supplying himself with arms and ammunition obtained from French merchants at Obok. Gen. Baratieri, who was at Asmara, decided to intercept Ras Mangascia at Coatit before he could enter the highlands. By a rapid march he gained a position on both sides of the road that the Abyssinians would have to take. His forces numbered 3,544 men, of whom 3,146 were native troops commanded by Italians. On the morning of Jan. 13, 1895, the two armies came into collision. The Italians opened fire with their artillery, to which the Abyssinians replied by a general advance. Gen. Baratieri was compelled to bring all his reserves into action to repel a flank attack on the left, before which the irregulars posted there gave way, endangering the line of retreat to Coatit. A vigorous counter-attack in front drove the Abyssinians across a ravine and held them in check while the line was being reestablished on the left. The Tigrins returned to the attack on the Italian position repeatedly till night fell, and were repelled every time with severe losses.

The Italian commander had disposed his troops for a general attack on the following morning, when Ras Mangascia broke up his camp and began to retreat. The entire Italian force followed in pursuit, and overtook the enemy in the evening at Senafa, occupying the heights before the Abyssinians were able to form for attack. Two detachments took position on the right and the left to prevent a flank attack, while the guns poured shot and shell into Ras Mangascia's camp, inflicting heavy losses. The Abyssinians were seized with terror, and during the night the whole army fled, abandoning arms, ammunition, food, transport animals, and camp furniture. In the first day's fighting the Italians lost about 400 men, including 5 European officers; in the second battle they lost not a man. Ras Mangascia fled to the south, and his army broke up completely, The chieftains and priests of the country offered their friendship and submission to Gen. Baratieri, who returned after a few days to Asmara with the main body of his troops and dismissed the militia, leaving small detachments of regulars to garrison Senafa and Coatit.

The Italian Government consented, after this victory, to the continued occupation of a part of Tigre, and sent out 5 battalions of infantry and 5 squadrons of cavalry, admonishing the general not to extend his operations or to occupy territory beyond the necessities of defense. The measures to be taken were left to the discretion of the commander, who, after the re-enforcements arrived, set out with a strong force to occupy as much of Tigre as he considered necessary to hold the colony against a combined attack of Ras Mangascia and Menelek. He took possession of Adigrat on March 25, and fortified the town. Later he occupied Adowa, the chief town of the province. Ras Mangascia retired southward to seek aid of Menelek, and Gen. Baratieri, expecting war with the Abyssinian emperor, obtained from Italy several thousand rifles with which to arm native allies.

International Relations.-The Russian Government is the only one that has constantly refused to recognize the Italian protectorate over Abyssinia. The Russian Czar has assumed

the rôle of a protector of Abyssinian independence on the ground of the primacy of the Russian Church, of which he is the head, among the Churches of the Alexandrian creed. France disputes the Italian protectorate, moved by her entente with Russia and her hostility to the triple alliance. She denies especially that Harrar lies within the Italian sphere, because by an agreement with England the independence and inviolability of Harrar was affirmed, and French commercial interests demand that that independence be preserved. In May, 1891, overtures were made by the French Government toward a recognition of the Italian influence and protectorate over the whole of Abyssinia and over Harrar with the exception of Lake Assal and the surrounding region, which the Italian Government agreed to concede to France subject to certain conditions regarding freedom of trade in the salt coming from the lake. This proposed arrangement came to naught, as France broke off negotiations on account of the renewal of the triple alliance. The French and the Russians sustained the claim of Menelek that he abrogated in due form the treaty of Ucciali, in which he accepted an Italian protectorate, by denouncing it on May 24, 1894, before the expiration of the stipulated period.

The treaty arranged between Menelek and Count Antonelli contained no provision establishing the full protectorate asserted by Italy and recognized by England and Germany. The Italian text, indeed, said that Menelek should treat with foreign powers through the medium of the Italian Government, but the Amaric text merely stated that Abyssinia might make use of the Italian Government as an intermediary. When Menelek, after he had been seated on the throne with the assistance of Italy, first disputed the significance attributed to the treaty of alliance by Italy, Antonelli was sent to arrange the matter. A new convention was agreed to, regulating the boundary between Erythria and Tigre. The clause providing for an Italian protectorate Menelek would not accept, and Antonelli broke off diplomatic relations.

In January, 1895, a Russian scientific expedition set out for Abyssinia at the expense of the Geographical Society of St. Petersburg. The leader was Lieut. Nicholas Leontieff, a celebrated traveler. The party was accompanied by a Russian archimandrite, who was charged with a religious mission by the ecclesiastical authorities. Proceeding by way of Constantinople, Cairo, and Obok, through Harrar, the Russian emissaries reached Menelek's capital, where they received a cordial welcome. The religious mission was, by persuading the Abyssinians of the historical and doctrinal affiliation of the Russian and Coptic Churches, to bring the ecclesiastical authorities of the two countries into communication with each other and counteract the propaganda of the Roman Catholics, who have endeavored to convince the native Christians that their creed was identical with the Roman in essential points-viz., the sacrifice of the mass, the seven sacraments, and the reverence paid to the Virgin Mary and the saints. When the Russians returned to their own country, in June, the Negus sent with them an Abyssinian embassy to the Czar, consisting of his cousin Damto as

en

Yashilkul and Sirikul, and the Afghans, prompted, no doubt, by the English, invaded and conquered the states of Shignan and Roshan, occupy ing the rest of the Pamirs. The Afghans, in their usual way, robbed and oppressed the inhabitants of the country that they sought to subjugate, The Russian authorities were immediately aware of the acts of the Chinese and Afghans, and took prompt measures to avoid being embarrassed in their legal position, by a fait accompli. The Chinese intruders were first expelled and the fortifications that they had erected were occupied by Russian troops. Col. Yonoff entered the country occupied by the Afghans with a detachment of Russian troops in the summer of 1894, and drove the invaders across the Panja. The British ambassador at St. Petersburg protested, and a truce was arranged. Col. Yonoff's Cossacks were withdrawn to the northern side of the Murghab, and the Afghans promised to interfere no more in Shignan and Roshan pending a settlement of the disputed points in the Anglo-Russian boundary treaty. The Afghans, after the retirement of the Russian force, re-entered the disputed territory and harassed the Tajik natives. Still the Russians remained on the Murghab while negotiations proceeded in London. The British diplomats did not persist in contending that Shignan and Roshan belonged to Afghanistan. An agreement was reached by the Earl of Kimberley and M. de Staal on March 11, 1895. The Pamirs, with the exception of the Little Pamir, were conceded to Russia, inclusive of Shignan and Roshan and all the country lying north of the Panja up to Lake Victoria or Sarikul. From that lake eastward the two spheres of influence are divided by a line which, starting from a point on that lake near its eastern extremity, follows the crests of the mountain range running somewhat to the south of the latitude of the lake as far as the Bendersky and Orta Bel passes. Thence the line runs along the same range, while it remains to the south of the latitude of the lake. On reaching that latitude it shall descend a spur of the range toward Kizil Rabat, on the Aksu river, if that locality is found not to be north of the latitude of Lake Victoria, and thence it shall be prolonged in an easterly direction so as to meet the Chinese frontier. If it is found that Kizil Rabat is situated north of the latitude of Lake Victoria, the line of demarcation shall be drawn to the nearest convenient point on the Aksu river south of that latitude, and thence prolonged as aforesaid.

It was arranged that a joint commission, composed of British and Russian delegates, with technical assistants and a military escort no larger than would be necessary for protection, should demarcate the boundary as thus defined. The British Government was permitted to arrange for the representation on the Commission of the Ameer of Afghanistan. The commis sioners were charged with the duty of reporting any facts that could be ascertained on the spot regarding the situation of the Chinese frontier, with a view to enable the two governments to come to an agreement with the Chinese Government as to the limits of Chinese territory in the vicinity of the line. The British and the Russian governments engaged to abstain from ex

ercising any political influence or control, the one to the north and the other to the south of the line of demarcation. The British Government engaged that the territory lying within the British sphere of influence between the Hindu Kush and the line running from the east end of Lake Victoria to the Chinese frontier shall form part of the territory of the Ameer of Afghanistan, and it shall not be annexed to Great Britain, and that no military posts or forts shall be established in it.

The execution of this agreement was made contingent upon the evacuation by the Ameer of Afghanistan of all the territories occupied by his troops on the right bank of the Panja, and on the evacuation by the Ameer of Bokhara of the portion of Darwaz which lies south of the Oxus, in regard to which the British Government and the Government of Russia agreed to use their influence respectively with the two Ameers.

The British commission was constituted with Col. Gerard as chief commissioner, and Col. Holdich and Major Wahab as survey officers. The Russian commission was composed of Gen. Schweikoffsky as chief officer, with M. Panafidin and Col. Galkin as assistants. The commissioners proceeded to the ground in July.

Chitral. The extending of British polit ical power over the border tribes between the Indus valley and the Hindu Kush began before the Russians became active in the Pamirs. Costly little wars have been carried on under the name of punitive expeditions against the tribes that have hitherto owed allegiance to Cabul, and political agents have been placed in the independent states bordering upon Afghanistan and the Pamirs from Khelat to Cashmere. Chitral, a state that has been politically dependent upon Afghanistan, occupies a valley into which lead three passes of the Hindu Kush. This is a Mohammedan state that was consolidated by the Mehtar Aman-ul-Mulk. The people are Afghans, speaking the Afghan language. A British mission was sent to that ruler in 1885 under Col. Lockhart. When the old Mehtar died, in 1892, Afzul-ul-Mulk seized the throne, murdered a number of his half brothers, marched against Nizam-ul-Mulk, his own brother and the legitimate heir, who was Governor of Yasin, and drove him to take refuge under British_protection at Gilgit. The Government of India recognized this usurping Mehtar, but he was killed in defending the throne against a rival, his uncle Sher Afzul, who raised a force in the neighboring Afghan province of Badakshan. where he lived in exile, killed the governor of the province, and captured the citadel of Chitral by surprise. The new usurper won the affections of the Chitralis by dispensing munificently the hoarded treasure of old Aman-ul-Mulk; but he was not acceptable to the British, having attained power with the help of the Afghan Ameer, to whom he looked for further support. They therefore set free their prisoner, Nizam-ul-Mulk, and enabled him to enter Chitral with a force recruited in Gilgit, supporting him with British troops, which moved upon Yasin and permanently occupied that province. Sher Afzul, after a single brush with the invaders, fled back to Afghanistan and was interned at Cabul.

Having established Nizam-ul-Mulk upon the throne, the British stationed a political agent in Chitral, Mr. Robinson, who arrived in January, 1893. He remained in the capital till the September following, and then removed his headquarters to Mastuj, nearer Gilgit. Nizam never was popular, and after he came back as the puppet of the English and the betrayer of the ancient independence of the country he led a lonely life, having no pleasure but hunting and hawking. On Jan. 1, 1895, he was murdered at the instance of his half brother Amir-ul-Mulk, a young man of nineteen, who proclaimed himself Mehtar and asked Lieut. Gurden, who happened to be in Chitral with a guard of only 8 soldiers, to recognize him as the ruler. While the British political agent temporized, and before the new pretender had won many adherents or obtained popular recognition, Umra Khan, chief of the neighboring state of Jandol, who had murdered his brother and seized the throne in 1879, and since then pursued a career of conquest, aided and encouraged by the British authorities, who furnished him with modern arms and military instructors, invaded Chitral, a slice of which he had annexed to his dominions some years before. Probably his aid was solicited by Amir-ul-Mulk, who had married his daughter. But he, having no confidence in this incompetent young man, summoned Sher Afzul in Cabul to join him in expelling the British, promising to establish the exile as Mehtar. The army of Umra Khan fought a successful battle with the Chitralis on Jan. 25, and laid siege to the fortress of Drosh. Meanwhile the Sikh guard of 50 men had come down from Mastuj to protect the British resident, and on Jan. 30 Dr. G. S. Robertson, the political agent at Gilgit, who had been ordered to go to Chitral to inquire and report in regard to the succession to the throne, arrived with 150 Gurkha troops and 33 Sikhs. This escort was strengthened a few weeks later by another hundred, making 341 men, provided with 200 rounds of ammunition and rations for three months. Kala Drosh, defended by 300 Chitralis, two thirds of whom had Snider rifles, was captured by the Pathan army of 3,000 men, of whom 500 had Snider and Martini rifles, in the middle of February. About the same time Sher Afzul, whom the Ameer of Cabul had permitted to escape at this critical juncture, appeared in the camp of Umra Khan, who received him with open arms and put him forward as a candidate for the throne as the champion of national independence. Sher jubilantly greeted as their sovereign and hero by the Chitralis, especially in Lower Chitral, who passionately demanded deliverance from British subjugation. The British shut themselves up in the fortress at Chitral, which was closely invested. The Indian Government ordered 1,000 troops to Chitral from Gilgit, one third of the garrison that was kept there to defend the whole frontier, and prepared to send a division of 14,000 men from Peshawur, which was only 186 miles from Chitral, nearer than Gilgit, but the route went over a snowy pass, 10,000 feet high, the one Umra Khan's army had traversed. While arrangements were being made for this difficult march, warning was sent

Afzul was

to Umra Khan to evacuate Chitral before April 1, else he would be forcibly expelled, for the country was under the suzerainty of Cashmere, as he had been already informed on the occasion of his previous aggression upon Chitral territory. At the same time the Indian Government issued a proclamation to the tribes living along the line of march, saying that they would not be molested if they remained quiet, and stating that the object of the expedition was to put an end to the present and to prevent any future unlawful aggression upon Chitral territory.

Sher Afzul established himself in the town of Chitral and was received as Mehtar by the people of the country, while Amir-ul-Mulk took refuge with the British in the fortress. Capt. Baird led out a reconnoitering party on March 3, when Sher Afzul first arrived, and, not knowing that the whole place was in the possession of the enemy, he was taken in the rear and fought his way back with heavy loss. He received a wound from which he died, and a general and a major of the imperial service troops were killed, with 21 noncommissioned officers and sepoys, while Capt. Campbell and 28 men were wounded. The fort was closely invested on the following day. On March 8 the enemy attempted to fire the water tower, but were driven off. On March 14 they assailed the eastern side of the fort, and were again repelled. On April 5 they occupied a summerhouse in the garden of the fort, within 50 yards of the gun tower, and on the 7th they attacked the tower and set it on fire, and at the same time attempted to destroy the water way by which the garrison was supplied with water from the river. The defenders finally beat them off, but not without suffering heavy losses in killed and wounded. The besiegers were armed with excellent rifles, and displayed wonderful marksmanship. They renewed their attempt to fire the gun tower on the 8th, and on the 11th carried out a general attack on all sides of the fort, in repelling which Mr. Robertson was badly wounded. The besiegers advanced then with regular siege works, bringing their mines up to within 30 feet of the walls. On April 17 the officers in the fort decided on a sortie. Lieut. Harley led a bayonet charge, captured the summerhouse after a desperate fight at close quarters, and blew up the enemy's mine. The garrison lost 8 men killed and 13 wounded, while of the enemy 60 were killed, more than half of them with the bayonet. In the meanwhile relief was approaching from both the north and the south, and on April 18 Sher Afzul raised the siege and withdrew with his forces to Kala Drosh.

The garrison at Mastuj, 300 strong, endeavored to keep up communications with Chitral. While on their way to that place Lieut. Fowler and Lieut. Edwardes were besieged at Reshun, 30 miles north of Chitral. After resisting for seven days the intermittent attacks of the tribesmen, the British officers and 9 sepoys were captured and taken as prisoners to Sher Afzul at Chitral, and afterward to Umra Khan's headquarters at Barwa. They were treated well by the chief, who finally released them to save their lives from his own fanatical followers.

A detachment of 74 Sikhs under Capt. Ross

hastened on from Mastuj to succor Lieut. Fowler and Lieut. Edwardes in Reshun. The Chitralis attacked and almost annihilated this force on Feb. 9 in a defile near Karagh, killing Capt. Ross and 54 men. The enemy, outnumbering the Indian troops tenfold, caught them in a difficult position where their rifles were ineffective against stones that were hurled by the tribesmen down the hillsides, knocking down men in the ranks. Lieut. Jones, who was wounded, retreated to Boni with only 14 men left, and remained there until he was relieved a week later by a detachment from Mastuj.

Lieut.-Col. J. G. Kelly, commanding a regiment of pioneers in Gilgit, was ordered to march toward Chitral to relieve the pressure on the garrisons in Mastuj and Chitral, and avert, if possible, a general uprising against British authority in both Chitrals and Yasin and the destruction of the 4 military posts held by fewer than 700 men. Col. Kelly set out from Gilgit on March 23 with 400 pioneers and 2 mountain guns. At Ghizr the force was augmented by 40 Cashmere sappers and miners and 100 HunzaNagar levies, making in all about 600 fighting men, afterward increased by 50 levies under Rajah Akbar, Khan of Punyal.

Capt. Borrodaile succeeded in making a road over the Shandur pass, 12,230 feet high, which was covered so deep with snow as to be impracticable for beasts of burden. For 7 miles the guns were carried on the shoulders of men. As the expedition descended into the valley of Chitral the enemy were found posted at Chakalwat and other places. Their positions were turned by the Hunza levies, who flanked them from the

crags above and cleared the sangars, or stone breastworks, with the aid of the artillery, driving the Chitralis in precipitate flight down the valley. In this action, which opened the way to Mastuj, Col. Kelly lost only 5 men wounded, and inflicted on the enemy a loss of 25 killed and 50 wounded. The first division reached Mastuj on the same day, April 9, and halted there three days for the rest of the force to come up. A second engagement took place when the march was resumed. Mohammed Isa held a strong position at Nisa Gol with 1,500 men against 622 who advanced to the attack; but with their guns the British cleared the road and henceforth they encountered no opposition, and on April 20 reached Chitral.

A part of the re-enforcements were sent by the Maharajah of Cashmere, the suzerain of Chitral, belonging to the imperial service troops which he held at the disposal of his suzerain. The Ameer of Afghanistan, who was ready to re-establish his rule over Chitral and the states that Umra Khan had conquered, sent a division of his army to the frontier to watch, with orders not to interpose unless the Indian Government decided to withdraw from the country and permit the Afghans to come in. This the Indian statesmen would not consent to, fearing that the Chitralis at least would find Afghan rule as irksome as it proved to their neighbors of Wakhan, Shignan, and Roshan.

Gen. Sir Robert Cunliffe Low started with his expeditionary force on April 1, no satisfactory answer having been received from Umra Khan. A metalled road was constructed, and the rough stairs that served as a path over the Malakand