AFRICA. 



AGOULT, COUNTESS D'. 







amounting to about 6,000, upon the King, 

 to be paid by Juno 1st. The King refuseu 

 to pay the fine, inviting the British to visit 

 A homey, his capital, where he promised to 

 pay the demand in powder and bullets. The 

 British in consequence blockaded the ports 

 of I:iliomey, thus preventing any supplies 

 from reaching the natives. The King in re- 

 taliation blockaded the paths into the interior, 

 and imprisoned a number of whites residing 

 at Whydah. 



In May, the Sultan of Zanzibar entered into 

 a treaty with Great Britain to suppress the 

 slave-trade in his dominions. He rigidly en- 

 forced this treaty, and in consequence was 

 troubled with a rebellion among the tribes in 

 the interior, which he, however, succeeded in 

 quelling with the aid of the British. 



The difficulty between Zanzibar and Egypt, 

 on account of the occupation by the latter 

 power of five ports on the Indian Ocean be- 

 longing to Zanzibar, was settled by the with- 

 drawal of the Egyptian troops in February. 

 This act of McKillop Pasha, the Egyptian gen- 

 eral, was disavowed by the Khedive. 



The advances of Egypt into the interior of 

 Africa received a decided check. Fighting con- 

 tinued during the year, and the Abyssinians 

 appeared to be successful. King John of Abys- 

 sinia was also troubled during the year by re- 

 volts of native chiefs, incited by the Egyptians, 

 which greatly impeded his operations against 

 the latter. (See ABYSSINIA.) 



The attempts to restore the disordered 

 finances of Egypt to a sound basis did not 

 meet with the expected result. The relations 

 of the Egyptian Government to its subjects in 

 the Soudan continued to be of the most friend- 

 ly character. The native tribes, not subject 

 to the jurisdiction of Egypt, also sought the 

 friendship of the latter power. M'tesa, the 

 chief ruling on the north shore of the Victoria 

 N'yanza, and the ruler of the Somauli country, 

 sent embassadors to Cairo. (See EGYPT.) 



An insurrection broke out, in the early part 

 of the year, among the native tribes of Al- 

 geria, which, however, was suppressed in a 

 very short time. (See ALGERIA.) 



The Empire of Morocco was disturbed dur- 

 ing July by an insurrection among the Ghitan 

 tribe, who refused to furnish their usual mili- 

 tary contingent. An extraordinary mission 

 was sent by the Emperor to France and Italy 

 during the year, in order to negotiate commer- 

 cial treaties. (See MOROCCO.) 



Quite a tumult was caused among the Jews 

 of Tunis by the murder of one of their number 

 by a Mohammedan. Order was restored by 

 the immediate execution of the offender, and 

 through the personal efforts of the consuls, to 

 whom the Bey had given satisfactory guaran- 

 tees. During the month of March an attack 

 was also made upon the consular judge of 

 Italy, which for a time caused considerable 

 excitement. During the year the Government 

 coiuimssiouod M. Krantz, a French engineer, 



to provide for Tunis a system of railroads to 

 connect with the railroads of Algeria. (See 

 TUNIS.) 



The war in Liberia between the Government 

 and the native tribes was brought to a success- 

 ful close in April by the intervention of the 

 United States. The war was followed by 

 financial difficulties, which embarrassed the 

 Government considerably. 



The Britisli dominion in Africa was again 

 enlarged during the year, by the purchase of 

 the island of Socotra, in the Indian Ocean, 

 from its native prince, adding 1,382 square 

 miles, with 3,100 inhabitants, to the British 

 territory in Africa. (See SOCOTRA). 



During the months of July and August, 

 Commodore Ilewett undertook an expedition 

 against the negroes living on the shores of the 

 Niger. These negroes, who had formerly done 

 a profitable business in bringing the native 

 products down to the coast in their canoes, 

 and who had lost this carrying-trade entirely 

 through steamers which were sent up the 

 river, made several attempts to stop the Eng- 

 lish trade. A large number of vessels were 

 attacked by them, among them the King of 

 Masafa, which was almost completely de- 

 stroyed. In order to put a stop to these depre- 

 dations, Commodore Ilewett, on July 29th, set 

 out on an expedition against the negroes, hav- 

 ing with him about one hundred sailors and 

 marines. He met with the first resistance on 

 July 31st. Effecting a landing under the cover 

 of his gunboats, he succeeded in completely 

 defeating the negroes, losing one dead and 

 fourteen wounded in the affair. On August 

 2d he again defeated the negroes, and pressing 

 on reached Omitoha, 170 miles from the month 

 of the river, on August 5th. Here the com- 

 modore had a long interview with the chief, 

 and as no further disturbances were to be ex- 

 pected the expedition returned, destroying on 

 its way a village, the inhabitants of which had 

 blocked up the river. 



During the month of August disturbances 

 arose among the native tribes on the Gaboon. 

 The French authorities immediately blockaded 

 the jiiouth of the river, and dispatched troops 

 to restore quiet. 



AGOULT, MARIE CATHERINE SOPHIE DE 

 FLAVIGNY, Countess d', a French authoress, 

 better known under the nom de plume of Daniel 

 Stern, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1805; 

 died March 6, 1876. She was the daughter of 

 the Vicomte de Flavigny, a French nobleman, 

 who, during the emigration of the French 

 princes, married Marie Bethmann, the daughter 

 of one of the richest bankers in Frankfort. 

 She received her first education in the con- 

 vent of the Sacred Heart, married the Count 

 d'Agoult in 1827, and after that passed several 

 years in traveling through Switzerland, Italy, 

 and Germany. Her first literary productions 

 were a series of pleasing novels, "Herve 1 ," 

 "Julien," "Valentia," and "Nelida," which 

 appeared from 1841 to 1846 in the Press*. 



