Evening star., 1937-01-24
Marine Diary
Continued From Fourth Page.)

made no appeal whereas worthless
cartridge was sufficient.
The Russians had made an expedi-
ton to Addis-Ababa a few months
earlier and had established a lega-
ton. There were also English and
Italian representatives. The kings
councillor represented France. They
all entertained our mission hospita-
bly,. The mainstay of the Russian
legation was the Scottish Minister'S
mistress who presided with rare grace
and intelligence, discussing each
country's politics in the appropriate
tongue-English, French, Russian and
Italian.
We had an Anglo-Saxon Christmas
eve at the British compound. During
the evening our host had some naked
savageS brought in and among them
was an old Scotchman whose parents
had been killed by the natives. He
had been adopted into tribe during
his infancy. His skin looked CHASTITY
white beside his black fellows, but
otherwise he seemed in every way
savage. sullen and unresponsive.
OUR plenipotentiary's task at Ad-
dis-Ababa was no easy one, pit
ted, as he was, against certain foreign
diplomats who, it was rumored, were
leaving no stone unturned to neu-
traliZe Mr.. SINNERS efforts to make
an American treaty. Our adverSaries
had many occasions to gnash their
teeth by loading us with numerous
attentions. Day by day we were
cheered by prospects of happy dip
lomatic issue.
There was therefore no little con-
sternation in our camp when, amid
the greatest furry, we were visited
by an enormous crowd Of natives
bringing two live lions and two tusks
so large that the widest imagina-
ton could not attribute them even to
any elephant Of modern times. It
was announced that these were the
royal masters presents to the Ameri-
can sovereign! 1t seemed obvious
that We could not be expected to
carry such unpackable tokens with
us across hundreds of miles of des-
ert, since the tusks were of a maxi
mum length and camel could not
carry two of them. The problem of
the lions seemed no less disturbing.
At the same time, royal presents may
not be declined. What fate would
await our treaty if we should tell his
majesty that we did not care for his
gifts? Had our adversaries intrigued
this situation upon us?
1t did not take us long to conclude
that those lions and tusks had to be
accepted, even if We lugged them on
our backs every foot of the way to
the coast. We set to work making
new study of the transportation sit
uation and a change of route was
decided upon. Wooden cages were
made for the snarling brutes and
means were devised which proved to
be successful even though frought
with difficulties during the succeed
ing weeks. Never were royal presents
more embarrassing.
All anxiety about the treaty was at
last dispelled by definite announce
ment that it would be signed at 4
pm. on the following Sunday. Dur
ing the forenoon of that day we broke
camp and packed the caravan off on
its way, minus its American personnel.
At the appointed hour our diplomatic
chief with his suite and the rank
and file of the military appeared at
the guebi in full dress, attended by
native host.
Mr.. Skinner previously had pre-
sented a treaty written in Amharic
by Prof. Littman of Princeton Uni
versity. Subsequent conversations"
had somewhat modified the text of
the initial proposal, so that there re-
manned only the matter of signing.
MENELIK II received our party in
A'A small audience chamber. A
white-robed secretary brought in an
enormous mainline and Impressed the