; as the Abawi is the Aftapus.* Another confiderable'ftream, is the
fMaleg, .whichgrains the Abawi after a parallel courfe ©n the weft": this
river Bruce has vainly endeavoured to confound .with the fiahr el Abiad
•or White River; which, as he might have .learned from the map of
D’AnVllfc 1749, is 300 miles to the weft of the Maleg; and receives
-the Abawi at about the fame.diftance from its jun&ion with the former
; riven Several tributary ftreams join the Abawi and the Tacuz. Two
©therrivers, the Hanazo and the Hawalh, flow.in an oppofite direc-
; tion, towards the entrance of the Red Sea, but the firft is faid tube loft
,ih the fands of Adel.
The chief lake is -that of Tzana, alfo called Bembea, from a cir-
«^urnj acent province. This lake is pervaded by the - Nile dn ks circular
progrefs, ais tWp lake of Parima by the Orinoco, being about .60 B.
miles mTeogth by half that breadth: but the ext®t
the dry and wet feafons. Among other iflands ^hefef.is oitie^ix^ the
.midft called Tzana, which is faid to have given name to: die lake. I®
»the fouthern extremity of the kingdom is die
fource of the Hawafh; and among many fmaller expan&s' of water
■ may be named the lake of Maik, near they royalrockspf Gefbten and
.Ambazel.
The mountains' of Abyffinia feem irregularly grouped, being: at the
junction of that chain which borders the weftern fhofes of tire Red
Sea, and of that far fuperior ridge which pervades central Africa from
eaft to weft in a N. W. and S. E. direction, giving ‘fource to the Nigir
and the river of Senegal at one extremity, and at the other to the Gir
and Nile. Hence on the eaft fide of Abyffinia the ridges probably pafs
N. and S. and in the fouthern part W, and E. As in ,other high ranges
of mountains, there are three ranks, the chief elevations being in .the
middle. On the eaft of the kingdom are the heights of Taranta ; and
■ towards the centre the Lamalmon: while in the fouth is the Ganza.
' Tellez idly afferts that the Abyffinian mountains .are higher than the
Alps or Pyrenees: he adds that the loftieft are tbofe of Amhara; and
Samena, that is towards the centre of the kingdom, whence rivers flow
* The Abawi'prefents a remarkable catarafl. at a place called Alata, not far from itt egrefs
out o f the lake o f Tzana. The grand cataraft of the Nile is in Nubia, Iat. 22°.
I m
In: alf (hredioUs. ' The 'precipices'- dre\ tiemeindous and truly alpine. Mountaih*
Abyffima ‘^refetSK* a'ri!eh field f>f natural hiftory. j
_ ^'The fé^ifcanty'fragméntsv >.öf Abylfimaffolkttaaay' contained" in the' Botany,
Works bf hudtoifïh, L©bö', iand-:; Bruce, are unfoitiinately materials;
for the" flora of eaftern Africa ;1 nOor can thefei be .wholly depended
upon, as two ©f the above authors wrote before the<'esdfteucelof ft^aptifie
Ircftany, and the-third, befidte&'his rgnoratBce'OnïhisJfubje^, feetnsr too
mueh di-fpofed to aggrandifc^ his brief: catafogueby rep^efentsng common
-plants a^ rareiÉnd éVe® new fpecies; j;i;
The fyeamore fig, the erythrina corallodendron, the,- tamarindjothe
date, the coffee, aulfrge -tree ufed in boat-bniMmg,« Galled.' hynBhuee
rïqk' 'pnd two" fpécfes of-’ mimofa orjaèac1a,' thQbgh’f.pJotóbly-' notjj the
principal trees,, are aimbfl?'*the^only. ohes-tlM-lhave MtKelWb hteen def-
cribed. The"' arbóréfeeht*?,teupftorbise arh-'fotand da ■ -Of'‘ithe,dr.y
mountains. A flvrub- called-in- the.- language oflpthrfp|öpuJ:ry,.., ,wpu-f
'gfooosffthe brücea antidyfenterica of Brilce and Gnaelin), is celebrated
by the Britifh.. .traveller forrits medicinal virtues ih, the difeafo of which
it "hears thé name, and the cuflfo or bankfia of Bruce, wh-iqh;. .feeips tp
be a fpecies oft rhusy is,'mentioned by the fame author as ..^'-powerful
anthelmintic.'" A large efculent herbaceous plant arialifgnp®*to the
banana, called by Brüce enfete, is largely cultivated by the natives as a
fubftitute for bread. The. cyperus papyrus is found here in fhallp^v
, plafhes as in Egypt;. and the trees that yield the, balfam of Gilead;
add the myrrh, are repféfented by the above-mentioned, traveller- as
natives of AbyflSnia.
The horfes are final! but fpirited, as ufual iqj, alpine countries1,, Zóötogy.
Cattle and buffaloes are'numerous. Among wil'd animals are the'
elephant," rhinoceros, lion, panther; and it iè faid the giraff or
catrielopardalis. The hyena is alfo frequent, and Angularly bold
and ferocious, fo as even to haunt the ftreets of: the capital in the
night. The extirpation of thefe animals may bè impoffible in 10
mountainous a dountry, but the Circumftance indicates a ;ihiferable
defedf of policy,- There are alfo wild boaws; - or antelopes,
and numerous, tribes of monkies, among which is the guereza
delineated by Ludolf. The hippopotamus ajnd crocodile fwarm in
the