ABYSSIXIA. 



3 



bazyo advanced as far as the middle of the 

 camp, but there he was surrounded and cap- 

 tared, and his troops were partly taken prison- 

 ers and partly dispersed. Tlie victory of Kas- 

 sa was not expected by the Abyssinians. Even 

 the Catholic missionaries who lived in the ter- 

 ritory of Kassa, had looked upon the downfall 

 of Kas ja as certain, and a letter of the mission- 

 ary bishop, found with Gobazye, showed that 

 the missionaries had represented to Gobazye 

 the occupation of Kassa's territory as an easy 

 matter. la consequence of this discovery, 



i at once expelled the missionaries, demol- 

 ished their houses and churches, and perse- 



1 the natives who had joined the Roman 

 Catholic communion. After this victory Kas- 

 sa was by tar the most powerful chief in Abys- 

 sinia. At the beginning of 1872 he was crowned 

 at Axum, as Emperor and King of kings of all 

 A'pyssiuia. Many of the petty chiefs refused, 

 however, to recognize his authority. The 

 most powerful among them were Aba Kaissi, 

 the son-in-law of Dr. Schimper, and Welde 

 Jesus. The former, a robber-chief of great 

 temerity, was conquered after three armies 

 had been sent against him. Their combined 

 operations drove him into the Bogos country, 

 a district north of Abyssinia, and formerly con- 

 nacted with it, but which for about a hundred 



i had been independent. From there he 

 was again expelled by the Egyptian^, who an- 



1 this country to their empire. Aba 

 Kai ssi was confined by the Egyptian Govern- 

 ment in Mas.sowah, but returned after a time 

 to Abyssinia, in order to begin his robber-life 

 anew. Soon, however, finding himself sur- 

 rounded on all sides by enemies, he resolved to 

 surrender voluntarily to his mortal enemy, 



i, who kept him as a prisoner. The 

 war ug.iirnt the second opponent of Kassa, 

 \Veldo Jesus, was more difficult. He was 

 th ruler of a district, had a small but well- 

 drilled army at his disposal, and was experi- 

 enced in guerrilla warfare and in the laying of 

 ambushes. At one time Kassa himself had a 

 narrow escape. Finally, he succeeded in de- 

 feating him, after having bribed most of his 

 adherents. Weldo Jesus fled to the Asoba 

 Gallas, a tribe at that time independent of 

 K .1^:1. Thus the latter crushed out the rebel- 

 lion in his own province, Tigrfi, and now pre- 



i for the subjection of the other provinces. 

 In the winter of 1872-73 he undertook an ex- 

 Iie'lition against the Asoba Gallas, who at first 

 hoped to conciliate him by killing his opponent 

 a-id their guest, Welde Jesus, but soon found 

 out that Kassa would not be satisfied with any 



: short of the annexation of their country 

 t'> his dominion. A most bloody war ensued. 

 The Asn!i.-i (rallos castrated all the adherents 

 of Kassa who fell into their hands, and, in re- 

 turn, Ivmn, when ho was victorious in a deci- 

 lire bottle, ordered all the prisoners, to the num- 

 ber of abaut 500, to be killed. Then the Asoba 



M siib'iiin.'d tn th kiriL', :m<\ sent th"ir 

 chiefs with tributes and presents to Adowah. 



Their total population is about 100,000, and 

 they can muster 6,000 horsemen, well armed 

 with lance, sabre, and shield. 



Another tribe of the Gallas, the Wolla Gal- 

 las, who thus far had maintained some kind of 

 independence under their princess Mestiata of 

 Shoa, have been subjected by Menelek, King of 

 Shoa. Menelek is descended from an ancient 

 dynasty which derives its origin from Solo- 

 mon and the Queen of Sheba. Until recently 

 he was at least as powerful as Kassa, and for 

 some time it was expected that he was his 

 rival for the supreme power. Ras Woronya, 

 who, after the capture of Gobazye, made 

 himself ruler of Amhara, made the plan to 

 crown Menelek as Emperor of Gondar, the 

 ancient capital of the kingdom of Amhara, the 

 possession of which is still looked upon as in- 

 dispensable for an Abyssinian emperor. To 

 thwart this plan, Kassa, at the beginning of 

 the present year, undertook an expedition 

 against Gondar, which Ras Woronya in union 

 with Atlaba Bum, a former general of Kassa, 

 but now a rebel, in vain endeavored to ob- 

 struct. Kassa. without any serious encounter, 

 reached and occupied Gondar, where Ras Wo- 

 ronya paid his homage to him. Another rebel- 

 lion, which was attempted by Ras Woronya 

 after a few days, was promptly defeated ; Kas- 

 sa spared, however, the life of the conquered 

 enemy. Thus ho had complete control of 

 TigrC and Amhara. As the first Abyssinian 

 ruler, he continued to reside in Tigrfi, although 

 the Amharans are the predominant race which 

 for about five hundred years has been in the 

 ascendency over the degenerate Semitic Tigr6 

 race, the descendants of the ancient Ethio- 

 pians. 



In 1872, reports from Egypt represented a 

 war between that country and Abyssinia as 

 imminent, in consequence of the annexation 

 of the Bogos country, which had formerly been 

 a part of the Abyssinian dominions, to Egypt. 

 These reports appear to have been gross exag- 

 gerations. At the beginning of 1873 the Catho- 

 lic missionaries, who had obtained permission 

 from Kassa to return to Abyssinia, endeavored 

 to persuade the Khedive to abandon the pos- 

 session of Bogos in favor of Kassa ; the Khe- 

 dive, however, preferred the advice of Mun- 

 zinirer, who hastened to Cairo to counteract the 

 missionaries who were supported by the diplo- 

 matic influence of France. The Bogos coun- 

 try has since been organized by Munzinger, and 

 no hostility whatever has taken place between 

 Abyssinia and Egypt. 



It is an interesting fact that, while Kassa is 

 actually as well as by name the Emperor aud 

 the King of kings of Abyssinia, the chief of 

 the ancient deposed dynasty is allowed to re- 

 tain also the title of Atsye (Emperor). The 

 present representative of this dynasty, Atsye 

 Johannes, lives without means and without a 

 party, at the ancient capital, Axum. He re- 

 mains unmolested, and is looked upon as en- 

 tirely harmless. 



