ABYSSINIA. 



AFiiHANISTAX. 



\i-ral villages. Lieut. Sapelli, 



with a f : ^ :ai Askaris. captured ly sur- 



the fastness of Ainl>a IVIira with a loss of 14 

 killed. This ended <he fighting against Ras Sebat. 

 The Italians evacuated 

 Adigrat IK? fore the mid- 

 dle of May. and before the 

 end of that month all the 

 Italian prisoners in Tigre 

 and I . delivered 



up. The expeditionary 

 force returned to Eritrea 

 and the Italian troops rap- 

 idly re-embarked for home, 

 leaving only the normal 



complement t 

 tect the colony. The plan 

 adopted by the Govern- 

 ment with regard to Eri- 

 trea was to have two : 



wah and Zula. and 

 two intrenched cam; - 

 mara and Senafe, which 

 serve as outlets to the pla- 

 teau. Between these dif- 

 ferent points communica- 

 tion will be made easy by 

 means of g 

 railroads. Tlu 

 of Eritrea are to be devel- 

 oped by agricultural colonization and by a large 

 immigration. A colony of settlers that "had been 

 .ished by Government aid on the plateau near 

 felassi had been broken up by the war. These 

 colonists were glad to return to Italy, for they had 

 suffered many privations from alternate droughts 

 and floods, locust plagues, and the death of their 

 farm auiuials. 



M; ; - . when he went in April to reopen 



iations with the N - detained as a 



: the return of the letters in which the 



preliminary proposals of Menelek had been made. 



Gen. Baldissera returned the letters and made no 



further overtures at the time, considering the peace 



_ ' iations to have been broken off by Menelek. 

 Pope Leo XIII dispatched Monsignor Macaire in 

 May with a letter beseeching Menelek to liberate 

 the Italian prisoners. Out of respect for the Pope 

 of them were sent back. The prisoners were 

 treated by the Xeirus and tl. 'an people 



with kindness, even with hospitality. They were 

 suffered to go at lar-re and to earn their living. 

 Nevertheless hundred* of them died, owing to the 

 climate and the privations that they underwent. 

 Menelek continued to receive arms from Europe so 

 ady fur a renewal of hostilities. A cargo 

 of 30.000 rifles was captured by an Italian cruiser 

 on the Dutch steamer "Doelwyk." Caravans with 

 arms and ammunition were accustomed to p; - 

 cretly from the French port of Jibuti into Sin -a. 

 The Russians manifested their sympathy with 

 Abyssinia by sending a par 



nurses, physicians, and others, including a number 

 of military officers, who landed at Obok after being 

 denied permission to enter Abyssinia from 3! 

 wah. Russian agents used their influence to per- 

 suade Menelek to accept the terms of peace that 

 were offered by Italy. 



In August Gen. Baldissera sent Gen. Valles to 

 treat for the relief of the prisoners and for a 

 peace advantageous to both Italy and Ethiopia. A 

 month later a peace was arranged on the basis of 

 a definite delimitation of the colony of Eritrea, 

 within the limits of which the Italians must confine 

 their operations. The Italian Government agreed 

 to pay 2.000,000 lire as compensation for the susten- 

 ance of the prisoners. 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central 



.iling British India from Russian Turkestan. 



The reigning Ameer is Abdurrahman Khan, who 



1 on the throne by the British in July, 



THE MAIS STREET OF OBOK. SOMALILAND. 



when they occupied Cabul. the capital. The 

 throne is hereditary in the Durani dynasty, founded 

 by Ahmad Shah in 1747. The population is about 

 4.000.000, composed of Ghilzais and Duranis. who 

 are of Afghan blood : Tajiks, who are descendants 

 of t) - who were dominant under the for- 



mer dynasty of Xadir Shah : Hazaras and Aimaks, 

 sprung from the Tartar conquerors who followed 

 Gengis Khan and Timur: Uzbegs. of more distinct 

 Turcoman race : and the Pathan tribes in the south, 

 with remnants of other i supposed to be 



of Jewish origin and some the descendants of colo- 

 nies left by Alexander the Great. 



The country is divided into the four provinces of 

 Cabul. Turkestan. Herat, and Candahar, each of 

 which has its hakim or governor. The loose feudal 

 n that formerly prevailed has given place, un- 

 der the strong rule of Abdurrahman, to a better 

 centralized and organized government. The Ameer 

 has revived the regular army of Shere Ali. and es- 

 tablished an arsenal at Cabul. where cannon, rifles, 

 and ammunition are manufactured under tl 

 perintendence of an English engineer. Sir T. Salter 

 Pyne. at the rate of 10,000 Snider and 10.000 Mar- 

 tini cartridges and 15 rifles a day. and 2 field guns, 

 with all equipments, and 2 quick-firing guns a week. 

 Various peaceful industries are carried on with 

 modern machinery in the Ameer's workshop-, where 

 3.000 persons are employed. There is a mint that 

 turns out 120.1 mo i .-. >ins a day. 



Fi minors. The Ameer a : venue, formerly esti- 

 mated at ?.12!i.ooo rup-t.-s bm now of variable 

 amount, is derived from a land tax. paid in kind, 

 ranging from a tenth to a third of the produce, ac- 

 cording to the amount of irrigation. lie receives a 

 subsidy from the Indian Government, which in 

 .vas increased from 1.2io.OOO rupees to 1,800,- 

 000 rupees a year. 



Trade. The exportable products are silks, wool, 

 sheepskin garments, felts, rugs, preserved fruits, 

 asafu'tidn. hor- - and nuts. The imports 



from India consist of cotton goods, sugar, i; 

 and China tea. Their value declined from 4.-V.'- 

 rupees in If 395, .'id the value of 



the exports to India from 2.086.000 to 1.527.000 ru- 

 le with Russian central Asia and 

 Bokhara during the same period has grown rapidly. 



