ABYSSINIA: Provocations

Charge and countercharge cracked back & forth last week between Benito Mussolini and Ethiopia’s kinky-haired Emperor Power of Trinity I, as to whose soldiers attacked first at Ualual in eastern Africa (TIME, Dec. 24). Ethiopia sent to the League disconcerting testimony from a British pasturage commissioner on the spot that the Italians had behaved in a manner highly “provocative.” Fearing another clash on Ethiopia’s border, the Abyssinians last week zealously polished their Japanese arms. Great hero was white-robed Chief Ghogoli who had rallied his dusky horsemen at Ualual so smartly that they were able to fight it out for three days and kill some 30 Italians, with the loss of only 110 Ethiopians.