good faith, would open the campaign. The political authorities were more confident, and in January, 1889, Signor Crispi obtained the assent of Signor Bertolé-Viale, the Minister of War, to a reconnoitering expedition, which was suspended in consequence of rumors of a reconciliation between Menelek and Johannis. Doubt and suspicion continued to deter the allies till Johannis was killed in battle with the dervishes on March 11, 1889. Then Menelek raised his standard as Emperor of Ethiopia, and was acknowledged by all the provinces except Tigré. Still Gen. Baldissera di Veglio and the Ministry of War urged objections to the immediate occupation of Keren and Asmara, and it was not till the end of the summer that the Italian Premier saw his desire fulfilled and the coveted positions in Italian possession.

Ras Aloula, Mangascia, Debeb, and Balambaras Kafel contended among themselves for supremacy in Tigré, and Menelek hesitated long before entering the province and engaging in a fierce conflict with Aloula and the other military chiefs who disputed his sovereignty, although the Ethiopian crown would rest very insecurely on his head unless he could compel their submission. Gen. Baldissera held the opinion that the Italian colony would flourish and expand under more favorable conditions if the neighboring region were divided among independent petty chiefs, who would serve as buffers between the Italian possessions and the Abyssinian power. This policy was disapproved by the home authorities, who recalled the commander-in-chief and sent out Gen. Orero, with instructions to advance into Tigré and co-operate with Menelek.

The presence of Italian troops was expected to impress Menelek with the necessity of holding to his engagements and respecting the treaty of protection by operating on his fears as well as on his sense of gratitude. The questionable loyalty of Tekla Aimanot, King of Godjam, and the danger of a revolt of the Wollo Gallas compelled Menelek to remain long in the south after assuming the sovereignty. After his coronation, on Nov. 18, 1889, he set out on his march for Tigré with an army of 150,000 horse and foot. Mangascia, the son of the late Negus, who contested the succession with Menelek with the aid of Ras Aloula, had beaten the King's adherents in Tigré and held Degiac Seyum closely besieged in Vogerat. Yet when Menelek, who had disregarded the treaty in notifying the European powers directly of his coronation, became convinced that an Italian force would join him at Adua, he suddenly changed his purpose, and instead of advancing to annihilate his foes, whose retreat was cut off by the Italians, he made a hasty peace, acknowledging Mangascia tributary King of Tigré on the sole condition that he should conform to the Italian treaty and should protect the frontier. On that, with his huge army, he returned to the south, refusing to be crowned as Negus Negusti in Adua.

Gen. Orero set out on Jan. 10, 1890, with 6,000 Italian regulars, Bashi-Bazouks, and native allies, advancing in three columns from Asmara, Godofelassi, and Gundet. On the 26th he reached Adua, encountering no resistance. The clergy and notables met him ceremoniously at the entrance of the town. It was supposed in Eu

rope that the occupation of Adua foreshadowed the annexation of the province of Tigré. English susceptibilities were aroused because a forward movement of the Italians in the north of Abyssinia might lead to the extension of their influence into the Soudan. Gen. Orero calmed the fears of the Abyssinians by assuring them that he had not come to Adua to subjugate the Tigré province to Italy, but to inquire into and to satisfy their claims. When that was done he would return to the Italian possessions on the other side of the Mareb. In Europe it was explained that the expedition was intended merely as a military demonstration in favor of Menelek. Signor Crispi told the Chamber that, while endeavoring to develop commerce, even in the direction of Kassala, the Italian Government would always proceed in accord with Great Britain, more especially as Italian and English interests are identical in that quarter. Leaving a detachment of native levies in Adua, the Italian commander returned to the Mareb.

After the Italians had re-entered their own territory King Menelek again set his army in motion, and advanced by slow stages, entering Adua in March. Mangascia and Ras Aloula had already received Count Pietro Antonelli, the negotiator of the treaty with Menelek, and Count Salimbeni, accredited as envoy extraordinary to the Negus, whom Aloula had cruelly compelled as a prisoner in chains to witness from a neighboring height the massacre of his countrymen at Dogali in January, 1887. Menelek reached Adua in March, and nominated Degiac Mesciascia governor of the province. He appointed two of his officers to act with Col. Cossato and Capt. Toselli in fixing the boundary line between the Italian possessions and Tigré. The new commander-in-chief placed as little reliance as his predecessor on the fidelity of Menelek, and for strategical reasons he desired, not to withdraw to the line favored by Gen. Baldissera, but to secure a defensible frontier by taking possession of Gura. Debaroa, and Godofelassi, making the boundary line correspond very nearly with the course of the Mareb and Belesa rivers. A supplementary convention that was signed by Signor Crispi and Degiac Makonnen at Naples on Oct. 1, 1889, was ratified by the Emperor Menelek at Makalle, where Count Antonelli met him on Feb. 25. The Russian Government alone objected to the establishment of an Italian protectorate in Abyssinia, France refusing to join in the protest. Conflicts arose in the spring between the Anglo-Egyptian authorities at Suakin and the Italians at Massowah, whom the English accused of subsidizing a tribe of Hadendowas, of exercising supervision over a part of the coast beyond their understood limits, and of extending their activity in the Bogos country also beyond their proper sphere. The law of June 5, 1882, which first established Italian sovereignty on the shores of the Red Sea in the Assab Bay territory was extended to Asmara and the other newly acquired territories by the vote of the Italian Legislature.

Conspiracy against the Italians.--While General Orero was absent in Tigré with all the white troops except two or three hundred, a plot was concocted to exterminate the Italians in East Africa. The chief conspirators were

Mussa el Akkad, a rich Arab merchant who served as a magistrate under the Italian authorities at Massowah, and Achmed Kantibai, chief of the Hababs, the tribe of Mussulman Abyssinians who earliest accepted Italian dominion and subsidies. These two were in communication with both Mangascia and Osman Digma, who made ready to crush between them the main force of the Italians after the Habab chief had surprised and massacred the Massowah garrison by night and seized the arms and fortified positions. The accidental arrest of a messenger in a drunken brawl and the discovery of a letter that he awkwardly tried to conceal, written by Kantibai to Ras Mangascia, led to the discovery of the plot. Many persons were arrested, and the two head conspirators were tried by courtmartial and condemned to death.

The Italo-Abyssinian Treaty.-The treaty concluded by the Italian plenipotentiary with Menelek on May 2, 1889, and ratified on Sept. 29, 1889, contains twenty articles. Each of the contracting parties can be represented by diplomatic representatives and consular agents, who shall enjoy the same privileges and immunities that are accorded among European powers. Each government was to appoint two boundary commissioners to survey and mark out the frontier, which should follow in general the edge of the northern plateau, leaving Halai, Saganeiti, and Asmara in Italian territory, extending to the country of the Bogos at Adi Nefas and Adi Johannis, and conform to a line drawn due east from Adi Johannis. Caravans entering Ethiopia must pay a uniform duty of 8 per cent. of the value of the goods imported. Arms and ammunition can be imported through Massowah only for the Emperor of Ethiopia and by his order. The subjects of either contracting power are at liberty to travel or settle or to buy, sell, rent, or hire with the same rights as natives in the territory of the other, and will enjoy the complete protection of the Government; but armed bands are strictly prohibited from crossing the frontiers. The subjects of each state in the territory of the other shall have complete freedom in the exercise of their religion. Quarrels and differences arising between Italians in Abyssinia shall be settled by the Italian authorities in Massowah, and differences between Italians and Abyssinians shall be adjusted by the same tribunal or by delegates of the Italian and the Ethiopian authorities. The property of a subject of either power dying in the territory of the other must be delivered over to the authorities of the country to which he belongs. An Italian accused of a crime must be tried before an Italian tribunal, and an Abyssinian before an Abyssinian tribunal. Each power promises to deliver up fugitives from justice. The Negus Negusti engages to suppress the slave trade with all his power and to allow no slave caravans to pass through his territories. The treaty is binding on the whole Ethiopian Empire. Either contracting power may suggest alterations in the treaty at the end of five years, having notified the other power twelve months previously, except in regard to established territorial rights. The Negus Negusti of Ethiopia agrees to make use of the Government of the King of Italy as his inter

mediary in all dealings with other powers or governments. If the Negus desires to confer upon the subjects of another state special privileges in trade or industry, Italians must always be given the preference under like conditions. AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central Asia, lying between Russian Turkistan and British India. The reigning Ameer is Abdurrahman Khan, a son of Afzal Khan and grandson of Dost Mohammed Khan. The country is divided into the four provinces of Cabul, Turkistan, Herat, and Candahar, each of which is ruled by a hakim or governor. The districts of Badakshan and Wakhan have likewise separate governors at present. Abdurrahman has attempted to re-establish, in addition to the feudal levies, the regular army on the European model, that was introduced by Shere Ali after his visit to India in 1869.

Area and Population.-The northern boundary of Afghanistan was determined and demarkated by the Anglo-Russian Afghan Boundary Commission. It follows the Oxus from the Pamir Plateau to Khamiab Saleh, whence the line was drawn in a southwesterly direction to Zulfikar, and thence south to Kuh Malik-i-Siah, a mountain southeast of the river Helmund. On the south the country is conterminous with British Beloochistan. On the east the Indian Government has been engaged in subjugating the mountain tribes of the Zhob valley and the Wazin country and in extending its influence in Kafiristan, Chitral Swat, and other districts between the Hindu Kush and Cashmere and in the upper part of the valley of the Indus that formerly were regarded as a part of Afghanistan. The subjects of the Ameer number about 4,000,000 people, divided into tribes that are often at feud with one another. Of the Ghilzais, the largest tribe dwelling southeast of Cabul, there are at least 1,000,000. The Tadjiks, who pursue agricultural or industrial occupations and are scattered among the other tribes, are supposed to be of Persian origin. The Duranis inhabit the country northwest of Cabul. The Aimakhs and Hazaras, who live in the mountains further north, show strong marks of Tartar descent.

Agriculture and Commerce.-The Ameer demands a tax of from 10 to 30 per cent. of the produce of the land, according to the amount of irrigation. In the greater part of Afghanistan two crops are grown in the year, one of wheat, barley, or legumes, followed by an autumn crop of rice, millet, panic grass, or Indian corn. The castor-oil plant, madder, and asafoetida grow abundantly, and large quantities of the last-named product are exported to India. Preserved fruits are exported extensively, and fruit, in both the fresh and the preserved state, forms the staple nourishment of a large proportion of the people. Apples, pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, pomegranates, grapes, figs, and mulberries are exceedingly abundant. The chief industrial products are sheepskin postins, felt carpets, silks, and rosaries. The exports from Cabul to India, consisting of asafoetida, horses, madder, fruit, ghi, and raw silk, amounted in 1888-'89 to 194 lakhs of rupees; the imports from India, consisting of cotton goods, indigo, sugar, and tea, were valued at 524 lakhs.