ABYSSINIA, an empire in eastern Africa, over which Italy claims a protectorate by 'virtue of a treaty made on May 2, 1889, with Menelek II before he was established in power as the successor of the Negus Johannes II. A convention for mutual protection, signed on Sept. 29 of the same year, was interpreted by the Italian Government as confirming the protectorate, but this the Negus in August, 1893, refused to prolong. The protectorate was duly notified to the powers in conformity with the general act of Berlin, and in 1891 a delimitation between the British and Italian spheres was agreed upon. The empire of Abyssinia, otherwise called Ethiopia, embracing Tigre, Lasta, Amhara, Gojam, Shoa, Kaffa, and Harrar, has an estimated area of 190,000 square miles and about 5,000,000 inhabitants. The dependent Somali and Galla territories, as delimited in the Anglo-Italian agreement, have an area of 300,000 square miles and 600,000 inhabitants: the territories of the Habab, Bogos, Beni Amer, and other tribes in the north have an area of 18,000 square miles and 200,000 inhabitants; and the territory of Danakil has an area of 34,000 square miles, inclusive of the sultanate of Aussa, with 200,000 inhabitants. The Italians actually occupy the seaport of Massowah with the country around it, the upland districts of Keren and Asmara, and the Dahlak archipelago. In September, 1893, they assumed the administration of the seaports on the Somali coast, which, by arrangement with England, the Sultan of Zanzibar had ceded to Italy in August, 1892. The Italian colony in the north of Abys sinia, including Massowah, is officially called Erythria. The littoral on the Red Sea extends from Cape Kasar to Raheita, on the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, 670 miles. The total population is estimated at 450,000, mostly consisting of nomadic tribes. Massowah has a resident population of about 16,000. The head of the civil administration is a governor general. The military force in 1893 consisted of 222 officers, of whom 33 were natives, and 4,192 native and 1,906 European soldiery. The Italian Government expended on its African possessions, from the occupation of Massowah in 1887 to the end of 1892, the sum of 125,327,315 lire. The colonial budget for 1893 was 2,376,082 lire, exclusive of military expenditures borne by the mother VOL. XXXIV.-1 A

country, which amounted to 15,898,262 lire. The imports of Massowah in 1891 amounted to 12,542,933 lire, and in 1892 to 10,903.015 lire.

The Egyptian Government at the instance of England acquiesced in the Italian occupation of Massowah and the adjacent Red Sea coast by Italy, whereas Turkey, the legal suzerain power, objected. The French representative at the Brussels Antislavery Conference in 1890 raised a protest against Italy's protectorate over Ethiopia, and it never has been recognized by Russia, which asserts a certain right of tutelage over Abyssinia on the ground of the historic affiliation between the Greek Orthodox Church and the Alexandrian rite, which is the national religion of Abyssinia.

Taking of Kassala.-The capital of the former Egyptian province of Taka, Kassala, once the center of trade between the Nile and Abyssinia, has been in the possession of the dervishes since the surrender of the Egyptian garrison in October, 1885. The dervishes have committed frequent depredations on the Abyssinian province of Tigre, and have harassed the tribes in Italian territory. In 1890 the Italian Government, when discussing with the British Government the boundary of Erythria, desired that Kassala should be included in its territory. To this the Egyptians, and Sir Evelyn Baring as the representative of their interests, strongly objected, and the negotiations were broken off: but when they were renewed at Rome by Lord Dufferin it was agreed, in a protocol signed April 15, 1891, that Italy might occupy Kassala as a military measure on the understanding that it should be restored to Egypt as soon as the Egyptians were in a position to hold it. The dervishes, toward the end of 1893, advanced against the Italian position, and a severe battle was fought near Fort Agordat, in which 3,000 or 4,000 of them were killed, including their leader, Hamed Ali, and his 4 emirs. A few months later they renewed their aggressions. In July. 1894, they raided the large village of Karkabat, on the bank of the Baraka, killing many of the inhabitants and carrying off the rest as slaves. The Governor General, Col. Baratieri, heard of the incursion while the Soudanese horsemen were still harrying the inhabitants of the surrounding country. Hastening from Keren, on