(2) _Magdala Volcanic Series._--This is a more recent group of volcanic lavas, chiefly distinguished from the lower, or Ashangi, group, by the occurrence of thick beds of trachyte, usually more or less crystalline, and containing beautiful crystals of sanidine. The beds of trachyte break off in precipitous scarps, and being of great thickness and perfectly horizontal, are unusually conspicuous. Mr. Blanford says, with regard to this group, that there is a remarkable resemblance in its physical aspect to the scenery of the Deccan and the higher valleys of the Western Ghats of India, but the peculiarities of the landscape are exaggerated in Abyssinia. Many of the trachytic beds are brecciated and highly columnar; sedimentary beds are also interstratified with those of volcanic origin. The Magdala group is unconformable to that of Ashangi in some places. A still more recent group of volcanic rocks appears to occur in the neighbourhood of Senafé, consisting of amorphous masses of trachyte, often so fine-grained and compact as to pass into claystone and to resemble sandstone. At Akub Teriki the rocks appear to be in the immediate vicinity of an ancient vent of eruption. From what has been said, it will be apparent that Abyssinia offers volcanic phenomena of great interest for the observer. There is considerable variety in the rock masses, in their mode of distribution, and in the scenery which they produce. The extensive horizontal sheets of lava are suggestive of fissure-eruption rather than of eruption through volcanic craters; and although these may have once been in existence, denudation has left no vestiges of them at the present day. In all these respects the resemblance of the volcanic phenomena to those of Peninsular India is remarkably striking; it suggests the view that they are contemporaneous as regards the time of their eruption, and similar as regards their mode of formation. [1] W. T. Blanford, _Geology of Abyssinia_, pp. 151-2. [2] Blanford, _loc. cit._, p. 182. CHAPTER III. CAPE COLONY.