560 BEPORT— 1893. 



modem Arabians called it Habesh, which was supposed to be given it 

 owing to the mixture of the race. Hence the derivation of the name 

 Abyssinia is thus : Sab^an name Habaset, Arabian Habesh, which the 

 Portuguese gave to the world as Abessini when speaking of the in- 

 habitants, which we finally have made into Abyssinia. 



After visiting Aksum we went to the site of another set of ruins on 

 a lofty isolated plateau, now known by the Italians as the Altapiana 

 di Kohaito ; here we found the remains of a very extensive town with a 

 curious lake in the centre of it, the waters of which were preserved in 

 an artificial reservoir by a wall or dam built of huge stones without 

 cement, and obviously of a very ancient date. This well was 219 feet 

 across, and the centre part, 99 feet long, was built very strongly with 

 ' throughs ' and steps to withstand the force of the water. On either 

 side of this stronger portion of the dam were two sluice gates, 5 feet 

 wide, and the construction of this wall corresponds in many ways to the 

 wall or dam at Mareb, the ancient Mariaba, or capital of the Sabaean 

 kingdom in Southern Arabia. This is the chief feature of interest 

 amongst the ruins. Around the lake are the scattered remains of many 

 buildings, temples, houses, and so forth ; the columns and capitals of the 

 temples are interesting as connecting the style of architecture exactly 

 with that in use at Adulis, the port of this part of Ethiopia. The 

 columns are square with a groove cut at each angle, and the capitals are 

 also square in three tiers. 



This ancient town, long since abandoned, is easily to be identified with 

 the Koloe of the early geographers ; in fact, the locality as placed by the 

 Periplus of the Red Sea, namely, three days from Adulis and five from 

 Aksum, is exactly where it should be, and probably it was a summer 

 resort of the rich merchants of Adulis : it is situated at an elevation of 

 7,000 feet above the sea, and enjoys a most salubrious climate. The 

 plateau is curiously isolated from the surrounding mountains, and the 

 approaches to it are now exceedingly difficult ; but there are ample traces 

 of ancient roadways and sustaining walls long ago ruined. Immediately 

 in the valley below, just on the ancient trade road between Adulis and 

 Aksum, there are the ruins of another village with a few columns of a 

 temple still standing of precisely the same form of architecture as that 

 at Koloe and Adulis, and this village would appear to have been a 

 halting place for the caravans on their way into the interior at the foot 

 of the hill on which Koloe was built. 



These are amongst the most prominent points of the archfeological 

 discoveries we made in Abyssinia, which I hope shortly to develop at 

 greater length with the collaboration of Professor D. H. Miiller. 



"With regard to the anthropology of the Abyssinians of to-day our 

 results were naturally considerably hampered by not knowing the 

 language, and having to obtain our information second hand from an 

 interpreter. However, I think we have been able to arrive at several 

 points of interest, more especially in connection with the quaint and 

 interesting form of Christianity which is the national religion of the 

 country. 



In the first place the Christianity of Abyssinia is obviously one 

 grafted on a form of paganism closely akin to sun-worship. As we find 

 in Greece innumerable instances of the way the early divines grafted 

 Christianity on to the existing paganism of Greece and Rome, blending 

 the saints and customs of Christianity with the gods and rites of the old 



