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CONTRIBUTORS.

Among the Contributors to this Volume of the "Annual Cyclopædia" are the following:

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THE

ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA.

A

ABYSSINIA, an empire in eastern Africa. The reigning sovereign is Menelek II, formerly King of Shoa, who on the death of the Negus Johannis in 1889 proclaimed himself Emperor of Ethiopia, and subsequently overcame the rival claimants to the succession. He had already accepted an Italian protectorate, May 2, 1889, in a treaty that was confirmed and supplemented by a convention concluded between his plenipotentiaries and the Italian Government in October of the same year. Under the Negus the country is ruled by 24 feudal vassals, who colleet and pay into the royal treasury the taxes, and owe the King service with their retainers in time of war. Menelek has, moreover, a permanent army of paid soldiers, most of whom are armed with rifles.

Area and Population. The provinces of Tigré, Lasta, Amhara, and Gojam have a combined area of 80,000 square miles and a population of about 2,000,000 persons. The kingdom of Shoa is more populous, having 1,500,000 inhabitants on a territory of 26,000 square miles. The dependencies of the Bogos, Shoho, Mensas, Barea, Kunama, Hababs, and Beni Amer in the north cover an area of about 28,000 square miles, with a population not exceeding 100,000. Danakil, the country between the Abyssinian plateau and the sea, inhabited by the Afars and Adals, is 40,000 square miles in extent, with 200,000 population. The extreme political boundaries of Abyssinia include also a territory of 6,000 square miles, inhabited by the Issas and other dependent Somali tribes, numbering 60,000 individuals, and the lands of the conquered Gallas and Kaffas, 64.000 square miles in extent, with about 3,500, 000 inhabitants. According to this calculation, the empire embraces 244,000 square miles, with a total population of 7,360,000 souls. Prof. Guido Cora, of Turin, estimates the area of the Kingdom of Abyssinia, including Shoa, Kaffa, Harrar, etc., at 190,000 square miles, and the population at 5,000,000; the dependencies of the Hababs, Bogos Beni-Amer, etc., at 18,000 square miles, with 200.000 inhabitants; the Danakil territory, with the sultanate of Aussa, at 34.000 square miles, with 200,000 inhabitants; and Oppia and other districts of the Somali coast, with a tract in the interior extending to Wadi Nogal and Mudug, at 90,000 square miles, with 300,000 in VOL. XXX.-1 A

habitants. The districts that had been occupied as Italian possessions up to the close of 1889 were the country around Massowah, Keren, and Asmara, having an area of 3,100 square miles, with 250,000 inhabitants.

The dominant race, of Arabian origin and speaking the old Ethiopic language was converted to Christianity in the fourth century. The abuna or head of the Church is always a Copt who is appointed and consecrated by the Patri arch of Alexandria; but the actual control of religious affairs is shared by the ecbegheh, an Abyssinian dignitary who presides over the monastic orders. There are about 12,000 monks in the country.

The people raise large herds of cattle, as well as sheep and goats. Little attention is given to agriculture. Wild indigo, tobacco, sumach, coffee, cotton, sugar-cane, the date palm, and the vine thrive, and the forests contain valuable woods, such as ebony, tamarind, sycamore, baobab, and the wild olive. Tobacco was successfully cultivated on a considerable scale by Greeks in the vicinity of Keren until Ras Aloula destroyed the plantations. The soil is exceedingly fertile, producing abundant crops of wheat, barley and legumes in the elevated regions, and the plants of tropical and sub-tropical climates in the plains and valleys near the sea,

Commerce.-Foreign commercial exchanges take place only through Massowah. The commerce of that port rose from $200,000 in 1861 to $1,400,000 in 1881, and then ceased to a great extent during the hostilities with Italy. The principal export articles are mother-of-pearl, skins, mules, and butter, which amounted to a total of $300,000 in 1889. Gums, coffee, ivory, ostrich feathers, skins, and cereals from the interior have ceased to be exported, owing to war and anarchy.

The Pacification of Tigré.-The basis of an arrangement for a combined action against the Negus Johannis by Menelek, the rebellious King of Shoa, in the south, and the Italians at Massowah, who were to advance to Asmara or Gura, in Tigré, was agreed to in the summer of 1888 by Count Antonelli and Menelek. In accordance with this secret treaty, Menelek was supplied with munitions. Yet neither he nor the Italian military authorities, who doubted his

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