The

contact with the Abyssinians without further delay. Colonel Merewether selected Senafé as the point for forming the first British camp in Abyssinia. Leaving Mulkutto, with his colleagues, on the 1st of December, the advanced brigade, consisting of the 10th Bombay Native Infantry, the 3d Bombay Cavalry, and the mountain train, encamped on the plain of Senafé on the 6th. Colonel Merewether took this opportunity of removing a large number of mules from the pernicious climate of the coast to the highlands, and was thus enabled to convey a tent for the Commander-inchief, suitable for receptions, and other heavy baggage to Senafé. The reception of the invaders by the people of the country was most satisfactory. elders of the province of Akole-Kuzay, in which Senafé is situated, sent in letters tendering their services; those of Shumazana, the district in the immediate vicinity, waited on Colonel Merewether in a body, to pay their respects; and Prince Kâsa, the new ruler of Tigré, and now the most powerful man in Abyssinia, sent an envoy with a friendly letter, offering all the assistance in his power. The Tigré Envoy, a wellinformed Abyssinian who was educated at Bombay, and speaks English perfectly, named Murcha Wurkee, has since resided at the camp, by command of his master, in order that he may be at hand to assist in procuring supplies, interpret, and render other service to the British.

The Senafé pass, by which the expeditionary troops will enter Abyssinia, merits a full description. Komayli is a station where there are wells in the bed of the Nebhaguddy torrent, eleven miles from Mulkutto, and just at the entrance of the pass. A railroad will soon connect it with the port. Immediately on leaving Komayli, the road enters the gorge and winds up the dry bed of the Nebhaguddy torrent, the mountains rising up almost perpendicularly on either side. At the end of eight miles the pass becomes very narrow at a place called Lower Sooroo, where there is running

distance of about four miles. The road then turns sharp to the right, and enters a very narrow pass at Middle Sooroo, not more than 50 to 100 feet across, with precipitous cliffs on either side rising upwards of 1,000 feet, and ending in sharp peaks. The path is blocked up by gigantic boulders of gneiss rock, heaped together in wild confusion for a distance of 250 yards; and here a party of Bombay Sappers is working hard at a road, which will soon be completed. A little further up, at Upper Sooroo, the pass opens again, and a mule depôt has been established in the open space. Beyond Upper Sooroo there is a distance of 28 miles with no water at this season, except at one well called Undul, about half-way. But the vegetation assumes a more temperate character. The acacia gives place to grand old trees of the fig tribe, sycamores, peepuls, and dahros, which differ only in habit from the Indian banyan. With these grow the graceful feathery-leaved tamarix, the jujub, and various mimosæ. The whole distance from Upper Sooroo to Raraguddy, where the next running water is met with, is a gentle ascent with an average gradient of about 1 in 40, perfectly fitted for wheeled traffic. The road winds up the pass, in and out round the rocky spurs of lofty mountains which tower up into naked peaks. The scenery is indeed glorious. At about a mile beyond Undul Well the pass opens out into a wide space which was named Guinea Fowl Plain by the first explorers. Here the first hol-quall trees are met with, a species of euphorbia, the beauty of which is recorded by Bruce in his description of the Taranta pass. Their upright branches clustering close together, of a rich Araucaria green, certainly present a fine effect. amongst the brushwood. To the right an opening in the hills furnishes a view of the table-land of Abyssinia, apparently only about a few miles off. At Raraguddy there is again running water, and a narrow rocky pass, where a Belooch regiment has been stationed to improve the road. This place is 6,600

assumes a sub-Alpine character. There is turf by the road-side, and very handsome juniper pines, nearly 50 feet high. The hills are clothed with wild olives, hol-qualls, mimosa bushes, and a pretty evergreen myrsine with a fragrant flower, while graceful clematis climbs over the branches, and the undergrowth is composed of compositæ, solanum, lobelia, and sweet-scented wild thyme and lavender. Five miles beyond Raraguddy there is a steep ascent, a mile and a half long, which leads to the Senafé plain, on the plateau of Abyssinia.

The Senafé pass, from Komayli to the top of the ascent, is forty-nine miles long, and has an easy gradient, suitable for wheeled traffic, along the whole distance, except at the two points where men are at work making a road, Upper Sooroo and Raraguddy, and on the final ascent, where a road is also rapidly progressing. There is probably no mountain range in the world that is traversed by so easy a natural pass as the Abyssinian Alps; and the difficulties of crossing these mountains and reaching the table, which has been so much

dwelt upon by "Nobody," that selfcomplacent oracle of the Times, are purely imaginary. Nor does it seem likely that the Senafé pass will ever be seriously obstructed by a rush of water in the rainy season. Along its whole length it merely receives the drainage from the precipitous cliffs on either side of it a very small area-while the whole of the drainage of Senafé and of the mountains and plateaux round the head of the pass, flows off in another direction. There may be occasional rapid rushes of surface-drainage down. the pass, but they probably do not last more than a few hours at a time. The position of the trees and bushes prove that there can be no continuous flood in the old torrent bed.

The British camp at Senafé is pitched on a plain surrounded by an amphitheatre of sandstone hills and rocks, with a good supply of water in a hollow to the north-east, at an elevation of 7,464 feet above the sea. The village of Senafé is at the foot of a grand mass of sandstone rock, about a quarter of a mile to the north-west of the camp, and

is the last Mohammedan settlement, all beyond being Christian. It consists of about a dozen houses built of rough stones and mud, with flat roofsbranches being placed in rows across the beams, and covered with mud. Broken jars serve as chimneys, and are plastered into the roof. The outer door, very roughly formed, with wooden posts and lintel, leads into a large outer hall, with a roof supported by timber pillars, which serves as a stable for cattle and goats, while a mud platform along one side is the sleeping-place for servants and guests. Two doors lead from this hall into smaller chambers occupied by the family. Due north of the camp there is a hill capped by a scarped tableland, 8,600 feet above the sea, which is called by the people of Senafé, ArabiTereeki. They say that a learned teacher of that name came from Yemen some four hundred years ago, dwelt on this mountain fastness, and instructed them in the true religion. The rock above Senafé, called Adana, is one of four remarkable masses of sandstone which rise out of the plain in a confused mass of peaks and precipices, and on the other side crown a steep descent into the valley of the Hamas. High up, on one of their most inaccessible ledges, there is an ancient church called Yachadakan (" of the righteous"). To the south and east of the camp there is a slight rise to a rocky ridge, and the land then sweeps gently down into the extensive plain of Shumazano, which is some five miles long by four, and surrounded by mountains. At its eastern corner a wild gorge called Hagir lets off the drainage to flow down to the river Undayly-eventually to join the Ragolay. The plain of Shumazano contains about a dozen villages, with a total population of some four thousand souls. The lower parts have several streams, and are covered with capital pasturage, but in the rainy season they are evidently swamps. Large herds of cattle and flocks of small black sheep with white heads graze in these pastures; while ibis and curlew, wild geese and

higher land and the sides of the hills are under barley cultivation, and at this time of year the ploughing is just commencing; but, for the last three years, the crops in this part of Abyssinia have been almost entirely destroyed by swarms of locusts. The soil is very shallow, being composed of the disintegrated schistose rock which crops out everywhere, and is intersected by veins of quartz. As the rock decomposes, the quartz breaks off, and the fields are covered with snow-white stones and pebbles. The villages are built on the steep slopes of the mountains, or on the summits of isolated masses of rock which crop out over the plain, and by building against the steepest declivities the people save themselves the trouble of erecting more than three sides for their houses. The churches, generally at some little distance from the villages, are of the humblest order, even for Abyssinia. That of the village of Chaffa, about two miles south-east of the camp, may be taken as a type of the rest. It is surrounded by a stone wall, with a door on the north side, leading into a roomy chamber with a roof supported on timber pillars, which is used as a resting-place for travellers. The inclosure surrounding the church is overgrown with long grass, and contains two fine old acacia-trees. The church itself is oblong, built of stone and mud, with three projecting courses of slate, the walls not being more than twelve feet high, and a central tower over the holy place about twenty feet. In the porch, which is formed by three pillars, there are two kettledrums, and some jingling instruments made of metal rings strung on elongated hoops, which are used in processions, and are intended to represent the cymbals on which David played when he danced before the ark. The interior of the church is very small, the tower being supported by rough hewn timber pillars, across which a curtain is hung to conceal the place where the ark is kept, from the congregation. The ark is a wooden frame with three shelves, on which are

of copper and iron, used in processions, and two Bibles-one a very ancient manuscript written on parchment, and the other a modern printed book in Amharic. There seems to be a strange jumble of Christian and Jewish ceremonial in this ancient but corrupt Abyssinian church, which observes the rites both of baptism and circumcision, and accompanies the administration of the Sacrament with an imitation of David's dance before the Ark of the Covenant.

The people of the Shumazano district are small boned, with erect figures and regular features. They have woolly hair and very dark skins. The young girls, if it were not for their extreme filth, are often really pretty; but the dirt of the people is not to be described. The men wear a shama, or toga of cotton, the better sort with a broad red border, cotton drawers, and nothing on their heads or feet. The women have a loathsome leathern apron round their loins, evidently never taken off; a leathern mantle covering the bosom, and bead necklaces. Their heads are shiny and rancid with grease and castor-oil; and their hair is like the clotted bunches of wool on a sheep's hind-quarters. As with all savage races, the women have to do most of the hard work, while the men loiter about armed with sword, spear, and shield, or sit in circles on the tops of rocks, talking for hours over the affairs of the nation, their bright spear-heads held upright, and glistering in the sun. Not unfrequently, the villagers have feuds, and engage in fights with each other, ending in broken heads and flesh-wounds. Being paid for everything, they are all on most friendly terms with the English and Sepoys in the camp, are indeed astonished at the kind treatment they receive, and repay it, as a rule, by extreme and sometimes hilarious good humour. But they show an inconvenient love of the Maria Theresa dollar, and an amount of inquisitiveness which is sometimes inconvenient. An old native officer of the 3d Cavalry said, "That he could not get rid of his troublesome visitors by any means-neither by

when he ran at them with his lota of clean water, they were off in a moment." The climate of the Abyssinian plateau is delightful. During the day, when the temperature ranges from 60° to 75°, the heat of the sun is tempered by a cool easterly breeze, and the nights are cloudless and deliciously cold. Supplies are brought in regularly-beef and mutton in abundance, chopped straw, barley, milk, honey, grass, and firewood. Mules are sent in for sale from Adowa. The camp-larders are not, however, dependent on commissariat rations. Sportsmen bring in plentiful supplies of game: spur fowl, partridges, hares, and deer on the hills, as well as the hideous Ethiopian wart hog; Guinea fowl in the wooded ravines, ducks and geese in the low pastures, and pigeons in the venerable dahro-trees near the villages.

As soon as the British camp had been established at Senafé, Colonel Merewether completed a reconnaissance of the surrounding country. His first expedition was to Degonta, a distance of about nine miles over the plateau, by which journey the surveys of the two passes were connected. On the 18th of December he set out for Adigirat, a town about forty miles to the south of Senafé, on the road to Magdala, accompanied by Colonels Phayre and Wilkins, the Envoy Murcha, Dr. Martin, Dr. Krapf, M. Munzinger, and a troop of the 3d Cavalry under Colonel Loch. His object was to ascertain the nature of the road, the capabilities of the country, and the temper of the people. It was found that the road was good except in two places, as it kept along the watershed, the streams on the east side flowing to the Ragolay, and on the west to the Mareb. The party witnessed a great fair at Adigirat, where a brisk traffic was carried on, although the crops had been, to a great extent, destroyed by locusts. The people were friendly throughout the country between Adigirat and Senafé. The reconnoitring party returned by the road below and to the eastward of the water

vans are forced to go, that they may be more readily fleeced, a terrible route passing over mountain spurs and down steep ravines. Colonel Merewether and his colleagues returned to Senafé on Christmas-day; and having thus completed their reconnaissance, opened friendly relations with the rulers of the country, and established a British camp on the Abyssinian highlands, they went down on the 28th to meet the Commander-in-chief on his landing at Mulkutto.

During the journey to Adigirat some further information was obtained respecting the passes leading down to the Ragolay river, and with reference to the courses taken by its tributaries. It was still thought desirable to ascertain whether any of these tributaries flowed through passes which could be used as alternative routes to the coast; and on December 29th Captain Pottinger, of the Quartermaster-General's Department, was dispatched with six men and an interpreter to explore the streams flowing from near Senafé, which unite to form the Undayly, and to follow the course of that river as far as its junction with the Ragolay. He took Abyssinian guides from a village called Beit-Mariam, fourteen miles south of Senafé, and commenced the descent of the bed of the Mena (called on Colonel Cooke's map the Mai Muni). The way proved to be so difficult that he was obliged to leave the gorge, and take to the hills. After travelling for ten miles he came to a village on the Mena called Alitiana, but a short distance further on he was stopped by an armed body of about a hundred truculent Shohos of the Hazzo tribe.

They said that their whole tribe was assembled a little lower down in the ravine of the Undayly, and that they would not allow the strangers to enter their country, at the same time advising the Abyssinian guides to loot them. Captain Pottinger, being only accompanied by six men, was obliged to retrace his steps, and returned to Senafé on the 7th of January; having, however, ascertained that there was no

Undayly, the most northern of the Ragolay affluents.

While these reconnaissances were being completed on the highlands, the conduct of affairs at Mulkutto had fallen into excellent hands. Major-General Sir Charles Staveley arrived on the 6th of December; and at about the same time, the 33d regiment, the artillery from India, the light Armstrong batteries from England, and the party of Sappers who had been instructed in electric telegraphy, the use of the American pumps, signals, and photography, reached Annesley Bay. The point which was most urgent, and which at once received the careful consideration of Sir Charles Staveley, was the organization of the transport-service. The fatal disease amongst mules and horses was still raging, half-starved mules were straying over the plain, and the atmosphere of the pass was rendered pestiferous by the putrid carcases of scores of dead animals, while the want of muleteers—the main cause of all this loss, for most of the mules have died from sheer neglectremained unsupplied. Had the Bombay Government sent several hundred coolies to Mulkutto, from amongst the thousands who are out of work, owing to the stoppage of the reclamation projects there, the disastrous state of the affairs in the transport-train, which confronted the General on his arrival, would have been avoided.

After making himself acquainted with what had been done, and having paid rapid visits to Weeah, Hadoda, Komayli, and Senafé, Sir Charles Staveley set to work to remedy the evils that existed. The artillery were moved out to Komayli, and all their horses were at once ordered up to Senafé, to escape the disease. Vigorous measures were adopted for burning all the carcases of dead animals, both at Mulkutto and in the Senafé pass. Soldiers were ordered to catch and take charge temporarily of all stray mules, and the Egyptian authorities at Massowah were directed to send back all the muleteers who had deserted. A better organization was introduced