CHAPTEE XI. 



ABYSSINIA. 

 I. 



Origin of the Abyssinian People. 



THE Abyssinians have a tradition, the origin of 

 which is lost in antiquity and which is said also 

 to be prevalent among the Jews, viz., that soon after 

 the deluge, Chus, the grandson of Noah, went through 

 Lower Egypt, which was then uninhabited, and cross- 

 ing the Atbara settled with his family in the table- 

 lands of Abyssinia. The same tradition relates that 

 Chus and his family, still terrified by the recollection 

 of the Deluge, chose rather to live in caves upon the 

 mountain side than to trust themselves to the plains. 



This race of men hewed with amazing perseverance 

 large caverns in the mountains of marble and granite, 

 many of which are still in existence. 



The Abyssinians also say that the children of Chus 

 built the town of Axoum, shortly before the birth of 

 Abraham. Soon after this they established colonies 

 as far as the Atbara, where, as we gather from 

 Herodotus (Book II., chapter xxix.), they cultivated 



