EXTRACTS FROM NEW BOOKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6261, 10 December 1881, Page 6

EXTRACTS FROM NEW BOOKS.

THE KING OP ABY.SSIXU [From '■ Colonel Clonic in Central Afria ■-, I write in haste, but I will sum un r impression of Abyssinia. Th>i Kin', • rapidly growing mad. He cuts oT th<-\" " of those who take snuff, and th» fir \ those who smoke. The other dav J went to salute Has AJoula. In salutin /Jr" 1 his tobacco-box dropped out. R M \i, , struck him with his sword, and hw finished him. The King is ha'ed moil rJ P '* Theodore wa3. Cruel to a d<-', r «.. h," , j not, h'.wever, take lift:. He "cut* fe«t and hands of people who <jffer>ri"'i,;' ie He puts out their eyes by pouring ho*- t -.iv!' into their ears. Several* came to m<-~i,' J 'n me thi?. I remonstrated with tiif- K;* against his edict forcing men to '},«.*■'"* Christian from Mussulman. I[. : s:l : l j"Jv ne wished it. I also remonstrated a\j-,-.' r '.T J tobacco edict, but it was of no us. : . v, ,^' e can travel without the King's orW i'-' ','■"■' a foreigner. Yi.u can buy nothin ,'v'v ') '"! the King's order ; no one will MvirV.."" 0 "" without his order—in fact, no more .o-. ? Ca despotism could exist. It casmo: l-'i'-'/'t 1 * the King will go on from one ma :";>,;- '° r another. Orders were given tint >vi" , *° was to approach me, nor was I any. The officer who condujtod nse King, the second in command to met his uncle and cousin in '.hain- anj durst not ask why they were chain.-.f' Th» King is a man of some forty;;',;- v ,.. ra T sour, ill-favoured looking be;":;-, lie "iicvelooks you in the face, but wife a \<xi ir'ot away he glares at you like :> ti'-.-r. jj e never smiles ; his look, always ch-fiub-,, : 3 one of thorough suspicion! Hau-4, \\,'i hating all, I can imagine no more unhappy man. Avaricious alove all his people, ivio do not lack this quality, his idea <ii a :':«(> port is that fleets of steamers will arriv". from the Powers of Europe with presents iV him, to wluch he will reply by stndin" a letter with the Lion seal, saying. " You are my brother, my mother, \tc. How &re you?" Johannis is delighted with He; Majesty, because she called him her son'. He carries with him all his great prisoners —the poor Gnobasie, with his eyes out, aaj the rest. At the great feast, on September •27, he had one bullock killed for some him. dreds of persons.