The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-12-19 00:00:00

SOMETHING ABOUT ABYSSINIA.

On Monday night, at a meeting of the members and friends
of the Royal Geographical Society, held to the theatre of the
Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, lundon, Dr. H. Blanc
read a paper entitled A Journey in Western Abyssinia."
Sir R. Murchison occupied the chair, and in spite of the in-
clemency of the weather there was • large attendance.
The Chairman, in introducing Dr. Blanc as one of
late Abyssinian captives, said that the government
had very properly recognised the hardships which this
gentleman and the other captives had undergone, and
the recognition which they had made did them infinite
credit.
Dr. Blanc said that he desired to correct a false im-
pression, already too prevalent in England, respecting
Abyssinia, and to discuss a conclusion too hastily as-
sumed, reflecting, in his opinion, rather too unfavour-
ably on the country at large, and too flattering still in
its estimation of the inhabitants of the Abyesinian
plateaux. Often on his way down from Magdala, and
often since his return to England, had he heard in the
mouths ef friends and strangers the short but graphic
sentence, "Abyssinia is a wretched country." die
would venture to assert, did he not fear to be
accused of jesting with mere words, or of debating
a foolish paradox, that the Abyssinian expedition
never entered Abyssinia at all. (Hear, hear.) The hue
of march necessity enforced upon our troops was the
lofty irregular mountain chain separating the sandy
shores of the Red Sea from the plateaux, plains, and
valleys of Abyssinia proper. A barren, desolate
tract, the watershed of the Mareb, the Tacerzi the
Jeddah, and the Beehelo, as different from the lauds
0 ay beautify and enrich as the snow-capped peaks of
the Swiss Alps, the cradle of many a mighty stream,
are the dreary contrast to the rich and fertile regions
watered by the laid or the Rhone. On the other hand,
the inhabitants of the country with whom the English
army came in contact on its ever-memorable march to
Magdala are (apart from some of the people of the
Tigre) the Shohos, the Azulxw, and other Gallas, the
degenerate Christian children of Wallo, and the mixed
tribes of the Dalanta and Wadela plateaux. He did
no wean to infer that had the army selocted another
route and pained through Detubea, Begewder, Wag-
gara, Metsha, Damot, they would have been he-
. pressed with a less favourable opinion of the
natives; on the contrary, he believed that the
craftiness of the border tribes and their gross, coax.,
immorality would have been masked by the hypo-
critical, plausible bearing none better than an Abys-
sinian can assume, and that one and all would have
found but words of praise to extol the generous, kind-
hearted Christians of Ethiopia. But if it was given to
the expedition to see only Abyssinia in its rude, th so-
late form, to admire the noble vista of a glorious Alpine
scenery, the unrivalled beauties of a wild, savage
nature, they could but sigh and turn away in sorrow
before that ideal of a poet's and artist's land, but
nothing more, and could, looking to the people around
him, but forget their faults, pity and love them. The
Shohos, and the several Galls tribes, though somewhat
unruly, were on their best behaviour from Senafe to
the Beehelo. Sir William Merewether, the gifted,
talented political officer, readily won the confidence of
the natives and smoothed all possible difficulties. The
high-minded commander-in-chief, the peoples friend,
waged war with none but the arch traitor Theodore,
and was justly beloved and respected by all ;
and het, but not least, Maria Theresa Dollies
worked marvels. Tigrimaus as well as Gallas
grasped eagerly at the prize. An invading
army paying its way instead of plundering alike friends
and foes was an enigma none could solve, but that all
gladly accepted ; mid although their want of truth,
their sensuality, their thieving propensities will ever
remain as a by-word in the English army, still on the
whole the true character of the Abyssinian in the eyes
of those who took a part in the expedition remains for
them as bidden as the lands batted by the Tana seaas
unfolded as the noble panorama of the rich fertile
country even a Theodore could hot utterly destroy.
Dr. Blanc then proceeded to give a graphic description
of the country of Abyssinia between Metemma to
Damot along the western shores of the Tana ems The
climate of Western Abyssinia is upon the whole good ;
in the valley of the lake itself some parts are feverish
and unhealthy ; the heat also in the middle of the day
is not sufficiently tempered by the cool mountain
breezes ,• but some miles from the lake, or a few
hundred feet above its level, even the plateau of
Tchalga, the high plains of Achefar and Agau,
with all their many advantages, cannot in that
respect claim any superiority—all are alike cool,
pleasant, and healthy. Western Abyssinia in within the
range of the tropical rains, there much earlier, longer,
and more important than in Eastern anti Northern
Abyssinia. The whole, be it valleys, plains, or pla-
teaus, is watered by countless streams; the soil, the
detritus of volcanic rocks, is so rich, of such fertility,
and enjoying as it does so many climaterie advantages,
we could not be surprised if three harvests were usually
reaped in a year. Teff, the staple food of the country,
grows almost everywhere, except on the higher
plateaus, where corn and barley thrive so well.
Cotton covers the plains of Foggara, wine is made
from the grapes of Madre marian,
i honey fragrant from
the sweet perfume flowers of wild flowes ludicrously
abundant, and the herds of cattle in peaceful times of
such magnitude, in numbers hardly to be credited,
enough to supply a thousand cities. Western Abys-
sinia, well might we exclaim, is indeed a land of milk
and honey, a lansl blessed by God, but cursed by man.
At the close of the paper Dr. Blanc, at the request sif
the president, gave a few particulars of his capture,
but most of the facts stated have been already pub-
lished.
- - •

The proceedings terminated with s vote of thanks
to Dr. Blanc for his very able paper.