The only foreigner in Shoa, whilst I was there, able to compete with Sahale Selassee, was the Frenchman, M. Rochet d’Hericourt; him the King liked, and yet feared, but I am afraid he will now have secured to himself a place high in the royal confidence, whilst his daring schemes, suited exactly to the genius of Sahale Selassee, will lead, I am convinced, to an unlocked for revolution in the political relations of the various petty kingdoms into which Abyssinia is at present divided. Our Government has no idea of the ability which is now directing French intrigues in one of the richest countries upon the face of the earth, and which can yield within its own limits every valuable product of the temperate and torrid zone; in that country, to the northern limits of which the gold searching expeditions of Mahomed Allee, successful beyond all European knowledge, have and are continuing daily to add to his treasury, whilst to the south, the spices and rich wares of the market of Zanzibar are now competing with the similar productions of our East Indian possessions. Our Government will see, too late, the Phœnician empire again established in the north of Africa, supplied by its own inland provinces, with all those luxuries, for which, at present, Europe is dependent upon our possessions in Asia. At the same time, the Americans are successfully nursing on the Eastern coast a rival market, where their vessels can be supplied almost upon their own terms, with those products which, until the last twenty years, were only to be obtained in English or Dutch settlements in the East Indies. The policy of the talented Zaid Zaid, Imaum of Muscat and of Zanzibar, towards us is apparently the most friendly; but it is notorious, that in every indirect manner he can, he favours more highly the interests of the United States. Walderheros returning from market, brought a large bag of cotton, around which the girls all thronged to pass judgment upon his purchase. Tufts of the down-embedded seed were taken out, and pulled to pieces, handsful were extended in the light, and after a deal of examination it was decided “that he might have made a better bargain, had he taken more trouble about it.” The cotton was good, but slightly discoloured, which was attributed to the late rainy weather, as they asserted its yellowish tint was produced by moisture, and that it had been allowed to remain too long upon the tree. Specimens of two very different kinds of cotton were taken out and shown to me, one very frizzly, with short fibre, was called _Efatee tut_, Efat cotton; the other, with a longer fibre, and more like unspun silk, was called _Gondaree tut_, Gondar cotton, and is by far the most superior, and none known to America or Europe equals it in excellence.