TRAPPEAN SERIES. 183 



A. ASHANGI GROUP OF TRAPS. 



The lower group consists entirely of doleritic rocks. 

 The basalts, of which it is principally composed, are 

 usually amygdaloidal, containing nodules of agate and 

 zeolite, frequently coated with green earth. The zeolite 

 is usually "white or orange-coloured stilbite. Beds of 

 volcanic ash or breccia frequently occur, and often contain 

 augite crystals. Not unfrequently the rocks composing 

 this group are much decomposed, and have a red colour, 

 a sure mark in general amongst basaltic rocks of alteration 

 by atmospheric action. Some beds are scoriaceous. 



At Atala and Aiba these beds are only seen in the 

 bottom of the vaUeys, but from the Ferra pass near 

 Belago they extend far to the south, the greater part of 

 the hills around Lake Ashangi being composed of them, 

 and probably all the country thence to the southward as 

 far as the upper TeUari valley. The distinction between 

 the two groups was not made out in time to allow of 

 their being separated further to the south, and it is im- 

 possible to say now whether the beds exposed in the 

 Jitta and Bashilo valleys belong to the present division or 

 not. There can be but little doubt that the rocks seen in 

 the bottom of the upper Takkazzye vaUey are a part of 

 the Ashangi group, and probably the same are exposed in 

 the much deeper gorges near Magdala. They have not, 

 however, been represented as occurring on the map south 

 of the TeUari, and their boundaries throughout are merely 

 approximate. 



The only place where the Ashangi traps were seen to 



