semble the Caffres. Little of the people of this country or of Ajan is known. The Mohammedan religion prevails and the Arabic language is in common use. The sovereign of Adel assumes the title of Iman.

CHAPTER XCV. - ABYSSINIA.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. This country is bounded north by Nubia, northeast by the Red Sea, south by Adel and unknown districts; and west by Darfoor. It extends from 9 to 15° 40′ N. lat., and from 33° 40′ to 41° E. lon., and contains 344,250 square miles.

2. MOUNTAINS. Abyssinia is very mountainous; and is sometimes described as a table land with a gentle inclination to the northwest. A lofty range called the Lamalmon extends along the shore of the Red Sea. The mountains of Samen in Tigre are still higher. In the south and west are several ridges, supposed to be branches of the mountains of the Moon. These mountains do not rise to the height of perpetual snow. Their sides are steep and they generally shoot up in sharp peaks.

3. RIVERS. The Bahr el Azek, or Blue River rises in the country of the Adows, flows through the Lake Dembea, into Sennaar, where it joins the Nile. This is the stream whose source was discovered by Bruce and considered by him as the main branch of the Nile. The Taccazze is another stream falling into the Nile.

4. CLIMATE. The level shores of the Red Sea have a very hot air, but in the greater part of the country the numerous mountains produce a temperature seldom uncomfortably warm. Thunder is frequent and violent, and the sort of whirlwind known in the India Seas by the name of typhoon is common. The rainy season lasts from April to September, during which time the country is drowned by a continual deluge.

5. MINERALS. This country seems quite destitute of metals, but it contains a great plain of salt, four days' journey in extent. For about half a mile the salt is soft, but afterwards becomes hard like snow partially thawed. It is perfectly pure and hard for two feet in depth. The inhabitants cut it in pieces, which serve not only for food, but circulate as money.

6. ANIMALS. Hyænas are very numerous in this country, and render travelling highly dangerous. They even enter houses and often assemble in vast troops. Elephants and rhinoceroses are common in the low grounds. Buffa loes and antelopes are common, and the zebra is found in the south. The woods swarm with crocodiles and hippopotami. The horses are strong and

beautiful, and the domestic oxen have enormous horns.

7. DIVISIONS. This country consists of 3 separate independent States. Tigre on the Red Sea, Amhara in the west, and the districts of Shoa, Efat, &c, in the south. Three centuries ago these countries were under a single government. The population is supposed to be about 4,000,000.

8. Towns. Adora, the capital of Tigre, is the only point of communication with the interior. It has a considerable trade, and the inhabitants are among the most highly civilized of the Abyssinians. Pop. 8,000.

Antalo, which has for some time been the residence of the Ras, stands upon the side of a mountain and is supposed to contain a pop. of 10,000. Arum, the ancient capital, is now in ruins, but is remarkable for its antiqui ties. Gondar, the capital of Amhara, is three or four leagues in circuit The houses are built of red stone and roofed with thatch. It is now in the hands of the Gallas.

9. AGRICULTURE. The common article of culture is a grain called t

1

which grows in almost every soil and is made into a bread used in every part of the country. Wheat is raised upon the mountains. The papyrus which furnished the paper of the ancients is produced here. The soil along the banks of the rivers is uncommonly fertile.

10. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, &c. Cotton cloths are manufactured in large quantities, the fine sort at Gondar, and the coarse at Adowa. The manufactures of iron and brass are considerable: the metals are procured from Sennaar, Wolcayt and Berbera. Some leather and parchment is also made. The exports are gold, ivory, honey, slaves and rhinoceros' bones. The foreign commerce is transacted chiefly at Masuab, a port on the Red Sea. This town acknowledges the sovereignty of the Grand Signor. 11. INHABITANTS. The people of Abyssinia are composed of various tribes and colors. The general tint is olive. They are a graceful, well formed race, with little of the negro physiognomy. They have long hair, and their features are somewhat of the European cast. The Jews, who form a considerable class, settled here in remote ages and have nearly lost the Hebrew language. They are considered as sorcerers, and it is believed that they can transform themselves into hyænas. They are generally smiths, weavers, and carpenters. The inhabitants of Tigre are ferocious and unprincipled, but the ferocity and filthiness of the Gallas surpass all description. In their excursions they destroy all human life. They smear themselves with the blood of slaughtered animals and hang the entrails about their necks. In the northwest parts the Shangalla are a rude and depraved tribe. They are negroes, with visages approaching to those of apes. They live under the shade of trees, and at some seasons in caves. The Abyssinians hunt them as wild beasts. One of the tribes feed upon locusts.

The Abyssinians dwell in round hovels, with conical roofs, to conduct off the heavy rains. The children go naked till the age of fifteen. The common dress is a loose one of cotton cloth.

The various grains supply a chief article of food, and the savage gayety of a feast is heightened by draughts of hydromel, tinctured with opium. At the feasts beef is eaten in its raw state, swimming in blood. The soldiers, in a march, cut slices from the thighs of the cattle, covering the place over with skin, and drive them on. It does not seem to be certain that at the common feasts it is usual to cut the steaks in this manner from the living animal, though it is recently killed. The great lords are fed by servants.

The manners and customs are those of a barbarous people. The religion is christian, mixed with Jewish practices. Circumcision is practised, and the Jewish and Christian sabbaths are observed. Saints, angels, and especially the Virgin Mary are objects of worship, and there is a belief in transubstantiation, points derived from the Portuguese. The Abyssinian bible contains an additional book called the book of Enoch. The priests are permitted to marry. It will be perceived that the religion is Christian, rather nominally, than practically.

The king is an absolute despot, and sells the subordinate provinces to the best purchaser. The princes who may have pretences to the succession are confined. The prison is in a valley surrounded by mountains, somewhat as described in Rasselas. The only descent is by a rope. Within thirty years a descendant of the Queen of Sheba, and the great King of the Jews, occupied the throne of Abyssinia. This lineage continued to reign till A. D. 960, when the succession was interrupted for several centuries. The laws in Abyssinia are not so well administered, that there is much security for life or property. Violence prevails over justice.

CHAPTER XCVI. — DARFOOR AND KORDOFAN.

1. DARFOOR. This country is bounded north by the Desert of Zahara, east by Kordofan, south by the Mountains of the Moon, and west by Nigriti Its surface is highly diversified, and the climate partakes of that of the De sert. The Bahr el Abiad, the head stream of the Nile, flows through the southern part. The inhabitants raise millet, rice, maize, sesame, and beans. The date, palm, and tamarind are found here, and tobacco grows wild. A great trade is carried on by caravans with Egypt. The exports are slaves, which are taken in the countries to the South, camels, ivory, the bones, teeth, and hides of the rhinoceros and elephant, ostrich feathers, gum, p mento, &c. There is a trade also with Mecca. Cobbe, the chief town, has 6,000 inhabitants.

2. KORDOFAN. This district lies between Darfoor on the west, and Sennaar on the east. On the south it is bounded by a chain of volcanic mountains. It is poorly watered, and ill cultivated. The chief produce is maize and dourra. The inhabitants weave cotton stuffs, forge iron, and carry on a trade in gold dust. These two districts are sometimes considered a part of Nigritia.

The people of Darfoor are negroes, resembling those of Bornou, and there are many Arabs, retaining their distinctions of color, feature, and manner. They are principally agricultural, and the king commences the labors of the seed time, by planting in person. A large kind of grain called kassab, is much used as food. The dwellings are simple, having walls of mud or clay. The religion is the Mohammedan, and the government despotic. The king has a herald who stands by his side to proclaim his praises. See the buffalo,' says he, the offspring of a buffalo, the bull of bulls, the elephant,' &c. Little is known of the people of Kordofan, except that the language is Arabic, and the manners licentious.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Nubia is bounded north by Egypt, east by the Red Sea, south by Abyssinia, and west by Darfoor and the Desert of ZaIt extends from 12 to 24° N. lat.

hara.

2. MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, &C. From the borders of Egypt the land rises gradually to the south through this whole country. In the south and east are some high mountain ridges. The land is everywhere intersected by large and small valleys. The Nile and its numerous head branches traverse the country from south to north. In the upper part of its course this river flows between high rocks which confine it to its bed during the period of its highest inundation, and here it forms several rapids and cataracts. Part of the country is a desert, covered with deep loose sand, and sharp flinty stones. In some places the soil is sprinkled with rock salt. The water during the rainy season is black and putrid. The climate is intensely hot, but healthy.

3. TOWNS, AGRICULTURE, TRADE, &c. Dehr, the capital, is a long, strag gling village of mud cottages, in the midst of a thick palm grove. Pop. 3,000. Ebsambal, is celebrated for a magnificent temple, supposed to have been built 1,500 years before the christian era. Sennaar, has a considerable trade, and sends yearly caravans to Egypt, Nigritia, and Árabia. Pop. 10,000. Dourra and bammia are the principal sorts of grain cultivated: cotton and

tobacco are raised in some parts. The Nile does not rise sufficiently high to overflow its banks, and the land is irrigated by means of waterwheels as in the following cut: the machinery is turned by cows. The inhabitants make

palm wine, beer, and distil a spirit from dates. Some cotton cloth is manufactured. The chief articles of export are dates and slaves. The population is about 250,000. The country is a dependency of Egypt, and formerly produced about 50,000 dollars revenue.

4. INHABITANTS, &c. The Nubians are composed of several tribes. The central kingdom of Dongola is little known. The people are nominally Mohammedans, and very dissolute. On the west of the Nile, towards the north, is the nomade tribe of the Berbers, a lean race of men, apparently composed of nerve and tendon. They are very nimble, and seem to show age only by the whiteness of their beard. They have no resemblance to the negroes of Western Africa, though their skin is of a shining black or brown. The Abadeh live in the deserts east of the Nile. They differ from Arabs and though black have the European form of head. They are lax Mohammedans. The habitations of the Nubians are rude, being of mud or loose stones. There are few towns. The climate is so dry that there are few diseases.

The chief article of food is a coarse cake made of dourra. Much tobacco is raised. Palm wine is used, and also a liquor called bouza, resembling beer, and made of dourra, or barley. Burckhardt describes the Nubians as a well formed race, though lean, and the women, though not handsome, are the most virtuous of all the females of the East. The inhabitants with whom Burckhardt travelled were not addicted to plundering or pilfering. That part of Nubia which borders on the Nile, is strewed with antiquities, generally subterranean, or excavated from rocks. One of the most interesting is the temple of Ebsambal; it is cut from a perpendicular cliff. At the entrance, are six erect colossal figures measuring from the ground to the knee, six feet. Near the temple are four other statues nearly buried in sand. The one which is the most exposed, measures seven yards across the shoulders.

The people of Sennaar, are nearly negroes. Some are idolators, others Mohammedans, but they eat pork freely. Sennaar is included in the recent conquests of the Pasha of Egypt. The Shillooks, a race of negroes, in 1504 invaded the country and rendered the inhabitants tributary.

Their government is despotic though mild. A council of grandees may

depose the sovereign, one of whose relations bears the standing title of royal executioner. It is his duty, when the sovereign is deposed, to put him to death.

CHAPTER XCVIII. - EGYPT.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Egypt is bounded north by the Mediterranean, east by the Red Sea, south by Nubia, and west by the Deserts of Libya and Barca. It stands from 23° 40' to 310 N. lat., and from 30°, to 34° 36 E. lon, and contains about 150,000 square miles.

2. MOUNTAINS, DESERTS, OASES, &c. Egypt to the south of Cairo, is a long valley, through which the Nile flows, shut in by mountains, beyond which, on both sides, are vast sandy deserts. In some parts of these deserts, at the distance of one hundred miles or more to the west of the Nile, are small fertile spots of cultivated land, situated like islands in the midst of an ocean of sand; they are called Oases, the name by which they were know to the ancient Greeks, and by the Arabs Elwah. The great Oasis is said to be twenty leagues in length, and four or five in breadth. That of Siwah is about six miles long, and four wide. A large proportion of this space is filled with datetrees, which afford the chief food of the inhabitants. The dates are gath ered in the manner represented in the subjoined cut. There are also cultivated

pomegranates, figs, olives, apricots, and plantains, and the gardens are remark ably flourishing. A considerable quantity of rice is cultivated here. This has been supposed to be the Oasis where the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon formerly stood. Mr Browne found here the ruins of an edifice which appear ed to be the work of the ancient Egyptians, as the figures of Isis and Anubis were conspicuous among the sculptures. Here are also catacombs, or ancient places of sepulture.