HAUSSALAND AND THE NILE VALLEY 223 but certainly through the period of the Ptolemies, and probably much earlier. That they communicated with Ethiopia in early ages is not a matter of doubt.

Africa contributed largely in gold and probably also in frankincense — which was obtained in the regions now known as Somaliland — to the ancient commerce of the Indian Ocean. Considering the position occupied by Arabia in that commerce, it is not surprising to find that the ports through which the trade entered Ethiopia were Asab and Adule, both situated within the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb on the western shore of the Red Sea. Roads from these two points led to Axum, in the interior, on the western side of the Abyssinian Mountains, a town of which the colossal remains still testify to its ancient greatness. From Axum, which had its temples and was itself a great centre of trade, the road led northwestward through the State of Meroe to the town of the same name. The town of Meroe was a great centre, whence roads spread in many directions. The principal trade route led from Meroe northwards, either along the Nile or across the Nubian desert to Thebes, thence to the oasis of Siwah in the western desert, thence to Angela, often mentioned as an Egyptian colony, and thence south-westward to the site of the modern Murzuk In the Fezzan, whence communication was direct to Carthage and the Mediterranean coast. These last stations were at the head of the Tripoli-Fezzan route into the southern desert, and marked the junction of that route with the Egyptian route. There was a road from Meroe across the desert which ran due westward into Kordofan. This road still exists, but Burckhardt, who visited Shendy in 177O5 says that now, "as in ancient times," the commerce with the west is insignificant. It seems to result from the most careful investigation that the principal commerce of the interior of Africa has always been carried on in two directions : that which has been described from Ethiopia through the Valley of the Nile, and that of the Soudan from the Niger to the Mediterranean