From the category archives:

Abyssinia

Tympanitis explained

July 16, 2010

This passage from Vavilov’s bad luck tale brought me up short: Owing to the abrupt shift to abundant fodder after a rather long fast, the stomachs of the mules had become distended and presented a rather typical picture of tympanitis. Two mules had died. I “know” enough to know that at face value tympanitis ought [...]

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Bad luck again

July 15, 2010

February 1927 There were still a few days left before reaching Eritrea. Fields had disappeared. The area had become more sparsely populated and increasingly more beautiful. Ahead a panorama of a picturesque valley opened up. In hollows and along deep ravines there were groves of wild palms (Phoenix abyssinica), a relative of the date palm [...]

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It was necessary for me to go in front

June 21, 2010

February 1927 Beyond the [Tekezé] river there was trouble again. The Amharan attached to us by the Italian ambassador claimed that the road along which the caravan was proceeding had become dangerous since ahead of us were many robbers, so it was necessary to choose a different road. The people in the caravan looked with [...]

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During the night something incredible happened

June 18, 2010

February 1927 Again a descent began, into the canyon of the Takkaze (Tekezé) river, flowing not far from the Eritrean border. This is a deep river with gently sloping banks supporting a vegetation of wild, small-fruited castor-bean plants. Just like the Nile, the Takkaze is full of crocodiles. We stopped to camp overnight on a [...]

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Cemeteries that serve the living

June 16, 2010

February 1927 On the way from Fiche through Godzham to Gonder and Aksum the caravan often passed cemeteries. These are something like botanical gardens. Usually the cemeteries are situated in forests and around the graves all kinds of trees are planted, in part brought from far away. Here also rare species, including citrus trees, are [...]

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A first-class discovery

May 24, 2010

February 1927 I made a first-class discovery between Gonder and Aksum. In a field I found a peculiar awnless hard wheat, previously unknown. For decades, plant breeders from different countries have tried to produce awnless hard wheat by crossing ordinary awned hard wheat with soft awnless wheat. The creation of such a wheat is extremely [...]

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The market under the tree where man was born

May 21, 2010

Gary Nabhan, who lectures tonight (21 May 2010) in Rome, continues his exploration of the markets Vavilov visited in Ethiopia. Pictures here. As we descended down endless switchbacks from the plateau above the gorge, we could see the towers of the cathedral [of Debre Libanos] well ahead of us, but did not catch a glimpse [...]

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Geographic hopscotch

May 19, 2010

Collecting biodiversity in the markets remains an efficient practice, and so it was when Gary Nabhan and David Cavagnaro followed Vavilov to Ethiopia. For several days, we played a game of geographic hopscotch, trying to retrace the path of Vavilov’s caravan from market to market, from Ankober and Debre Birhan overlooking the Great Rift Valley [...]

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Money was as good as useless

May 14, 2010

February 1927 We hurried on to the former capital, Gonder. The caravan had become worn out after a month and a half constantly on the road. On the map there was a large circle indicating a major city, an old capital. It turned out that in this capital there were neither market stalls nor any [...]

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Give ‘em wild coffee, that’ll sober ‘em up

May 12, 2010

The caravan moved on to the shores of Lake Tana. February 1927 At the night camp a major event occurred, forcing me to remember the advice of the governor. The Christian Lent was approaching. Our caravan was to a great extent international: together with the Amharans there were also Somalians and representatives of other nationalities, [...]

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