The mountains of Abyssinia appear in three ridges ; the first of no great height, fob of gullies and broken ground, and thinly ( overed with shrubs ; the second high er and steeper, still more rugged and hare ; the third, a row of sharp uneven hills, which, though interior to those in the centre, would vet be accounted high in any coun try in Europe. Far above all the rest towers Taranta, in the east of the kingdom, whose summit, generally in volved in clouds, is never seen but in the clearest wea ther: it is one of the highest mountains in the world. Next to Taranta, the most remarkable are the precipit ous mountains of Adowa in Tigre; Lama!mon, and Amda Gideon, or the Jews' Rock, in Samen ; Gaunt in the south of the empire ; and the triple ridge of Aformasha, Litch ambara, and Amid-Amid, which as they form a regular crescent, Mr Bruce supposed to be the Mountains of the Moon.
Abyssinia, as might be expected in a country so moun tainous, is watered by many streams. Besides the tor rents formed by the rains, and the perennial rivulets which wind through the valleys, several large rivers take their rise among the hills, giving beauty and fertility to the country through which they (low. Of these the most considerable is the Bahar-el-azrck, or Blue River, called by the natives Abay ; which Mr Bruce, taking it for the Nile, traced to its sources in the district of Ras-el-Feel. For this mistake, he has been censured with a degree of petulance and acrimony, that would almost warrant the supposition, that his accusers themselves believe and envy the discovery, which they are so vehemently anxious to disprove. When Mr Bruce sailed for Africa, it was the general opinion of Europeans, that the sources of the Nile were to be sought in Abyssinia. On his arri val in that country, he actually found a large river which the inhabitants dignified with that name ; and it surely argued no uncommon portion of vanity or credulity, if he imagined that he had succeeded in the object of his journey, exactly where concurring circumstances led him to expect success, and exulted in the belief of hav ing first discovered those fountains, which hail so long been the subject of fruitless curiosity. The Bahar-el Abiad, or White River, which is the principal branch of the Nile, takes its rise among the Jibbel Kumri, or Mountains of the Moon, in the country of Donga, but its sources have not yet been explored. The river, next in consequence to the Abay, is the Tacuz, or Tacazze, which flows from three springs in the province of Angot, about 200 miles south-west of Gondar. Another branch
of the Tacazze rises in the frontiers of Begemder, near Dabuco; whence running between Gouliou, Lasta, and Belessan, it joins the Angot branch, and becomes the boundary between Tigre and Amhara. Tacazze was the Astaboras of the ancients, and the Abay was their Astapus. The Mareb is a large, deep, and smooth ri ver, which forms the boundary between Tigre and the Baharnagash. The Maleg, said to rise in the marshes of Narca, joins the Tacazze after flowing in a parallel course of considerable length. Several tributary streams, as the Angueah and Bowihah, fall into the Tacazze and Abay. The Jemma, whose sources are in the mountains of Amid-Amid, is rather larger than the Abay, and very ranch ino•e radid. Alter flowing a rongit tits . alley of St George, it crosses Maitsha, on the east of the Alm , in which it loses itself below Samsun'. There arc two other rivers, the I lanazo and the Ilawash, which flow in an opposite direction, towards of Sea ; the hornier of which is said to be absorbed by the sands of Adel. Sonic oh these rivers ale distinguished by cataracts of stupendous height and volume. The most magnificent is that of the Abay at Ahem. Its height Ali. Bruce supposes to be about forty leen The riNer, when he viewed it, hail been considerably increased by rains, and HI in one unbroken sheet of water, about half an English mile in breadth, with a force and noise that was truly awful. A thick or haze, covered the fall around, and hung over the stream both above and below, marking its track, though the water w as unseen.
The lake 'l'zana, or Denibea, is by much the largest expanse of water known in Abyssinia. It is about fifty miles long, and thirty-live in its greatest breadth, though it decreases greatly at each extremity, where it is some times not above ten miles broad ; its extent, however, differs greatly in the dry and rainy seasons. This lake is interspersed w ith many islands, which were formerly used as prisons for the great, or as places of voluntary re treat for the discontented or unlOrtunate. Near the mid dle is one called Tzana, which is supposed to have given name to the lake. But, notwithstanding the number of rivers in Abyssinia, there arc many parts of it totally des titute of springs, or flowing streams, where the inhabi tants are compelled to use the water of stagnant pools kilned by the rains.