[Footnote 61: “The Gumara here flows between high rocks, which consist of porphyry and trachyte, in which calcareous tufa is found embedded. Its banks are adorned with tropical vegetation, and the place derives its characteristic features especially from the wild _Phœnix_ with its delicate foliage and the colossal _Musa Ensete ornamentalis_ with carmine leaf-panicles, which is called _guma-guma_ by the natives to distinguish it from the edible _Musa Ensete_. In many places the Gumara is deep and full of fish; innumerable wild ducks and geese, _scopus umbretta_, etc., enliven the surface of the water, while bright-hued butterflies, the charming _Danais_ and equitidæ with their brilliant play of colour, mingled with tiny metallic-tinted nectariniæ (_affinis metallica_), flit around the fragrant _Dodonæa viscosa_ and the brilliant blossoms of the Tsana-tree” (“Mittheilungen der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland,” vol. iii. 1881, pp. 23, 24). _Phœnix_ is the name given to a family of pinnate palms, of which the Egyptian _Phœnix dactylifera_, the finger-date, is an example. _Ensete_ is the Abyssinian name of a thick-stemmed, large-leafed banana, which is grown in gardens as an ornamental plant. The thick flower-stalk is used as an article of food by the natives, but the fruit, being small and dry, is useless. In spite of these attractions, Wansage, (see p. 63) according to Stecker, would hardly be a suitable health-resort for European invalids. He wrote, “By night an infernal din prevails, which, mingled with the singing of women and clapping of hands, forms the characteristic music of the Baths. The bull-frogs that live in the Gumara supply a harmonious accompaniment, which, with the noise kept up by the donkeys and beasts of burden, does not cease till long after midnight” (Ib.).] [Footnote 62: This is the district called Lamge. Stecker said of it: “I consider Lamge the prettiest place on Lake Tsana; the ancient, massive _Dokma_ trees are all covered by parasitical _Loranthidæ_ with rose-red and purple blossoms, and by whole nests of olive-green _Viscum_, and another parasitical plant which is peculiar to this one tree; and they are surrounded by an impenetrable growth of _Cucurbitaceæ_ and _Convolvulaceæ_, which in some places form the most romantic piazzas, and in others arbours and formal galleries, and afford the coolest shade. This Lamge is a place for which one may prophesy a brilliant future. Everywhere hereabouts on ancient acacias hang the nests of weaver-birds (_textor alecto_), and, out of curiosity, I counted upon one of them 872 basket-shaped, suspended nests” (“Mittheilungen der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland,” vol. iii. 1881, p. 26).]