Mapping Data Flows in Azure Data Factory 1st Edition Mark Kromer
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- 6. Mark Kromer Mapping Data Flows in Azure Data Factory Building Scalable ETL Projects in the Microsoft Cloud
- 7. Mark Kromer SNOHOMISH, WA, USA ISBN 978-1-4842-8611-1 e-ISBN 978-1-4842-8612-8 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8612-8 © Mark Kromer 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Apress imprint is published by the registered company APress Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
- 8. The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.
- 9. This book is dedicated to my loving wife Stacy and our boys Ethan and Jude. Thank you for putting up with my late hours working on data analytics and writing this book!
- 10. Introduction The ETL (extract, transform, load) process has been a cornerstone of data warehouses, data marts, and business intelligence for decades. ETL is how data engineers have traditionally refined raw data into business analytics that guide the business to make better decisions. These projects have allowed engineers to build up libraries of common ETL processes and practices from traditional on-premises data warehouses over the years, very commonly with data coming from Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, or Sybase databases or business ERP/CRM applications like Salesforce, SAP, Dynamics, etc. However, over the past decade, our industry has seen these analytical workloads migrate to the cloud at a very rapid pace. To keep up with these changes, we’ve had to adjust ETL techniques to account for more varied and larger data. The big data revolution and cloud migrations have forced us to rethink many of our proven ETL patterns to meet modern data transformation challenges and demands. Today, the vast majority of data that we process exists primarily in the cloud. And that data may not always be governed and curated by rigid business processes in the way that our previous ETL processes could rely on. The common scenarios of processing well-known hardened schemas from SAP and CSV exports will now have a new look and challenge. The data sources will likely vary in shape, size, and scope from day to day. We need to account for schema drift, data drift, and other possible obstructions to refining data in a way that turns the data into refined business analytics. Cloud-First ETL with Mapping Data Flows Welcome to Mapping Data Flows in Azure Data Factory! In this book, I’m going to introduce you to Microsoft Azure Data Factory and the Mapping Data Flows feature in ADF as the key ETL toolset to tackle these modern data analytics challenges. As you make your way through the book, you’ll learn key concepts, and through the use of examples, you’ll begin to build your first cloud-based ETL projects that can help you to unlock the potential of scaled-out big data ETL processing in the
- 11. cloud. I’ll demonstrate how to tackle the particularly difficult and challenging aspects of big data analytics and how to prepare data for business decision makers in the cloud. To get the most value from this book, you should have a firm understanding of building data warehouses and business intelligence projects. It is not necessary to have many hours of experience building cloud-first big data analytics projects already. However, having some experience in cloud computing will provide valuable context that will help you as you work through some of these new approaches. The examples and scenarios used in this book will be patterns and practices that are based on ETL common scenarios, so having data engineering experience and background will also be very helpful. I’ll help guide you along as you migrate from traditional on-premises data engineering to the world of Azure Data Factory. Overview of Azure Data Factory To become familiar with the data engineering process in Microsoft Azure, we’ll need to begin with an overview of Azure Data Factory (ADF), which is the Azure service for building data pipelines. The first chapter will focus on conceptual discussions of how to build a process to transform massive of amounts of data with many quality issues in the cloud. Essentially, we need to redefine ETL for cloud-based big data, where data volumes and veracity can change daily, and we’ll compare and contrast the Azure mechanism for the modern data engineer with traditional ETL. That’s where we’ll begin the process of building ETL pipelines that will serve as the basis for your big data analytics projects. I’m going to present a series of common use cases that will demonstrate how to apply the concepts discussed in the earlier chapters to practical ETL projects. From there, the focus will turn to a deep dive on Mapping Data Flows and how to build ETL frameworks in ADF by using the visual design-time interface to build code-free data flows. Mapping Data Flows is primarily a code-free visual design experience, so we’ll walk through techniques and best practices for managing the software development life cycle of a data flow in ADF. Data Factory provides many different means to process and transform data that include coding and calling external compute processes.
- 12. However, in this book, the focus will be on building ETL pipelines in a code-free style in Mapping Data Flows. As you work your way through the early chapters in this book, you should begin to develop an understanding of how to apply data engineering principles in ADF and Mapping Data Flows. That’s where we’ll begin to implement mechanisms to help organize your work and design-time environment, preparing for eventual operationalization at runtime. We’ll set up a Git repo for our work, as you should in real-life scenarios. We’ll design interactive data transformation graphs using serverless compute that can scale out as needed. You won’t need to manage physical servers and clusters with ADF, but I will explain how things work behind the scenes to provide this serverless compute power for your pipelines. Behind the scenes, ADF will leverage the Azure platform-as-a-service workflow engine Logic Apps for pipeline execution and scheduling. The transformation engine for Mapping Data Flows is Apache Spark. But you won’t have to learn anything about those underlying dependent services. The Azure Integration Runtimes will provide that compute for you dynamically in a serverless manner. Operationalizing Data Pipelines As you begin designing data flows for cloud-first big data workloads, we will test and debug in nonproduction environments and then promote that work to production environments. Execution of those jobs will be performed via ADF data pipelines based on schedules. These chapters will focus on operationalizing our work in a way that will become the eventual automated ETL framework for your business analytics. A complete end-to-end solution must also require monitoring and management of these processes on an ongoing basis. The final chapters will provide mechanisms in ADF that can be leveraged to monitor runs over time and to examine the performance of your pipelines. Because the nature of big data in the cloud is that the data will be messy and ever-changing, it is important to establish alerts and handling for schema and data drift. I’ll explain how to add fail-safe mechanisms, monitoring, and traps for these common problems so that your data pipelines can execute continuously. The frameworks needed for design,
- 13. debug, schedule, monitor, and manage are all contained inside of ADF, and we’ll spend time digging into each one of those areas. Goal for the Book My goal is that by the end of this book, you’ll be able to apply the concepts and the patterns presented here to build ETL pipelines for your next big data analytics project in the cloud. By mapping these new, updated approaches to processing data for analytics (a.k.a. big data analytics) to the world of traditional ETL processing that you are already familiar with, you will be able to use Azure Data Factory and Mapping Data Flows to provide your business with analytics that will result in making better business decisions. Many of the patterns and practices in this book can be applied directly to your projects where you are beginning to build cloud-first data projects in Azure. You can use these techniques to begin building a new set of reusable common ETL patterns. As you work your way through the progression of this book’s chapters, you’ll build upon the lessons learned in each chapter with the goal of having all of the necessary lessons learned to begin building your own big data analytics ETL solution natively in the cloud using Azure Data Factory with Mapping Data Flows. So welcome, and I hope you find this book helpful as you begin building powerful ETL solutions in the cloud!
- 14. Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub (https://github.com/Apress). For more detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code.
- 15. Table of Contents Part I: Getting Started with Azure Data Factory and Mapping Data Flows Chapter 1:ETL for the Cloud Data Engineer General ETL Process Differences in Cloud-Based ETL Data Drift Landing the Refined Data Typical SDLC Summary Chapter 2:Introduction to Azure Data Factory What Is Azure Data Factory? Factory Resources Pipelines Activities Triggers Mapping Data Flows Linked Services Datasets Azure Integration Runtime Self-Hosted Integration Runtime Elements of a Pipeline Pipeline Execution Pipeline Triggers Pipeline Monitoring Summary
- 16. Chapter 3:Introduction to Mapping Data Flows Getting Started Design Surface Connector Lines and Reference Lines Repositioning Nodes Data Flow Script Transformation Primitives Multiple Inputs/ Outputs Schema Modifier Formatters Row Modifier Flowlets Destination Expression language Functions Input Schema Parameters Cached Lookup Locals Data Preview Manage Compute Environment from Azure IR Debugging from the Data Flow Surface Debugging from Pipeline Summary Part II: Designing Scalable ETL Jobs with ADF Mapping Data Flows Chapter 4:Build Your First ETL Pipeline in ADF
- 17. Scenario Data Quality Task 1:Start with a New Data Flow Task 2:Metadata Checker Task 3:Add Asserts for Data Validation Task 4:Filter Out NULLs Task 5:Create Full Address Field Final Step:Land the Data As Parquet in the Data Lake Summary Chapter 5:Common ETL Pipeline Practices in ADF with Mapping Data Flows Task 1:Create a New Pipeline Task 2:Debug the Pipeline Task 3:Evaluate Execution Plan Task 4:Evaluate Results Task 5:Prepare Pipeline for Operational Deployment Summary Chapter 6:Slowly Changing Dimensions Building a Slowly Changing Dimension Pattern in Mapping Data Flows Data Sources NewProducts ExistingProducts Cached Lookup Create Cache Create Row Hashes Surrogate Key Generation
- 18. Check for Existing Dimension Members Set Dimension Properties Bring the Streams Together Prepare Data for Writing to Database Summary Chapter 7:Data Deduplication The Need for Data Deduplication Type 1:Distinct Rows Type 2:Fuzzy Matching Column Pattern Matching Self-Join Match Scoring Scoring Your Data for Duplication Evaluation Turn the Data Flow into a Reusable Flowlet Debugging a Flowlet Summary Chapter 8:Mapping Data Flow Advanced Topics Working with Complex Data Types Hierarchical Structures Arrays Maps Data Lake File Formats Parquet Delta Lake Optimized Row Columnar Avro
- 19. JSON and Delimited Text Data Flow Script Summary Part III: Operationalize Your ETL Data Pipelines Chapter 9:Basics of CI/ CD and Pipeline Scheduling Configure Git New Factory Existing Factory Branching Publish Changes Pipeline Scheduling Debug Run Trigger Now Schedule Trigger Tumbling Window Trigger Storage Events Trigger Custom Events Trigger Summary Chapter 10:Monitor, Manage, and Optimize Monitoring Your Jobs Error Row Handling Partitioning Strategies Optimizing Integration Runtimes Compute Settings Time to Live (TTL) Iterating over Files
- 20. Another Random Scribd Document with Unrelated Content
- 21. From Dixan we discovered great part of the province of Tigrè full of high dreadful mountains. We, as yet, had seen very little grain, unless by the way-side from Taranta, and a small flat called Zarai, about four miles S. S. W. of the town.
- 22. I CHAP. IV. Journey from Dixan to Adowa, Capital of Tigrè. T was on Nov. 25th, at ten in the morning, we left Dixan, descending the very steep hill on which the town is situated. It produces nothing but the Kol-quall tree all around it. We passed a miserable village called Hadhadid, and, at eleven o’clock, encamped under a daroo tree, one of the finest I have seen in Abyssinia, being 7½ feet diameter, with a head spreading in proportion, standing alone by the side of a river which now ran no more, though there is plenty of fine water still stagnant in its bed. This tree and river is the boundary of the territory, which the Naybe farms from Tigré, and stands within the province of Baharnagash, called Midrè Bahar. Hagi Abdelcader had attended us thus far before he left us; and the noted Saloomè came likewise, to see if some occasion would offer of doing us further mischief; but the king’s servants, now upon their own ground, began to take upon them a proper consequence. One of them went to meet Saloomé at the bank of the river, and making a mark on the ground with his knife, declared that his patience was quite exhausted by what he had been witness to at Masuah and Dixan; and if now Saloomé, or any other man belonging to the
- 23. Naybe, offered to pass that mark, he would bind him hand and foot, and carry him to a place where he should be left tied to a tree, a prey to the lion and hyæna. They all returned, and there our persecution from the Naybe ended. But it was very evident, from Achmet’s behaviour and discourse, had we gone by Dobarwa, which was the road proposed by the Naybe, our sufferings would not have been as yet half finished, unless they had ended with our lives. We remained under this tree the night of the 25th; it will be to me a station ever memorable, as the first where I recovered a portion of that tranquillity of mind to which I had been a stranger ever since my arrival at Masuah. We had been joined by about twenty loaded asses driven by Moors, and two loaded bulls; for there is a small sort of this kind called Ber, which they make use of as beasts of burden. I called all these together to recommend good order to them, desiring every one to leave me that was not resolved to obey implicitly the orders I should give them, as to the hours and places of encamping, keeping watch at night, and setting out in the morning. I appointed Yasine the judge of all disputes between them; and, if the difference should be between Yasine and any one of them, or, if they should not be content with his decision, then my determination was to be final. They all consented with great marks of approbation. We then repeated the fedtah, and swore to stand by each other till the last, without considering who the enemy might be, or what his religion was, if he attacked us. The 26th, at seven in the morning, we left our most pleasant quarters under the daroo-tree, and set forward with great alacrity. About a quarter of a mile from the river we crossed the end of the plain Zarai, already mentioned. Though this is but three miles long, and one where broadest, it was the largest plain we had seen since our passing Taranta, whose top was now covered wholly with large, black, and very heavy clouds, from which we heard and saw frequent peals of thunder, and violent streams of lightning. This plain was sown partly with wheat, partly with Indian corn; the first was cut down, the other not yet ripe. Two miles farther we passed
- 24. Addicota, a village planted upon a high rock; the sides towards us were as if cut perpendicular like a wall. Here was one refuge of the Jesuits when banished Tigrè by Facilidas, when they fled to the rebel John Akay. We after this passed a variety of small villages on each side of us, all on the top of hills; Darcotta and Embabuwhat on the right, Azaria on the left. At half an hour past eleven we encamped under a mountain, on the top of which is a village called Hadawi, consisting of no more than eighty houses, though, for the present, it is the seat of the Baharnagash. The present Baharnagash had bought the little district that he commanded, after the present governor of Tigré, Michael Suhul, had annexed to his own province what he pleased of the old domains, and farmed the other part to the Naybe for a larger revenue than he ever could get from any other tenant. The Naybe had now no longer a naval force to support him, and the fear of Turkish conquest had ceased in Tigrè. The Naybe could be reduced within any bounds that the governor of Tigrè might please to prescribe him; and the Baharnagash was a servant maintained to watch over him, and starve him into obedience, by intercepting his provisions whenever the governor of Tigré commanded him. This nobleman paid me a visit in my tent, and was the first Abyssinian I had seen on horseback; he had seven attendant horsemen with him, and about a dozen of others on foot, all of a beggarly appearance, and very ill-armed and equipped. He was a little man, of an olive complexion, or rather darker; his head was shaved close, with a cowl, or covering, upon it; he had a pair of short trousers; his feet and legs were bare; the usual coarse girdle was wrapt several times about him, in which he stuck his knife; and the ordinary web of cotton cloth, neither new nor clean, was thrown about him. His parts seemed to be much upon the level with his appearance. He asked me, if I had ever seen horses before? I said, Very seldom. He then described their qualities in such a manner as would never have given me any idea of the animal if I had seen it seldom. He excused himself for not having sent us provisions,
- 25. because he had been upon an expedition against some rebellious villages, and was then only just returned. To judge by his present appearance, he was no very respectable personage; but in this I was mistaken, as I afterwards found. I gave him a present in proportion to the first idea, with which he seemed very well content, till he observed a number of fire-arms tied up to the pillar in the middle of the tent, among which were two large ship-blunderbusses. He asked me if there was no danger of their going off? I said, that it happened every now and then, when their time was come. A very little after this, he took the cushion upon which he sat, went out, and placed himself at the door of the tent. There the king’s servant got hold of him, and told him roundly, he must furnish us with a goat, a kid, and forty loaves, and that immediately, and write it off in his deftar, or account-book, if he pleased. He then went away and sent us a goat and fifty cakes of teff bread. But my views upon him did not end here. His seven horses were all in very bad order, though there was a black one among them that had particularly struck my fancy. In the evening I sent the king’s servants, and Janni’s, for a check, to try if he would sell that black horse. The bargain was immediately made for various pieces of goods, part of which I had with me, and part I procured from my companions in the caravan. Every thing was fashionable and new from Arabia. The value was about L. 12. Sterling, forty shillings more than our friend at Dixan had paid for a whole family of four persons. The goods were delivered, and the horse was to be sent in the evening, when he proved a brown one, old, and wanting an eye. I immediately returned the horse, insisting on the black one; but he protested the black horse was not his own; that he had returned it to its master; and, upon a little further discourse, said, that it was a horse he intended as a present for the king. My friends treated this with great indifference, and desired their goods back again, which were accordingly delivered. But they were
- 26. no sooner in the tent, when the black horse was sent, and refused. The whole, however, was made up, by sending us another goat, which I gave, to Yasine, and two jars of bouza, which we drank among us, promising, according to the Baharnagash’s request, we would represent him well at court. We found, from his servants, that he had been upon no expedition, nor one step from home for three months past. I was exceedingly pleased with this first acquisition. The horse was then lean, as he stood about sixteen and a half hands high, of the breed of Dongola. Yasine, a good horseman, recommended to me one of his servants, or companions, to take care of him. He was an Arab, from the neighbourhood of Medina, a superior horseman himself, and well-versed in every thing that concerned the animal. I took him immediately into my service. We called the horse Mirza, a name of good fortune. Indeed, I might say, I acquired that day a companion that contributed always to my pleasure, and more than once to my safety; and was no slender means of acquiring me the first attention of the king. I had brought my Arab stirrups, saddle, and bridle with me, so that I was now as well equipped as a horseman could be. On the 27th we left Hadawi, continuing our journey down a very steep and narrow path between two stony hills; then ascended one still higher, upon the top of which stands the large village of Goumbubba, whence we have a prospect over a considerable plain all sown with the different grain this country produces, wheat, barley, teff, and tocusso; simsim, (or sesame) and nook; the last is used for oil. We passed the village of Dergate, then that of Regticat, on the top of a very high hill on the left, as the other was on our right. We pitched our tent about half a mile off the village called Barranda, where we were overtaken by our friend the Baharnagash, who was so well pleased with our last interview, especially the bargain of the horse, that he sent us three goats, two jars of honey-wine, and
- 27. some wheat-flour. I invited him to my tent, which he immediately accepted. He was attended by two servants on foot, with lances and shields; he had no arms himself, but, by way of amends, had two drums beating, and two trumpets blowing before him, sounding a charge. He seemed to be a very simple, good-natured man, indeed, remarkably so; a character rarely found in any degree of men in this country. He asked me how I liked my horse? said, he hoped I did not intend to mount it myself? I answered, God forbid; I kept him as a curiosity. He commended my prudence very much, and gave me a long detail about what horses had done, and would do, on occasions. Some of the people without, however, shewed his servants my saddle, bridle, and stirrups, which they well knew, from being neighbours to the Arabs of Sennaar, and praised me as a better horseman by far than any one in that country; this they told to the Baharnagash, who, nothing offended, laughed heartily at the pretended ignorance I had shewn him, and shook me very kindly by the hand, and told me he was really poor, or he would have taken no money from me for the horse. He shewed so much good nature, and open honest behaviour, that I gave him a present better than the first, and which was more agreeable, as less expected. Razors, knives, steels for striking fire, are the most valuable presents in this country, of the hardware kind. The Baharnagash now was in such violent good spirits, that he would not go home till he had seen a good part of his jar of hydromel finished; and he little knew, at that time, he was in the tent with a man who was to be his chief customer for horses hereafter. I saw him several times after at court, and did him some services, both with the king and Ras Michael. He had a quality which I then did not know: With all his simplicity and buffoonery, no one was braver in his own person than he; and, together with his youngest son, he died afterwards in the king’s defence, fighting bravely at the battle of Serbraxos.
- 28. At five o’clock this afternoon we had a violent shower of hailstones. Nothing is more common than aggravation about the size of hail; but, stooping to take up one I thought as large as a nutmeg, I received a blow from another just under my eye, which I imagined had blinded me, and which occasioned a swelling all the next day. I had gained the Baharnagash’s heart so entirely that it was not possible to get away the next day. We were upon the very verge of his small dominions, and he had ordered a quantity of wheat-flour to be made for us, which he sent in the evening, with a kid. For my part, the share I had taken yesterday of his hydromel had given me such a pain in my head that I scarce could raise it the whole day. It was the 29th we left our station at Barranda, and had scarcely advanced a mile when we were overtaken by a party of about twenty armed men on horseback. The Shangalla, the ancient Cushites, are all the way on our right hand, and frequently venture incursions into the flat country that was before us. This was the last piece of attention of the Baharnagash, who sent his party to guard us from danger in the plain. It awakened us from our security; we examined carefully the state of our fire-arms; cleaned and charged them anew, which we had not done since the day we left Dixan. The first part of our journey to-day was in a deep gully; and, in half an hour, we entered into a very pleasant wood of acacia-trees, then in flower. In it likewise was a tree, in smell like a honeysuckle, whose large white flower nearly resembles that of a caper. We came out of this wood into the plain, and ascended two easy hills; upon the top of these were two huge rocks, in the holes of which, and within a large cave, a number of the blue fork-tailed swallows had begun their nests. These, and probably many, if not all the birds of passage, breed twice in the year, which seems a provision against the losses made by emigration perfectly consonant to divine wisdom. These rocks are, by some, said to be the boundaries of the command of the Baharnagash on this side; though others extend them to the Balezat.
- 29. We entered again a straggling wood, so overgrown with wild oats that it covered the men and their horses. The plain here is very wide. It reaches down on the west to Serawé, then distant about twelve miles. It extends from Goumbubba as far south as Balezat. The soil is excellent; but such flat countries are very rare in Abyssinia. This, which is one of the finest and widest, is abandoned without culture, and is in a state of waste. The reason of this is, an inveterate feud between the villages here and those of Serawé, so that the whole inhabitants on each side go armed to plow and to sow in one day; and it is very seldom either of them complete their harvest without having a battle with their enemies and neighbours. Before we entered this wood, and, indeed, on the preceding day, from the time we left Hadawi, we had seen a very extraordinary bird at a distance, resembling a wild turkey, which ran exceedingly fast, and appeared in great flocks. It is called Erkoom5 , in Amhara; Abba Gumba, in Tigrè; and, towards the frontiers of Sennaar, Tier el Naciba, or, the Bird of Destiny. Our guides assembled us all in a body, and warned us that the river before us was the place of the rendezvous of the Serawè horse, where many caravans had been entirely cut off. The cavalry is the best on this side of Abyssinia. They keep up the breed of their horses by their vicinity to Sennaar whence they get supply. Nevertheless, they behaved very ill at the battle of Limjour; and I cannot say I remember them to have distinguished themselves any where else. They were on our right at the battle of Serbraxos, and were beat by the horse of Foggora and the Galla. After passing the wood, we came to the river, which was then standing in pools. I here, for the first time, mounted on horseback, to the great delight of my companions from Barranda, and also of our own, none of whom had ever before seen a gun fired from a horse galloping, excepting Yasine and his servant, now my groom, but neither of these had ever seen a double-barrelled gun. We passed the plain with all the diligence consistent with the speed and
- 30. capacity of our long-eared convoy; and, having now gained the hills, we bade defiance to the Serawè horse, and sent our guard back perfectly content, and full of wonder at our fire-arms, declaring that their master the Baharnagash, had he seen the black horse behave that day, would have given me another much better. We entered now into a close country covered with brushwood, wild oats, and high bent-grass; in many places rocky and uneven, so as scarce to leave a narrow part to pass. Just in the very entrance a lion had killed a very fine animal called Agazan. It is of the goat kind; and, excepting a small variety in colour, is precisely the same animal I had seen in Barbary near Capsa. It might be about twelve stone weight, and of the size of a large ass. (Whenever I mention a stone weight, I would wish to be understood horseman’s weight, fourteen pound to the stone, as most familiar to the generality of those who read these Travels.) The animal was scarcely dead; the blood was running; and the noise of my gun had probably frightened its conqueror away: every one with their knives cut off a large portion of flesh; Moors and Christians did the same; yet the Abyssinians aversion to any thing that is dead is such, unless killed regularly by the knife, that none of them would lift any bird that was shot, unless by the point or extreme feather of its wing. Hunger was not the excuse, for they had been plentifully fed all this journey; so that the distinction, in this particular case, is to be found in the manners of the country. They say they may lawfully eat what is killed by the lion, but not by the tiger, hyæna, or any other beast. Where they learned this doctrine, I believe, would not be easy to answer; but it is remarkable, even the Falasha themselves admit this distinction in favour of the lions. At noon we crossed the river Balezat, which rises at Ade Shiho, a place on the S. W. of the province of Tigrè; and, after no very long course, having been once the boundary between Tigrè and Midré Bahar, (for so the country of the Baharnagash was called) it falls into the Mareb, or ancient Astusaspes. It was the first river, then actually running, that we had seen since we passed Taranta; indeed, all the
- 31. space is but very indifferently watered. This stream is both clear and rapid, and seems to be full of fish. We continued for some time along its banks, the river on our left, and the mountains on our right, through a narrow plain, till we came to Tomumbusso, a high pyramidal mountain, on the top of which is a convent of monks, who do not, however, reside there, but only come hither upon certain feasts, when they keep open house and entertain all that visit them. The mountain itself is of porphyry. There we encamped by the river’s side, and were obliged to stay this and the following day, for a duty, or custom, to be paid by all passengers. These duties are called Awides, which signifies gifts; though they are levied, for the most part, in a very rigorous and rude manner; but they are established by usage in particular spots; and are, in fact, a regality annexed to the estate. Such places are called Ber, passes; which are often met with in the names of places throughout Abyssinia, as Dingleber, Sankraber; and so forth. There are five of these Awides which, like turnpikes, are to be paid at passing between Masuah and Adowa; one at Samhar, the second at Dixan, the third at Darghat, the fourth here at Balezat, and the fifth at Kella. The small village of Sebow was distant from us two miles to the east; Zarow the same distance to the S. S. E. and Noguet, a village before us, were the places of abode of these tax- gatherers, who farm it for a sum from their superior, and divide the profit pro rata of the sums each has advanced. It is much of the same nature as the caphar in the Levant, but levied in a much more indiscreet, arbitrary manner. The farmer of this duty values as he thinks proper what each caravan is to pay; there is no tariff, or restraint, upon him. Some have on this account been detained months; and others, in time of trouble or bad news, have been robbed of every thing: this is always the case upon the least resistance; for then the villages around you rise in arms; you are not only stript of your property, but sure to be ill-treated in your person.
- 32. As I was sent for by the king, and going to Ras Michael, in whose province they were, I affected to laugh when they talked of detaining me; and declared peremptorily to them, that I would leave all my baggage to them with great pleasure, rather than that the king’s life should be in danger by my stay. They were now staggered, and seemed not prepared for an incident of this kind. As I kept up a high tone, we were quit with being detained a day, by paying five pieces of blue Surat cotton cloth, value 3/4 of a pataka each, and one piece of white, value one pataka. Our companions, rather than stay behind, made the best bargain they could; and we all decamped, and set forward together. I was surprised to see, at the small village Zarow, several families as black as perfect negroes, only they were not woolly-headed, and had prominent features. I asked if they descended from slaves, or sons of slaves? They said, No; their particular families of that and the neighbouring village Sebow, were of that colour from time immemorial; and that this did not change, though either the father or mother were of another colour. On the 1st of December we departed from Balezat, and ascended a steep mountain upon which stands the village Noguet, which we passed about half an hour after. On the top of the hill were a few fields of teff. Harvest was then ended, and they were treading out the teff with oxen. Having passed another very rugged mountain, we descended and encamped by the side of a small river, called Mai Kol- quall, from a number of these trees growing about it. This place is named the Kella, or Castle, because, nearly at equal distances, the mountains on each side run for a considerable extent, straight and even, in shape like a wall; with gapes at certain distances, resembling embrasures and bastions. This rock is otherwise called Damo, anciently the prison of the collateral heirs-male of the royal family. The river Kol-quall rises in the mountains of Tigrè, and, after a course nearly N. W. falls into the Mareb. It was at Kella we saw, for the first time, the roofs of the houses made in form of cones; a sure
- 33. proof that the tropical rains grow more violent as they proceed westward. About half a mile on the hill above is the village Kaibara, wholly inhabited by Mahometan Gibbertis; that is, native Abyssinians of that religion. Kella being one of these bers, or passages, we were detained there three whole days, by the extravagant demands of these farmers of the Awide, who laughed at all the importance we gave ourselves. They had reasons for our reasons, menaces for our menaces, but no civilities to answer ours. What increased the awkwardness of our situation was, they would take no money for provisions, but only merchandise by way of barter. We were, indeed, prepared for this by information; so we began to open shop by spreading a cloth upon the ground, at the sight of which, hundreds of young women poured down upon us on every side from villages behind the mountains which we could not see. The country is surprisingly populous, notwithstanding the great emigration lately made with Michael. Beads and antimony are the standard in this way-faring commerce; but beads are a dangerous speculation. You lose sometimes every thing, or gain more than honestly you should do; for all depends upon fashion; and the fancies of a brown, or black beauty, there, gives the ton as decisively as does the example of the fairest in England. To our great disappointment, the person employed to buy our beads at Jidda had not received the last list of fashions from this country; so he had bought us a quantity beautifully flowered with red and green, and as big as a large pea; also some large oval, green, and yellow ones; whereas the ton now among the beauties of Tigré were small sky-coloured blue beads, about the size of small lead shot, or seed pearls; blue bugles, and common white bugles, were then in demand, and large yellow glass, flat in the side like the amber-beads formerly used by the better sort of the old women-peasants in England. All our beads were then rejected, by six or seven dozen of the shrillest tongues I ever heard. They decried our merchandize in
- 34. such a manner, that I thought they meant to condemn them as unsaleable, to be confiscated or destroyed. Let every man, travelling in such countries as these, remember, that there is no person, however mean, who is in his company, that does not merit attention, kindness, and complacency. Let no man in travelling exalt himself above the lowest, in a greater degree than he is able to do superior service; for many that have thought themselves safe, and been inattentive to this, have perished by the unsuspected machinations of the lowest and meanest wretch among them. Few have either made such long or such frequent journies of this kind as I, and I scarcely recollect any person so insignificant that, before the end of a moderate journey, had not it in his power to return you like for like for your charity or unkindness, be the difference of your quality and condition what it would. Of all the men in our company, none had any stock of the true small sky-blue beads, and no one had one grain of the large yellow-glass ones, but the poor Moor, whose ass was bit by the hyæna near Lila, and whose cargo, likely to be left behind at the foot of Taranta, I had distributed among the rest of the asses of the caravan; and, leaving the wounded one for the price he would fetch, had next day bought him another at Halai, with which, since that time, he continued his journey. That fellow had felt the obligation in silence; and not one word, but Good-day, and Good-e’en, had passed between us since conferring the favour. Understanding now what was the matter, he called Yasine, and gave him a large package, which he imprudently opened, in which was a treasure of all the beads in fashion, all but the white and blue bugles, and these Yasine himself furnished us with afterwards. A great shout was set up by the women-purchasers, and a violent scramble followed. Twenty or thirty threw themselves upon the parcel, tearing and breaking all the strings as if they intended to plunder us. This joke did not seem to be relished by the servants. Their hard-heartedness before, in professing they would let us starve
- 35. rather than give us a handful of flour for all our unfashionable beads, had quite extinguished the regard we else would have unavoidably shewn to the fair sex. A dozen of whips and sticks were laid unmercifully upon their hands and arms, till each dropped her booty. The Abyssinian men that came with them seemed to be perfectly unconcerned at the fray, and stood laughing without the least sign of wishing to interfere in favour of either side. I believe the restitution would not have been complete, had not Yasine, who knew the country well, fired one of the ship-blunderbusses into the air behind their backs. At hearing so unexpectedly this dreadful noise, both men and women fell flat on their faces; the women were immediately dragged off the cloth, and I do not believe there was strength left in any hand to grasp or carry away a single bead. My men immediately wrapped the whole in the cloth, so for a time our market ended. For my part, at the first appearance of the combat I had withdrawn myself, and sat a quiet spectator under a tree. Some of the women were really so disordered with the fright, that they made but very feeble efforts in the market afterwards. The rest beseeched me to transfer the market to the carpet I sat on under the tree. This I consented to; but, growing wise by misfortune, my servants now produced small quantities of every thing, and not without a very sharp contest and dispute, somewhat superior in noise to that of our fish-women. We were, however, plentifully supplied with honey, butter, flour, and pumpkins of an exceeding good taste, scarcely inferior to melons. Our caravan being fully victualled the first and second day, our market was not opened but by private adventurers, and seemingly savoured more of gallantry than gain. There were three of them the most distinguished for beauty and for tongue, who, by their discourse, had entertained me greatly. I made each of them a present of a few beads, and asked them how many kisses they would give for each? They answered very readily, with one accord, “Poh! we don’t sell kisses in this country: Who would buy them? We
- 36. will give you as many as you wish for nothing.” And there was no appearance but, in that bargain, they meant to be very fair and liberal dealers. The men seemed to have no talent for marketing; nor do they in this country either buy or sell. But we were surprised to see the beaux among them come down to the tent, the second day after our arrival, with each of them a single string of thin, white bugles tied about their dirty, black legs, a little above their ancle; and of this they seemed as proud as if the ornament had been gold or jewels. I easily saw that so much poverty, joined to so much avarice and pride, made the possessor a proper subject to be employed. My young favourite, who had made so frank an offer of her kindness, had brought me her brother, begging that I would take him with me to Gondar to Ras Michael, and allow him to carry one of my guns, no doubt with an intention to run off with it by the way. I told her that was a thing easily done; but I must first have a trial of his fidelity, which was this, That he would, without speaking to anybody but me and her, go straight to Janni at Adowa, and carry the letter I should give him, and deliver it into his own hand, in which case I would give him a large parcel of each of these beads, more than ever she thought to possess in her lifetime. She frankly agreed, that my word was more to be relied upon than either her own or her brother’s; and, therefore, that the beads, once shewn to them both, were to remain a deposit in my hand. However, not to send him away wholly destitute of the power of charming, I presented him the single string of white bugles for his ancle. Janni’s Greek servant gave him a letter, and he made such diligence that, on the fourth day, by eight o’clock in the morning, he came to my tent without ever having been missed at home. At the same time came an officer from Janni, with a violent mandate, in the name of Ras Michael, declaring to the person that was the cause of our detention, That, was it not for ancient friendship, the present messenger should have carried him to Ras
- 37. Michael in irons; discharging me from all awides; ordering him, as Shum of the place, to furnish me with provisions; and, in regard to the time he had caused us to lose, fixing the awides of the whole caravan at eight piasters, not the twentieth part of what he would have exacted. One reason of this severity was, that, while I was in Masuah, Janni had entertained this man at his own house; and, knowing the usual vexations the caravans met with at Kella, and the long time they were detained there at considerable expence, had obtained a promise from the Shum, in consideration of favours done him, that he should let us pass freely, and, not only so, but should shew us some little civility. This promise, now broken, was one of the articles of delinquency for which he was punished. Cohol, large needles, goats skins, coarse scissars, razors, and steels for striking fire, are the articles of barter at Kella. An ordinary goat’s skin is worth a quart of wheat-flour. As we expected an order of deliverance, all was ready upon its arrival. The Moors with their asses, grateful for the benefit received, began to bless the moment they joined us; hoping, in my consideration, upon our arrival at the customhouse of Adowa, they might meet with further favour. Yasine, in the four days we had staid at Kella, had told me his whole history. It seems he had been settled in a province of Abyssinia, near to Sennaar, called Ras el Feel; had married Abd el Jilleel, the Shekh’s daughter; but, growing more popular than his father-in-law, he had been persecuted by him, and obliged to leave the country. He began now to form hopes, that, if I was well received, as he saw, in all appearance, I was to be, he might, by my interest, be appointed to his father-in-law’s place; especially if there was war, as every thing seemed to indicate. Abd el Jilleel was a coward, and incapable of making himself of personal valued to any party. On the contrary, Yasine was a tried man, an excellent horseman, strong, active, and of known courage, having been twice with the late king Yasous in his invasions of Sennaar, and both times much wounded there. It was impossible to dispute his title to preferment; but I had not formed
- 38. that idea of my own success that I should be able to be of any use or assistance to him in it. Kella is in lat. 14° 24´ 34´´ North. It was in the afternoon of the 4th that we set out from Kella; our road was between two hills covered with thick wood. On our right was a cliff, or high rock of granite, on the top of which were a few houses that seemed to hang over the cliff rather than stand upon it. A few minutes after three o’ clock we passed a rivulet, and a quarter of an hour afterwards another, both which run into the Mareb. We still continued to descend, surrounded on all sides with mountains covered with high grass and brushwood, and abounding with lions. At four, we arrived at the foot of the mountain, and passed a small stream which runs there. We had seen no villages after leaving Kella. At half past four o’clock we came to a considerable river called Angueah, which we crossed, and pitched our tent on the farther side of it. It was about fifty feet broad and three in depth. It was perfectly clear, and ran rapidly over a bed of white pebbles, and was the largest river we had yet seen in Habesh. In summer there is very little plain ground near it but what is occupied by the stream; it is full of small fish, in great repute for their goodness. This river has its name from a beautiful tree, which covers both its banks. This tree, by the colour of its bark and richness of its flower, is a great ornament to the banks of the river. A variety of other flowers fill the whole level plain between the mountain and the river, and even some way up the mountains. In particular, great variety of jessamin, white, yellow, and party-coloured. The country seemed now to put on a more favourable aspect; the air was much fresher, and more pleasant, every step we advanced after leaving Dixan; and one cause was very evident; the country where we now passed was well-watered with clear running streams; whereas, nearer Dixan, there were few, and all stagnant.
- 39. The 5th, we descended a small mountain for about twenty minutes, and passed the following villages, Zabangella, about a mile N. W.; at a quarter of an hour after, Moloxito, half a mile further S. E.; and Mansuetemen, three quarters of a mile E. S. E. These villages are all the property of the Abuna; who has also a duty upon all merchandise passing there; but Ras Michael had confiscated these last villages on account of a quarrel he had with the last Abuna, Af- Yagoube. We now began first to see the high mountains of Adowa, nothing resembling in shape to those of Europe, nor, indeed, any other country. Their sides were all perpendicular rocks, high like steeples, or obelisks, and broken into a thousand different forms. At half past eight o’clock we left the deep valley, wherein runs the Mareb W. N. W.; at the distance of about nine miles above it is the mountain, or high hill, on which stands Zarai, now a collection of villages, formerly two convents built by Lalibala; though the monks tell you a story of the queen of Saba residing there, which the reader may be perfectly satisfied she never did in her life. The Mareb is the boundary between Tigré and the Baharnagash, on this side. It runs over a bed of soil; is large, deep, and smooth; but, upon rain falling, it is more dangerous to pass than any river in Abyssinia, on account of the frequent holes in its bottom. We then entered the narrow plain of Yeeha, wherein runs the small river, which either gives its name to, or takes it from it. The Yeeha rises from many sources in the mountains to the west; it is neither considerable for size nor its course, and is swallowed up in the Mareb. The harvest was in great forwardness in this place. The wheat was cut, and a considerable share of the teff in another part; they were treading out this last-mentioned grain with oxen. The Dora, and a small grain called telba, (of which they make oil) was not ripe.
- 40. At eleven o’clock we rested by the side of the mountain whence the river falls. All the villages that had been built here bore the marks of the justice of the governor of Tigré. They had been long the most incorrigible banditti in the province. He surrounded them in one night, burnt their houses, and extirpated the inhabitants; and would never suffer any one since to settle there. At three o’clock in the afternoon we ascended what remained of the mountain of Yeeha; came to the plain upon its top; and, at a quarter before four, passed the village of that name, leaving it to the S. E. and began the most rugged and dangerous descent we had met with since Taranta. At half past five in the evening we pitched our tent at the foot of the hill, close by a small, but rapid and clear stream, which is called Ribieraini. This name was given it by the banditti of the villages before mentioned, because from this you see two roads; one leading from Gondar, that is, from the westward; the other from the Red Sea to the eastward. One of the gang that used to be upon the out-look from this station, as soon as any caravan came in sight, cried out, Ribieraini, which in Tigrè signifies they are coming this way; upon which notice every one took his lance and shield, and stationed himself properly to fall with advantage upon the unwary merchant; and it was a current report, which his present greatness could not stifle, that, in his younger days, Ras Michael himself frequently was on these expeditions at this place. On our right was the high, steep, and rugged mountain of Samayat, which the same Michael, being in rebellion, chose for his place of strength, and was there besieged and taken prisoner by the late king Yasous. The rivulet of Ribieraini is the source of the fertility of the country adjoining, as it is made to overflow every part of this plain, and furnishes a perpetual store of grass, which is the reason of the caravans chusing to stop here. Two or three harvests are also obtained by means of this river; for, provided, there is water, they sow in Abyssinia in all seasons. We perceived that we were now approaching some considerable town, by the great care with which
- 41. every small piece of ground, and even the steep sides of the mountains, were cultivated, though they had ever so little soil. On Wednesday the 6th of December, at eight o’clock in the morning, we set out from Ribieraini; and in about three hours travelling on a very pleasant road, over easy hills and through hedge-rows of jessamin, honey-suckle, and many kinds of flowering shrubs we arrived at Adowa, where once resided Michael Suhul, governor of Tigrè. It was this day we saw, for the first time, the small, long- tailed green paroquet, from the hill of Shillodee, where, as I have already mentioned, we first came in sight of the mountains of Adowa.
- 42. A CHAP. V. Arrive at Adowa—Reception there—Visit Fremona and Ruins of Axum —Arrive at Siré. DOWA is situated on the declivity of a hill, on the west side of a small plain surrounded everywhere by mountains. Its situation accounts for its name, which signifies pass, or passage, being placed on the flat ground immediately below Ribieraini; the pass through which every body must go in their way from Gondar to the Red Sea. This plain is watered by three rivulets which are never dry in the midst of summer; the Assa, which we cross just below the town when coming from the eastward; the Mai Gogua, which runs below the hill whereon stands the village of the same name formerly, though now it is called Fremona, from the monastery of the Jesuits built there; and the Ribieraini, which, joining with the other two, falls into the river Mareb, about 22 miles below Adowa. There are fish in these three streams, but none of them remarkable for their size, quantity, or goodness. The best are those of Mai Gogua, a clear and pleasant rivulet, running very violently and with great noise. This circumstance, and ignorance of the language, has misled the
- 43. reverend father Jerome, who says, that the water of Mai Gogua is called so from the noise that it makes, which, in common language, is called guggling. This is a mistake, for Mai Gogua signifies the river of owls. There are many agreeable spots to the south-east of the convent, on the banks of this river, which are thick-shaded with wood and bushes. Adowa consists of about 300 houses, and occupies a much larger space than would be thought necessary for these to stand on, by reason that each house has an inclosure round it of hedges and trees; the last chiefly the wanzey. The number of these trees so planted in all the towns, screen them so, that, at a distance, they appear so many woods. Adowa was not formerly the capital of Tigré, but has accidentally become so upon the accession of this governor, whose property, or paternal estate, lay in and about it. His mansion- house is not distinguished from any of the others in the town unless by its size; it is situated upon the top of the hill. The person who is Michael’s deputy, in his absence, lives in it. It resembles a prison rather than a palace; for there are in and about it above three hundred persons in irons, some of whom have been there for twenty years, mostly with a view to extort money from them; and, what is the most unhappy, even when they have paid the sum of money which he asks, do not get their deliverance from his merciless hands; most of them are kept in cages like wild beasts, and treated every way in the same manner. But what deservedly interested us most was, the appearance of our kind and hospitable landlord, Janni. He had sent servants to conduct us from the passage of the river, and met us himself at the outer- door of his house. I do not remember to have seen a more respectable figure. He had his own short white hair, covered with a thin muslin turban, a thick well-shaped beard, as white as snow, down to his waist. He was clothed in the Abyssinian dress, all of white cotton, only he had a red silk sash, embroidered with gold, about his waist, and sandals on his feet; his upper garment reached down to his ancles. He had a number of servants and slaves about
- 44. him of both sexes; and, when I approached him, seemed disposed to receive me with marks of humility and inferiority, which mortified me much, considering the obligations I was under to him, the trouble I had given, and was unavoidably still to give him. I embraced him with great acknowledgments of kindness and gratitude, calling him father; a title I always used in speaking either to him or of him afterwards, when I was in higher fortune, which he constantly remembered with great pleasure. He conducted us through a court yard planted with jessamin, to a very neat, and, at the same, time, large room, furnished with a silk sofa; the floor was covered with Persian carpets and cushions. All round, flowers and green leaves were strewed upon the outer yard; and the windows and sides of the room stuck full of evergreens, in commemoration of the Christmas festival that was at hand. I stopt at the entrance of this room; my feet were both dirty and bloody; and it is not good-breeding to show or speak of your feet in Abyssinia, especially if any thing ails them, and, at all times, they are covered. He immediately perceived the wounds that were upon mine. Both our cloaths and flesh were torn to pieces at Taranta, and several other places; but he thought we had come on mules furnished us by the Naybe. For the young man I had sent to him from Kella, following the genius of his countrymen, tho’ telling truth was just as profitable to him as lying, had chosen the latter, and seeing the horse I had got from the Baharnagash, had figured in his own imagination, a multitude of others, and told Janni that there were with me horses, asses, and mules in great plenty; so that when Janni saw us passing the water, he took me for a servant, and expected, for several minutes, to see the splendid company arrive, well mounted upon horses and mules caparisoned. He was so shocked at my saying that I performed this terrible journey on foot, that he burst into tears, uttering a thousand reproaches against the Naybe for his hard heartedness and ingratitude, as he had twice, as he said, hindered Michael from going in person and sweeping the Naybe from the face of the earth. Water
- 45. was immediately procured to wash our feet. And here began another contention, Janni insisted upon doing this himself; which made me run out into the yard, and declare I would not suffer it. After this, the like dispute took place among the servants. It was always a ceremony in Abyssinia, to wash the feet of those that come from Cairo, and who are understood to have been pilgrims at Jerusalem. This was no sooner finished, than a great dinner was brought, exceedingly well dressed. But no consideration or intreaty could prevail upon my kind landlord to sit down and partake with me. He would stand, all the time, with a clean towel in his hand, though he had plenty of servants; and afterwards dined with some visitors, who had come out of curiosity, to see a man arrived from so far. Among these was a number of priests; apart of the company which I liked least, but who did not shew any hostile appearance. It was long before I cured my kind landlord of these respectful observances, which troubled me very much; nor could he wholly ever get rid of them, his own kindness and good heart, as well as the pointed and particular orders of the Greek patriarch, Mark, constantly suggesting the same attention. In the afternoon, I had a visit from the governor, a very graceful man, of about sixty years of age, tall and well favoured. He had just then returned from an expedition to the Tacazzè, against some villages of Ayto Tesfos6 , which he had destroyed, slain 120 men, and driven off a number of cattle. He had with him about sixty musquets, to which, I understood, he had owed his advantage. These villages were about Tubalaque, just as you ascend the farther bank of the Tacazzé. He said he doubted much if we should be allowed to pass through Woggora, unless some favourable news came from Michael; for Tesfos of Samen, who kept his government after Joas’s death, and refused to acknowledge Michael, or to submit to the king, in conjunction with the people of Woggora, acted now the part of robbers, plundering all sorts of people, that carried either provisions, or any thing else, to Gondar, in order to distress the king and Michael’s Tigré soldiers, who were then there.
- 46. 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 travellers7 , 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 Adowa, and all the neighbourhood, they have three harvests annually. Their first seed time is in July and August; it is the principal one for wheat, which they then sow in the middle of the rains. In the same season they sow tocusso, teff, and barley. From the 20th of November they reap first their barley, then their wheat, and last of all their teff. In room of these they sow immediately upon the same ground, without any manure, barley, which they reap in February; and then often sow teff, but more frequently a kind of veitch, or pea, called Shimbra; these are cut down before the first rains, which are in April. With all these advantages of triple harvests, which cost no
- 47. fallowing, weeding, manure, or other expensive processes, the farmer in Abyssinia is always poor and miserable. In Tigré it is a good harvest that produces nine after one, it scarcely ever is known to produce ten; or more than three after one, for peas. The land, as in Egypt, is set to the highest bidder yearly; and like Egypt it receives an additional value, depending on the quantity of rain that falls and its situation more or less favourable for leading water to it. The landlord furnishes the seed under condition to receive half the produce; but I am told he is a very indulgent master that does not take another quarter for the risk he has run; so that the quantity that comes to the share of the husbandman is not more than sufficient to afford sustenance for his wretched family. The soil is white clay, mixed with sand, and has as good appearance as any I have seen. I apprehend a deficiency of the crop is not from the barrenness of the soil, but from the immense quantity of field- rats and mice that over-run the whole country, and live in the fissures of the earth. To kill these, they set fire to their straw, the only use they make of it. The cattle roam at discretion through the mountains. The herdsmen set fire to the grass, bent, and brushwood, before the rains, and an amazing verdure immediately follows. As the mountains are very steep and broken, goats are chiefly the flocks that graze upon them. The province of Tigré is all mountainous; and it has been said, without any foundation in truth, that the Pyrenees, Alps, and Apennines, are but mole-hills compared to them. I believe, however, that one of the Pyrenees above St John Pied de Port, is much higher than Lamalmon; and that the mountain of St Bernard, one of the Alps, is full as high as Taranta, or rather higher. It is not the extreme height of the mountains in Abyssinia that occasions surprise, but the number of them, and the extraordinary forms they present to the eye. Some of them are flat, thin, and square, in shape of a hearth- stone, or slab, that scarce would seem to have base sufficient to
- 48. resist the action of the winds. Some are like pyramids, others like obelisks or prisms, and some, the most extraordinary of all the rest, pyramids pitched upon their points, with their base uppermost, which, if it was possible, as it is not, they could have been so formed in the beginning, would be strong objections to our received ideas of gravity. They tan hides to great perfection in Tigré, but for one purpose only. They take off the hair with the juice of two plants, a species of solanum, and the juice of the kol-quall; both these are produced in abundance in the province. They are great novices, however, in dyeing; the plant called Suf produces the only colour they have, which is yellow. In order to obtain a blue, to weave as a border to their cotton clothes, they unravel the blue threads of the Marowt, or blue cloth of Surat, and then weave them again with the thread which they have dyed with the suf. It was on the 10th of January 1770 I visited the remains of the Jesuits convent of Fremona. It is built upon the even ridge of a very high hill, in the middle of a large plain, on the opposite side of which stands Adowa. It rises from the east to the west, and ends in a precipice on the east; it is also very steep to the north, and slopes gently down to the plain on the south. The convent is about a mile in circumference, built substantially with stones, which are cemented with lime-morter. It has towers in the flanks and angles; and, notwithstanding the ill-usage it has suffered, the walls remain still entire to the height of twenty-five feet. It is divided into three, by cross walls of equal height. The first division seems to have been destined for the convent, the middle for the church, and the third division is separated from this by a wall, and stands upon a precipice. It seems to me as if it was designed for a place of arms. All the walls have holes for muskets, and, even now, it is by far the most defensible place in Abyssinia. It resembles an ancient castle much more than a convent.