of Adam and buried it in Golgotha; over the skull trickle three streams of blood, symbolically washing away the sins of the first Adam. The figures of the

OF THE WORLD, ADOUA

Maries and Joseph at the foot of the cross are peculiarly elaborate, and the embroidered garments worn by the women are of distinctly local colouring. The

three angels holding three vases to the three wounds would look as if in some form or another the legend of the Holy Grail had penetrated into Abyssinia. Far above, in the left-hand corner of the picture, is painted the devil fleeing in terror from this world. Altogether, this picture is a most interesting embodiment of the Abyssinian conception of the Passion, and shows clearly the Greek influence which was at work in this Church. As for the minor details of local colouring, they are amusing, and produce grotesque anachronisms. The Roman soldiers have all got their matchlock rifles; the spear which pierces the side of Christ is an exact counterpart of an Abyssinian spear; the Roman soldier has an Abyssinian toe-stirrup. The priests who dance to welcome Christ as He enters Jerusalem have got their drums, their sistra, their pastoral staves, and their fly-flaps, and the trappings of the mules are entirely Abyssinian. Yet, taken as a whole, this picture is purely Byzantine in character, and shows beyond a doubt the source from which the sacred art of Abyssinia has been derived.

The environs of Adoua are very pleasant for walking; just opposite rises the great mass of Shelloda, which the inhabitants liken to the back of a horse. On it a German geologist is said to have discovered gold in large quantities, but he died, and his secret died with him. Two streams water Adoua-the Assam and the Gogo. The ruined king's palace and the ruined Portuguese settlement of Fremona crown heights about half an hour's dis

tance from the town. Given a settled government and power of developing itself, Adoua might be again what it once was, the most favoured spot in Abyssinia; but, as it is, constant rebellions and insecurity of life and property have paralysed everything about it.

CHAPTER VIII

EXPEDITION TO YEHA AND ITS ARCHEOLOGICAL
RESULTS

We were very anxious to make an expedition from Adoua for two nights to Yeha, whilst awaiting a reply from Ras Mangashah, giving us permission to proceed to Aksum. From the fragments of letters copied by Salt, I was led to believe that we should find Himyaritic inscriptions there, and thereby be able to establish beyond a doubt early Arabian influence and colonisation in Abyssinia. Alvarez also, the most reliable of guides, went into ecstasies over a ruin there, and our Greek fellow-travellers had also heard wonderful reports of the things to be found there. Dejetch Ambeh gave us permission to go, and an escort of a few soldiers to insure our safety, and the results, as they appear in the following pages, I think will show that the importance of the ruins of Yeha have in no way been exaggerated; and there is no question about it that they are of greater age and greater importance than those of Aksum itself. It is a ride of about five hours from Adoua to Yeha, and part of the road is very difficult; so we set off as early as possible one morning in the direction of the peaky mountains to the north-east of Adoua.

The first object of interest which we passed was a big sycamore tree, about a quarter of a mile out of the town, where executions usually take place; the town gibbet, in fact-luckily, just then without an occupant. To our left we passed the church of St. Michael, built a few years ago by Ras Michael, buried in its grove, and then we ascended the hills and crossed over a ridge, which brought us to a broad valley completely hedged in by an amphitheatre of precipitous mountains. A stream runs through this valley, the Mai Veless, and the soil looks extremely fertile; but it is a sad instance of Abyssinian deterioration. Ruined villages are seen in all directions, with the customary church in the middle, almost hidden by its sacred grove, which has turned into jungle. Apparently, at no very distant period, every inch of this valley had been cultivated; now only on a few acres at the upper end, where the valley is narrow and irrigation easy, is any cultiva tion carried on.

All the surrounding hills have been terraced for cultivation, and present much the same appearance as the hills in Greece and Asia Minor, which have been neglected for centuries; but nowhere in Greece or Asia Minor have I ever seen such an enormous extent of terraced mountains as in this Abyssinian valley. Hundreds and thousands of acres must here have been under the most careful cultivation, right up almost to the tops of the mountains, and now nothing is left but the regular lines of the sustaining walls, and a few trees dotted about here and