ABYSSINIA

Evening Star, Issue 22143, 25 September 1935, Page 4

ABYSSINIA

SIDELIGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS It seemed strange on coming home to see His Majesty Haile Selassie described in one of our papers as the “ Black Emperor,” for he is hardly as dark as most, Italians, and there is nothing negroid about him, says an English artist, Amy Drucker, who recently spent what she described as a very happy year in Abyssinia, as the result of a commission to paint a life-size portrait of the Emperor. Though the Emperor is small in stature and very thin (continues the writer), ho has a most dignified carriage, and even in his simplest clothes looks every inch a king. Ho lias a very intellectual head, with finely chiselled features, a mass of silky black hair, and a'beard. I met him first at a tea party at the American mission where I was staying. His Alajesty and the Queen both came to tea, and then went on to see the leper hospital, in which they both have a great interest. His Majesty laid the foundation stone, and the Queen has lately given some money to build more mud huts, so that the poor lepers can stay in the grounds and go for treatment to the hospital. There are a good many lepers in Abyssinia who are not kept apart, but live with their families in their own “ tukls ”—mud huts, , This hospital, the first of its kind, is only one of the many signs of the country’s progress. His Alajesty is quite the busiest man in his kingdom, yet he finds time to hold court two entire mornings every week. His people say that his judgments rival those of King Solomon, whose descendant he is. He is a great lover of peace, for he realises that war would stop the progress of his country, for which he is always working. The King wears the national clothes of Abyssinia, far more beautiful than our European garments but not so practical.

Until recently everyone, including the King, either rode on mules or horses, for there are no roads in Abyssinia, except just in and round about the few chief towns. To-day_ in Addis Ababa it is difficult to drive. The roads are filled with people, nearly all of them carrying something either on their backs, heads, or shoulders. Cattle also stray and get chased by their owners. Donkeys,, mules, herds of sheep, and lines of loaded camels all use the roads and get mixed up with the traffic. Next time I saw the King he was opening a church, looking very regal in his beautiful velvet cape. The King had no time to pose for his portrait until after the end of the Crown Prince of Sweden’s visit, but I was asked to get matei’ials and canvas from Europe. These took seven weeks coming from London to Addis Ababa, and by the time they arrived the longest fast of the year—a fast of 40 days, when no meat, butter, or eggs may be eaten —had started. . His Alajesty keeps all the fasts, but that did not prevent him sitting, though a very bad influenza cold did. What with that and all the Italian trouble and the tremendous lot of work the King always has to do, I did not get my sittings till five months after the first inquiries. We often talked—though the King knows no English, he speaks French like a Frenchman, having been brought up by a French priest —and His Alajesty told me he had spent fourteen days in England, and to his surprise he had only had one rainy day. He admired our police and the wonderful way they managed the traffic, but most of all he admired our beautiful lawns and gardens. He ■pointed out to me how -he was trying to have the palace gardens made like an English one he had seen. If I had had better conditions and longer sittings I could have done more justice to one of the most beautiful heads I have ever been commissioned to paint.