Timqet celebration in Gonder in the early 1960s - From diary notes of a Peace Corps Volunteer

Blogger's Note: The following was reprinted in last year's (2005 E.C.) edition of Ethiopian Calendar with primary source materials with the author's permission. The author of the diary notes, Richard Lyman served as Peace Corps Volunteer in Gondar, Ethiopia from 1962-64. The notes appear originally as part of The Peace Corps Diary and were published at the following website: http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2012/02/29/peace-corps-diary-ethiopia-1962-1964

 

 

Photo credit: Jialiang Gao. 2002

Diary notes of Richard Lyman, who served as Peace Corps Volunteers in Gonder, Ethiopia from 1962-64.

January 19, 1963

At 7:30 I went to the Bath of Fasiledes to watch Timket. The compound was crowded with priests, officials, soldiers and people. The priests paraded out of the castle where the religious relics were stored. They stood along one edge of the pool and chanted, sang, rang bells, beat drums and swayed in time to the rhythm of their hand held sistrums (a small metal object on the end of a handle which contains metal disks which slide back and forth as the hand is moved). The Bishop then took his cross over to the Governor who kissed it and several candles were lighted at the water’s edge and the Bishop bent down to bless the water. Then all the officials came over to where the Bishop was standing and the Bishop proceeded to literally throw a cup of water on them. At that point the crowd went wild and dove for the water. Some jumped in while most were content to splash and throw water on others.”

Some soldiers stripped off their uniforms and jumped in. One fellow nearly drowned and had to be pulled to the edge of the pool. As a second ceremony the priests lined up at a tent outside the compound for more chanting and rhythmic dancing. Some men solicited funds from the audience for a new church. After about half an hour a religious procession formed with the cross bearers, arc carriers, crown wearers, Bishop, priests and government officials. They paraded about a mile up the mountain to the central square where there was more singing and dancing.”

The next day I noted that someone had drowned in the pool and five boys were killed during the week when an Italian shell exploded while they were knocking it against some rocks.

January 20, 1963:

I was honored to be invited to a feast at the home of the Provincial Bishop. Peggy and John Davis, John, Dallas and I were included along with Aba Gebre Meskel , Ato Kettema and several others. Hosting were the Provincial Bishop (Metropolitan Peter) and the Gondar Bishop. Bishop Peter is a charming person who speaks English quite well.

The table was lined with bottles of teg, talla, beer, wine and charged water. As a first course we had a lasagna. That was followed with a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes and eggs. As the first wat (stew) we were served lamb stomach and liver. Then came a chicken wat followed by beef wat. Allecha was the last wat. It is very mild being made of vegetables, spices and mashed ingera.”

“One of the seasonal treats at Timket is shimbera (chickpeas). People walk around carrying stems laiden with peas which they munch on. One of the popular songs of the country people is about a country boy eating shimbera.

January 20, 1964

Just as last year many church delegations paraded past our house on the way to the Bath. There they sang and danced and made ready for the ceremony. Most of them ignored the priests and sat and stood around the pool watching the swimmers.the edge of the pool was Zewale Zegeye who, out of a sense of duty, was prepared to rescue anyone who entered the water and did not know how to swim. On several occasions someone would go under and spectators would react with laughter until the person was rescued.”

“Usually found on the piazza was a beggar who could not walk and yet was always friendly. He navigated on his back by holding two wooden blocks in his hands and moving on all fours like a spider. It must have taken him hours to reach the Bath from the piazza which was a mile away up the mountain. There he was on the edge of the pool. He took off all his clothes, tied them around his neck and tumbled into the pool. Once in the water he was the equal of any man. I cannot do justice in describing the joyful expression on his face as he was blessed on this one day of the year, Timket. He swam across the pool and two policemen lifted him out of the water. He put his clothes back on and crawled off.

 

A Noble Prize recipient with Ethiopian/Eritrean ancestry?

Who knew Andrei Sakharov the world famous nuclear scientist and soviet political dissident in the 1980s had Ethiopian ancestry? I heard this fascinating link from none other than a family member which I happened to meet and talked briefly last week during an event held in U.S. Congress building to celebrate winners of Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Actually, I had interesting conversations with some political personalities, famous journalists and human right activists that day. Perhaps, I will talk about that some time in the future. But for today, I would focus on this interesting news for me or for many others.
For many of us this might not be the first time we hear of the historic inter-marriages between Ethiopians and people of slavic origin. I am sure quite a number of Ethiopians/Eritreans as well as Russians/Ukrainians or slavic people know that the great 18th century Russian poet Alexander Pushkin has Ethiopian/Eritrean root. If not broadly known like that of Pushkin's, the brief story of the multi-talented British actor, playwright, director & novelist Sir Peter Ustinov having a Russian aristocracy lineage on his father side and Ethiopian ancestry on his mother side was broadcasted in this Frontline segment.  Even though the segment put his lineage to one of Emperor Theodore's daughters, serious scholarly work done later by Toby Berger Holtz trace Sir Ustinov's Ethiopian lineage to one Magdalena who was a daughter of an Ethiopian woman, Wolete Selassie aka Katarina and Moritz Hall, (Polish-Russian former soldier of the Russian Imperial Army who was with European missionaries coerced into manufacturing cannon at Gaffat, near Debra Tabor by Emperor Tewodros). 
In the past I have also written in this blog the story of Mishka Babichef who was one of the first trained pilots of Ethiopia and who was a son of Count Babicheff of Russia and of an Ethiopian mother. Here is the link to that story.
But the famous Russian nuclear scientist and Soviet-time dissident having an Ethiopian ancestry, that was unheard of and big news to me. I don't know if this information is available somewhere. If not this can be considered as breaking news. I have tried to find some written sources to validate what I was told. So far the sources I have looked including shortened version of Andrei Sakharov's biography have nothing to say about his Ethiopian ancestry.  For those who do not know who Andrei Sakharov is, read his biography here in brief:

Andrei Sakharov and his son Dima (1970)

In short he was Russian nuclear physicist and human rights advocate. in the 1950s, he worked with other scientists to develop the Soviet Union's first hydrogen bomb. Decade later Sakharov had become concerned about the moral and political implications of his work and became politically active. He became an outspoken critic of the nuclear arms race and of Soviet repression. In 1975, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace. He and his wife Elena Bonner were later exiled to Siberia. They were released in 1986 and returned to Moscow. Elected to the Congress of People's Deputies in April 1989. He died months later in December 1989 at the age of 68.

My source who is a family member of Sakharov family told me that part of their family trace their ancestry to General Abraham Petrovich Hannibal/Gannibal who is the Ethiopian/Eritrean great grand father of Alexander Pushkin. The story of Hannibal or Gannibal as he call himself good part of his life is a fascinating story by itself. Here is what I learned. 

Abram Petrovich Gannibal (1696-1781)

 There are controversies as to his birth place and speculations as to how the young Abraham ended up in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) or eventually in Saint Petersburg at the Russian Czar, Peter the Great's palace. I am aware of the latest writing/literature by Cameroonian author tracing the origin of Abraham(Ibrahim) Gannibal to Longo region in Cameroon. Until further studies (backed by DNA tracing) provide conclusive evidence, I will stick to what the world have known for long that Abaraham Hannibal was born around Marab River in Ethiopia (to be precise present day Eritrea) . With regards to how the Eight year old Abraham  made it to Constantionople, Eritrean scholar Solomon G/Giorgis citing other sources including Professor Pankhurst asserts that Abraham and his sister were abducted by Ottoman Turks when Ottoman forces defeated forces led by their local chieftain father. Same source wrote that Abraham's sister died during the sea voyage to Constantinople. According to various sources, Abraham stayed for about a year in Constantinople in the service of the Sultan's household until he was taken to Russia. Despite the widely held belief that he went to Russia as a slave, there are different interpretations of the circumstance he went to Russia. Some sources indicate that he was sold to the Russian Czar by the Turkish Sultan while other sources say he was given as a tribute to the Russian Czar during his visit to Constantinople. There are other sources which indicated that it was the Russian Ambassador in Istanbul/Constantinople, one Count Tolstoy (the great grandfather of another Russian literary giant Leo Tolstoy) who sent the young Abraham to Russia.
In any case, in Russia the young man was baptized as Abraham Petrovic with the Czar himself as his Godfather. In the beginning, Abraham served as a palace page, valet and secretary to Peter the Great. In 1716, when Peter the Great visited France, he took Abraham along with him as a member of his entourage. Abraham was left behind in France to enroll in a military college. It is there where he adopted the name Hannibal after the legendary Carthage ruler and African military genius who defeated the mighty Romans.  He studied engineering specifically "military fortification and explosives" and participated as a volunteer for the French side in the war between Spain and France. He resumed his engineering study after the war and upon graduation, the Czar wanted Abraham to return to Russia soon. Abraham stayed in France giving excuses but eventually returned to Russia in 1725.  In a way this part of Abraham Hannibal's story reminded me the story of Fitawrari TekleMariam Teklehawaryat who was also adopted by Russian aristocrat family and who also chose to become a military cadet in Military academies first in Russia then in France. Could the young Teklemarian be influenced by the story of Abraham who he may have heard that time from members of the Russian aristocratic family to have chosen such a military career? I would say so. Unfortunately, his superb autobiography that I read recently and enjoyed immensely say nothing about this possible influence.  
Upon returning to Russia and in the coming years and decades, Abraham  had become a respected military engineer, who was promoted under successive rulers gradually rising to the rank of General

Aleksander Pushkin

and lived on into the reign of Catherine the Great.  He also married members of the aristocratic family and had 11 children altogether from his two wives. One of his sons (the third from the his marriage to his 2nd wife Christine von Schöberg) Osip Abramovic was the grandfather to the giant in Russian literature, the poet Alexander Pushkin.  (To see the family tree follow this link ).
Whether another Russian giant Andrei Sakharov is a descendant of Osip Abramovic or of another child of General Abraham Petrovic Hannibal is a puzzle to solve for a history buff like me. This says this is not the end of the story. I am excited by the challenge to dig on more on this matter. 

ps. Some members of the Britsh Aristocracy such as Natalian Grosvenor, the Duchess of Westminister and George Mountbatten, fourth Marquess of Milford Haven also trace their family lineage to General Abraham Hannibal.

Sources:
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/blackeuro/pushkinback.html
http://www.meadna.com/business page/lela pages/Abrahame Hannibalpage.htm
http://ganniba.blogspot.com/2013/04/gannibal-is-een-fascinerende-en.html

The African American self-made diplomat who paved the way for diplomatic relations with Ethiopia

Blogger's Note: The following blog entry and the next one are related to discussion which started on facebook about Baron de Jarlsburg's assertion in November 7, 1909 issue of New York Times that "Emperor Menilik II of Ethiopia was an accomplished linguist, [and] speaks French, English, and Italian fluently". I thought one way of affirming or disproving the assertion is to present what foreign visitors who had met the Emperor said about their encounter with the Emperor. This description of the encounter between William H. Ellis aka Guillermo Enrique Ellesio and Emperor Menelik was from an excerpt of a book presented at a conference called by CLEA at Stanford University on 31 August 2002 with a title:  A Page From a Century of Ethiopia-United States Relations By Professor Negussay Ayele. It is followed by biography can be found at the following site from Texas Historical Association: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fel32
Unfortunately no photograph of William H. Ellis was found until now.

...the first direct quasi diplomatic contacts with Ethiopia were initiated by Diaspora Africans in the Americas. It is of symbolic significance that the initiative to make contact with Ethiopia, the country which was victorious over Italy in Africa, was by envoy Benito Sylvain of Haiti, a country that defeated Napoleon’s army in the Western hemisphere. The next person to embark on an informal track of private commercial cum diplomatic visit to Ethiopia was a Cuban-Mexican-African American in the person of William H. Ellis (a.k.a. Guillaume Enriques Ellesio) from Texas. He was escorted to Ethiopia and introduced to Emperor Menyelek by Benito Sylvain. Mr Ellis, nicknamed ‘the Moor” by some, was a Wall Street tycoon of sorts who hobnobbed with the likes of steel magnet Andrew Carnegie and gun manufacturer Henry Hotchkiss. He was a dapper, flamboyant bon vivant and a self-made diplomat. He read whatever books he could find (US$3000 dollars worth, he said) on Ethiopia before he embarked on his eventful trip and audience with Emperor Menyelek in the Fall of 1903. Although peppered with generous dashes of hyperbole, Mr. Ellis’s renditions about his stay and accomplishments in Ethiopia provide interesting perspectives on the Emperor and Ethiopia.

In one of his communications, Ellis relates a conversation with Emperor Menyelek on US President Abraham Lincoln and his struggle to keep the country united and, in the process also open the way for the legal manumission of slaves. “Tears came to his eyes,” says Ellis, as Emperor Menyelek heard of “the liberation of slaves…” in America, and he exclaimed, “What a great man!” More importantly, a theme that was to become the basis for relations of amity, trust and mutual respect between the United States and Ethiopia were the slogans, “America for Americans,” “Europe for Europeans,” and “Africa for Africans.” The Emperor loudly acclaimed the last refrain, Africa For Africans, telling Ellis to repeat that for him. Ellis says that he successfully conveyed the idea that whereas “other nations (Europeans) came to Africa to take the land, America was alone without land in Africa and wanted none. She only wanted liberty and trade.” It is not known if Emperor Menyelek and Ellis talked about Liberia, which was a sort of stepchild of America. At any rate, the belief that the United States did not wish to conquer or colonize Africa remained a guiding policy premise of successive Ethiopian rulers for the next three quarters of a century. It was, as we shall see anon, reaffirmed and even sanctified by Emperor Haile Sellassie for over fifty years right down to the end of his era in 1974.

Ellis had wanted to come to Ethiopia as an accredited United States representative, but he had no official status or mission. However, by the time Ellis went back home, he had blazed the trail and prepared the ground for the official track of American diplomacy, which materialized shortly after he left Addis Ababa. 

Posted on MediaETHIOPIA on December 27, 2002. http://www.mediaethiopia.com/Views/NegussayAyele_on_EthiopiaAmerica.htm

ELLIS, WILLIAM HENRY (1864–1923). William Henry Ellis, influential African-American entrepreneur, stockbroker, and proponent of the African-American emigration movement of the 1890s and early 1900s, was born in Victoria, Texas, on June 15, 1864. He was the son of recently-freed slaves, Charles and Margaret Nelson Ellis—a fact that, later on in life, Ellis hid from the public. Raised just outside of Victoria, Ellis felt a connection with the Hispanic heritage of the area’s Mexican-American population. He worked as a ranch hand and then as an assistant to a leather dealer. He began trading cattle in the Victoria area and also dealt in hides and wool. Ellis eventually expanded his hide and stock trade into other areas of Texas, as well as New Mexico and Arizona. At some point he worked as a customs inspector in Brownsville. According to Twentieth Century Successful Americans, Local and National (1917), Ellis attended college in Nashville and took business courses in New York at some time during his life.
Fluent in several languages, including Spanish, Ellis saw untapped opportunities in Mexican trade and began successfully dealing cotton across the border, as well as wool, hides, horses, and cattle. He began raising cattle in Mexico in 1888. During this time Ellis reinvented himself as the archetypical self-made American man. His light skin led some people to believe him to be a light-colored mulatto or of Spanish, Mexican, or Cuban descent—interpretations that Ellis encouraged. Eventually he began to alter his parents’ names, ethnicities, and birthplaces when asked and claimed Mexican or Cuban descent instead of his slave heritage from Kentucky. He created a Hispanic identity of “Guillermo Enrique Eliseo” by translating his name into Spanish. This alias allowed him to take advantage of amenities usually denied someone of African descent.
Ellis involved himself in African-American politics, particularly in Texas. During the 1880s and early 1890s, he allied himself with Norris Wright Cuney, Texas national committeeman of the Republican Party from 1886 to 1896 and an outspoken proponent of colonizing African Americans outside of the United States. Ellis also befriended Bishop Henry Turner, the chief proponent of the back-to-Africa movement in the post-Reconstruction era. These associations helped Ellis formulate his own ideas about African-American colonization. He advocated the idea that Latin America presented the ideal home for African Americans, because Mexico was much closer than Africa, and the Mexican north was similar to the southern United States in that both regions produced corn and cotton for international markets.
In 1888 Ellis visited Mexico City and persuaded President Porfirio Díaz to grant him a permit to establish a colony of thousands of African Americans in Mexico. The plan stalled however. Ellis visited the head of the Tlahualilo Corporation, Juan Llamedo, in Mexico City with a proposal in 1894. He sought funding for the colony and in return promised the delivery of some 5,000 black field hands to work the land. Llamedo and Ellis signed an agreement for Ellis to bring the workers, and in late 1894 he returned to the United States to recruit potential colonists. He signed a contract with a well-known black Atlanta emigration agent, R. A. “Pegleg” Williams, to assist him in his endeavors. Ellis and Williams transported the first and only consignments of 816 Alabama emigrants, including 145 families, to Mexico, and they arrived at Tlahualilo in early February 1895.
From the beginning, controversy, often encouraged by the Southern press, surrounded the colony. In early March, Williams returned to the United States and accused Ellis of not providing housing, rations, and supplies promised to the emigrants. The San Antonio Express reported on March 24, 1895, that several colonists, who had walked back across Mexico to the United States, reported that the colony was rapidly dissolving. Other newspapers in Alabama and Texas reported widespread mistreatment, starvation, and death of colonists. Ellis denied the criticism of the Southern press, refuted reports of deaths, and asked the State Department for an investigation. The investigation found the situation similar to that of Mexican workers, “but not as good as is received in [the emigrants’] own States.” The report stated that Ellis had failed to provide the proper food and medical services required for the colony, but could not substantiate many of the accusations levied against him in the newspapers. The colony itself dissolved, and the United States paid for the colonists’ return.
Ellis, who went back to San Antonio after his failed attempt in Mexico, saw an opportunity in Ethiopia to set up private commercial affairs overseas. In 1903 he met with King Menelek (also spelled Menilek or Menelik) of Ethiopia and received permission to grow cotton in Southern Ethiopia and establish a textile factory. Ellis saw himself as a self-made diplomat but had no official status as an accredited United States representative. However, by the time Ellis returned home, he had begun dialogue with Menelek in regards to establishing an American presence in Ethiopia. With the help of Robert P. Skinner, America’s consul general in Marseilles, France, who had, in his own right, been pressing for American involvement in the area, Ethiopia entered into a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States, which served as an impetus for forging an official relationship between the two countries.
In 1904 Ellis purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange for a reportedly exorbitant price of $45,000. But in August 1904 he returned to Ethiopia to present an official copy of the ratified treaty to King Menelek. For his pivotal role in helping establish American-Ethiopian relations, Ethiopians honored Ellis with their highest award. After 1904 Ellis returned to the United States, where he resumed his stock brokering in New York. He was a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Geological Society, and Mexican Society of New York. He occasionally returned to San Antonio, where he had built a lavish home for his mother. He also developed mining interests in Mexico and South America. Ellis later sold his seat on the stock exchange and apparently moved to Mexico. He died in Mexico City on September 24, 1923. An obituary in the Dallas Express characterized his life as “spectacular, filled with strivings in a big way….”

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Negussay Ayele, “A Page From a Century of Ethiopia-United States Relations” (http://www.mediaethiopia.com/Views/NegussayAyele_on_EthiopiaAmerica.htm), accessed February 21, 2013. Dallas Express, October 13, 1923. Richard Pankhurst, “William H. Ellis-Guillaume Enriques Ellesio: The First Black American Ethiopianist?” Ethiopia Observer 15 (1972). Edwin S. Redkey, Black Exodus: Black Nationalist and Back-to-Africa Movements, 1890–1910 (Newhaven: Yale University Press, 1969). Alfred W. Reynolds, “The Alabama Negro Colony in Mexico, 1894-1896,” Alabama Review 5–6 (October 1952, January 1953). Twentieth Century Successful Americans, Local and National (United Press Service Bureau, 1917).

Douglas Hales and Bailey Haeussler

 

Consul Robert Skinner' s article about his formal diplomatic mission to Ethiopia

Robert P. Skinner in later years

Blogger's Note: This is the second article related to discussion which started on facebook about Baron de Jarlsburg's assertion in November 7, 1909 issue of New York Times that "Emperor Minilik II of Ethiopia was an accomplished linguist, [and] speaks French, English, and Italian fluently". I thought one way of affirming or disproving the assertion is to present what foreign visitors who had met the Emperor said about their encounter with the Emperor. In October 1903, Robert Peet Skinner, along with Horatio Wales and Dr. Abraham Pease, accompanied by a complement of 30 U.S. Marines, set sail from Naples, Italy, to Djibouti, Africa, and made a 22-day camel-back trek to Addis Ababa, to have an audience with Emperor Menelik. The following is description of their travel and the final encounter with Emperor Menelik. It was first published as an article in  February 1905 issue of The World's Work. Part of this article was reprinted in 2005 E.C. edition of 'Ethiopian Calendar with Primary Source Materials'.

Making a Treaty with King Menelik of Abyssinia 

By Robert P Skinner

 

When the President's intention of sending an official mission to Ethiopia was announced in the summer of 1903, vague and curious views of its purpose prevailed everywhere. It should have occasioned no surprise, either in America or in Abyssinia. The United States has main­tained friendly official relations with a number of small powers with which we have no com­merce, but has had none with Ethiopia, where for years we had profited by a flourishing trade. In the main, however, comment was friendly and encouraging, though when I found myself on the Red Sea coast, as chief of the mission, directed to establish official relations there my errand took on mys­terious importance. And as I persisted in talking about cottons, tariffs and plain facts interesting only to plain people, the American mission became more incomprehensible than ever. But whatever people may have thought, politeness surrounded us from the 17th of November, when we landed at Djibouti, the capital of the French Somaliland coast, until we said good-by and began our journey homeward.

Necessity for a coaling station created Djibouti. With the public works came the French merchant, the railroad and a "boom." When the railroad had pushed its wind­ing length 125 miles across the desert, Djibouti resumed its status as a port of call for numerous African steamer lines, and waited, as it is still waiting, for the great expected development of Ethiopia. When that development comes, the French capital will be Abyssinia's natural point of contact with the modern world. It was this ex­pectation of a future for Ethiopia, and the partial completion of the railroad to it, that took me to Africa.  Hitherto, trade in general, and American trade in particular, had drifted to Aden, thence across to any one of half a dozen points, where camels took it up and plodded into the interior. The railroad meant evolution and revolution. It was time for a watchful people like ours to be up and doing.

 

Our two days in Djibouti passed quickly. Our experiences there ended in a blaze of glory at the "Government," where we were most gracefully and hospitably feted. The next morning, when the sun rose out of the Indian Ocean, we set forth by rail for Ethiopia in a train of French-made cars, with double roofs as a protection against the sun.

 

The Ethiopian frontier was crossed some time before we reached Dire-Douah - a boom city, created within a twelvemonth - but there we first encountered in outward and visible sign the orderly administration of him who signs himself "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has Conquered! Menelik II, by the Grace of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia." The Somali railroad guards were drawn up at attention to receive us. Across the street from the new railroad station was the new hotel, and thither we walked between two rows of undressed, amiable savages.

The next day, the task of organizing our party began in earnest. Our expedition was remarkable in that it had started off in a ship of state to visit a country without a seaport, and, aside from the staff, I was accompanied by a party of but twenty-four marines and blue­jackets. These were immediately mounted upon mules. The mules had been well selected in advance, but when the sailors took their first lesson in riding there was excitement in Dire-Douah. The Issas and Gourgouras poured out of their native village to see the sight, squatting on their haunches in the sun, and impassively brushing their teeth with the ends of green twigs.

When the mules had been distributed, and the saddles adjusted, we received applications for service from an army of native youths, who were eager for employment at only twice the normal rate of pay. A tent boy and a mule boy were necessary for each officer, and there had to be a considerable number of boys to perform miscellaneous duties for the en­listed men. When our party finally dis­banded, some of our servants were employing servants of their own, and I suppose that if we had remained in Ethiopia long enough, these servants of servants would have been hiring other servants still.

Atto Manaye, one of King Menelik's soldiers

Atto Manaye, one of King Menelik's soldiers

I had already found an interpreter at Djibouti, young Oualdo, Son of Mikael. He spoke French fluently and half a dozen of the local languages. He was an excellent horseman and a good shot, and .whether he wore his fresh khaki suit and riding leggings, as he did in the European settlements, or his flowing snow-white "chamma," as at the capital, he made a smart appearance. I also employed one Gabro Tadick, or, in English, "The Slave of the Holy Ghost." He was of wistful countenance, wore a pair of blue overalls, a huge hat, and a red-bordered white "chamma." He also carried a gun to indicate his superiority over the other servants.

Modern Abyssinia consists mainly of the unified and organized kingdoms of Godjam Tigre, Amhara, and Choa. These are the mountainous highlands that have been ruled over successively in our time by the three great emperors, Theodore, John and Mene­lik. The race occupying these provinces is vastly superior to any other in Ethiopia, having descended from the natives and the Jews who, according to tradition, followed the Queen of Sheba back after her visit to Solomon.

The flux which before our day had driven the Ethiopians back into these four king­doms was succeeded under Menelik by a reflux which carried the boundaries of the Empire beyond the limits of Harar and the Galla country, beyond numerous vaguely defined provinces to the west and south, and gave it effective control over the barbarians of the lowlands and the desert, as far as the borders of the European coast colonies. Thus the modern Empire consists of a vast extent of territory, including not merely the con­quered tribes, but whole nations not yet assimilated, and in some cases almost impossible of assimilation.

The shortest, and in some respects the best, route from Dire-Douah to the capital, Addis Ababa, follows along the base of the mountains, across Mt. Assabot, usually in sight of the great desert, yet never quite upon it. Following this route, we expected to move on after some delay. The camp-stove was promptly put into commission the first night, and the aroma of bacon and other homely American things floated over the Ethiopian desert. A ring of tents upon the poles of which appeared the historic words, "Santiago, Cuba," was formed around the stove. The camels were brought within the circle after they had eaten their fill of mimosa twigs. Among the animals the Arabs and Danakils constructed huts of our boxed effects, thatching them with their straw pack­saddle mats. A crescent moon rose over our camp, and after "taps" had been sounded by the bugler the post guards called out the hours. Then only the howling of the hyenas broke the stillness.

Emperor Menelik's picturesque soldiery

On the march our caravan spread its thin length along a short mile. It was quite impracticable for us to keep together, and we determined after our second day to detail a rear-guard to follow the camels, and to send the main body of the escort and the servants, as rapidly as they could travel, to each day's rendezvous. The halting points were fixed naturally by the condition of the water-supply. By following the base of the mountains, we came occasionally to small streams, or wells; farther to the north these same streams lost themselves in the sand.

The sixth and seventh days of our journey were across arid, stony plains; and then for two days over rich prairie land. Our ninth night found us near Mt. Assabot. After three days more of varied country, we got our first glimpse of the telephone poles which mark the way to the capital of Abyssinia. Five minutes later we were upon the king's high­way, out of the desert, and in Menelik's hereditary kingdom of Choa. From this point we traveled along the main road in Abyssinia, and encountered frequent caravans laden with hides, coffee, and ivory. We had left the savages behind and were in a realm of law. We had proceeded not more than five miles in Choa when we passed beneath a tree from which was Mill suspended a headrest and gourd which had been placed there with the body of some unfortunate male­factor who had been hanged for his sins.

There was now before us the longest and most trying stage of the journey. The Hawash plain and the Fantelle range have an evil reputation in Ethiopia. The long stretch before the Kassan River is reached is without water except such as may some­times be found in the crevices of certain rocks. The sun beats down mercilessly upon an unshaded trail. Even the dark-blue spectacles we wore failed to do more than temper the blinding white sunlight. As there was no longer any occasion in prudence for the party to remain together, we now rode in groups, as fancy might dictate. The only rule of the road seemed to be that one of our Somali policemen should lead the advance party, and that one should bring up the rear with Oualdo, Son of Mikael, whose powers as an interpreter were required to settle small difficulties that might arise.

We were now crossing a level plain, and were in the richest game country between the coast and the capital. We saw gazelles and antelopes, not one at a time, but frequently in groups of from four to a dozen. When we returned two months later, we saw whole regiments of antelopes, some of them containing two hundred beasts. To the right of our route lay the huge mountain range, in the rocky fastnesses of which is hidden the ancient city of Ankober. Numerous caravans of apparently interminable length crept toward us across the Ankober trail. Farther on, we found a herd of from five to six thousand female camels grazing under the supervision of herdsmen.

After leaving the Hawash River we began to climb gradually. Now it became very cold as soon as the sun had set. There was little or no wood for fires around which our servants could sleep, and how they stood the low temperatures is incomprehensible. They wore nothing but cotton garments, and although most of them had blankets, many had preferred to retain their blanket money, and to keep warm as best they could. Some­how, they managed to huddle together in their "chammas," and turned out in the morning after an apparently refreshing and warm night's slumber.

Empress Taitu of Ethiopia

 

On our second day in the kingdom of Choa we were visited by Atto Paulos, Governor of Baltchi, who informed us that we were now the guests of the Emperor, and that orders had been issued to all the chiefs to receive us with "the traditional hospitality of the kingdom." This meant that the right of "durgo" had been extended in our favor - in other words, that we might legally demand supplies of the inhabitants, who later, as a return for their gifts, would obtain some slight concessions from the tax-gatherers.

The daily arrival of the "hospitality" was an event of much solemnity, and the occasion of great rejoicings among the servants, who gorged themselves on food which we were utterly unable to consume. In the rich agricultural provinces a procession of perhaps forty people would arrive toward sundown leading steers, sheep, and goats, and carrying baskets of eggs, bread, barley, and jars of hydromel - the native champagne - curdled milk, and beer. Elsewhere the "Choum," or headman, would bring a sheep or a goat, with a thousand apologies for his inability to do more. It was to no purpose that we some­times protested against receiving this largess. The grave and polite "Choum" invariably said that the law enjoined the delivery of food to the nation's guests, and the law must be obeyed. A scarcely less inexorable law imposed upon the stranger the necessity of recognizing the gift. Later, when we left Addis Ababa upon the completion of our errand, we had ten steers and fifty sheep and goats that we had not needed. Ultimately, we were obliged to give them away. Our com­pound at the capital during our stay bore some faint resemblance at all times to the Chicago stock-yards.

On entering the fertile and magnificent province of Mindjar we crossed vast expanses of well-cultivated fields yielding two and three crops a year. There were fine cattle and prosperous-looking villages everywhere. Some of the threshing scenes were most picturesque. In some cases the straw was strewn about a small area and beaten with flails; but the usual process seemed to be to drive cattle round and round over it in a circle.

In one of the first of these villages we passed the first church that we had seen since the beginning of our journey. It looked some­thing like the pictures of the Chinese pagoda upon a willow-pattern plate. It was round, as are all the Abyssinian churches, which tradition says are copied after Solomon's temple. All of our Abyssinian servants bowed reverently when we passed the church, some of them kissing the soil or the wooden gateway.

At length, on December 18th - twenty days after leaving Dire-Douah - we saw in the far distance the shining roofs of Addis Ababa. High mountains were on both sides and ahead of us, and we marched across fields of waving grain. We halted, after two hours, at a spot called Shola, to receive M. Chefneux, the Emperor's Counselor of State, who had promised to come to escort us into the city.

We mounted our mules at two o'clock, and moved slowly in the direction of Addis Ababa. Soon we discerned in the distance an entire division of troops coming toward us. When the two forces met, the Dedjazmatch, or General in Command of the Abyssinians, dismounted. Introductions followed. The escorting troops then wheeled, and moved on in advance. Their numbers increased so rapidly as we approached the city that we were finally preceded by 3,000 men.

King Menelik and his grandchildren

Surrounding their chiefs, the warriors marched in most extraordinary confusion, sometimes performing evolutions, sometimes walking their horses, and sometimes galloping. It was a beautiful spectacle. No two costumes were alike. Saddles and bridles were decorated with gold and silver fringe. Bucklers of burnished gold were carried by the soldiers, and from their shoulders flew mantles of leopard and lion skins, of silk, satin and velvet. They were picked men riding well, their "chammas" flowing in the wind. Only the bright rifle-barrels marked the difference between these Ethiopians and the army of their forbears who followed the Queen of Sheba when she went down into Judea. We were spellbound by the moving mass of color, across which floated the weird music of a band of shawm players - playing as they had played when Jericho fell. With the probable emotion of the Yankee at the Court his legs crossed and his arms supported on two cushions. He wore a red velvet mantle, barely disclosing the snowy-white under­garments. Around his head a white hand­kerchief was closely bound. He also wore diamond ear-drops, and several rings upon both hands. His face was full of intelli­gence, and his manners those of a gentleman as well as of a king. Distinctly, the first impression was agreeable.

After a short formal address, I presented my commission from the President. This the Emperor scrutinized with polite indifference, laying it aside at once, and replying in a few words. He spoke in the Amharic language. All the other conversation and translations were in French. The officers of the mission were then presented, and were asked to take chairs. The Emperor told us of the arrangements made for our comfort, and we separated with his promise to fix in writing an hour for a first private audience on the next day. As we left the "Aderach" the captured cannon roared out twenty-one guns, and the band of native musicians played "Hail Columbia."

The same immense escort which had led us into the city headed by the shawm players, now augmented by the artillery men and the Emperor's band, led us down the mountain­side to our temporary home. The generals, judges and colonels entered with the officers, and together we inspected the quarters of the Ras Oualdo Georgis.

The Ras Oualdo Georgis, a nephew of Men­elik and ruler of a province, had erected this palace for his own comfort on his visits to the capital. It stood in a large park which was subdivided into compounds. It was oval, probably one hundred feet long by eighty wide, one story high, and divided into two rooms. There were several large doors and two windows in each room: the latter had solid wooden shutters, but no glass. Upon the floor were numerous oriental rugs, and in the front room was a divan, or throne, a long table, and many chairs.

After the departure of our visitors, the tired sailors and marines had to make a camp. The tents were put up in front of the palace, and the flag was raised over "Camp Roosevelt." A large number of spectators had found their way within the grounds, and the soldiers' labors were beguiled by the music of the Emperor's band.

The second day at the capital was almost as strenuous as the first. The Emperor had given me an appointment at ten o'clock. A divan in a small chamber awaited his Majesty. He entered quietly and promptly, accompanied by a number of important personages. They disappeared at a given signal, and to the Emperor's amazement I handed him a copy of a treaty, written in his own language by Professor Littmann of Princeton University. This enabled him to grasp our intentions immediately' without the intervention of an interpreter. After this meeting, either busi­ness interviews with the Emperor himself, or exchanges of views with his responsible ministers, took place daily.

The role of the various legations in Addis Ababa is purely political. America has been the first country to establish diplomatic relations for the avowed purpose of protecting and extending commerce, without having a political issue to discuss.

 

Our trade with Abyssinia grew under shadowy political arrangements, when the Abyssinians claimed an outlet upon the sea which the Egyptians contested with them by force of arms. In our time the Abyssinians were forced back until they were land-locked, with Italy, France and England standing guard upon the Red Sea. Later came the active occupation of the French possession by keen-witted Frenchmen, the creation of the port of Djibouti, and the building of the railroad to the Ethiopian frontier. After many delays and political intrigues, the line was finally put into operation in the summer of 1903. It has recently been announced that all preliminary questions have been satisfactorily settled, and that the railroad will now be completed from Dire-Douah to the capital. It will require three or four years to connect Addis Ababa with the line already built, but when this great enterprise is accomplished Ethiopia will be in a position to convert her vast treasures of natural wealth into money and to join her sister trading nations of the world.

The present foreign trade of Ethiopia is not great. Exports and imports together amount to $2,316,000, of which the share of the United States amounts to $1,389,600 – large in proportion to the trade of other countries, but hardly important. American cottons account for $579,000. As imports we receive, from Abyssinia and Somaliland together, skins and hides to the value of $675,000, and $135,000 worth of coffee. We naturally look to the future to develop a commerce of really important volume. The two great obstacles to the increase of American trade at present are: 1.The absence of American navigation lines assuring rapid, direct, and cheap transportation. 2. The absence of American business firms in Ethi­opia capable of repre­senting our interests.

There are gems and gold in Ethiopia. The gems we saw were found scattered over the desert wastes, washed down from the moun­tains above. Gold is hidden away in the mountains in quantities which can be esti­mated by no existing data. Even now the annual production of gold by methods as old as Moses amounts probably to $500,000. As for copper, iron and the ordinary metals, their extraction is merely a question of finding facilities for shipment and, probably more important still, a market capable of absorbing them. Petroleum has been dis­covered in large quantities, but the Emperor is currently believed to regard as the most important of Abyssinian activities the cultivation of his fertile table-lands.

The hope of the country does depend upon agriculture. A bountiful Providence has given Abyssinia a climate and a soil which produce two, and even three, crops a year. On the table-lands of Ethiopia nearly every grain can be grown that will grow anywhere. Here is the original home of the coffee plant, and cotton has been successfully grown here for many years. This fact has inspired half a dozen French cultivators to undertake cotton-growing upon a large scale. They have had such success that others are about to copy them, and there will probably be systematic efforts to make Ethiopia an important cotton-exporting region. But stock-raising, includ­ing beef, sheep and goats, is now by far the most important industry of the empire.

King Menelik and his suite entering Aderach

A visit paid to the American encamp­ment by the Emperor was the certain signal that our serious busi­ness discussions were practically over and that we might prepare for our homeward journey. The final audience with h his Majesty was arranged for Sunday afternoon, December 27th. He received us in the small audience cham­ber. The serious busi­ness of the hour was to affix the official seals to the treaty, which had previously been drafted in the Amharic and French languages.

As the actual comparison of the two copies of the treaty had preceded the audience, nothing remained to be done except to affix the signatures and the official seals. The Emperor never signs any documents, attach­ing instead to his letters his seal, impressed with black ink, and to formal documents the great seal of state. A white-robed secretary appeared with the instrument by which this is imposed, and, placing it on the floor, stamped the lion of Ethiopia under the sign manual of the President's Commissioner. We all shook hands and exchanged congratulations. Our soldiers presented arms and retired. Then the officers bowed low and followed.

The World’s Work.  February 1905.

 

Marines celebrating their last day in AddisAbaba