ABYSSINIA, a country in Eastern Africa, area about 155,000 square miles; population variously estimated at from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000.*

The successor of Theodore II. as King of Abyssinia. Prince Kassa, who assumed the title of Johannes, King of the Kings of Ethiopia,' has been entirely unsuccessful in his efforts to subject the whole of Abyssinia to his rule. The King of Shoa, Menelek, has always remained independent. A new expedition was, in 1875, undertaken against him by King Johannes; but, while the latter was on his way to Shoa, a nephew of the late King Theodore, Ledj Ubie, placed himself at the head of the numerous malcontents, and by rapid military operations conquered the wealthiest provinces of Central and West Abyssinia (Dembea, Koara, Begemeder, Vogara, Sakalt), and took possession of the important fortress of Vokhamba.

Even more dangerous to Abyssinia than these civil wars is the irrepressible progress of the Egyptians. The Abyssinians have looked with alarm and distrust upon their Egyptian neighbors ever since the troops of Mehemet Ali pushed their conquests to the Abyssinian frontier in pursuing the Mamelukes. Abyssinia is now almost powerless to defend herself against her neighbor, who is gradually drawing in upon her from all sides. All the roads which connect Abyssinia with the seacoast pass through Egyptian territory. The road from the western provinces on the Blue Nile goes partly by Senaar to Khartoom, the capital of the Soudan; the remaining and largest part passes by Gallabat and Kassala to Suakim, on the Red Sea. The principal road from Central Abyssinia, Amhara, and Tigré, ends at Mussowah, the chief harbor of Abyssinia on the Red Sea, which has now for three hundred years been under Turkish rule. From the fertile districts of Southern Abyssinia, too, the roads leading to the Indian Ocean have been in

Continued from ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1973. VOL. XV.-1 A

Turkish hands since Egypt occupied the Somali coast in 1874. All these facts are well known to the Abyssinians, and are not calculated to give rise to a friendly feeling toward Egypt. Unfortunately, they are quite convinced that they are the first nation in the world, and every Abyssinian Christian firmly believes that his country will, at some future day, conquer Mecca and Medina, take Jerusalem from the Turks, and cause Mohammedanism to disappear from the face of the earth. European adventurers, who have from time to time sought to mend their fortunes in the country, have encouraged the Abyssinians in this belief; and their sovereigns have only been prevented by incessant rebellions and civil wars from attempting to carry out their supposed mission. Though no open war was carried on between Egypt and Abyssinia, the Khedive, without meeting with any serious obstacle, took possession of the Bogos country, in the north of Abyssinia, and of some districts in the west. In the latter part of 1875 the Egyptians were reported to be farther advancing into Abyssinia. According to dispatches received in November, the Abyssinians had surprised and killed a body of 1,200 Egyptians. Later accounts state that the Khedive was sending a force of 15,000 men against the Abyssinians.

The English Colonel Kirkham, having received from the King as a present a piece of land called Ghenda, on the borders of Hamasia and Egypt, gave part of it to the Swiss and Swedish missionaries at Massowah. These built some houses on the land, and sent a native missionary to reside there. The peasants of Hamasia, however, declared that Ghenda belonged to them, and threatened to kill the missionaries and burn their houses. The missionaries then escaped to Eilet; but the Government is so weak that it has not yet been able to take any steps in the matter. The ringleaders were the Abyssinian monks and priests, who are strongly opposed to foreign

property on hand valued at $8,765.22, and its entire capital stock was stated to be $17,$43.98. More than 1,800,000 pages of tracts had been published during the year, and grants and sales of books and tracts had been made to the value of $4,698.31.

Dissatisfaction had been expressed with the management of the World's Crisis, because it was thought to have given undue prominence "to a modern phase of the doctrine of holiness." The editors were instructed" to make prominent the great judgment message," or the doctrine of the speedy coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Association recommended the holding of a General Conference some time in the fall, to be composed of delegates from State conferences.

The tenth annual meeting of the American Advent Mission Society was held at Springfield, Mass., August 11th. The treasurer reported that his receipts for the year had been $6,429.60, and his expenditures $6,082.09, leaving a balance in his hands of $347.51. Missionwork had been prosecuted chiefly in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and Kansas. Help had also been sent to ministers preaching in new places in Nova Scotia, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, California, Missouri, Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire.

The annual camp-meeting of the American Millennial Association (Evangelical Adventists) was held at Hebronville, Mass., beginning August 12th.

The annual meeting of the American Millennial Association was held in connection with the camp-meeting at Hebronville, Mass., August 14th. The treasurer represented that there had been for the past two years a deticiency of about two thousand dollars a year in the running expenses of the publication-office. The subscription list of the Messiah's Herald, the organ of the denomination, was reported to number about twenty-eight hundred names. The committee on colportage was given charge of the ordination of ministers and the care of feeble churches. A woman's missionary society was organized in connection with the Association.

Elder G. W. Burnham, a missionary of the Board of Home Missions, reported that during the year he had given one hundred and thirtysix discourses, in thirty-two towns and cities, in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

AFGHANISTAN,* a country in Central Asia, bounded north by east by Toorkistan, east by British India, south by Beloochistan, and west by Persia; area 278,000 square miles; population about 4,000,000. Present ruler, Amir Shere Ali. This country continues to be in a most disorganized condition. The

*For an account of the regulation of the northern frontier, and of the population of the several provinces, see ANNUAL CYCLOP.EDIA for 1874.

Amir, Shere Ali, kept his eldest son, Yakoob Khan, as a prisoner at his capital. The first commercial caravan which the Russians, during the last spring, sent from Astrakhan to Afghanistan, under command of Colonel Gluchowski, and which was instructed to obtain trustworthy information concerning the actual frontier between Afghanistan and Persia, had to return when near Meshed, without having accomplished any thing. Serions ditliculties have arisen with the Mir (ruler) of the Uzbeg principality of Mymana. This state, situated nearly two hundred miles to the northeast of Herat, owes allegiance to the Amir of Afghanistan, but has never been very hearty in its obedience. So little ean the ruler of the state be relied upon that, in 1874, the governor of Balkh did not dare to march the troops, which were to occupy Herat, through this territory. In the second half of the year 1875 the Mir of Mymana was more than ever suspected of acts inconsistent with his position of feudatory, and, when he sent his son on a mission to Cabool, the Amir promptly seized and detained the youth as a hostage for his father's good behavior. This characteristic act of Oriental statecraft seems, however, to have been without effect. The Mir continues his intrigues with neighboring states, and Shere Ali thereupon determined to take active measures against him. The governors of Herat and Balkh have been ordered to march a force upon Mymana without delay. An Indian paper, the Pioneer, estimates the troops of Mymana at twelve thousand horsemen, and says that they are rather a feudal militia than a regular disciplined force. In the valley of the Cabool, Naarus Khan, an uncle of the Amir, who resides at Lalfura, raised, in 1875, the standard of revolt, and collected among the savage Mommands, who have repeatedly harassed the agriculturist population in the neighboring districts of India, a force of about twelve thousand. He was, however, defeated, and fled into the mountains, where a number of chieftains maintain an almost complete independence.

A great danger arises to Afghanistan from the Toorkoman tribes, which, by the establishment of Russian forts on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, have begun to be alarmed in regard to their independence. The Delhi Gazette, in June, published a report from Cabool, that the leaders of the Toorkomans near Merv had inquired of the Amir of Afghanistan whether in a religious war against the Russians they might expect to receive aid from the Afghan provinces of Herat and Balkh. The Amir was said to have replied that he regarded them as boasting robbers. The prince of Mymana likewise refused to join them, and notitied of his intentions, not only the Amir at Cabool, but the Russian authorities at Samarcand.

It is feared that the Toorkomans, finding that they are unable to infest Russia, or even Persia, may commit depredations in the unprotected frontier districts of Afghanistan.

As Afghanistan is now the only country of any importance which separates the Russian possessions in Asia from the British, the Gov

ernments of both these countries are watching Afghan affairs with the most intense interest, in order to be prepared for future contingencies. The plans both are forming in regard to the future are studiously kept secret, and little therefore that is published about the movements of the two great European powers in this part of Central Asia can lay any claim to authenticity. A profound impression has therefore been produced by the outspoken and straightforward views on this subject published in the new work by Major-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, entitled England and Russia in the East" (London, 1875). The author, in the preface to his work, disclaims emphatically any official authority for his statements, he has for many years been one of the most prominent representatives of English diplomacy in the East, and still is an influential member of the " Council of India." In view of the importance which the opinions of such a statesman must have for an understanding of the Central Asiatic question, we give his concluding remarks on the relations of England and Russia to Afghanistan (p. 362):

Russia by advancing on Merv evidently means mischief. She would never embark on an enterprise of so perilous a nature for mere purposes of trade or police. Political objects of high import could alone justify the movement. These objects necessarily point to Herat, which would lie at the mercy of a European power holding Merv, and whence India would be seriously threatened. Herat pos sesses natural advantages of quite an exceptional importance. It is the frontier town between Persia and India. It is connected by high-roads with the capitals of all the surrounding countries, with Cabool through the Hazarch Hills, with Balkh and Bokhara through Mymeneh, with Khiva through Merv, with Meshed, with Yezd and Ispahan, with Seistan, and with Candahar. It enjoys an admirable climate, and is situated in the midst of one of the most fertile and populous valleys in Asia. Above all, the city itself is surrounded by earthworks of the most colossal character, dating from prehistoric times, and which, with the adaptations and improvements of modern science, might be rendered quite impregnable to an Asiatic force. Russia in possession of Herat would have a grip on the throat of India. She would, indeed, in virtue of the position, command the military resources both of Persia and Afghanistan, and would thus oblige us at once to increase our frontier army by at least twenty thousand fresh British troops. Viewing, then, the question as merely one of finance, it may be assumed that our advance above the passes and occupation of Herat would be the cheapest insurance against Russia that we could effect for the benefit of our great Indian estate. Let it be further remembered that all these considerations have been already discounted by our statesmen in regard to the smaller question of a Persian occupation of Herat. We sent a considerable expedition to the Gulf in order to oblige Persia to raise the siege of Herat in 1888, and, when Persian troops occupied the place in 1856, we netually went to war with the Shah for the purpose of compelling their withdrawal. If, then, such measures were justifiable in order to prevent the western Afghan capital from falling into the hands of Persia, who was only to be feared as the minion or

herself.

precursor of Russia, much more must they be required when the danger comes directly from Russia sending an expedition to Herat. Any estimate, I will not pretend to calculate the cost of based on the uncertain premises which are alone at present available, would be fallacious; but I may point out that the expenses of our defensive posi tion, however great, must be far less than those encountered by Russia in constructing or maintaining her elaborate system of attack. For when Russia is established at Merv, and has completed the communications of that post with the Caspian on one side, and with the Oxus and Toorkistan on the other, she will have at least fifty thousand soldiers in Central Asia, and it is not too much to assume that the main object of bringing that large body of troops into the field, toward whose support the conquered Uzbeck states contribute little or nothing, will have been to enable her to threaten India.

quires explanation. Some of our best authorities on There is one other aspect of the question that reCentral Asian polities maintain that not only should we incur an enormous and useless expenditure in advancing to meet Russia above the passes, but that we should be intensifying tenfold the difficulties of our position. They believe that we should everywhere meet with hatred and resistance, that we should thus throw the Afghans into the hands of Russia, who would in fact when she advanced be hailed by them as a deliverer rather than opposed as an invader. My own experience points in an exviews corroborated by the independent testimony actly contrary direction, and I am happy to find my of our latest travelers. Believing as I do the western Afghans to be the most contemptible of enemies, and hardly, therefore, caring to consider the possi bility of a skirmish in the Bolan or Khojek Passes, the only defensible positions on the line from Scindé to Herat, I still feel satisfied that we should generally receive the warm support of the great mass of the population in the districts that we traversed. The Syuds of Pishin, the Atchikzyes of the Khojek, who adhered to us in all our troubles in 1841-42, the Persian peasantry of Candahar, the mercantile and agricultural classes throughout the country, would one and all throng to us for support and protection. Mindful of past benefits, hopeful of future favors, they would bring in their camels from the desert and empty their granaries of corn to supply our wants, as they did in those days when, although Ghizni and Cabool were lost, and an army had perished in the passes, we were safe and strong and triumphant at Candahar.

The only parties from whom we should experience ill-will would be the priesthood and a few of the Durani chiefs; and they might be called upon to retire to Cabool. Most assuredly, as far as the disposition of the natives is concerned, we should not have more difficulty in governing Candahar and Herat than the Russians encounter in governing Tashkend and Samarcand; while our long familiarity with Eastern administration, our special knowledge of Western Afghanistan, our consideration for Mohammedan prejudices, our prestige, our high reputation for justice and good faith, ought to make the task of maintaining the position far more easy to us than to our less experienced Northern neighbors. I will only say one word in conclusion, that I counsel nothing rash or premature. If Russia remained encamped on the Caspian, we should not, of course, leave the valley of the Indus. So long as she held aloof from Mery, we should hold aloof from Herat; but, if she deliberately threw down the gauntlet, she must expect it to be taken up. could not, as the guardians of the interests of India, permit her, on the pretext of curbing the Toorkomans or establishing a trade-route through Asia, to take up a position unopposed on the Murghab, which would compromise the safety of Herat. That city is both strategically and politically an indispensable

We

AFRICA. In consequence of the annexation of Darfoor, and other territories, Egypt has advanced another step toward a front rank among the great nations of the globe. It now has an area of more than 1,500,000 square miles, and while a year ago (see ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, 1874, article AFRICA) its population was estimated at only 8,000,000, it is now estimated at more than 14,000,000. Its area already exceeds that of the whole of the other dominions of the Sultan, and, as it is now extending westward and southward with uninterrupted rapidity, the same will soon be the case with its population. In view of this rapid growth, the establishment of its entire independence within a few years can no longer be doubted. As internal reforms continue to go hand in hand with the steady extension of its boundaries, it will soon be recognized as by far the greatest of all the African states. Financial embarrassments, however, compelled the Khédive, in November, to sell his shares of the Suez Canal Company to Great Britain, a transaction which was expected to increase English influence in Egyptian affairs. (See EGYPT.)

Abyssinia again suffers severely from civil wars, and appears to be in imminent danger of being swallowed up by the rapid advance of the Egyptians. In November the Abyssinians claimed to have obtained a great victory over the troops of the Khédive, who, toward the close of the war, dispatched a considerable new force toward Abyssinia. (See ABYSSINIA.)

The Sultanate of Morocco was greatly disturbed by insurrections. The Government appears to be anxious to strengthen its connection with the nations of the civilized world, and to introduce telegraphs, railroads, and other improvements. (See Morocco.)

In Tripoli, insults were offered by the populace to the American consul, and subsequently, in August, to the officers of the American warsteamers Congress and Hartford. Satisfaction was immediately given for the insults to the officers, and somewhat later for those to the consul.

The boundaries of the British dominions in South Africa were again extended by the annexation of East Griqualand, which the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir II. Barclay, on the 10th of October, 1874, incorporated with the British territory. The annexed country was formerly called Adam Kok's territory, and is situated south of Natal, in independent Katfraria. Its boundaries, according to the " Map of Independent Kaifraria," in The Mission Field (London, January, 1874), are, on the north, the Umzinkulu, which separates it from Natal; on the west the Kwathlamba Mountains; on the south and west a line which runs down from the Kwathlamba Mountains along the Umsimvubu River, then turns in a northwesterly direction, along the Jugele Mountains,

A movement for uniting all the English possessions of South Africa into one confederacy was not only meeting with great favor in the colonies, but a tendency to join it was even manifested in the Transvaal Republic. Sir Garnet Wolseley, the successful commander of the expedition against the Ashantees, was appointed Governor of Natal, which, with all its fine resources, has thus far not made that material progress which is the very breath of life to a colony. The hope was widely entertained that under the new Governor the colony would triumph over the difficulties and dangers which must beset 16,000 whites surrounded by 350,000 blacks. In the latter part of the year, however, Sir Garnet Wolseley was recalled to England, and another Governor appointed for Natal. Langalibalele, the arrested native chief, has been released and provided with a comfortable location in the Cape Colony, where, with such wives and relatives as choose to join him, he will reside as an exile on parole and under surveillance. His tribe has been broken up, the people being allowed to seek work and to go where they will, but not to reform themselves into a tribe.

In Liberia, a war commenced in September against the aborigines, under several educated natives. It was believed that the natives were supplied by English traders with firearms and ammunition. The "American Colonization Society," to which the Liberian Republic owes its foundation, applied to the President of the United States for assistance.

The French colony of Senegal appears to be in a very disaffected state. In February, a revolt was organized by a Marabout, named Amadon-Sekon, a very courageous native. Ile succeeded in collecting a force estimated at 10,000 infantry and 3.000 cavalry, but, in an encounter which took place on February 11th, was not only defeated but killed.

The kingdom of Wadai, in Central Africa, has for the first time been made fully known to the civilized world by the African traveler Dr. Nachtigal. (See WADAI.)

The successful issue of the war against the