INHABITANTS. 145 



or ploceus aureus ; Stecker has counted as many as eight hundred and seventy-two 

 of these hasket-nests on a single acacia. 



According to the altitude of the country that they inhabit, the Abyssinians 

 rear different domestic animals. Camels are used only on the lowlands, never 

 being found beyond a height of 5,000 feet. The Abyssinian horse, bred 

 throughout all the inhabited regions, is evidently of Arab stock, but smaller and 

 stouter, of dog-like fidelity, and almost as strong and surefooted in climbing rocks 

 as the mule. The donkey has also been introduced into the plateau, but it is 

 weak and useless as a pack animal, possessing none of the qualities of the 

 European variety. 



Thanks to its immense and succulent pasture-lands, Abyssinia is an excellent 

 cattle-breeding country, and some of its breeds, differing in stature, shape, length 

 of horn and colour, almost rival the finest European species. In many parts of 

 the plateau are found the two kinds of sheep, the short and fat-tailed, besides an 

 intermediate variety. The goat is also bred, its skin supplying the parchment on 

 which most of the sacred books are written. There are neither pigs, pigeons, 

 ducks, nor geese, but poultry is found in every village, and in some chiirches 

 cocks are kept to announce the hour of morning prayer. Excepting the sheep-dog, 

 which is large and courageous, the domestic dog is small and of indifferent 

 qualities. The Abyssinians occupy themselves with apiculture in some districts, 

 but the honey has poisonous properties whenever the bees obtain it from the 

 flower of the branching euphorbia. An analogous phenomenon has been observed 

 for affes in the Caucasian and Pontine mountains. 



Inhabitants. 



Elements of the most diverse origin have been blended in the present popula- 

 tions of Abyssinia. Immigrants from the Arabian peninsula, the banks of the 

 Nile, and the surrounding uplands and lowlands, have here become intermingled 

 in divers proportions with the aborigines. Amongst those still regarded as of 

 native origin are the Agau, that is " The Free," still forming the fundamental 

 element of the Abyssinian nation, and found chiefly in the provinces of Lasta on 

 the Upper Takkazeh, and in Agaumeder, west of Lake Tana. According to some 

 Egyptologists, the Agau are the descendants of the TJaua, the Nubian people 

 spoken of on ancient monuments who were gradually driven towards the Upper 

 Nile and neighbouring highlands. Many of their sacred ceremonies are said to 

 betray traces of the uninterrupted influence of the ancient Egyptian religion. 

 The Agau hold feasts on the banks of the Blue Nile and Takkazeh in honour of 

 these sacred rivers ; they likewise worship the serpent, which plays so important 

 a part in primitive Egyptian mythology, and which is even still adored by 

 numerous nations of the old and new worlds. They speak a peculiar dialect, the 

 hanitenga or hamva, which, however, is allied to the same stock as the amharina, 

 the current speech of Abyssinia, 



10— A F. 



