abled the chief in question to mount the
Abyssinian throne, taking for himself the name of Johannis.

In 1874 a Swiss adventurer, who was at that time governor of Massowah,
under the Khedive, seized Bogos, a piece of territory belonging to
Abyssinia, and held it for his master, at the same time urging him to
add another province, that of Hamacen, to his ill-gotten gains. At this
time the Khedive was rich, having just received L4,000,000 from the
British Government for the Suez Canal shares, and instead of spending
the money in developing the resources of the territory he already
possessed, he was ill advised enough to go to war, and got defeated.
Foremost among the Abyssinians in the conflict was Walad el Michael,
the hereditary prince of Bogos and Hamacen, who before the war was
imprisoned for having sought the aid of Napoleon III. against the
Abyssinian king. He was released at the commencement of hostilities,
and proved very successful. But, having defeated the Egyptians, Walad
got disgusted with the Abyssinian king for depriving him of his share
of the spoils of war, and consequently, when the Egyptians in 1876
sought to avenge their defeat, Walad turned against his own king. The
Egyptians were however again defeated, 9000 of them being killed, and
an enormous number taken prisoners. The spoils of war were great, for
all the Egyptian tents, twenty-five guns, 10,000 rifles, and a large
amount of English gold, were captured by the Abyssinians. So ignorant
were they of the value of this spoil, that they mistook English
sovereigns for brass counters, and thirty of them were sold for four
dollars! The Abyssinian king was so incensed at the conduct of Walad,
who had 7000 men and 700 rifles, that, as one of the conditions of
peace, he demanded that the Khedive should give him up. This of course
the Khedive could not do, and a long delay followed, during which the
Abyssinian monarch sent an envoy to Cairo. But the Khedive treated the
envoy badly, and he, rightly or wrongly, imagined that his life was in
danger. He managed to get away, and the ill-feeling between the two
monarchs was intense when Colonel Gordon arrived on the scene. Just at
this time the great bulk of the Egyptian troops were required for the
Turkish war against the Russians, and Gordon was left helpless, as he
had not sufficient force with him to compel Walad to cease his
intermittent attacks on Abyssinia.

Seeing the hopelessness of his position, Gordon d