WARS OF THE NINETIES. 6 of a certain rude civilisation, and professing a form of Christianity which has adopted a number of strange practices unknown to the rest of the Christian world. The chiefs of the various districts, when not quarrelling among themselves, pay allegiance to the most powerful among them, who assumes the title of Negus Negusti, or King of Kings, the "Kings" referred to being his subordinate chiefs. The principal divisions of the country are Tigre in the north, Amhara, which occupies the centre and west,and Shoa, which includes the south and east.

A great crowd nowcollected round him,andhe informed them of the fall of Kassala, declaring that his followers had been taken unawares by enormous numbers of the enemy, just after morning prayers, and had been forced to retire. He stated,however, that all the war material, women and children, had been saved, that the losses had been insignificant, whilst the enemy had suffered so heavily that they now bitterly regretted having taken the town. Even his most devoted adherents well knew that these words were a mere pretext for covering a disgraceful defeat. Almost immediately after the three Emirs had arrived at Omdurman it was known far and wide that Kino- Theodore, whom the British forces defeated in 1867, was originally the ruler of Amhara,andhis easyoverthrow was largelv the result of a coalition of the other chiefs against him.

His successor, Prince Kassai ofTigre, who took the name of Johannes, used the rifles and guns that ,had been given him by the British, who had placed him on the throne, to defeat two attempts of the Egyptians to penetrate into his highland kingdom. When the Italiansappeared at Massowah,herightlyregarded their presence as a threat tohimself. Theirattempts to penetrate into the the garrison had been surprised, and that partly from fear,partly owing-to the unpopularity of Mussaid (the Dervish governor), they had refused to fight, and almost without offering any resistance they had retired to Gos Regeb."

This scene showed how low Mahdism had fallen. Its ruler had ceased to be a soldier. A few years before Abdullahi would not have contented himself with this melodramatic display, but would have promptly gathered anarmv for the recapture of Kassala, the possession MENELEK, PRINCE OF SHOA AND EMPEROR OF ABYSSINIA.

of which by the Italians was a direct threat to his capital. As it was,he contentedhimselfwith establishing a line of posts along the Atbara river, to watch Kassala. It was not till two years later, when a great disaster had crippled the power of Italy in Africa, that he made any effort to retake the place.

Abyssinian highlands by Adigrat and the plateau of Asmara led to some desultory warfare,in which twice— first at Dogali and then at Saati— detachments of Italians were surprised and cut to pieces by Johannes's great fighting chief, Ras Alula. But he wasunable to devote allhis attention to the Italians. On his western Now let us turn to the operations of the Italiansin the other direction— namely, towards Abyssinia. This country is a lofty plateau, scored by deep ravines, and on the north accessible only by narrow paths that lead up from thecoast, alongthe beds of what arein the rainy season raging torrents. On the land side the mountains fallaway moregradually towards the Upper Nile valley, the Atbara and the Blue Nile flowing down from the Abyssinian highlands to join the main streamof the greatriver. The Abyssinians are a warlikepeople,possessed frontier the Dervishes had been pressing him hard, and he was defeated and killed in action against them. This disaster put an end to the power of Tigre,smoothed the way for theItalian conquestof Northern Abyssinia, and brought to the front a remarkable man, Menelek, Prince of Shoa, who soon made himself the ruler of the whole country.

The princes of Shoa have repeatedly figured as Negus or Emperor of Abyssinia. They"claim it as theirright in virtue of a long pedigree that goes back to Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,