ABYSSINIAN PLATEAU

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22262, 9 November 1935, Page 10

ABYSSINIAN PLATEAU

A MOUNTAIN GARDEN REMARKABLE FERTILITY EXHILARATING CLIMATE In " The Real Abyssinia" Colonel o.< •• F. Key describes Abyssinia as "a mouotain garden surrounded by desert." "J do not think," he say.s, " that a more delightful climate, more beautiful and varied scenery, and greater fertility oft soil, can be found together in any single part of Africa. I am of course speaking, of Abyssinia proper, the mountainous' tableland constituting the main Abyssinian plateau, from 5000 to 8000 ft. height, cut across by the Great Rift • Valley, enjoying throughout the whole ' year a temperature alcin to that of an,' English summer day with the added ■ hilaration of mountain air.

" The lowlands by which this plateau is surrounded on almost every side-i' present a very different picture. Hot ", and unhealthy, they form the real % barrier to travel, and the hill-bred Abyssinian hates to penetrate into these;** regions." * An All Seasons Garden Speaking of the fertility of the soil and the advantages plants derive from i this rare climate the author says:— a " I have seen blackberries and tropical palms growing in close proximity, and in our own garden, where roses flowered from January to December, tuberose and violets, lilies and chrysanthemums, " were growing in the same beds at the ~ same time. And as to vegetables, I" think that an English gardener's envy will be roused when he hears'that we ' laid out a kitchen yard in an uncultivated field in December, and in January we were eating some of the produce. ~, "The fertility of the soil iB such that three, and even in some places - four, crops are obtained by the natives, in spite of their extraordinarily primitive methods and applianceri, and in Bpite of the long duration of the dry season and the pretty general absence of irrigation, practically the only form of which is the digging of trenches round the fields to carry off the heavy rains, and to retain a little moisture on? into the dry season. Of course, thei more far-seeing among them give the ground a rest from time to time, and if they own a fairly extensive acreage thejr ' even occasionally allow the ground to lie fallow for a year or more.

" The native implements of agriculture are still excessively primitive:, they appear to have very few iron utensils. For digging they use long, pointed poles; several natives, standing in a row, force these into the earth, and-then prise up a lump of sod which is afterward broken up with a kind of short, two-pronged wooden fork. Tha' majority of their ploughs are also made: of wood, but often, especially in the dis--tricts within reach of the railway line,r the wooden point which enters the; ground is covered with a'piece of irotfjS the result is that the surface of the; earth is merely scratched. Even the native hatchets are often of wood, cut from the mimosa tree, and it is quite a common sight to see a woman hack" ing up her firewood with an all-wooden chopper. Primitive Methods ; ' * "The method of gathering the crop£ and threshing is indeed primitive. The cutting is done by hand, of course, wilh* knives or rough sickles—scythes are, never used—and the corn is Cot offj? quite near the top, close to the ears;" this is then generally made into quite good little stacks, or sometime# is threshed at once. A smooth piece of ground is chosen, the corn piled upon it, and threshed by oxen treading it' round and round, after which it itthrown up into the air by band, arid the winds carrying away the chaff, the grain is left. " Possibly the most general and most; useful crop of all is grass. This is •: most valuable asset, arid many of population in the neighbourhood of , Addis draw the bulk of their livelihood from it; the grass njarket, with its htm-- >, dreds of donkeys piled high with hug# bundles pf grass, is a really remarkable sight. Consequently it is not surprising that, whereas during the dry season it is possible to ride almost anywhere over, the country, directly the rains com?~ mence fences and barriers spring up ar\ if by magic, paths are barred, and many; of one's former short cut® are found t*»be "closed to traffic." And any attempt to ignore the newly formed landmarks ■■ is apt to be resented with stones andr even rifles; riding over grass by Euro*.peans ignorant or> callous of native feel- " ing on the subject ha 3 been the cause of several unpleasant incidents in recent - times.

" It is a remarkable commentary on.the way in "which the opportunities ofsoil and climate are neglected that fruit and vegetables (especially the former) are hardly met with near the capital, except in private European gardens. I have never been able to obtain a satisfactory explanation of this, for it might well have been thought that these pro* ducts which grow easily and luxuriantly in so many parts of the country, would be cultivated near or brought into Addis Ababa; yet they are, with a few exceptions, almost unprocurable _.hei* apart from a few bananas and orangoag brought up from Harrar."