According to Dr. Rüppel, there are two predominant types existing among the people of this country, the more widely spread approaching to that of the Arabs, while the second approximates closely to the Negro.
The Abyssinians forming the first group, are finely formed, showing resemblance to the Bedouins in feature and expression of countenance. Their peculiar characteristics are, an oval face, a long, thin, finely cut nose, a well proportioned mouth with lips of moderate thickness, lively eyes, regular teeth, slightly crisp or smooth hair, and a middle stature. Most of the people dwelling on the high mountains of Samen, and the plains surrounding Lake Tzana, belong to this branch, which also includes the _Falæshas_, or Jews, the _Garnants_, who are idolators, and the _Agows_.
The second type is chiefly distinguishable by a shorter and broader nose, slightly flattened; thick lips; long eyes, with little animation in them; and very curly and almost woolly hair, which is so close, that it stands straight out from the head. A portion of the population along the coast, in the province of Hamasen and other neighbouring districts, belongs to this second group.
The results of Baron Larrey's comparison of the Abyssinian with the Negro, are, that the eyes of the former are larger and of a more agreeable look, and have the inner angle slightly more inclined. In the Abyssinian the cheek-bones and the zygomatic arches are more prominent than in the Negro; the cheeks form a more regular triangle with the angle of the mouth and the corner of the jaw; the lips are thick without being turned out like a Negro's; the teeth are handsome, well set and less projecting; and the alveolar ridges are not so prominent. The complexion of the Abyssinian is not so black as that of the Negro in the interior of Africa. Baron Larrey adds, that the features which he has described above, belonged to the genuine Egyptians of olden times, and that they are to be found in the heads of Egyptian statues, and above all in that of the Sphinx.
In the account which he published in 1865, of his journey through Abyssinia two years previously, M. Guillaume Lejean has given considerable information as to this part of Africa and its inhabitants, and the victorious enterprise undertaken by England in 1866, afforded an opportunity of establishing the accuracy of the French traveller's statements.