THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA. 



A 



ABYSSIMA, a monarchy in eastern Africa, 

 comprising the kingdoms of Tigre, Amhara, 

 and Shoa, and the provinces of Lasta, Waag, 

 Godjarn, and Kivara. The area is estimated at 

 200,000 square miles, and the population at 

 4,000,000. The reign ing monarch is the Prince 

 Kassai of Tigre, who was supplied by the Brit- 

 ish with arms when they left Abyssinia in 

 1868, after overthrowing King Theodore, and 

 who, under the name of King John, was pro- 

 claimed Emperor of Ethiopia in 1872, after 

 defeating the Prince of Amhara. The depend- 

 ent kingdoms of Tigre and Shoa have been 

 frequently in a state of rebellion against the 

 Negus, who resides in Gondar. 



The Italians at Massowah. The Italians in Feb- 

 ruary had constructed land and sea defenses, 

 and armed redoubts, with numerous heavy and 

 light guns. The garrison consisted of three 

 battalions, numbering 3,000 men. There were 

 besides Nubian Bashi-Bazouks, who served as 

 escorts to protect caravans from robbers. The 

 trade in hides and in ivory from the Soudan 

 was brisk. The Italians treated the natives 

 with consideration, and Gen. Gene, the com- 

 mandant, was friendly with the Hababs. 



Italian Mission to King John. Gen. Giorgio- 

 Pozzolini, accompanied by the Cavaliere Bardi 

 and Dr. Nerazzini, was dispatched in January 

 on a mission from the Italian Government to 

 the Negus. The Italian Cabinet hoped not 

 merely to establish friendly relations with King 

 John, but, through the possession of the sea- 

 port of Massowah, to acquire political influ- 

 ence and commercial ascendency in Abyssinia. 

 The embassy was empowered to negotiate for 

 the station of Keren in the mountains, which 

 would afford a healthful summer retreat for the 

 Italian soldiers. The concession offered in re- 

 turn was that no duty should be imposed on 

 exports from Abyssinia. The Italian envoys 

 set out for Abyssinia at a time when King 

 John had just returned from suppressing a re- 

 bellion. They bore a letter to Menelek, King 

 of Shoa, who is a vassal of the Negus, address- 

 VOL. xxvi. 1 A 



ing him as an independent sovereign, and ex- 

 plaining to him that the Italians had taken pos- 

 session of Massowah in order to assist the 

 English against the Soudanese. Menelek was 

 frightened at receiving this letter, and forward- 

 ed it to King John, who became enraged at 

 what he deemed an intrigue against his sov- 

 ereignty, and refused to allow the mission to 

 enter his territory. Captain Harrison Smith, 

 who visited the Negus soon afterward with 

 messages from the English Government, was 

 received cordially. 



Intercourse with Russia. The Russians turned 

 their attention to Abyssinia as a field for colo- 

 nial enterprise, and sought some bond of sym- 

 pathy with the rude form of Christianity ex- 

 isting there, for their ostensible motive. Free 

 Cossacks who aided in the Russian conquest 

 of the Transcaspian were encouraged to go to 

 Africa as pioneers of Russian influence. Some 

 enlisted under the successor of the Mahdi, while 

 the Ataman Ashinoff, who formerly had diffi- 

 culties with the Persian and the Turkish au- 

 thorities, went on an embassy with presents to 

 King John, and was well received. The Abys- 

 sinian Negus had made the first overtures for 

 an intimacy with Russia in order to seek a pro- 

 tection against the approach of Italy, or new 

 aggressions on the part of England or some 

 other power. He was disposed, also, to form 

 an ecclesiastical connection with the Russian 

 Church, with which the Coptic religion has a 

 closer affinity than with the churches of the 

 "West, with the object of introducing some of 

 the benefits of civilization with purer forms of 

 worship, and of emancipating his country from 

 Egyptian and Mohammedan influence incident 

 on the subordination of the Abyssinian Patri- 

 arch and clergy to the Patriarch of the Copts, 

 who is a subject of the Khedive. 



ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS, American diplo- 

 matist, born in Boston, Mass., Aug. 18, 1807 ; 

 died there, Nov. 21, 1886. Mr. Adams was 

 a grandson of John Adams, and son of John 

 Quincy Adams, Presidents of the United States. 



