ON ANCIENT REMAINS IN ABYSSINIA. 557 



Exploration of Ancient Retnains in Abyssinia. — Report of the 

 Committee, consisting of Dr. J. Gr. Gtarson (Chairman), Mr. J. 

 Theodore Bent (Secretary), Mr. F. W. Eudler, Mr. E. W. 

 Brabrook, and Mr. Gr. W. Bloxam. (Drawn up by Mr. Bent.) 



Appendix.— 0>t the Morphological Oharaders of the Ahyssinians. 

 By De. J. G. Gaeson. 



The Committee have received the following report from Mr. Bent : — - 



The four months which I was able to pass in Abyssinia at the beginning 

 of this year have been very productive in ethnographical research. We 

 were able to visit the sites of rains at a spot called Yeba and at Aksum, 

 the ancient capital of this part of Ethiopia, and when there to take a 

 large number of photographs and impressions of inscriptions which throw 

 a flood of light on the origin of the Ethiopian race and language, and leave 

 no shadow of a doubt that both are derived in the first instance from 

 an ancient Arabian stock, namely, early Sabsean traders, who built them- 

 selves fortresses and temples in the Abyssinian mountains, and left there 

 traces of their writing and their art as far back as the eighth century B.C. 



About five hours' ride from Adoua, in a north-easterly direction, we 

 visited the village of Teha, where is a very ancient temple preserved 

 to us by the fact that it has been a religious centre in Abyssinia, and has 

 thus been protected from the depredations of marauders. The building 

 is a very fine specimen of ancient art, built with large ' drafted ' stones, 

 and crowning a knoll which commands the surrounding village and plain, 

 hemmed in on all sides by stupendous mountains. Here, too, we found 

 nine Himyaritic inscriptions, which Professor D. H. Miiller, of Vienna, 

 has deciphered, and which date back to the eighth century B.C. One 

 of these gives the name of the place as Ava, and besides this we have 

 two references to this place Ava — one given us by Nonnosus, who went as 

 ambassador from Justinian to the king of Abyssinia in 540 a.d., and 

 another from the Adulitan inscription, pi'obably about the first century 

 of our era. Both these agree in placing this town of Ava on the ancient 

 trade route between Adulis and Aksum, and consequently there is no 

 doubt whatsoever that the ruins of Yeha originally formed the town of 

 Ava, and that it was a Sabsean colony from Arabia which settled here for 

 the purposes of trade at a very remote period. 



Professor Miiller connects this temple of Ava with the worship of Baal 

 Ava, common at that period in Southern Arabia; and the nature of the 

 building, the monoliths adjoining it, the altar, and other facts too 

 numerous here to mention obviously connect this ruin with early Sabaean. 

 sun-worship ; and from its strength, decoration, and position we can clearly 

 see what a strong foothold the merchants of Arabia had gained in Abyssinia 

 many centuries before the commencement of our era. The neighbourhood 

 of Yeha is very fertile, and this fertility was accounted for by the in- 

 habitants from the fact that in the mountains behind they possess 

 caves in which they can store their goods out of the way of marauders, 

 and hence the valley of Teha is one of the most prosperous and fertile in 

 Abyssinia. It is a curious fact that Ava was probably the capital of this 

 district, known to the earliest geographers as Ethiopia Troglodytica, or 

 that part of Ethiopia where the inhabitants dwelt in caves; it is just 



