The race of the Greek kings who ruled over Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great and until 30 B.C., and later, again, the Byzantine Emperors of Eastern Rome did much to implant Hellenic civilisation and the use of the Greek language in Egypt, and their influence extended over Abyssinia, where the kings of Ethiopian race (Gala dashed with Arab and Jew) admired and imitated them in much the same manner as the second Emperor of the French was admired and imitated by the lesser potentates of Germany. The history of Abyssinia--if it is to be written with regard to truth--is still obscure. This country of lofty mountains and temperate climate is bordered on the east by the land of Afar, an inhospitable desert inhabited by fierce Hamites (Danākil). On the south its mountains are connected by plateaux and ridges with the highlands of East Africa, but are separated by much arid and parched country from the regions of the modern Uganda protectorate. On the west the mountains of Abyssinia descend in terraces to the plains of the central Nile. Here the torrid climate is that of the Sudan, but the country is better watered by the rivers which rise in Abyssinia, and by a fairly regular rainfall. On the extreme north the Abyssinian mountains almost overhang the coast of the Red Sea, and are no doubt visible in clear weather from the opposite Arabian shore. The mountains of Yaman are remarkably similar in many points to those of Abyssinia, and the people of Yaman when they were seized with a desire to emigrate in search of fresh homes were no doubt drawn to this distant land of mountains just visible in the west. Originally no doubt Abyssinia was peopled by the same dwarf Bushman race as that which formed the lowest stratum of all the African populations. Then a portion of the country came into the possession of the big black Negroes who still inhabit its western flanks. These again are superseded and partially absorbed by the superior race of the Hamites, the ancestors of the Gala, Somali, and Ancient Egyptian. This Hamite race of Caucasian stock with some Negroid intermixture forms the basis of the Abyssinian population at the present day. But in the early days of Sabæan enterprise--say four thousand to three thousand years ago--Abyssinia was conquered by Sabæan Arabs from Yaman. At many subsequent periods Abyssinia and Yaman (the Red Sea acting as no barrier) were governed by the same dynasty, and when Yaman came under Persian influence that influence also penetrated Abyssinia. In this manner Abyssinia early developed a trade with India, and even served as an emporium for the introduction of Indian wares into Egypt on the one hand and the remote parts of eastern equatorial Africa on the other. The Queen of Saba (Sheba) is no doubt in many respects a legendary personage, but if she had any real historical existence she is another instance of an Arab ruler who governed both Abyssinia and Yaman. She may or may not have visited Solomon, but there