The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-05-08

They Arc the Oldest Nation Of
Christians in The World.
The Conqueror5 OF The Italians
Scalp The Slain.

|Athllan8 MAJ themselves, after many
years Of warfare, costing tho lives OF
thousands Of men and millions OF dol
lars, in only partial possession Of e
land once thought 10 be the scene Of
the ceaaoleas warfare between the lion
and the unicorn, a land where the
rivers refused to Aow unless over beds
Of precious stones; whose mountains
were Of solid gold-the homo OF the
queen Of Sheba, who gathered from its
riches tho treasures which amazed
King Solomon, and finally the land
which, under the name Of Ethiopia. has
history as marvellous as that of
Egypt, for whose throne, in fact, it
actually furnished many monarchs
That is the Abyssinia Of tradition.
In reality it is nothing to boast Of
Italy has acquired nothing but few
thousand miles Of extra territory, peo-
pied by inhabitants who cot their
meat raw who practice cruel fortunes,
who cut mans head off for debt, and
who, strangely enough, profess to be
the Oldest body Of Christians in the
world.
The typical Abyssiniau is tough
customer. He would cast his father
into prison for a small debt, chain his
mother-in-law to a post for some
slight infraction Of domestic disci-
plino, and then calmly go to church to
worship with clear conscience. His
torians tell us that he was originally a
Caucasian, but he has welcomed
Egyptian, Hebrew, Arab, Greek and
Portuguese into his civilization
without restraint, and as he stands
today he is literally all things to all
men. There are probably half a mil
lion Of him scattered over $50, 900
miles Of territory, and he has ached
to get chance at the Italians, who
profess to despise him, but who in
half hundred battles and skirmishes
have had their hands full.
The Abyssinian has been fighting
against European supremacy for years.
Old king Theodore and then king
John, in the good old days, used to
make prisoners of all embassies sent
out to them by foreign governments,
and then would fight the relief parties
sent.out for their rescue. These ex-
changes of courtesies continued for a
quarter of century, but the willy
foreigner soon suppressed John.
There are some 200, 900 fighting
men in the kingdom, Is, 900 of whom
have become possessed Of rifles The
Abyssinian fights mostly with sword
which has blade of good steel two
feet long and razor-like hook almost
as long. With this he can reach over
an enemy's shield and pound hole in
him before he knows what has hurt
him. He is also fully armed with
spears, iavelins and other weapons,
and when q cloud of warriors, thou
sands strong, and thus armed, sudden
ly appear in front Of q detached col
umn Of European infantry, annihila-
ton generally follows. The practice
of scalping, strangely enough, is part
of the Abyssinian warfare, and the
ghastly trophies thus gathered consti-
tute an Abyssinian's best claim to rec
ognition as a warrior.
But peace has its victories for this
strange people as well as war. Thus,
for killing an elephant single handed
he is permitted to wear silver chain,
for lion similar ornament, etc.
When he has killed one foe his head
is shaved, with the exception of {
single plat; for two enemies he is OIL
lowed two plaits, and so on until five
adversaries have fallen before hi
prowess, and then he is allowed to lie
it grow at will.
Abyssinia has been governed for
century past by kings who exercise
limited authority. The warrior popu
lation is too independent to submit t.
tyranny, as more than one monarch
has found to his sorrow. Each dis
trict submits to the quasi authority Q
chief, and this has led to a quee
administration Of the law The Nc
sale Interpretations are carried out i