248 THE PLAINS OF TIGRE, 



of the lake the pasturages are fresh and green, and a man might 

 easily lurk unseen among their gigantic Graminese, the Panicas and 

 the Setarias. Still keeping our faces eastward, like the Ghebirs of 

 ancient Iran, we perceive that Abyssinia is divided into two parts by 

 the River Tacazze, an affluent of the Nile ; the western being called 

 Amliora, and the eastern Tigre'. Owing to its peculiar geographical 

 configuration and the elevation of its mountains, Abyssinia rejoices 

 in a wholly special Flora. In the Semen, west of the Tacazze, there 

 is a mountain lifting its crest above the limit of perpetual snow, or 

 to an altitude of 14,000 feet. Up to a height of 6500 feet its slopes 

 are thickly carpeted with fresh and fragrant sward, and the air throbs 

 with the music of a hundred streams which flow from the perennial 

 fountains of ice and snow. 



In the Tigre the country is not fertile, nor is it well populated. 

 Its geological features are interesting, for we meet everywhere with 

 isolated masses of limestone, arranged generally in horizontal strata 

 of various extent, and bearing indisputable traces of a vast volcanic 

 labour. On the coast of the Red Sea, the oriental slopes only present 

 at their base a few scattered thickets chiefly composed of thorny 

 shrubs and the Leguminosse. We meet also with various kinds of 

 Aloes and Euphorbiacese (Spurge- Worts), as the Euphorbia neriifolia, 

 Euphorbia grcmdidens, and Euphorbia Abyssinica. It is said that 

 King Juba II., of Mauritania, discovered the plant growing on Mount 

 Atlas, wrote a short treatise on its virtues, and named it after his 

 physician Euphorbos (about the end of the first century B.C.) The 

 root, generally speaking, is aperient, and the milky juice useful in 

 cases of rheumatism and cramp. 



The plains of Tigre present a beautiful appearance with the 

 variety of flowers that bloom among the grass ; including a kind of 

 scarlet aloe, which is to be met with almost everywhere in Tigre, and 

 appears, like our gorse, to flower at all seasons, forming a graceful 

 object in the foreground. The many varieties of mimosas, too, with 

 their different-coloured blossoms pink, yellow, and white appear to 

 be spread over the whole face of the countiy, whether rock or plain, 



