ABYSSINIA’S PICTURESQUE RULER

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 114, 11 February 1928, Page 24

ABYSSINIA’S PICTURESQUE RULER

So long as the Regent Prince Tafari rules m Abyssinia we may regard with equanimity any threat to Great Britain’s control of the Nile waters that spring from his domains and constitute the very life-blood of Egypt and the Sudan (says a correspondent of the “Westminster Gazette”). For this greatest and most picturesque of feudal princes, who holds despotic sway over the great Ethiopian Empire and ten millions of Christian people, is also a very great gentleman, liberal in his ideas, unswerving in his loyalties, true to his bond. No treaty entered into by his- country will be dishonoured.

The story of his kingdom is a romance. Here, it is said, reigned Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and the Sacred Book of Abyssinia tells how the great Queen, hearing of the glory and wisdom of Solomon, visited him in Syria, and libw a son was born to her who became Menelik I. of Abyssinia. From that time, 3000 years ago, the descendants of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba have ruled this land, whose ancient civilisation found its inspiration in the Court of Solomon and which, surrounded by the hordes of Islam, has, through hundreds of years preserved its Christian faith. The nominal ruler of Abyssinia is the Empress Zaoditon, daughter of the late King Menelik. She is middle-aged and a pigmy, and she has 10,000 men-at-arms to guard her royal home and countless slayes to do her bidding. If you visit her palace you will see about it cages of full-grown lions—an impressive bodvguard. She is the supreme head of the Government, owns all the land, and has the power of life and death over every one of her subjects But Ras Tafari, as Regent of the Empire, exercises these powers in her name, and at her death will himself inherit the throne. He, the leader of armies, the wise administrator, and the benevolent despot, is tlie ruler of the country. As head of the armv he summons to him his nobles and the rulers of his provinces, and they ride to him from every corner of the land, attended bv their own under-lords and thousands upon thousands of warriors, gorgeous beyond imagination, Men in cloaks of leopard skins, with headdresses of lions’ manes and belts embroidered with gold filigree; beautiful horses in silk trappings from head to knee; accoutrements of gold and silver; spears of glittering steel—a barbaric symphony of colour. And it is no “spit and polish” army, for the Lion of Judah has never been conquered. It has thrown back the Dervish and the European, and with Adowa among its battle honours it fears no violation of its age-long independence. But Tafari is not onlv Commander-in-Chief of the Army. He is Lord Chancellor, Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Minister for Education and the whole Cabinet rolled into one. He dispenses justice to rich and poor, he controls the national finances and, out of his own pocket, he has built schools and even sent some of the young men of his countrv to be educated in Europe. One evening he will be dining with his warriors and, at one sitting, 150 bullocks will be devoured, fresh-killed and smoking-raw. Food for fighters! The next day he will attend divine worship with his people, discuss problems of State with his nobles, adjudicate in family disputes, sentence a few malefactors to death or imprisonment and, later, in his fine residence—the onlv. modern house in Abyssinia—preside, with all the courtesv and assurance of an Enid.sh host at a tru’v Ritz-ian dinner in honour of the fortunate traveller who visits his Capital.