GALLABAT, or GALABAT  , called by the Abyssinians Matemma (Metemma), a town of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, in 13° N . 36° 12' E . It is built, at the foot of a steep slope, on the left bank of a tributary of the Atbara called the Khor Abnaheir, which forms here the Sudan-Abyssinian frontier . Gallabat lies 90 M . W. by N. of Gondar, the capital of Amhara, and being on the main. route from Sennar to Abyssinia, is a trade centre of some importance . Pop. about 3000 . The majority of the buildings are grass tukls . Slaves, beeswax, coffee, cotton and hides were formerly the chief articles of commerce . The slave market was closed about 1874 . Being on the frontier line, the possession of the town was for long a matter of dispute between the Sudanese, and later the Egyptians, on the one hand and the Abyssinians on the other: About 187o the Egyptians garrisoned the town, which in 1886 was attacked by the dervishes and sacked . From Gallabat a dervish raiding party penetrated to Gondar, which they looted . In revenge an Abyssinian army under King John attacked the dervishes close to Gallabat in March 1889 .

The dervishes suffered very severely, but King John being killed by a stray

bullet, the Abyssinians retired (see EGYPT: Military Operations,1885-1896) . In December 1898 an Anglo-Egyptian force entered Gallabat . The Abyssinians then held the fort, but as the result of frontier arrangement the town was definitely included in the Sudan, though Abyssinia takes half the customs revenue . Since 1899 the trade of the place has revived, coffee and live stock being the most important items . The town and district form a small ethnographical island, having been peopled in the 18th century by a colony of Takruri from Darfur, who, finding the spot a convenient resting-place for their fellow-pilgrims on their way to Mecca and back, obtained permission from the negus of Abyssinia to make a permanent settlement . They are an industrious agricultural race, and cultivate cotton with considerable success . They also collect honey in large quantities . The Takruri possess jagged throwing knives, which are said to have been brought from their original home in the Upper Congo regions .