royal
family of Abyssinia were imprisoned in early times, is a little to the
north of Lake Haik, and beyond the Mille. It runs north and south, in
length about twelve or thirteen miles, and is exceedingly high and
steep, the sides thereof being almost perpendicular. Mr Krapf, amongst
the most considerable rivers which he passed in this quarter, mentions
the Ala, which he states runs to, and is lost in, the deserts of the
country of Adel. This is important, and this river is no doubt the Wali
of Bruce, which he mentions (vol. iii. p. 248) as the scene of a
remarkable engagement between the sovereigns of Abyssinia and Adel in
1576, during the reign of the Abyssinian king Sertza Denghel. The
Abyssinian army descended from Angot, and crossing the Wali, a
considerable river, cut off the army of Adel from Aussa, drove a portion
thereof into the stream, where they were drowned, while the remainder
flying crossed the stream lower down, and thus effected their escape to
Aussa. This confirms in a remarkable manner the position of this river,
and would almost go to establish the fact that it cannot unite with Lake
Aussa, the termination of the Hawash.

At the Ala Mr Krapf states that he was then seven days' journey from
Aussa. Aussa, according to Bruce, or rather the capital of Aussa, was in
former times situated on a rock on the bank of the river Hawash. It is
called Aussa Gurel in the old Portuguese maps, and is no doubt the Aussa
Guraiel of Major Harris, laid down on the Arabic map which he obtained
from a native of that place. When low, the termination of the Hawash may
be said to form three lakes; but during the rainy season the land is
flooded round to a great extent, the circumference of the lake then
extending to 120 geographical miles. When the waters retire they leave,
like the Nile in Egypt, a quantity of fine mud or slime, which,
cultivated as it immediately is, produces abundant crops, and on this
account the valley of Aussa is, and always has been, the granary of
Adel. From the southern boundary of the lake to the place where the
Hawash finally extricates itself from the mountainous ranges, the
distance is about five days' journey, or from sixty to seventy miles.
The length of the fine valley of Aussa is about one hundred miles.

From the summit of the chain which separates the waters which flow
south-east to Adel, and north-west to the Tacazze, Mr Krapf says, that
looking over Lasta to the towering snow-clad peaks