Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-04-13

Abyssinia ever JOHN OF ABYssINIA.
get firmly planted at Massowah they will
cross into Arabia, destroy the holy city
of Mecca and the tomb Of the Prophet,
and thus destroy the unity Of the Mos
lem world. England, to appease her
Mohammedan subjects in India, Egypt
and elsewhere, withheld Massowah from
King John and handed 1t over to the
Italians, who were just then seized with
the colonizing fever.
Immediate war resulted. It had been
discovered in these various expeditions
that the climate Of the interior valleys
and plateaus of Abyssinia is delightful,
while that Of the narrow strip of low
land on the coast is simply deadly. Even
In the cold season tho thermometer fire.
quently marks 100 degs. above zero, while
during the hot and rainy months white
men are completely Frustrated. From
this land Of death the country rises very
abruptly by rocky plateaus to general
level Of 1000 feet, and from this level
sharp mountain ridges rise 5000 feet
higher. Between these ridges and in de-
pressions OF tho great plateau arc many
valleys OF marvellous fertility, where
grain and fruits may be produced In such
abundance that the country, as q whole,
could sustain in great affiuence more than
five times its present population. But
the routes thereto are contested by the
fiercest and most warliko races, who
rarely gSFe or ask quarter. And at the
beginning OF the war 1t was estimated
that King John had 240, 900 troops of this
character.
Tho statesmen of Italy profess to be
alarmed at the great emigration Of their
people to the two Americas, and report
that 5000, 900 Italians are now domiciled
in other countries. They desire q colony
where their immigrants would be of use
to the mother country, and undoubtedly
Central Abyssinia will furnish it-if
they can hold it. Massowah is only a
week by steam from Naples, through
the Suez canal. England, Turkey and
Egypt are most anxious that the Italians
shall succeed, France Is for the present
neutralized, Germany Is Indifferent and
Russia pretends to be, but it Is signifi-
cant that many of her Cossacks are in
the Abyssinian army and that the some
what famous Hetman Atchinoff was q
declared ally Of King John. The first
event Of the war was the massacre Of a
detachment OF 900 Italians Mt Dongoli-
not man escaped-so the Italian army,
under Gen. San Mariana. was inflamed
by desire for revenge as well as by
patriotism.
The progress Of the Italians into the
interior was followed by civil war in
which King John was killed. The 80
called Christians Of Abyssinia have many
Jewish and Mohammedan practices, such
as circumcision and polygamy. They arc
enthusiastically attached to the Coptic
church, whose patriarch at Alexandria
sends them an "abouna" or "father
bishop" He ordains by breathing on the
Splitting" some spectators
call it. About A. ID. 810-330, Frumentius
went into the country as Christian mis-
sionary, and in a century or SO thepeople
Were nominal Christians. The first mis-
sionaries reported finding Christians in
the country who claimed descent in faith
from that officer Of Queen Candace bap
tized by the Apostle Philip (Acts vii, 27).
In the Sixth century the Abyssinians
declined the Roman definition Of the
Homoousian and became Monophysites.
A little later the Mohammedans con
quered Egypt, and the church in Abys-
sinia was isolated for l 900 years. When
restored to communication with western
Christians they were in q very debased
condition.
An old silver manicure set with han