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CHAPTER XIX.

A WAR-LIKE DEMONSTRATION AGAINST ABYSSINIA.

AFTER I reached Suakin, I determined to visit Massowah. The Egyptian steamer Hedjaz touched at Suakin on the 17th of July, and I embarked for Massowah the following day. The run of over 300 miles to southward was through a sea of flame, whose influence had no soothing effect upon skin and bones already peeling and aching from my recent tortures. In Suakin I had been informed that Massowah was "within a quarter of an hour of h-1;" but long before I reached that molten harbor I perceived that my friend's watch must have been fifteen minutes too slow; and there I made up my mind that the East India officers are right when they say, "Bombay is a stove, Aden a furnace, and Massowah, h-l fire.”

I had no sooner touched shore than I passed into the Mouderieh of Munzinger Bey, and asked to see His Excellency.

"He is not here," said the Wakeel, inviting me coldly to a seat.

I sat down, and the personage handed me the mouth-piece of his hubble-bubble, and then I supported, from all sides, the volume of interrogatories which are always a part of the traveler's misery; for the sitters around were aware that I had been traveling in the Soudan, though I did not think it proper to state to these excellent persons for what reason I had visited that part of Abyssinia. I told the Wakeel, after he had accorded me a second of repose, that I was very anxious to see the Governor, and would leave Massowah for his camp at once if he would indicate the means. He then failed to respond to any further questions, and behaved in such an uncivil manner that I rose, and, with a faint bow, left the room. I perceived that there was "something in the wind." Nettled by the slight and oppressed by the terrible heat, I walked about chewing the cud of my disappointment, when I overheard some ships' hands discussing the departure of troops in vague terms of war, conquest and annexation of Abyssinia. I had heard enough. I went on board ship, and resolved to find out the names of several Europeans in Massowah, and to visit them the following day. In the meantime I had gathered a few general details, carefully ar

ranged them and assimilated them, until I had the outlines of a story. My informant shall be nameless, for, on the morrow, I was supplied with the fullest particulars. Armed with my little mental stock I called upon one of the gentlemen, and immediately broke the ice by saying

"I am charmed to make your acquaintance, sir. I called particularly to discuss with you this important invasion of Abyssinia. The movement must alarm the Christian Powers. It is, sir, in the light of all particulars, a most extraordinary affair."

The gentleman was astonished. Where could I have learned any thing? He hesitated. "Yes," I repeated, "I feel assured that the news will make a profound sensation in the Christian world."

He closed his doors, and then with him and other authorities, whose credibility was beyond all dispute, I went over the whole plot that was to reduce Abys sinia to Mohammedan vassalage, and her fine race to piratical bondage.

Let us make a retrospect. Since the time of Loyala, the Jesuit Fathers have ever held a footing of more or less security in Abyssinia. At times their spiritual influence has waned and again it has overshadowed the throne of the descendants of

Sheba. The ductility of the Abyssinian chiefs to the subtleties of Europeans has long been both unfortunate and famed, and the powerful sway upon the civil doctrines of the State, so often exercised by the company of Jesus, has been dangerous to its homogeneity, productive of civil wars and weakening to the energies of the people. Protestant missionaries, fascinated by the same temptations, but without the same skill in execution, have likewise done their share for the misery of Abyssinia. Consuls, merchants, traders and adventurers, have been equally culpable; and it was with some pride that I found myself at Massowah-the seaport, the New York of Abyssinia — affirming that I had never experi enced the slightest fever to wear the crown so rudely torn from the brow of Theodorus. It is a land of wretchedness, because it is the theatre of vain ambi tions a country where every man is an aspirant for the throne, and every motive in favor of a conspicuous chief ready to rush to arms to scatter plunder to his followers. If it be the Switzerland, it is also the Mexico of Africa.

When a resolute, priest-hating man like Theodorus came into power, he was an easy victim to the German who became the chief of the executive

power. It was this statesman who informed the dead despot that they had prisons and guillotines in Europe, and that they were used there as they should be among the African hills to make dungeons and cut off men's heads. The minister was an exemplar. His infamy produced Magdala and accomplished the disruption of the country, and therefore I doubt if the English victory bore such good fruits after all. It taught the Abyssinians to respect, fear and listen to the European, and that signifies being victimized to the last degree. From what I heard at Massowah, it seems to me that Theodorus would have administered military justice if he had shot several of his most unscrupulous prisoners and had set the rest at liberty. His death left Abyssinia in the direst confusion, and the British triumph inspired the plotters and counterplotters with a sudden hope that the royal purple might sanctify a thousand ardent aspirations for the crown. The choice was narrowed down to two men-General Goubasse who reigned in Amhara, and Prince Cassah, who rose with sudden strength in the great Tigré province, and won the popular heart by his piety and the general enthusiasm by his valor. These two men came to battle. General Goubasse marched and countermarched. His 10,000