Mr. Powell, an English gentleman hunting and exploring in Abyssinia,
was murdered, with his wife and servants, by a Shan- galla tribe. No redress was to be expected from Government after its recent experience, and accordingly two brothers of the murdered Mall resolved that they would play the part of Avengers of Blood. They landed in Abyssinia with rifles and followers, obtained aid from Prince Kassel, attacked the tribe, killed eight men, and des- troyed all their houses. That is the system of the Indian North-west frontier, and no other resource being open, we do not know that they were wrong, more especially as there is strong evidence that they hit on the right men. The innocent suffered, no doubt, but so they do whenever a thief is punished, and the expedition was strictly an act of war. Some of our contemporaries seem to think that barbarous tribes have a right to murder civilized men without other provocation than plunder. If the New Zealanders hear of the feat, they will offer the brothers estates on condition of protect- ing the frontier from the Maories. It is rather a pity they do not collect a few Arabs and conquer Abyssinia. We owe that country civilization.
