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UNIT 6A
TIME OUT TO THINK
Pg. 364. In this case, saying that the average contract
offer is zero also seems a bit misleading (just as
did saying it is $700,000 if we used the mean).
Pg. 365. Assuming the administration uses 12 faculty
members to teach the 12 classes, they could
simply redistribute assignments so that each of the
3 courses uses 4 faculty teaching sections of 25
students each. The advantages and disadvantages
of such a change are a matter of opinion, but a few
factors to consider: redistributing means students
will have fairly small classes all around, which is
generally a good thing, but will not have the
benefit of the extra small class that they now have
in one case. Other factors may also be involved,
such as having only one qualified faculty member
for one of the courses.
Pg. 368(1st). In either a right-skewed or left-skewed
distribution, the mean is further away from the
mode (center) than the median, which shows that
the mean is affected by outliers and the median is
not.
Pg. 368(2nd). In statistics, it refers to a distortion away
from symmetry.
QUICK QUIZ
1. b. The mean of a data set is the sum of all the data
values divided by the number of data points.
2. b. The median of a data set is the middle value
when the data are placed in numerical order.
3. c. Outliers are data values that are much smaller or
larger than the other values.
4. a. Outliers that are larger than the rest of the data
set tend to pull the mean to the right of the
median, and this is the case for all possible data
sets that satisfy the conditions given.
5. c. Because the mean is significantly higher than
the median, the distribution is skewed to the right,
which implies some students drink considerably
more than 12 sodas per week. Specifically, it can
be shown that at least one student must drink more
than 16 sodas per week.
6. c. The high salaries of a few superstars pull the tail
of this distribution to the right.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
UNIT 6A: CHARACTERIZING DATA 121
7. a. High outliers tend to pull the mean to the right
of the median, and thus you would hope to get a
salary near the mean. There are data sets with high
outliers that can be constructed where the median
is higher than the mean, but these are rare.
8. a. In general, data sets with a narrow central peak
typically have less variation than those with broad,
spread out values (the presence of outliers can
confound the issue).
9. c. Driving in rush hour can go quickly on some
days, but is agonizingly slow on others, so the
time it takes to get downtown has high variation.
10. b. The mayor would like to see a high median and
low variation because that means there’s a tight,
central peak in the distribution that corresponds to
support for her.
DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
7. Makes sense. The two highest grades may be large
enough to balance the remaining seven lower
grades so that the third highest is the mean.
8. Does not make sense. The median for this exam is,
by definition, the mean of the two middle scores
(the fifth and sixth scores), and thus it could not be
the third highest score.
9. Makes sense. When very high outliers are present,
they tend to pull the mean to the right of the
median (right-skewed).
10. Does not make sense. The word “average” has
several meanings in mathematics, and the
management and employees may be using
different measures of the average (the mean and
the median, for example).
11. Does not make sense. When the mean, median,
and mode are all the same, it’s a sign that you
have a symmetric distribution of data.
12. Makes sense. Suppose the mean age of the general
population is 32 years. There’s no reason why a
college extension class (which typically attracts
older students) could not share the same mean.
BASIC SKILLS AND CONCEPTS
13. The mean and median are 53.3 and 52.0,
respectively. Because there is an even number of
data points, the median is calculated by taking the
mean of the middle two values (add 51 and 53,
and divide by 2). Since no value occurs more than
once, there is no mode.
122 CHAPTER 6: PUTTING STATISTICS TO WORK
14. The mean, median, and mode are 98.44, 98.4, and
98.4, respectively. Because there is an even
number of data points, the median is calculated by
taking the mean of the middle two values (add
98.4 and 98.4, and divide by 2).
15. The mean and median and mode are 0.188 and
0.165, respectively. Because there is an even
number of data points, the median is calculated by
taking the mean of the middle two values (add
0.16 and 0.17, and divide by 2). The mode is 0.16.
16. The mean and median are 78.4 and 79,
respectively. This is a multi-modal data set, with
modes of 70, 73, 76, and 81.
17. The mean and median are 58.3 sec and 55.5 sec,
respectively. Because there is an even number of
data points, the median is calculated by taking the
mean of the middle two values (add 53 and 58,
and divide by 2). The mode is 49 sec.
18. The mean and median are 0.9194 and 0.920,
respectively. There is no mode.
19. The mean and median are 0.81237 and 0.8161,
respectively. The outlier is 0.7901, because it
varies from the others by a couple hundredths of a
pound, while the rest vary from each other only by
a few thousandths of a pound. Without the outlier,
the mean is 0.81608, and the median is 0.8163.
20. a. The mean is 8.182, and the median is 4.
b. The outlier is 27 because it varies from the rest
of the data by a larger value. Without the outlier,
the mean and median are 6.3 and 4, respectively.
21. The median would be a better representation of the
average. A small number of households with high
earnings skew the distribution to the right,
affecting the mean.
22. This distribution is probably skewed to the right
by a small percentage of men who marry (for the
first time) very late in life. Therefore the median
would do a better job representing the average age
(the outliers affect the mean).
23. This distribution is probably skewed to the right
by a small percentage of people who change jobs
many times. Thus the median would do a better
job of representing the average, as the outliers
affect the mean.
24. More likely than not, this distribution is skewed to
the right by a few flights where many pieces of
luggage were lost. Because of this, the mean is
probably higher than the median, and thus the
airline would want to use the median as the best
representation of the average. Customers of the
airline might argue that the mean is a better
descriptor for the average.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
25. This is a classic example of a symmetric
distribution, and thus the mean and the median are
almost identical (in a perfectly symmetric
distribution, they are identical) – either the mean
or the median could be used.
26. This distribution is probably skewed to the right
by those times when the wait is long, and therefore
the median is a better representation of the average
(certainly from the view of an advertisement for
the bank – customers might claim the mean is a
more honest way of describing the average wait
time).
27. a. There is one peak on the right due to all the
students who received A’s.
b.
c. The distribution is left-skewed because the
scores tail off to the left.
d. The variation is large.
28. a. There would be two peaks, one representing the
figure skaters who use the rink in the morning,
who would have lower weights, and the other
representing the hockey players who would have
higher weights.
b.
c. This distribution would be symmetric, as each
peak would be close to the same shape, centered
around a point in the middle of the data.
d. The variation would be moderate, since the
variation within the weights of hockey players and
within the weights of the figure skaters would not
be great.
29. a. There is likely one peak since most cities would
have similar amounts of annual rainfall.

29. (continued)
b.
c. The distribution would be right-skewed because
a few cities with higher rainfall would vary from
the average more than cities with lower rainfall.
d. The variation would be large since some cities
would have rainfall amounts much lower or much
higher than the mean rainfall amount.
30. a. The distribution would not have a peak since all
digits, 0–9, have nearly the same frequency in the
case where the last digit is selected randomly.
b.
c. This is a symmetric distribution because it is
uniform.
d. The data values are spread out evenly across the
distribution, so there is large variation.
31. a. There would be one peak since sales would be
high in the winter months, with very low sales (or
even no sales) in the summer.
b.
c. This is a symmetric distribution.
d. The variation is moderate because most of the
sales occur in the winter.
32. a. There are likely two peaks in such a
distribution, one for the compact cars, and one for
the sports utility vehicles.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
UNIT 6A: CHARACTERIZING DATA 123
b.
c. This distribution would be symmetric, as each
peak would be close to the same shape, centered
around a point in the middle of the data.
d. The variation in car weights would be moderate
because the weights of compact cars and sports
utility vehicles would differ greatly, but there
would be little variation among the weights of
compact cars and among the weights of sports
utility vehicles.
33. a. There would be one peak in the distribution,
corresponding to the average price of dog food.
b.
c. More likely than not, there would be no extreme
outliers in this data set, and it would be symmetric.
d. There would be moderate variation in the data
set because we don’t expect outliers. (The dog
food may not sell well next to 19 other brands if
its price is radically different. Of course this begs
the question, “But what if it’s much cheaper than
the other brands?” That’s not too likely to happen
for a commodity like dog food, because once one
company begins selling its dog food at a low price,
the others would be forced to lower their prices to
compete).
34. a. There would be one peak to the left,
corresponding to the ages of children, who would
visit the amusement parks in larger numbers than
adults.
124 CHAPTER 6: PUTTING STATISTICS TO WORK

34. (continued) peak, even though it has considerable spread, it

b. has low variation. The histogram tells us that if a
computer chip is going to fail, it will most likely
fail soon, rather than late.

c. The distribution is right-skewed because the

ages of adults visiting the amusement park would
tail off to the right.
d. The variation would be large, since there could
be infants and senior citizens visiting the
amusement park.
35. The distribution would be left-skewed since the
mean is lower than the median. The variation
would be high given the low score of 22 and the
high score of 100 are both far from the average 39. This distribution has one peak, is symmetric, and
score. has moderate variation. The graph says that
36. The distribution would be symmetric since the weights of rugby players are usually near the mean
mean is equal to the median. The variation would weight, but that there are some light and some
be low given the low score of 69 and the high heavy players.
score of 90 are not far from the average score.

FURTHER APPLICATIONS
37. The distribution has two peaks (bimodal), with no
symmetry, and large variation. For tourists who
want to watch the geyser erupt, it means they may
have to wait around for a while (most likely
between 25 and 40 minutes, though perhaps as
long as 50 to 90 minutes, depending on when they
arrive at the site).

40. a. As shown, the graph is not symmetric (though

38. The distribution has one peak, and is right-skewed.
Since most of the data is clustered around the
the idea it represents – uniform distribution of
randomly chosen numbers – is symmetric).
b. No, the peaks appear randomly (though, again,
the smooth distribution one envisions when
numbers are chosen randomly could be described
as a distribution with no peaks).
c. No, the distribution would look different
because the numbers are chosen at random, and
the ups and downs of the graph would appear at
random (and different) locations.
d. The histogram would get flatter, approaching a
uniform distribution.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.


41. a. Sketches will vary. We cannot be sure of the
exact shape of the distribution with the given
parameters, as we don’t have all the raw data.
However, because the mean is larger than the
median, and because the data set has large outliers,
it would likely be right-skewed, with a single peak
at the mode.
b. About 150 families (50%) earned less than
$45,000 because that value is the median income.
c. We don’t have enough information to be certain
how many families earned more than $55,000, but
it is likely a little less than half, simply because
$55,000 is greater than the median.
42. a. Because the mode is 0 minutes, and the
distribution is right skewed (its mean is right of
the median, and there are high outliers), the graph
would have a single peak at 0 and would decrease
to the right. (Note that planes do not typically
depart earlier than scheduled – it would be unwise
to leave passengers behind – and thus there are no
negative delays).
b. 50% of the flights were delayed less than the
median time of 6 minutes due to the definition of
the median.
c. 50% of the flights were delayed more than the
median time of 6 minutes due to the definition of
the median.
UNIT 6B
TIME OUT TO THINK
Pg. 374. Examples and opinions will vary. Big Bank’s
three lines will have greater variation since
customers entering the bank can choose the
shortest line, change lines if the customer at the
front of the line has a time consuming transaction
to complete, and there is a chance that the person
at the front of all three lines has a lengthy
transaction.
Pg. 378. Students should notice the sense in which the
standard deviation is an average of the individual
deviations. Also, notice that the larger deviations
are more heavily weighted in the calculation as a
result of taking the squares.
QUICK QUIZ
1. a. The range is defined as the high value – low
value.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
UNIT 6B: MEASURES OF VARIATION 125
43. (3 × 3.7 + 3 × 3.4 + 4 × 2.7 + 3 × 3 + 1 × 4) ÷ (3 +
3 + 4 + 3 + 1) = 45.1 ÷ 14 = 3.22
44. a. 70% × 89.5 + 20% × 94.1 + 10% × 85 = 89.97
b. Let F be the required score on the final.
70% × F + 20% × 94.1 + 10% × 85 = 93.5
0.70F + 27.32 = 93.5
0.70F = 66.18
F = 94.5
He must score above 94.5 on the final.
TECHNOLOGY EXERCISES
52. a. The mean, median and mode for team A are
134, 125, and 115 respectively. The mean and
median for team B are 131 and 135, respectively.
There is no mode for Team B.
b. The coach of team A can claim that his team
has the greater mean weight.
c. The coach of team B can claim that his team has
the greater median weight.
d. The mean weight of the teams combined is
132.5, which is equal to the mean of the two mean
weights of the teams. This is true since both teams
have the same number of players.
e. The median weight of the teams combined is
130, which is equal to the median of the two
median weights of the teams. This result is not
true in general.
2. c. The five-number summary includes the low
value, the first quartile, the median, the third
quartile, and the high value. Unless the mean
happens to be the same as the median, it would not
be part of the five-number summary.
3. a. Roughly half of any data set is contained
between the lower and upper quartiles (“roughly”
because with an odd number of data values, one
cannot break a data set into equal parts).
4. b. Consider the set {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 100}.
Its mean is 10, which is larger than the upper
quartile of 0.
5. b. You need the high and low values to compute
the range, and you need all of the values to
compute the standard deviation, so the only thing
you can compute is a single deviation.
6. b. The standard deviation is defined in such a way
that it can be interpreted as the average distance of
a random value from the mean.
126 CHAPTER 6: PUTTING STATISTICS TO WORK
7. c. The standard deviation is defined as the square
root of the variance, and thus is always non-
negative.
8. a. Using the range rule of thumb, we see that the
range is about four times as large as the standard
deviation. (The worst-case scenario is when the
range and standard deviation are both zero).
9. b. Newborn infants and first grade boys have
similar heights, whereas there is considerable
variation in the heights of all elementary school
children.
10. c. Because the standard deviation for Garcia is the
largest, the data are more spread out, so Professor
Garcia must have had very high grades from more
students than the other two.
DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
7. Does not make sense. The range depends upon
only the low and high values, not on the middle
values.
8. Makes sense. The upper quartile includes the
highest score.
9. Makes sense. Consider the case where the 15
highest scores were 80, the next score was 68, and
the lowest 14 scores were 40. There are numerous
such cases that satisfy the conditions given.
10. Makes sense. Using the range rule of thumb, the
range is approximately four times as large as the
standard deviation. The only instance where the
range would not be larger than the standard
deviation is the case where both were 0.
11. Makes sense. The standard deviation describes the
spread of the data, and one would certainly expect
the heights of 5-year old children to have less
variation than the heights of children aged 3 to 15.
12. Does not make sense. The standard deviation
carries the same units as the mean.
BASIC SKILLS AND CONCEPTS
13. The mean waiting time at Big Bank is (4.1 + 5.2 +
5.6 + 6.2 + 6.7 + 7.2 + 7.7 + 7.7 + 8.5 + 9.3 +
11.0) ÷ 11 = 79.2 ÷ 11 = 7.2. Because there are
11 values, the median is the sixth value = 7.2.
14. The mean waiting time at Best Bank is (6.6 + 6.7
+ 6.7 + 6.9 + 7.1 + 7.2 + 7.3 + 7.4 + 7.7 + 7.8 +
7.8) ÷ 11 = 79.2 ÷ 11 = 7.2. Because there are
11 values, the median is the sixth value = 7.2.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
15. a. For the East Coast, the mean, median, and range
are 157.7, 131.25, and 209.4, respectively. For the
Midwest, the mean, median, and range are 115.8,
94.9, and 140.8, respectively.
b. For the East Coast, the five-number summary is
(104.8, 123.4, 131.25, 141.1, 314.2). For the
Midwest, it is (87.4, 92.9, 94.9, 96.5, 228.2).
c. The standard deviation for the East Coast is
77.67. For the Midwest, it is 55.16.
d. For the East Coast, the range rule of thumb
estimates the standard deviation as 209.4 ÷ 4 =
52.35, which is a far cry from the actual value of
77.67. This is due, in part, to the outlier of New
York City (314.2). For the Midwest, the range rule
of thumb estimates the standard deviation as 140.8
÷ 4 = 35.2, which is also well off the mark.
e. The cost of living index is smaller, on average,
for the Midwest cities shown. The variation is also
lower (due in part to the outlier of New York
City).
16. a. For the coastal states, the mean, median, and
range are 6.28%, 7.19%, and 8.79%, respectively.
The mean, median, and range for the noncoastal
states are 6.13%, 6.98%, and 8.27%, respectively.
b. For the coastal states, the five-number summary
is (0%, 6.00%, 7.19%, 8.48%, 8.79%). For the
noncoastal states, it is (0, 6.28, 6.98, 8.26, 8.27).
c. The standard deviation for the coastal states is
3.29%. It is 3.11% for the noncoastal states.
d. The range rule of thumb estimates the standard
deviation for the coastal states as 8.79%. ÷ 4
=2.20%, which underestimates the actual value of
3.29%. For the noncoastal states, the range rule of
thumb estimates the standard deviation as 8.27%
÷ 4 = 2.07%, which also underestimates the
actual value of 3.11%.
e. The mean and median taxes for noncoastal
states are considerably smaller than the taxes paid
in coastal states, though the variation is slightly
larger.
 UNIT 6B: MEASURES OF VARIATION 127

17. a. For the no treatment group, the mean, median, FURTHER APPLICATIONS
and range are 0.184, 0.16, and 0.35, respectively.
19. a.
For the treatment group, the mean, median, and
range are 1.334, 1.07, and 2.11, respectively.
b. The five-number summary for the no treatment
group is (0.02, 0.085, 0.16, 0.295, 0.37). It is
(0.27, 0.595, 1.07, 2.205, 2.38) for the treatment
group.

c. The standard deviation for the no treatment

group is 0.127; for the treatment group, it is 0.859.
d. The range rule of thumb estimates the standard
deviation for the no treatment group as 0.35 ÷ 4 =
0.0875, which underestimates the actual value of
0.127. For the treatment group, the range rule of
thumb estimates the standard deviation as 2.11 ÷
4 = 0.5275, which is underestimates the actual
value of .859.
e. The average weight and standard deviation of
trees in the treatment group are higher that those
of the no treatment group.
18. a. The mean, median, and range for Beethoven’s
symphonies are 38.8, 36, and 42 minutes,
respectively. For Mahler, these numbers are 75,
80, and 44 minutes.
b. Beethoven’s five-number summary is (26, 29,
36, 45, 68). Mahler’s is (50, 62, 80, 87.5, 94).

c. The standard deviation for Beethoven’s

symphonies is 13.13 minutes. It is 15.44 for
Mahler’s symphonies.
d. The range rule of thumb estimates the standard
deviation for Beethoven’s symphonies as 42 ÷ 4
= 10.5, which underestimates the actual value of
13.13. For Mahler, the range rule of thumb
estimates the standard deviation as 44 ÷ 4 = 11,
which underestimates the actual value of 15.44.
e. Mahler wrote symphonies that were
significantly longer, on average, than Beethoven’s,
and the variation is slightly larger for Mahler’s
symphonies.
b. The five-number summaries for each of the sets
shown are (in order): (9, 9, 9, 9, 9); (8, 8, 9, 10,
10); (8, 8, 9, 10, 10); and (6, 6, 9, 12, 12). The
boxplots are not shown.
c. The standard deviations for the sets are (in
order): 0.000, 0.816, 1.000, and 3.000.
d. Looking at just the answers to part c, we can tell
that the variation gets larger from set to set.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

128 CHAPTER 6: PUTTING STATISTICS TO WORK
20. a.
b. The five-number summaries for each of the sets
shown are (in order): (6, 6, 6, 6, 6); (5, 5, 6, 7, 7);
(5, 5, 6, 7, 7); and (3, 3, 6, 9, 9). The boxplots are
not shown.
c. The standard deviations for the sets are (in
order): 0.000, 0.816, 1.000, and 3.000.
d. Looking at just the answers to part c, we can tell
that the variation gets larger from set to set.
21. The first pizza shop has a slightly larger mean
delivery time, but much less variation in delivery
time when compared to the second shop. If you
want a reliable delivery time, choose the first
shop. If you don’t care when the pizza arrives,
choose the shop that offers cheaper pizza (you like
them equally well, so you may as well save some
money).
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
22. While Skyview Airlines runs a little ahead of
schedule (on average), it can also have long delays
(late arrivals). SkyHigh Airlines on average runs
slightly behind schedule, but it tends to have
smaller delays. If you want to avoid the possibility
of long delays, SkyHigh might be the better
choice.
23. A lower standard deviation means more certainty
in the return, and a lower risk.
24. Factory A has the lower average defect rate per
day, but on some days, it can be expected to
produce more defective chips than Factory B. The
process in Factory B is more uniform and
consistent, and thus one might argue that it is more
reliable.
25. Batting averages are less varied today than they
were in the past. Because the mean is unchanged,
batting averages above .350 are less common
today.
26. a. You would expect that dogs would have a
higher mean, median, and standard deviation since
they are mostly larger than cats but also vary
greatly in weight. (Think Chihuahua vs. Saint
Bernard.)
b. For cats, the mean and median are 12.1 lb and
10.5 lb, respectively. For dogs, the mean and
median are 46.1 lb and 37 lb, respectively.
c. For cats, the standard deviation is 6.8 lb. For
dogs, the standard deviation is 32.5 lb.
27. a. For Healing hospital, the mean and median are
8.26 lb and 8.6 lb, respectively. For Healthy
hospital, the mean and median are 7.27 lb and 7.2
lb, respectively.
b. For Healing hospital, the standard deviation is
0.88 lb. For Healthy hospital, the standard
deviation is 0.88 lb.
c.
28. For Jack, the mean and standard deviation are 39.2
and 4.9, respectively. For Juan, the mean and
standard deviation are 29.6 and 1.1, respectively.
It is possible that Jack commuted during rush hour
while Juan commuted during non-rush hours.
29. a. For Supplier A, the mean and standard deviation
are 16.32 mm and 0.057 mm, respectively. For
Supplier B, the mean and standard deviation are
16.33 mm and 0.098 mm, respectively.
 UNIT 6C: THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION 129
29. (continued)
b.
c. Supplier A: 6 ÷ 7 ≈ 86%
Supplier A: 4 ÷ 7 ≈ 57%
UNIT 6C
TIME OUT TO THINK
Pg. 390. No; the 100th percentile is defined as a score
for which 100% of the data values are less than or
equal to it. Thus it must be the highest score, so no
one can score ABOVE the 100th percentile.
Pg. 391. The most likely explanation is that a
minimum height is thought necessary for the
army. If there is any maximum height, it must be
taller than most men (since men make up much of
the army), which means it is much taller than most
women. Opinions will vary on the issue of
fairness. This would be a good topic for a
discussion either during or outside of class.
QUICK QUIZ
1. b. A normal distribution is symmetric with one
peak, and this produces a bell-shaped curve.
2. a. The mean, median and mode are equal in a
normal distribution.
3. a. Data values farther from the mean correspond to
lower frequencies than those close to the mean,
due to the bell-shaped distribution.
4. c. Since most of the workers earn minimum wage,
the mode of the wage distribution is on the left,
and the distribution is right-skewed.
5. a. Roughly 68% of data values fall within one
standard deviation of the mean, and 68% is about
2/3.
6. c. In a normally distributed data set, 99.7% of all
data fall within 3 standard deviations of the mean.
7. a. Note that 43 mpg is 1 standard deviation above
the mean. Since 68% of the data lies within one
standard deviation of the mean, the remaining
32% is farther than 1 standard deviation from the
mean. The normal distribution is symmetric, so
half of 32%, or 16%, lies above 1 standard
deviation.
8. c. The z-score for 84 is (84 – 75)/6 = 1.5.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
TECHNOLOGY EXERCISES
34. a. The mean, median, and standard deviation of
the data are 91.25, 93.5, and 8.85, respectively.
b. The mean, median, and standard deviation of
the data are 99.55, 94, and 31.3, respectively. The
mean and standard deviation are both greater.
c. The mean, median, and standard deviation of
the new data are 91.25, 93, and 8.48, respectively.
The mean remains the same. The median and
standard deviation are smaller.
9. c. If your friend said his IQ was in the 75th
percentile, it would mean his IQ is larger than
75% of the population. It is impossible to have an
IQ that is larger than 102% of the population.
10. b. Table 6.3 shows that the percentile
corresponding with a standard score of –0.60 is
27.43%.
DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
5. Makes sense. Physical characteristics are often
normally distributed, and college basketball
players are tall, though not all of them, so it makes
sense that the mean is 6 '3" , with a standard
deviation of 3” (this would put approximately 95%
of the players within 5'9" to 6 '9" ).
6. Makes sense. Physical characteristics are often
normally distributed, and these statistics say that
approximately 95% of babies born at Belmont are
between 4.4 and 9.2 pounds (which is reasonable).
7. Does not make sense. With a mean of 6.8 pounds,
and a standard deviation of 7 pounds, you would
expect that a small percentage of babies would be
born 2 standard deviations above the mean. But
this would imply that some babies weigh more
than 20.8 pounds, which is much too heavy for a
newborn.
8. Does not make sense. The standard score is
computed for an individual data value, not for an
entire set of exams scores. Furthermore, a standard
score of 75 for a particular data value would mean
that value is 75 standard deviations away from the
mean, which is virtually impossible (almost all
data in a normally distributed data set is within 3
standard deviations of the mean).
9. Makes sense. A standard score of 2 or more
corresponds to percentiles of 97.72% and higher,
so while this could certainly happen, the teacher is
giving out As (on the final exam) to only 2.28% of
the class
130 CHAPTER 6: PUTTING STATISTICS TO WORK
10. Makes sense. If Jack is in the 50th percentile, he is
taller than half of the population (to which he is
being compared), and by definition, he is at the
median height.
BASIC SKILLS AND CONCEPTS
11. Diagrams a and c are normal, and diagram c has a
larger standard deviation because its values are
more spread out.
12. Diagrams b and c are normal, and diagram b has a
larger standard deviation because its values are
more spread out.
13. Most trains would probably leave near to their
scheduled departure times, but a few could be
considerably delayed, which would result in a
right-skewed (and non-normal) distribution.
14. This distribution would be normal because a
machine fills the bags with approximately 40
pounds of cat litter, and the variation in these
weights would be random, which typically results
in normal distributions.
15. Random factors would be responsible for the
variation seen in the distances from the bull’s-eye,
so this distribution would be normal.
16. Distributions that measure athletic ability tend to
be normal.
17. Difficult exams would have scores that are right-
skewed, so the scores would not be normally
distributed.
18. The distribution would be right-skewed, so the
times would not be normally distributed.
19. a. Half of any normally distributed data set lies
below the mean, so 50% of the scores are less than
100.
b. Note that 120 is one standard deviation above
the mean. Since 68% of the data lies within one
standard deviation of the mean (between 80 and
120), half of 68%, or 34%, lies between 100 and
120. Add 34% to 50% (the answer to part a) to
find that 84% of the scores are less than 120.
c. Note that 140 is two standard deviations above
the mean. Since 95% of the data lies within two
standard deviations above the mean (between 60
and 140), half of 95%, or 47.5%, lies between 100
and 140. Add 47.5% to 50% (see part a) to find
that 97.5% of the scores are below 140.
d. Note that 60 is two standard deviations below
the mean. Since 95% of the data lies within two
standard deviations of the mean (between 60 and
140), 5% of the data lies outside this range.
Because the normal distribution is symmetric, half
of 5%, or 2.5%, lies in the lower tail below 60.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
e. A sketch of the normal distribution would show
that the amount of data lying above 60 is
equivalent to the amount of data lying below 140,
so the answer is 97.5% (see part c).
f. Note that 160 is three standard deviations above
the mean. Since 99.7% of the data lies within three
standard deviations of the mean (between 40 and
160), 0.3% of the data lies outside this range.
Because the normal distribution is symmetric, half
of 0.3%, or 0.15%, lies in the upper tail above 160.
g. A sketch of the normal distribution shows that
the percent of data lying above 80 is equivalent to
the percent lying below 120, so the answer is 84%
(see part b).
h. The percent of data between 60 and 140 is 95%,
because these are each two standard deviations
from the mean.
20. a. A heart rate of 55 is one standard deviation
below the mean. Since 68% of the data lies
between 55 and 85, 32% lie outside that range,
which implies 16% lies below 55 (due to
symmetry).
b. A heart rate of 40 is two standard deviations
below the mean. Since 95% of the data lies
between 40 and 100, 5% lie outside that range,
which implies 2.5% lies below 40 (due to
symmetry).
c. Half of 68% (or 34%) lies between 70 and 85,
50% lies below the mean of 70, so 84% of the data
is less than 85.
d. Half of 95% (or 47.5%) lies between 70 and
100, and 50% lies below the mean of 70, so 97.5%
of the data lies below 100.
e. This portion of the distribution is equal to the
portion less than 55 because of symmetry, so the
answer is 16% (see part a).
f. The portion of the distribution greater than 55 is
equal to the portion less than 85 because of
symmetry, so the answer is 84% (see part c).
g. The portion of the distribution more than 40 is
equal to the portion less than 100 because of
symmetry, so the answer is 97.5% (see part d).
h. Both 55 and 85 are one standard deviation from
the mean, and thus 68% of the data lies between
them.
21. A score of 59 is one standard deviation below the
mean. Since 68% of normally distributed data lies
within one standard deviation of the mean, half of
68%, or 34%, lies between 59 and 67 due to
symmetry. The percent of data lying above 67 is
50%, so we add these two results to find that 84%
of the scores lie above 59.
 UNIT 6C: THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION 131
22. A score of 83 is two standard deviations above the
mean. Since 95% of normally distributed data lies
within two standard deviations of the mean
(between 51 and 83), 5% lies outside this range.
Half of 5%, or 2.5%, will be in the upper tail,
above 83, so 100% – 2.5% = 97.5% of the scores
lie below 83.
23. Subtract two standard deviations from the mean to
get the cutoff score of 67 – 16 = 51. Since 95% of
the data lies within two standard deviations of the
mean, 5% lies outside this range. Half of 5%, or
2.5%, will be below 51, and will fail the exam.
24. A score of 75 is one standard deviation above the
mean. Since 68% of the data lies within one
standard deviation of the mean (between 59 and
75), 32% of the data is outside this range. Half of
32%, or 16%, will be in the lower tail of the
distribution. Since 68% + 16% = 84%, 84% ×
500 = 420 of the students scored below 75.
25. The standard score for 67 is z = (67 – 67)/8 = 0.
26. The standard score for 63 is z = (63 – 67)/8 = –0.5.
27. The standard score for 55 is z = (55 – 67)/8 = –1.5
28. The standard score for 85 is z = (85 – 67)/8 = 2.25.
29. a. z = 1. The corresponding percentile is 84.13%.
b. z = 0.5, and the corresponding percentile is
69.15%.
c. z = –1.5, and the corresponding percentile is
6.68%.
30. a. z = –0.5, and the corresponding percentile is
30.85%.
b. z = –2, and the corresponding percentile is
2.28%.
c. z = 1.2, and the corresponding percentile is
88.48%.
31. a. The 20th percentile corresponds to a standard
score of about z = –0.83, which means the data
value is about 0.83 standard deviations below the
mean.
b. The 80th percentile corresponds to a standard
score of about z = 0.84, which means the data
value is 0.84 standard deviations above the mean.
c. The 63rd percentile corresponds to a standard
score of about z = 0.33, which means the data
value is 0.33 standard deviations above the mean.
32. a. The 10th percentile corresponds to a standard
score of about z = –1.28, which means the data
value is 1.28 standard deviations below the mean.
b. The 35th percentile corresponds to a standard
score of about z = –0.38, which means the data
value is 0.83 standard deviations below the mean.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
c. The 88th percentile corresponds to a standard
score of about z = 1.18, which means the data
value is 1.18 standard deviations above the mean.
FURTHER APPLICATIONS
33. About 68% of births occur within 15 days of the
mean, because this range is one standard deviation
from the mean.
34. Within one month of the due date corresponds to
two standard deviations on either side of the mean,
which implies 95% of the births occur within one
month of the mean.
35. Since 68% of births occur within 15 days of the
due date, 32% occur outside this range, and half of
32%, or 16%, occur more than 15 days after the
due date.
36. Since 95% of births occur within 30 days of the
due date, 5% occur outside this range, and half of
5%, or 2.5%, occur more than 30 days after the
due date.
37. a. The standard score is z = (65 – 63.6)/2.5 = 0.56,
which corresponds to an approximate percentile of
71%.
b. z = (62 – 63.6)/2.5 = –0.64, which corresponds
to an approximate percentile of 26%.
c. z = (60.5 – 63.6)/2.5 = –1.24, which
corresponds to an approximate percentile of 11%.
d. z = (65.7 – 63.6)/2.5 = 0.84, which corresponds
to an approximate percentile of 80%.
38. a. The standard score is z = (23 – 26.2)/4.7 =
–0.68, which corresponds to an approximate
percentile of 25%.
b. z = (29 – 26.2)/4.7 = 0.60, which corresponds to
an approximate percentile of 73%.
c. For a BMI of 25, z = (25 – 26.2)/4.7 = –0.26,
which corresponds to an approximate percentile of
40%, so 60% of American men are overweight.
For a BMI of 30, z = (30 – 26.2)/4.7 = 0.81, which
corresponds to an approximate percentile of 79%,
so 21% of American men are obese.
39. It is not likely because heights of eighth-graders
would be normally distributed, and a standard
deviation of 40 inches would imply some of the
eighth graders (about 16%) are taller than 95
inches, which is preposterous.
40. Assuming the scores are out of 100, it is not likely.
A standard deviation of 50 would imply some of
the scores are higher than 100.
132 CHAPTER 6: PUTTING STATISTICS TO WORK
41. The 90th percentile corresponds to a z-score of
about 1.3, which means a data value is 1.3
standard deviations above the mean. For the verbal
portion of the GRE, this translates into a score of
462 + 1.3(119) = 617. For the quantitative portion,
it translates into a score of 584 + 1.3(151) = 780.
42. The standard score for 650 is z = (650 – 462)/119
= 1.58, which corresponds to about the 94th
percentile. This is the percent of students who
score below 650, so the percent that score above
650 is 6%.
43. The standard score for 650 is z = (650 – 584)/151
= 0.44, which corresponds to about the 67th
percentile. This is the percent of students who
score below 650, so the percent that score above
650 is 33%.
44. The standard score for 700 is z = (700 – 584)/151
= 0.768, which is 0.77 standard deviations above
the mean. Your verbal score would also need to be
0.77 standard deviations above the mean to be in
the same percentile, which translates to a score of
462 + 0.77(119) = 553.
45. The z-score for an 800 on the quantitative exam is
z = (800 – 584)/151 = 1.43, or about 1.4. This
corresponds to the 91.92 percentile, so about 92%
score below 800, which means 8% score 800.
46. The z-score for an 800 on the verbal exam is z =
(800 – 462)/119 = 2.84, which corresponds to an
approximate percentile of 99.8%. Since 99.8%
score below 800, about 0.2% score 800.
UNIT 6D
TIME OUT TO THINK
Pg. 397. The probability is 0.01, or 1 in 100, that the
results occurred by chance. This is certainly strong
evidence in support of the herbal remedy, but by
no means does it constitute proof.
Pg. 400. Opinions will vary, but 95% confidence
seems reasonable for most surveys, which have no
need to be perfect. However, for something of
great importance, such as deciding an election, it
is far too low. That is why elections must be
decided by letting everyone vote, not through
statistical sampling.
Pg. 401. The null hypothesis is “the suspect is
innocent.” A guilty verdict means rejecting the
null hypothesis, concluding that the suspect is
NOT innocent. A “not guilty” verdict means not
rejecting the null hypothesis, in which case we
continue to assume that the suspect is innocent.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
47. For the verbal exam, z = (450 – 462)/119 =
–0.10, which corresponds to an approximate
percentile of 46%. Thus about 46% score below
450. For the quantitative exam, z = (450 –
584)/151 = –0.89, which corresponds to an
approximate percentile of 19%. Thus about 19%
score below 450.
TECHNOLOGY EXERCISES
53. a. z = (72 – 69.7)/2.7 = 0.85, which, from table
6.3, corresponds to an approximate percentile of
80%.
b. z = (65 – 69.7)/2.7 = –1.74;
NORMDIST(64,69.7,2.7,TRUE) gives the
percentile as 4.0865%, which corresponds to an
approximate percentile of 4%.
c. 6 '4" = 76"; NORMDIST(76,69.7,2.7,TRUE),
gives the percentile as 99.0185%, so
approximately 1% of American adult males are
taller than 6 '4".
d. 5' 4" = 64"; NORMDIST(64,69.7,2.7,TRUE),
gives the percentile as 1.7381%, so approximately
1.7% of American adult males are shorter than
5' 4".
e. 6 '7" = 79"; NORMDIST(79,69.7,2.7,TRUE),
gives the percentile as 99.97139%, so
approximately (100% – 99.97139%) ×
115,000,000 = 33,000 of American adult males are
as tall as Kobe Bryant.
Pg. 403. Discovering one of these creatures would
prove its existence. Not finding evidence of their
existence just proves you have not yet found
evidence of their existence, not that the creature
does not exist.
QUICK QUIZ
1. c. A divorce rate of 60% is statistically significant
because such large variation from the national rate
of 30% is not likely to occur by chance alone.
2. b. In order to determine whether a result is
statistically significant, we must be able to
compare it to a known quantity (such as the effect
on a control group in this case).
 UNIT 6D: STATISTICAL INFERENCE 133

3. a. Statistical significance at the 0.01 level means
an observed difference between the effectiveness
of the remedy and the placebo would occur by
chance in fewer than 1 out of 100 trials of the
experiment.
4. c. If the statistical significance is at the 0.05 level,
we would expect that 1 in 20 experiments would
show the pill working better than the placebo by
chance alone.
5. b. The confidence interval is found by subtracting
BASIC SKILLS AND CONCEPTS
and adding 3% to the results of the poll (65%).
6. c. The central limit theorem tells us that the true
proportion is within the margin of error 95% of the
time.
1 16. Most of the time you would expect around 50
7. c. The margin of error is approximately . Set
n heads in 100 tosses of a coin, and since 48 is well
this equal to 4% (0.04), and solve for n to find that
the sample size was 625. If we quadruple the
sample size to 2500, the margin of error will be
1 you would expect by chance alone from an airline
approximately = 0.02 , or 2%.
2500
8. a. The null hypothesis is often taken to be the
assumption that there is no difference in the things
being compared.
9. c. If you cannot reject the null hypothesis, the only
thing you can be sure of is that you don’t have
evidence to support the alternative hypothesis.
10. b. If the difference in gas prices can be explained
by chance in only 1 out of 100 experiments,
you’ve found a result that is statistically
significant at the 0.01 level.
DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
9. Makes sense. If the number of people cured by the
new drug is not significantly larger than the
number cured by the old drug, the difference could
be explained by chance alone, which means the
results are not statistically significant.
10. Does not make sense. While results significant at
the 0.05 level offer some evidence that the Magic
Diet Pill works, we cannot remove all doubt that
the results came about by chance alone.
11. Does not make sense. The margin of error is based
upon the number of people surveyed (the sample
size), and thus both Agency A and B should have
the same margin of error.
12. Makes sense. The margin of error is based upon
the number of people surveyed (the sample size),
1 23. The results of the study are significant at neither
and because it is approximately , it decreases
n improvement is not statistically significant.
as n increases.
13. Makes sense. The alternative hypothesis is the
claim that is accepted if the null hypothesis is
rejected.
14. Does not make sense. One cannot prove the null
hypothesis – it can be rejected, in which case there
is evidence for the alternative hypothesis, or we
can not reject it, which only means we do not have
evidence to support the alternative hypothesis.
15. Most of the time you would expect around 10
sixes in 60 rolls of a standard die. It would be very
rare to get only 2 sixes, and thus this is statistically
significant.
within the bounds of what would be expected by
chance alone, this is not statistically significant.
17. Note that 11/200 is about 5% – this is exactly what
that has 95% of its flights on time.
18. It is very unlikely that a basketball player that
makes 92% of free throws would miss 18 in a row.
This is statistically significant. (In chapter 7, you
will learn that probability of this occurring is
practically zero.)
19. There aren’t many winners in the Power Ball
lottery, and yet there are a good number of 7-11
stores. It would be very unlikely that ten winners
in a row purchased their tickets at the same store,
so this is statistically significant.
20. The likelihood of 42 people in a group of 45 all
sharing the same birthday is extremely small, so
this is statistically significant.
21. The result is significant at far less than the 0.01
level (which means it is significant at both the
0.01 and 0.05 level), because the probability of
finding the stated results is less than 1 in 1 million
by chance alone. This gives us good evidence to
support the alternative hypothesis that the
accepted value for temperature is wrong.
22. This result is significant at the 1/10,000 = 0.0001
level, so it is significant at both the 0.01 and 0.05
levels. Because chance alone does not do a good
job of explaining the difference found in length of
hospital stays, it would be reasonable to conclude
that seat belts reduce the severity of injuries
(assuming that the severity of injury is directly
correlated with length of hospital stay).
the 0.05 level nor the 0.01 level, and thus the

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

134 CHAPTER 6: PUTTING STATISTICS TO WORK
24. The difference found in the weights would be
expected by chance alone in only 1 out of 100
such surveys.
25. The margin of error is 1/ 1012 = 0.031 , or 3.1%,
and the 95% confidence interval is 28.% to 35.1%.
This means we can be 95% confident that the
actual percentage is between 28.9% and 35.1%.
26. The margin of error is 1/ 65, 000 = 0.0039 , or
0.39%, and the 95% confidence interval is 7.31%
to 8.09%. This means we can be 95% confident
that the actual percentage is between 7.31% and
8.09%.
27. The margin of error is 1/ 1504 = 0.026 , or 2.6%,
and the 95% confidence interval is 45.4% to
50.6%. This means we can be 95% confident that
the actual percentage is between 45.4% and
50.6%.
28. The margin of error is 1/ 1001 = 0.032 , or 3.2%,
and the 95% confidence interval is 54.8% to
61.2%. This means we can be 95% confident that
the actual percentage is between 54.8% and
61.2%.
29. The margin of error is 1/ 1003 = 0.032 , or 3.2%,
and the 95% confidence interval is 44.8% to
51.2%. This means we can be 95% confident that
the actual percentage is between and 44.8% and
51.2%.
30. The margin of error is 1/ 2818 = 0.02 , or 2%,
and the 95% confidence intervals are 71% to 75%
and 49% to 53%. This means we can be 95%
confident that the actual percentage is between and
71% and 75%.
31. The margin of error is 1/ 1020 = 0.031 , or 3.1%,
and the 95% confidence interval is 70.9% to
77.1%. This means we can be 95% confident that
the actual percentage is between and 70.9% and
77.1%.
32. The margin of error is 1/ 1229 = 0.029 , or 2.9%,
and the 95% confidence intervals are 25.1% to
30.9% and 12.1% and 17.9%.
33. a. Null hypothesis: six-year graduation rate = 42%.
Alternative hypothesis: six-year graduation rate >
42%.
b. Rejecting the null hypothesis means there is
evidence that the graduation rate exceeds 42%.
Failing to reject the null hypothesis means there is
insufficient evidence to conclude that the
graduation rate exceeds 42%.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
34. a. Null hypothesis: vitamin C in tablets = 500 mg.
Alternate hypothesis: vitamin C in tablets < 500
mg.
b. Rejecting the null hypothesis means that there is
evidence that the tablets contain less than 500 mg.
Failing to reject the null hypothesis means there is
insufficient evidence to conclude that the tablets
contain less than 500 mg.
35. a. Null hypothesis: mean teacher salary = $47,750.
Alternative hypothesis: mean teacher salary >
$47,750.
b. Rejecting the null hypothesis means there is
evidence that the mean teacher salary in the state
exceeds $47,750. Failing to reject the null
hypothesis means there is insufficient evidence to
conclude that the mean teacher salary exceeds
$47,750.
36. a. Null hypothesis: water usage = 1675 gallons per
month. Alternative hypothesis: water usage > 1675
gallons per month.
b. Rejecting the null hypothesis means there is
evidence that the water usage exceeds 1675
gallons per month. Failing to reject the null
hypothesis means there is insufficient evidence to
conclude that water usage exceeds 1675 gallons
per month.
37. a. Null hypothesis: percentage of underrepresented
students = 20%. Alternative hypothesis:
percentage of underrepresented students < 20%.
b. Rejecting the null hypothesis means there is
evidence that the percentage of underrepresented
students is less than 20%. Failing to reject the null
hypothesis means there is insufficient evidence to
conclude that the percentage of underrepresented
students is less than 20%.
38. a. Null hypothesis: percentage of delayed flights =
18%. Alternative hypothesis: percentage of
delayed flights < 18%.
b. Rejecting the null hypothesis means there is
evidence that the percentage of delayed flights is
less than 18%. Failing to reject the null
hypothesis means there is insufficient evidence to
conclude that the percentage of delayed flights is
less than 18%.
39. Null hypothesis: mean annual mileage of cars in
the fleet = 11,725 miles. Alternative hypothesis:
mean annual mileage of cars in the fleet > 11,725.
The result is significant at the 0.01 level, and
provides good evidence for rejecting the null
hypothesis.

40. Null hypothesis: proportion of supporting voters =
0.5. Alternative hypothesis: proportion of
supporting voters > 0.5. The result is not
significant at the 0.05 level, and there are no
grounds for rejecting the null hypothesis.
41. Null hypothesis: mean stay = 2.1 days. Alternative
hypothesis: mean stay > 2.1 days. The result is not
significant at the 0.05 level, and there are no
grounds for rejecting the null hypothesis.
42. Null hypothesis: mean bounce height = 90.10
inches. Alternative hypothesis: mean bounce
height < 90.10 inches. The result is significant at
the 0.05 level, and provides evidence for rejecting
the null hypothesis.
43. Null hypothesis: mean income = $50,000.
Alternative hypothesis: mean income > $50,000.
The result is significant at the 0.01 level, and
provides good evidence for rejecting the null
hypothesis.
44. Null hypothesis: mean ownership = 7.5 years.
Alternative hypothesis: mean ownership < 7.5
years. The result is not significant at the 0.05
level, and there are no grounds for rejecting the
null hypothesis.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
UNIT 6D: STATISTICAL INFERENCE 135
FURTHER APPLICATIONS
45. The margin of error is 1/ 5000 = 0.014 , or 1.4%,
and the 95% confidence interval is 11.5% to
14.3%. This means we can be 95% confident that
the actual percentage of viewers who watched CSI
was between 11.5% and 14.3%.
46. Null hypothesis: mean birth weight = 3.38 kg.
Alternative hypothesis: mean birth weight > 3,38
kg. The result is significant at the 0.01 level, and
provides good evidence for rejecting the null
hypothesis.
47. The margin of error is approximately 1/ n . If we
want to decrease the margin of error by a factor of
2, we must increase the sample size by a factor of
1 1 1 1
4, because = = ⋅ .
4n 2 n 2 n
48. The margin of error is approximately 1/ n . If we
want to decrease the margin of error by a factor of
10, we must increase the sample size by a factor of
1 1 1 1
100, because = = ⋅ .
100n 10 n 10 n
49. The margin of error, 3%, is consistent with the
sample size because 1/ 1019 = 0.03 = 3%.
Another random document with
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partition, between two succeeding enclosures. Then beneath
another gate-house, over which the clanking of chains needed no
interpretation from my servant that it was the Royal prison for the
temporary confinement of culprits. In the sheltered passage thus
formed, I sat upon a huge stone to rest, whilst a long string of
donkeys descended, coming from the storehouses above, where
they had been delivering grain and berberah for the use of the
palace. A long irregular series of wooden steps in a winding curve
along the side of the hill, brought us to the last enclosure upon the
summit. Here a little wicket leads to a high terrace-walk, having on
one side a long row of palisades, and on the other, a clear and open
view of the broad and deep valley of the Airahra, whilst before the
visitor, stands a rude stone arch, but of what character, its architect,
Demetrius, would be at a loss to say; this occupies the whole width
of the terrace-walk, or about eighteen feet wide, and is from twelve
to fifteen feet high. The gateway is about six feet wide and about
nine feet high, and is closed by one large door, in which a lesser one
for ordinary purposes is cut. After staying a short time in a little shed
near the first wicket, and in which the porter is sheltered from the
weather, Tinta appeared at the gate of Demetrius, and called me to
come immediately, and in a very few moments I was introduced into
a small room, where, upon a raised iron hearth, a good fire was
burning. Here, on his usual throne, a white cloth covered alga, the
Negoos was reclining, and in close conversation with the monk
Bethlehem, who, sitting cross-legged on an ox-skin below, seemed
to have been giving his opinion upon four or five rifles that lay before
him upon the floor.
After the usual salutations were made, and an ox-skin had been
spread for me, Walderheros, Tinta, and other attendants who had
accompanied me into the room, were ordered to withdraw, and I
began to suspect some political matters were to be the topic of our
conversation. “Kaffu wobar,” (fevers are bad things,) said the
monarch, which Bethlehem translated rather unnecessarily, but it
commenced my examination as to the relative merits of gun-barrels.
I had to describe how they were manufactured; what was the
differences between the plain and twisted; in what manner the
grooves on the rifle were made; and whether long or short barrels
were most economical for service. As regarded the latter query, the
monarch showed his quickness in detecting any anomaly, or
apparent contradiction; for having before asserted that the best gun
he had showed me to-day was a strong two-ounce rifle, double-
barreled, I said that the long Arab matchlock barrel was most
inconvenient by reason of its great weight, when he instantly took the
rifle and placed it in my hands, to show me that it was at least twice
the weight of the one I now contemned.
From guns the conversation changed to the subject of dyes,
which appeared to be of the next importance in the mind of Sahale
Selassee. The scarlet colour of our country I told him required not
vegetables for its production, but either insects or minerals; and I
suppose Bethlehem had previously explained this to him, as he
seemed satisfied with my statement without farther question. Indigo,
I was able to promise him that I would undertake to cultivate, and
make serviceable to his people by teaching them how to
manufacture the dye, if that I recovered my health after the rains
subsided, and which it was expected they would in the middle of this
month (September). He inquired very particularly into the process,
and I explained it to him as well as I could, and he complimented me
by saying, that my services in thus extending a knowledge of useful
arts among his children (subjects) would be of more value than all
the rich gifts that had been brought to him by the commander (our
ambassador). I was then asked for some medicine for his brother
who was sick, Bethlehem interpreting the whole conversation that
took place upon this subject.

FOOTNOTES:
[12] Major Harris, in his “Highlands of Ethiopia,” has made the
following assertions:—“In utter abhorrence of the country and its
inhabitants, the Moslem servants who accompanied the Embassy
from India all took their departure, willing to brave the dangers
and difficulties of a long journey through the inhospitable deserts
of Adaîel, rather than prolong a hateful sojourn in Abyssinia. One
half of the number were murdered on their way down, and the
places of all long remained empty.” This is most unjust both to the
Dankalli and the Abyssinian, for of the twenty native and Arab
servants, independent of the two tent Lascars mentioned as
having accompanied the Mission, eight only were dismissed in
Shoa—Sultaun, Hadjji Abdullah, Allee Chous, Berberah Allee,
Abbas, Mahudee, Hadjji Ohmed, and an Indian boy, whose name
I have forgotten. These servants had been led to expect, on their
arrival in Abyssinia, the payment of the high wages which, in
some of their cases, had alone induced them to accompany the
Mission through Adal. Their disappointment may be conceived
when they were then informed that a moiety only of their wages
would be paid to them in Shoa, and that the remainder would run
on in arrears until their return to Aden. This injustice, as it was
conceived to be, was resented, and the discharge of these eight,
in this remote country, was the consequence. The unfortunate
servants appealed to the Negoos for redress, who condescended
(but without avail) to intercede for their return to the Mission. This
affront to the royal dignity was never forgotten, whilst a very
injurious prejudice was raised by the conduct that was pursued by
our representative with reference to the non-performance of the
engagements entered into with these men. This being followed
shortly afterwards by the infliction of corporeal punishment upon a
soldier for a breach of martial law, when no other kind of discipline
was even pretended to be kept up, astonished the Abyssinians
not a little, and gave the finishing blow to all popular respect for
English civilization, or wishes for any connexion whatever with our
country.
But this is not all. Of the eight discharged servants, instead of the
whole of these men showing any abhorrence of the country, the
greater part of them took to themselves wives, and upon what
little they had saved lived near me in Aliu Amba. Three of them
however (Hadjji Ohmed, Mahudee, and the Indian boy), were
induced to attempt a passage to the sea-coast. The Kafilah they
accompanied was attacked on the eastern bank of the Hawash by
the Takalee tribe. The Indian boy was slain, but Hadjji Ohmed and
Mahudee, being mounted, fled different ways; the former
fortunately found protection and shelter for more than a month
with Omah Batta’s sub-division of the Sidee Ahbreu tribe, whilst
Mahudee contrived to reach a much more distant portion of Adal,
the country of Chur-Chur, on the road to Hurrah from Shoa. Here
he also remained several weeks, receiving the greatest attention
and kindness, and finally was restored, as was also Hadjji
Ohmed, to the Negoos of Shoa, who rewarded their Adal
entertainers for their hospitality to British subjects.
It may be naturally supposed that the author of the “Highlands of
Ethiopia” was ignorant of these facts, but this is impossible, for
Mahudee, who had visited Chur-Chur, was reinstated in his
situation as horsekeeper to Major Harris himself, in return for the
interesting information it was supposed he could give of the little-
known country where he had been living.
 CHAPTER XXIX.
Conversation on medical matters with the Negoos.—​Of Guancho.—​
The State prison.—​The construction of its defences.—​Good
medicine for captives.—​Its probable effect.—​Of the Gallas.—​Their
invasion.—​Of the Gongas.—​Abyssinian slaves.—​Conclusion.
A very singular circumstance connected with our conversation
respecting the health of the brother of the Negoos was, that neither
Bethlehem or myself recollected at first, that all the near relations of
Sahale Selassee were incarcerated in prison, according to ancient
Abyssinian custom, and which, I believe, was also practised in the
kingdom of Judea, to secure, by this cruel policy, the monarch from
personal danger, and the country from the evils inflicted by civil war,
that might otherwise arise by the ambition or simplicity of the other
branches of the Royal family, either acting itself or admitting of being
acted upon by the arts of others.
The Shoan prison for these unfortunates is a high conical hill,
called Guancho, situated midway between Aliu Amba and Farree,
and is the residence of the Wallasmah Mahomed, who fills the office
of State gaoler, as well as collector of duties upon that frontier of the
kingdom. Here, at the period of this interview with the King, were
confined five princes of the blood Royal, some of whom had been
prisoners for as many as thirty, or thirty-four years.
From personal inspection of their apartments, an opportunity
afforded to no other European besides, I can state that the close and
rigorous confinement, said to have been imposed upon these
captives, is much exaggerated; and, although the separate sleeping
apartments at night were not more than seven feet in all their
dimensions, still they were only composed of sticks, such as the
common garden rods for raising peas in England, and a strong man
leaning hard against them must have fallen out through the wall of
his cell. Only two of the royal prisoners wore chains; these were on
one hand and leg of the same side, and were long enough to admit
of the freest motion. A long-thatched wort bait, or meat-house,
contained their families; for not only did the King remember his
captive brethren on days of festival, by sending them oxen, and
honey-wine, but they were allowed to marry, and their wives lived
with them in their confinement. I took a ground plan of the whole
establishment, and the Wallasmah, who was too old to accompany
me on my survey, when I was in the only place that looked like a
dungeon at all, a vault about twenty feet square, cut out of the
summit of the hill, stamped several times upon the roof to intimate
that his sitting-room was over this secure place. In this dismal
dungeon, however, no person had been confined for the last six or
seven years, although it was being then prepared, by a second door
being put up, for the occupation of the unfortunate Samma-negoos,
an ex-frontier governor, who had assisted his brother, a denounced
rebel, to escape to Argobba, where he is now entertained by the
Mahomedan Prince of that country, Beroo Lobo. When I visited
Guancho, this prisoner occupied a small den of sticks, not four feet
wide in any direction, and his hands and feet were chained close
together, so that his removal to the larger subterranean cell will, at all
events, afford him some opportunities of exercise, though he will
then be deprived of light and fresh air.
Although, therefore, the Royal prisoners did not enjoy life in a
valley of delight, they certainly did not drag out a miserable existence
upon the hill of despair. This would have been adding unnecessary
cruelty to an exigency of State policy; an evil that would, I am
convinced, have long before corrected itself, by the frequent escapes
that would have been attempted, especially in a place that afforded
such opportunities for obtaining personal freedom. An Abyssinian
Baron Trenck would only have to wrench open the thin bar of soft
iron which constitutes fetters in that country, and by three successive
jumps through, not over, as many fences of rotten sticks, he would
be as free as the wildest Galla, into whose country a walk of a few
hours would take him. I did not show any lucifer matches, for I
recollected that the Portuguese traveller Bermudez, had been
confined in this very prison, and I did not know whether an act of
incendiarism might not at a future time be available as a means of
escape; for, it must be understood, at the time of this visit I had been
threatened if I attempted to leave Shoa with the Embassy on their
return to Aden, to be confined in Guancho, so desirous was the
Negoos of detaining me with him.
Guancho, the State prisoners, nor the anxiety of his Majesty that I
should remain in his service, can be entered into now; this is
anticipating the occurrence of events, the relation of which must be
excused from the increasing contraction of my limits, that prevents
me from holding but a little more pleasant converse with my reader,
who, I hope, so far has been conducted with an amused interest
through the scenes of Dankalli and Abyssinia life, in which I was a
participator during my sojourn in those countries.
Recalled to a recollection of the circumstances of the condition of
the Royal relations, by a remark of the Negoos, Bethlehem turned to
me, and commented upon the sanitary observances I had been
recommending for the benefit of my supposed patient, as he was a
prisoner, and I then learnt, that the Negoos was consulting me upon
the subject of a disease, to which he was himself subject. The
symptoms that he had detailed plainly indicated a great
determination of blood to the head, and among other things which I
had suggested as preventives of the occasional giddiness, dimness
of sight, &c., which was complained of, was frequent exercise by
walking, and recommended that this should be for some distance
regularly every morning and evening. It was this which had led the
Negoos to make some playful remark in his character, as his
brother’s representative, that this indeed would be a pleasant
medicine for him, and which reminded the interpreter that if I went on
prescribing in that way I might say something unpleasant to the
Royal ear. Perhaps the unconscious shrug, with which I
acknowledged our error operated upon the mind of the monarch
more than any direct appeal that I could have made in favour of his
unhappy relatives, and expressed more real sorrow than the cold
interpretation of Bethlehem could have conveyed.[13]
The monarch soon after changed the subject by alluding to the
bad state of my own health, and of the necessity of my remaining
quiet in Aliu Amba until the termination of the wet season, which was
expected about the middle of the present month. He did not forget to
recommend to me the study of the Amharic language during that
time, so that in the next expedition against the Galla, to which he had
already invited me, I might be able to converse with him. The
Negoos did not detain me much longer, but after telling me not to
miss seeing the Muscal (at Debra Berhan on the 24th), if it were
possible for me to come, he dismissed me, glad enough to escape
from the fatiguing interview.
I returned to Musculo’s house a great deal too tired to think of
going on to Aliu Amba directly, but made up my mind to stay until an
hour or two before sunset, to arrive in that town just in time for bed,
and so escape the houseful of inquiring friends, who would have
thronged around me with compliments and congratulations on my
return.
To amuse me some portion of the time, Musculo introduced three
of four slaves who had been brought from the more interesting
countries around Shoa, and none of whom, as regards their political
relations with that country, demand a more particular notice than the
Gallas. These appear to surround Shoa on every side, except
towards the north, where the Amhara inhabitants of the Argobba
appear to have their country in that direction, continuous with the
Shoan province of Efat; but even here a narrow belt of debateable
land, by the mutual jealousies of the rulers of the two kingdoms, is
left to the undisputed possession of some unsettled Adal Galla
tribes.
I have several times, in the body of this work, represented these
people as being the mixed descendants of the Dankalli and Shankalli
people, and although this descent has been modified in some
situations by contiguity to nations differing very considerably, both
physically and morally, from each other, still all the numerous tribes
that stretch on the eastern side of the table land of Abyssinia, from
the neighbourhood of Massoah to an unknown distance in the south,
speak one language, and practise nearly similar customs. The first
disputed question respecting the Gallas is their origin, which is
generally supposed to be foreign to the continent they now occupy,
and from the name Calla resembling a Hebrew word signifying milk,
it has been presumed that they were a white people of that nation,
who have become changed in colour by a long residence in their
present inter-tropical possessions. Modern travellers continue in
supporting this supposition, but in recording my dissent I ask no one
to adopt my opinion, I owe it to my readers to state my ideas upon a
subject I have studied a little, and upon which I presume they require
information. It is not, therefore, to attract attention by opposing
received opinion, which I would much rather avoid, but for the sake
of exciting discussion among abler men than myself, that I here
throw out suggestions respecting the Gallas, as on other subjects I
have done before.
The origin of the name Galla, from the Arian word calla, black,
appears easy and natural, and I have therefore adopted it, but shall
feel greatly indebted to any learned ethnologist who will correct me if
I am in error. The country their presumed parents occupied, is that in
which, from its situation, no other complexioned people could reside,
whilst that law of nature continues to exist which has imposed a
black skin upon men living in a very hot country.
We find, however, these so-called blacks in geographical
situations, quite at variance with that betokened by the dark colour of
their skin, and more particularly upon the elevated plateau of
Abyssinia, the natural country of the pale yellow Gonga, where their
appearance presents an apparent anomaly, which, fortunately,
history enables us to explain. The first intrusion of the Amhara I have
in another place endeavoured to show was in the time of the
Egyptian king, Psammeticus, and to trace their history, in connexion
with the changes consequent upon their colonization of the left
banks of the Abi and the Abiah, would be most easy and interesting;
for the present generation possess sufficient documentary evidence,
to supply the necessary materials; but until some indefatigable
scholar takes upon himself this task, I have no hope of seeing that
obscurity dispelled which hangs over the earlier history of mankind,
and which is intimately connected with the earlier history of
Abyssinia. With this part of my subject, however, at present we have
nothing to do, and must call attention to the fact, that the first
recorded appearance of the Galla in Abyssinia, as hostile invaders,
was in 1537, during the reign of the Emperor David, otherwise called
Onag Segued. By this must be understood that it was at that time
they first found themselves able to assert their independence. A
more favourable opportunity could not have been afforded them than
that offered, when the Mahomedan King of Adal, Mahomed Grahne,
conquered and overran considerable portions of the ancient empire.
To the distractions and misfortunes that then harassed the Christian
Court the Gallas contributed, led on by sheer destiny, I believe, for
they quietly took possession with their herds of the countries that
had been devastated during the long civil sectarian war which, at the
time of Grahne, had assumed a national character from the divisions
of the Christian and Mahomedan Amhara, being then under two
distinct monarchial governments. These two kindred people mutually
destroying each other, were unable to offer any resistance to the
lawless and barbarous intruders who were alone benefited by the
struggle for supremacy between the professors of these two faiths.
The Adal conquerors, however, lost a great deal more by the war
than the defeated Christians of the table land; for occupying a
country of much less elevation than Abyssinia, the Gallas naturally
located themselves first upon the lands so much more suited to their
habits and constitutions, and accordingly, the Dankalli, closing from
the north, whilst the Shankalli came up from the south, their progeny
soon swept from the face of the country their Amhara predecessors;
and the red man of America retreats no faster before civilization,
than on this coast of Africa, the latter has been extinguished by the
advance of the barbarian Gallas. Only one town remains of the once
mighty kingdom of Adal, the city of Hurrah, the former capital of
Mahomed Grahne, before whose time Christianity was here at least
tolerated and professed by numbers of its inhabitants. Within the last
century another lingering remnant of this population of Adal has
been entirely driven out. Owssa, now exclusively Mahomedan
Dankalli, was formerly the capital of Amhara kings of Adal, and the
traditions of the present occupiers record the late residence in that
country of a Christian population. After the death of Mahomed
Grahne and the expulsion of the Jesuits from Abyssinia, the attention
of its princes was first directed to the increasing evil of Galla
intrusion, and they then endeavoured unsuccessfully, to recover
those portions of the table-land upon which they had established
themselves.
It is admitted that the Gallas entered Abyssinia, through the
natural breach in its surrounding rampart on the east, where the
denuding operation of the Hawash has constructed a favourable high
road for the journeyings of a nation. Had a similar facility existed to
the south, such as would be afforded, for example, by the débouché,
of a river from the table land in that situation, we may be assured
that the national integrity of the Gonga people, who, in the north,
were unable to contend against the intruding Amhara, would have
found it very difficult to contend with the more warlike Galla; yet who,
it will be found, have made less impression there than in any other
situation upon the whole table land.
It appears that Fatagar, Efat, Shoa, then Damot, (which at that
period extended to the south of the river Abi,) were successively
taken possession of, a succession of conquests which prove that the
course of the Hawash, was the principal natural direction this people
took in their wanderings.
In Shoa and Efat they appear to have been early civilized. One of
the most characteristic traits of the Galla people is, the facility with
which they appear to adopt the religious creeds of their neighbours;
and the adjoining kingdom of Amhara, the central stronghold of the
Christian religion, afforded numerous opportunities of conversion,
and perhaps other favourable circumstances then existed of which
we are now ignorant; but the result has been a closer amalgamation
of the Gallas with the Amhara people in Shoa than, I believe, any
other country of Abyssinia presents. Whilst, therefore, an
exceedingly corrupt dialect of the Amharic language is there spoken,
the dark colour of their skin attests their close consanguinity with the
Galla invaders, coming from the low hot country immediately at the
foot of the Abyssinian scarp in this situation.
The Galla, physically speaking, are a fine race of men, tall,
muscular, and well formed. In the colour of their skin they vary
considerably, as may be supposed, from the differences of situation
and of neighbourhood in which they have located themselves. The
Edjow Gallas, to the north of Angotcha, are, I understand, of a lighter
colour than the real Amhara or red man, but it is probable that some
mistake exists as regards this statement. The Gallas of Limmoo are
very dark-coloured, but they live in a country considerably more
elevated than that of the Edjow Gallas. The Shoans themselves, who
are considerably more Galla than Amhara, are a very dark brown,
although several light red individuals, not born in Shoa, but more to
the north, as I was told by Sheik Tigh, are to be found among them.
In the expression of the Galla countenance there is that which
reminds the observer more of their Shankalli than of their Dankalli
origin. The form of their heads is long, the sides being flat, with very
contracted but not receding foreheads. The lower parts of their faces
have the full negro-form development of the lips and jaws, although
the teeth are regular and well set, without the inclination forwards I
have observed in several negro skulls. Their hair is coarse and
frizzly. It is generally worn in long narrow plaits, that hang directly
down upon the neck and shoulders. In Shoa it is customary to dress
it with considerable care, and it is then sometimes arranged in most
fantastic forms, the head being adorned all over with numerous small
collected tufts, and at others, three monstrous heaps of hair on the
sides and top make the head and face look like a huge ace of clubs.
Their natural dispositions are very good, and their courage is
undoubted.
It is very interesting to remark how readily the Galla appear to
adapt their national habits to the circumstances in which they are
placed. This seems to be a kind of instinct in man, or perhaps is an
element of that moral development which seems to determine those
occasionally mysterious inroads of a new people, who seem to have
sprung up at once to exert the most extensive changes in the history
of nations, and which then subsides again for another term of ages.
Such was the appearance of the Mongols in Asia, and of the Goths
in Europe; such was the appearance of the Arabians after Mahomed;
and such are the Gallas of the present day, who are gradually
appropriating to themselves the whole of the Abyssinian empire. This
moral principle, however, whatever it may be, seems to promise an
abundant harvest of converts to the zealous and intelligent
missionary, who shall first appear as the professed apostle of
Christianity among them.
Besides the Gallas whom I saw at Musculo’s, were several
Zingero and Kuffah slaves, and as these are the principal
representatives of the Gonga people, of whom I have frequently
spoken, I shall take this opportunity of more particularly describing
them. The Gongas are a mysterious people, of whom rumours alone
had reached the civilized world in the remotest antiquity, and the
same obscurity continues at the present time to hang over this
interesting and secluded nation. With the evidence I collected during
my travels in Abyssinia, it will not be presumption in me to call
attention to a few facts that appear to me calculated to throw some
little light upon this subject, and which may probably excite a greater
desire to become better acquainted with the hidden secrets of man’s
history contained in the heart of Africa.
The Gongas, in the era of the celebrated Egyptian king
Psammeticus, occupied the whole table-land of Abyssinia. Neither
Amhara, or Galla, had, as yet, appeared upon their naturally
defended and very extensive fortress. In their social institutions the
great principle of foreign policy, was the exclusion of strangers; and
their isolated situation, easily enabled them to effect this. One
character of civilization, the geography of the desert-surrounded
table-lands of Africa, is eminently calculated to prosper and promote,
that peculiar social condition, the consistency and continuance of
which, requires little or no intercourse to be kept up with the rest of
mankind; the isolated members of which, live contented among
themselves, uninfluenced by wants which could only be gratified by
the products of other lands. In such African communities, no inland
seas, or navigable rivers, afford that facility of intercourse which is
enjoyed (as it is presumed) by the inhabitants of more highly
favoured countries. Protected also from foreign invasion by vast and
almost impassable deserts, individual enterprize could scarcely be
tempted to keep up a communication with a people so situated,
provided that they adhered to the principles of contentment, and did
not allow themselves to be seduced into a desire for foreign luxuries;
an unwise indulgence in which, first leads to molestation from
commercial intruders; who, breaking up the seclusion, open a path to
military invasion, which usually ends in the loss of country and of
personal freedom.
We hear of the Gongas in ancient history under various names,
but they were principally characterized by the cautious manner in
which they communicated with those merchants, with whom nature
imperatively commanded them, at least, to have some intercourse to
exchange the productions of their country, for what was an absolute
necessary of life to them, and of which they had no supply but from
abroad; I need scarcely mention, that this was salt. In return for this,
it appears, that gold was principally given to the traders; and for
ages, this commerce was carried on, with no more communication
than was necessary, through the medium of the following practice.
“This country of Sasu is very rich in gold mines. Every year the King
of Axum sends some of his people to this place for gold. These are
joined by many other merchants; so that, altogether, they form a
caravan of about five hundred people. They carry with them oxen,
salt, and iron. When they arrive upon the frontiers of that country
they take up their quarters, and make a large barrier of thorns. In the
meantime having slain and cut up their oxen, they lay the pieces of
flesh, as well as the iron, and salt, upon the thorns. Then come the
inhabitants, and place one or more parcels of gold upon the wares,
and wait outside the enclosure. The owners of the flesh, and other
goods, then examine whether this be equal to the price or not. If so,
they take the gold, and the others take the wares; if not, the latter still
add more gold, or take back what they had already put down. The
trade is carried on in this manner, because the languages are
different, and they have no interpreter; it takes about five days to
dispose of the goods which they bring with them.”[14] Heeren, in his
Historical Researches, connects the country where this system of
barter was practised, with that of the Macrobians, or long-lived
Ethiopians, mentioned by Herodotus. By an ingenious conclusion, he
supposes that the altar or table of the Sun which characterized the
latter people was the market-place, in which, at a later day, the trade
with the strangers was transacted. My observations have also led
me to the same conclusion, but I am able more distinctly to
authenticate this, and to suggest additional and more direct evidence
of its being the actual fact.
The worship of the Gongas, which has continued to the present
time, is the adoration of the river that flows through their country, as
being part of the sacred Nile. The Abi, or Nile of Bruce, is
worshipped by the modern Adjows, whilst the Gibbee, or Abiah, is
the object of a similar devotion among the Pagan Gongas of Zingero,
and of Kuffah. We are enabled from our knowledge of the former
river to presume, that its singular course determined in the first
instance, a reverence, which, when the increasing encroachments of
foreign foes had made this river a convenient defence to the pressed
Gongas, was soon elevated to the character of a protecting deity.
That its singular course should have thus attracted attention arises, I
believe, from the circumstance of its encircling an extensive
province, and going around it, as the sun was supposed to revolve
around the earth. The zodiac, or track of the sun through the
heavens, was typified by the form of a serpent, and this I have
always understood to have been the source of that serpent-worship
which characterized so many of the earlier and more civilized nations
of the earth. In no country, was this idolatry more prevalent than
upon the plateau of Abyssinia, and Arwè, the great serpent, it will be
recollected figures considerably in the earlier history of the Amhara,
who appear to have in some measure adopted the religion of the
Gongas, when they took possession of the countries upon the left
hand of their father, their king, their sun, by all of which names, it is
usual, even at the present day, to designate the river Abi.
The great serpents of classic mythological history, the Hydra, the
Python, and others unnamed, destroyed by Apollo and Hercules, all
allude evidently to the worship of the serpent in Africa being
superseded by that of the sun. The relation of these gods to that
luminary is generally admitted, and Hiero Calla, fortunately for my
derivation of the word Galla, the sun of the blacks, is the
interpretative analysis of the name of Hercules. In the modern
Dankalli language no other word is used for sun but Hiero, and it
enters into the name of several names of places; Hyhilloo, the scene
of the celebrated battle between the forces of Lohitu and the Muditu,
is translated by the Dankalli to mean the hill of the sun.
The head of a sculptured Hercules is invariably portraited with the
frizzly hair of the Dankalli, whilst antiquarian ethnologists will be
interested to observe the persistance of national character preserved
in the flowing locks and ample beard usually given to Jupiter, his
European counterpart.
That which increased the celebrity of the northern portion of the
table-land of Abyssinia, and established the superiority in dignity of
its stream, was the circumstance of its flowing through the lake
Tzana or Dembea. No little light breaks upon the subject when it is
understood, that the literal interpretation of these two words in very
different languages, is the same, both signifying the lake of the sun.
Dembea, let me observe, is a word in use in Abyssinia that belongs
to the same language as Abi, Assa, Galla, Nil, and others, that to
avoid confusion, I have called Arian. That so many proper names,
should all be derived from an Asiatic language in a country where no
representatives of the modern people who speak it can now be
found, is only to be accounted for, by supposing that the African
original of the Arian family of man yet continues in some of the
secluded oases of Intra-tropical Africa, to reward by their discovery
future enterprize.
Bahr Dembea, or the Lake of the Sun, would give a very
appropriate designation to the plateau upon which it is found. It was
that, and the course of the Abi, which occasioned the country visited
by the messengers of Cambyses to be called the Table of the Sun. It
was also the presence of these singularly situated geographical
features, and their supposed reference to the sun’s track in the
zodiac, that determined the reputed sanctity of this portion of
Ethiopia in the classic ages.
The connexion of the ancient Persian empire with its Ethiopic
tributary kingdoms, did not extend so far as the country of Sasu, and
the fate of Cambyses, in his attempted conquest of that country,
would be, I have no doubt, an instructive lesson to his successors.
The claims of these monarchs to supremacy in Ethiopia appears, in
fact, to have been founded upon former family connexion with some
father-land in Africa, not situated upon the plateau of Abyssinia, then
inhabited by the Gongas, but in another desert-surrounded country,
of the same character; probably, that which surrounds the sources of
the Bahr ul Abiad.
The African origin of other ancient nations can also be most easily
demonstrated, and the historical accounts of their descent from
gods, which have come down to us, although they consist of
exaggerated and distorted relations, in consequence of having been
derived from the ignorant translation of hieroglyphical records, in
which it would appear that the earlier history of Africa was preserved;
still we are able to gather from these mythological enigmas
everything that is necessary to connect their origin with a common
centre of divergence, which I believe to have been the country
around the sources of the Nile.
In the same manner the worship of the rivers in India, and of the
dragon monster in China, seem to have originated from Ethiopia; the
emigration which carried the first colonies of serpent worshippers to
these countries having probably flowed in a direction from the south,
as Europe and Western Asia appear to have been civilized by
colonists from the north of the same point of dispersion.
It is most interesting to trace the intimate connexion at an early
period of the, at present, widely separated and even physically
distinct varieties of man; and did not a cautious policy restrain me, I
would attempt to demonstrate the original unity of nations now the
most dissimilar upon novel evidence, which, to be satisfactory to
others, must, however, receive farther corroboration than my own
individual observations.
One illustration of the light African explorations promise to throw
upon this subject I cannot refrain from advancing, as it is such a
striking evidence of the presumed fact of even ourselves having
originated from a colony of African emigrants; and that the ancient
British temple of Abury, or Abibury, near Stonehenge, derived its
name from the same religious worship being there celebrated as was
once general on the plateau of Abyssinia, and which, in fact, is so
called from exactly the same cause. The deductions of classical
learning materially assist a traveller, whose pursuits, so different to a
closet student, do not allow him to assume the character of a learned
critic or commentator. Dr. Stukeley, known by his inquiries into the
ancient religion of the Druids, has proved, I think incontestably, the
true character of the temple at Abibury, and demonstrates it to have
been constructed in the form of a serpent, bearing upon its back a
circle. He referred the religion, that directed such a form to be
assumed in the sacred architecture of this people, to an Egyptian
origin, and freely speculates, in consequence, upon the African
origin of our ancestors, which is asserted by our most ancient
historians, but who have been in consequence considered to be
apocryphal. In these traditions it is affirmed that Britain was first
inhabited by a celebrated descendant of Shem, singularly enough
the same, who is considered by biblical ethnologists to have been
the common father of no less a respectable people, than the modern
Dankalli; Affer, the son of Abraham, having led a colony of Africans
to our shores, where he introduced the worship of the sun, and
established the religion of Druidism. I recommend to my reader the
perusal of Stukley’s work upon “Abury, a Temple of the Ancient
Britons,” and then to compare the parallel, but more magnificent
temple of nature upon the plateau of Abyssinia, where the serpent
Arwè, or in profane language the river Abi, bears upon its back the
lake of the sun, most curiously identifying the peculiar worship of that
luminary by the ancient Ethiopians with the same adoration which
was professed by the Druids in Britain, but who, from their situation,
were obliged to construct the winding avenue of stones at Abibury to
represent the same mystical hieroglyphic of the serpent and the sun.
The name given to this work was Abi, the father, or king, as it was
also of the river-symbol in Abyssinia; hence the name Abibury, the
latter portion of which word is of Saxon origin; and added,
subsequently to the decline of Druidism.[15]
Returning to the Gongas and their connexion with the Sasu of
Cosmas, it is singular to observe in what manner the seclusive
integrity of that country was first sapped, and then in a great
measure overthrown. Within the last two centuries, the Adjows of
Northern Abyssinia, the representatives of the Gongas in that
situation, were said to continue the original practice of their fathers
with respect to commercial transactions. But these must have been a
tribe now extinct, as, from what I can learn, it is only in the extreme
south where the custom is still persisted in, and it is among these
that the most ancient authentic record (uninspired) of the
antediluvian world will be found. It is here, too, that the original name
of this people, Sasu, is preserved in the modern word Susa, of
whom, as a nation, we scarcely possess any information more than
sufficient, to warrant the mere assertion that such a people now exist
highly civilized, and using a peculiar written character dissimilar to
any with which the literati of Europe are acquainted.
Of the Sasu traders in the time of Cosmas, we are told they
carried with them oxen which, on their arrival in the country, they
killed, and hung up the raw flesh on the thorns, as a kind of
merchandise. It will be remembered that I have previously stated the
intoxicating effects of this kind of food upon the Amhara, and I have
therefore no difficulty in supposing that the Gongas were tempted by
this kind of dissipation into the intercourse with the traders, just as in
modern times, “fire water” for Indians, and opium for the Chinese are
employed to effect a similar object. This receives further confirmation
from the fact, that the secluded Gongas of the present day live
entirely upon vegetables, the ensete plant and grain forming the
principal food. In Zingero and Enarea, broken in upon by the
Mahomedan and Christian religions, the inhabitants have adopted
the use of animal food, but even among them a party of the older
faith exists who continue the original mode of living of their fathers,
and who are contemptuously styled, for that reason, “grain eaters.”
The Gongas that I have seen are of short stature, not exceeding
five feet four inches, are delicately made, and of a pale yellow
complexion. The aperture of the eyelid in some were quite straight,
but in others it was obliquely divided. Their hair was straight and
strong. A triangular formed face, the forehead being low and long,
and the chins very pointed. I could not convince myself, as I looked
at their whole appearance, but that they were of the same race as
the Hottentots of the Cape, differing only in so much as that the latter
are in a very degraded state. Many remarkable customs practised by
both nations could not have been merely coincidental; and one, that
of voluntary semi-emasculation, is too extraordinary not to be
referred to the same origin of imposition. Of the identity of the two
people there can be no doubt, and there is no ethnological fact I
observed during my journey of which I am so well satisfied as this.
The remains of this interesting people in Northern Abyssinia are
the Adjows and the Falasha, and if future travellers will expend their
resources in exploring Northern Abyssinia, in preference to the far
more important examination of its southern portion, they cannot
occupy themselves more advantageously to science than by
examining into the customs and characters of the Adjows. I consider
it would be a waste of time that could be occupied much better in
another direction, or I would, for my own satisfaction, visit the
country for this purpose; but as it is far from difficult and constitutes
an excellent probationary journey, I recommend aspirants for fame in
the field of African discovery to make this their trial excursion.
One more remark upon the Southern Gongas of Enarea, Zingero,
and Kuffah, and I must close this notice of a very interesting race of
man; and that is to explain the apparent anomaly of their country,
situated at such an elevation above the level of the sea as I presume
it to be, producing cotton and grapes in profusion.
The observations of that indefatigable and enterprising traveller,
Dr. Beke, has proved that the river Abi, after flowing a distance of
scarcely one hundred and thirty miles, has excavated a valley five or
six thousand feet below the general level of the table land, whilst the
opposite summits of the bounding sides are distant between thirty
and forty miles. We may look in vain over every portion of the known
world for a similar effect of denudation, and this again illustrates the
wide field of novel facts which is promised to science, by an
examination of the unknown interior of Africa.
On the artificial terraces and natural slopes of these extensive
valleys the vegetables of all climates can be successfully cultivated,
and the theoretical centre of successive elevations from whence,
according to the hypothesis of Linnæus, all vegetation spread over