On the previous day the road
was a gradual ascent over a well-cultivated and populous district;
but on the 10th, the country bore a wild aspect, few villages were
to be seen, and but few dark tufts of cedars graced the summit of
the distant hills, proclaiming the presence of a church. The scenery
was grand, and for the artist no doubt full of attractions; but for
Europeans, driven like cattle by semi-barbarians, the precipitous
descents and steep acclivities had certainly no charms. After a few
hours' march, we arrived at an almost perpendicular precipice (almost
1,500 feet in height, and not more than a quarter of a mile in
breadth), that we had both to descend and ascend in order to reach
the next plateau. Another couple of hours' march brought us to the
gate's of Begemder. In front of us arose the plateau of Dahonte,
only about a couple of miles distant, but we had to ascend a more
abrupt precipice than the one we had just passed and climb again
a steeper ascent before we could reach it. The valley of the Jiddah,
a tributary of the Nile, was between us and our halting-place--a
stiff march, as the silver thread we viewed from the narrow passage
between the basaltic columns of the Eastern Begemder ridge was 3,000
feet below us. Tired and worn out, at last; we accomplished our
task.
We halted for the night at a place called Magat, on the first terrace
of the Dahonte plateau, about 500 feet from the summit.
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