I02 The National Geographic Magazine 



tation, if we consider only a contest be- 

 tween either France or England on the 

 one side and Abyssinia on the other ; 

 but if these great Powers were them- 

 selves at war, then the naval supremacy 

 of England, operating from a great for- 

 tified sub-base such as Aden, would prob- 

 ably control and paralyze the Jibuti 

 terminal of the French railwa5^ 



But taxed as is Great Britain now, it 

 does not seem probable that this 500-mile 

 extension will be undertaken at a very 

 early date. So far as the peace of the 

 civilized world and the continued inde- 

 pendence of the Abyssinian are con- 

 cerned, it seems probable that a continu- 

 ation of the state of unpreparedness on 

 the part both of France and England 

 should serve best these ends of peace. 

 To subsequently maintain at about equal 

 point of advantage the facility which 

 either of these great nations might have 

 for making war upon, with, or through 

 the xAbyssinians would prolong the na- 

 tional life of this interesting people, who 

 occupy in barbaric style one of those 

 splendid stretches of the earth's surface 

 which mu.st ever tempt the daring Euro- 

 pean, driven forth as he is by a blind 

 racial instinct — driven forth to combat 

 and to push away the specter that Mal- 

 thus raised. 



Could you have been with me in 

 marching over the devastation marking 

 the as yet unconquered Bollasa region 

 into the Sudan, where only a few months 

 before the blood of the d}ang calipha 

 had cemented the foundations of peace ; 

 could you have seen there the small but 

 happy beginnings of well-ordered vil- 

 lages and the contented submission of 

 these black and wayward children of the 



desert and their obedience to the firm, 

 wise rule of the English officer, recall- 

 ing the unchanging stor}^ of almost un- 

 ending tribal war, 3'ou would feel very 

 nearh'' convinced that, if indeed peace 

 and order be good for the lowly devel- 

 oped peoples of the world, this good 

 will be earliest attained by the sacrifice 

 to some such gi"eat policing power as 

 Great Britain of an independence which 

 ever has meant native tyranny. 



But we must remember also that dis- 

 asters which read terror into our blood 

 but furnish in part the needed excite- 

 ment to give some value to the crusta- 

 cean lives of these rude people. 



Passing one da}' through the ruins of 

 a village marked b}' broken pottery ves- 

 sels and grinding-stones, my grinning 

 guide explained that here he had lived 

 some few 3'ears ago; the village had 

 been attacked by Mahdists or slave- 

 traders, he seemed scarcely to know or 

 care which, and he had lost his hut, 

 three wives, and one or two children, 

 himself escaping into the close-pressing 

 bush. " But," said he, with the philoso- 

 phy which made me poor in his compar- 

 ison, "I now have another hut, other 

 wives, and other children," and he 

 laughed good-naturedly. Absolutely the 

 only care at that time in the mind of this 

 simple savage was a desire to get loose 

 from the caravan in order that he might 

 return to the hulk of a hippopotamus 

 which I had shot two days before. 

 Could he but secure that black carcass 

 for himself and his small village, life 

 would have no other cares — today, to- 

 morrow, and even next week would be 

 provided for. Cotild more be asked of 

 Heaven ? 



