The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-02-13

\
Is an appellation bsstowetI sby the
Arabs It means '"mixturei,' referring
to the mixed character Of the inhaDi-
tants Of that great country. go 'sii's W
There is no exact limit to the vast
domain loosely called Abyssinin. Ly-
ing between z deg so min. and is deg.
40'mih. north latitude, forming the ex-
trene' eastern portion Of Central AZ
rica, II is the most delightful of coun-
tries, notwithstanding its .protimityyto
the equator, ,gu for It's mountains1 ana
notwithstanding 5000 or 900 feet
abotethe sea i1evel--Ahord all possible
varteties of climate and products-i yst'
rMehsiik, f'Nesusa Negust''c{rk of
KlnSsD, ~ absolute noAarch ofsaH the
wide Hdomains with itsui 1900. .000. 1sor
5000 600 Inhabitants 1T is divided into.
tnsee large qprovdn ces--Tigre on the.
north, ,GAnhhra sonil the south and Shoa
on the southaast.1 D. Ethiopic 10 the lRp7
gi,ape Of tthe first;l llAm-harie is spoken
in the ttWD snthsr provinces! odi nsj uf
The inscription iofnEgypti pointItQ the
imtortance Of az Ethiopia inl 10 ancient
tihesUantti IL lis known thAt there vas
conHtanfi fiiI'communioatioR9 i and II Often
warfare between Egypt and Ethiopia.
upsto a few yeara ago. h0yevar, little
Was thought land lessi was known 4. OF
thencohntry and Its inhabitants. The
Rthto an was Il thought of merely as
ouedof the numerous savage African
peoples. . But he Is not even q negro.
He hears mo resemblance to the, other
Inhabitants OF, ths Dark Continent In
~ th<a fr,h 10 I'M hyS-
sinia are of the Caucasian race. OF
dark olive tint. approaching, more
nearly to the IBedouin than to any
other people in appearance shi brl
More than this, the Abyssiniansi are
a Christian people and have been
since the, fourth century, when Bishop
Athanasius Of Alexandria. he who
wrote the famous Athanasian Greed.
sent missionaries to them. They are
independent Christians. however, like
no other creed on earth, They prac-
tice much OF the Old Testament code,
observing. the rite OF, circumcision. the
distinctions between animals called
clean and unclean in the, Pentateuch.
and enforce the law An, eye for an
eye" with a Iiteralness never practiced
in, Palestine But they do not forget
the, Golden Rule, which is observed
with dirsctness and simplicity, ~ W
IT a priest was married before he en-
Dtered the priesthood, he may still re-
tain his, WIFE but II not married, ne
cahnoots marry after becoming a priest.
There are numerous churches; but no
images In them Great reverence is
paid to the saints especially SO.
George ana Michael The walls of the
Churches are covered with 'frescoes.
where may be- Seen the II Crucifxfon.
With Jesus Hor9 the no CROSS, the two
thieves ON either sideir the Roman soIi
dier extending the sponge Soaked in
vinegar, and Mary Weeping at the foot
of the cross. pAnachronisfnsy do mot
er1bafrass their mural decorations for
IN "a picture Of the Nraelites CROSSING
the Red Sea the soldiers of iPhareahf
are armed with guns! Nor are they
always true to the traditional linterpre-
tatfon of the Bible, for Eve tempts
Adam with a q banana instead of an
apple. The artist probably never saw
an apple sThe churches are rude beilG-
ings. circular in shape with three fdi-.
visions insthem-an outer one for the
people, an inner one for the priests
and the inmost centraWpart for the
holy of holies, ike the temple at Jeru-
salem. In fact, .Meneik showst great
cor sderation for a tribe of Jews in
Abyssinia. the Falashas, and ,prides
himself upon his descent from the wis
est of soyereigns through Mepelik da
Hence he calls. himself Mepeliki II.
The life and customs of the 1Abyssini1
ans are simple to aprinitivepess, yet
they are. an intelligent people, capable
Of a high civilization The army OF
Menelik numbers some 100000, a for
midable force, trained as they are and
!. supplied with modern weapons. The
Italians had. little experience with
them which they will remember for