KING MENELIK OF ABYSSINIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 78

KING MENELIK OF ABYSSINIA.

Fev-er mightier monarch's than Menelik II of Abv.-vinnia ever swayed the destinies of a people. Throughout the vast territory ot the Abyssinian highlands his individual will ia law to some millions of subject*, law also to hordes of savage Mohammedan ivn<l pagau tribesmen without theconfines of his kingdom. His Court includes no councillor's. Alone thioughoufc the long yeats of his reign Menelik has dsalt with* all domestic and foreign affairs of State. But now this last splendid survival of th& feudal ab.-olul\?m ex^rcis- °cl and enjoyed by lnedutval iuWt> it about to disappear be.i'Ldth encic iJi'iif- wave 4 - of civilisation, vvliuli ion^ .spa jo noililng picturesque. C^biea ftom far-off Addis Ababa, Menclik's capital, biing the news that he has joined a Cabinet, and published the appointment of Ministers of War, Finance, Jn.-.tic?, Foreign Affairs, and Commerce. AkJ this change has come, not fiom pr>c.i*ure i.f aiiy paity or faction within his Lii i^ f 2om, for "such do not exist ; but out of the fount of liu= ov, n w itdom — a wisdom 5,0 sound as lo pro\e him a mast worthy c iD sceiidi it of tho Hebrew King .Meni'liJ: cli-ims a- ai ce s ior — if, indeed, more pi^r,t\ vreiu i:?ce-. niy than the ••tatc-ni.TiU.e way in v. hich he has dealt, with jeabiib diplomat-, and the martial fkill with vliich, ot Adua in 1896, be defeated the How-er of the Italian army, snd won fro:ii Itah- an honouiable truce. — OLde-t Liv en go of rill llondicl'.--. — Xo fM~li'ig roj al iiousa owns lineage ,-0 anc-ieiic a"- Menelik 11, Negus, Xe^,ui-ti, "J^ing of tlie Xiii o '> of Lthiopa ard Conqu&riaJ*Lion of Judoh,"" claims hi^ to be. (Jld Aby>oiniaii tiaduion has it that ay ay back 1:1 the tenth century 8.C., Maheda, Queen of .Sheb,», eprly in her leign paid a ceicii'aiiial vi<-it to the court, of King iSolom&n, coining with lier entire court and a magnificent itiinu-e bearin.g royal gifts of fioiikmor-n^ and holm, gold and ivory, and piecioiii <=lonr.-. to that kindliest of rule. -— a gorj.ou^. caravan bright with maJiy coluui ed plume 4 - and Filks, w ith litters bl iznig willi the golden crnonicnts cf elephant and camel caparisons, glittering v with the glint of ppears aad bucklers.

She of Sheba bore Solomon a son, and . called him Menehk, so the legen>d runs, i X&ter as a lad ths boy was twitted by playmates that he had no father. In this dalemma the Queen sent an embassy to ; Solomon, asking soir.s act that should t establish their son's royal paternity. I Promptly Solomon returned the embassy, bearing to Shefaa's court in faa* Southwest ATabia a royal decree declaring j Menelik his son, and aoompaiiied by a | son of each of ths leaders of the 12 tribes j of Israel, enjoined to serve as a sort of j juvenile royal court to Menelik. J Whether or not the claim of Menelik ; 11 that he himself is lineally descended , from the -son of Solomon and Makeda is , true, it is cca r tain that in race type ] Abys^iniaais plainly resemble the sons of ' Israel, crossed and modified with Coptic, Hamite, and Ethiopian blood, ?nd to this dav cling closely as the most orthodox Hebrew to some of the- dearest Israelitish ■ tenets, notably in their antipathy to pork and to other meat not Wed before dead, to observance of the Sabbath and the lite of circumcision. And this notwithstanding that the Abyssianians have been Chris- ; tians since the fourth century of this era, ■ when, only eight yeara after the great , Constantino decreed the recognition of , Christianity by the State, a prosleyting , monk caste among them with faith so strong, heart so pure, and eloquence so iiiesistibJe that single-handed he accomplished the conversion of the Abyssinian race. Thus cut off for centuries from all other Christians, and their ritual older than that of either Rome or Moscow, the Abyssinian religion has changed little from its foim , in the davis of the Apostles. I And remembering the Abyssinian folklore tale of the 12 sons of the chiefs of the 12 tribes of Israel sent by Solomon to ; Makeda, as attendants on Menelik I, it is j most curious a«d interesting to know that j the heads of 12 certain Abyssinian families (none of whom is lodger a notable : some even of rudest of ignorant herdsmen) and their forbears from time immemorial have had and still possess the inalienable right of audience with their monaavh at any time they may ask it, even takinsr precedence over royalty itself. Ind^el, George Russell Clerk, for the last five ve.-rs secretary of the British Legation at the Court of Menelik, recently told me that sse and oth**r >dit>lomats accredited to Abbas A-boba were not infrequently subjected to the annoyance of having an audience interrupted or delayed by the ■unannounced coming for a hearing of one of these favoured 12. Many of Menelik's judigment.3 are masterpieces. Recently two brothers came •before him, the young-er complaininc that the elder sought ti.-o larger and the better sart5 art of tb« property they had to divide, lenelik promptly ordiered the elder to describe fully the entrre property and state •what part k.& wanted for himself. It wais done. "Ard this," questioned Menelik, "you consider a just division of the property into two parts of equal value?" , '"Yes, Negus," answered the elder. "Then," decreed Mene'ik, '"give your brother first choice!" Over wide territory beyond the Abyssi- > iMan border Menelik's power is as much feared and his will as much respected as among his own subjects. Of this there oceuri'^d recently a mo-st dramatic proof. Bordering Abyssinia on the east is the Danakil country. It adjoins the province of Shoa, of which Menelik w o s Has, or feudal King, before his severs i»i to the Abyssinian throne. The DaiKikii.-* are a savage pagan people of admixed Hamite (early Egyptian) and Ethiopian ancestry. They arc perhaps the most tireless warlike race in all Africa. Though often j severely beaten by thedr Italian and Somali neighbours, they haVfe never been ' Bubdued. ! Indeed, slaughter may in a way be said i to be part of their religion ; for it is tho fetish every young warrior must provide foT the worship of the woman of his , choice before he may hope to win and . have hea\ It is necessary that he should i have killed royal game — lion, rhinoceros, ' or elephant — but that is not enough, j Single-handed he must kill a man and bring the maid a trophy of the kill before . she Avill even consider him ; and Danakil j maids of spirit often demand come plurality of trophies. Thub the license for each Danakil mating is written in the life blood of some neighbouring triboman ; and thus also are the few poltroons m Danakil land f condemned to remain celibate for life. I Only Mcnelik't word do they 'heed, his i might dread. — A Foolhardy Frenchman. — Through the Danakil country, between j Erer Gotto and Oder, . not long ago j travelled the caravan of William iN'orthup j ' ftJ'Millan, conveying the sections of several steel boats with whioh he purposed navigating and exploring the Blue Nile ' from its source to Khartoum, a region ' ifhat had never been travereod by whit* J men. , In the party was Dubois-Desaulle, a gay j end reckless ex-officer of the foreign • legion that had long served in Algiers i against raiding Arab sheiks, and harboured no fear of the unorganised, wild tribesmen through whose country they were travelling. \ M'Millan knew them better, however, and held his command under strict military discipline, marched in clo?e order j %vith scouts out, forbade straying from the column, and zarebaed his night camps-, for , the march wa6 a £evere one, and he had | jneither the time nor sufficient force to , divide safely in search for or to succor ( jhbsmg stragglers. Urged -with the rest never to go unsrmea, and to stay close with the caravan, j pubois-Dssaulle's only reply was a laugh- ] 3fig> "Never, never! I will never carry | arms for those baboons. ! I will scare , i^em into flight with sticks ! Don't worry . £t}out me." " Interested in botany and entomology, (holding the natives in utter contempt, he ' liepeatedly strayed from the column for ; ijmirs, without even co much as a pistol jjy war of aims; until finally M'Miilan

' told him that if he again so strayed he would be placed under guard for the rest of the march. But the very next day, riding a mule with the ad\ance guard led by H. Morgan Brown, Diibois-Desaulle slipped unobserved into the bush, probably in pursuit of some winged wonder that had crossed his path | Camp was made early in the afternoon 1 on the banks of the Doha River, and a strong party, with shikaree trackers, l?d by Brown, was sent out in search of the straggler. Night came on before they could pick uj> his trail, and nothing further could be done except to build signal fires on adjacent bills. But all without result ; and anxiety for his safety crystallised into chill fears for his life when the didl glow of plie signal fires was suddenly extinguished by the next morning's sun (the desert knows neither twili-in nor dawn — the nun bursts up blood red out of shrouding darkness, like a rocket from its _*ase, and at once it is day). An hour later Brown's shikar-cs found the pi ice where Dubois-Desanlle had strayed from the coli#iiiii : followed it winding through the bus a hither and yon for two miles, to a point wheie he had found a native warrior reated beneath ft tree ; read, with theii unerring fkill at sign lone, that there he had stood and talked for some time with i-Le native, and then pressed on along the line of the "sign "' of rider and footman, travelling side by side, till, within the pneiter of specially dense surrounding bush, the footman dropped behind the rider — for what dastardly assassin's, purpooe the next 20 steps revealed ! There l&y the stark body of gay DuboisDe.=aulle. dropped from his mule without a struggle by a mortal Gr>9ir thrust in his hack, the- manner of his mutilation a Danakil's sign manual. — The Last Rites.— Immediately messengers were sent to the caravan bearing the news, asking reinforcements. At the time the indomitable chief, M'Millan, was laid up with veldt gores on the legs, unable to walk, or even o ride, except in a litter. Promptly, however, he dispatched Lieuicmant Fairfax and William Marlow, with about 30 more men, to Brown's support, with orders' never to quit till they got the murderer. By a foi'ced march Fairfax reached Brown at 4 in the afternoon. When journeying in desert places and amid deadly perils, it is always a-n unusually terrible shock to lose one from among so few, and to ba forced to lay him in unconsecrated ground remote from home and friends. So it was a sobbing, saddened trio that stood by while a grave was dug to receive all that was mortal of their gallant comrade. And within it they laid him, wrapped in the ample folds of an Abyssinian tope ; stones were heaped above the graye — ,\t least the four-footed beasts bhoufd rot have a chance to rend him ! — and three vollej.< were fired as a last honour to Dubois-Desdullc, ex-1-egionary of the army of Algiers. Tears dried, eyes hardened, jaws tightened, and away on the plair trail of the murderer marched the little column. Turning at the edge of the thick jungle for a last look hack, the three noted an extraordinary circumstance th^it touched them deeply and made them reel that even the savage desert sympathised. A miniature whirlwind, of the sort frequent in the desert, was slowly circling the gi-ave, and even a^ they looked it swung immediately over it, and there stood for minutes, its t ill duet column n.° ing up into the zenith like the smoke of a funeral pyre. Then on they marched, and there they kit him, sure that by night lions would be roariuq him a requiem not unbefitting his wild spirit. — Thicaleuing the Natives. — Just al du*k the party reached a large Danakil town into which the murderer's trail led. and camped before it Told that on© of hi-3 men had killed . their comrade and that they wanted him, Ali (Jorah, the chief, was surly and insolent, and refused to yive him up; said he wished no war with then, but that if they wanted any of his people they must fight for them. Then guaid.s were s-et about the camp, and tho little command lay down to sleep within a spear's throw of thousands of Ali Go-rah'h wild D.-mr.kils. But the night passed without akuni~, and then confidence was resumed FaiV'ax cajoled a id threatened t- v j-imiito" a<i army that would wipe Darakil land on" the map, but till to no purpose. The chief remained obdurate. ¥ '.rly if the- day a courier was sent to M'MilKn with the --toiv of their plight and ieque^t for supplies and more , men. These were instartly sent, notwith- j standi aar that M'Millan was himself well- i nigh hplpless, leaving him himing at his ] own enfoiccd imction a'one with Marlow, j his per^nrl attendant, a handful of men. , and a total of only two rifle? as the sol-e ' i^uard of the caravan for ten more anxious j dav-s. Daily fovncils were he!d,alwa\s ending in mutual threats. Fail fax could make no ' p relief.*, but he would not leave. j One day Ali Gorah lined up 2000 war- ] liors in baltlo nnav before Fanfax".-> '-mall ' command, and ordsi-ed hi n to move off, under pain of i'^innt attack ; but th-cre he j .stubbornly etnved. ;n the veiy face of the certainty that \v.-~ command could not last 10 ininul"s if the clrr-f actmlly eidered a charge. But hi« dauntless courage won. and the war paity wa« with- I drawn. ' In the mean while tojne of hi 5 .Soinal's had learned fro-m the Daii.iki'n that the muid«rt.r's n.ime was Miiach. and that he was the gre«tc-»t warrior of tl ia "rib°, a man with trophies of all s- o 1 1 s of lovnl jrame, and of no le«s than 40 men to h," m?.triir>or>i t' credit. By the eleventh dav nvit'ial untnt-io:i had i.ipfh retched thp fu^.n^ \, "int. Fanifx hid carefully trained a crew to bardic ' a Cojt ina-clun3 gun that M'Millan was , bringing as a present to Eas Makonnsn, | the victor of the field of Adua, and debated with his mates about laising an attack. ■ — Mjc-iv&lik's Remcikalile Power. — Luckil.v, however, the day before M'Mil-

im liad bethought him of a letter of -Merelik's he carried, ordering all his subj-eict'? tc len*) th« bearei aTl y add or succour he might need. This letter was sent by his Abyssinian head man to Mantooc, the nearest Abyssianifn Ras, a fort of overlord of the Danakils, with request ' for his advice and add. Promptly came Mantooc wii.h only one attendant, hea.vd t-he story, begged M'Millan to have no i further care, and raced away for Ali Goirah's village, wbere, happily, he ar- | rived in m,id afternoon of the eleventh | cay, just a& Fairfax was making disposi- . tions for opening a finish fii^ht. Mantooc's first ac f waa to advife Fau 1i fax to. withdiaw ais command and rejoin the caravan ; and. assnncd by him that ' Miradh. should be brought away a prsoner, Fairfax assented and withdrew. ' Then Mantooc entered alon>? the vi'lage of Ali Goran, and there spent the night. What passed that night between the Christian and pagan chiefs we do not knew. Probably "ittle was &a:d — nothing r>:are wai? needed, indeed, than the interpretation of the letter of the Negus, and the exhibition of the royal seal it bore. Full well Ali Gorah knew the heavy penalties of disobedience. ' So it happened that near noon of the , twelfth day Mantooc brought Mirach into Al'ilillan's camp, acconipanied by 30 of 1 .is family and the headmen of the tribe, -\iirach marching in fully aimed with , spear and shield, insolent and fearless. \ Asked why h.e- had done the deed, Mirach replied : "I was resting in the shade. The feringee approached and £^ked ■me to guide him to t-he river. I told him to pass on, and not to disturb me. Then i lie stayed and talked, and talked, till I j got tired and told ham not to tempt me j further — -for I had never vet had Mich a j chance to kill a white man. Still, he ani noyed me with his foolish talk, until. J woiry of it, I Led him away into the thickets to his death, and won trophies d'"a,' to 'Oanakil maiden*'" Three camel?, woith 20dol each, cr a total of 60dol. i< usnal blord money in -\bvr c ii)i^. Paid oik* received, fpuds 1 among tb° trib-^sinr l and nuirder« are -Ten forgotten. Birt Mivach was .*o 1-iahlv j valued as a wariior by hi-? peopl? ihat I they offered Al'MiMan 'r.'> ]es<- than 3GO ramoK fcr hi s life, and upt duniß*onnd<:d whe'i thr-ir offsr was lefu-ed ! I Disarmed and shackled. Mirach i»---j main-ed a sullen but defiant piisoner with J the caravan for the next two week^' I maivh. when th-e crossing of the Haw«h | Biver brouight them well into ! terntorv. and made it 'safe to msh him I i forward, in charge of a tmill esfovl, to Addis Abeba. There he was tiied beneath tli-e c .>mbre j?h,"dp of tie famom i l iudirment tree. (ond'-mmd. and (wo i months later was Inn ye 'l in the mi'iket- 1 i pln^e. And tht.-ro for da\> hi^ -ruining ! | htp find >liiive!l'ni- li-k i-f Im:. . a' nienatini? pioaf to th^ ". il<lr--t \i i' 'njr I t:ibi'-inen of tl'^m all of t!-- \.i.-t pi<.\tr of i llio Xe r Mi« Xe. 'ii^-t i. !