In Menelik’s Kingdom 
Dinner with the Emperor—A Stampede—Abys¬ 
sinian Mule Thieves and their Punishment 
By JOHN A. M. LETHBRIDGE 
Author of "An Afrikander’s Journal” 
(Continued from page 251.) 
A BOUT a week after my arrival at Addis 1 
was summoned by the Emperor to the 
palace, so putting on a dress suit, which 
by the way I had to borrow, for I had had no 
idea a dress suit would be necessary, I went with 
two other Englishmen to the palace. I have seen 
a good many sights in my life, but nothing like 
what I saw that day, and I shall never see it 
again. The Emperor Menelik was sitting on his 
throne, dressed in white, and wearing a soft, black 
felt hat. He had large solitaire diamond earrings 
in his ears and a large single stone diamond 
ring on his hand. On his left were all the 
ministers of the different nations in diplomatic 
uniforms, some of them with their breasts cov¬ 
ered with orders and medals, and on his right 
hand were his Ras, or chiefs. We were taken 
up one by one and presented to him. He asked 
me what I wanted in Abyssinia and what I 
thought of the country, and inquired after Mr. 
McMillan, and then our interview was at an 
end and I rejoined the others. There were 
present also hundreds of priests dressed in their 
glorious colored robes, who danced and chanted, 
and after they had finished we were told to go 
out into the gardens of the palace and amuse 
ourselves. The Emperor has two magnificent 
lions, the finest by far that I have ever seen, and 
't seems wonderful how they keep in such good 
condition, as their cage is quite small. After 
about an hour we were called to dinner to the 
same place. 
The Emperor still sat on the throne and we 
had a table to ourselves on his left where also 
sat General Abato, the commander-in-chief of 
the Abyssinian army. He conversed with us 
through an interpreter. Across the room were 
two enormous curtains and on these being drawn 
aside there was disclosed to our view an enor¬ 
mous hall full of soldiers, sitting down in rows, 
as tight together as they could be packed. Pres¬ 
ently slaves entered, carrying huge hunks of 
raw beef which they carried down the rows. 
The soldiers seized the meat with their teeth 
and cut off large pieces with their knives and 
presently all were eating. They also had large 
plates of Abyssinian bread and also about one 
pint each of tedge—the local spirit made from 
honey. This spirit is extremely strong and 
heavy and has to be taken with caution. When 
these soldiers had finished eating, the large doors 
at the further end of the hall were thrown open, 
these men let out, the doors closed again, and 
those at the side opened, and a fresh lot let in 
to be treated in the same manner, and while this 
was going on we were eating a European dinner 
of about eight courses and drinking champagne 
and claret. We sent word to the Emperor that 
we should consider it an honor to be allowed 
to drink his health, which he permitted, and we 
did so, standing. 
A rather amusing thing happened at dinner. 
I was telling General Abato what very beautiful 
women I thought the Abyssinians were and I 
said, in course of conversation, “Well, just look 
at that one,” pointing out one of the servants 
who was waiting at the table; “she is simply 
magnificent.” Pie burst out laughing and an¬ 
swered me through the interpreter that the 
woman was a eunuch. The error was quite ex¬ 
cusable, as It was very good looking and had of 
course a treble voice and no hair on the face. 
Directly dinner was over we made our adieus 
to the Emperor and departed. 
Addis-Abbeba has a first rate polo ground and 
a good race course, also a steeplechase course 
with grown fences which boasts of a grand 
stand and everything necessary. This is due 
of course to the sporting tastes of the European 
community. The Emperor is very keen about 
racing and generally has ponies taking part in 
the races. One Sunday I took part in some 
clay pigeon shooting sweepstakes. Those par¬ 
ticipating were mostly people belonging to the 
different legations. We had great sport and I 
was particularly lucky in winning all the events 
but one and that I tied. I had not shot clay 
pigeons for years and it must have been pure 
luck or else the others shot very badly. 
Having now everything ready I secured my 
passports, and with a letter under the Emperor’s 
seal, started on my return journey. I loaded 
a good many mules lightly with barley, as I in¬ 
tended feeding a little grain at night and morn¬ 
ing so as to enable me to travel fast. My cara¬ 
van consisted of forty-two Abyssinians, four 
Somalis and four various, and for the first two 
days it was hard work arranging things. A 
large number of live stock requires a good deal 
i 
at 
: 
ve 
of attention, but we soon got things into shape. 
At night I had all the animals tied in two long 
rows by the head and one fore foot—the latter 
is the method usually employed in the East— 
and put on a proper horse guard, which was 
relieved every two hours. At Balgy, with the 
aid of a present of an automatic pistol and 100 
cartridges, I had no trouble in passing the cus¬ 
tom house; in fact, they never counted my stock 
at all, but presented me with a glass of tedge 
after having first drank some out of the glass. 
This is an Abyssinian custom to show that the 
glass of liquid is not poisoned. Backsheesh is 
a very potent factor in Abyssinia and I find that 
in most countries it goes a long way. 
We made our marches as long as possible and 
were enabled to do this by constantly changing 
our riding and pack animals. On our way we 
picked up the three mules I had left. They 
were much improved and had evidently not been 
used and so I gave the old man, with whom I 
had left them, a good present. I had also left 
with him two bottles of whiskey and one of 
brandy and about these I certainly had doubts, 
but my suspicions were quite unfounded. 
Mohammed, my interpreter, had all along been 
a source of great annoyance to me, quarreling' 
with everybody and not doing a stroke of work. 
He was always asking for money, saying it was 
for food for the men, and on several occasions 
I caught him cheating me. When in Addis he 
made himself such a nuisance that I very nearly ; 
left him behind and would have done so, but that 
the other Somalis begged me to overlook it, ex¬ 
plaining that if I left him he would be unable 
to get back to his home. I forgave him, but 
told my personal servant, Sahid, that he was , 
now head man and that I looked to him to see 
that everything went right. He only answered, 
“Mohammed very bad Somali boy; big cheat and 
liar.’ 
During my stay at Addis I had engaged 
an Abyssinian boy who could talk a little Eng¬ 
lish. He had been in the employ of the British 
legation and understood a little of the ways of 
an European. He always rode with me, carry¬ 
ing either my gun or rifle, but the latter he 
would insist on keeping in its case and several 
times lost me good shots at buck, being unable 
to get it out quickly; but talk or swear, I never 
could alter this. At Addis I had managed to 
borrow a shotgun and 200 shot cartridges, so 
I was well fixed. 
We did not follow exactly the same road on 
our return, but went a little more to the north¬ 
east, as that road was not so rough. Each man 
led five horses or mules, and on a narrow rocky 
trail this is no easy job. On reaching the 
Hawash, we had a good deal of trouble. There 
were two camel caravans on the other side also 
