it home to his own habitation. Here they soon become attached, and form their cells in square compartments prepared for them in the walls, which in this part of the country are generally constructed of mud.
