The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-06-20
A coAL-BlAcK KING.

-
Mepelek H.. the New Ruler of Abyssinia
was the Son ofa Beggar Woman.
king Menelek III is now the ruler not
ouly of his own kihgdom-Shoa, but OF
the far more important country of ABB
bvsinia to the north. He is, therefore,
the most powerful ruler Abyssinia has
had for generations, for he has united
his own country 18th the great high
lands north of him.
The king has had rather romantic
history and is somewhat peculiar per-
son-a fact of which the king of Italy
is well convinced-Ifor Menelek has re-
Gently shown a disposition to violate
some portions of the treaty which his
ENJOYS made with King Humbert year
ago, and Italy is having more or less
trouble with the large country over
which it has assumed a protectorate.
King Haelou, of Shoa, the father OF
Menelek, heard one day that a woman
of striking beauty was seeking aims at
the door of the palace. He sent for her
and was SO greatly impressed by her
charms that he introduced her among
the women of his establishment When
a little boy was born the king said he
would not recognize him as his son I'M
less in the course Of years he showed a
striking resemblehce to his majesty
AS the boy grew up he came to look
very much like hislroyal father, and the
king named him a4 his heir, though he
had other sons WHIP had better right
to the throne.
One of the most powerful native
rulers in Africa to-day is, therefore, the
son of beggar woman, and his mother
recently was still alive, enjoying honor
in Shoa.
Physically the king is not an impress
sive person. He i almost coal-black,
short and dumpy. Unlike his uncle,
Ras Darghe, and others among his chief
advisers, he is, On the whole, very
friendly to Europeans, and wants to in
troduce their arts into his country. AL
though he has declined to accept the
coins bearing the effigy of King Hum
bert sent to him from Italy for circula-
ton in his country, and although in
other respects the Italians assert that
he has acted in an unreasonable man.
ner, they have him to thank for the fact
that they have now secured the plum of
Africa; for there is no territory ac-
quired by the whites in the recent
scramble for Africa which compares
with Abyssinia and Shoa in present or
prospective importance.
King John, the late ruler of Abyss
sinia, was violently opposed to Euro
pean protectorate,I regarded the whites
with the utmost suspicion, and made
war upon Ithem when they advanced
toward the highlands. Menelek, how
ever, shows q disposition to invite the
Italians to traffic in his country.
He has a remarkable fondness for
machinery and implements of all sorts,
and his greatest delight is to examine
their mechanism. Explorers say he
ruined about a dozen watches and
alarm clocks taking them apart and
trying to put them together again. He
became at last, however, quite pro-
ficient watch-tinker.
Several years agp Mr.. Chefneux took
the king, as present from the French
government, mitrailleuse. For con-
venience of carrying, it was taken to
pieces and closely packed. The we apon
reached the king several days before
the traveller did, and very much to Mr..
Chefneux's establishment, he found it
properly put together and noun ted.
The king had made careful study of
firearms, and with the aid of picture
of mitrailleuse he had prepared this
little surprise for the white man.
Before he became king of Abyssinia
he largely widened the boundaries of
Shoa by conquerihg the fierce Gala
tribes around him. He has some men
of ability among his generals and coun-
sellers, and to them much of his pres
tige is attributed.
Personally, he is not conspicuous as
warrior, and in most things he has
shown himself easily influenced by his
advisers, but he is distinguished above
them all for his faith in the advantage
of drawing useful lessons from civilized
countries. He does not like mission
aries, however. In 1885 he kept two
Swedish missionaries practically pris-
oners in his chief town for ten months
and then sent them back to the coast.
Later he expelled all the French Catho-
lie and German missionaries from his
country.-N. Y. Journal.