Stanley and the white heroes in Africa; being an edition from Mr Stanley's late personal writings on the Emin Pasha relief expedition .. . Kassai, of course, represented that he was the per-son alluded to in the prophecy. He had some difficulty inpersuading his people that he was a descendant of Solomonand the queen of Sheba, as their traditions declared that theruler of Abyssinia must be; and it does not appear that theywere ever thoroughly convinced; but at any rate he silencedthem for a time upon that subject. It does not appear, however, that Theodore ventured to ig-nore the real king; he
Stanley and the white heroes in Africa; being an edition from Mr Stanley's late personal writings on the Emin Pasha relief expedition .. . Kassai, of course, represented that he was the per-son alluded to in the prophecy. He had some difficulty inpersuading his people that he was a descendant of Solomonand the queen of Sheba, as their traditions declared that theruler of Abyssinia must be; and it does not appear that theywere ever thoroughly convinced; but at any rate he silencedthem for a time upon that subject. It does not appear, however, that Theodore ventured to ig-nore the real king; he used all the ceremony toward himwhich was demanded by the custom of the country; but soonafter the coronation of Kassai took place, the king died sud-denly. Alarmed by this circumstance, the people submittedwithout a struggle; and Theodore was left free to extend hisdominions by foreign conquest. Various attempts at missionary work in Abyssinia were madeduring the period from 1856 to 1863, with the permission andapproval of Theodore. For a time it seemed that friendly re-lations would be established between the great European pow-. THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 35 ers and this far-off, half ^savage country; but the suspiciousjealousy of the king, and an unfortunate chain of circumstan-ces, doomed this hope to disappointment. Infuriated by whathe considered insults to his royal dignity, Theodore receivedcoldly all attempts at explanation; English messengers wereoverawed by being received by the king surrounded by lions,and were robbed of their dispatches and maltreated; English-men were tried for the crime of disrespect to him, and sen-teaced to death. The missionaries and the English consulwere arrested and imprisoned; the envoy who was sent totreat with him, was kept waiting for a year, and then wasthrown into prison. Theodore now conducted himself like amadman, and subjected men, women and children who fell in-to his power to inhuman tortures. The British governmentdemanded t
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