140 THEODORE II. AND THE 



scene between the Dey of Algiers and the convicts, so humorously 

 told by M. Raffenel, in his Voyage au Senegal. The refractory mis- 

 sionaries were not decapitated, but simply placed under arrest, and 

 their servants put in irons, so that, to save themselves from dying of 

 hunger, they declared their readiness to attempt the work. Two of 

 them had some mechanical knowledge. A Polish deserter, formerly 

 an artilleryman, made a model for them ; and the emperor came to 

 Gafat in person to be present at the first trial which succeeded, that 

 is to say, the shell went off and burst in the air. The Negus returned 

 home very much agitated, without saying a word, and made a first 

 distribution of favours to his apostolic-founders, with a liberality that 

 attested the impression produced upon his mind. 



Serious events soon came in the way to draw him off from these secondary- 

 objects of interest. The campaigns directed in 1855 by the Negus, first against 

 the OuoUos, then against Tigre and Negousie the pretender to the empire, htsA 

 excited attention in Soudan and even in Egypt. Said Pacha who was just thea 

 engaged in his triumphal progress through Soudan, appears for a moment to haye 

 entertained an inclination to invade Abyssinia, and measure his strength agaiaafe 

 the new emperor. Pretexts were not wanting. The Egyptians retained some 

 sympathy for Oubie, a peaceful neighbour, who had been succeeded by a more 

 restless and less manageable government. Moreover, Theodore had probably 

 launched forth some of the bravadoes in which he impolitically indulges ; and 

 besides, there was a fear, justified by the event, of persecutions against fcha 

 Abyssinian Mussulmans. Nevertheless, an Egyptian aggression under the then 

 existing circumstances would have been accounted a gratuitous act of violence, 

 and Europe could not have seen it with indifference. Accordingly, the Consuls 

 General ar Alexandria, decidedly put their veto upon it. The Pacha much 

 annoyed, declared that Soudan had no value to him except as an open door to 

 Abyssinia — and that since he was not permitted to enter by it he would diaoir- 

 ganise Soudan. He kept his word. The capital founded by Mehamet Ali &t 

 the conference of the two Niles is no longer anything else than a nest of bankrupt 

 elave merchants. Said was obliged to confine himself to sending as ambassador 

 to the Negus the spiritual head of the Egyptian christians, Abouna David, in 

 order to obtain some guarantees of peace on the frontier, and security for the 

 Mussulmans of the interior. 



David arrived at Devra-Tabor in December 1856. The first interview was by 

 no means friendly. The Negus with that feverish distrust which is the most 

 conspicuous trait in his character, could not conceive that a christian prelate could 

 come to him under the patronage of a mussulman prince, and imagined that u. 

 Mahometan must be disguised as the Patriarch. He asked him dryly whether 

 it was devotion to the Christian cause, or obedience to Said Pacha which had 

 brought him to Abyssinia. The conduct of the Abouna justified the opinion of 

 Theodoi'e. David openly carried on even in Abyssinia the trade in Galla slaves. 

 He did not at first comprehend the haughty and absolute spirit with which he 



