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The National Geographic Magazine 



what happens every minute of the day at 

 the palace : Menelik, with his head band- 

 aged in a white shash, as it is called, a 

 sort of silk kerchief, and with a cheap 

 French felt hat with a large brim far 

 back upon his skull, is pondering with 

 some foreign minister over some political 

 problem of great importance to his coun- 

 try — let us say, the projected railway be- 

 tween the sea and Adis-Ababa. The Em- 

 peror is deeply absorbed in thought. 



Enters a servant, who whispers in the 

 Emperor's ear, regardless of the presence 

 of the foreign representative of a great 

 European country : 



''Your Majesty, the carpenter wants 

 some more nails to mend the veranda." 



"Here are the keys. Give him twenty 

 nails," says the Emperor. "If he needs 

 more, come again to tell me." 



The Emperor is again in deep thought. 

 Intruder number two comes up and whis- 

 pers that a mule has escaped from the 

 palace. 



The Emperor jumps down from his 

 throne — a high packing-case covered with 

 Oriental carpets — slips quickly into the 

 shoes which he has discarded, and hastens 

 to his telescope, scanning the country all 

 around with it, in order to see whether 

 the missing animal can be detected upon 

 the hills near Adis-Ababa. 



Xo signs being apparent of the Em- 

 peror's wish to resume the conversation 

 about the railway — the escaped mule be- 

 ing much more important to him than all 

 the railways in the world — the foreign 

 minister vainly attempts to drive the Em- 

 peror again to his throne. Attention is 

 called to the interrupted discussion. The 

 Emperor on his side endeavors to induce 

 the minister to come and look for the 

 mule. 



The subject of the railway is again 

 tactfully approached, and the conversa- 

 tion, thinks the minister, is proceeding 

 satisfactorily, when a fresh disturber 

 rushes in to inform His Majesty that the 

 machinery in the mint adjoining the pal- 

 ace has stopped ; so down goes the Em- 

 peror to see what has gone wrong, and he 

 cannot be removed from the workshop 



until the machinery is set going again. 

 He then calls for pieces of lump silver 

 and gold, and with his own hand amuses 

 himself in striking fresh coins, which he 

 then places in his pocket. 



Menelik, as a man/ is certainly one of 

 the most charming, thoughtful men I 

 have ever met, a fact one appreciates a 

 great deal when one remembers that his* 

 people — I am speaking of the Anharas, 

 or pure Abyssinians — are possibly as 

 mean, ungrateful, and abject as it is pos- 

 sible for men to be. There is with them 

 no real paternal, maternal, fraternal, mar- 

 ital, or any other kind of love, and all is 

 suspicion and treachery among them. 



Mr Landor gives the following enter- 

 taining account of a lunch with Menelik : 



At last, when the Emperor had finished 

 eating, the curtain was drawn. Before 

 me was one of the most impressive sights 

 I ever witnessed. The huge gates at the 

 further end of the hall were thrown open 

 and a flood of sunlight was projected 

 upon a stream of white figures entering 

 the building in a dignified and orderly 

 manner, all going to their respective seats 

 along low tables close together, occupy- 

 ing the entire hall. Each table was cov- 

 ered with five or six layers of flat breads, 

 the top layer being sprinkled copiously 

 with red sauce from large buckets which 

 servants conveyed to and fro. Tobasco 

 is mildly hot as compared with this red 

 sauce. 



At a top table near the platform on 

 which was the throne were seated the 

 older sub-chiefs and officers. At the 

 further tables were the soldiers. At the' 

 four tables on the left sat the officers'" 

 servants and followers. 



No one paid obeisance to the Emperor- 

 on entering, as all seemed to look upon 

 this feast as a right. In fact, a similar 

 feast was given by Menelik every Sun- 

 day to some or other of his people. 



All the men entered and sat themselves 

 down, proceeding at once to make a 

 hearty meal. Hundreds of huge pieces 

 of raw meat were passed round by at- 

 tendants, and each guest cut a chunk with 

 his knife and ate it, tearing at the raw 



