ABYSSINIA. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



Mussa el Akkad, a rich Arab merchant who 

 served as a magistrate under the Italian author- 

 ities at Massowah, and Achmed Kantibai, chief 

 of the Hababs, the tribe of Mussulman Abyssin- 

 ians who earliest accepted Italian dominion and 

 subsidies. These two were in communication 

 with both Mangascia and Osman Digma, who 

 made ready to crush between them the main 

 force of the Italians after the Habab chief had 

 surprised and massacred the Massowah garrison 

 by night and seized the arms and fortified po- 

 sitions. The accidental arrest of a messenger in 

 a drunken brawl and the discovery of a letter 

 that he awkwardly tried to conceal, written by 

 Kantibai to Ras Mangascia. led to the discovery 

 of the plot. Many persons were arrested, and 

 the two head conspirators were tried by court- 

 martial and condemned to death. 



The Italo-Abyssinian Treaty. The treaty 

 concluded by the Italian plenipotentiary with 

 Menelek on May 2, 1889, and ratified on Sept. 

 #9, 1889, contains twenty articles. Each of the 

 contracting parties can be represented by diplo- 

 matic representatives and consular agents, who 

 shall enjoy the same privileges and immunities 

 that are accorded among European powers. 

 Each government was to appoint two boundary 

 commissioners to survey and mark out the 

 frontier, which should follow in general the edge 

 of the northern plateau, leaving Halai, Saganeiti, 

 and Asmara in Italian territory, extending to 

 the country of the Bogos at Adi Nefas and Adi 

 Johannis, arid conform to a line drawn due east 

 from Adi Johannis. Caravans entering Ethio- 

 pia must pay a uniform duty of 8 per cent, of 

 the value of the goods imported. Arms and 

 ammunition can be imported through Massowah 

 only for the Emperor of Ethiopia and by his 

 order. The subjects of either contracting 

 power are at liberty to travel or settle or to buy, 

 sell, rent, or hire with the same rights as na- 

 tives in the territory of the other, and will en- 

 joy the complete protection of the Government ; 

 but armed bands are strictly prohibited from 

 crossing the frontiers. The subjects of each 

 state in the territory of the other shall have 

 complete freedom in the exercise of their re- 

 ligion. Quarrels and differences arising between 

 Italians in Abyssinia shall be settled by the 

 Italian authorities in Massowah, and differences 

 between Italians and Abyssinians shall be ad- 

 justed by the same tribunal or by delegates of 

 the Italian and the Ethiopian authorities. The 

 property of a subject of either power dying in 

 the territory of the other must be delivered over 

 to the authorities of the country to which he be- 

 longs. An Italian accused of a crime must be 

 tried before an Italian tribunal, and an Abys- 

 sinian before an Abyssinian tribunal. Each 

 power promises to deliver up fugitives from 

 justice. The Negus Negusti engages to sup- 

 press the slave trade with all his power and to 

 allow no slave caravans to pass through his ter- 

 ritories. The treaty is binding on the whole 

 Ethiopian Empire. Either contracting power 

 may suggest alterations in the treaty at the end 

 of five years, having notified the other power 

 twelve months previously, except in regard to 

 established territorial rights. The Negus Ne- 

 gusti of Ethiopia agrees to make use of the 

 Government of the King of Italy as his inter- 



mediary in all dealings with other powers or 

 governments. If the Negus desires to confer 

 upon the subjects of another state special privi- 

 leges in trade or industry, Italians must always 

 be given the preference under like conditions. 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central 

 Asia, lying between Russian Turkistan and 

 British India. The reigning Ameer is Abdur- 

 rahman Khan, a son of Afzal Khan and grand- 

 son of Dost Mohammed Khan. The country is 

 divided into the four provinces of Cabul, Tur- 

 kistan, Herat, and Candahar, each of which is 

 ruled by a hakim or governor. The districts of 

 Badakshan and Wakhan have likewise separate 

 governors at present. Abdurrahman has at- 

 tempted to re-establish, in addition to the feudal 

 levies, the regular army on the European model, 

 that was introduced by Shere Ali after his visit 

 to India in 1869. 



Area and Population. The northern 

 boundary of Afghanistan was determined and 

 demarkated by the Anglo-Russian Afghan 

 Boundary Commission. It follows the Oxus 

 from the Pamir Plateau to Khamiab Saleh, 

 whence the line was drawn in a southwesterly di- 

 rection to Zulfikar, and thence south to Kuh 

 Malik-i-Siah, a mountain southeast of the river 

 Helmund. On the south the country is con- 

 terminous with British Beloochistan. On the 

 east the Indian Government has been engaged in 

 subjugating the mountain tribes of the Zhob 

 valley and the Wazin country and in extending 

 its influence in Kafiristan,*Chitral Swat, and 

 other districts between the Hindu Kush and 

 Cashmere and in the upper part of the valley of 

 the Indus that formerly were regarded as a part 

 of Afghanistan. The subjects of the Ameer 

 number about 4,000,000 people, divided into 

 tribes that are often at feud with one another. 

 Of the Ghilzais, the largest tribe dwelling south- 

 east of Cabul, there are at least 1,000,000. The 

 Tadjiks, who pursue agricultural or industrial 

 occupations and are scattered among the other 

 tribes, are supposed to be of Persian origin. The 

 Duranis inhabit the country northwest of Cabul. 

 The Airnakhs and Hazaras, who live in the 

 mountains further north, show strong marks of 

 Tartar descent. 



Agriculture and Commerce. The Ameer 

 demands a tax of from 10 to 30 per cent, of the 

 produce of the land, according to the amount of 

 irrigation. In the greater part of Afghanistan 

 two crops are grown in the year, one of wheat, bar- 

 ley, or legumes, followed by an autumn crop of 

 rice, millet, panic grass, or Indian corn. The cas- 

 tor-oil plant, madder, and asafcetida grow abun- 

 dantly, and large quantities of the last-named 

 product are exported to India. Preserved fruits 

 are exported extensively, and fruit, in both the 

 fresh and the preserved state, forms the staple 

 nourishment of a large proportion of the 

 people. Apples, pears, quinces, apricots, plums, 

 cherries, pomegranates, grapes, figs, and mul- 

 berries are exceedingly abundant. The chief in- 

 dustrial products are sheepskin postins, felt car- 

 pets, silks, and rosaries. The exports from 

 Cabul to India, consisting of asafoatida, horses, 

 madder, fruit, ghi, and raw silk, amounted in 

 1888-'89 to 19 lakhs of rupees; the imports 

 from India, consisting of cotton goods, indigo, 

 sugar, and tea, were valued at 52 lakhs. 



