Fifty years ago Suez, where canal and Red Sea meet and “East of Suez” begins, was a miserable Arab village. Now it is a city where several thousand Europeans share the general dreariness of this hot and desolate spot.
When two ships meet, one usually stops close to the bank and lets the other pass. In places the sides are lined with stones to prevent slides, and dredges are at work all the time keeping the channel clear.
Back of the European colonies that fringe the coast lies Abyssinia, one of the most interesting countries of the Black Continent. With the exception of Liberia, it is the only one that is independent of Europe. Recognized by the Powers as a self-governing state, it has been able to preserve its native monarchy. Everyone in America has heard of the famous King Menelik II, founder of the present government, and the name is still one to conjure with in that country. It is said that an Abyssinian can stop another from whatever he happens to be doing by calling out to him: “Ba Menelik,” or “In the name of Menelik.” There are penalties for using this formula frivolously, and the one so doing may be called upon to justify his action before a judge.
The empire of Abyssinia consists of a mighty plateau ten times as large as the State of Ohio, from which rise many high mountains. The country might be called the roof of the continent, and has so much beautiful scenery that it has been dubbed the African Switzerland. The plateau consists of great tablelands rising one above the other and cut up by great gorges and mighty canyons somewhat like those of the Rockies. In the centre of the plateau is Lake Tsana, and down its sides flow great rivers, some of which are lost in the sands while others, such as the Atbara and the Blue Nile, give food and water to Egypt. The Blue Nile has its source in Lake Tsana.
Abyssinia has some of the best soil of Africa. It is, in fact, a fertile island in the midst of a sea of deserts and swamps. It will grow almost anything, including sugar and cotton in the lowlands, coffee higher up, and still higher the hardy grains of the temperate zone.
This country is said to be the first home of the coffee plant. It has a province called Kaffa, whence the first coffee beans were carried to Arabia. The word “coffee” comes from the name of that province. In Kaffa, coffee trees grow so large that they are used for timber. In some places they grow wild. In others the coffee is cultivated.
At present Abyssinia is almost unexplored, but its opening and development are assured, and it may become one of the tourist and hunting resorts of the future. The land is especially interesting to us in that most of the Abyssinians are Christians, their religion being about the same as that of the Copts of Egypt.