A treaty between King Menelek of Abyssinia and the British Government was concluded in May, 1897. It gives to British subjects the privileges of the most favored nations in trade; opens the port of Zeyla to Abyssinian importations; defines the boundary of the British Somali Protectorate, and pledges Abyssinia to be hostile to the Mahdists. ACETYLENE GAS, Production of. See (in this volume) SCIENCE, RECENT: CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS. ADOWA, Battle of. See (in this volume) ITALY; A. D. 1895-1896. AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1893-1895. Relinquishment of claims over Swat, Bajaur and Chitral. See (in this volume) INDIA: A. D. 1895 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER). AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1894. The Waziri War. See (in this volume) INDIA: A. D. 1894. AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1895. Anglo-Russian Agreement. Determination of the northern frontier. The joint Anglo-Russian Commission for fixing the northern frontier of Afghanistan, from Zulfikar on the Heri-Rud to the Pamirs, finished its work in July, 1895. This was consequent upon an Agreement between the governments of Great Britain and Russia which had been reduced to writing on the previous 11th of March. In part, that Agreement was as follows: "Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia engage to abstain from exercising any political influence or control, the former to the north, the latter to the south, of the above line of demarcation. Her Britannic Majesty's Government engage that the territory lying within the British sphere of influence between the Hindu Kush and the line running from the east end of Lake Victoria to the Chinese frontier shall form part of the territory of the Ameer of Afghanistan, that it shall not be annexed to Great Britain, and that no military posts or forts shall be established in it. The execution of this Agreement is contingent upon the evacuation by the Ameer of Afghanistan of all the territories now occupied by His Highness on the right bank of the Panjah, and on the evacuation by the Ameer of Bokhara of the portion of Darwaz which lies to the south of the Oxus, in regard to which Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia have agreed to use their influence respectively with the two Ameers." _Great Britain, Papers by Command: Treaty Series, Number 8, 1895._ AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1896. Conquest of Kafiristan. By the agreement of 1893, between the Ameer of Afghanistan and the government of India (see, in this volume, INDIA. A. D. 1895-MARCH-SEPTEMBER), the mountain district of Kafiristan was conceded to the former, and he presently set to work to subjugate its warlike people, who had never acknowledged his yoke. By the end of 1896 the conquest of these Asiatic Kafirs was believed to be complete.