The Mareb is the boundary between Tigré and the Baharnagash, on this side. It runs over a bed of soil; is large, deep, and smooth; but, upon rain falling, it is more dangerous to pass than any river in Abyssinia, on account of the frequent holes in its bottom. We then entered the narrow plain of Yeeha, wherein runs the small river, which either gives its name to, or takes it from it. The Yeeha rises from many sources in the mountains to the west; it is neither considerable for size nor its course, and is swallowed up in the Mareb. The harvest was in great forwardness in this place. The wheat was cut, and a considerable share of the teff in another part; they were treading out this last-mentioned grain with oxen. The Dora, and a small grain called telba, (of which they make oil) was not ripe. At eleven o’clock we rested by the side of the mountain whence the river falls. All the villages that had been built here bore the marks of the justice of the governor of Tigré. They had been long the most incorrigible banditti in the province. He surrounded them in one night, burnt their houses, and extirpated the inhabitants; and would never suffer any one since to settle there. At three o’clock in the afternoon we ascended what remained of the mountain of Yeeha; came to the plain upon its top; and, at a quarter before four, passed the village of that name, leaving it to the S. E. and began the most rugged and dangerous descent we had met with since Taranta. At half past five in the evening we pitched our tent at the foot of the hill, close by a small, but rapid and clear stream, which is called Ribieraini. This name was given it by the banditti of the villages before mentioned, because from this you see two roads; one leading from Gondar, that is, from the westward; the other from the Red Sea to the eastward. One of the gang that used to be upon the out-look from this station, as soon as any caravan came in sight, cried out, Ribieraini, which in Tigrè signifies _they are coming this way_; upon which notice every one took his lance and shield, and stationed himself properly to fall with advantage upon the unwary merchant; and it was a current report, which his present greatness could not stifle, that, in his younger days, Ras Michael himself frequently was on these expeditions at this place. On our right was the high, steep, and rugged mountain of Samayat, which the same Michael, being in rebellion, chose for his place of strength, and was there besieged and taken prisoner by the late king Yasous.