powers, in which, after thanking them for their intentions,
he stipulated that the agreement should not in any way limit
his own sovereign rights. In June 1908, by the nomination of
his grandson, Lij Yasu (b. 1896), as his heir, the emperor
endeavoured to end the rivalry between various princes
claiming the succession to the throne. (See MENELEK.) A
convention with Italy, concluded in the same year, settled
the frontier questions outstanding with that country. (G.*)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For general information see A. B. Wylde's
Modern Abyssinia (London, 1901), a volume giving the result
of many years' acquaintance with the country and people;
Voyage en Abyssinie . . . 1839-43, par une commission
scientifique, by Th. Lefebvre and others (6 vols. and atlas, 3
vols., Paris, 1845--54); Elisee Reclus, Nouvelle geographie
universelle, vol. x. chap. v. (Paris, 1885). For latest
geographical and kindred information consult the Geographical
Journal (London), especially ``A Journey through Abyssinia,''
vol. xv. (1900), and ``Exploration in the Abai Basin,'' vol.
xxvii. (1906), both by H. Weld Blundell, and ``From the
Somali Coast through S. Ethiopia to the Sudan,'' vol. xx.
(1902), by C. Neumann; Antoine d'Abbadie, Geographie de
l'Ethiopie (Paris, 1890). The British parliamentary paper
Africa, No. 13 (1904), is a report on the survey of the
S.E. frontier by Capt. P. Maud, R.E., and contains a valuable
map. For geology, &c., see W. T. Blanford, Observations
on the Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia (London, 1870); C.
Futterer, ``Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Jura in Ost-Afrika,''
Zeit. Deutsch. Geol. Gesell. xlix. p. 568 (1897); C.
A. Raisin, ``Rocks from Southern Abyssinia,'' Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. lix. pp. 292-306 (1903).
Among works by travellers describing the country are---James
Bruce's Travels to discover the Source of the Nile 1768-1773
(Edinburgh, 1813, 3rd ed., 8 vols.); The Highlands of
Aethiopia (3 vols., London, 1844), by Sir W. Cornwallis
Harris, dealing with the Danakil country, Harrar and
Shoa; Mansfield Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia; being notes
collected during three years' residence and travels (2nd
ed., London, 1868); Antoine d'Abbadie, Douze ans dans
La Haute Ethiopie (Paris, 1868); P. H. G. Powell-Cotton,
A Sporting Trip through Abyssinia (London, 1902); A.
Donaldson Smith, Through Unknown African Countries (London,
1897); M. S. Wellby, Twixt Sirdar and Menelik (London,
1901). For history see -- A. M. H. J. Stokvis' Manuel
d'histoire, vol. i. pp. 439-46, and vol. ii. pp. lxxiv-v
(Leiden, 1888-89), which contains lists of the sovereigns
of Abyssinia, Shoa and Harrar, from the earliest times,
with brief notes. Texts of treaties between Abyssinia and
the European Powers up to 1896 will be found in vol. i. of
Sir E. Hertslet's The Map of Africa by Treaty (London,
1896). L. J. Morie's Histoire de l'Ethiopie: Tome ii,
``L'Abyssinie'' (Paris, 1904), is a comprehensive survey
(the views on modern affairs being coloured by a strong
anti-British bias). For more detailed historical study consult
C. Beccari's Notizia e Saggi di opere e documenti inediti
riguardanti la Storia di Etiopia durante i Secoli XVI.,
XVII. e XVIII. (Rome. 1903), a valuable guide to the period
indicated; E. Glaser, Die Abessinier in Arabien und Afrika
(Munich, 1895); The Portuguese Expedition to Abysinnia in
1541-1543 as narrated by Castanhoso (with the account of
Bermudez), translated and edited by R. S. Whiteway (London,
Hakluyt Society, 1902), which contains a bibliography; Futu
el-Habacha, a contemporary Arab chronicle of the wars of
Mahommed Gran, translated into French by Antoine d'Abbadie
and P. Paulitschke (Paris,1898); A Voyage to Abyssinia by
Father Jerome Lobo, from the French [by Samuel Johnson]
(London, 1735); Record of the Expedition to Abyssinia, 3
vols., an official history of the war of 1868, by Major T. J.
Holland and Capt. H. Hosier (London, 1870); Hormuzd Rassam,
Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore [1865-1868]
(2 vols., London, 1869); Henry Blanc, A Narrative of
Captivity in Abyssinia (London, 1868 ), by one of Theodore's
prisoners; Sir Gerald H. Portal, My Mission to Abyssinia
(London, 1892), an account of the author's embassy to King
John in 1887; Count A. E. W. Gleichen, With the Mission to
Menelik, 1897 (London, 1898), containing the story of the
Rennell Rodd mission; R. P. Skinner, Abyssinia of To-Day
(London, 1906), a record of the first American mission to the
country; G. F. H. Berkeley, The Campaign of Adowa and the
Rise of Menelik (London, 1902). Books dealing with missionary
enterprise are---Journal of a Three Years' Residence in
Abyssinia, by Bishop Samuel Gobat (London, 1834); J. L.
Krapf, Travels, Researches and Missionary Labours during
an 18 years' residence in Eastern Africa (London, 1860);
Cardinal G. Massaja, I miei Trentacinque anni di Missione
nell' Alta Etiopia (10 vols., Milan, 1886-1893). Political
questions are referred to by T. Lennox Gilmour, Abyssinia:
the Ethiopian Railway and the Powers (London, 1906);
H. le Roux, Menelik et nous (Paris, 1901); Charles
Michel, La question d'Ethiopie (Paris, 1905). (F. R. C.)
1 Since Theodore's time Protestant missionary
work, except by natives, has been stopped.
2 Menelek means ``a second self.''
3 He was subsequently sent to school at Rugby, but
died in his nineteenth year, on the 14th of Nnvember
1879. He was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor.
4 A title variously translated. A dejazmach (dejaj)
is a high official, ranking immediately belaw a ras,
5 The main object of this mission was to seek John's
assistance in evacuating the Egyptian garrisons in
the Sudan, which were threatened by the dervishes.
6/0 Ras Alula died February 1897, aged about 52. He had
raised himself by his military talents from being a groom and
private soldier to the position of generalissimo of the army.
7 Ras of Harrar, which province had been conquered
and occupied by Menelek in January 1887.
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. As the chronicle of Axum relates,
Christianity was adopted in Abyssinia in the 4th century.
About A.D. 330 Frumentius was made first bishop of Ethiopia by
Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria. Cedrenus and Nicephorus
err in dating Abyssinian Christianity from Justinian, c.
542. From Frumentius to the present day, with one break, the
Metropolitan (Abuna) has always been appointed from Egypt,
and, oddly enough, he is always a foreigner. Little is
known of church history down to the period of Jesuit rule,
which broke the connexion with Egypt from about 1500 to
1633. But the Abyssinians rejected the council of Chalcedon,
and still remain monophysites. Union with the Coptic Church
(q.v.) continued after the Arab conquest in Egypt. Abu
Sallh records (12th century) that the patriarch used always to
send letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia and Nubia,
till Al Hakim stopped the practice. Cyril, 67th patriarch,
sent Severus as bishop, with orders to put down polygamy
and to enforce observance of canonical consecration for all
churches. These examples show the close relations of the two
churches in the Middle Ages. But early in the 16th century
the church was brought under the influence of a Portuguese
mission. In 1439, in the reign of Zara Yakub, a religious
discussion between an Abyssinian, Abba Giorgis, and a Frank
had led to the despatch of an embassy from Abyssinia to the
Vatican; but the initiative in the Roman Catholic missions
to Abyssinia was taken, not by Rome, but by Portugal, as an
incident in the struggle with the Mussulmans for the command
of the trade route to India by the Red Sea. In 1507 Matthew,
or Matheus, an Armenian, had been sent as Abyssinian envoy
to Portugal to ask aid against the Mussulmans, and in 1520
an embassy under Dom Rodrigo de Lima landed in Abyssinia.
An interesting account of this mission, which remained
for several years, was written by Francisco Alvarez, the
chaplain. Later, Ignatius Loyola wished to essay the task
of conversion, but was forbidden. Instead, the pope sent
out Joao Nunez Barreto as patriarch of the East Indies,
with Andre de Oviedo as bishop; and from Goa envoys went to
Abyssinia, followed by Oviedo himself, to secure the king's
adherence to Rome. After repeated failures some measure of
success was achieved, but not till 1604 did the king make
formal submission to the pope. Then the people rebelled and
the king was slain. Fresh Jesuit victories were followed
sooner or later by fresh revolt, and Roman rule hardly
triumphed when once for all it was overthrown. In 1633 the
Jesuits were expelled and allegiance to Alexandria resumed.
There are many early rock-cut churches in Abyssinia, closely
resembling the Coptic. After these, two main types of
architecture are found--one basilican, the other native. The
cathedral at Axum is basilican, though the early basilicas
are nearly all in ruin -e.g. that at Adulis and that of
Martula Mariam in Gojam, rebuilt in the 16th century on
the ancient foundations. These examples show the influence
of those architects who, in the 6th century, built the
splendid basilicas at Sanaa and elsewhere in Arabia. Of
native churches there are two forms---one square or oblong,
found in Tigre; the other circular, found in Amhara and
Shoa. In both, the sanctuary is square and stands clear in the
centre. An outer court, circular or rectangular, surrounds the
body of the church. The square type may be due to basilican
influence, the circular is a mere adaptation of the native
hut: in both, the arrangements are obviously based on Jewish
tradition. Church and outer court are usually thatched,
with wattled or mud-built walls adorned with rude frescoes.
The altar is a board on four wooden pillars having upon
it a small slab (tabut) of alabaster, marble, or shittim
wood, which forms its essential part. At Martula Mariam,
the wooden altar overlaid with gold had two slabs of solid
gold, one 500, the other 800 ounces in weight. The ark kept
at Axum is described as 2 feet high, covered with gold and
gems. The liturgy was celebrated on it in the king's palace
at Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and Feast of the Cross.
Generally the Abyssinians agree with the Copts in ritual and
practice. The LXX. version was translated into Geez, the
literary language, which is used for all services, though hardly
understood. Saints and angels are highly revered, if not adored,
but graven images are forbidden. Fasts are long and rigid.
Confession and absolution, strictly enforced, give great power
to the priesthood. The clergy must marry, but once only.
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a religious duty and covers many sins.
AUTHORITIES.--Tellez, Historia de Ethiopia (Coimbra,
1660); Alvarez, translated and edited for the Hakluyt Soc.
by Lord Stanley of Aderley, under the title Narrative
of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia (London, 1881);
Ludolphus, History of Ethiopia (London, 1684, and other
works); T. Wright, Christianity of Arabia (London, 1855);
C. T. Beke, ``Christianity among the Gallas,'' Brit. Mag.
(London, 1847); J. C. Hotten, Abyssinia Described (London,
1868); ``Abyssinian Church Architecture,'' Royal Inst.
Brit. Arch. Transactions, 1869; Ibid. Journal, March
1897; Archaeologia, vol. xxxii.; J. A. de Graca Barreto,
Documenta historiam ecclesiae Habessinarum illustrantia
(Olivipone, 1879); E. F. Kromrei, Glaubenlehre und Gebrauche
der alteren Abessinischen Kirche (Leipzig, 1895); F. M. E.
Pereira, Vida do Abba Samuel (Lisbon, 1894); Idem, Vida do
Abba Daniel (Lisbon, 1897); Idem, Historia dos Martyres de
Nagran (Lisbon, 1899); Idem, Chronica de Susenyos (Lisbon,
