GEOGRAPnY AND ANTIQUITIES. S.jS 



not so favorably situated with regard to moisture as several other 

 temperate regions witliin the tropics. On one side is the bound- 

 less Sahara Desert, on the other the narrow strip of the Red bea, 

 with the arid waste of Arabia beyond. Nothing in the Avay of 

 moisture is to be got from tiie former, and Ijut a sorry sprinkling 

 along the coast during the winter and spring months, when east- 

 erly winds prevail, from the latter. Al>yssinia has to look to the 

 equator for most of her moisture, when the sun comes to the 

 north, after having pumped up the necessary water from the 

 Indian Ocean. Then, from June to September, she gets her rainy 

 season ; for her mountains are higli enough to reach and condense 

 the moisture that is hurrying northward, and to bring it down to 

 deluge and fertilize the plateaux and valleys. But as the wind 

 progresses northward, much of its moisture has already been dis- 

 charged. 



The northern portion of Abyssinia, which is drained by the 

 Llareb, is consequently much drier than the more southerly prov- 

 inces. 



The plateaux stretch from north to south along the main line 

 of the Abyssinian Alps, and form their summit ridge, and they 

 also extend over a vast area to the westward. They are com- 

 posed of sandstone, overlying a formation of schistose rock 4,000 

 feet thick, which rests on gneiss. Grand peaks rise from the 

 plateaux, frequently with tlat tops and scarped sides. The val- 

 le3's surrounded by the steep scarped sides of the plateaux are 

 tolerably well watered and yield good crops of grass and corn. 



The country between Antalo and Magdala is a mountainous re- 

 gion, entirely composed of volcanic rock, but it is divided into 

 two very distinct parts by the River Takaze. That to the north is 

 an elevated ridge, crossed bj^ several lofty ranges of mountains. 

 That to the south is a plateau of still greater height, cut by 

 ravines of enormous depth. The former contains the sources of 

 the Takaze ; the latter is drained by the principal affluents of the 

 Alijai or Blue Nile. 



The plain of Antalo is bounded on the south by the deep and 

 fertile valley of jNlusgi, beyond which is the mountain range of 

 Wodgerat, towering up into peak<, such as Alagi, which attain a 

 height of 10,000 feet above the sea. The peculiar feature of this 

 whole region is that, while the backbone of the mountain system 

 runs north and south, it is crossed by ranges of great elevation, 

 running across it in the direction of the drainage, and dividing it 

 into sections, thus forming Literal vallevs. Thus the Wodgerat 

 Mountains rise up as a great southern barrier, separating the 

 dreary plains round Antalo from the rich vallej's of the volcanic 

 formation. 



THE AINOS, OR HAIRY MEN OF YESSO. 



Mr. A. S. Bickmore, in the " American Journal of Science" for 



May, 18G8, communicates two papers on the "Hair}' Men of 



Yesso, Saghalien, and the Kurile Islands," read before the Boston 



Society of Natural History. Yesso is a large island to the north 



SO* 



