1 882.] Geography and Travels. 531 



through a portion of that country which is very little known and 

 very different in character from other parts of it — the inner basin 

 of Lake Aussa. The region is thickly wooded, and trees un- 

 known elsewhere are found there. He visited Lake Ashangi 

 (8254 feet) which has no apparent outlet. The level of the lake 

 remains the same throughout the year, and its waters run off 

 through subterranean channels. After traversing the plains in- 

 habited by the Raya Gallas, he ascended the Zebul mountains, 

 an isolated chain, from which the whole Ethiopian mountain sys- 

 tem could be seen to the westward, for over seventy miles, while 

 to the eastward immense plains stretched down to the shores of 

 the Red Sea and enclosed the great depression of Lake Aussa — 

 the basin which receives the waters of the Abyssinian plateaux. 

 He afterwards ascended the lofty plateaux of Monts Abboi- 

 Mieda and Abuna-Yusef, the passes of which are respectively 

 11,400 and 13,200 feet above the sea-level. M. Raffray describes 

 these lofty summits on which grows a plant, reaching a height 

 of _ twenty-six feet, the Rhynchopctalum monfamim, and on 

 which are found insects similar to those of temperate Europe. In 

 speaking of the zoology of Abyssinia, and especially of the lower 

 classes of animals found there, he defines four distinct regions of 

 different altitudes. The first or coast region belongs to .the fauna 

 of the Sahara ; the second or valley region, has a fauna similar to 

 that of the Senegal ; the region of the lofty plateaux is more pe- 

 culiarly Abyssinian, with a strikingly similar fauna to that of the 

 Mediterranean; and lastly, the region of mountain tops, varying 

 in altitude from 11,483 feet to 13,124, belongs to the fauna of the 

 mountainous parts of temperate Europe. 



Schuver.— Mr. Schuver is continuing his explorations in the 

 region south-west of Abyssinia. He finds that there are two 

 Jaboos rivers — the word meaning simply a running stream. The 

 Jaboos of the Blue Nile has its most southern and principal 

 source at the foot of the lofty Mount Wallel, in lat. 8° 50' N. 

 The most easterly and chief sources of the River Yal (affluent of 

 the White Nile) is in the western valleys of the Shugru Mount- 

 ains, the eastern base of which is bathed by the Blue Nile Jaboos. 

 As far as the Yal flows through the territory of the Aman ne- 

 groes, it bears the name of Valasat, but after it has passed the 

 Banghe defile in a series of cataracts falling 2000 feet in twelve 

 miles, and reaches the Berta country, it takes the name of Jaboos, 

 the name by which the other permanent river of that country is 

 known. In ascertaining these interesting facts, Mr. Schuver fol- 

 lowed the western Jaboos down to the junction of the Owe, the 

 principal river of the valleys south of Gomashe ; thenceforward 

 >t passes into the Burus plains, where it takes its final name of 

 the Yal. ^ 



