ABYSSINIA. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



of the Abyssinians. While the Somali field force 

 was being organized and trained an Anglo-Indian 

 expedition set out from Kismayu to punish the 

 southern Ogaden Somalis for the murder of an 

 English official (see EAST AFRICA). The influ- 

 ence of the Mad Mollah had penetrated to this 

 remote quarter, and his complicity in this crime 

 was suspected. 



The Somalis are an intelligent, athletic, warlike 

 race, supposed to be Gallas by descent, modified 

 by a large admixture of Arab blood. Along the 

 entire coast known as Somaliland they have 

 pushed back the Gallas and gained the predomi- 

 nant position of controlling the outlets to the sea 

 and possessing a monopoly of the trade from 

 the interior. They are proud and conceited, and 

 believe that if they were supplied with rifles as 

 the Abyssinians have been they would become a 

 powerful nation. Under European training they 

 make excellent soldiers. The Mad Mollah pro- 

 fessed friendship for the English until some of 

 his adherents plundered a hunting expedition and 

 captured many rifles which he was unwilling to 

 restore. The Somali weapons are long-shafted 

 spears with leaf-shaped heads, javelins which 

 they throw with accuracy to a distance of 40 

 yards, and double-edged, sharp-pointed, curved 

 swords. The army that Mohammed Abdullah had 

 collected for the jehad or holy war that he pro- 

 claimed against Christianity was estimated at 

 40,000 men. He had obtained 3,000 rifles of vari- 

 ous patterns, and was well supplied with am- 

 munition. His cavalry numbered about 8,000, and 

 were the most formidable part of the force, 

 mounted as they were on the Somali horses, that 

 can cover 75 miles without water. 



When communication was established between 

 the British and Abyssinian forces both advanced, 

 the Abyssinians along the Fafan river after con- 

 centrating at Gabro, the British from Burao to 

 Ber and El Dab, from which place the camel 

 corps and mounted infantry made a rapid night 

 march through the desert and on May 29 sur- 

 prised the Madoba and Jama tribes, capturing 

 2,800 camels and 5,000 oxen and sheep that were 

 intended as supplies for the mollah, whose scouts 

 were encountered at Assura on June 2. The 

 mollah meanwhile made a flank march and at- 

 tempted to recapture the animals from the zareba 

 at Somala, where he was repulsed by Capt. Mac- 

 Neill, losing several hundred men. Col. Swayne, 

 an officer possessing more knowledge of the So- 

 malis and their ways than any other Englishman, 

 and who had made an efficient force of his Somali 

 recruits, equal in many respects to the best Euro- 

 pean soldiery, delivered an attack on the mollah's 

 troops as they were returning to their camp at 

 Yahel, taking them by surprise. When they 

 turned, the camel corps and mounted troops 

 pressed them and with hot rifle and mitrailleuse 

 fire emptied many saddles. The .mollah and his 

 troops made good their escape, although pursued 

 for 40 miles. On June 3 the Somalis made an- 

 other attack on Capt. MacNeill's zareba with 

 3,000 cavalry and 2,000 spearmen, pressing on in 

 close order and almost succeeding in their effort 

 to penetrate the zareba in spite of the hail of rifle 

 and Maxim balls that killed over 400 of their 

 number, while on the British side only 10 men 

 were killed and 9 wounded. The faith of the 

 Somalis in the religious mission and supernatu- 

 ral powers of the mollah was broken by the result 

 of these engagements. The Jamas, who had borne 

 the brunt of the last fight, made their submission, 

 and many of the Dolbohantis deserted to the 

 British, who had trained men of their own kind 

 to win victories when outnumbered a dozen to 



one. The Abyssinian army arrived at Gerloguby 

 on June 11 and aided in confining the mollah to 

 the Dolbohanti country, whence he was driven 

 into the country of the Mijertain Somalis, the 

 last to join his standard. The Abyssinians were 

 able to march 20 miles a day for any length of 

 time, but when the food that they brought with 

 them was exhausted they could not find subsist- 

 ence for their great number in so poor a country. 

 They attacked tribes that had submitted to the 

 mollah, but in the end were compelled to return 

 to their own country in a thoroughly exhausted 

 condition. The force of Col. Swayne was capable 

 of dealing with the mollah, whose prestige was 

 destroyed, and whose army was reduced to about 

 2,000. Operating from Burao, the British force 

 routed Abdullah on July 17 near Hassan Ughaz, 

 and drove the remnant of his army into the Haud 

 desert. The British force included a contingent 

 of Indian troops, and the Somalis of Col. Swayne 

 had been taught to shoot as well as Euro- 

 pean troops, whereas the rifles in the hands of 

 the mollah's men were almost useless. Never- 

 theless they fought courageously and killed or 

 wounded 2 British officers and 32 men, losing 70 

 killed and many wounded. The mollah's camp 

 and live stock fell into the hands of the British, 

 and he disappeared in the Mijertain country, his 

 power and influence utterly destroyed. 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central 

 Asia, lying between Russian Turkestan and Brit- 

 ish India. The Ameer, Abdurrahman Khan, who 

 was enthroned in 1880 by the British after they 

 had occupied Ca- 

 bul, the capital, 

 and driven out 

 Yakub' Khan, 

 son of Shere Ali, 

 the preceding 

 Ameer, died Oct. 

 3, 1901. Since 

 1880 the Indian 

 Government has 

 paid an annual 

 subsidy first 

 1,200,000 rupees 

 and in 1893 in- 

 creased to 1,800,- 

 000 rupees to 

 enable Abdur- 

 rahman to con- 

 solidate his 

 kingdom and 

 preserve a 

 strong, united, 

 and independent 

 Afghanistan as a 

 buffer state be- 

 tween India and the Russian dominions. The 

 area is about 215,400 square miles, with 5,000,- 

 000 inhabitants. Every eighth man is drafted 

 into the Ameer's army, which has a strength of 

 over 60,000. The regular paid troops garrison- 

 ing Cabul, Herat, Candahar, and Afghan Turkes- 

 tan numbers 37,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry, 

 with 360 pieces of artillery. Silks, sheepskin gar- 

 ments, carpets, fabrics of camels' and goats' hair, 

 felts, and rosaries are manufactured. Fruits, in- 

 cluding apples, pears, almonds, peaches, quinces, 

 cherries, grapes, pomegranates, apricots, figs, and 

 mulberries, are abundant and are exported in the 

 preserved state. Asafetida, madder, and castor- 

 oil are exported. Rice, millet, maize, wheat, bar- 

 ley, and legumes are cultivated. Copper, lead, 

 iron, and gold are mined in primitive fashion, and 

 in Badakshan lapis lazuli and precious stones are 

 obtained. The imports of Cabul from India were 



HABIBULLAH KHAN, 

 AMEER OF AFGHANISTAN. 



