Maste

MASTE (Μάστη ὄρος, Ptol. 4.7.26), a mountain forming part of the Abyssinian highlands, a little to the east of the Lunae Montes, lat. 10° 59‘ N., long. 36° 55‘ E. The sources of the Astapus, Bahr-el-Azrek, Blue or Dark river, one of the original tributaries of the Nile, if not the Nile itself, are supposed to be on the N. side of Mount Maste. They are three springs, regarded as holy by the natives, and though not broad are deep. Bruce, (Travels, vol. 3. p. 308) visited Mount Maste, and was the first European who had ascended it for seventy years. The tribes who dwelt near the fountains of the Bahr-el-Azrek were called Mastitae (Μαστῖται, Ptol. 4.5.24, 7.31), and there was a town of the same name with the mountain (Μάστη πόλις, Ptol. 4.7.25).