Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-10-24

made satisfactory recovery In November,
1909 he had paralytic stroke which, deprlvlns
him of all speech and almost OF motion, entlrely
incapacitated him from all work. Since then'
notably in 1910 he has more than one occa'
sion been reported dead, and although these ru'
mors have been at once denied the fact remains
that for the last two or three years he has been
a mere fgurehead, the government OF the coun'
try having been carried out by council OF min
listers under the presidency of Lii Yasu the heir.
apparent, and during this period 1t Is doubtfui
whether he has been seen by any one but few
select court officials.
Lii Yasu, the heirapparent, is the son Of Meme
lk's daughter, Schoagasch, and Eas Michael, and
was born in 1897.
Voyagers whose ways take them "somewheres
east of Suez' may know something of DJlbout1,
but to the average person Djibouti Is practically
unknown. Suffice it to say that, although SIT
uated in the French Somaliland protectorate. 1t
is practically the only port that serves the coun
try of Abyssinia.
From Diibouti, single track (metregauge)
railway runs to Dire-Dawa, some 1876 miles in
land. The trains run twice week and the jour
ney frequently takes II hours to, accomplish
passing through some Of the most desolate desert
country imaginable
Dire-Dawa has grown up around the railway
terminus, and as it is some 5000 feet above the
sea level is much cooler than Djibouti. The place
is not very large, but the wide streets and white
washed buildings give the place an air Of space
and cleanliness There is large Arab and
SomaH settlement adjoining. Here one comes
under Abyssinian oficialdom and ones baggage
has to pass the Abyssnian customs, usually not
a very trying ordeal.
At DreDawa travellers to Ads Ababa have to
arrange their caravans for the journey.
Both mules and camels are available but usually
mules are taken, as they cover the journey in
much quicker time than cames, which are usual
" only employed for heavy baggage and mer.
chandise. One has choice of three routes from
Dire-Dawa to the capitalize Cher-cher route,
by which travels along the Cher-cher noun.
tain range through fine forest and amongst beau
tiful pinetopped hills This route is rather long
er than the others, but is by far the most com
Portable, 1t is cooler, and may purchase
fresh provisions-milk, eggs, and sheep-from
the small Abyssinian villages that one passes
route Camels are unable to take this track,
owing to the many steep ascents and descents,
which can only be managed by mule donkey.
The second trail is via the Asabot, passing
along the foot of the Chercher range and Joining
the former route the Hawash river. This
route passes through the fiat Danakil country
through great forests of mimosa trees and occa-
sional open plains, where one meets from time
to time enormous herds Of cattle and camels
guarded by 1ercelooking Danakil shepherds
armed with spears and curved knives No pro-
visions be purchased on this route but it
is fairly good going except during the very dry
season before the rains begin, when water is
apt to be scarce.
The third route the Bilan, runs farther north
In the Danakil country, and though fiat is very
trying account Of the great heat and long
marches that have to be made from watering
place to watering place.
From Tchoba it is two days Journey to Con-
dabourka at the foot of the Balchi pass. Here
the track rises nearly 900 feet, sheer ascent,
and the steepest climb the Journey The path
is simply cut along the mountain SIDE and at
times is about six inches from drop of 200
feet. From Balchi the road is very uninteresting,
passing through long rolling plains Of cultivated
land, and about two days brings one in sight of
the capital
The view OF the city as one approaches is very
fine A large circle of hills surrounds ii. and
on small elevation running out into the center
of the circle is built the "guebi." or emperor's
palace There are hardly any buildings Of impcr
lance, and the guebi itself is but miscellaneous
collection OF semiEuropean and native buiidinaa