An enquiry into M. Antoine d'Abbadie's journey to Kaffa, in the years 1843 and 1844, to discover the source of the Nile / [Charles T. Beke].

Charles Tilstone Beke

Date:: 1850

Credit: An enquiry into M. Antoine d'Abbadie's journey to Kaffa, in the years 1843 and 1844, to discover the source of the Nile / [Charles T. Beke]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$in or previously to the month of December of the same year, ob¬ tain that monarch’s permission to depart; and not merely so, but also the special favour of permission to enter the ho^de country of Diimma-Kaka—a circumstance quite contrary to the usap^es and customs of those nations and their rulers. 2ndly; He must have traversed the kingdom of Djimma-Kaka without being molested or detained by AbbaDjifar, notwithstanding that he was the first Emopean who had ever ventured into his dominions, and that He had come without_ invitation after having been several months the guest of that king’s enemy and rival-all which again is most unusual, in that part of the world. And 3rdly; All this must Have taken place hy the end of Decem¬ ber ^ at the very latest. It must appear strange to the scientific world that M. d’Abbadie should not have favoured it with any particulm’s of his residence m Kaffa, a country wHTch had never^before been visited by any European, and that he should not even have mentioned the lejiigth of his stay there. He must, however, have remained in that kingdom several months. For, in one of his letters we are told that, when proceeding to Kaffa, as the waters were high, [he] crossed the Godjeb on a suspension-bridge made of Hanes but that when returning [he] waded across the stream,”^ its ‘‘ greatest depth being about F2 metre or four English feet; which proves that a considerable time must have_dapsed between the two events, so as to have allowed the waters of the river to fall. And, indeed, in another letter, in which some lengthened and minute details are given respecting the Godjeb and its numerous tributaries, the traveller states that it required several months\ labour on the spot to disentangle the elements of the vast basin of that river, and also that he made various astronomical and geodetical observations in Kaffa and especially at Bong a, its capital all which must of course have been the work of considerable time. When and how he quitted Kaffa M. d’Abbadie has also left a secret. But we cannot sufficiently admire the forbearance of the monarch of that country, Kamo by name, who, following the example of his neighbour of Djimma-Kaka, Abba Djifar, appears not to have thought of detaining the first adventurous * Athen. No. 906, p. 243. Kaffa], tlie waters of tlie Godjeb, ^ Ihid. even during the dry season, reacli ^ Ibid. No. 918, p. 542. Nouv. as bigb as tbe cbest.’’—Bulletiny Annales, 1845, vol. ii. p. 219. M. vol. iii. p. 63. d’Abbadie says in another place, ^ Bulletin, vol. iii. p. 317. that “at the ford between Djinuna ® Ibid. p. 314. See also vol. xii. and Woratta [a country adjoining p. 152.$