There is another coefficient of absorption (k) which occurs in Helmholtz's theory of dispersion (see DISPERSION.) It is closely related to the coefficient k which we have just defined, the equation connecting the two being k=4 pk/l, l being the wavelength of the incident light.

The law of absorption expressed by the formula (2) has been verified by experiments for various solids, liquids and gases. The method consists in comparing the intensity after transmission through a layer of known thickness of the absorbent with the intensity of light from the same source which has not passed through the medium, k being thus obtained for various thicknesses and found to be constant. In the case of solutions, if the absorption of the solvent is negligible, the eflect of increasing the concentration of the absorbing solute is the same as that of increasing the thickness in the same ratio. In a similar way the absorption of light in the coloured gas chlorine is found to be unaltered if the thickness is reduced by compression, because the density is increased in the same ratio that the thickness is reduced. This is not strictly the case, however, for such gases and vapours as exhibit well-defined bands of absorption in the spectrum, as these bands are altered in character by compression.

If white light is allowed to fall on some coloured solutions, the transmitted light is of one colour when the thickness of the solution is small, and of quite another colour if the thickness is great. This curious phenomenon is known as dichromatism (from di-, two, and chroma, colour). Thus, when a strong light is viewed through a solution of chlorophyll, the light seen is a brilliant green if the thickness is small, but a deep blood-red for thicker layers. This effect can be explained as follows. The solution is moderately transparent for a large number of rays in the neighborhoodood of the green part of the spectrum; it is, on the whole, much more opaque for red rays, but is readily penetrated by certain red rays belonging to a narrow region of the spectrum. The small amount of red transmitted is at first quite overpowered by the green, but having a smaller coefficient of absorption, it becomes finally predominant. The effect is complicated, in the case of chlorophyll and many other bodies, by selective reflexion and fluorescence.

For the molecular theory of absorption, see SPECTROSCOPY. REFERENCES.—-A. Schuster's Theory of Optics (1904); P. K. L. Drude's Theory of Optics (Eng. trans., 1902); F. H. Wullner's Lehrbuch der Experimentalphysik, Bd. iv. (1899). (J. R. C.)

ABSTEMII (a Latin word. from abs. away from. temetum. intoxicating liquor, from which is derived the English "abstemious'' or temperate), a name formerly given to such persons as could not partake of the cup of the Eucharist on account of their natural aversion to wine. Calvinists allowed these to communicate in the species of bread only, touching the cup with their lip; a course which was deemed a profanation by the Lutherans. Among several Protestant sects, both in Great Britain and America, abstemii on a somewhat different principle have appeared in modern times. These are total abstainers, who maintain that the use of stimulants is essentially sinful, and allege that the wine used by Christ and his disciples at the supper was unfermented. They accordingly communicate in the unfermented "juice of the grape.''

ABSTINENCE (from Lat. abstinere, to abstain), the fact or habit of refraining from anything, but usually from the indulgence of the appetite and especially from strong drink. "Total abstinence'' and "total abstainer'' are associated with taking the pledge to abstain from alcoholic liquor (see TEMPERANCE.) In the discipline of the Christian Church abstinence is the term for a less severe form of Fasting (q.v..)

ABSTRACTION (Lat. abs and trahere), the process or result of drawing away; that which is drawn away, separated or derived. Thus the noun is used for a summary, compendium or epitome of a larger work, the gist of which is given in a concentrated form. Similarly an absent-minded man is said to be "abstracted,'' as paying no attention to the matter in hand. In philosophy the word has several closely related technical senses. (1) In formal logic it is applied to those terms which denote qualities, attributes, circumstances, as opposed to concrete terms, the names of things; thus "friend'' is concrete, "friendship'' abstract. The term which expresses the connotation of a word is therefore an abstract term, though it is probably not itself connotative; adjectives are concrete, not abstract, e.g. "equal'' is concrete, "equality'' abstract (cf. Aristotle's aphaeresis and prosthesis.) (2) The process of abstraction takes an important place both in psychological and metaphysical speculation. The psychologist finds among the earliest of his problems the question as to the process from the perception of things seen and heard to mental conceptions, which are ultimately distinct from immediate perception (see PSYCHOLOGY.) When the mind, beginning with isolated individuals, groups them together in virtue of perceived resemblances and arrives at a unity in plurality, the process by which attention is diverted from individuals and concentrated on a single inclusive concept (i.e. classification) is one of abstraction. All orderly thought and all increase of knowledge depend partly on establishing a clear and accurate connexion between particular things and general ideas, rules and principles. The nature of the resultant concepts belongs to the great controversy between Nominalism, Realism and Conceptualism. Metaphysics, again, is concerned with the ultimate problems of matter and spirit; it endeavours to go behind the phenomena of sense and focus its attention on the fundamental truths which are the only logical bases of natural science. This, again, is a process of abstraction, the attainment of abstract ideas which, apart from the concrete individuals, are conceived as having a substantive existence. The final step in the process is the conception of the Absolute (q.v.), which is abstract in the most complete sense.

Abstraction differs from Analysis, inasmuch as its object is to select a particular quality for consideration in itself as it is found in all the ob)ects to which it belongs, whereas analysis considers all the qualities which belong to a single object.

ABSTRACT OF TITLE, in English law, an epitome of the various instruments and events under and in consequence of which the vendor of an estate derives his title thereto. Such an abstract is, upon the sale or mortgage of an estate, prepared by some competent person for the purchaser or mortgagee, and verified by his solicitor by a comparison with the original deeds. (See CONVEYANCING.)

ABT, FRANZ (1819-1885), German composer, was born on the 22nd of December 1819 at Eilenburg, Saxony, and died at Wiesbaden on the 31st of March 1885. The best of his popular songs have become part of the recognized art-folk-music of Germany; his vocal works, solos, part-songs, &c., enjoyed an extraordinary vogue all over Europe in the middle of the 19th century, but in spite of their facile tunefulness have few qualities of lasting beauty. Abt was kapellmeister at Bernburg in 1841, at Zurich in the same year and at Brunswick from 1852 to 1882, when he retired to Wiesbaden.

ABU, a mountain of Central India, situated in 24 deg. 36' N. lat. and 72 deg. 43' E. long., within the Rajputana state of Sirohi. It is an isolated spur of the Aravalli range, being completely detached from that chain by a narrow valley 7 miles across, in which flows the western Banas. It rises from the surrounding plains of Marwar like a precipitous granite island, its various peaks ranging from 4000 to 5653 feet. The elevations and platforms of the mountain are covered with elaborately sculptured shrines, temples and tombs. On the top of the hill is a small round platform containing a cavern, with a block of granite, bearing the impression of the feet of Data-Bhrigu, an incarnation of Vishnu. This is the chief place of pilgrimage for the Jains, Shrawaks and Banians. The two principal temples are situated at Deulwara, about the middle of the mountain, and five miles south-west of Guru Sikra, the highest summit. They are built of white marble, and are pre-eminent alike for their beauty and as typical specimens of Jain architecture in India. The more modern of the two was built by two brothers, rich merchants, between the years 1197 and 1247, and for delicacy of carving and minute beauty of detail stands almost unrivalled, even in this land of patient and lavish labour. The other was built by another merchant prince, Vimala Shah, apparently about A.D. 1032, and, although simpler and bolder in style, is as elaborate as good taste would allow in a purely architectural object. It is one of the oldest as well as one of the most complete examples of Jain architecture known. The principal object within the temple is a cell lighted only from the door, containing a cross-legged seated figure of the god Parswanath. The portico is composed of forty-eight pillars, the whole enclosed in an oblong courtyard about 140 feet by 90 feet, surrounded by a double colonnade of smaller pillars, forming porticos to a range of fifty-five cells, which enclose it on all sides, exactly as they do in a Buddhist monastery (vihara.) In this temple, however, each cell, instead of being the residence of R monk, is occupied by an image of Parswanath, and over the door, or on the jambs of each, are sculptured scenes from the life. of the deity. The whole interior is magnificently ornamented.

Abu is now the summer residence of the governor-general's agent for Rajputana, and a place of resort for Europeans in the hot weather. It is 16 miles from the Abu road station of the Rajputana railway. The annual mean temperature is about 70 deg. , rising to 90 deg. in April; but the heat is never oppressive. The annual rainfall is about 68 inches. The hills are laid out with driving-roads and bridle-paths, and there is a beautiful little lake. The chief buildings are a church, club, hospital and a Lawrence asylum school for the children of British soldiers.

ABU-BEKR (573-634), the name ("Father of the virgin'') of the first of the Mahommedan caliphs (see CALIPH.) He was originally called Abd-el-Ka'ba ("servant of the temple''), and received the name by which he is known historically in consequence of the marriage of his virgin daughter Ayesha to Mahomet. He was born at Mecca in the year A.D. 573, a Koreishite of the tribe of Beni-Taim. Possessed of immense wealth, which he had himself acquired in commerce, and held in high esteem as a judge, an interpreter of dreams and a depositary of the traditions of his race, his early accession to Islamism was a fact of great importance. On his conversion he assumed the name of Abd-Alla (servant of God). His own belief in Mahomet and his doctrines was so thorough as to procure for him the title El Siddik (the faithful), and his success in gaining converts was correspondingly great. In his personal relationship to the prophet he showed the deepest veneration and most unswerving devotion. When Mahomet fled from Mecca, Abu-Bekr was his sole companion, and shared both his hardships and his triumphs, remaining constantly with him until the day of his death. During his last illness the prophet indicated Abu-Bekr as his successor by desiring him to offer up prayer for the people. The choice was ratified by the chiefs of the army, and ultimately confirmed, though Ali, Mahomet's son-in-law, disputed it, asserting his own title to the dignity. After a time Ali submitted, but the difference of opinion as to his claims gave rise to the controversy which still divides the followers of the prophet into the rival factions of Sunnites and Shiites. Abu-Bekr had scarcely assumed his new position (632), under the title Califet-Resul-Allah (successor of the prophet of God), when he was called to suppress the revolt of the tribes Hejaz and Nejd, of which the former rejected Islamism and the latter refused to pay tribute. He encountered formidable opposition from different quarters, but in every case he was successful, the severest struggle being that with the impostor Mosailima, who was finally defeated by Khalid at the battle of Akraba. Abu-Bekr's zeal for the spread of the new faith was as conspicuous as that of its founder had been. When the internal disorders had been repressed and Arabia completely subdued, he directed his generals to foreign conquest. The Irak of Persia was overcome by Khalid in a single campaign, and there was also a successful expedition into Syria. After the hard-won victory over Mosailima, Omar, fearing that the sayings of the prophet would be entirely forgotten when those who had listened to them had all been removed by death, induced Abu-Bekr to see to their preservation in a written form. The record, when completed, was deposited with Hafsa, daughter of Omar, and one of the wives of Mahomet. It was held in great reverence by all Moslems, though it did not possess canonical authority, and furnished most of the materials out of which the Koran, as it now exists, was prepared. When the authoritative version was completed all copies of Hafsa's record were destroyed, in order to prevent possible disputes and divisions. Abu-Bekr died on the 23rd of August 634. Shortly before his death, which one tradition ascribes to poison, another to natural causes, he indicated Omar as his successor, after the manner Mahomet had observed in his own case.

ABU HAMED, a town of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan on the right bank of the Nile, 345 m. by rail N. of Khartum. It stands a4 the centre of the great S-shaped bend of the Nile, and from it the railway to Wadi Halfa strikes straight across the Nubian desert, a little west of the old caravan route to Korosko. A branch railway, 138 m. long, from Abu Hamed goes down the right bank of the Nile to Kareima in the Dongola mudiria. The town is named after a celebrated sheikh buried here, by whose tomb travellers crossing the desert used formerly to deposit all superfluous goods, the sanctity of the saint's tomb ensuring their safety.

ABU HANIFA AN-NU'MAN IBN THABIT, Mahommedan canon lawyer, was born at Kufa in A.H. 80 (A.D. 699) of non-Arab and probably Persian parentage. Few events of his life are known to us with any certainty. He was a silk-dealer and a man of considerable means, so that he was able to give his time to legal studies. He lectured at Kufa upon canon law (fiqh) and was a consulting lawyer (mufti), but refused steadily to take any public post. When al-Mansur, however, was building Bagdad (145—140) Abu Hanifa was one of the four overseers whom he appointed over the craftsmen (G. Le Strange, Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, p. 17). In A.H. 150 (A.D. 767) he died there under circumstances which are very differently reported. A persistent but apparently later tradition asserts that he died in prison after severe beating, because he refused to obey al-Mansur's command to act as a judge (cadi, qadi.) This was to avoid a responsibility for which he felt unfit —-a frequent attitude of more pious Moslems. Others say that al-Mahdi, son of al-Mansur, actually constrained him to be a judge and that he died a few days after. It seems certain that he did suffer imprisonment and beating for this reason, at the hands of an earlier governor of Kufa under the Omayyads (Ibn Qutaiba, Ma'arif, p. 248). Also that al-Mansur desired to make him judge, but compromised upon his inspectorship of buildings (so in Tabari). A late story is that the judgeship was only a pretext with al-Mansur, who considered him a partisan of the 'Alids and a helper with his wealth of Ibrahim ibn'Abd Allah in his insurrection at Kufa in 145 (Weil, Geschichte, ii. 53 ff.).

For many personal anecdotes see de Slane's transl. of Ibn Khalhkan iii. 555 ff., iv. 272 ff. For his place as a speculative jurist in the history of canon law, see MAHOMMEDAN LAW. He was buried in eastern Bagdad, where his tomb still exists, one of the few surviving sites from the time of ahmansur, the founder. (Le Strange 191 ff.)

See C. Brockelmann, Geschichte, i. 169 ff.; Nawawi's Biogr. Dict. pp. 698-770: Ibn Hajar al-Haitami's Biography, publ. Cairo, A.H. 1304; legal bibliography under MAHOMMEDAN LAW) (D. B. MA.)

ABU KLEA, a halting-place for caravans in the Bayuda Desert, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. It is on the road from Merawi to Metemma and 20 m. N. of the Nile at the last-mentioned place. Near this spot, on the 17th of January 1885, a British force marching to the relief of General Gordon at Khartum was attacked by the Mahdists, who were repulsed. On the 19th, when the British force was nearer Metemma, the Mahdists renewed the attack, again unsuccessfully. Sir Herbert Stewart, the commander of the British force, was mortally wounded on the 19th, and among the killed on the 17th was Col. F. G. Burnaby (see EGYPT, Military Operations.)

ABU-L-'ALA UL-MA.ARRI [Abu-l-'Alaa Ahmad ibn 'Abdallah ibn Sulaiman] (973-1057), Arabian poet and letter-writer, belonged to the South Arabian tribe Tanukh, a part of which had migrated to Syria before the time of Islam. He was born in 973 at Ma'arrat un-Nu'man, a Syrian town nineteen hours' journey south of Aleppo, to the governor of which it was subject at that time. He lost his father while he was still an infant, and at the age of four lost his eyesight owing to smallpox. This, however, did not prevent him from attending the lectures of the best teachers at Aleppo, Antioch and Tripoli. These teachers were men of the first rank, who had been attracted to the court of Saif-ud-Daula, and their teaching was well stored in the remarkable memory of the pupil. At the age of twenty-one Abu-l-'Ala returned to Ma'arra, where he received a pension of thirty dinars yearly. In 1007 he visited Bagdad, where he was admitted to the literary circles, recited in the salons, academies and mosques, and made the acquaintance of men to whom he addressed some of his letters later. In 1009 he returned to Ma'arra, where he spent the rest of his life in teaching and writing. During this period of scholarly quiet he developed his characteristic advanced views on vegetarianism, cremation of the dead and the desire for extinction after death.

Of his works the chief are two collections of his poetry and two of his letters. The earlier poems up to 1029 are of the kind usual at the time. Under the title of Saqt uz-Zand they have been published in Bulaq (1869), Beirut (1884) and Cairo (1886). The poems of the second collection, known as the Luzum ma lam ralzann, or the Luzumiy'yat, are written with the difficult rhyme in two consonants instead of one, and contain the more original, mature and somewhat pessimistic thoughts of the author on mutability, virtue, death, &c. They have been published in Bombay (1886) and Cairo (1889) . The letters on various literary and social subjects were published with commentary by Shain Effendi in Beirut (1894), and with English translation, &c., by prof. D. S. Margoliouth in Oxford (1898). A second collection of letters, known as the Risalat ul-Ghufran, was summarized and partially translated by R. A. Nicholson in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1900, pp. 637 ff.; 1902, pp. 75 ff., 337 ff., 813 ff.).

BIBLIOGRAPHY.—-C. Rieu, De Abu-l-'Alae Poetae Arabici vita et carminibus (Bonn, 1843); A. von Kremer, Uber die philosophischen Gedichte des Abu-l-.Ala (Vienna, 1888); cf. also the same writer's articles in the Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft (vols. xxix., xxx., xxxi. and xxxviii.). For his life see the introduction to D. S. Margoliouth's edition of the letters, supplemented by the same writer's articles "Abu-l-'Ala al-Ma'arri's Correspondence on Vegetarianism'' in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1902, pp. 289 ff.). (G. W. T.)

ABU-L-'ATAHIYA [Abu Ishaq Isma'il ibn Qasim al-'Anazi] (748-828), Arabian poet, was born at Ain ut-Tamar in the Hijaz near Medina. His ancestors were of the tribe of Anaza. His youth was spent in Kufa, where he was engaged for some time in selling pottery. Removing to Bagdad, he continued his business there, but became famous for his verses, especially for those addressed to Utba, a slave of the caliph al-Mahdi. His affection was unrequited, although al-Mahdi, and after him Harun al-Rashid, interceded for him. Having offended the caliph, he was in prison for a short time. The latter part of his life was more ascetic. He died in 828 in the reign of al-Ma'mun. The poetry of Abu-l-'Atahiya is notable for its avoidance of the artificiality almost universal in his days. The older poetry of the desert had been constantly imitated up to this time, although it was not natural to town life. Abu-l-'Atahiya was one of the first to drop the old qasida (elegy) form. He was very fluent and used many metres. He is also regarded as one of the earliest philosophic poets of the Arabs. Much of his Poetry is concerned with the observation of common life and morality, and at times is pessimistic. Naturally, under the circumstances, he was strongly suspected of heresy.

His poems (Diwan) with life from Arabian sources have been published at the Jesuit Press in Beirut (1887, 2nd ed. 1888). On his position in Arabic literature see W. Ahlwardt, Diwan des Abu Nowas (Greifswald, 1861), pp. 21 ff.; A. von Kremer, Culturgeschichte des Orients (Wien, 1877), vol. ii. pp. 372 ff. (G. W. T.)

ABULPARAJ [Abu-l-Faraj,Ah ibn ul-Husain ul-Isbahani] (897—967), Arabian scholar, was a member of the tribe of the Quraish (Koreish) and a direct descendant of Marwan, the last of the Omayyad caliphs. He was thus connected with the Omayyad rulers in Spain, and seems to have kept up a correspondence with them and to have sent them some of his works. He was born in Ispahan, but spent his youth and made his early studies in Bagdad. He became famous for his knowledge of early Arabian antiquities. His later life was spent in various parts of the Moslem world, in Aleppo with Saif-ud-Daula (to whom he dedicated the Book of Songs), in Rai with the Buyid vizier Ibn'Abbad and elsewhere. In his last years he lost his reason. In religion he was a Shiite. Although he wrote poetry, also an anthology of verses on the monasteries of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and a genealogical work, his fame rests upon his Book of Songs (Kitab ul-Aghani), which gives an account of the chief Arabian songs, ancient and modern, with the stories of the composers and singers. It contains a mass of information as to the life and customs of the early Arabs, and is the most Valuable authority we have for their pre-Islamic and early Moslem days. A part of it was published by J. G. L. Rosegarten with Latin translation (Greifswald, 1840). The text was published in 20 vols. at Bulaq in 1868. Vol. xxi. was edited by R. E. Brunnow (Leyden, 1888). A volume of elaborate indices was edited by I. Guidi (Leyden, 1900), and a missing fragment of the text was published by J. Wellhausen in the Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vol; 50, pp. 146 ff. Biographical Dictionary, vol. ii. pp. 249 ff. (G. W. T.)

ABUL PAZL, wazir and historiographer of the great Mogul emperor, Akbar, was born in the year A.D. 1551. His career as a minister of state, brilliant though it was, would probably have been by this time forgotten but for the record he himself has left of it in his celebrated history. The Akbar Nameh, or Book of Akbar, as Abul Fazl's chief literary work, written in Persian, is called, consists of two parts—the first being a complete history of Akbar's reign and the second, entitled Ain-i-Akbari, or Institutes of Akbar, being an account of the religious and political constitution and administration of the empire. The style is singularly elegant, and the contents of the second part possess a unique and lasting interest. An excellent translation of the Ain by Francis Gladwin was published in Calcutta, 1783-1786. It was reprinted in London very inaccurately, and copies of the original edition are now exceedingly rare and correspondingly valuable. It was also translated by Professor Blockmann in 1848. Abul Fazl died by the hand of an assassin, while returning from a mission to the Deccan in 1602. The murderer was instigated by Prince Sehm, afterwards Jahangir, who had become jealous of the minister's influence.

ABULFEDA [Abud-Fida' Isma'Il ibn'Ah,Imad-ud-Dni] (1273-1331), Arabian historian and geographer, was born at Damascus, whither his father Malik ul-Afdal, brother of the prince of Hamah, had fled from the Mongols. He was a descendant of Ayyub, the father of Saladin. In his boyhood he devoted himself to the study of the Koran and the sciences, hut from his twelfth year was almost constantly engaged in military expeditions, chiefly against the crusaders. In 1285 he was present at the assault of a stronghold of the knights of St John, and he took part in the sieges of Tripoli, Acre and Qal'at ar-Rum. In 1298 he entered the service of the Mameluke Sultan Malik al-Nasir and after twelve years was invested by him with the governorship of Hamah. In 1312 he became prince with the title Malik us-Salhn, and in 1320 received the hereditary rank of sultan with the title Malik ul-Mu'ayyad. For more than twenty years altogether he reigned in tranquillity and splendour, devoting himself to the duties of government and to the composition of the works to which he is chiefly indebted for his fame. He was a munificent patron of men of letters, who came in large numbers to his court. He died in 1331. His chief historical work in An Abridgment of the History at the Human Race, in the form of annals extending from the creation of the world to the year 1329 (Constantinople, 2 vols. 1869). Various translations of parts of it exist, the earliest being a Latin rendering of the section relating to the Arabian conquests in Sicily, by Dobelius, Arabic professor at Palermo, in 1610 (preserved in Muratori's Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. i.). The section dealing with the pre-Islamitic period was edited with Latin translation by H. O. Fleischer under the title Abulfedae Historia Ante-Islamica (Leipzig, 1831). The part dealing with the Mahommedan period was edited, also with Latin translation, by J. J. Reiske as Annales Muslemici (5 vols., Copenhagen, 1789—1794) . His Geography is, like much of the history, founded on the works of his predecessors, and so ultimately on the work of Ptolemy. A long introduction on various geographical matters is followed by twenty-eight sections dealing in tabular form with the chief towns of the world. After each name are given the longitude, latitude, "climate,'' spelling, and then observations generally taken from earlier authors. Parts of the work were published and translated as early as 1650 (cf. Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, Berlin, 1902, vol. ii. pp. 44-46). The text of the whole was published by M'G. de Slane and M. Reinaud (Paris, 1840), and a French translation with introduction by M. Reinaud and Stanislas Guyard (Paris, 1848-1883). (G. W. T.)

ABU-L-QASIM [Khalaf ibn'Abbas uz-Zahrawi], Arabian physician and surgeon, generally known in Europe as ABULCASIS, flourished in the tenth century at Cordova as physician to the caliph 'Abdur-Rahman III. (912—961). No details of his life are known. A part of his compendium of medicine was published in Latin in the 16th century as Liber theoricae nec non practicae Alsaharavii (Augsburg, 1519). His manual of surgery was published at Venice in 1497, at Basel in 1541, and at Oxford Abulcasis de Chirurgia arabice et latine cura Johannis Channing (2 vols. 1778).

For his other works see Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp. 239-240. (G. W. T.)

ABUNDANTIA ("Abundance''), a Roman goddess, the personification of prosperity and good fortune. Modelled after the Greek Demeter, she is practically identical with Copia, Annona and similar goddesses. On the coins of the later Roman emperors she is frequently represented holding a cornucopia, from which she shakes her gifts, thereby at the same time in- dicating the liberality of the emperor or empress. She may be compared with Domina Abundia (Old Fr. Dame Habonde, Notre Dame d'Abondance), whose name often occurs in poems of the Middle Ages, a beneficent fairy, who brought plenty to those whom she visited (Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, tr. 1880, i. 286-287).

ABU NUWAS [Abu,Ah Hal-asan ibn Hani'al-Hakami] (c. 756-810), known as Abu Nuwas, Arabian poet, was born in al Ahwaz, probably about 756. His mother was a Persian, his father a soldier, a native of Damascus. His studies were made in Basra under Abu Zaid and Abu'Ubaida (q.v.), and in Kufa under Khalaf al-Ahmar. He is also said to have spent a year with the Arabs in the desert to gain purity of language. Settling in Bagdad he enjoyed the favour of Harun al-Rashid and al-Amin, and died there probably about 810. The greater part of his life was characterized by great licentiousness and disregard of religion, but in his later days he became ascetic. Abu Nuwas is recognized as the greatest poet of his time. His mastery of language has led to extensive quotation of his verses by Arabian scholars. Genial, cynical, immoral, he drew on all the varied life of his time for the material of his poems. In his wine-songs especially the manners of the upper classes of Bagdad are revealed. He was one of the first to ridicule the set form of the qasida (elegy) as unnatural, and has satirized this form in several poems. See I. Goldziher, Abhandlungen zur Arabischen Philologie (Leyden, 1896), i. pp. 145 ff. His poems were collected by several Arabian editors. One such collection (the MS. of which is now in Vienna) contains nearly 5000 verses grouped under the ten headings: wine, hunting, praise, satire, love of youths, love of women, obscenities, blame, elegies, renunciation of the world. His collected poems (Diwan) have been published in Cairo (1860) and in Beirut (1884). The wine-songs were edited by W. Ahlwardt under the title Diwan des Abu Nowas. 1. Die lveinlieder (Greifswald, 1861). (G. W. T.)

ABU SIMBEL, or IPSAMBUL, the name of a group of temples of Rameses II. (c. 1250 B.C.) in Nubia, on the left bank of the Nile, 56 m. by river S. of Korosko. They are hewn in the cliffs at the riverside, at a point where the sandstone hills on the west reach the Nile and form the southern boundary of a wider portion of the generally barren valley. The temples are three in number. The principal temple, probably the greatest and most imposing of all rock-hewn monuments, was discovered by Burckhardt in 1812 and opened by Belzoni in 1817. (The front has been cleared several times, most recently in 1892, but the sand is always pressing forward from the north end.) The hillside was recessed to form the facade, backed against which four immense seated colossi of the king, in pairs on either side of the entrance, rise from a platform or forecourt reached from the river by a flight of steps. The colossi are no less than 65 ft. in height, of nobly placid design, and are accompanied by smaller figures of Rameses' queen and their sons and daughters; behind and over them is the cornice, with the dedication below in a line of huge hieroglyphs, and a long row of apes, standing in adoration of the rising sun above. The temple is dedicated primarily to the solar gods Amenre of Thebes and Raharakht of Heliopolis, the true sun god; it is oriented to the east so that the rays of the sun in the early morning penetrate the whole length of two great halls to the innermost sanctuary and fall upon the central figures of Amenre and Rameses, which are there enthroned with Ptah of Memphis and Raharakht on either side. The interior of the temple is decorated with coloured sculpture of fine workmanship and in good preservation; the scenes are more than usually interesting; some are of religious import (amongst them Rameses as king making offerings to himself as god), others illustrate war in Syria, Libya and Ethiopia: another series depicts the events of the famous battle with the Hittites and their allies at Kadesh, in which Rameses saved the Egyptian camp and army by his personal valour. Historical stelae of the same reign are engraved inside and outside the temple; the most interesting is that recording the marriage with a Hittite princess in the 34th year. Not the least important feature of the temple belongs to a later age, when some Greek, Carian and Phoenician soldiers of one of the kings named Psammetichus (apparently Psammetichus II., 594-589 B.C.) inscribed their names upon the two southern colossi, doubtless the only ones then clear of sand. These graffiti are of the highest value for the early history of the alphabet, and as proving the presence of Greek mercenaries in the Egyptian armies of the period. The upper part of the second colossus (from the south) has fallen; the third was repaired by Sethos II. not many years after the completion of the temple. This great temple was wholly rock-cut, and is now threatened by gradual ruin by sliding on the planes of stratification. A small temple, immediately to the south of the first, is believed to have had a built antechamber: it is the earliest known example of a "birth chapel,'' such as was usually attached to Ptolemaic temples for the accommodation of the divine mother-consort and her son. The third and northernmost temple, separated from the others by a ravine, is on a large scale; the colossi of the facade are six in number and 53 ft. high, representing Rameses and his queen Nefrere, who dedicated the temple to the goddess Hathor. The whole group forms a singular monument of Rameses' unbounded pride and self-glorification.

See EGYPT; J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records, Egypt, vol. iii. pp. 124 et seq., esp. 212; "The Temples of Lower Nubia,'' in the American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, October 1906. (F. LL. G.)

ABU TAMMAM [Habib ibn Aus] (807-846), Arabian poet, was, like Buhturi, of the tribe of Tai (though some say he was the son of a Christian apothecary named Thaddeus, and that his genealogy was forged). He was born in Jasim (Josem), a place to the north-east of the Sea of Tiberias or near Manbij (Hierapolis). He seems to have spent his youth in Homs, though, according to one story, he was employed during his boyhood in selling water in a mosque in Cairo. His first appearance as a poet was in Egypt, but as he failed to make a living there he went to Damascus and thence to Mosul. From this place he made a visit to the governor of Armenia, who awarded him richly. After 833 he lived mostly in Bagdad, at the court of the caliph Mo,tasim. From Bagdad he visited Khorassan, where he enjoyed the favour of Abdallah ibn Tahir. About 845 he was in Ma'arrat un Nu'man, where he met Buhturi. He died in Mosul. Abu Tammam is best known in literature as the compiler of the collection of early poems known as the Hamasa (q.v..) Two other h collections of a similar nature are ascribed to him. His own poems I have been somewhat neglected owing to the success of his compilations, but they enjoyed great repute in his lifetime, and were distinguished for the purity of their style, the merit of the verse and the excellent manner of treating subjects. His poems (Diwan) were published in Cairo (A.D. 1875).

See Life in Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, trans. by M'G. de Slane (Paris and London, 1842), vol. i. pp. 348 ff.; and in the Kitab ul-Aghani (Book of Songs) of Abulfaraj (Bulaq, 1869), vol. xv. pp. 100-108. (G.W. T.)

ABUTILON (from the Arabic aubutilun, a name given by Avicenna to this or an allied genus), in botany, a genus of plants, natural order Malvaceae (Mallows), containing about eighty species, and widely distributed in the tropics. They are free-growing shrubs with showy bell-shaped flowers, and are favorite greenhouse plants. They may be grown outside in England during the summer months, but a few degrees of frost is fatal to them. They are readily propagated from cuttings taken in the spring or at the end of the summer. A large number of horticultural varieties have been developed by hybridization, some of which have a variegated foliage.

ABUTMENT, a construction in stone or brickwork designed to receive and resist the lateral pressure of an arch, vault or strut. When built outside a wall it is termed a buttress.

ABU UBAIDA [Ma,mar ibn ul-Muthanna] (728-825), Arabian scholar, was born a slave of Jewish Persian parents in Basra, and in his youth was a pupil of Abu,Amr ibn ul-,Ala. In 803 he was called to Bagdad by Harun al-Rashjd. He died in Basra. He was one of the most learned and authoritative scholars of his time in all matters pertaining to the Arabic language, antiquities and stories, and is constantly cited by later authors and compilers. Juhiz held him to be the most learned scholar in all branches of human knowledge, and Ibn Hisbam accepted his interpretation even of passages in the Koran. The titles of 105 of his works are mentioned in the Fihrist, and his Book of Days is the basis of parts of the history of Ibn al-Athir and of the Book of Songs (see ABULFARAJ), but nothing of his (except a song) seems to exist now in an independent form. He is often described as a Kharijite. This, however, is true only in so far as he denied the privileged position of the Arab people before God. He was, however, a strong supporter of the Shu'ubite movement, i.e. the movement which protested against the idea of the superiority of the Arab race over all others. This is especially seen in his satires on Arabs (which made him so hated that no man followed his bier when he died). He delighted in showing that words, fables, customs, &c., which the Arabs believed to be peculiarly their own, were derived from the Persians. In these matters he was the great rival of Asma'i (q.v..) M'G. de Slane (Paris and London, 1842), vol. iii. pp. 388-398; also I. Goldziher's Muhammedanische Studien (Halle, 1888), vol. i. pp. 194-206. (G. W. T.)

ABYDOS, an ancient city of Mysia, in Asia Minor, situated at Nagara Point on the Hellespont, which is here scarcely a mile broad. It probably was originally a Thracian town, but was afterwards colonized by Milesians. Here Xerxes crossed the strait on his bridge of boats when he invaded Greece. Abydos is celebrated for the vigorous resistance it made against Philip V. of Macedon (200 B.C.), and is famed in story for the loves of Hero and Leander. The town remained till late Byzantine times the toll station of the Hellespont, its importance being transferred to the Dardanelles (q.v.), after the building of the "Old Castles'' by Sultan Mahommed II. (c. 1456).

See Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage dans l'empire ottoman (Paris, 1842).

ABYDOS, one of the most ancient cities of Upper Egypt, about 7 m. W. of the Nile in lat. 26 deg. 10' N. The Egyptian name was Abdu, "the hill of the symbol or reliquary,'' in which the sacred head of Osiris was preserved. Thence the Greeks named it Abydos, like the city on the Hellespont; the modern Arabic name is Arabet el Madfuneh. The history of the city begins in the late prehistoric age, it having been founded by the pre-Menite kings (Petrie, Abydos, ii. 64), whose town, temple and tombs have been found there. The kings of the Ist dynasty, and some of the IInd dynasty, were also buried here, and the temple was renewed and enlarged by them. Great forts were built on the desert behind the town by three kings of the IInd dynasty. The temple and town continued to be rebuilt at intervals down to the times of the XXXth dynasty, and the cemetery was used continuously. In the XIIth dynasty a gigantic tomb was cut in the rock by Senwosri (or Senusert) III. Seti I. in the XIXth dynasty founded a great new temple to the south of the town in honour of the ancestral kings of the early dynasties; this was finished by Rameses (or Ramessu) II., who also built a lesser temple of his own. Mineptah (Merenptah) added a great Hypogeum of Osiris to the temple of Seti. The latest building was a new temple of Nekhtnebf in the XXXth dynasty. From the Ptolemaic times the place continued to decay and no later works are known (Petrie, Abydos, i. and ii.).

The worship here was of the jackal god Upuaut (Ophols, Wepwoi), who "opened the way'' to the realm of the dead, increasing from the Ist dynasty to the time of the XIIth dynasty and then disappearing after the XVIIIth. Anher appears in the XIth dynasty; and Khentamenti, the god of the western Hades, rises to importance in the middle kingdom and then vanishes in the XVIIIth. The worship here of Osiris in his various forms begins in the XIIth dynasty and becomes more important in later times, so that at last the whole place was considered as sacred to him (Abydos, ii. 47).

The temples successively built here on one site were nine or ten in number, from the Ist dynasty, 5500 B.C. to the XXVIth dynasty, 500 B.C.. The first was an enclosure, about 30X 50 ft., surrounded by a thin wall of unbaked bricks. Covering one wall of this came the second temple of about 40 ft. square in a wall about 10 ft. thick. An outer temenos (enclosure) wall surrounded the ground. This outer wall was thickened about the IInd or IIIrd dynasty. The old temple entirely vanished in the IVth dynasty, and a smaller building was erected behind it, enclosing a wide hearth of black ashes. Pottery models of offerings are found in the ashes, and these were probably the substitutes for sacrifices decreed by Cheops (Khufu) in his temple reforms. A great clearance of temple offerings was made now, or earlier, and a chamber full of them has yielded the fine ivory carvings and the glazed figures and tiles which show the splendid work of the Ist dynasty. A vase of Menes with purple inlaid hieroglyphs in green glaze and the tiles with relief figures are the most important pieces. The noble statuette of Cheops in ivory, found in the stone chamber of the temple, gives the only portrait of this greatest ruler. The temple was rebuilt entirely on a larger scale by Pepi I. in the VIth dynasty. He placed a great stone gateway to the temenos, an outer temenos wall and gateway, with a colonnade between the gates. His temple was about 40X50 ft. inside, with stone gateways front and back, showing that it was of the processional type. In the XIth dynasty Menthotp (Mentuhotep) III. added a colonnade and altars. Soon after, Sankhkere entirely rebuilt the temple, laying a stone pavement over the area, about 45 ft. square, besides subsidiary chambers. Soon after Senwosri (Senusert) I. in the XIIth dynasty laid massive foundations of stone over the pavement of his predecessor. A great temenos was laid out enclosing a much larger area, and the temple itself was about three times the earlier size. .

The XVIIIth dynasty began with a large chapel of Amasis (Ahmosi, Aahmes) I., and then Tethmosis (Thothmes, Tahutmes) III. built a far larger temple, about 130X200 ft. He made also a processional way past the side of the temple to the cemetery beyond, with a great gateway of granite. Rameses III. added a large building; and Amasis II. in the XXVIth dynasty rebuilt the temple again, and placed in it a large monolith shrine of red granite, finely wrought. The foundations of the successive temples were comprised within about 18 ft. depth of ruins; these needed the closest examination to discriminate the various buildings, and were recorded by over 4000 measurements and 1000 levellings (Petrie, Abydos, ii.).

The temple of Seti I. was built on entirely new ground half a mile to the south of the long series of temples just described. This is the building best known as the Great Temple of Abydos, being nearly complete and an impressive sight. A principal object of it was the adoration of the early kings, whose cemetery, to which it forms a great funerary chapel, lies behind it. The long list of the kings of the principal dynasties carved on a wall is known as the "Table of Abydos.'' There were also seven chapels for the worship of the king and principal gods. At the back were large chambers connected with the Osiris worship (Caulfield, Temple of the Kings); and probably from these led out the great Hypogeum for the celebration of the Osiris mysteries, built by Mineptah (Murray, Osireion.) The temple was originally 550 ft. long, but the forecourts are scarcely recognizable, and the part in good state is about 250 ft. long and 350 ft. wide, including the wing at the side. Excepting the list of kings and a panegyric on Rameses II., the subjects are not historical but mythological. The work is celebrated for its delicacy and refinement, but lacks the life and character of that in earlier ages. The sculptures have been mostly published in hand copy, not facsimile, by Mariette in his Abydos, i. The adjacent temple of Rameses II. was much smaller and simpler in plan; but it had a fine historical series of scenes around the outside, of which the lower parts remain. A list of kings, similar to that of Seti, formerly stood here; but the fragments were removed by the French consul and sold to the British Museum.

The Royal Tombs of the earliest dynasties were placed about a mile back on the great desert plain. The earliest is about 10X20ft. inside, a pit lined with brick walls, and originally roofed with timber and matting. Others also before Menes are 15X25 ft. The tomb probably of Menes is of the latter size. After this the tombs increase 111 size and complexity. The tomb-pit is surrounded by chambers to hold the offerings, the actual sepulchre being a great wooden chamber in the midst of the brick-lined pit. Rows of small tomb-pits for the servants of the king surround the royal chamber, many dozens of such burials being usual. By the end of the IInd dynasty the type changed to a long passage bordered with chambers on either hand, the royal burial heing in the middle of the length. The greatest of these tombs with its dependencies covered a space of over 3000 square yards. The contents of the tombs have been nearly destroyed by successive plunderers; enough remained to show that rich jewellery was placed on the mummies, a profusion of vases of hard and valuable stones from the royal table service stood about the body, the store-rooms were filled with great jars of wine, perfumed ointment and other supplies, and tablets of ivory and of ebony were engraved with a record of the yearly annals of the reigns. The sealings of the various officials, of which over 200 varieties have been found, give an insight into the public arrangements (Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. and ii.).

The cemetery of private persons begins in the Ist dynasty with some pit tombs in the town. It was extensive in the XIIth and XIIIth dynasties and contained many rich tombs. In the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties a large number of fine tombs were made, and later ages continued to bury here till Roman times. Many hundred funeral steles were removed by Mariette's workmen, without any record of the burials (Mariette, Abydos, ii. and iii.). Later excavations have been recorded by Ayrton, Abydos, iii.; Maclver, El Amrah and Abydos; and Garstang, El Arabah.

The forts lay behind the town. That known as Shunet ez Zebib is about 450X250 ft. over all, and still stands 30 ft. high. It was built by Rhasekhemui, the last king of the IInd dynasty. Another fort nearly as large adjoined it, and is probably rather older. A third fort of a squarer form is now occupied by the Coptic convent; its age cannot be ascertained (Ayrton, Abydos, iii.). (W. M. F. P.)

ABYSS (Gr. a-, privative, bussos, bottom), a bottomless depth; hence any deep place. From the late popular abyssimus (superlative of Lon Latin abyssus) through the French abisme (i.e. abime) is derived the poetic form abysm, pronounced as late as 1616 to rhyme with time. The adjective "abyssal'' or "abysmal'' has been used by zoologists to describe deep regions of the sea; hence abysmal zone, abysmal flora and fauna, abysmal accumulations, the deposit on the abysmal bed of the ocean. In heraldry, the abyss is the middle of an escutcheon. In the Greek version of the Old Testament the word represents (1) the,-original chaos (Gen. i. 2), (2) the Hebrew tehom ("a surging water-deep''), which is used also in apocalyptic and kabbalistic literature and in the New Testament for hell; the place of punishment (cf. Eurip. Phoen. for the "yawning chasm of Tartarus''); in the Revised (not the Authorized) version abyss is generally used for this idea. Primarily in the Septuagint cosmography the word is applied (a) to the waters under the earth which originally covered it, and from which the springs and rivers are supplied, (b) to the waters of the firmament which were regarded as closely connected with those below. Derivatively, from the general idea of depth, it acquired the meaning of the place of the dead, though apparently never quite the same as Sheol. In Revelation it is the prison of evil spirits whence they may occasionally be let loose, and where Satan is doomed to spend 1000 years. Beneath the altar in the temple of Jerusalem there was believed to be a passage which led down to the abyss of the world, where the foundation-stone of the earth was laid. In rabbinical cosmography the abyss is a region of Gehenna situated below the ocean bed and divided into three or seven parts imposed one above the other. In the Kabbalah the abyss as the opening into the lower world is the abode of evil spirits, and corresponds to the opening of the abyss to the world above. In general the abyss is regarded vaguely as a place of indefinite extent, the abode of mystery and sorrow.

See G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy in tha Old Testament (Eng. trans., Oxford, 1905).

ABYSSINIA (officially ETHIOPIA), an inland country and empire of N.E. Africa lying, chiefly, between 5 deg. and 15 deg. N. and 35 deg. and 42 deg. E. It is bounded N. by Eritrea (Italian). W. by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, S. by British East Africa, S.E. and E. by' the British. Ita!ian and French possessions in Somaliland and on the Red Sea. The coast lands held by European powers, which cut off Abyssinia from access to the sea, vary in width from 40 to 250 miles. The country approaches nearest to the ocean on its N.E. border, where the frontier is drawn about 40 m. from the coast of the Red Sea. Abyssinia is narrowest in the north, being here 230 n1. across from east to west. It broadens out southward to a width of 900 m. along the line of 9 deg. N., and resembles in shape a triangle with its apex to the north. It is divided into Abyssinia proper (i.e. Tigre, Amhara, Gojam, &c.), Shoa, Kaffa and Galla land——all these form a geographical unit—-and central Somaliland with Harrar. To the S.W. Abyssinia also includes part of the low country of the Sobat tributary of the Nile. The area of the whole state is about 350,000 sq. m., of which Abyssinian Somaliland covers fully a third.

(1) Physical Features.— Between the valley of the Upper Nile and the low lands which skirt the south-western shores of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden is a region of elevated plateaus from which rise various mountain ranges. These tablelands and mountains constitute Abyssinia, Shoa, Kaffa and Galla land. On nearly every side the walls of the plateaus rise with considerable abruptness from the plains, constituting outer mountain chains. The Abyssinian highlands are thus a clearly marked orographic division. From Ras Kasar (18 deg. N.) to Annesley Bay (15 deg. N.) the eastern wall of the plateau runs parallel to the Red Sea. It then turns due S. and follows closely the line of 40 deg. E. for some 400 m. About 9 deg. N. there is a break in the wall, through which the river. Hawash flows eastward. The main range at this point trends S.W., while south of the Hawash valley, which is some 3000 ft. below the level of the mountains, another massif rises in a direct line south. This second range sends a chain (the Harrar hills) eastward to the Gulf of Aden. The two chief eastern ranges maintain a parallel course S. by W., with a broad upland valley between—-in which valley are a series of lakes—-to about 3 deg. N., the outer (eastern) spurs of the plateau still keeping along the line of 40 deg. E. The southern escarpment of the plateau is highly irregular, but has a general direction N.W. and S.E. from 6 deg. N. to 3 deg. N. It overlooks the depression in which is Lake Rudolf and—-east of that lake—southern Somaliland. The western wall of the plateau from 6 deg. N. to 11 deg. N. is well marked and precipitous. North of 11 deg. N. the hills turn more to the east and fall more gradually to the plains at their base. On its northern face also the plateau falls in terraces to the level of the eastern Sudan. The eastern escarpment is the best defined of these outer ranges. It has a mean height of from 7000 to 8000 ft., and in many places rises almost perpendicularly from the plain. Narrow and deep clefts, through which descend mountain torrents to lose themselves in the sandy soil of the coast land, afford means of reaching the plateau, or the easier route through the Hawash valley may be chosen. On surmounting this rocky barrier the traveller finds that the encircling rampart rises little above the normal level of the plateau.

(2) The aspect of the highlands is most impressive. The northern portion, lying mainly between 10 deg. and 15 deg. N., consists of a huge mass of Archaean rocks with a mean height of from 7000 to 7500 ft. above the sea, and is fl00ded in a deep central depression by the waters of Lake Tsana. Above the plateau rise several irregular and generally ill-defined mountain ranges which attain altitudes of from 12,000 to over 15,000 ft. Many of the mountains are of weird and fantastic shape. Characteristic of the country are the enormous fissures which divide it, formed in the course of ages by the erosive action of water. They are in fact the valleys of the rivers which, rising on the uplands or mountain sides, have cut their way to the surrounding lowlands. Some of the valleys are of considerable width; in other cases the opposite walls of the gorges are but two or three hundred yards apart, and fall almost vertically thousands of feet, representing an erosion of hard rock of many millions of cubic feet. One result of the action of the water has been the formation of numerous isolated flat-topped hills or small plateaus, known as ambas, with nearly perpendicular sides. The highest peaks are found in the Simen (or Semien) and Gojam ranges. The Simen Mountains he N.E. of Lake Tsana and culminate in the snow-covered peak of Daschan (Dajan), which has an altitude of 15,160 ft. A few miles east and north respectively of Dajan are Mounts Biuat and Abba Jared, whose summits are a few feet only below that of Dajan. In the Chok Mountains in Gojam Agsias Fatra attains a height of 13,600 ft.

Parallel with the eastern escarpment are the heights of Baila (12,500 ft.), Abuna Josef (13,780 ft.), and Kollo (14,100 ft.), the last-named being S.W. of Magdala. The valley between these hills and the eastern escarpment is one of the longest and most profound chasms in Abyssinia. Between Lake Tsana and the eastern hills are Mounts Guna (13,800 ft.) and Uara Sahia (13,000 ft.). The figures given are, however, approximate only. The southern portion of the highlands—-the 10 deg. N. roughly marks the division between north and south—-has more open tableland than the northern portion and fewer lofty peaks. Though there are a few heights between 10,000 and 12,000 ft., the majority do not exceed 8000 ft. But the general character of the southern regions is the same as in the north—-a much-broken hilly plateau.

Most of the Abyssinian uplands have a decided slope to the north-west, so that nearly all the large rivers find their way in that direction to the Nile. Such are the Takazze in the north, the Abai in the centre, and the Sobat in the south, and through these three arteries is discharged about four-fifths of the entire drainage. The rest is carried off, almost due north by the Khor Baraka, which occasionally reaches the Red Sea south of Suakin; by the Hawash, which runs out in the saline lacustrine district near the head of Taiura Bay; by the Webi Shebeli (Wabi Shebeyli) and Juba, which flow S.E. through Somaliland, though the Shebeli fails to reach the Indian Ocean; and by the Omo. the main feeder of the closed basin of Lake Rudolf.

The Takazze, which is the true upper course of the Atbara, has its head-waters in the central tableland; and falls from about 7000 to 2500 ft. in the tremendous crevasse through which it sweeps round west, north and west again down to the western terraces, where it passes from Abyssinian to Sudan territory. During the rains the Takazze (i.e. the "Terrible'') rises some 18 ft. above its normal level, and at this time forms an impassable barrier between the northern and central provinces. In its lower course the river is known by the Arab name Setit. The Setit is joined (14 deg. 10' N., 36 deg. E.) by the Atbara, a river formed by several streams which rise in the mountains W. and N.W. of Lake Tsana. The Gash or Mareb is the most northerly of the Abyssinian rivers which flow towards the Nile valley. Its head-waters rise on the landward side of the eastern escarpment within 50 miles of Annesley Bay on the Red Sea. It reaches the Sudan plains near Kassala, beyond which place its waters are dissipated in the sandy soil. The Mareb is dry for a great part of the year, but like the Takazze is subject to sudden freshets during the rains. Only the left bank of the upper course of the river is in Abyssinian territory, the Mareb here forming the boundary between Eritrea and Abyssinia.

(3) The Abai—-that is, the upper course of the Blue Nile—has its source near Mount Denguiza in the Goiam highlands (about 11 deg. N. and 37 deg. E.), and first flows for 70 m. nearly due north to the south side of Lake Tsana. Tsana (q.v.), which stands from 2500 to 3000 ft. below the normal level of the plateau, has somewhat the aspect of a flooded crater. It has an area of about 1100 sq. m., and a depth in some parts of 250 ft. At the south-east corner the rim of the crater is, as it were. breached by a deep crevasse through which the Abai escapes, and here dovelb. ps a great semicircular bend like that of the Takazzo, but in the reverse direction—-east, south and north-west—-down to the plains of Sennar, where it takes the name of Bahr-el-Azrak or Blue Nile. The Abai has many tributaries. Of these the Bashilo rises near Magdala and drains eastern Amhara; the Jamma rises near Ankober and drains northern Shoa; the Muger rises near Adis Ababa and drains south-western Shoa; the Didessa, the largest of the Abai's affluents, rises in the Kaffa hills and has a generally S. to N. course; the Yabus runs near the western edge of the plateau escarpment. All these are perennial rivers. The right-hand tributaries, rising mostly on the western sides of the plateau, have steep slopes and are generally torrential in character. The Bolassa, however, is perennial, and the Rahad and Dinder are important rivers in flood-time.

In the mountains and plateaus of Kaffa and Galla in the south-west of Abyssinia rise the Baro, Gelo, Akobo and other of the chief affluents of the Sobat tributary of the Nile. The Akobo, in about 7 deg. 50' N. and 33 deg. E., joins the Pibor, which in about 8 1/2 deg. N. and 33 deg. 20' E. unites with the Baro, the river below the confluence taking the name of Sobat. These rivers descend from the mountains in great falls, and like the other Abyssinian streams are unnavigable in their upper courses. The Baro on reaching the plain becomes, however, a navigable stream affording an open waterway to the Nile. The Baro, Pibor and Akobo form for 250 m. the W. and S.W. frontiers of Abyssinia (see NILE, SOBAT and SUDAN.)

The chief river of Abyssinia flowing east is the Hawash (Awash, Awasi), which rises in the Shoan uplands and makes a semicircular bend first S.E. and then N.E. It reaches the Afar (Danakil) lowlands through a broad breach in the eastern escarpment of the plateau, beyond which it is joined on its left bank by its chief affluent, the Germama (Kasam), and then trends round in the direction of Tajura Bay. Here the Hawash is a copious stream nearly 200 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep, even in the dry season, and during the floods rising 50 or 60 ft. above low-water mark, thus inundating the plains for many miles along both its banks. Yet it fails to reach the coast, and after . a winding course of about 500 m. passes (in its lower reaches) through a series of badds (lagoons) to Lake Aussa, some 60 or 70 m. from the head.of Tajura Bay. In this lake the river is lost. This remarkable phenomenon is explained by the position of Aussa in the centre of a saline lacustrine depression several hundred feet below sea-level. While most of the other lagoons are highly saline, with thick incrustations of salt round their margins, Aussa remains fresh throughout the year, owing to the great body of water discharged into it by the Hawash.

Another lacustrine region extends from the Shoa heights south-west to the Samburu (Lake Rudolf) depression. In this chain of lovely upland lakes, some fresh, some brackish, some completely closed, others connected by short channels, the chief links in their order from north to south are:—-Zwai, communicating southwards with Hara and Lamina, all in the Arusi Galla territory; then Abai with an outlet to a smaller tarn in the romantic Baroda and Gamo districts, skirted on the west sides by grassy slopes and wooded ranges from 6000 to nearly 9000 ft. high; lastly, in the Asille country, Lake Stefanie, the Chuwaha of the natives, completely closed and falling to a level of about 1800 ft. above the sea. To the same system obviously belongs the neighbouring Lake Rudolf (q.v.), which is larger than all the rest put together. This lake receives at its northern end the waters of the ()mo, which rises in the Shoa highlands and is a perennial river with many affluents. In its course of some 370 m. it has a total fall of about 6000 ft. (from 7600 at its source to 1600 at lake-level), and is consequently a very rapid stream, being broken by the Kokobi and other falls, and navigable only for a short distance above its mouth. The chief rivers of Somaliland (q.v.), the Webi Shebeli and the Juba (q.v.), have their rise on the south-eastenn slopes of the Abyssinian escarpment, and the greater part of their course is through territory belonging to Abyssinia. There are numerous hot springs in Abyssinia, and earthquakes, though of no great severity, are not uncommon.

(4) Geology.——The East African tableland is continued into Abyssinia. Since the visit of W. T. Blanford in 1870 the geology has received little attention from travellers. The following formations are represented:—

Sedimentary and Metamorphic. Recent. Coral, alluvium, sand. Tertiary. (?) Limestones of Harrar. Jurassic. Antalo Limestones. Triassic (?). Adigrat Sandstones. Archaean. Gneisses, schists, slaty rocks. Igneous. Recent. Aden Volcanic Series. Tertiary, Cretaceous (?). Magdala group. Jurassic. Ashangi group.

Archaean.—The metamorphic rocks compose the main mass of the tableland, and are exposed in every deep valley in Tigre and along the valley of the Blue Nile. Mica schists form the prevalent rocks. Hornblende schist also occur and a compact felspathic rock in the Suris defile. The foliae of the schists strike north and south.

Triassic (?).—-In the region of Adigrat the metamorphic rocks are invariably overlain by white and brown sandstones, unfossiliferous, and attaining a maximum thickness of 1000 feet. They are overlain by the fossiliferous limestones of the Antalo group. Around Chelga and Adigrat coal-bearing beds occur, which Blanford suggests may be of the same age as the coal-bearing strata of India. The Adigrat Sandstone possibly represents some portion of the Karroo formation of South Africa.

Jurassic.—-The fossiliferous limestones of Antalo are generally horizontal, but are in places much disturbed when interstratified with trap rocks. The fossils are all characteristic Oolite forms and include species of Hemicidaris, Pholadomya, Ceromya, Trigonia and Alaria.

Igneous Rocks.—-Above a height of 8000 ft. the country consists of bedded traps belonging to two distinct and unconformable groups. The lower (Ashangi group) consists of basalts and dolerites often amygdaloidal. Their relation to the Antalo limestones is uncertain, but Blanford considers them to be not later in age than the Oolite. The upper (Magdala group) contains much trachytic rock of considerable thickness, lying perfectly horizontally, and giving rise to a series of terraced ridges characteristic of central Abyssinia. They are interbedded with unfossiliferous sandstones and shales. Of more recent date (probably Tertiary) are some igneous rocks, rich in alkalis, occurring in certain localities in southern Abyssinia. Of still more recent date are the basalts and ashes west of Massawa and around Annesley Bay and known as the Aden Volcanic Series. With regard to the older igneous rocks, the enormous amount they have suffered from denudation is a prominent feature. They have been worn into deep and narrow ravines, sometimes to a depth of 3000 to 4000 ft.

(5) Climate.—-The climate of Abyssinia and its dependent territories varies greatly. Somaliland and the Danakil lowlands have a hot, dry climate producing semi-desert conditions; the country in the lower basin of the Sobat is hot, swampy and malarious. But over the greater part of Abyssinia as well as the Galla highlands the climate is very healthy and temperate. The country lies wholly within the tropics, but its nearness to the equator is counterbalanced by the elevation of the land. In the deep valleys of the Takazze and Abai, and generally in places below 4000 ft., the conditions are tropical and fevers are prevalent. On the uplands, however, the air is cool and bracing in summer, and in winter very bleak. The mean range of temperature is between 60 deg. and 80 deg. F. On the higher mountains the climate is Alpine in character. The atmosphere on the plateaus is exceedingly clear, so that objects are easily recognizable at great distances. In addition to the variation in climate dependent on elevation, the year may be divided into three seasons. Winter, or the cold season, lasts from October to February, and is followed by a dry hot period, which about the middle of June gives place to the rainy season. The rain is heaviest in the Takazze basin in July and August. In the more southern districts of Gojam and Wallega heavy rains continue till the middle of September, and occasionally October is a wet month. There are also spring and winter rains; indeed rain often falls in every month of the year. But the rainy season proper, caused by the south-west monsoon, lasts from June to mid-September, and commencing in the north moves southward. In the region of the Sobat sources the rains begin earlier and last longer. The rainfall varies from about 30 in. a year in Tigre and Amhara to over 40 in. in parts of Galla land. The rainy season is of great importance not only to Abyssinia but to the countries of the Nile valley, as the prosperity of the eastern Sudan and Egypt is largely dependent upon the rainfall. A season of light rain may be sufficient for the needs of Abyssinia, but there is little surplus water to find its way to the Nile; and a shortness of rain means a low Nile, as practically all the flood water of that river is derived from the Abyssinian tributaries (see NILE.)

(6) Flora and Fauna.—As in a day's journey the traveller may pass from tropical to almost Alpine conditions of climate, so great also is the range of the flora and fauna. In the valleys and lowlands the vegetation is dense, but the general appearance of the plateaus is of a comparatively bare country with trees and bushes thinly scattered over it. The glens and ravines on the hillside are often thickly wooded, and offer a delightful contrast to the open downs. These conditions are particularly characteristic of the northern regions; in the south the vegetation on the uplands is more luxuriant. Among the many varieties of trees and plants found are the date palm, mimosa, wild olive, giant sycamores, junipers and laurels, the myrrh and Other gum trees (gnarled and stunted, these flourish most on the eastern foothills), a magnificent pine (the Natal yellow pine, which resists the attacks of the white ant), the fig, orange, lime, pomegranate, peach, apricot, banana and other fruit trees; the grape vine (rare), blackberry and raspberry; the cotton and indigo Plants, and occasionally the sugar cane. There are in the south large forests of valuable timber trees; and the coffee plant is indigenous in the Kaffa country, whence it takes its name. Many kinds of grasses and flowers abound. Large areas are covered by the kussa, a hardy member of the rose family, which grows from 8 to 10 ft. high and has abundant pendent red blossoms. The flowers and the leaves of this plant are highly prized for medicinal purposes. The fruit of the hurarina, a tree found almost exclusively in Shoa, yields a black grain highly esteemed as a spice. On the tableland a great variety of grains and vegetables are cultivated. A fibrous plant, known as the sanseviera, grows in a wild state in the semi-desert regions of the north and south-east.

In addition to the domestic animals enumerated below (sec. 8) the fauna is very varied. Elephant and rhinoceros are numerous in certain low-lying districts, especially in the Sobat valley. The Abyssinian rhinoceros has two horns and its skin has no folds. The hippopotamus and crocodile inhabit the larger rivers flowing west, but are not found in the Hawash, in which, however, otters of large size are plentiful. Lions abound in the low countries and in Somaliland. In central Abyssinia the lion is no longer found except occasionally in the river valleys. Leopards, both spotted and black, are numerous and often of great size; hyaenas are found everywhere and are hardy and fierce; the lynx, wolf, wild dog and jackal are also common. Boars and badgers are more rarely seen. The giraffe is found in the western districts, the zebra and wild ass frequent the lower plateaus and the rocky hills of the north. There are large herds of buffalo and antelope, and gazelles of many varieties and in great numbers are met with in most parts of the country. Among the varieties are the greater and lesser kudu (both rather rare); the duiker, gemsbuck, hartebeest, gerenuk (the most common—it has long thin legs and a camel-like neck); klipspringer, found on the high plateaus as well as in the lower districts; and the dik-dik, the smallest of the antelopes, its weight rarely exceeding 10 lb. , common in the low countries and the foothills. The civet is found in many parts of Abyssinia, but chiefly in the Galla regions. Squirrels and hares are numerous, as are several kinds of monkeys, notably the guereza, gelada, guenon and dog-faced baboon. They range from the tropical lowlands to heights of 10,000 ft.

Birds are very numerous, and many of them remarkable for the beauty of their plumage. Great numbers of eagles, vultures, hawks, bustards and other birds of prey are met with; and partridges, duck, teal, guinea-fowl, sand-grouse, curlews, woodcock, snipe, pigeons, thrushes and swallows are very plentiful. A fine variety of ostrich is commonly found. Among the birds prized for their plumage are the marabout, crane, heron, blacks bird, parrot, jay and humming-birds of extraordinary brilliance, Among insects the most numerous and useful is the bee, honey everywhere constituting an important part of the food of the inhabitants. Of an opposite class is the locust. Serpents are not numerous, but several species are poisonous. There are thousands of varieties of butterflies and other insects.

(7) Provinces and Towns.—Politically, Abyssinia is divided into provinces or kingdoms and dependent territories. The chief provinces are Tigro, which occupies the N.E. of the country; Amhara or Gondar, in the centre; Gojam, the district enclosed by the great semicircular sweep of the Abai; and Shoa (q.v.), which lies east of the Abai and south of Amhara. Besides these ancient provinces and several others of smaller size, the empire includes the Wallega region, lying S.W. of Gojam; the Harrar province in the east; Kaffa (q.v.) and Galla land, S.W. and S. of Shoa; and the central part of Somaliland.

With the exception of Harrar (q.v.), a city of Arab foundation, there are no large towns in Abyssinia. Harrar is some 30 m. S.E. of Dire Dawa, whence there is a railway (188 m. long) to Jibuti on the Gulf of Aden. The absence of large towns in Abyssinia proper is due to the provinces into which the country is divided having been for centuries in a state of almost continual warfare, and to the frequent change of the royal residences on the exhaustion of fuel supplies. The earliest capital appears to have been Axum (q.v.) in Tigre, where there are extensive ruins. In the middle ages Gondar in Amhara became the capital of the country and was so regarded up to the middle of the 19th century. Since 1892 the capital has been Adis Ababa in the kingdom of Shoa.

The other towns of Abyssinia worthy of mention may be grouped according to their geographical position. None of them has a permanent population exceeding 6000, but at several large markets are held periodically. In Tigre there are Adowa or Adua ( 17 m. E. by N. of Axum), Adigrat, Macalle and Antalo The three last-named places are on the high plateau near its eastern escarpment and on the direct road south from Massawa to Shoa. West of Adigrat is the monastery of Debra-Domo, one of the most celebrated sanctuaries in Abyssinia.

In Amhara there are:—-Magdala (q.v.), formerly the residence of King Theodore, and the place of imprisonment of the British captives in 1866. Debra-Tabor ("Mount Tabor''), the chief royal residence during the reign of King John, occupies a strong strategic position overlooking the fertile plains east of Lake Tsana, at a height of about 8,620 ft. above the sea; it has a population of 3000, including the neighbouring station of Samara, headquarters of the Protestant missionaries in the time of King Theodore. Ambra-Mariam, a fortified station midway between Gondar and Debra-Tabor near the north-east side of Lake Tsana, with a population of 3000; here is the famous shrine and church dedicated to St Mary, whence the name of the place, "Fort St Mary.'' Mahdera-Mariam ("Mary's Rest''), for some time a royal residence, and an important market and great place of pilgrimage, a few miles south-west of Debra-Tabor; its two churches of the "Mother'' and the "Son'' are held in great veneration by all Abyssinians; it has a permanent population estimated at over 4000, Gallas and Amharas, the former mostly Mahommedan. Sokota, one of the great central markets, and capital of the province of Waag in Amhara, at the converging point of several main trade routes; the market is numerously attended, especially by dealers in the salt blocks which come from Lake Alalbed. The following towns are in Shoa:—-Ankober, formerly the capital of the kingdom; Aliu-Amba, east of Ankober on the trade route to the Gulf of Aden; Debra-Berhan (Debra-Bernam) ("Mountain of Light''), once a royal residence; Liche (Litche), one of the largest market towns in southern Abyssinia. Licka, the largest market in Galla land, has direct communications with Gojam, Shoa and other parts of the empire. Bonga, the commercial centre of Kaffa, and Jiren, capital of the neighbouring province of Jimma, are frequented by traders from all the surrounding provinces, and also by foreign merchants from the seaports on the Gulf of Aden. Apart from these market-places there are no settlements of any size in southern Abyssinia.

Communications.—The J'buti-Dire Dawa railway has been mentioned above. The continuation of this railway to the capital was begun in 1906 from the Adis Ababa end. There are few roads in Abyssinia suitable for wheeled traffic. Transport is usually carried on by mules, donkeys, pack-horses and (in the lower regions) camels. From Dire Dawa to Harrar there is a well-made carriage road, and from Harrar to Adis Ababa the caravan track is kept in good order, the river Hawash being spanned by an iron bridge. There is also a direct trade route from Dire Dawa to the capital. Telegraph lines connect Adis Ababa and several important towns in northern Abyssinia with Massawa, Harrar and Jibuti. There is also a telephonic service, the longest line being from Harrar to the capital.

(8) Agriculture.—The soil is exceedingly fertile, as is evident from the fact that Egypt owes practically all its fertility to the sediment carried into the Nile by its Abyssinian tributaries. Agriculture is extensively followed, chiefly by the Gallas, the indolence of the Abyssinians preventing them from being good farmers. In the lower regions a wide variety of crops are grown —among them maize, durra, wheat, barley, rye, teff, pease, cotton and sugar-cane—-and many kinds of fruit trees are cultivated. Teff is a kind of millet with grains about the size of an ordinary pin-head, of which is made the bread commonly eaten. The low grounds also produce a grain, tocussa, from which black bread is made. Besides these, certain oleaginous plants, the suf, nuc and selite (there are no European equivalents for the native names), and the ground-nut are largely grown. The castor bean grows wild, the green castor in the low, damp regions, the red castor at medium altitudes. The kat plant, a medicinal herb which has a tonic quality, is largely grown in the Harrar province. On the higher plateaus the hardier cereals only are cultivated. Here the chief crops are wheat, barley, teff, peppers, vegetables of all kinds and coffee. Above 10,000 ft. the crops are confined practically to barley, oats, beans and occasionally wheat.

Coffee is one of the most important products of the country, and its original home is believed to be the Kaffa highlands. It is cultivated in the S., S.E. and S.W. provinces, and to a less extent in the central districts. Two qualities of coffee are cultivated, one known as Abyssinian, the other as Harrar-Mocha. The "Abyssinian'' coffee is grown very extensively throughout the southern highlands. Little attention is paid to the crop, the berries being frequently gathered from the ground, and consequently the coffee is of comparatively low grade. "Harrar-Mocha'' is of first-class quality. It is grown in the highlands of Harrar, and cultivated with extreme care. The raising of cotton received a considerable impetus in the early years of the 20th century. The soil of the Hawash valley proved particularly suitable for raising this crop. In the high plateaus the planting of seeds begins in May, in the lower plateaus and the plains in June, but in certain parts where the summer is long and rain abundant sowing and reaping are going on at the same time. Most regions yield two, many three crops a year. The methods of culture are primitive, the plough commonly used being a long pole with two vertical iron teeth and a smaller pole at right angles to which oxen are attached. This implement costs about four shillings. The ploughing is done by the men, but women and girls do the reaping. The grain is usually trodden out by cattle and is often stored in clay-lined pits. Land comparatively poor yields crops eight to tenfold the quantity sown; the major part of the land yields twenty to thirtyfold. In the northern parts of the empire very little land is left uncultivated. The hillsides are laid out in terraces and carefully irrigated in the dry season, the channels being often two miles or more long. Of all the cereals barley is the most widely grown. The average rate of pay to an agricultural labourer is about threepence a day in addition to food, which may cost another penny a day.

The Abyssinians keep a large number of domestic animals. Among cattle the Sanga or Galla ox is the most common. The bulls are usually kept for ploughing, the cow being preferred for meat. Most of the cattle are of the zebu or hump-backed variety, hut there are also two breeds——one large, the other resembling the Jersey cattle—-which are straight-backed. The horns of the zebu variety are sometimes four feet long. Sheep, of which there are very large flocks, belong to the short and fat-tailed variety. The majority are not wool-bearing, but in one district a very small black sheep is raised for wool. The small mountain breed of sheep weigh no more than 20 to 30 lb. apiece. Goats are of both the long and short-haired varieties. The horns of the large goats are often thirty inches in length and stand up straight from the head. The goats from the Arusi Galla country have fine silky hair which is sometimes sixteen inches long. The meat of both sheep and goats is excellent; that of the latter is preferred by the natives. In 1904 the estimated number of sheep and goats in the country was 20,000,000. Large quantities of butter, generally rancid, are made from the milk of cows, goats and sheep. In the Leka province small black pigs are bred in considerable numbers. The horses (very numerous) are small hut strong; they are generally about 14 hands in height. The best breeds come from the Shoa uplands. The ass is also small and strong; and the mule, bred in large numbers, is of excellent quality, and both as a transport animal and as a mount is preferred to the horse. The mule thrives in every condition of climate, is fever-proof, travels over the most difficult mountain passes with absolute security, and can carry with ease a load of 200 lb. The average height of a mule is 124 hands. The country is admirably adapted for stock-raising.

(9) Minerals.—-In the south and south-west provinces placer gold mines by the banks of watercourses are worked by Gallas as an industry subsidiary to tending their flocks and fields. In the Wallega district are veins of gold-bearing quartz, mined to a certain extent. There are also gold mines in southern Shoa The annual output of gold is worth not less than L. 500,000. Only a small proportion is exported. Besides gold, silver, iron, coal and other minerals are found. Rock-salt is obtained from the province of Tigre.

Trade and Currency.—-Abyssinia being without seaports, the external trade is through Massawa (Italian) in the north, Jibuti (French), Zaila and Berbera (British) in the south, and for all these ports Aden is a distributing centre. For Tigre and Amhara products Massawa is the best port, for the rest of the empire, Jibuti. For southern Abyssinia, Kaffa and Galla lands, Harrar is the great entrepot, goods being forwarded thence to Jibuti and the other Somaliland ports. There is also a considerable trade with the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan through the frontier towns of Rosaires and Gallabat. At the French and British ports thore is freedom of trade, but on goods for Abyssinia entering Massawa a discriminating tax is levied if they are not imported from Italy.

The chief articles of export are coffee, skins, ivory, civet, ostrich feathers, gum, pepper, kat plant (used by Moslems for its stimulating properties), gold (in small quantities) and live stock. The trade in skins is mainly with the L 1ited States through Aden; America also takes a large proportion of the coffee exported. For live stock there is a good trade with Madagascar. The chief imports are cotton goods, the yearly value of this trade being fully L. 250,000; the sheetings are largely American; the remainder English and Indian. No other article of import approaches cotton in importance, but a considerable trade is done in arms and ammunition, rice, sugar, flour and other foods, and a still larger trade in candles and matches (from Sweden), oil, carpets (oriental and European), hats and umbrellas. Commerce long remained in a backward condition; but under the Emperor Menelek II. efforts were made to develop the resources of the country, and in 1905 the total volume of trade exceeded

Until the end of the 19th century the usual currency was the Maria Theresa dollar, bars of rock-salt and cartridges. In 1894 a new coinage was introduced, with the Menelek dollar or talari, worth about two shillings, as the standard. This new coinage gradually superseded the older currency. In 1905 the Bank of Abyssinia, the first banking house in the country, was founded, with its headquarters at Adis Ababa. The bank, which was granted a monopoly of banking business in the empire for fifty years, has a capital of L. 500,000, has the power to issue notes, to mint the Abyssinian coinage, and to engage in commercial operations. It was founded under Egyptian law by the National Bank of Egypt, which institution had previously obtained a concession from the emperor Menelek.

(10) Government.—-The political institutions are of a feudal character. Within their provinces the rases (princes) exercise large powers. The emperor, styled negus negusti (king of kings), is occasionally assisted by a council of rases. In October 1907 an imperial decree announced the constitution of a cabinet on European lines, ministers being appointed to the portfolios of foreign affairs, war, commerce, justice and finance. The legal system is said to be based on the Justinian code. From the decisions of the judges there is a right of appeal to the emperor. The chief judicial official is known as the affh-negus (breath of the king). The Abyssinian church (q.v.) is presided over by an abuna, or archbishop. The land is not held in fee simple, but is subject to the control of the emperor or the church. Revenue is derived from an ad valorem tax on all imports; the purchase and sale of animals; from royalties on trading concessions, and in other ways, including fees for the administration of justice. Education, of a rudimentary character, is given by the clergy. In 1907 a system of compulsory education "of all male children over the age of 12'' was decreed. The education was to be state provided, Coptic teachers were brought from Egypt and school buildings were erected.

The Abyssinian calendar is as follows:—-The Abyssinian year of 365 days (366 in leap-year) begins on the 1st of Maskarram, which corresponds to about the 10th of September. The months have thirty days each, and are thus named: Maskarram, Tekemt, Hadar, Tahsas, Tarr, Yekatit, Magawit, Miaziah, Genbot, Sanni, Hamle, Nas'hi. The remaining five days in the year, termed Pagmen or Quaggimi (six in leap-year, the extra day being named Kadis Yohannis), are put in at the end and treated as holidays. Abyssinian reckoning is about seven years eight months behind the Gregorian. Festivals, such as Easter, fall a week later than in western Europe.

Army.—A small standing army is maintained in each province of Abyssinia proper. Every able-bodied Abyssinian is expected to join the army in case of need, and a force, well armed with modern weapons, approaching 250,000 can be placed in the field. The cavalry is chiefly composed of Galla horsemen. (F. R. C.)

ETHNOLOGY (i1) The population of the empire is estimated at from 3,500,000 to 5,000,000. The inhabitants consist mainly of the Abyssinians, the Galla and the Somali (the two last-named peoples are separately noticed). Of non-African races the most numerous are Armenians, Indians, Jews and Greeks. There is a small colony of British, French, Italians and Russians. The following remarks apply solely to Abyssinia proper and its inhabitants. It should be remembered that the term "Abyssinian'' is purely geographical, and has little or no ethnical significance; it is derived from the Arabic Habesh, "mixed,'' and was a derisive name applied by the Arabs to the heterogeneous inhabitants of the Abyssinian plateau.