94 



The National Geographic Magazine 



The third region is that into which 

 one descends in the neighborhood of 

 Wombera, and where one finds, after a 

 very few days' march from the foot of 

 the mountains, the beginning of the 

 characteristic Nile scenery. The coun- 

 try is flat, covered for the most part 

 where neglected, with the mimosa, which 

 here grows to a considerable height, al- 

 though it is a very near relative of the 

 stunted thorn bush, familiar on the 

 Somali plains. The palm, however, 

 and a number of other good wide-spread- 

 ing trees of the fig family appear to re- 

 lieve the ugliness of tree-life. I shall 

 not be able now to describe in any de- 

 tail the splendid physical features which 

 impress one on passing over the great 

 plateau and in crossing the Nile, the 

 Tchencha, the Bolassa, and other inflow- 

 ing streams. 



It will be sufficient to sa}^ that the 

 western part of Abyssinia upon which I 

 am now able to report to the civilized 

 intelligence is a beautiful region, quite 

 as attractive as an}^ of the alread}^ known 

 portions of the Abyssinian plateau. 



As to the peoples met with, they were 

 the Somali, already familiar to travelers; 

 Abyssinians, about whom much has been 

 said and of whom I shall give some of 

 my impressions; the subservient Galla, 

 the Agaa, the Shankali, the Sudanese, 

 and the Shinasha, a small but interesting 

 tribe, unknown, I believe, until this 

 journey was made. 



The great part which the Sudanese 

 have pla3^ed in the drama of modern 

 Egyptian history is already known. 



The Somali is not likely to attract the 

 world's attention in any great degree, 

 as he is now quietly subject to a British 

 protectorate in the country back from the 

 Berbera and Zeila coast and to a F'rench 

 protectorate in the small region around 

 Jibuti. There are, perhaps, not more 

 than half a million, and man}^ of these 

 are becoming more or less civilized by 

 reason of the influence of the coast towns. 



What struck me particularly in British 



Somali Land was the fact that three 

 Englishmen constituted the whole white 

 force engaged in the business of this pro- 

 tectorate. There are some East Indian 

 assistants and a few East Indian troops, 

 thirty-five or forty in all. There are 

 some Greek, Armenian, and East In- 

 dian merchants in Berbera and Zeila. 

 The control seems to be largely a moral 

 one, so far as direct influence is con- 

 cerned, based on a clever handling of 

 the tribal chiefs, who are kept in the 

 coast towns as "justices of the peace," 

 but in reality as hostages. 



MENELEK. 



Of the Abyssinians, Menelek is the 

 greatest, not because he is the king, but 

 he is the king because he is the great- 

 est. He is emperor of the Abyssinians 

 by virtue of having conquered a great 

 many difficulties, most of which ^aelded 

 onl)^ to the sword or rifle. He is not of 

 that pure Semitic stock which some thou- 

 sands of years ago seems to have come 

 over first and to have later received re- 

 inforcements, from time to time, across 

 the Red Sea* from Arabia, and even from 

 Judea. His father was of a kingly familj^ 

 that professes to trace its ancestry to a 

 union between Solomon and the Queen 

 of Sheba. Our accepted authorities in 

 respect to Solomon do not mention this 

 particular amour, but that may have 

 been merely overlooked bj^ time. 



Menelek' s mother was a woman of 

 low origin, and it ma}^ be that this cross- 

 ancestry, while depriving him of the 

 pure, finely chiseled facial type which 

 many of his nobles have, and giving 

 him the negroid face instead, may have 

 added something of vigor, since we know 

 that to be too pure-blooded means some- 

 times to be thin-blooded. One may fairl}' 

 say that, while having ihe advantage 

 of noble paternit}^, Menelek has fairly 

 fought his way to power. 



He is eagerl}'' curious to see all new 

 things that Europeans have painfully 



