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The Christian Abyssinians usually go barehead and barefoot, in | contrast to the Mahommedans, who wear turbans and leather sandals. The women's dress is a smock with sleeves loose to the wrist, where they fit tightly. The priests wear a white jacket with loose sleeves, a head-cloth like a turban and a special type of shoe with turned-up toes and soles projecting at the heel. In the Woldeba district hermits dress in ochre-yellow cloths, while the priests of some sects wear hides dyed red. Clothes are made of cotton, though the nobles and great people wear silk robes presented by the emperor as a mark of honour. The possessor of one of these is allowed to appear in the royal presence wearing it instead of having one shoulder bared, as is the usual Abyssinian method of showing respect. A high-born man covers himself to the mouth in the presence of inferiors. The men either cut their hair short or plait it; married women plait their hair and wind round the head a black or parti-coloured silk handkerchief; girls wear their hair short. In the hot season no Abyssinian goes without a flag-shaped fan of plaited rushes. The Christian Abyssinians, men and women, wear a blue silk cord round the neck, to which is often attached a crucifix. For ornament women wear silver ankle-rings with bells, silver necklaces and silver or gold rosettes in the ears. Silver rings on fingers and also on toes are common. The women are very fond of strong scents, which are generally oils imported from India and Ceylon. The men scarcely ever appear without a long curved knife, generally they carry shield and spear as well. Although the army has been equipped with modern rifles, the common weapon of the people is the matchlock, and slings are still in use. The original arms were a sickle-shaped sword, spear and shield. The Abyssinians are great hunters and are also clever at taming wild beasts. The nobles hunt antelopes with leopards, and giraffes and ostriches with horse and greyhound. In elephant-hunting iron bullets weighing a quarter of a pound are used; throwing-clubs are employed for small game, and lions are hunted with the spear. Lion skins belong to the emperor, but the slayer keeps a strip to decorate his shield.

Stone and mortar are used in building, but the Abyssinian houses are of the roughest kind, being usually circular huts, ill made and thatched with grass. These huts are sometimes made simply of straw and are surrounded by high thorn hedges, but, in the north, square houses, built in stories, flat-roofed, the roof sometimes laid at the same slope as the hillside, and some with pitched thatched roofs, are common. The inside walls are plastered with cow-dung, clay and finely chopped straw. None of the houses have chimneys, and smoke soon colours the interior a dark brown. Generally the houses are filthy and ill ventilated and swarm with vermin. Drainage and sanitary arrangements do not exist. The caves of the highlands are often used as dwellings. The most remarkable buildings in Abyssinia are certain churches hewn out of the solid rock. The chief native industries are leather-work, embroidery and filigree metal-work; and the weaving of straw mats and baskets is extensively practised. The baskets are particularly well made, and are frequently used to contain milk.

Abyssinian art is crude and is mainly reserved for rough frescoes in the churches. These frescoes, however, often exhibit considerable skill, and are indicative of the lively imagination of their painters. They are in the Byzantine style and the colouring is gaudy. Saints and good people are always depicted full face, the devil and all bad folk are shown in profile. Among the finest frescoes are those in the church of the Holy Trinity at Adowa and those in the church at Kwarata, on the shores of Lake Tsana. The churches are usually circular in form, the walls of stone, the roof thatched.

The chief musical instruments are rough types of trumpets and flutes, drums, tambourines and cymbals, and quadrangular harps.

HISTORY

(12) Abyssinia, or at least the northern portion of it, was included in the tract of country known to the ancients as Ethiopia, the northern limits of which reached at one time

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to about Syene. The connexion between Egypt and Ethiopia was in early times very intimate, and occasionally the two countries were under the same ruler, so that the arts and civilization of the one naturally found their way into the other. In early times, too, the Hebrews had commercial intercourse with the Ethiopians; and according to Abyssinian tradition the queen of Sheba who visited Solomon was a monarch of their country, and from their son Menelek the kings of Abyssinia claim descent. During the Captivity many of the Jews settled here and brought with them a knowledge of the Jewish religion. Under the Ptolemies, the arts as well as the enterprise of the Greeks entered Ethiopia, and led to the establishment of Greek colonies. A Greek inscription at Adulis, no longer extant, but copied by Cosmas of Alexandria, and preserved in his Topographia Christiana, records that Ptolemy Euergetes, the third of the Greek dynasty in Egypt, invaded the countries on both sides of the Red Sea, and having reduced most of the provinces of Tigré to subjection, returned to the port of Adulis, and there offered sacrifices to Jupiter, Mars and Neptune. Another inscription, not so ancient, found at Axum, states that Aizanas, king of the Axumites, the Homerites, &c., conquered the nation of the Bogos, and returned thanks to his father, the god Mars, for his victory. Out of these Greek colonies appears to have arisen the kingdom of Auxume which flourished from the 1st to the 7th century A.D. and was at one time nearly coextensive with Abyssinia proper. The capital Auxume and the seaport Adulis were then the chief centres of the trade with the interior of Africa in gold dust, ivory, leather, aromatics, &c. At Axum, the site of the ancient capital, many vestiges of its former greatness still exist; and the ruins of Adulis, which was once a seaport on the bay of Annesley, are now about 4 m. from the shore (see ETHIOPIA, The Axumite Kingdom).

Introduction of Christianity.

(13) Christianity was introduced into the country by Frumentius (q.v.), who was consecrated first bishop of Ethiopia by St Athanasius of Alexandria about A.D. 330. From the scanty evidence available it would appear that the new religion at first made little progress, and the Axumite kings seem to have been among the latest converts. Towards the close of the 5th century a great company of monks are believed to have established themselves in the country. Since that time monachism has been a power among the people and not without its influence on the course of events. In the early part of the 6th century the king of the Homerites, on the opposite coast of the Red Sea, having persecuted the Christians, the emperor Justinian I. requested the king of Auxume, Caleb or El-Esbaha, to avenge their cause. He accordingly collected an army, crossed over into Arabia, and conquered Yemen (c. 525), which remained subject to Ethiopia for about fifty years. This was the most flourishing period in the annals of the country. The Ethiopians possessed the richest part of Arabia, carried on a large trade, which extended as far as India and Ceylon, and were in constant communication with the Greek empire. Their expulsion from Arabia, followed by the conquest of Egypt by the Mahommedans in the middle of the 7th century, changed this state of affairs, and the continued advances of the followers of the Prophet at length cut them off from almost every means of communication with the civilized world; so that, as Gibbon says, "encompassed by the enemies of their religion, the Ethiopians slept for near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten." About A.D. 1000, a Jewish princess, Judith, conceived the design of murdering all the members of the royal family, and of establishing herself in their stead. During the execution of this project, the infant king was carried off by some faithful adherents, and conveyed to Shoa, where his authority was acknowledged, while Judith reigned for forty years over the rest of the kingdom, and transmitted the crown to her descendants. In 1268 the kingdom was restored to the royal house in the person of Yekūnō Amlāk. (14) Towards the close of the 15th century the Portuguese missions into Abyssinia began. A belief had long prevailed in Europe of the existence of a Christian kingdom in the far east, whose monarch was known as Prester John, and various

Portuguèse

expeditions had been sent in quest of it. Among others who had engaged in this search was Pedro de Covilham, who arrived in Abyssinia in 1490, and, believing that he had at length reached the far-famed kingdom, presented influence. to the negūs, or emperor of the country, a letter from his master the king of Portugal, addressed to Prester John. | Covilham remained in the country, but in 1507 an Armenian named Matthew was sent by the negūs to the king of Portugal to request his aid against the Mahommedans. In 1520 a Portuguese fleet, with Matthew on board, entered the Red Sea in compliance with this request, and an embassy from the fleet visited the negūs, Lebna Dengel Dawit (David) II., and remained in Abyssinia for about six years. One of this embassy was Father Francisco Alvarez, from whom we have the earliest and not the least interesting account of the country. Between 1528 and 1540 armies of Mahommedans, under the renowned general Mahommed Gran (or Granyé, probably a Somali or a Galla), entered Abyssinia from the low country to the south-east, and overran the kingdom, obliging the emperor to take refuge in the mountain fastnesses. In this extremity recourse was again had to the Portuguese. John Bermudez, a subordinate member of the mission of 1520, who had remained in the country after the departure of the embassy, was, according to his own statement (which is untrustworthy), ordained successor to the abuna (archbishop), and sent to Lisbon. Bermudez certainly came to Europe, but with what credentials is not known. Be that as it may, a Portuguese fleet, under the command of Stephen da Gama, was sent from India and arrived at Massawa in February 1541. Here he received an ambassador from the negūs beseeching him to send help against the Moslems, and in the July following a force of 450 musqueteers, under the command of Christopher da Gama, younger brother of the admiral, marched into the interior, and being joined by native troops were at first successful against the enemy; but they were subsequently defeated, and their commander taken prisoner and put to death (August 1542). On the 21st of February 1543, however, Mahommed Granyé was shot in an engagement and his forces totally routed. After this, quarrels arose between the negūs and Bermudez, who had returned to Abyssinia with Christopher da Gama and who now wished the emperor publicly to profess himself a convert to Rome. This the negūs refused to do, and at length Bermudez was obliged to make his way out of the country. The Jesuits who had accompanied or followed the da Gama expedition into Abyssinia, and fixed their headquarters at Fremona (near Adowa), were oppressed and neglected, but not actually expelled. In the beginning of the 17th century Father Pedro Paez arrived at Fremona, a man of great tact and judgment, who soon rose into high favour at court, and gained over the emperor to his faith. He directed the erection of churches, palaces and bridges in different parts of the country, and carried out many useful works. His successor Mendez was a man of much less concili- | atory manners, and the feelings of the people became strongly excited against the intruders, till at length, on the death of the negūs Sysenius, Socinius or Seged I., and the accession of his son Fasilidas in 1633, they were all sent out of the country, after having had a footing there for nearly a century Visits of and a half. The French physician C. J. Poncet, who and Bruce. went there in 1698, via Sennar and the Blue Nile, was the only European that afterwards visited the country before Bruce in 1769. James Bruce's main object was to discover the sources of the Nile, which he was convinced lay in Abyssinia. Accordingly, leaving Massawa in September 1769, he travelled via Axum to Gondar, where he was well received by King Tekla Haimanot II. He accompanied the king on a warlike expedition round Lake Tsana, moving S. round the eastern shore, crossing the genuine Blue Nile (Abai) close to its point of issue from the lake and returning via the western shore. On a second expedition of his own he proved to his own satisfaction that the river originated some 40 miles S.W. of the lake at a place called Geesh (4th of November 1770). He showed that this river flowed into the lake, and left it by its now wellknown outlet. Bruce subsequently returned to Egypt (end of

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the negūs

1772) via Gondar, the upper Atbara, Sennar, the Nile and the Korosko desert (see BRUCE, James). (15) In order to attain a clear view of native Abyssinian history, as distinct from the visits and influence of Europeans, it must be borne in mind that during the last three Position of hundred years, and indeed for a longer period, for the old chroniclers may be trusted to have given a negusti. somewhat distorted view of the importance of the particular chieftains with whom they came in contact, the country has been merely a conglomeration of provinces and districts, ill defined, loosely connected and generally at war with each other. Of these the chief provinces have been Tigré (northern), Amhara (central) and Shoa (southern). The seat of government, or rather of overlordship, has usually been in Amhara, the ruler of which, calling himself negūs negusti (king of kings, or emperor), has exacted tribute, when he could, from the other provinces. The title of negūs negusti has been to a considerable extent based on the blood in the veins of the claimant. All the emperors have based their claims on their direct descent from Solomon and the queen of Sheba; but it is needless to say that in many, if not in most, cases their success has been due more to the force of their arms than to the purity of their lineage. Some of the rulers of the larger provinces have at times been given, or have given themselves, the title of negūs or king, so that on occasion as many as three, or even more, negūses have been reigning at the same time; and this must be borne in mind by the student of Abyssinian history in order to avoid confusion of rulers. The whole history of the country is in fact one gloomy record of internecine wars, barbaric deeds and unstable governments, of adventurers usurping thrones, only to be themselves unseated, and of raids, rapine and pillage. Into this chaos enter from time to time broad rays of sunshine, the efforts of a few enlightened monarchs to evolve order from disorder, and to supply to their people the blessings of peace and civilization. Bearing these matters in mind, we find that during the 18th century the most prominent and beneficent rulers were the emperor Yesu of Gondar, who died about 1720, Sebastié, negūs of Shoa (1703-1718), Amada Yesus of Shoa, who extended his kingdom and founded Ankober (1743-1774), Tekla Giorgis of Amhara (1770-1798?) and Asfa Nassen of Shoa (1774-1807), the latter being especially renowned as a wise and benevolent monarch. The first years of the 19th century were disturbed by fierce campaigns between Guxa, ras of Gondar, and Wolda Selassié, ras of Tigré, who were both striving for the crown of Guxa's master, the emperor Eguala Izeion. Wolda Selassié was eventually the victor, and practically ruled the whole country till his death in 1816 at the age of eighty.

(16) Mention must here be made of the first British mission, under Lord Valentia and Mr Henry Salt, which was sent in 1805 to conclude an alliance with Abyssinia, and British obtain a port on the Red Sea in case France secured mission Egypt by dividing up the Turkish empire with Russia. and misThis mission was succeeded by many travellers, sionary enterprise. missionaries and merchants of all countries, and the stream of Europeans continued until well into Theodore's reign. For convenience' sake we insert at this point a partial list of missionaries and others who visited the country during the second third of the 19th century-merely calling attention to the fact that their visits were distributed over widely different parts of the country, ruled by distinct lines of monarchs or governors. In 1830 Protestant missionary enterprise was begun by Samuel Gobat and Christian Kugler, who were sent out by the Church Missionary Society, and were well received by the ras of Tigré. Mr Kugler died soon after his arrival, and his place was subsequently supplied by Mr C. W. Isenberg, who was followed by Dr Ludwig Krapf, the discoverer of Mount Kenya, and others. Mr (afterwards Bishop) Gobat proceeded to Gondar, where he also met with a favourable reception. In 1833 he returned to Europe, and published a journal of his residence in Abyssinia. In 1834 Gobat went back to Tigré, but in 1836 ill health compelled him to leave. In 1838 other missionaries were obliged to leave the country, owing to the opposition of the native

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Lake Tsana) in 1853. Ubié retreated to Tigré, and Ras Ali fled
to Begemeder, where he eventually died. Kassa now ruled in
Amhara, but his ambition was to attain to supreme power, and
he turned his attention to conquering the remaining
chief divisions of the country, Gojam, Tigré and Shoa,
which still remained unsubdued. Berro, ras of Gojam,
in order to save himself, attempted to combine with
Tigré, but his army was intercepted by Kassa and totally de-

Growing power of Shoa.

priests. Messrs Isenberg and Krapf went south, and established | Ali and Ubié, these two princes combined against him, but were themselves at Shoa. The former soon after returned to England, | heavily defeated by him at Gorgora (on the southern shore of but Mr Krapf remained in Shoa till March 1842, when he removed to Mombasa. Dr E. Rüppell, the German naturalist, visited the country in 1831, and remained nearly two years. M. E. Combes and M. Tamisier arrived at Massawa in 1835, and visited districts which had not been traversed by Europeans since the time of the Portuguese. One who did much at the time to extend our geographical knowledge of the country was Dr C. T. Beke (q.v.), who was there from 1840 to 1843. Mr Mansfield Parkyns was there from 1843 to 1846, and wrote the most inter-stroyed, himself being taken prisoner and executed (May 1854). esting book on the country since the time of Bruce. Bishop Gobat having conceived the idea of sending lay missionaries into the country, who would engage in secular occupations as well as carry on missionary work, Dr Krapf returned to Abyssinia in 1855 with Mr Flad as pioneers of that mission; Krapf, however, was not permitted to remain in the country. Six lay workers came out at first, and they were subsequently joined by others. Their secular work, however, appears to have been more valuable to Theodore than their preaching, so that he employed them as workmen to himself, and established them at Gaffat, near his capital. Mr Stern arrived in Abyssinia in 1860, and after a visit to Europe returned in 1863, accompanied by Mr and Mrs Rosenthal.1

(17) Wolda Selassié of Tigré was succeeded in 1817, through force of arms, by Sabagadis of Agamé, and the latter, as ras of Rivalry of Tigré, introduced various Englishmen, whom he much British admired, into the country. He increased the prosand French perity of his land considerably, but by so doing factions. roused the jealousy of Ras Marié of Amhara-to whom he had refused tribute-and Ubié, son of Hailo Mariam, a governor of Simen. In an ensuing battle (in January 1831), both Sabagadis and Marié were killed, and Ubié retired to watch events from his own province. Marié was shortly succeeded in the ras-ship of Amhara by Ali, a nephew of Guxa and a Mahommedan. But Ubié, who was aiming at the crown, soon attacked Ras Ali, and after several indecisive campaigns proclaimed himself negūs of Tigré. To him came many French missionaries and travellers, chief of whom were Lieut. Lefebvre, charged (1839) with political and geographical missions, and Captains Galinier and Ferret, who completed for him a useful triangulation and survey of Tigré and Simen (1840-1842). The brothers Antoine and Arnaud d'Abbadie (q.v.) spent ten years (1838-1848) in the country, making scientific investigations of great value, and also involving themselves in the stormy politics of the country. Northern Abyssinia was now divided into two camps, the one, Amhara and Ras Ali, under Protestant British, and the other, Tigré and Ubié, under Roman Catholic French, influence. The latent hostility between the two factions threatened at one time to develop into a religious war, but no serious campaigns took place until Kassa (later Theodore) appeared on the scene.

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Theodore.

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(18) Lij (= Mr) Kassa was born in Kwara, a small district of Western Amhara, in 1818. His father was a small local chief, and his uncle was governor of the districts of Dembea, Rise of the Kwara and Chelga between Lake Tsana and the undefined N.W. frontier. He was educated in a monastery, but preferred a more active life, and by his talents and energy came rapidly to the front. On the death of his uncle he was made chief of Kwara, but in consequence of the arrest of his brother Bilawa by Ras Ali, he raised the standard of revolt against the latter, and, collecting a large force, repeatedly beat the troops that were sent against him by the ras (1841-1847). On one occasion peace was restored by his receiving Tavavich, daughter of Ras Ali, in marriage; and this lady is said to have been a good and wise counsellor during her lifetime. He next turned his arms against the Turks, in the direction of Massawa, but was defeated; and the mother of Ras Ali having insulted him in his fallen condition, he proclaimed his independence. As his power was increasing, to the detriment of both Ras Since Theodore's time Protestant missionary work, except by natives, has been stopped.

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Shortly afterwards Kassa moved against Tigré, defeated Ubié's forces at Deragié, in Simen (February 1855), took their chief prisoner and proclaimed himself negūs negusti of Ethiopia under the name of Theodore III. He now turned his attention to Shoa. (19) Retracing our steps for a moment in that direction, we find that in 1813 Sahela (or Sella) Selassié, younger son of the preceding ras, Wassen Seged, had proclaimed himself negūs or king. His reign was long and beneficent. He restored the towns of Debra-Berhan and Angolala, and founded Entotto, the strong stone-built town whose ruins overlook the modern capital, Adis Ababa. In the terrible "famine of St Luke" in 1835, Selassié still further won the hearts of his subjects by his wise measures and personal generosity; and by extending his hospitality to Europeans, he brought his country within the closer ken of civilized European powers. During his reign he received the missions of Major W. Cornwallis Harris, sent by the governor-general of India (1841), and M. Rochet d'Héricourt, sent by Louis Philippe (1843), with both of whom he concluded friendly treaties on behalf of their respective governments. He also wrote to Pope Pius IX., asking that a Roman Catholic bishop should be sent to him. This request was acceded to, and the pope despatched Monsignor Massaja to Shoa. But before the prelate could reach the country, Selassié was dead (1847), leaving his eldest son, Haeli Melicoth, to succeed him. Melicoth at once proclaimed himself negūs, and by sending for Massaja, who had arrived at Gondar, gave rise to the suspicion that he wished to have himself crowned as emperor. By increasing his dominions at the expense of the Gallas, he still further roused the jealousy of the northerners, and a treaty which he concluded with Ras Ali against Kassa in 1850 determined the latter to crush him at the earliest opportunity.

Thus it was that in 1855 Kassa, under the name of the emperor Theodore, advanced against Shoa with a large army. Dissensions broke out among the Shoans, and after a desperate and futile attack on Theodore at Debra-Berhan, Haeli Melicoth died of exhaustion and fever, nominating with his last breath his eleven-year-old son Menelek2 as successor (November 1855). Dargé, Haeli's brother, took charge of the young prince, but after a hard fight with Angeda, one of Theodore's rases, was obliged to capitulate. Menelek was handed over to the negūs, taken to Gondar, and there trained in Theodore's service.

(20) Theodore was now in the zenith of his career. He is described as being generous to excess, free from cupidity, merciful to his vanquished enemies, and strictly continent, but subject to violent bursts of anger and possessed of unyielding pride and fanatical religious zeal. He was also a man of education and intelligence, superior to those among whom he lived, with natural talents for governing and gaining the esteem of others. He had, further, a noble bearing and majestic walk, a frame capable of enduring any amount of fatigue, and is said to have been "the best shot, the best spearman, the best runner, and the best horseman in Abyssinia." Had he contented himself with the sovereignty of Amhara and Tigré, he might have maintained his position; but he was led to exhaust his strength against the Wollo Gallas, which was probably one of the chief causes of his ruin. He obtained several victories over that people, ravaged their country, took possession of Magdala, which he afterwards made his principal stronghold, and enlisted many of the chiefs and their followers in his own ranks. As has been shown, he also reduced the kingdom of Shoa, and took Ankober, the capital;

2 Menelek means "a second self."

Sir Robert
Napier's

but in the meantime his own people were groaning under his | release of the prisoners and their return to Massawa. This, heavy exactions, rebellions were breaking out in various parts of his provinces, and his good queen Tavavich was now dead. The British consul, Walter C. Plowden, who was strongly attached to Theodore, having been ordered by his government Theodore's in 1860 to return to Massawa, was attacked on his quarrel way by a rebel named Garred, mortally wounded, with Great and taken prisoner. Theodore attacked the rebels, Britain. and in the action the murderer of Mr Plowden was slain by his friend and companion Mr J. T. Bell, an engineer, but the latter lost his life in preserving that of Theodore. The deaths of the two Englishmen were terribly avenged by the slaughter or mutilation of nearly 2000 rebels. Theodore soon after married his second wife Terunish, the proud daughter of the late governor of Tigré, who felt neither affection nor respect for the upstart who had dethroned her father, and the union was by no means a happy one. In 1862 he made a second expedition against the Gallas, which was stained with atrocious cruelties. Theodore had now given himself up to intoxication and lust. When the news of Mr Plowden's death reached England, Captain C. D. Cameron was appointed to succeed him as consul, and arrived at Massawa in February 1862. He proceeded to the camp of the king, to whom he presented a rifle, a pair of pistols and a letter in the queen's name. In October Captain Cameron was sent home by Theodore, with a letter to the queen of England, which reached the Foreign Office on the 12th of February 1863. This letter was put aside and no answer returned, and to this in no small degree are to be attri- | buted the difficulties that subsequently arose with that country. In November despatches were received from England, but no answer to the emperor's letter, and this, together with a visit paid by Captain Cameron to the Egyptian frontier town of Kassala, greatly offended him; accordingly in January 1864 Captain Cameron and his suite, with Messrs Stern and Rosenthal, were cast into prison. When the news of this reached England, the government resolved, when too late, to send an answer to the emperor's letter, and selected Mr Hormuzd Rassam to be its bearer. He arrived at Massawa in July 1864, and immediately despatched a messenger requesting permission to present himself before the emperor. Neither to this nor a subsequent application was any answer returned till August 1865, when a curt note was received, stating that Consul Cameron had been released, and if Mr Rassam still desired to visit the king, he was to proceed by the route of Gallabat. Later in the year Theodore became more civil, and the British party on arrival at the king's camp in Damot, on the 25th of January 1866, were received with all honour, and were afterwards sent to Kwarata, on Lake Tsana, there to await the arrival of the captives. The latter reached Kwarata on the 12th of March, and everything appeared to proceed favourably. A month later they started for the coast, but had not proceeded far when they were all brought back and put into confinement. Theodore then wrote a letter to the queen, requesting European workmen and machinery to be sent to him, and despatched it by Mr Flad. The Europeans, although detained as prisoners, were not at first unkindly treated; but in the end of June they were sent to Magdala, where they were soon afterwards put in chains. They suffered hunger, cold and misery, and were in constant fear of death, till the spring of 1868 when they were relieved by the British troops.

(21) In the meantime the power of Theodore in the country was rapidly waning. Shoa had already shaken off his yoke; Gojam was virtually independent; Walkeit and Simen were under a rebel chief; and Lasta, Waag and the country about Lake Ashangi had submitted to Wagshum Gobassié, who had also overrun Tigré and appointed Dejaj Kassai his governor. The latter, however, in 1867 rebelled against his master and assumed the supreme power of that province. This was the state of matters when the English troops made their appearance in the country. With a view if possible to effect the release of the prisoners by conciliatory measures, Mr Flad was sent back, with some artisans and machinery, and a letter from the queen, stating that these would be handed over to his majesty on the

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however, failed to influence the emperor, and the English
government at length saw that they must have recourse to arms.
In July 1867, therefore, it was resolved to send an army into
Abyssinia to enforce the release of the captives, under Sir
Robert Napier (1st Baron Napier of Magdala). The landing-
place selected was Mulkutto (Zula), on Annesley Bay, the point
of the coast nearest to the site of the ancient Adulis, and we
are told that "the pioneers of the English expedition followed
to some extent in the footsteps of the adventurous
soldiers of Ptolemy, and met with a few faint traces
of this old-world enterprise " (C. R. Markham). The expedition.
force amounted to upwards of 16,000 men, besides
12,640 belonging to the transport service, and followers, making
in all upwards of 32,000 men. The task to be accomplished
was to march over 400 miles of a mountainous and little-known
country, inhabited by savage tribes, to the camp or fortress of
Theodore, and compel him to deliver up his captives. The com-
mander-in-chief landed on the 7th of January 1868, and soon
after the troops began to move forward through the pass of
Senafé, and southward through the districts of Agamé, Tera,
Endarta, Wojerat, Lasta and Wadela. In the meantime
Theodore had been reduced to great straits. His army, which at
one time numbered over 100,000 men, was rapidly deserting him,
and he could hardly obtain food for his followers. He resolved
to quit his captial Debra-Tabor, which he burned, and set out
with the remains of his army for Magdala. During this march
he displayed an amount of engineering skill in the construction
of roads, of military talent and fertility of resource, that excited
the admiration and astonishment of his enemies. On the after-
noon of the 10th of April a force of about 3000 men suddenly
poured down upon the English in the plain of Arogié, a few
miles from Magdala. They advanced again and again to the
charge, but were each time driven back, and finally retired in
good order. Early next morning Theodore sent Lieut. Prideaux,
one of the captives, and Mr Flad, accompanied by a native chief,
to the English camp to sue for peace. Answer was returned,
that if he would deliver up all the Europeans in his hands, and
submit to the queen of England, he would receive honourable
treatment. The captives were liberated and sent away, and
accompanying a letter to the English general was a present
of 1000 cows and 500 sheep, the acceptance of which would,
according to Eastern custom, imply that peace was granted.
Through some misunderstanding, word was sent to Theodore
that the present would be accepted, and he felt that he was now
safe; but in the evening he learned that it had not been received,
and despair again seized him. Early next morning he attempted
to escape with a few of his followers, but subsequently returned.
The same day (13th April) Magdala was stormed and taken,
practically without loss, and within they found the dead body
of the emperor, who had fallen by his own hand. The inhabit-
ants and troops were subsequently sent away, the fortifications
destroyed and the town burned. The queen Terunish having
expressed her wish to go back to her own country, accompanied
the British army, but died during the march, and her son Alam-
ayahu, the only legitimate son of the emperor, was brought to
England, as this was the desire of his father. The success of
the expedition was in no small degree owing to the aid afforded
by the several native chiefs through whose country it passed,
and no one did more in this way than Dejaj Kassa or Kassai of
Tigré. In acknowledgment of this, several pieces of ordnance,
small arms and ammunition, with much of the surplus stores,
were handed over to him, and the English troops left the country
in May 1868.

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On the retirement of Theodore's forces from Shoa in 1855, Siefu, brother of Haeli Melicoth, proclaimed himself negūs of Shoa at Ankober, and beat the local representatives of the northern government. The emperor returned, however, in 1858, and after several repulses succeeded in entering Ankober, where he behaved with great cruelty, murdering or mutilating all the inhabitants. Siefu kept up a gallant defence for two more years, but was then killed by Kebret, one of his own chiefs. Thus chaos again reigned supreme in Shoa. In 1865, Menelek, now dejazmach1 of Tigré, took advantage of Theodore's difficulties with the British government and escaped to Workitu, queen of the Wollo Galla country. The emperor, who held as hostage a son of Workitu, threatened to kill the boy unless Menelek were given up; but the gallant queen refused, and lost both her son and her throne. The fugitive meanwhile arrived safely in Shoa, and was there acclaimed as negūs. For the next three years Menelek devoted himself to strengthening and disciplining his army, to legislation, to building towns, such as Liché (near Debra-Berhan), Worra Hailu (Wollo Galla country), &c., and to repelling the incursions of the Gallas. On the death of Theodore (13th April 1868) many Shoans, including Ras Dargé, were released, and Menelek began to feel himself strong King John enough, after a few preliminary minor campaigns, to attains undertake offensive operations against the northern supreme princes. But these projects were of little avail, for

power.

Kassai of Tigré, as above mentioned, had by this time (1872) risen to supreme power in the north. With the help of the rifles and guns presented to him by the British, he had beaten Ras Bareya of Tigré, Wagshum Gobassié of Amhara and Tekla Giorgis of Condar, and after proclaiming himself negūs negusti under the name of Johannes or John, was now preparing to march on Shoa. Here, however, Menelek was saved from probable destruction through the action of Egypt. This power had, by the advice of Werner Munzinger (q.v.), their Swiss governor of Massawa, seized and occupied in 1872 the northern province of Bogos; and, later on, insisted on occupying Hamasen also, for fear Bogos should be attacked. John, after futile protests, collected an army, and with the assistance of Ras Walad Michael, hereditary chief of Bogos, advanced against the Egyptian forces, who were under the command of one Arendrup, a Dane. Meeting near the Mareb, the Egyptians were beaten in detail, and almost annihilated at Gundet (13th November 1875). An avenging expedition was prepared in the spring of the following year, and, numbering 14,000 men under Ratib Pasha, Loring (American), and Prince Hassan, advanced to Gura and fortified a position in the neighbourhood. Although reinforced by Walad Michael, who had now quarrelled with John, the Egyptians were a second time (25th March 1876) heavily beaten by the Abyssinians, and retired, losing an enormous quantity of both men and rifles. Colonel C. G. Gordon, governor-general of the Sudan, was now ordered to go and make peace with John, but the king had moved south with his army, intending to punish Menelek for having raided Gondar whilst he, John, was engaged with the Egyptians. A title variously translated. A dejazmach (dejaj) is a high official, ranking immediately below a ras.

(23) Menelek's kingdom was meanwhile torn in twain by serious dissensions, which had been instigated by his concubine Bafana. This lady, to whom he was much attached, had been endeavouring to secure the succession of one of her own sons to the throne of Shoa, and had almost succeeded in getting rid of Mashashä, son of Siefu and cousin of Menelek, who was the apparent heir. On the approach of John, the Shoans united for a time against their common enemy. But after a few skirmishes they melted away, and Menelek was obliged to submit and do obeisance to John. The latter behaved with much generosity, but at the same time imposed terms which effectually deprived Shoa of her independence (March 1878). In 1879 Gordon was sent on a fresh mission to John on behalf of Egypt; but he was treated with scant courtesy, and was obliged to leave the country without achieving anything permanent.

The Italians now come on the scene. Assab, a port near the southern entrance of the Red Sea, had been bought from the local sultan in March 1870 by an Italian company, Beginning which, after acquiring more land in 1879 and 1880, of Italian was bought out by the Italian government in 1882. Influence. In this year Count Pietro Antonelli was despatched to Shoa in order to improve the prospects of the colony by treaties with Menelek and the sultan of Aussa. Several missions followed upon this one, with more or less successful results; but both John and Menelek became uneasy when Beilul, a port to the north of Assab Bay, was occupied by the Italians in January 1885, and Massawa taken over by them from Egypt in the following month. This latter act was greatly resented by the Abyssinians, for by a treaty concluded with a British and Egyptian mission under Admiral Hewett and Mason Pasha 2 in the previous year, free transit of goods was to be allowed through this port. Matters came to a head in January 1887, when the Abyssinians, in consequence of a refusal from General Gené to withdraw his troops, surrounded and attacked a detachment of 500 Italian troops at Dogali, killing more than 400 of them. Reinforcements were sent from Italy, whilst in the autumn the British government stepped in and tried to mediate by means of a mission under Mr (afterwards Sir Gerald) Portal. His mission, however proved Egypt at the end of the year. In April 1888 the Italian forces, abortive, and after many difficulties and dangers he returned to numbering over 20,000 men, came into touch with the Abyssinian army; but negotiations took the place of fighting, with the result that both forces retired, the Italians only leaving some 5000 troops in Eritrea, as their colony was now called. Meanwhile John had not been idle with regard to the dervishes, who had in the meantime become masters of the Egyptian relieve Kassala, Ras Alula, his chief general, had succeeded in Sudan. Although he had set his troops in motion too late to inflicting a handsome defeat on Osman Digna at Kufit in September 1885. Fighting between the dervishes and the Abyssinians continued, and in August 1887 the dervishes entered

and sacked Gondar. After some delay, King John took the field in force against the enemy, who were still harassing the norththe dervishes, under Zeki Tumal, were beaten. But a stray west of his territory. A great battle ensued at Gallabat, in which The king died during the night, and his body fell into the hands bullet struck the king, and the Abyssinians decided to retire. of the enemy (9th March 1889).

(24) Immediately the news of John's death reached Menelek, he proclaimed himself emperor, and received the submission of Gondar, Gojam and several other provinces. In Menelek common with other northern princes, Mangasha, emperor. reputed son and heir of King John, with the yelloweyed Ras Alula, refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Menelek; but, on the latter marching against them in the following January with a large army, they submitted. As it happened, Count Antonelli was with Menelek when he claimed

The main object of this mission was to seek John's assistance threatened by the dervishes. in evacuating the Egyptian garrisons in the Sudan, which were

Ras Alula died February 1897, aged about 52. He had raised himself by his military talents from being a groom and private soldier to the position of generalissimo of the army.

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