A Recent Visit to Gudru and Gojjam

SINCE I had the privilege of reading my first paper on the subject of Abyssinia before the Royal Geographical Society nearly four years ago, my wife and I have been able to make two further visits to that country, and to parts differing materially from each other, both geographically and racially. Our first visit in 1919-20 was confined to Shoa, and from Addis Ababa we undertook a number of short treks to different parts of that province, of which the population, though largely Abyssinian, is very much diluted by inter-marriage with the Shoan Galla and with conquered negroid races. The country itself is high, Addis Ababa being near the south? eastern extremity of the main Abyssinian plateau at an elevation of approximately 8000 feet, just below and to the south of the Intotto Mountains, which run to a height of about 11,000 feet. On our second trip in 1922-23 we travelled southward from Addis Ababa round Lake Zwai and in the Arusi country, keeping to the west of the Arusi Mountains. This country is lower, lying indeed partly within the Great Rift Valley between the Somali plateau and the Galla Highlands, Lake Zwai itself being at an elevation of about 5000 feet. The people here are Galla, different branches of this great race. The Arusi Galla Wylde brackets with the Masai as the two most warlike and savage tribes north of the equator in the eastern part of Africa; but we found them pleasant enough to deal with, though shy and wild. Our third trip, from which we have just returned, was through Gudru to the more purely Abyssinian country of Gojjam, lying north of the great southerly bend of the Blue Nile, between this river and Lake Tana. The difference in appearance between the races is strongly marked, both as regards features and colour, and traces of the three peoples from which the mixed population of Abyssinia derives its origin, i.e. the Semitic, Hamitic, and negroid, are clearly evident. Nor do the social and political conditions of the people of Shoa, Arusi, and Gojjam differ less widely, and any generalization as to the

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