•:T-4-^^#^ !-^tV. 'rf+l''''ji 1, *^ L^ ...r ¦^ >^-H, ''^•ii'i'l^'^^:^ v+ . *.r *i/*.'-*K :^. .^-„-% ¦^."i'-'^V-s*^ i,*^* I' + -fl -^a^"?f^'.- ^^.v ^o^ ,5~»i "Igiije theft Books fur IAb /Blinding' of a ColUgt- vn- thl^ Colony" BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE Ann S. Parnam Fund VILLIERS HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE VOL. II HOW THE AUTHOR LOOKED JUST AFTER THE GREAT WAR VILLIERS His Five Decades of Adventure By FREDERIC VILLIERS War Artist and Correspondent VOLUME II Hutchinson &* Co.^ London 1921 ViLLiERs: His Five Decades of Adventure Copyright, 1920, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Negus Negusti i An uphill journey — Sir William Hewitt and Mason Bey — The great Theodore — The Abyssinia plateau — Adowa — The reception — Manners and customs of the people — A Worcester sauce bottle for a bride — A reception at the Palace — Johannes — Monkey land — A simian of quality. II. Catastrophe 26 The return to the coast — The simian's attempt to desert — The mummers — Lion — The palace — The catastrophe — A curi ous sunrise — Adventures of William Ridley — Down the Red Sea — Alexandria — Paris — London — He meets his old enemy ¦ — Arrested by police — His incarceration — His end. III. Oriental yet Occidental 45 I Dongola and its Mudirie — Oriental splendor — A quaint fleet — By Nile and desert — / interview the Mudir — / am disillu sioned — My first immersion in the historic river — Crocodiles — / lose my kit, but save my life — Kitchener comes on the scene. IV. The Fight for the Water 58 Sir Herbert Stewart — The Desert Column — The camel and his ways — Abu Klea — Mayor French's squadron to the rescue —By the skin of our teeth — The march to the Nile — The knoll at Metamneh — Our general placed hors de combat — The for lorn hope — The bloody square — The Nile at last — A silent reveille — Correspondents' casualties So per cent. V. Wrecked a Second Time 74 A "baggie" and his ways — Wolseley' s anxiety — / return to Cairo — Wrecked — / keep the gangway — A topsy-turvy life belt — A gruesome find — Rescued by friendly enemies — The solar topee — Brigand and cutthroats — A merry crew — The case of CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE a mummy — In the meshes of Shepheard's once more — The terrible curse — Ingram's fate — A sailor field marshal — The lines of communication. VI. A Short Campaign and a Long Journey 94 A Serb-Bulgar quarrel — A novel way to gain the front — A retreat — The Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta — My harem — Safe in Belgrade — I beat the mail, am delivered before the letters — On the road to Mandalay — Bells and pagodas — An amiable viceroy — An adventure on the Irrawaddy — The reception at the palace of the bloodthirsty monarchs — / am introduced to a great general — / tell my story to Sir Frederick Roberts. VII. Once a Great Lone Land — 1898-1900 iij A governor-general of ancient lineage — "On, Stanley, on!" - — Canada from coast to coast— Some of her cities — Plains, forests, and a few of her denizens. VIII. Topsy-turvy 129 The Land of the Rising Sun — Where East is West — Ping Yang — Umbrellas in action — Kinchow — A pawnbroker' s shop — Sacks of jewelry — The egg — The dragon-eyed general — Cap ture of "the Chair Hill" — "Hang out our banners" — Chinese methods of attack — The streets of Port Arthur — A bloody business. IX. Paths of Peace 139 The Antipodes — Australia and South Africa — Governors- general — Tasmania — A popular Prime Minister — A Western state governor — A simple knight — The late Lord Brassey — "I'm not a Seidlitz powder" — An indiscreet nobleman — Artistic coteries — The Sydney Supper Club — Verse between two cigars — Phil May — South Africa — / dine with Cecil Rhodes — Diamond hospitality — Jameson's Raid — Million aires in a night — How pebbles of the right sort are found — The last of the Tsars — He crowns the Empress — Their bloody end. X. An Unequal Struggle irg / land at Volo — The broken siesta — A turbulent night — / keep gate at the British consulate — My cinema camera — How I nursed il — A crude machine — / am hostage in the land of the unspeakable Turk and find him a good fellow — An Eng lishman's word — The last fight at Domokos — The war of the cinema — Barnum's axiom. CONTENTS CHAPTER PACB XI. Shadows of the Past and High Lights of To-day . .184 Archibald Forbes — Fred Burnaby — Pellegrini — StV A. Conan Doyle — Thomas Hardy — Henry Seton Merriman — Scott of Chicago — Bruce Ingram of the " Illustrated London News" — Sir Forbes Robertson — Barry Pain — W. W. Jacobs — Richard Barry — Stanley Washburn. XII. On the Horns of a Dilemma 205 / try my friends the Japs once more — Am not disappointed — Curious behavior of my colleagues — " You told the truth ten years ago; you will tell the truth now" — Well chosen — The peculiar Chinese — A pet fowl — Scattered leaves from my diary. XIII. A Midnight Inferno 221 The beginning of night warfare — A Whistler study — A noc turne in gold, silver, and blood — An attack under star bombs — Searchlight and the crescent moon — Ban-u-san in the light of day — Japanese heroes — Life on a mountain top — Dodging the eyes of the enemy — The Shinto Shades. XIV. Greeted by the Emperor of Korea 238 More scattered leaves from my diary — Silver fish — A bad cat — / change quarters — Cho-san takes a hard drink and be comes soft — My colleague's birthday — Land of the Morning Calm — The Palace of Prosperity and Virtue — We interview royalty — The chief eunuch — Morning Calmers and their ways — Togo and his ships of war. XV. Kitchener in the Sudan 259 Up the Nile — Across the desert — A movie camera and iron horse cause jealousy — The advance on Omdurman — A scorpion and its ways — A gunboat darkroom — A setback — The dervish attack — Saving the Camel Corps — Winston Churchill — Lieu tenant Beatty — Their first rungs of the proverbial ladder — A solemn ceremony — The men of the moment, MacDonald, Hun ter, and " Back-acher" Gatacre. XVI. Clairvoyance 273 / am told my fortune — / sail for the Cape — Land at Port Elizabeth — The trail of the prophecy — The Magersfontein af fair — The prophecy comes true — Sunnyside — Lumbago saves a brigade — Major Haigh — General French — Brabazon of the Guards — / m-iss my silver disk — Cecil Rhodes besieged — / in terview the Empire-builder — He takes me round Kimberley CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE and shows me the sights — Methuen and his night attack — The passing of an Empress — The mystery of the cannon. XVII. Riffians and Ruffians 292 / arrive in Melilla — The Berberine Coast — Corsairs of old — Pinto's disaster — Mount Gurugoo — A polite General Staff — A courteous officer — The best way to take Malaga — Rijff manners and customs — / meet El Carlo — Spanish troops. XVIII. A Ghastly Business 3°° Once under the Turkish yoke — The quick change to freedom — Good soldiers — Mustapha Pasha — Snapshot and movies at an execution — Gruesome scenes — / meet King Ferdinand — He admires my leather coat — War and water colors — His knowledge of my career — Belgrade — Looking for trouble — The coming of the Great Storm — My incredulous agent. XIX. 1914 306 Stranded war correspondents — Paris during mobilization — The last of the Contemptibles — After the Marne — Like rabbit- shooting — The Prussian debacle — Tramping it — A shift in a furniture van — The Crown Prince and champagne — The battle of the Aisne — I am taken for a spy — A score for my paper — Early- and latter-day trenches — The Red Tabbies — The Brit ish War Office and its way "peculiar" — / exhaust the Western front of dramatic incidents — / seek fresh fields and pastures new — / try East Africa-Mesopotamia without success and find incident for my sketchbook on the northwest frontier of India — The Mohmands at war — Armored cars, airplanes, and elec tricity surprise the hillmen. XX. My Last Chapter 327 Four big sights in the four quarters of the globe — The Matop- pos. South Africa— The Khyber—The Great Wall of China— The movies, California — People by the way — The City of White Light — Things to be considered by the man who wants to he a war correspondent — Hors-de-combat — Prolonged visits to certain Hotels Dieu — Canada and her Sisters of Mercy — A famous surgeon and his patients — Good Samaritans everywhere — Adieu. ILLUSTRATIONS How THE Author Looked Just After the Great War Frontispiece Scene in the Late Russian-Japanese War . .Facing p. 2^4 View of Trenches on Western Front, 1914. (Periscope in Lower Right-hand Corner) " 318 The Author Visits Charlie Chaplin in Cali fornia " 332 VILLIERS HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE VOL. II VILLIERS HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE Chapter I THE NEGUS NEGUSTI An uphill journey — Sir William Hewitt and Mason Bey — The great Theodore — The Abyssinia plateau — Adowa — The reception — Manners and customs of the people — A Worcester sauce bottle for a bride — A reception at the Palace — Johannes — Monkey land — A simian of quality. 'X'HE other day I happened to pick up a book *^ which described a journey by motor car to the capital of King Menelik of Abyssinia. On dipping into its pages I discovered that the whole country had been turned topsy-turvy by the advent of so- called civilization and that the manners and customs of its people were so completely changed from the delightfully primitive state in which I found them when I first visited the country that I thought it would be interesting to the present generation to VILLIERS: HIS FIFE DECADES OF ADVENTURE know something about this remarkable Christian race, isolated on a mountain top 8,000 feet up from the arid plains of Ailet on the Red Sea littoral, as they were before the automobile churned up the dust of their land and impregnated its pure atmos phere with the fumes of petrol. After the fight at Tamai, in the eastern Sudan, the war correspondents assembled at Suakim had nothing to do. It was a reHef to us all to hear of the intended Anglo-Egyptian Mission to Abyssinia to persuade the Negus Negusti to succor the Egyptian garrisons on his frontier, which were hemmed in by the fanatical followers of the Mahdi. Admiral Sir William Hewitt, the British repre sentative, was besieged by correspondents clamor ing to go with the Mission, but he said that he could take only one representative of the press, and that would be his personal friend, Mr. Cameron. Of course, the other correspondents were furious. Some cabled to their editors, who made a row, and the result was that Sir William would not take anyone. I had not applied to the admiral, so I had not been personally refused. I therefore sailed to Massowah, the port whence the Mission was to start inland, and presented myself to Mason Bey, an American in the Khedivial service, who was the governor and one of the most respected and trusted foreigners in the country. I told him that I had not seen the admiral about the matter, but THE NECUS NEGUSTI that I wanted to go with the Khedivial represent atives and if he would consent to my accompanying him it would help me out of a great difficulty. Also it seemed a pity that the doings of the Mission in an almost unknown country should not be chronicled by pen and pencil. Nevertheless Mason would not hear of taking a correspondent, as it would be "going back on the admiral." " By the bye," said he, just as I was going away, "I rather want a smart, respectable young man for my private secretary. If you care to apply for that billet, think the matter over and I'll see you to-morrow. In the meantime I shall be most happy to ofi'er you the hospitality of the crazy edifice which they call my palace." At nine the next morning I changed my pro fession, and became a private secretary at a nominal salary with free rations and transport. About ten o'clock the admiral arrived and Mason Bey turned out the palace guard of Sudanese soldiers. Their white uniforms and highly polished Remingtons sparkled in the blazing sun, but a more nondescript lot of scalawags I never set eyes on. Nevertheless, the admiral took their salute with his usual gravity, inspected the ranks and seemed satisfied. All that day and the following we were busy purchasing mules, looking at saddles, girths, and bridles and overhauling tents and baggage for the wonderful and adventurous journey which lay before us. VOL. II. — 2 3 VILLIERS: HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE Abyssinia was still practically unknown to Britishers in the year 1884. The previous monarch. King Theodore, had originally been quite inde pendent of the rest of the world. From his realm on the top of a mountain he looked haughtily down upon the world at large. Both France and Italy had flirted with him with an eye to future con cessions along the coast, and he had come to the conclusion that he was a very big bug indeed; but he still had a wholesome respect for England in 1862 when a new consul was sent out by the British Foreign Ofiice with some presents for him from Queen Victoria. King Theodore was very much impressed with this courtesy and sent the consul back with a letter of thanks. This epistle, unfortunately, was never acknowledged: the consul. Captain Cameron, re turned to Abyssinia without any message. The Ethiopian King took this attitude on the part of the British Foreign Office as an aff^ront. Some say that his letter was an off"er of marriage to Queen Victoria for the purpose of linking together the two great black and white Christian powers. Anyway, the King was so peeved that he threw the consul and other Englishmen into prison, and when another Mission was sent out from England with the be lated letter its members were incarcerated with the rest in the stronghold of Magdala, where for two long years they languished in chains. Great Britain then sent a military expedition to 4 THE NEGUS NEGUSTI demand their release. This consisted of 16,000 fighting men and 12,600 followers under the great hero of the then recent relief of Lucknow, Sir Robert Napier. After many weeks of hard marching through almost impassable mountainous regions extending inland over 400 miles from the coast of the Red Sea, the expedition arrived on the plains of Arogie a few miles from Magdala. Here a furious attack was made on the British by 5,000 of the King of Ethiopia's best troops, but though they attacked again and again they failed to make any impression and retired utterly defeated to their fortress. Theodore was utterly dumfounded, for he had thought it certain that so large an expedition would be decimated by the hardships of the march and by disease and paucity of water. He therefore experienced a sudden change of heart and returned the prisoners to the English camp with presents of 1,000 cows and 500 sheep. But by some circumstance these friendly over tures did not arrive in time. The British army had already started on its final lap. When it arrived on the plains in front of the Magdala rock, Theodore sent out a parlementaire suggesting that champions from either side should decide the issue and save the armies further bloodshed. Napier, however, would not agree to this picturesque method of settling such a serious dispute, and ordered the fortress to be stormed, whereupon Theodore lost S VILLIERS: HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE heart and committed suicide rather than be made prisoner by the British. After the capture of Magdala and the death of King Theodore in 1868, Napier placed Prince Kassa of Tigre on the throne as King Johaiines. Very little was done by Great Britain, however, to keep up the friendly relations which had been begun. To be sure, we took Alamayahu, the young son of the dead Theodore, and were looking after his education; for his father, ii^ spite of his failings, had come to be regarded by the British soldier as a "good sport." But with Abyssinia itself there was practically no intercourse, and the country still remained to the British public little more than a name upon the map. Now to return to our Mission: our cavalcade consisted of a small contingent of British blue jackets, naval and military officers, Egyptians, Arabs, Sudanese, and a train of baggage mules loaded with cases of rifles, ammunition, and a couple of ship's cannon as presents to King John and his chiefs. Our commissariat animals also carried huge bags of silver dollars to pave our way through the territories held by feudal lords — or, as we call those gentry in these days, cutthroat banditti — between us and the capital of Abyssinia. Indeed, the country we were nearing was similar in many ways to the old feudal conditions in England nine hundred years ago, before our King John signed the Magna Charta, Ras Alula, the frontier chieftain, was the 6 THE NEGUS NEGUSTI Earl of Warwick of the situation, the Lord Warden of the Marches, and only through his lands and by his permission was it possible to reach the king. If he was in feud with some local baron who held temporary sway over a portion of the domain we had to pay that gentleman as well, in order to go unmolested, the tribute money being divided between him and the Ras. Therefore, it was a happy-go-lucky proposition — ^this unique journey back to the ways of the world of a thousand years ago. While I was dreamily thinking these things out, jogging along in the midday heat, the admiral's aide rode up to me, saying that his chief would like to talk with me. "Now," I thought, "I am in for it. I wonder if he will turn me back?" "Ah! Mr. Villiers," said Sir William, with a cheery smile as I joined him, "glad to see you; but how is it you are here?" I told him that I was acting as private secretary to Mason Bey. "Well," he continued, "I was just thinking before I saw you what a pity it was that a Mission like this, so full of color and adventure, should not be chronicled outside the bald official letters." "With your permission, sir," I replied, "I am capable of doing it, if Mason will allow me." "That's right, I hope he will, though of course I can't interfere with any of his staff". Ride by my side a bit, Mr. Villiers, and clear up one or two 7 VILLIERS: HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE points of the Russo-Turkish war, which have always been a bit hazy to me." We talked until the force went into camp at the foot of the hills. The inhabitants of Ailet ran out, greeting us with their peculiar "lu lu" cry of welcome as we pitched our tents. ^ Here a small guard from the Ras's camp arrived to guide us up the Mahenzie range which stood out, a purple lowering mass in our front, its serrated peaks ringed with flickering lightning. These soldiers were the first real hillmen we had seen. They were a fine agile lot, a little truculent in bearing. They took more interest in our empty beer bottles than in anything else belonging to the Mission, and of these they slung as many as they could carry around their waists. Over them they folded their shemma, or toga. I found they had an excellent way of baking bread quickly. All carried, tied up at one end of the toga slung across their bodies, a quantity of flour. Some of this they would mix with water and roll out into a thin layer of paste which they placed over a round stone that had already been heated in the camp fire, then the rocky dumpling was buried for a minute or two in hot ashes, and lo! in the twinkling of an eye the dough was cooked through and ready to serve. This was a veritable hot quick lunch. It is said that they never lack warm meals, for during a cattle-lifting raid, when hurriedly returning followed by the enemy, they THE NEGUS NEGUSTI cut a slice of meat from the flank of a looted animal and devour it raw, filling the space up with clay. This, I know, is a fact, though I have never seen it done. The attitude of the native toward the brute creation in general easily gives credit to the story. Next morning we were soon on our journey up the pass, if the way traversed by the terrible zigzag mule path could be called one. However, we traveled by easy stages, for we always had to keep the baggage in sight, and in climbing this 8,000- foot mountain we passed through many diff'erent zones of temperature. Sometimes we would camp in a tropical grove full of flowering cactaceous growth, and one afternoon we entered a pocket of a valley full of the wonderful candelabra giganticus in the stately shade of which we spent the noon and night. One evening in camp the admiral asked me to dine with him and Mason Bey. During dinner champagne was opened and Sir William drank my health, wishing me many happy returns of the day. "But how did you inow it was my birthday?" said I. "Because you told me you left England for the Russo-Turkish war on St. George's Day, your birthday. This is the 23d of April." It was a pleasant thing to have a birthday remembered in probably the wildest country on earth, especially with a wine of a quality only to be found ordinarily in the most highly civilized lands. 9 VILLIERS: HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE Soon we struck a temperature like that of central Europe where boxwood and wild roses and water cress grew in abundance, and that afternoon we suddenly found ourselves emerging on the plateau of Asmara. After having journeyed through soHtary mountain forests, clambered almost inaccessible heights, straight up from the thirsty plains of Ailet, it , seemed like taking one long step with the seven- leagued boots into another world, for the atmos phere that was over ioo° F. in the shade below was 43° F. at the same hour on this airy tableland. Its inhabitants diff'ered almost as widely from the people of the Red Sea littoral. On the shimmering stretches of sand and mimosa beneath us men moved about in a state of seminudity, ate rice and ghee, drank nothing but water, and wore their weapons like the rest of the fighting world. But here at Asmara, a distance of only a few hours by foot and a few minutes as the crow flies, people strutted about in togas almost Roman in their picturesqueness, with capes of lion or leopard skin, drinking intoxicating beverages and eating raw meat. Words of command and the King's orders were rapped out on kettledrums, and, merely to be unlike any other people, the soldiers wore their sabers at the right side of the body and drew with the right hand. When we arrived at Adowa, where King John was to meet us, we found the inhabitants all huddled 10 THE NEGUS NEGUSTI together for protection against the leopards, hyenas, and jackals which prowled the streets at night. They lived in the same houses with their cattle, fowls, dogs, cats, and a wonderful collection of insects which they seemed to foster with the greatest care by never touching soap and using very little water. An Ethiopian will tell you apparently without a blush (for his skin is deep chocolate in color) that he is necessarily washed at birth, cleans himself on his marriage morn, and hopes to be washed after death; that once every year he dips himself in the river on the Festival of St. John, and regularly every morning he wets the end of his cloak with the moisture from his mouth and freshens up his eyes. Whenever he feels hard and uncomfortable, he will anoint himself with mutton fat till his body glistens in the sun. We found the walls of the churches covered with scriptural pictures, and those of the cathedral with the exploits of the then ruler, Johannes. His vic tories over the Egyptians were fully represented in wash colors — blue, mustard yellow, red lead, and lampblack. Though limited to these, which were the only pigments obtainable in the country, the artist did not make up for crudeness of color by the accuracy of his drawing, and if there was, any merit in the work it was in originality of treatment. For instance, at Gondor, in a picture representing the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, Pharaoh carries in his right hand the latest specimen of six- II VILLIERS: HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE shooter and in his left a pair of field glasses, while his Egyptian host sport Remington rifles. All movement of figures is from right to left, and heads are full-faced, with the exception of Satan and the hated Egyptians, who are painted in acute profile to show their lack of honesty and good faith in not looking you straight in the face. It is a deplorable fact, which ladies will at once say proves the igno rance and barbarity of the Ethiopians, that the evil spirits in these compositions are always repre sented as members of the softer sex, generally showing their naughtiness as some children do — by putting out their tongues. The church painter goes so far as to question the gallantry of St. George — ^the Abyssinian patron saint — by depicting that warrior, instead of doing battle with the dragon, about to spear the graceful undulations of a long-tongued woman. A kind of parasite belonging to the church, called the Deftara, preyed on the general ignorance and superstition of the people. He was a scribe who copied the holy books, but made a consider able income by the manufacture of love philters, which have more or less curious eff"ects upon the unconscious recipient. Our doctor was consulted one morning by a man for some means to alleviate the distress of his brother, who was acutely suff"er- ing from the eff^ects of one of these concoctions administered by some young lady who wanted this indiff"erent youth to look upon her with love and 12 THE NEGUS NEGUSTI devotion. But the philter had the contrary eff'ect — had not touched his heart, but had upset his stomach. At first I thought this unromantic result must be a mistake; but I found out by personal observation that the seat of aff"ection in an Abyssin ian generally lies where the philter attacked the doctor's unfortunate patient, for feasting seems to be his only joy and comfort. All repasts were more or less composed of the Abyssinian piece de resistance^Tnw meat. If you happened to be seated near the open door during a banquet, you might see this course prepared. An ox is brought into the compound and its throat is skillfully cut. Before the animal has fairly breathed its last, skinning is commenced. The flesh is then cut into long strips and brought still warm to the hungry and impatient guests, who devour it, not quite like wild beasts, but with the use of weapons of all kinds, from daggers and swords to pocketknives. The consumer of this delicacy takes one end of the strip or string of meat into his mouth, placing it between his teeth. In his left he holds the viand bodily, and with the right gives a drawing cut with his saber, severing the flesh close up to his lips. When one piece has been devoured the opera tion is repeated. This mode of feeding requires some practice and has its inconveniences, especially to people with long noses and a thirst for strong drink, for it is generally a sign when noses begin to suff^er cutaneous losses from a too close proximity 13 VILLIERS: HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE of dagger or saber that the host's tedge (a native drink) has been both strong and plentiful. The Abyssinians have a curious superstition regarding eating in the open, and will hide them selves under their togas during this function. To them a fit of indigestion from overfeeding is evidence of the evil eye and indicates that some part of the performance of appeasing their appetite has been observed. People carry amulets contain ing prayers to counteract this evil, and rolls of parchment several yards long with pictures illustra tive of the triumph of the Good Spirit over that wicked orb are kept in their houses for protection. If an Abyssinian sells you anything and is kindly inclined, he will caution you to keep it indoors or covered up, for if it comes under the glance of a devilish eye it may spoil or disappear. The latter contingency is by far the more likely: I have seen eyes of this description glancing about. I came across one of them one day walking off" with some dollars from a pile in our paymaster's tent. The Marie Therese dollar piece was the only coin recognized in the country, and it had to be in good condition. The jewels on the crown and necklet must not be in any way obliterated or the coin was condemned. We secured all the dollars we could at Massowah before we started, and examined them carefully. All those whose jewels were not intact we relegated to a separate bag for gifts to the Abyssinian priests, who made them into silver 14 THE NEGUS NEGUSTI ornaments for their church. These silver coins, with bolts of cloth and bars of rock salt ten inches long, served as their ordinary medium of barter. Members of our Mission traded a good deal with empty beer, wine, and soda-water bottles, receiving two chickens and a dozen eggs for a quart. This craze forj|,our empty bottles was extraor dinary. The natives seemed to be fascinated by the fact that the liquid could always be seen. I was out shooting with an Abyssinian chief one morning and when we sat down in the shadow of a rock for luncheon I off"ered him some whisky and water out of a Worcestershire sauce bottle which I carried. To my surprise he showed intense conster nation at the sight of it. At first I thought this might be due to his being a total abstainer, but I soon found that his remarkable behavior was caused by the bottle and not by its contents, for his hands trembled with excitement as he examined it. The glass stopper was the thing that astonished him most. He held up the sparkling lump of glass in the sunlight for a while, and then, with evident enjoyment, replaced it in the bottle and said: "Honored stranger, you must indeed be a great chief to own so wondrous a thing. Only the Negus Negusti and his chief, the great Ras Alula, possess the glass bottle, and theirs have no plugs but pieces of rags on the cone of a mealy. There is no such thing as a stopper of glass in the whole Abyssinian kingdom." IS VILLIERS: HIS FIVE DECADES OF ADVENTURE "Well," I said, "there's nothing mean about me. You seem to take a fancy to my hunting flask; keep it; take it away; it is yours." For some time he could hardly realize the serious ness of my generosity. At last with a gleam of joy in his face he caught up the precious object, and, cautiously looking round in ca