THE EMPRESS ' 105 



and commerce, suspects — and with reason — the often 

 repeated assurances of cb'sinterestedness of some of the 

 self-styled friends of Abyssinia. When young, she is 

 said to have been a strikingly handsome woman, even 

 among the Princesses of Simien, famed for their beauty 

 and fairness of skin ; even now, although somewhat too 

 stout according to our ideas of ideal feminine propor- 

 tions, she still retains good features and an iniperious 

 carriage. 



