'Memorandum on the Turkish claim to sovereignty over the eastern shores of the Red Sea and the whole of Arabia; and on the Egyptian claim to the whole of the western shore of the same sea, including the African coast from Suez to Cape Guardafui.' [‎25r] (49/70)

45
Island of Disseh with a barrel of gunpowder and a
musket, and the people of Disseh believed that their
island had been sold to them by their Sheikh.
But, in December following, the Kaimakan of
Massowah sent a Governor and some soldiers to
Disseh, to take possession of the island and neigh
bourhoods, and on the 14th of that month the
Turkish flag was hoisted in that place.
The "neighbourhoods" here alluded to were, no
doubt, Adoolis and Edd, as Captain Cameron
reported on the 20th March, 1862, that the Turkish
flag had been planted at Disseh, Adoolis, and Edd;
that the Turkish Government intended to extend its
hold on the coast to Babelmandeb; that Governors
had been appointed to Disseh and Adoolis, and a
Sheik in the country placed in power at Edd.
Upon these proceedings of the Turks, Consul
Cameron made the following remarks:—
" There may be an advantage in this, so far as
insures that these main points of the coast line
should be in the possession of a power by whom they
would hardly be used to our disadvantage.
" It is my duty, however, to point out that one of
the results of this firm establishment of Turkey
along the African coast will be an extension of the
Slave Trade, of which it has so long been the seat—
and a strengthening of the hands of the Mussulman
o o
population on the Abyssinian frontier, which they
are sure to abuse.
" The Governor, in fact, of this place, who has so
far carried out the above plans, meditates planting
military Colonies along the frontier, and furnishing
them with several thousand fire-arms from Jeddah,
and whether this be done or not, his general animus
cannot be mistaken.
"Itis the advancement of Turkey at the expense
of Abyssinia.
" The ofiicers of King Theodore, on the other hand,
are watching these movements with jealousy. There
are at this moment here emissaries from his Viceroy
at Adowa, who have been specially ordered to pass
along the coast, and report on the proceedings of
the Turks.
"The question, indeed, touches King Theodore
doubly—first, as the avowed champion of Coptic
Christendom, and more materially, on account of the
salt mines of Taltal, whence .the Abyssinians of thf
[201J N