ABYSSINIAN ADVENTURES

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 February 1941, Page 8

ABYSSINIAN ADVENTURES

BRITISH MISSION’S STORY. [BY CABLE—PRESS ASSN—COPYRIGHT.] (Recd February 17, 9.10 a.m.) LONDON, February 16. A special correspondent, somewhere in Abys’sinid, describes his experiences when penetrating the lion-in-fested jungle, undergoing- fever risks, and privations in an effort to make contact with the British Colonel, who is the leader of the British Military Mission, which fanned the embers of revolt among the natives in Abyssinia, and which also paved the way for the British advance in Eritrea. The correspondent eventually came upon the hiding-place of the colonel, who is smallish, bespectacled, and bald-headed, and whom the correspondent described as a combination of an intelligence officer, and envoy, and a plain bushranger. The colonel stepped from the undergrowth, with the greetings, “Good morning. Would you like a glass of beer?” He took, the correspondent into a small grass nut, and began his story with a summary of the events since the Abyssinian war. He then went on to speak of the misison’s trek through the jungle, two months after Italy’s entry into the European war, and of the race to reach the Gojjam Heights, before the news of their coming reached the Italians by word of mouth. The mission kept ahead of the news for hall the journey, then flood waters and physical exhaustion enabled the enemy intelligence system to outstrip them. However, the mission managed to slip through the Italian cordon, and to complete its journey.. The mission penetrated the fortified line covering the Gojjam Escarpment, made the Montact with the local chiefs, and established its headquarters. The mission’s first task was to distribute Haile Selassie’s proclamation. The second task was to reconcile the dissident chiefs to the standard of unified revolt. This was achieved after an historic gathering, at which the Abyssinian chiefs embraced one another, and kisse.d the ground as an expression of their loyalty to Haile Selassie. Guerilla activities began m earnest, patriots blocking the roads, destroying bridges, harassing Italian columns, and preventing effective reinforcements of isolated camps. More and more Abyssinians flocked to the cause, with the result that when the Emperor rejoined his people, almost the whole of Abyssinia was represented by chiefs who paid homage at a historic court held on a rocky terrace, hewn from the mountainside.