ADIS ABABA, a-ba'ba, Abyssinia, capital of the kingdom and of the province of Shoa, is situated 9,000 feet above sea-level on the southern slope of the Entotto hills. It con sists of groups of villages and suburbs scat tered around the Gebi or royal palace and enclosure placed on a small hill, commanding the whole neighborhood. There is telegraphic communication with Massowah, Harrar, Dire Dawa and the seaport ' of Jibutil in French Somaliland, whence a railway line to Dire Dawa 187 miles, on the southeast border of Abyssinia, is projected, via Harrar and the Hawask River, 300 miles to Adis Ababa. Tele phone communication has been established with Harrar and intervening points. At the military camp a mile northeast of the palace are the seven batteries of artillery and mitrail leuses taken at the battle of Adowa, 1 March 1896. Adis Ababa, signifying new flower,' was founded in 1892 by Menelek II after abandoning Entotto, 10 miles to the north.
Here on 26 Oct. 1896 the treaty of peace be tween Italy and Abyssinia was signed. The population ranges from 50,000 to 70,000, about a third being of a floating character.
ADIT ("approach"), an underground pas sage with but one opening; distinguished from the tunnel proper, which has two. In military use, the burrow by which miners approach a place they wish to sap. In industrial mining, a gently sloping drift, used to drain a mine of the water coming into the workings from the top or sides or pumped up from below; usually but improperly called a tunnel. When there are two adits at different levels, the lower one is termed the "deep adit.' The greatest in the United States is the Sutro Tunnel, 2,000 feet deep and 20,000 feet long, made in the palmy days of the Comstock Lode near Virginia City, Nev., to drain the mines along it.