ABYSSINl V. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



and onward to 44 of east longitude and 9" of 

 north latitude, tli.-n in a direct line to 4? of east 

 longitude and H of north latitude, and after that 

 follows tin- line fixed in the Anglo-Italian conven- 

 tion of May ">. 1H94, down to the sea. This boundary 

 conceded and transferred to Aliyssinia about 15.000 

 square miles of British Somaliland. a district in 

 which the British had not been able to protect the 

 Somalis from the raids of the Abyssinian*, who 

 carried their conquest- even beyond the new fron- 

 tier and were accii-tonied to baptize by force the 

 Mi'haininedan inhabitants. In the negotiations it 

 -tipulated that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, 

 the title given to Menelek, shall treat the people 

 well and provide them with an orderly government. 

 In return for the cession of the interior of British 

 Somaliland. cutting off that protectorate from the 

 British Kast A friean sphere. Menelek relinquished 

 to Great Britain his claim to a strip of table-land 

 about 4,000 square miles in extent on the south- 

 eastern Itorder of the protectorate. The rectifica- 

 tion of the frontier reduces the size of the elephant 

 reserve, recently constituted by the British authori- 

 Coneerning the Gal las in the south, who have 

 been forced to pay tribute to the Abyssinians, 

 though within the 'borders of British East Africa, 

 the treaty says nothing, nor concerning the rights 

 assumed* by" Menelek at the instigation of the 

 French and Russians to the equatorial provinces of 

 Ku'ypt as far as the shore of Lake Rudolf and the 

 Nile region. 



The French had ceiled to Abyssinia the greater 

 part of the Hinterland of their colony of Obok. 

 They had written engagements with Menelek, the 

 nature of which was not made public. The expedi- 

 tion of the Marquis de Bonchamps that was ad- 

 vancing across the Anglo-Egyptian sphere to the 

 upper Nile to join hands with the French expedi- 

 tions that were already in the former Egyptian 

 province of the Bahr el Ghazal, consisted of an Abys- 

 sinian force led by Frenchmen. Russian mission- 

 aries, teachers, and physicians went to Abyssinia, 

 and the Russian Red Cross Society organized a 

 hospital in Meuelek's capital. Count Leontieff 

 returned to liussia. and in the early part of 189b 

 arranged for the establishment of Abyssinian com- 

 mercial agencies at St. Petersburg. Moscow, and 

 other cities, and for the introduction of all kinds of 

 Ku ian goods in Abyssinia, in the hope of creating 

 a direct trade U-twcen the two countries. He also 

 shipped military stores to the Negus, some of which 

 were sei/.'d by the British customs authorities at 

 Xevlu. Then he joined Prince Henri d'Orleans at 

 Paris, and the two proceeded to Adis Alieba. taking 

 a force of Cossacks and Senegalese, with which 

 they set out for the equatorial provinces and the 

 Nile. The difficulties encountered on the way, if 

 not the obstacles created by Lieut. Harrington, 

 the British agent who was appointed to the court 

 of ihi- Kmperor Menelek. compelled them to re- 

 nounce this expedition. That of the Marquis de 

 Bonchamps likewise came to naught. 



The Marquis de Boiiehainps gave up his attempt 

 to join the Man-hand mission after passing through 

 th.- country of the Yanbos and reaching the White 

 Nile. <f Ins fore- of MO men i>0 were killed and as 

 many wounded. He made many treaties in the 

 name of the Kmperor Menelek w'ith native chiefs 

 whom he won away from British influence, but 

 was finally obliged to turn back, as his men were 

 i-i.-d and he had no boats to navigate the 

 river- ami very few provisions left. Prince Henri 

 d'nrli-Hiis prepared a new expedition for the com- 

 ing winter, which he intended to oondool through 

 Boot, independently of Omni I.eontietTand the iiu- 



MVoys from the NVu'U- Were received by 



President Faiire in July. The French began the 



construction of a railroad from Jibutil to Harrar 

 with the object of opening up trade with Ethiopia. 

 A more elaborate administrative organization was 

 introduced in French Somaliland. Hausa troops, 

 recruited in Dahomey, were sent to strengthen the 

 native force at Jibutil. The population of this 

 port had been increased by the railroad enterprise 

 from 85 Europeans and 4,000 natives in 1897 to 

 1,400 Europeans and 8,000 natives in 1898. Lieut. 

 J. L. Harrington arrived in Abyssinia in October to 

 enter upon his mission as British resident at the 

 court of Menelek. 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central Asia, 

 separating British India from Russian Turkestan. 

 The reigning Ameer, Abdurrahman Khan, was 

 placed on the throne by the British in 1880 after 

 they had expelled Yakub Khan and occupied 

 Cabul. The kingdom has a length of 600 miles 

 and an extreme breadth of 500 miles. The popula- 

 tion is about 4,000,000. The Amu Daria, or Ox us 

 river, forms the boundary between Afghanistan and 

 the Russian possessions up to its source in Lake 

 Victoria, whence the boundary follows a line east- 

 ward to a peak in the Sarikol range on the border of 

 Chinese Turkestan. The delimitation of the frontier 

 by British, Russian, and Afghan commissioners 

 established the fact that this southern arm of the 

 Oxus is the main stream, and consequently the 

 Afghans relinquished to Russia the khanates of 

 Roshan and Snignan, together with the main part 

 of the Pamirs. The boundary between eastern 

 and southern Afghanistan and the British sphere 

 has been demarcated in accordance with the Durand 

 agreement of 1893, with the exception of the section 

 between Asmar and the Khaibar. The Ameer 

 agreed that Chitral, Bajaur, Swat, and Chilas should 

 be included in the British political boundary and 

 conceded the British claim to Waziristan, while he 

 retained Asmar and the Kunar valley as far as 

 Chanak, with the tract of Birmal. Kafiristan, 

 which was acknowledged to be on the Afghan side 

 of the boundary, was afterward occupied by a 

 military force, and the inhabitants, who have their 

 own religious and social system, were thoroughly 

 subjugated. 



The Ameer levies taxes in kind, varying from a 

 tenth to a third of the produce in proportion to the 

 benefits of irrigation. He receives a subsidy of 18 

 lakhs of rupees per annum from the Indian Govern- 

 ment. With the aid of this subvention he has 

 revived the regular army, established after the 

 European pattern by Shere Ali, and maintains in 

 the neighborhood of Cabul, the capital, about 

 20,000 troops, including 2 field batteries, 6 mule 

 batteries, and an elephant battery. In his arsenal 

 rifled cannon, magazine rifles, and cartridges are 

 manufactured with European machinery under 

 the superintendence of an Englishman. Includ- 

 ing tribal levies the effective war strength of the 

 Afghan army is supposed to exceed 50,000 men. 

 The chief products of Afghanistan are wheat, 

 barley, rice, millet, peas, beans, maize, spices, nuts, 

 fruits of many kinds, which are preserved for ex- 

 port to India, the castor-oil plant, madder, and 

 asafetida, which are abundant in the wild state, 

 large quantities of the latter drug being exported, 

 iron. gold, and precious stones, and of manufac- 

 tured articles carpets, silk, felt, and sheepskin 

 garments. The principal imports are cotton goods, 

 sugar, indigo, and China tea. The chief exports 

 are \\ool, fruits and nuts, and horses. 



During the armed conflict of the Afridis and 

 oilier border tribes with the power of Great Britain 

 the Ameer suffered much loss and inconvenience 

 from the interruption of commerce and was placed 

 in a diflicult position, being unable to support or 

 aid either the tribesmen or the British Government 





