Soon the independent chiefs of the other provinces refused to acknowledge his sway. Shoa, Tigre, and God-jam, the S. W. province of Amhara, were virtually separate sovereignties for many years. A line of chiefs descended from a female representative of the ancient royal house ruled over Shoa; while Tigre was governed from 1790 to 1816 by Ras Walda Selassye, who was visited at Antalo, his capital, in 1804, by Mr. Salt, the first Englishman to enter Abyssinia in an official character. Ras Ali of Amhara was the de facto governor of central Abyssinia from 1881 to 1855, although two princes, to whom he was minister, nominally ruled the country during this period. Between these dates the visits of numerous explorers made extensive additions to European knowledge of Abyssinia. In 1848 Mr. Walter Plowden, who had previously visited the court of Ras Ali at Debra Tabor in Tigre, was appointed British consul to Abyssinia. Lij Kasa, subsequently so famous as King Theodore, now appeared as an important character in Abyssinian politics. Born in 1818, he had been educated in a convent, as a scribe, whence a chance foray turned his thoughts to military affairs, and he became the leader of a predatory band of discontented soldiery, which grew to such dimensions as soon to be a power in the state.

He then attacked the army of the mother of Ras Ali, who governed the district of Dembea for her son, and being successful was himself appointed to rule over it by the ras, who also bestowed upon the young chieftain the hand of his daughter in marriage. But this friendship was short-lived. Kasa recommenced war against his father-in-law, drove him from his dominions, subjugated the chief of Godjam and Dadjatch Ubye of Tigre, and in 1855 found himself master of Abyssinia. He now caused the abuna to crown him king of the kings of Ethiopia under the name of Theodore. Plowden entered into official relations with the new government, and both he and his friend Bell, an Englishman in the emperor's service, resided in the country till 1860, when they were killed by insurgents. Up to this time Theodore had reigned tolerantly and with discretion; but the death of Bell and Plowden, to whom he was devotedly attached, together with the loss of his first wife, the daughter of Ras Ali, whose influence over him had always been excellent, wrought a great change in his character. His new wife, the daughter of a hostile chief, in reality hated him, and henceforth he became morose, bloodthirsty, and tyrannical.

Capt. Cameron, Plowden's successor in the consulate, arrived at Massowa in 1862 with presents from the queen for Theodore, which he delivered in October of that year. Theodore responded in a letter to the queen, proposing to send an embassy to England, which he transmitted through Capt. Cameron. To this the foreign office paid no attention, and the arrival of a messenger from England in 1864, with despatches for the consul but no answer to his letter, greatly incensed the king, who was already indignant at the refusal of the French government to recognize one M. Bardel, whom he had sent to Paris with a similar message to the emperor. In November, 1863, the German Scripture readers residing near the court and the missionaries in Dembea were thrown into prison, heavily ironed; and on Jan. 4, 1864, Capt. Cameron and his suite were seized and placed in close confinement at Gondar, whence, after having been subjected to brutal tortures, all the captives were removed to Magdala. News of their imprisonment reached England in the spring, and a communication in response to his letter was at once despatched to Theodore in charge of Mr. Hormuzd Ras-sam, a Mesopotamian holding the office of assistant to the British political resident at Aden. He landed at Massowa on July 23, 1864, but owing to various obstacles did not succeed in delivering the letter to the king till Jan. 25, 1866. It induced Theodore to set the prisoners at liberty and to promise that they should meet Mr. Rassain near the N. W. extremity of Lake Tzana and travel with him to the coast.

He was anxious, however, that Mr. Rassam should write to England for workmen and await their arrival in Abyssinia; and this desire not being acceded to, he remanded the captives to prison, accompanied by Mr. Rassam and his comrades, who were violently taken into custody at an audience held in the king's tent just prior to their intended departure. Theodore then dictated a letter to Lord Clarendon asking for military stores, workmen, and an instructor in artillery, and sent it to London by Mr. Flad, who reached that city on July 10, 1866. The other Europeans remained captives in Abyssinia. As a communication from the queen, forwarded by Mr. Flad, and demanding the release of the prisoners, met with no response, the British government determined to attempt their rescue "by force. A military expedition was organized at Bombay, under the command of Sir Robert Napier, consisting of 4,000 British and 8,000 sepoy troops. Annesley bay having been chosen as a landing place, the army was debarked there, and in January, 1868, commenced the march to the interior through the Senate pass, and proceeded southward toward Magdala, about 400 m. from the coast, whither Theodore had retreated, and where the European prisoners were confined.

On April 9 the English force arrived in front of the fortress, and on the following day were attacked by the Abyssinians, whom they repulsed with a loss of 700 killed and 1,200 wounded, having themselves but 20 wounded. This engagement is known as the action at Arogi, and its result so discouraged the king that he immediately released all the captives. Magdala was stormed on April 13, and captured with a loss of 15 British wounded. As soon as the outer gate fell, Theodore, determined not to be taken prisoner, placed the muzzle of his pistol in his mouth, fired, and fell instantly dead. The complete success of the undertaking led the government to raise Gen. Napier to the peerage, with the title of Lord Napier of Magdala. The departure of the expedition left the country in a state of anarchy. At the latest accounts a chief of Tigre named Kasa had succeeded in establishing his supremacy over a considerable region. He is said to be a weak man. - A tolerably complete bibliography of works relating to Abyssinia is given in Hotten's "Abyssinia and its People" (London, 18(58). The more accessible English books on the subject comprise "Bruce's Travels," of which many editions have been published since the first in 1790; "The Highlands of Ethiopia," by Major W. C. Harris (London, 1844); "Life in Abyssinia," by Mansfield Parkyns (London, 1853); Hozier's "British Expedition to Abyssinia" and Markham's "Abyssinian Expedition" (London, 1869); and W. T. Blanford's " Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia" (London, 1870).

View in the Mountains near Magdala.

View in the Mountains near Magdala.

Hill Fort between Mai and Abaca.

Hill Fort between Mai and Abaca.