Travels in Abyssinia and the Galla Country: With an Account of A Mission to Ras Ali In 1848 (1868)

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1868 Original Publisher: Longmans, Green, and co. Subjects: Ethiopia France Africa, Northeast Foreign Language Study / Spanish History / Africa / General History / Africa / Central History / Africa / East History / Europe / France Reference / Dictionaries Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II. ABYSSINIA PROPER, CHRISTIAN ABYSSINIA -- ORAL TRADITION -- THE KIBRA NEGUST MENELEK -- MAHOMEDAN INVASION -- MAHOMED GRYNE -- DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE -- THE FITHA NEGUST -- THE RAS - DEJAJ OOBEAY DEJAJ BOURROO -- TEEGRAY AND ITS SUBDIVISIONS -- SEMEN GONDAR. The noble portion of territory still in the possession of the Christians of Eastern Africa, is blessed with a climate that may, perhaps, challenge a comparison with any in the world. Its ordinary temperature is from 50 to 80, but it contains, within its small extent of a few hundred miles, the variations of heat and cold that are usually found only in portions of the globe which are distant from each other. A few hours' ride will take you from the burning valley of the Takazzee, or the agreeable warmth of the country of Kwolaggeria, to the frost and hail-covered peaks of Semen; again a short road, and the bleak and wind-swept plains of Waggera will remind you of the Sussex Downs in March: by the slightest change, in fact, you may obtain a residence within a degree of the wished- for temperature, be it that of Italy, England, or Bengal. The tropical rains, in most provinces, continue for three months or thereabouts -- that is July, August, and September -- but in some, particularly in Gojam, for nearly a month more, before or after that period. They are not of great violence, ...