Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-02

of ocean," is AbysSinia, in the words
of one of the scientists of the expe-
dition. That is why the explorers
have high hopes Of finding birds and
beasts Of which zoology is unaware.
The smooth skinned rhinoceros is
one of the creatures described in
travellers tales of Abyssinia. A rare
ibex. far shyer and harder to find
than the famous owls poll of central
Asia. is another. The superb Abys-
sinian nyala, sometimes called 1.-THE
Queen of Sheba' s antelope is a third
And there may be creatures of which
no rumor has been brought out or the
mountain fastness.
The only considerable scientific
exploration of Abyssinia was at
tempted by Ruppell. German nat
uralist, before Chicago was more than
IA village. Ruppell was driven from
the country by hostile natives, with
his work unfinished, in 1885. Won
Heuglin, taking up the task, Jared
little better. Since the middle OF
last century, science has neglected
Abyssinia, with the consequence that
it is an almost unknown land.
Abyssinia is an inland empire in
east Africa. A huge natural wall
an escarpment 900 miles long and
5000 feet high-shuts it off from the
central African plain; the barrier of
it's mountains separates it from the
coastal plain on the eastern side.
The watershed of such great rivers
as the Blue Nile. the White Nile,
the Atbara and the Juba, Abyssinia
Is perched above the rest of Africa
on a mountainous plateau. In fer
tile valleys fed by the mountain
streams a native population esti-
mated at 100000 subsists in primi-
tive fashion.
Does Not Touch Sea.
The country has the shape of a
rough semi circle with radius of
about $50 miles. 1t does not touch
the sea at any point. though once
it's authority reahced to beyond
the water, into Arabia. The narrow
coastal protectorates of Eritrea
1talian), French Somaliland and
British Somaliland now block 1T from
the sea.
Adds Ababa, the capital is $50
miles inland. A precarious railroad
is the capitals one link with the
outer world. Trains cannot be run
at night They move by day, pro-
vided natives in need of spear points
have not ripped up the rails or lions
nave IlOt ulLIcu OH ScCtloIl CIO"o'
Yet it must not be presumed that
an utterly savage people dwells in
this isolation. Abyssinia has an
ancient history. 1t was a Christian
many centuries before the
discovery of America. It's present
ruler traces his line back to the
Queen of Sheba and King Solomon.
The dominant race in Abyssinia is
not negroid but Semitic. The Abys-
sinians are black whites" Cut off
from the rest Of the world. the Abys-
sinians live in the middle ages. Feudal
institutions long outgrown in Europe
survive in this mountain empire.
Over each Of nine provinces in the
country a governor rules, sustained by
a professional army. Subject to the
governor are tribal chieftains, bearing
the title "ras." Governors and chiefs
pay allegiance to the emperor, or
negus, the principal ras.
Once Was Powerful.
Time was when Abyssinia Cor
Ethiopia) was a powerful kingdom.
In the sixth century, 200 years after
Christianity had been introduced. the
Abyssinians conquered the province
Of Yemen in Arabia and maintained q
prosperous commerce. The great
Islamic advance of the seventh CEN
fury drove the Abyssinians back
across the Red Sea to Africa, however,
and then SO pressed upon them that
in the sixteenth century Portugal sent
expeditionary forces to the rescue of
"the lost Christian empire" in re-
Spouse to an appeal from a ruler
whose name the Portuguese took to
be "Prester John" Intervention did,
indeed. save the empire, but when
Jesuit priests from Portugal at
tempted to convert the Abyssinians
from Coptic to Roman Catholic
Christianity a struggle. followed by