At an elevation of 6,000 ft. occur juniper trees, which here grow tall and large, the jujube, wild olives, and several trees of the tig tribe. This vegetation is sub-alpine, and common to the plateaux. The flora of the higher regions is characteristic of the temperate zone, the only tree being the juniper, which grows merely as a bush on the loftier mountain sides and summits, together with lavender, thyme, gentian, and the wild rose. Large dahro trees are generally found about the villages, and a variety of willow oc -curs near streams and in damp places; but though there are some trees on the plains below the plateaux, low bushes form the greater proportion of their vegetation. In fact, the only thickly wooded localities are the gorges and ravines. - Each of the three principal political divisions of Abyssinia, Tigre, Amhara, and Shoa, is subdivided into numerous smaller provinces. Formerly the rulers of these three sovereignties were subject to the monarch of the country, but on the decline of the central power in the last century they became practically independent.

The town of Adowa, with about 8,000 inhabitants, is the metropolis of Tigre. Gondar, the seat of government in Amhara, and formerly the residence of the Abyssinian kings, is situated in the district of Dem-bea, N. of the Tzana lake, and has a population estimated at 50,000. Ankobar, a town containing about 12,000 people, is the present capital of Shoa. The inhabitants of Abyssinia are usually classed into: 1, the Ethiopia people of Tigre, speaking a corrupt form of the ancient Geez language; 2, the Amharic tribes, living in Amhara and Shoa; 3, the Agows, of Wag, Lasta, and other provinces, who are by some conjectured to be of Phoenician origin. Besides these are the Gallas who have settled in Amhara and Shoa. Coptic Christianity is the prevailing faith, but there are many Mohammedan and Jewish communities. (See Abyssinian Chuech.) In point of morality, the latter are generally superior to the Christians. Education is confined almost solely to those intended for the church. Superstition is widely prevalent, and the people are strongly addicted to sensuality and bloodshed. Many peculiar customs prevail, and something of a literature once existed; but the effect of the long series of civil wars has been to render Abyssinian civilization unworthy of the name.

Latterly the rule of the lesser chiefs throughout the country has been the only government of any stability. - The history of Abyssinia surpasses in interest that of any other country of Africa except Egypt. Its earliest traditions concern the queen of Sheba, who is said to have ruled over the powerful kingdom of Axiim, holding her court at the town of that name, whence she proceeded on her celebrated visit to Solomon. All subsequent legitimate rulers of the nation or of the larger states have claimed to be descended from her. About A. D. 320 the patriarch of Alexandria consecrated Frumentius bishop of Abyssinia. Through his efforts and those of his successors, all of whom bore the title of abulia salamah (our father of peace), the Coptic church was firmly established. In 522 Caleb, then the reigning sovereign of Axum, led an army into Arabia and subjugated the kingdom of Yemen. The reign of Caleb is described as the golden age of Abyssinian history, during which a high degree of internal and commercial prosperity was attained; but the Mohammedan invasion of Egypt in the 7th century checked the inflow of civilization from the outer world, and brought the progress of the country to a standstill.

For nearly 1,000 years Ethiopia was isolated by the surrounding barriers of Islam. About 1492 Pedro do Covil-ham, who had been sent to the East by King John II. of Portugal in search of the land of Prester John, arrived at the court of Alexander, who then occupied the throne under the title of negus (king). On the death of Alexander, his successor, Negus David, was so young that his grandmother Helena acted for a while as regent, and through a mission to Portugal she secured the visit of an embassy from Lisbon to Abyssinia about 1520, an event which led to the subsequent active interference of the Portuguese in the affairs of the country. Estevan da Gama, the Portuguese viceroy in India and a grandson of the celebrated navigator, was ordered to aid the Abyssinians with a small armed force in their war against the Mohammedans of Adal, which had broken out about 1528, and had already lasted 12 years. Accordingly, in 1541, the first European military expedition into Abyssinia, numbering only 450 soldiers, with six cannon, landed at Massowa under the command of Cristoforo da Gama, the viceroy's brother.

He defeated the Turkish forces under Mo-, hammed Gran in many engagements, but finally his army was routed and he was killed in an important battle fought in 1542, probably near the Senate pass. At this period began the barbarian incursions of the Galla tribes from the south, which occasioned a long series of wars between the Abyssinians and the more savage but fairer invaders, who finally succeeded in establishing themselves on a strip of territory, which they still occupy, separating Shoa from the rest of the country. The Jesuits never wielded a paramount influence in the state except in the early part of the 17th century. The authority of the negus appears to have been maintained unimpaired until about the middle of the last century. The Gallas had by this time become of importance as prospective allies in intestinal quarrels; and to propitiate them, Yasous II. married a Galla woman. This act so incensed the native Christians that they practically withdrew their allegiance from the negus, who lived but a few years after his marriage, and. gave it to Ras Michael Suhul, the hereditary chief of Salowa in Tigre, who then became in fact the ruler of the country and governed it as long as he lived, although a nominal negus was placed upon the throne after the death of Yasous. It was during the administration of Ras Michael that the English traveller Bruce visited Gondar, in 1770. The authority of the negus had already become a nullity, the ras, who was ostensibly his minister, being in reality the ruler of the state.