Whether this grain was ever known to the Greeks and Romans, is what we are no where told. Indeed, the various grains made use of in antiquity, are so lamely and poorly described, that, unless it is a few of the most common, we cannot even guess at the rest. Pliny mentions several of them, but takes no notice of any of their qualities, but medicinal ones; some he specifies as growing in Gaul, others in the Campania of Rome, but takes no notice of those of Ethiopia or Egypt. Among these there is one which he calls Tiphe, but says not whence it came; the name would induce us to believe that this was Teff, but we can only venture this as a conjecture not supported. But it is very improbable, connected as Egypt and Ethiopia were from the first ages, both by trade and religion, that a grain of such consequence to one nation should be utterly unknown to the other. It is not produced in the low or hot country, the Kolla, that is, in the borders of it; for no grain can grow, as I have already said, in the Kolla or Mazaga itself; but in place of Teff, in these borders, there grows a black grain called Tocusso. The stalk of this is scarce a foot long; it has four divisions where the grain is produced, and seems to be a species of the meiem msalib, or gramen crucis, the grass of the cross. Of this a very black bread is made, ate only by the poorest sort; but though it makes worse bread, I think it makes better bouza. Some have thought, from the frequent use of Teff, hath come that disease of worms which I have mentioned in the article Cusso. But I am inclined to think this is not the case, because the Gibbertis, or Mahometans, born in Abyssinia, all use Teff in the same proportion as the Christians, yet none of these are troubled with worms. And from this I should be led to think that this disease arises rather from eating raw meat, which the Mahometans do not, and therefore are not affected with this disorder as the Christians are. OF QUADRUPEDS. I believe there is in the world no country which produces a greater number, or variety of quadrupeds, whether tame or wild, than Abyssinia. As the high country is now perfectly cleared of wood, by the waste made in that article from the continual march of armies, the mountains are covered to the very top, with perpetual verdure, and most luxuriant herbage.