I.

PRELIMINARY OPERATIONS.

NEVER was the cause of quarrel more just, nor the work to be done more distinctly marked out, than in this British expedition against the robber who detains an English consul and his secretary, and the whole suite of an English mission, in chains, in the heart of Abyssinia. Seldom, so far as we can yet judge, was a task of this nature more feasible.

But in October 1867, when the reconnoitring party arrived on the coast, all had to be learned. A waterless desert was said to intervene between the sea and an almost inaccessible range of mountains, beyond which the plateau of Abyssinia was represented as offering still more formidable obstacles to the advance of an army, through a hostile and warlike population. Colonel Merewether, with Colonel Phayre, the Quartermaster-general of the Bombay army, and Colonel Wilkins of the Royal Engineers, were appointed as a committee to ascertain the real nature of the obstacles to be encountered, to select a spot for the disembarkation of the expeditionary force, to explore the passes leading to the Abyssinian plateau, and to establish a footing in the country, previous to the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief with the main body of the army of 12,000 men, which was destined to effect the release of the captives.

The labours of the members of the reconnoitring party have extended over a period of three months from the early part of October 1867, to the arrival of Sir Robert Napier on the second day of

political resident at Aden, had taken a leading part in all the negotiations for the release of the captives; he had already explored portions of the coast-country near Massowah,1 and was intimately acquainted with the previous history of the question; while his energy as an administrator, and his skill as a negotiator, had been fully tested and proved at Aden. He has been most ably supported in his arduous reconnaissances by Colonels Phayre and Wilkins, and by the officers who have served under them. M. Munzinger, the acting viceconsul at Massowah, and that venerable and indefatigable missionary, Dr. Krapf, from their knowledge of the language and the people, have also rendered invaluable service.

The point of disembarkation for a force destined to advance on to the Abyssinian plateau, should clearly be that which is nearest to the passes leading into the interior, where the distance across the hot and waterless coast-plain is shortest; and the reconnoitring party had little hesitation in pitching upon the west coast of Annesley Bay, near the modern village of Zulla, as the most suitable spot. A glance at the map will show that this point is very much nearer the passes into the interior than Massowah, or any other port, while they all equally share the disadvantages of heat and want of water.

That the port thus selected was the best to be found on this inhospitable coast, has been well known from the earliest ages. Here it was that the holy Abyssinian king, Caleb, in the sixth century, assembled a fleet at the request of the Emperor Justinian, to invade

Yemen and avenge the wrongs of the persecuted Christians. Here, a few centuries earlier, those greatest of all merchant princes, the Ptolemies of Egypt, established the emporium of their trade with Axum. A few broken columns and capitals of a black volcanic stone, on some mounds within four miles of the British camp, mark the site of ancient Adulis. In later times, through the stupidity of the Turks, the port of Massowah has taken the place of Adulis, as the gate of Abyssinia, and the distance between the point of disembarkation and the entrance to the passes has thus been trebled. Colonel Merewether wisely reverted to the ancient port.

From the sea the view is pleasant enough. A rich green plain appears to stretch out from the shore to the foot of the mountains, which rise up, ridge above ridge, into the clouds, in imposing masses. But on landing all pleasant impressions are at once dissipated. The plain proves to be an arid waste of soft sand, intersected by dry watercourses, and the deceptive green is composed of thickets of salt bushes, interspersed with the thorny acacia and the blistering calotropis; yet this uninviting region is inhabited by tribes of Shohos, a spare, small-boned, dark race, with woolly hair, but with good and not unfrequently handsome features. A cloth round the loins and a cotton toga is their only clothing, but they are invariably armed with a curved sword, worn on the right side, a spear, club, and leathern shield. They live in villages, or dispersed near wells, and possess cattle of a diminutive breed, donkeys, sheep, and goats. It must be added that, when uninfluenced by fear, they are inveterate robbers and murderers.

The spot selected for disembarkation is close to the point where the dry bed of the Hadas reaches the sea, and the camp is called Mulkutto, after a dry well about a mile inland. The principal drawback to this port was the extreme shallowness of the water for a considerable distance from the beach, although the anchorage for shipping in

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all stones on the beach increased the difficulty of providing for this drawback; but the zeal and energy of the officers and men of that splendid corps, the Bombay Sappers, rapidly overcame all obstacles. Stones were brought from the opposite side of the bay, and now there is a well-built substantial landing pier, nearly 400 yards long, with a tramway, which will soon be continued as a railway right across the plain to the foot of the mountains. foot of the mountains. Immediately on landing, the surrounding country was carefully examined for water. It was ascertained that the dry bed of the Hadas torrent, after coming down a mountain-gorge from south to north, turned sharp to the east, and traversed the plain to the sea; and that the bed of the Alliguddy, flowing through a gorge from the west, joined the Hadas soon after both entered the plain. only water in these torrent beds was found at Weeah on the Alliguddy, and at Hadoda on the Hadas, both near the point where the two beds unite, and 31 miles from each other. Subsequently, a larger supply was discovered in wells in the bed of the Nebhaguddy torrent, at a place called Komayli, about eight miles south of Hadoda. But these scanty supplies were from ten to fifteen miles distant from the camp at Mulkutto, and, although they might be useful as points to which horses and mules could be sent, it was evident that the camp must be dependent on the shipping for water until condensers were established on the beach. The steamers in the anchorage were accordingly set to work to condense, and on the arrival of H.M.S. Satellite, at the end of October, Captain Edge established some system in the supply of water for the camp, as well as for the mules and horses.

After forming the camp at Mulkutto, Colonel Merewether considered that it would be important to explore the coastcountry to the southward, in order to ascertain whether there was another available point of disembarkation with a practicable pass into the interior, in the neighbourhood of Hawâkil Bay. As

could reach. Beyond this point, then, there was no hope of discovering a new route into the interior, and by the Ragolay alone could such a road as would be of any practical use be expected to be found. Yet even as regards that stream, a waterless region, forty-nine miles in width, extends between it and the sea. The reconnoitring party marched from the Ragolay to the shores of Hawâkil Bay, whence they were taken in a steamer to Mulkutto, after an unusually severe journey, extending over ten days, in a wild and unknown region, with a blazing tropical sun over their heads, and in a temperature the intense heat of which was almost insupportable.

Thus ended the month of October. Towards the end of it the advanced brigade arrived, consisting of the 10th Bombay Native Infantry, commanded by Colonel Field; the 3d Bombay Cavalry under Colonel Graves, an old warrior of the Affghan Campaign; and the mountain train. The brigade was commanded by Colonel Field. The 3d Cavalry were sent out at once to Hadoda, and were afterwards moved to Weeah-a more open spot, and where the water supply is better. Camels were supplied by contract with one Hasan 'Ali from Aden, who agreed to deliver them; with drivers, at Rs. 210 each; and Mr. Haussmann, the companion of Dr. Krapf, was sent to procure additional supplies from Kassala. On the 29th a transport arrived with 325 mules from Suez, out of the 8,000 which were to be bought up in various parts of Europe and the East, and despatched through Egypt; and during the months of November and December other shiploads of mules continued to arrive from Suez and the Persian Gulf. It was then that the first signs of mismanagement began to appear. The mules arrived without any packsaddles or other equipments, which were to follow at some indefinite time.

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halters were of rope instead of chain, so that the mules bit through them, and wandered at will over a plain without water or forage. The men who were sent as muleteers were the vilest sweep

understand their various languages, and they were utterly ignorant of their business. Soon after they arrived the great majority deserted in a body, and went to Massowah. The mules were left without attendance of any kind, and they soon began to die by scores. The stench became intolerable, and the sight of half-starved survivors, occasionally met with on the plain, most pitiable. Water was supplied in a large trough on the beach, into which it was pumped from tanks; and during November the struggle for it was desperate at the hours of distribution. The beasts crowded and fought wildly for a place, and even men were seen to put their mouths into the trough, and drink eagerly beside beasts known to be diseased, and whose nostrils were actually running from the effects of glanders. A form of this disease, most sudden and rapid in its attack, was found to be prevalent on the coast-plain. A great number of the horses of the 3d Cavalry died off very rapidly; all horses and mules appeared to be very liable to its attacks, and the consequences threatened to be very serious. Meanwhile, stores and men continued to arrive at Mulkutto, and the place assumed a busy and striking appearance. The best building was erected by Captain Edge, to be used as a store and naval office; other timber buildings were run up by the Commissariat Department; a bazaar, the inevitable accompaniment to an Indian force, soon appeared; great heaps of forage and other stores accumulated near the pier, and rows of tents completed this rapidly-formed seaport. Huge white bullocks, and a gang of women from Bombay, who were engaged as grinders of corn for the Sepoys, and who might be seen walking about and balancing brass lotas on their heads, gave a peculiarly Indian look to the scene. Shohos took very kindly to what to them must have been a wonderful state of things, quite beyond anything they had ever dreamt of. They soon engaged themselves to work in gangs, in the employ of the sanitary officer, and as

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they were firmly convinced that these strangers, who drank water out of the sea and throve upon it, were in league with Shaitan. The Naïb of Arkeeko, an hereditary chief who once ruled the Shohos, and who still, although deprived of all official position by the Egyptian Government, possesses great influence, came to the camp, and showed himself anxious to be of service to the English; and seven of the Shoho chiefs entered into an agreement to protect convoys from robbers, and to recover stray cattle, for 15 dollars each per month.

Having completed this exploring work on the coast, it became the duty of Colonel Merewether and his colleagues to examine the mountain-passes, and decide upon the one best suited for the march of the expeditionary force. Of these there are three. That up the bed of the Alliguddy, leading eventually to Kiaguor, is probably the best, but it debouches on the plateau too far to the northward; that up the Hadas bed, called the Degonta Pass, from the village at its head, is the best known; and the third, leading to Senafé, had not previously been described or explored. On the 13th of November, Colonel Merewether and his party started from Hadoda, and proceeded up the bed of the Hadas torrent with a view to a careful examination of the Degonta pass. The road was found to be exceedingly bad in many places, and covered with boulders and large stones; but in three or four places there is running water which, after flowing for some distance, suddenly disappears. The scenery is magnificent, the mighty cliffs forming gorges of unsurpassed grandeur, and at an elevation of 3,500 feet fine old sycamore and dahro figs, tamarinds, and jujub-trees replace the tiresome acacias of the coast. At a place called Shamfaito they came to the road to Halai, which leaves the pass, and goes up the steep side of the Taranta mountain. This is the road described by Bruce, and which has been usually travelled over by modern travellers. It is, in fact, the principal highway into Abys

worst route that could possibly be found in this range of mountains; and why it should continue to be used, when there are excellent passes on either side of it, is a question which cannot be solved by any reference to ordinary rules. But this is not the only instance of merchants and travellers being forced, by these perverse people, to take the worst road between two places. The same thing occurs between Senafé and Adigirat, and the object appears to be that the wayfarer may more easily be stopped and fleeced, on pretence of exacting dues. The reconnoitring party left this route up the Taranta mountain on their right, and soon reached the end of the pass, at a place called Madderto, where the ascent to the plateau commences. They found this ascent to be excessively rough and difficult, but finally reached the Abyssinian plateau, at a point where it was 6,700 feet above the sea, with the village of Tekonda on a hill in front, and an intermediate plain covered with barley stubble and pasturage, where cows were grazing. The distance from the plateau at Tekonda to the seacoast at Mulkutto, by the road, was found to be 613 miles; but the road was considered to be so bad that, on their return to the coast, it was decided that the Senafé pass was, without question, the best that could be selected.

This new pass to Senafé had previously been examined by Colonel Merewether, accompanied by Colonels Phayre and Wilkins, and M. Munzinger, in the beginning of November; and during the last half of the month the Sappers were working hard at the only portion of it which offers any serious obstacle. The news of the arrival of English troops on the coast had now spread through Abyssinia; and Sir Robert Napier's proclamation to the people, declaring the sole object of his invasion to be the liberation of the captives, and promising friendship to the inhabitants and payment for all supplies, had been widely distributed. It, therefore, seemed advisable that the advanced brigade should occupy a position on the