ABBOT, JOSEPH HALE, A. A. S., a distinguished scientist, philologist, and teacher, born at Wilton, N. H., September 26, 1802; died in Cambridge, Mass., April 7, 1873. He was descended in a collateral line from the same stock with Captain Nathan Hale, of Revolutionary memory. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1822, was a tutor in that college from 1825 to 1827, and from 1827 to 1833 was Professor of Mathematics and teacher of modern languages in Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H. For several years following he taught a school for young ladies in Boston, and subsequently was principal of the high-school in Beverly, Mass. He early became an active member, and was for several years recording secretary, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to whose "Transactions" he contributed numerous papers of a scientific character; he paid much attention to the solving of pneumatic and hydraulic problems, and published several ingenious and original speculations on questions connected therewith. In the "Ether Controversy," he warmly espoused the claims of Dr. Charles T. Jackson, and wrote an eloquent and earnest defense of them. He also assisted Dr. Worcester in the preparation of his great English Dictionary, contributing many of the scientific definitions. During the last few months of his life he had suffered from paralysis.

ABD-EL-KADER, SIDI-EL-KADJI ULED MAHIDDIN, an Arab prophet, reformer, and military chieftain, born in 1807, in the suburbs of Mascara, in the territory of the Hashems, in what is now claimed as a part of the French province of Algeria; died in Egypt, in November, 1873. He was of noble birth, his father, Sidi-el-Mahiddin, being a venerable and venerated saint, or marabout, of the province of Oran, and a lineal descendant of the Arabian Prophet. Mahiddin added to his religious duties the instruction of promising youths in Arabic sci

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ence, and in the knowledge of the Koran, and in his father's guetna, or seminary, the young Abd-el-Kader, and his three brothers, were educated. The boy possessed remarkable intelligence and precocity of intellect, and even in early childhood could explain the most difficult passages of the Koran. As he grew up, he distinguished himself by his eloquence and his thorough knowledge of his nation's history, as well as by his fervor in all religious exercises, and at the dawn of manhood he was hailed by his fellow-countrymen as both marabout and thaleb, or saint and scholar. Meanwhile, he had not neglected those manly sports in which Arabian youths were wont to indulge, and in the whole province of Oran there was no more skillful horseman and no more adroit swordsman than Abd-el-Kader. These high qualities of character and attainment won him the envy and hatred of the Dey of Algiers, who sought to assassinate him. Apprised of his peril, he fled with his father to Egypt, where he was for the first time brought in contact with European civilization. Thence he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and visited the tomb of his illustrious ancestor the Prophet. After some years of exile he returned, to find his old enemy deposed, the Turkish power overthrown, and the coast in the hands of the French. The Arabs of the province of Oran deemed this a good opportunity to reconquer their independence, and, under the lead of the venerated Mahiddin and his gallant son, now a youth of twenty-four years, they rose upon the Turks, expelled them from the province, and occupied Mascara, making it their capital. The grateful Arabs would have made Mahiddin their king, but, with a father's pride, he turned their choice to his son, who became thenceforth their chosen leader, and with each succeeding month extended his do-. main farther and farther toward the desert, till he had gathered under his banner all the

Arab and Berber tribes between the confines of Morocco and the Tunisian frontier, and reigned monarch from the narrow coast-line of the French to the border of the Great Desert. It was not until the year 1832 that he came in collision with the French troops. His previous prosperity and success had, perhaps, made him somewhat vain, and, with that fiery eloquence which rendered the Arabs so frantic in all his subsequent career, he began to preach a holy war, and led a force of 10,000 cavalry against Oran, at that time occupied by the French under General Boyer. The assault was fierce and bloody, and it was not till the third day that Abd-el-Kader decided to retreat with his broken and demoralized troops. Thenceforward, for eleven years, he maintained a conflict, with varying fortunes, with the French troops. Twice he made treaties of peace with his foes, but they were soon broken. More than once he defeated them, and occasioned them very severe losses; but at length, hemmed in between the victorious French and the mountains, deserted by his allies, and his bravest warriors slain or prisoners, he was compelled to capitulate, on the condition that he should be allowed to go to Alexandria or St. Jean d'Acre. The French commander, Marshal Bugeaud, basely broke faith with him, and he was confined at first at Toulon, then in the fortress of Pau, in the Pyrenees, and finally in the Château d'Amboise, near Blois. After nine years of confinement, he was liberated by Napoleon III., in December, 1852, on the occasion of the proclamation of the Empire. He immediately embarked for Broussa, in Syria, where he resided until the earthquake of 1855 destroyed that city. He then removed to Constantinople, and in 1860 established himself at Damascus, and during the bloody riots of 1860 exhibited great kindness toward the Maronites and other Christians of Syria. For his honorable and generous course at this time, he received from the French Emperor the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. The French Government had paid him regularly an annual pension of 100,000 francs $20,000. One of his daughters became a Christian, and, although he himself died in the faith of Islam, yet there are evidences in his really profound and able work, "Philosophico-Religious Meditations," or "A Call to the Intelligent; Advice to the Indifferent," that the influence of Christian thought on the mind of this reflecting and meditative scholar had produced some effect on his attitude toward Christianity. He had been living, since 1865, in Egypt, on a tract of land presented to him in 1864 by M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, where he had erected a fine château. He visited Mecca, and made a tour of Egypt in 1863-'64.

ABYSSINIA, a country in Eastern Africa; area, about 158,000 square miles; population, from three to four millions.* The anarchy into

The following continuation of the recent history of Abyssinia, from the close of the last article in the ANNUAL

which Abyssinia relapsed after the death of the Emperor Theodore, has for the present given place to the consolidation of the rule of the new Emperor Tekla Johannes, formerly Prince Kassa. The new ruler, who is of humble origin, became first known as a soldier in Theodore's army, where he gradually rose to the dignity of a dedjas (general), and governor of a province. During the latter part of Theodore's reign he was like most of the Abyssinian chiefs, a defiant rebel against the authority of the Emperor. According to some reports, he was for a time a vassal to Gobazye, the Prince of Lasta. But this relation to Gobazye, if it ever existed, had entirely ceased at the time of the English expedition. Kassa was at that time independent prince of Tigré, and regarded as such by the English. He was the only Abyssinian chief whose friendship was courted by the English, who haughtily rejected the offers of all the other chiefs, even those of Gobazye. When the victors departed from the country, he received rich presents, and, what is of special importance in Abyssinia, a large quantity of European firearms of which the natives have an almost superstitious fear. In the civil wars of Abyssinia, small bodies of troops supplied with firearms generally prove superior to armies even three times larger, if they are armed according to ancient custom. When, therefore, Theodore lost his throne and his life, Kassa found himself in a very favorable position. He was not the most powerful among the chiefs, for Gobazye, the Prince of Lasta, took possession of the whole of Amhara, the largest and most important among the three divisions of the country (Amhara, Tigré, and Shoa), and the possession of which had long been looked upon in Abyssinia as the sure road to the highest dignity. Gobazye, indeed, following the long established rule, assumed under the name of Tekla Girgis, the traditional title of the Abyssinian sovereigns, Atsye Negus Negussie (Emperor, King of kings). Kassa refused to recog nize the claim of Gobazye to the imperial dignity, and as early as 1870 clearly showed that he himself aspired to the rule over all Abyssinia. Gobazye at this time commanded much larger resources than Kassa, and was more popular; but Kassa had the great advantage of having a considerable number of Europeans in his army, and of having kept his firearms in good order by European artisans. The decisive battle took place on July 11, 1871. Kassa had an intrenched camp on a small hill near Adowa, where he was encircled by the cavalry of Gobazye. At the fourth onset, Go

CYCLOPEDIA (1869, vol. ix.), is chiefly based on an article by Heinrich Freiherr von Maltzahn, one of the best anthorities on African affairs, in the Kölnische Zeitung (October, 1873). Maltzahn quotes, as the chief sources of his in. formation, the letters of the aged German naturalist, Dr. and still lives at Adowa; and those of Werner Munzinger, Schimper, who has spent nearly a whole life in Abyssinia, Egyptian Governor of Massowah and Suakin. The let ters of the Englishman Kirkham, who is commander-inchief of Kassa's troops, are regarded by him as less trustworthy.

bazye advanced as far as the middle of the camp, but there he was surrounded and captured, and his troops were partly taken prisoners and partly dispersed. The victory of Kassa was not expected by the Abyssinians. Even the Catholic missionaries who lived in the territory of Kassa, had looked upon the downfall of Kassa as certain, and a letter of the missionary bishop, found with Gobazye, showed that the missionaries had represented to Gobazye the occupation of Kassa's territory as an easy matter. In consequence of this discovery, Kassa at once expelled the missionaries, demolished their houses and churches, and persecuted the natives who had joined the Roman Catholic communion. After this victory Kassa was by far the most powerful chief in Abyssinia. At the beginning of 1872 he was crowned at Axum, as Emperor and King of kings of all Abyssinia. Many of the petty chiefs refused, however, to recognize his authority. The most powerful among them were Aba Kaissi, the son-in-law of Dr. Schimper, and Welde Jesus. The former, a robber-chief of great temerity, was conquered after three armies had been sent against him. Their combined operations drove him into the Bogos country, a district north of Abyssinia, and formerly connected with it, but which for about a hundred years had been independent. From there he was again expelled by the Egyptians, who annexed this country to their empire. Aba Kaissi was confined by the Egyptian Government in Massowah, but returned after a time to Abyssinia, in order to begin his robber-life anew. Soon, however, finding himself surrounded on all sides by enemies, he resolved to surrender voluntarily to his mortal enemy, Kassa, who kept him as a prisoner. The war against the second opponent of Kassa, Welde Jesus, was more difficult. He was the ruler of a district, had a small but welldrilled army at his disposal, and was experienced in guerrilla warfare and in the laying of ambushes. At one time Kassa himself had a narrow escape. Finally, he succeeded in defeating him, after having bribed most of his adherents. Welde Jesus fled to the Asoba Gallas, a tribe at that time independent of Kassa. Thus the latter crushed out the rebellion in his own province, Tigré, and now prepared for the subjection of the other provinces. In the winter of 1872-'73 he undertook an expedition against the Asoba Gallas, who at first hoped to conciliate him by killing his opponent and their guest, Welde Jesus, but soon found out that Kassa would not be satisfied with any thing short of the annexation of their country to his dominion. A most bloody war ensued. The Asoba Gallas castrated all the adherents of Kassa who fell into their hands, and, in return, Kassa, when he was victorious in a decisive battle, ordered all the prisoners, to the number of about 500, to be killed. Then the Asoba Gallas submitted to the king, and sent their chiefs with tributes and presents to Adowah.

Their total population is about 100,000, and they can muster 6,000 horsemen, well armed with lance, sabre, and shield.

Another tribe of the Gallas, the Wolla Gallas, who thus far had maintained some kind of independence under their princess Mestiata of Shoa, have been subjected by Menelek, King of Shoa. Menelek is descended from an ancient dynasty which derives its origin from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Until recently he was at least as powerful as Kassa, and for some time it was expected that he was his rival for the supreme power. Ras Woronya, who, after the capture of Gobazye, made himself ruler of Amhara, made the plan to crown Menelek as Emperor of Gondar, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Amhara, the possession of which is still looked upon as indispensable for an Abyssinian emperor. Το thwart this plan, Kassa, at the beginning of the present year, undertook an expedition against Gondar, which Ras Woronya În union with Atlaba Buru, a former general of Kassa, but now a rebel, in vain endeavored to obstruct. Kassa, without any serious encounter, reached and occupied Gondar, where Ras Woronya paid his homage to him. Another rebellion, which was attempted by Ras Woronya after a few days, was promptly defeated; Kassa spared, however, the life of the conquered enemy. Thus he had complete control of Tigré and Amhara. As the first Abyssinian ruler, he continued to reside in Tigre, although the Amharans are the predominant race which for about five hundred years has been in the ascendency over the degenerate Semitic Tigré race, the descendants of the ancient Ethiopians.

In 1872, reports from Egypt represented a war between that country and Abyssinia as imminent, in consequence of the annexation of the Bogos country, which had formerly been a part of the Abyssinian dominions, to Egypt. These reports appear to have been gross exaggerations. At the beginning of 1873 the Catholic missionaries, who had obtained permission from Kassa to return to Abyssinia, endeavored to persuade the Khedive to abandon the possession of Bogos in favor of Kassa; the Khedive, however, preferred the advice of Munzinger, who hastened to Cairo to counteract the missionaries who were supported by the diplomatic influence of France. The Bogos country has since been organized by Munzinger, and no hostility whatever has taken place between Abyssinia and Egypt.

It is an interesting fact that, while Kassa is actually as well as by name the Emperor aud the King of kings of Abyssinia, the chief of the ancient deposed dynasty is allowed to retain also the title of Atsye (Emperor). The present representative of this dynasty, Atsye Johannes, lives without means and without a party, at the ancient capital, Axum. He remains unmolested, and is looked upon as entirely harmless.