THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA 



A 



ABYSSINIA, a kingdom or empire in East- 

 ern Africa. Abyssinia proper has an area esti- 

 mated at 158,392 English square miles, and 

 a population of from three to four millions ; but 

 the whole of the Ethiopian plateau, "which 

 sometimes is also designated by the name of 

 Abyssinia, has, according to the Roman Catholic 

 Bishop Massaja, and most of the recent writers 

 on Abyssinia, a population of about 12,000,000 

 of people, 9,000,000 of whom are Sidama and 

 Gallas. Abyssinia proper consists of a high 

 mountainous table-land, the eastern boundary 

 of which may be considered roughly as follow- 

 ing the fortieth degree of east longitude. Be- 

 tween this mountainous region and the sea 

 there is -a tract of arid, low lying, water- 

 less country, inhabited by the savage Danakil 

 tribes ; this region at Massowah is only a few 

 miles broad, but it widens out to two hundred 

 or three hundred miles at Tajurrah. In cli- 

 mate, inhabitants, soil, cultivation, etc., these 

 two regions are totally opposite, the highlands 

 being salubrious, temperate, generally well 

 watered and traversed by paths in every di- 

 rection ; while the low country is arid, water- 

 less, with few exceptions trackless and uncul- 

 tivated. This inhospitable region effectually 

 cuts off the highlands from all communication 

 with the sea except at three points, Massowah 

 and its neighborhood on the north, Amphilla 

 Bay, about one hundred miles to the southeast, 

 and Tajurrah on the south. From these three 

 points the roads into the interior are of a very 

 different character, for at Massowah they very 

 soon climb the eastern boundary of the high- 

 lands and continue along the elevated land, 

 whilst from Tajurrah they have to traverse 

 two hundred or three hundred miles, and from 

 Amphilla Bay from fifty to one hundred miles 

 of the low lying country before they reach the 

 highlands. The western and southern bound- 

 aries of Abyssinia are very undefined, but they 

 may be taken roughly as conterminous with the 

 VOL. viii. 1 A 



edge of the highlands, and having the White 

 and Blue Nile on the west and the Bed Sea 

 rather south by east. The following are some 

 of the principal towns : 



Gfondar, in Amhara the capital of the 

 kingdom. This town is stated by Heuglin, in 

 1862, to have contained from six thousand to 

 seven thousand inhabitants, but it is said to 

 have been within the last two or three years 

 totally destroyed by the Emperor Theodore. 



Debra Tabor, in AmJiara. Formerly a small 

 village. It is now a place of considerable size, 

 and was the residence of the Emperor Theo- 

 dore. Near Debra Tabor is Gaffat, where the 

 European workmen of the Emperor resided, 

 and which was considered as his arsenal. 



Adowa, the capital of Tigre. This is the 

 second city in the kingdom. It is stated by 

 MM. Ferret and Galinier to have contained in 

 1840 not more than 4,000 inhabitants. Heu- 

 glin, in 1862, put the population at 6,000. The 

 miserable nature of Abyssinian towns may be 

 judged of by the description given by Mans- 

 field Parkyns, in 1843, of this, the second city 

 of the empire. He says: "I own I rather 

 expected to see columns or obelisks, if not an 

 acropolis, on some of the neighboring hills. 

 Judge, then, of my astonishment when, on ar- 

 riving at this great city, the capital of one of 

 the most powerful kingdoms of Ethiopia, I 

 found nothing but a large straggling village of 

 huts, some flat roofed, but mostly thatched 

 with straw, and the walls of all of them built 

 of rough stones, laid together with mud, in the 

 rudest possible manner. Being wet, moreover, 

 with the rain, the place presented the most 

 miserably dirty appearance." 



Mr. Dufton, who visited Adowa, puts its 

 population at 10,000. 



Antalo the capital of Enderta, and one of 

 the principal towns of Tigr6. It is said by 

 Ferret and Galinier to contain from two hun- 

 dred to three hundred houses. 



