and this Menilek became Negus (i. e. emperor)
of Ethiopia. From Menilek to the dynasty of
the Gallas all the Neguses have been buffoons,
who asked from God neither genius nor the
means of elevating the empire. When God
chose me his servant, my compatriots used to
say, ' The river is dried up; it no longer remains
in its bed;' and they insult me because my
mother was poor, and they call me the son of a
beggar-woman (she was said to be a vendor of
purgative pills); but the Turks recognised the
greatness of my father, they whom he had
rendered tributary up to the frontiers of Egypt.
My father and my mother descended from David
and from Solomon; are even of the line of Abraham.
My father and my mother! Now those who
reproach me with the name of beggar, beg
themselves their daily bread. If you meet in
your countries some partisan of the brigand
Negousie, who presumes to say that this country
of Ethiopia is ruled by the son of a beggar,
bet with him a fork of gold against a wooden
spoon that I, the present emperor that sit upon
the throne of my fathers, from Abraham to
David, and from David to Faiel; and bring the
man here that he may be confronted with me.
It is God alone who abases the proud, and raises
up the humble." The throne of Solomon is
described to have had " two lions beside the
steps, and twelve lions upon the one side and
on the other upon the six steps." (1 Kings
x. 19, 20.) As Solomon's descendant, Theodore
has before him two tamed lions, on which
he occasionally leans when giving audience,
while two others roll upon the carpet before
him. The emperor is said to express delight
at the terror with which these animals are
regarded by those whom he admits to an
audience.

The mission of the vicar-general is not without
peril. The Pacha of Egypt, anxious to
save the Soudan from being plundered, sent as
an envoy to him no less a personage than David,
the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, with very
valuable presents. Theodore determined to
prove to his subjects that he was master even
of the church. He would not throw the patriarch
into a dungeon, or deprive him of life;
but one bright morning the highest dignitary
of the Coptic church in Egypt found that during
the night his residence had been completely
walled round. After a few days' isolation, the
terrified old patriarch was glad to obtain liberation
by engaging to quit the country at once.
But Theodore assumes to be his own pope and
patriarch, and, like our Henry the Eighth or the
Russian czars, demands that all should admit
him to be not only chief in the state, but
supreme in religion.

There are twenty-six Europeans connected
with Mr. Rassam, and the European workmen,
with their wives and children, number thirty-five;
there are, therefore, sixty-one souls in the power
of Theodoras. Most of the captives were not
only " hedged round " and guarded closely, but
manacled and chained. When Theodore, for a
moment, assented to the liberation of the
prisoners in February last year, the prisoners
had endured sixteen months' confinement. On
quitting the rocky heights of Amba Magdala,
they were compelled to remain two days at
the foot of the hill, to regain strength. Several
could scarcely stand upright, much less ride
any considerable distance. Of late a difference
of treatment has been observed towards Mr.
Rassam's party and the others; the former
are not chained, and, though closely guarded,
are permitted to move about the precincts of
the prison. The workmen and their families
are thrown into the common jail, guarded by
two hundred soldiers, and heavily chained. The
climate of Abyssinia must be healthy to the
acclimatised, for, with the exception of one
child, no one among the captives has died.
They suffered more or less from "influenza,"
and other complaints incidental in a changeable
climate, but all remained alive.

The emperor has not spared to set forth
frequently his charges against the captives.
Consul Cameron he imprisons " because he went
to the Turks, who do not love the emperor,
and before whom he insulted and lowered
him." Bardel, a Frenchman, he keeps in chains
because " he did not make Theodore acquainted
with the Emperor of the French;" and
because, in the emperor's court, on being refused
release, "he ungirt himself, and covered his
head with his robe" — a deadly insult in Abys-
sinia. The charge against Mr. Kerens is a droll
one. He had brought up a carpet of rather a
common pattern—a Turk and a Frenchman
shooting a lion. The jealous emperor instantly
interpreted the pattern as an allegory against
himself; the lion represented Abyssinia, France
and Turkey were the hunters. The rest of the
prisoners are retained " because they abused
the emperor; and a friend ought to be a shield
to his friend, and the Europeans should have
shielded him." After the enjoyment of three
days' liberty, the prisoners were seized and
immured again, ostensibly because they had
not waited on the emperor "to make
reconciliation," really because the emperor desired
to extort from England a kasa, or ransom, to
consist not only of steam-engines, turning-
lathes, carpenters' tools, &c., to the value of
3000l., but of gunners, smiths, and an artillery
officer. But throughout the imperial correspondence
three points are obvious. Ever jealous
of the authority claimed by the church,
Theodore writes to her Majesty in these terms:
"Your Majesty can learn from those who fear
the Lord the ill treatment and abuse which we
have received at the hands of the Europeans,
and the Copt, who called himself Metropolitan,
the Abuna Salama." The insults cast upon the
memory of his mother, perhaps incautiously
repeated by the Europeans, rankled still in the
emperor's heart. In his last letter to Mr. Rassam,
he writes: " Now, let me prove to you,
that though my mother was poor, she was a
daughter of the ancient kings of Ethiopia." The
kasa is the third object ever in the mind of the
king. " What my kasa is I will tell you afterwards.