servants of the king surround the royal chamber, many dozens
of such burials being usual. By the end of the IInd dynasty
the type changed to a long passage bordered with chambers
on either hand, the royal burial heing in the middle of the
length. The greatest of these tombs with its dependencies
covered a space of over 3000 square yards. The contents of
the tombs have been nearly destroyed by successive plunderers;
enough remained to show that rich jewellery was placed on the
mummies, a profusion of vases of hard and valuable stones
from the royal table service stood about the body, the
store-rooms were filled with great jars of wine, perfumed
ointment and other supplies, and tablets of ivory and of
ebony were engraved with a record of the yearly annals of the
reigns. The sealings of the various officials, of which
over 200 varieties have been found, give an insight into
the public arrangements (Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. and ii.).
The cemetery of private persons begins in the Ist dynasty with
some pit tombs in the town. It was extensive in the XIIth
and XIIIth dynasties and contained many rich tombs. In the
XVIIIth-XXth dynasties a large number of fine tombs were made,
and later ages continued to bury here till Roman times. Many
hundred funeral steles were removed by Mariette's workmen,
without any record of the burials (Mariette, Abydos, ii. and
iii.). Later excavations have been recorded by Ayrton, Abydos,
iii.; Maclver, El Amrah and Abydos; and Garstang, El Arabah.
The forts lay behind the town. That known as Shunet ez
Zebib is about 450X250 ft. over all, and still stands 30 ft.
high. It was built by Rhasekhemui, the last king of the IInd
dynasty. Another fort nearly as large adjoined it, and
is probably rather older. A third fort of a squarer form
is now occupied by the Coptic convent; its age cannot
be ascertained (Ayrton, Abydos, iii.). (W. M. F. P.)
ABYSS (Gr. a-, privative, bussos, bottom), a bottomless
depth; hence any deep place. From the late popular abyssimus
(superlative of Lon Latin abyssus) through the French abisme
(i.e. abime) is derived the poetic form abysm, pronounced
as late as 1616 to rhyme with time. The adjective ``abyssal''
or ``abysmal'' has been used by zoologists to describe deep
regions of the sea; hence abysmal zone, abysmal flora and
fauna, abysmal accumulations, the deposit on the abysmal
bed of the ocean. In heraldry, the abyss is the middle of an
escutcheon. In the Greek version of the Old Testament the
word represents (1) the,-original chaos (Gen. i. 2), (2)
the Hebrew tehom (``a surging water-deep''), which is used
also in apocalyptic and kabbalistic literature and in the New
Testament for hell; the place of punishment (cf. Eurip. Phoen.
for the ``yawning chasm of Tartarus''); in the Revised (not
the Authorized) version abyss is generally used for this
idea. Primarily in the Septuagint cosmography the word is
applied (a) to the waters under the earth which originally
covered it, and from which the springs and rivers are supplied,
(b) to the waters of the firmament which were regarded as
closely connected with those below. Derivatively, from the
general idea of depth, it acquired the meaning of the place
of the dead, though apparently never quite the same as Sheol.
In Revelation it is the prison of evil spirits whence they
may occasionally be let loose, and where Satan is doomed to
spend 1000 years. Beneath the altar in the temple of Jerusalem
there was believed to be a passage which led down to the abyss
of the world, where the foundation-stone of the earth was
laid. In rabbinical cosmography the abyss is a region of
Gehenna situated below the ocean bed and divided into three or
seven parts imposed one above the other. In the Kabbalah the
abyss as the opening into the lower world is the abode of evil
spirits, and corresponds to the opening of the abyss to the
world above. In general the abyss is regarded vaguely as a
place of indefinite extent, the abode of mystery and sorrow.
See G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy in tha Old
Testament (Eng. trans., Oxford, 1905).
ABYSSINIA (officially ETHIOPIA), an inland country and
empire of N.E. Africa lying, chiefly, between 5 deg. and 15 deg. N.
and 35 deg. and 42 deg. E. It is bounded N. by Eritrea (Italian).
W. by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, S. by British East Africa,
S.E. and E. by' the British. Ita!ian and French possessions
in Somaliland and on the Red Sea. The coast lands held by
European powers, which cut off Abyssinia from access to the
sea, vary in width from 40 to 250 miles. The country approaches
nearest to the ocean on its N.E. border, where the frontier is
drawn about 40 m. from the coast of the Red Sea. Abyssinia is
narrowest in the north, being here 230 n1. across from east to
west. It broadens out southward to a width of 900 m. along
the line of 9 deg. N., and resembles in shape a triangle with
its apex to the north. It is divided into Abyssinia proper
(i.e. Tigre, Amhara, Gojam, &c.), Shoa, Kaffa and Galla
land----all these form a geographical unit---and central
Somaliland with Harrar. To the S.W. Abyssinia also includes
part of the low country of the Sobat tributary of the
Nile. The area of the whole state is about 350,000 sq.
m., of which Abyssinian Somaliland covers fully a third.
(1) Physical Features.-- Between the valley of the Upper Nile
and the low lands which skirt the south-western shores of the
Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden is a region of elevated plateaus
from which rise various mountain ranges. These tablelands
and mountains constitute Abyssinia, Shoa, Kaffa and Galla
land. On nearly every side the walls of the plateaus rise
with considerable abruptness from the plains, constituting
outer mountain chains. The Abyssinian highlands are thus
a clearly marked orographic division. From Ras Kasar (18 deg.
N.) to Annesley Bay (15 deg. N.) the eastern wall of the plateau
runs parallel to the Red Sea. It then turns due S. and follows
closely the line of 40 deg. E. for some 400 m. About 9 deg. N. there
is a break in the wall, through which the river. Hawash flows
eastward. The main range at this point trends S.W., while
south of the Hawash valley, which is some 3000 ft. below the
level of the mountains, another massif rises in a direct line
south. This second range sends a chain (the Harrar hills)
eastward to the Gulf of Aden. The two chief eastern ranges
maintain a parallel course S. by W., with a broad upland
valley between---in which valley are a series of lakes---to
about 3 deg. N., the outer (eastern) spurs of the plateau still
keeping along the line of 40 deg. E. The southern escarpment of
the plateau is highly irregular, but has a general direction
N.W. and S.E. from 6 deg. N. to 3 deg. N. It overlooks the depression
in which is Lake Rudolf and---east of that lake--southern
Somaliland. The western wall of the plateau from 6 deg. N.
to 11 deg. N. is well marked and precipitous. North of 11 deg.
N. the hills turn more to the east and fall more gradually
to the plains at their base. On its northern face also
the plateau falls in terraces to the level of the eastern
Sudan. The eastern escarpment is the best defined of these
outer ranges. It has a mean height of from 7000 to 8000
ft., and in many places rises almost perpendicularly from the
plain. Narrow and deep clefts, through which descend mountain
torrents to lose themselves in the sandy soil of the coast
land, afford means of reaching the plateau, or the easier
route through the Hawash valley may be chosen. On surmounting
this rocky barrier the traveller finds that the encircling
rampart rises little above the normal level of the plateau.
(2) The aspect of the highlands is most impressive. The
northern portion, lying mainly between 10 deg. and 15 deg. N.,
consists of a huge mass of Archaean rocks with a mean height
of from 7000 to 7500 ft. above the sea, and is fl00ded in a
deep central depression by the waters of Lake Tsana. Above
the plateau rise several irregular and generally ill-defined
mountain ranges which attain altitudes of from 12,000 to over
15,000 ft. Many of the mountains are of weird and fantastic
shape. Characteristic of the country are the enormous
fissures which divide it, formed in the course of ages by
the erosive action of water. They are in fact the valleys
of the rivers which, rising on the uplands or mountain
sides, have cut their way to the surrounding lowlands. Some
of the valleys are of considerable width; in other cases the
opposite walls of the gorges are but two or three hundred
yards apart, and fall almost vertically thousands of feet,
representing an erosion of hard rock of many millions of cubic
feet. One result of the action of the water has been the
formation of numerous isolated flat-topped hills or small
plateaus, known as ambas, with nearly perpendicular sides.
The highest peaks are found in the Simen (or Semien) and Gojam
ranges. The Simen Mountains he N.E. of Lake Tsana and
culminate in the snow-covered peak of Daschan (Dajan), which
has an altitude of 15,160 ft. A few miles east and north
respectively of Dajan are Mounts Biuat and Abba Jared, whose
summits are a few feet only below that of Dajan. In the Chok
Mountains in Gojam Agsias Fatra attains a height of 13,600 ft.
Parallel with the eastern escarpment are the heights of Baila
(12,500 ft.), Abuna Josef (13,780 ft.), and Kollo (14,100
ft.), the last-named being S.W. of Magdala. The valley
between these hills and the eastern escarpment is one of
the longest and most profound chasms in Abyssinia. Between
Lake Tsana and the eastern hills are Mounts Guna (13,800
ft.) and Uara Sahia (13,000 ft.). The figures given are,
however, approximate only. The southern portion of the
highlands---the 10 deg. N. roughly marks the division between
north and south---has more open tableland than the northern
portion and fewer lofty peaks. Though there are a few heights
between 10,000 and 12,000 ft., the majority do not exceed 8000
ft. But the general character of the southern regions is
the same as in the north---a much-broken hilly plateau.
Most of the Abyssinian uplands have a decided slope to the
north-west, so that nearly all the large rivers find their way
in that direction to the Nile. Such are the Takazze in the
north, the Abai in the centre, and the Sobat in the south, and
through these three arteries is discharged about four-fifths
of the entire drainage. The rest is carried off, almost due
north by the Khor Baraka, which occasionally reaches the Red
Sea south of Suakin; by the Hawash, which runs out in the
saline lacustrine district near the head of Taiura Bay; by the
Webi Shebeli (Wabi Shebeyli) and Juba, which flow S.E. through
Somaliland, though the Shebeli fails to reach the Indian Ocean;
and by the Omo. the main feeder of the closed basin of Lake Rudolf.
The Takazze, which is the true upper course of the Atbara,
has its head-waters in the central tableland; and falls from
about 7000 to 2500 ft. in the tremendous crevasse through
which it sweeps round west, north and west again down to the
western terraces, where it passes from Abyssinian to Sudan
territory. During the rains the Takazze (i.e. the
``Terrible'') rises some 18 ft. above its normal level, and
at this time forms an impassable barrier between the northern
and central provinces. In its lower course the river is
known by the Arab name Setit. The Setit is joined (14 deg. 10'
N., 36 deg. E.) by the Atbara, a river formed by several streams
which rise in the mountains W. and N.W. of Lake Tsana.
