Faitlovitch wanted to show the Falashas that the white Jews cared about them and would bring them books and education. He distributed a leaflet he had written in Amharic containing the open letter signed by forty-four rabbis and he made preparations for opening the first schools. Nahum, on the other hand, was not going out of his way either to find Falashas in remote areas or to raise their expectations.

He returned to Paris at the end of July and left almost immediately to take up his new post in Constantinople with the result that his report was not ready until the following March. His conclusions were simple: firstly, that the Falasha population was at most six or seven thousand (about one eighth of Faitlovitch's estimate) scattered over a wide area and, secondly, that they were primitive people for whom the educational methods employed by the Alliance in such places as Morocco or Turkey were not appropriate. It was essential that any programme should be considered with the greatest care. Elsewhere he had said that 'it does not seem to me desirable that anything should be done. In view of their small numbers and wide distribution the creation of schools seems to me impossible.'(2) The Alliance were let off the hook and they naturally followed the advice of their trusted and distinguished representative. Faitlovitch, however, has explained how Nahum, who did not speak Amharic, was intentionally deceived by local Ethiopian officials into underestimating the size of the Falasha population.

During his journey Nahum made a close study of the religious customs of the Falashas and concluded that they were' Mosaists' or followers of Moses, but that in many respects they contravened the Mosaic Law. As to their origins, he believed that they were converted by a 'judaised group' who came from Egypt about the second or third century BC and probably at the time of Ptolemy Euergetes. He thought that the immigrants followed the river Atbara and established themselves on the left bank of the river Takazze, in western Abyssinia. Is it for this reason, he asked, that the Falashas of that district are called Kaylas, those who have not crossed the water? Thus, he approximated to Luzzatto's position,

(1) Quer durch Abessinien, p. 47.
(2) J.C., 7 August 1908.