AFRICA. 







0. I!. of i!i" Uoyal 

 .if this compilation rt to- 



information on tin- routes in 



which i> ^-altered through tlu- work* of 

 This information ha* been 



arranged in tin- following order : (icn.T.d de- 

 ..,' the country ami of the different, 



is by which it can he entered. Short out- 



f tin- natiiivof tin. 1 government, the ro- 



: and character of tlio inhabitants, the 

 currency, the military system of the country, 

 and tli. 1 career and character of the pr 

 Knijicror, Theodore. Inference to the Portu- 

 litioii of 1541, and to the places of 

 entrance into the country which have been 

 adopted by travellers since the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. Detailed account of the routes leading 

 from Ma<io\vah and Annesley Bay to Gondar 

 and Magdula. Extracts from works of various 

 travellers bearing upon the different lines of 

 roads. A map, compiled from the records of 

 travellers, is given at the end. The orthogra- 

 phy of names of places, etc., in Abyssinia is so 

 indefinite, hardly any two travellers agreeing, 

 that it has been found impossible to avoid, in 

 all cases, discrepancies of spelling between the 

 maps and the text. Abyssinian villages and 

 towns appear to be often of a temporary nature, 

 and those recorded by one traveller are often 

 not mentioned by the next one who follows the 

 same route ; some of the places laid down may, 

 therefore, be no longer in existence, and others 

 may have sprung up. The data, also, for lay- 

 ing down many of them are of very doubtful 

 accuracy. 



iilCA. The most notable event i the 

 political history of Africa during the year 

 18G7, is the complication between King The- 



, of Abyssinia, and the English Govern- 

 ment. As all the efforts made by the latter for 

 the release of the British captives proved fruit- 



. i expedition against Abyssinia was fitted 

 out in the Hast Indies. The first troops sailed in 

 October, and the remainder in the months of 

 November and December. At the close of the 

 year, the march of the advance brigade into the 

 interior had barely commenced, but the prospect 

 for a speedy success of the expedition seemed to 

 be favorable. It is expected that the chief result 

 of the Abyssinian expedition will be the estab- 

 lishment of closer relations between Abyssinia 

 and the great countries of Europe. If the state- 

 ments of the British captives can be relied 

 upon, Abyssinia was, throughout the year, the 

 scene of a civil war, which took a turn very 

 unfavorable to the King. (Sec AIIY--IM \. ) 



Of the native governments of Africa that of 

 Egypt is the only one which seeks unrestrained 

 intercourse with the civilized countries of Eu- 

 rope and America. Railroads, canals, and tel- 

 egraphs are pushed forward with great vigor, 

 and on his visit to France and Kngland, in. the 

 course of the year, the Viceroy gave repeated 

 assurances of his desire to introduce reforms. 

 The work on the Suez Canal has sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to enable the Company to charge itself 



with the conveyance of goods from tin- Medi- 

 terranean to the Ked Sea, and both th. 

 IK!I and the French Governments availed them- 

 of th" facilititv- thus offered. (SfceK<;vrr. ) 



A contention between the (^iicen of England 

 and the KiiiL r of the Netherlands \\,r an 

 change of territory on the west coast of Africa 

 was signed at London on the nth of .March. 

 The convention n-cit.-s that the interchange 

 would conduce to the mutual advantage of the 

 two powers, and would promote the interests 

 of the inhabitants of the territory. The Queen 

 of England cedes to the King of the Nether- 

 lands all British forts, possessions, and rights of 

 sovereignty or jurisdiction which she possesses 

 on the Gold Coast to the westward of the mouth 

 of the Sweet River, where their respective ter- 

 ritories are coterminous; and the King of the 

 Netherlands makes a like cession to the Queen 

 of England of the Dutch forts, possessions, 

 and rights of sovereignty or jurisdiction to the 

 eastward of the mouth of the Sweet River. 

 The tariff to be enforced after the 1st of Janu- 

 ary, 18G8, in the possessions of the two powers 

 upon the Gold Coast, imposes a three per cent, 

 ad valorem duty on the invoice price of all 

 goods except beer, wine, spirits, tobacco, gun- 

 powder, and fire-arms, for which specific duties 

 are provided. If the customs-officers consider 

 the value of goods declared by the masters of 

 vessels insufficient, they are to be at liberty to 

 take the goods on public account, paying to the 

 importer the amount of his valuation, with the 

 addition of ten per cent, thereon. 



The state of Tunis was considerably agitated 

 by insurrectionary movements, one of which 

 was joined by Sidi-el-Adeen Res, the youngest 

 brother of the Bey, and a young man of amia- 

 ble manners but moderate intelligence. The 

 hereditary prince, Sidi Ali Bey, succeeded at 

 the close of September in effecting his capture 

 with the aid of only a small force. In the 

 latter month of the year Tunis was suffering 

 from a terrible famine. 



Morocco, at the beginning of the year, se- 

 verely suffered from a scarcity, of corn, and the 

 government consequently forbade the exporta- 

 tion of all kinds of grain for six months, from 

 January to July, after which time it was again 

 allowed. The Government, which seems to bo 

 well-intentioned, had great trouble to restrain 

 the persecution of the .lews, and the plundering 

 propensities of the Moors on the sea-coast. 



The English and French territories in Sene- 

 gambia were, this year, freed from one of their 

 most troublesome enemies, the warrior-chief 

 Mabba, who, besides imperilling the European 

 settlement, has been for six years a fearful 

 scourge among the native tribes. Mabba, in 

 1861, was a chief of but little importance in the 

 kingdom of Baddiboo; he was, however, a 

 stanch Mohammedan, and, watching his oppor- 

 tunity, in that year ho rebelled against his pa- 

 pin king, put him to death, and assumed the 

 supreme rule of the country. With fire and 

 sword he established tho religion of Islam, kill- 



