THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA. 



A 



ABYSSINIA (Arabic, H&besK), an empire 

 in Eastern Africa, consists of the three former 

 kingdoms of Amhara, Shoa, and Tigre. It has 

 an area estimated at 158,392 square miles, and 

 a population of from three to four millions. 

 The inhabitants are mostly Ethiopian Chris- 

 tians, but there are many Mohammedans in 

 the towns, the most important of which are 

 the following : Adoa, with a population vari- 

 ously estimated at from 3,500 to 10,000 inhab- 

 itants; Aliya Amba, 2,500 ; Aouzienne (Tigre), 

 2,000; Dixan (Sarae), 2,000; Gondar, 5,000 to 

 12,000; Methemmeh, 1,200 to 5,000; Mota 

 (Godjam), 3,000; Tchelenkot (Tigre), 3,000; 

 Kurata has become the most important town 

 since the destruction of Gondar.* The soil of 

 Abyssinia is exceedingly fertile ; but the pop- 

 ulation is subject to exorbitant taxes and con- 

 tinued plundering, and thereby reduced to 

 wretched poverty. 



The great interest which the civilized world 

 has for several years taken in Abyssinia has 

 nearly come to an end with the close of the 

 English expedition. The Emperor Theodore 

 II., whose life and tragic death have been 

 narrated in the preceding volumes of the AN- 

 NUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, was, by his superior states- 

 manship and barbaric energy, on the point of 

 consolidating the incongruous tribes which in- 

 habit that country into one, of creating an 

 Abyssinian nationality, and of securing for his 

 country a recognized rank among the nations of 

 the earth. No more conclusive proof of the ex- 

 ceptional ability of Theodore could be given, 

 than a comparison of his administration with 

 the Anarchy into which Abyssinia is now re- 

 lapsing for want of a man who can follow in 

 his footsteps. In fact, the whole history of 

 Abyssinia from December, 1868, to October, 

 1869, the date of our latest advices, has been 

 an uninterrupted civil war. Three princes are 

 aspiring to the inheritance of Theodore. Kas- 



* For a fuller account of the topography of the country 

 see AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1868. 

 VOL. ix. 1. A 



sai, Prince of Tigre, who last year concluded 

 friendship with Sir Eobert Napier, keeps at 

 his court at Adoa two German missionaries, 

 asd an English officer, Colonel Kirkham, who 

 renders Mm important services as instructor 

 of his army ; and he intends, as soon as his 

 troops shall have been well drilled, to begin a 

 campaign against Gobazie, the ruler of Amhara, 

 and Menilek, the Prince of Shoa, the former of 

 whom last year caused himself to be proclaimed 

 Emperor of Ethiopia. The occasion for this 

 imminent war has* been furnished by the ex- 

 pected arrival of a new Abuna, or head of the 

 Abyssinian Church, who, as usual, is sent by 

 the Coptic Patriarch of Cairo, and for the re- 

 ception of whom Kassai has sent an embassy 

 to Egypt with costly presents. Gobazie dis- 

 putes with his neighbor the possession of the 

 Abuna, who generally resides in Amhara ; for 

 it is the privilege of the Abuna to crown the 

 Emperor of Ethiopia. 



Prince Kassai, one of the three competitors 

 for the throne, has abolished the slave-trade, 

 and the export and import duties. His chiefs 

 have been ordered to assist foreign merchants. 

 Kassai has also established a market for foreign 

 goods at Adoa, and offers large tracts of un- 

 cultivated land for the culture of cotton, coffee, 

 indigo, and sugar. 



The people of Abyssinia are so well aware 

 of the great loss which their country has suf- 

 fered by the death of Theodore, that they have 

 begun to venerate him as a saint. The Ger- 

 man missionaries in Abyssinia report that 

 thousands of pilgrims visit his grave, where a 

 number of miracles are said to have occurred. 

 A greater influence, however, upon the desti- 

 nies of Abyssinia, than by the* miracles of St. 

 Theodore, is likely to be exercised by the prog- 

 ress which neighboring Egypt cannot fail to 

 make in consequence of the opening of the Isth- 

 mus of Suez. 



There still are in Abyssinia a few distin- 

 guished Europeans who hold a high position. 

 A German naturalist, Wilhelm Schimper, who 



