THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA. 



A 



ABYSSINIA, an empire in eastern Africa, 

 known also as Ethiopia. The ruler, whose title 

 is Negus Negusti, meaning King of Kings, is 

 Menelek II, born in 1842, originally King of Shoa, 

 who established himself on the throne, with the 

 aid of arms furnished by the Italians, after 

 his predecessor, Johannes II, had been slain in 

 -a battle with the dervishes of the Egyptian 

 Mahdi. Menelek signed on May 2, 1889, the 

 treaty of Ucciali under which Italy laid claim 

 to a protectorate over the whole of Abyssinia, 

 which claim was abandoned after the defeat of 

 an Italian army at Adowa, and in the convention 

 of Adis Abeba, signed Oct. 26, 1896, the inde- 

 pendence of Abyssinia was recognized by Italy, 

 and Abyssinia recognized as Italian territory the 

 country north of the Mareb, Belesa, and Muna 

 rivers and a strip of coast 180 miles broad in 

 front of the Abyssinian tableland. The Govern- 

 ment of Abyssinia is feudal, each ras, or gov- 

 ernor, ruling his province and having his sepa- 

 rate military force. The regular army, consist- 

 ing of these contingents, numbers about 150,000 

 men, all of whom should be mounted, and many 

 of whom now carry, instead of spear and shield, 

 the Gras rifles surrendered by the Italians or 

 imported magazine rifles. At Adis Abeba, his 

 capital, the Negus Menelek has 7 batteries of 

 field-artillery and revolving cannons which were 

 captured at Adowa. The area of Abyssinia is 

 estimated at 150,000 square miles, the population 

 at 3,500,000. The people rear cattle, sheep, and 

 goats and cultivate barley, dhurra, wheat, hops, 

 and tobacco for their own consumption. Hides 

 and skins, civet, coffee from wild shrubs, gum, 

 wax, ivory from the Wallega and Galla coun- 

 tries, and some gold are exported. Iron is mined 

 by the natives and forged into knives, axes, and 

 spears. American cotton cloth is the largest arti- 

 cle of import. The imports at Harar in 1900 

 were estimated at 3,822,650 and exports at 2,691,- 

 000 Maria Theresa dollars. The French have 

 constructed a railroad from the port of Jiboutil 

 to Harar, 186 miles. Harar is a town of about 

 30,000 inhabitants, mostly Mohammedan, situ- 

 ated on an exceedingly fertile plateau. The rail- 

 road is destined to draw all the trade of eastern 

 Abyssinia to Jiboutil, depriving the British port 

 of Zeila of the share it now has and taking away 

 much of the trade of Aden. Before the railroad 

 was finished an international syndicate, com- 

 posed in part of English capitalists, obtained a 

 large interest in its affairs. The French Gov- 

 ernment, jealous of foreign influence, determined 

 to keep the control of the line in French hands 

 ^ind prevent the construction of a branch line 

 to Zeila, as proposed by the British members 

 VOL. XLII. 1 A 



of the syndicate. Accordingly an arrangement 

 was made on Feb. 6, 1902, whereby the colony 

 of Jiboutil, with the approval of the French 

 Government, agreed to guarantee interest on the 

 company's capital to the amount of 500,000 

 francs per annum. To enable the colony to carry 

 out this agreement the French Chamber voted 

 to grant to Jiboutil an annual subvention of 

 200,000 francs for fifty years. 



Eventually the French railroad will be built 

 through to Adis Abeba, the Abyssinian capital. 

 Jiboutil will be made a first-class naval station. 

 Harar products sent over the railroad to Jibou- 

 til are exempted from all duties excepting the 

 tithe, which is levied on all crops. British con- 

 cessionaires have obtained from Menelek the 

 right to work gold-mines on the banks of the 

 Baro river. The telegraph to connect Adis Abeba 

 with Massowah was begun in the summer of 

 1902. In June Ras Makonen, the nephew of the 

 Negus and his principal general, went to England 

 with Col. Harrington, the British diplomatic rep- 

 resentative in Abyssinia, and M. Ilg, Menelek's 

 Swiss minister, to represent the Negus at the 

 coronation of King Edward VII. Subsequently 

 he paid a visit to the French capital. About the 

 same time the Abyssinian metropolitan, Abuna 

 Mateos, went to St. Petersburg to emphasize the 

 connection between the Abyssinian and the Greek 

 Orthodox Churches, and later to Constantinople 

 to secure the recognition by the Sultan of the 

 Abyssinian Church as an independent body. The 

 adherents of the Abyssinian Church at Jerusalem 

 have hitherto come under the Armenian Patri- 

 arch, since the Coptic creed is nearly allied to the 

 Gregorian. In their claim for ecclesiastical in- 

 dependence they have been supported by Russia. 



ADVENTISTS. I. Advent Christians. 

 The Advent Christian Association and General 

 Conference of America in 1900 adopted a Decla- 

 ration or Concise Statement of its Fundamental 

 Principles, in which, after expressing its belief 

 in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as 

 held by the orthodox churches generally, it set 

 forth its distinctive doctrine of " conditional im- 

 mortality " to the effect that man. created for 

 immortality, had forfeited this birthright by sin, 

 in consequence of which death had passed upon 

 all the world; and that men could become par- 

 takers of the divine nature and live forever only 

 through faith in Jesus Christ; that death is a 

 condition of unconsciousness to all. which will 

 remain unchanged until the resurrection at 

 Christ's second coming, when the righteous will 

 receive everlasting life and the wicked will be pun- 

 ished with complete extinction; and that salva- 

 tion is free to all who in this life and age will 



