SECTION I. 



PHYSICAL 6E00BAPHY OF ABYSSINIA, AND ITS RELATIONS 

 TO THE GEOLOGY, WITH REMARKS ON DENUDATION AND 

 ON LAKE ASHANGL 



The physical geography of Northern Abyssinia is well 

 known, and there are few parts of the world neither 

 inhabited nor frequently visited by Europeans of which 

 so much had been ascertained previous to the expedition. 

 Beyond a few corrections of latitudes and longitudes 

 very little has been added except in matters of detail. 



Abyssinia Proper consists of a mass of mountainous 

 country, intervening between the basin of the Nile and 

 the east coast of Africa. It rises on the east rather 

 abruptly from the low country bordering the Eed Sea 

 and the Indian Ocean, and slopes away more gradually 

 to the westward, the Nile tributaries cutting out deep 

 valleys. The average height of the dividing range be- 

 tween the streams flowing to the east and to the west 

 is about 8,000 feet, rising to 10,000 or 11,000 to the 

 south and sinking to the north. Some peaks in Simen 

 are said to reach 15,000 feet, and many in various parts 

 of the country are 12,000 and 13,000, while to the south- 

 ward many plateaux of considerable extent are more than 

 10,000 feet above the sea. 



