Abessinia and the neighbotiring Countries. 279 



gha or Agaus of Agaumider. Of this language M. d'Abbadie 

 says, that he has " no sample beyond the first ten numbers, 

 which are partly Gils ;" and he adds that " the all-but-un- 

 known Konfal tribes are the most perfect medium between the 

 straight-nosed Ethiopian and the grovelling negro." But the 

 position thus attributed to the Konfal corresponds precisely 

 with that of the black inhabitants of Gindjar already men- 

 tioned; and when M. d'Abbadie asserts that their numerals are 

 partly Geez, i. e., Ethiopic, he should rather have said Arabic ; 

 since the fact is beyond dispute that the language of Gindjar 

 is, in great part, a corrupt Arabic, and it is not less a fact 

 that the Ethiopic and Ai'abic numerals are almost identical. 



The conclusion to be drawn from this investigation is, that 

 Dr Latham's list, whatever modifications increased informa- 

 tion may eventually give occasion to introduce into its arrange- 

 ment, is, in fact, exhaustive of the languages of Abessinia 

 and the countries immediately adjoining. 



The map in which the results thus arrived at have been 

 embodied, makes no pretensions to strict accuracy in the 

 limits that are assigned in it to the several classes of lan- 

 guages. Our materials are still too impei'fect to admit of 

 precision in this respect. The only merit that this map can 

 lay claim to, is that of afi'ording a general coup-d'oeil of the 

 geographical distribution of the various languages spoken in 

 that portion of Africa which has more immediately fallen 

 within my cognizance ; and thus of obviating, so far as Abes- 

 sinia and the neighbouring countries are concerned, the dif- 

 ficulty which, as the author of the Report justly complains, so 

 frequently arises from the absence of any geographical notice 

 respecting the districts within which a particular language 

 is spoken. 



London, ZIh May 1848. 



