LADIES' COLUMN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5567, 16 May 1896, Page 3

LADIES' COLUMN.

A MODERN QUEEN OF SHEBA.

THE EMPRESS OF ABYSSINIA AND HER PART IN ITALY'S DEFEAT. Not to the Negus Menelek, but to his remarkable consort, Empress Taoti, are the Italians indebted to the defeat of all their efforts to secure possession of Abys-> sinia, writes " Ex- Attache " in the New York Tribune. These' efforts have continued without interruption since 1885, entailing the loss of an incalculable amount of life, treasure and prestige. No one will ever know exactly how much this attempt to conquer the most fierce and warlike nation in the world, and to secure those fertile valleys and tablelands of Abyssinia that are defended by well-nigh impregnable mountain fastnesses, has cost Italy. It was an enterprise that was doomed to failure from the very outset, and can have been suggested to the Government of King Humbert only by someone who had at heart, not the welfare, but the misfortune of Italy. Like her present husband, who is her cousin, the Empress Taoti is descended in a direct line from the biblical queen of Sheba and Solomon the wisest king of the Jews. In common with all the princes and princesses of Abyssinia's ancient dynasty, she was exiled by Emperor Theodoros in the early part of the sixties, and took refuge with her parents at the court of Gondar, where she made the acquaintance of and fell in love with her cousin, Prince Menelek, an exile like herself. They were about to bo married, when Theodoros suddenly invited them to hi 3 court, assuring them not only of the security of their lives and property, but also of his favour. Complying with his invitation, they returned, but with evil results as far as their* mutual attachment was concerned, for they had no sooner presented themselves before Theodoros than he also fell in love with Taoti, and insisted on making her his wife, giving Menelek one of his own daughters in marriage. Empress Taoti, as she had now become, was subjected to such ill-treatment by her savage husband that his death at the storming of Magdala some few months later came to her in the light of a deliverance from untold misery, and she quickly consoled herself by conferring her hand and heart upon a general of the name of Ualde Gabriel. On his also being killed in a battle a year later, she became the wife of General Tackle Ghiorghis, comman-der-in-chief of the army of the King of Tigre. Dissatisfied with the union, she soon obtained a divorce from him and then married the governor of Egiou, but had not lived with him more than three months before Emperor John caused him to be thrown into prison and executed. Rendered desperate by her matrimonial misadventures, she sought refuge in the convent of Debra-Meni and became a nun. It did not take long, howev.er, to convince her that she was not made for convent life, and accordingly she obtained a dispensation from her vows from the Archbishop of Abounah, of Abyssinia, and married a nian of thenameof Zeccaragagiou, whose only merit seems to have been his wealth, and who . illused her in the most shameful manner, being accustomed to flog her most unmercifully. Making use of the old fashioned plea that she was anxious "to pay a visit to his mother," she managed to get away from him and to take refuge in a neighbouring province, carrying away with her a considerable portion of his wealth.

It was while living with her brother in the Ephrata province in 1882 that she was brought into contact again with her first lover and fiance, Menelek, who had meanwhile become King of Shoa. Their meeting had the effect of reviving all the infatuation between the two, and in spite of his being already married, Menelek persuaded the ex-empress. Taoti to take up her abode with him. Of course Menelek's wife, Queen Tofana, objected. But she was quickly divorced, and her death followed the dissolution of her marriage with an altogether suspicious rapidity. Taoti was thus left without any rival in the affections of her lord, and was married to him with imposing ceremony in 1885, being at that time thirty-five years old. Ever since' then she has exercised a marvellous influence over her husband, who consults her about everything, and invariably f ollowß her advice. It was due to her clever and sagacious counsels that he 'formed that alliance with the late Emperor John which had the result of assuring to him the succession to the latter's throne. And the astonishing shrewdness with which he has managed for ten years past to oppose all the efforts made by the Italian Government in the shape of intrigue and of armed attack to obtain possession of his country is justly ascribed both by his people and his foes to the remarkable cleverness of his dusky consort, Empress Taoti, the "queen of queens," and "the. sun and light of Ethiopia."