It was three o’clock before the baggage began to arrive in the valley, and it was evident that it would not be all down until dark, and that much of it could not reach the plateau above that night. Three of us, therefore, resolved upon sleeping where we were, and upon going on at daybreak. We accordingly pitched our tents under a tree, saw [pg 363]our horses picketed and fed, and dinner in course of preparation, and then went out for a walk to explore the valley. The temperature was very many degrees warmer than upon the plateau above, and the flora was more than proportionately luxuriant. Here I find, among hundreds of other plants of whose names and properties I am unfortunately ignorant, the wild verbena and heliotrope, also the cucumber. Unfortunately the cucumbers had only just begun to form, and were scarcely as large as gherkins, or we might have had an unexpected addition to our fare. I also found quantities of the rare palm-fern growing in crevices of the rocks. It was altogether a splendid field for a botanist, and I think it a great pity that a learned botanist did not accompany the expedition instead of a geographer, who, although a most distinguished savant, can but tell the world nearly the same particulars of the narrow strip of country through which we are travelling as must occur to any ordinary observer. Had this gentleman merely taken advantage of the protection given by our presence in the country to travel generally through it, he might have no doubt added largely to our store of information; but keeping to the line of route followed by the army, he can, with the exception of ascertaining the precise heights over which we travel, tell us really next to nothing. I believe, however, that this staying with the army is in no degree the fault of the gentleman in question, but of the military authorities, who here appear to have the idea that a civilian is a sort of grown-up baby, who must be kept strictly under their own eyes, or else that he will infallibly get into mischief, and either come to harm himself, or else be the cause of that dreadful and mysterious thing—complications. Had King Kassa, at the time he visited us, [pg 364]been applied to by the Commander-in-chief, he would, no doubt, have afforded every facility to the geographer and archæologist to have wandered as they pleased among his dominions, and the latter especially might have visited the interesting cities of Adowa and Axum, and made discoveries of an important and interesting nature, instead of wasting his time on the summit of the bleak Abyssinian mountains.

We enjoyed our little picnic amazingly. It was such a relief to get for once out of the routine of camp, with its sentries, and its countersigns, and bugle-calls, and mules, and to lie outside our tent and enjoy the warm evening air, which we had not been able to do since we left Zulla, where there was only sand to lie on. At eight o’clock, however, the rain came on and drove us in, with the pleasant knowledge that we had chosen well in stopping, for the last of the baggage was not down the hill until past six; and although they at once started upon their weary climb, it was impossible that they could reach the camp before morning. Our camp was presently increased in size by a dozen commissariat coolies, who were driving several hundred sheep and some oxen, and who did not get to the river until nearly eight o’clock. Jackals and hyænas were very numerous, so we piled together a good fire to keep them off our horses, and then lay down to sleep with our rifles and revolvers within reach, for it was of course just possible, although not—as some of the members of the staff to whom we had mentioned our intention to stay considered likely—probable, that some of Theodore’s cavalry might come along down the valley upon the look-out for stragglers. We came up at daybreak next morning, and after a cup of sugarless tea, started for camp. It was a very severe climb, and at the shoulder we came up [pg 365]to many of the mules which had been unable to get up the night before. The road which Theodore has cut enables us to see very clearly the formation of the valley, and I have not the least question that coal would be found there. I do not mention this as a commercial, but as a scientific, fact; for, commercially, coal here would be of no more value than stones. But of the fact itself I have no question. The character of the formation, the stone, the bands of fireclay, and of black friable shale, are very distinct, and there is in my mind no doubt whatever of the existence of coal. On the way we passed several dead mules and horses, and there can be no question that the journey was a most cruel one. This extreme fatigue may not cripple a man at the time, he may be ready for duty the next morning; but it must tell, and tell severely upon his constitution, and there are not a few men here who will feel the effects of Mahkan, Dildee, and Dalanta, to the end of their lives. The camp is situated upon a dead-level about a mile from the top of the ascent. I find upon inquiry that the troops in general got in at nine o’clock—of course wet through—but that very many of them, and a great deal of baggage, did not come in until this morning. There were rumours of an attack, Rassam having sent in a letter warning the Chief to be particularly on his guard against night attacks. The men, therefore, went to sleep in their boots, with their rifles by their sides. No attack took place. The same precaution is used to-night. We find, as I expected, that very little is brought in by the natives. The horses and mules to-day only get two pounds of grain each. We are still upon half-rations of flour, which, by this means, and with what is bought at Tacazze and upon the way will, I hope, enable us to hold on until supplies arrive. Nothing [pg 366]positive has yet been heard of the native carriage. Sir Robert Napier has been out all day making a long reconnoissance. From one point which he attained the tents of Theodore’s army upon the plain in front of Magdala were clearly visible. The party did not return until dark, and I have heard no particulars. Theodore is known, however, to be still there, and his efforts are directed to fortifying the hill which defends Magdala. He has several guns in position on the summit, and I apprehend that we shall have to capture it before we assault Magdala. It is not known yet whether we advance to-morrow or not, but it is believed that we shall start late, and make a short march, and that Sir Charles Staveley, who is encamped to-night at the bottom of the Djedda ravine, will come up to our present camp. It is a tremendously wet night.

Dalanta, April 7th.

We have had many surprises since we arrived in the country, but none greater, and certainly none more satisfactory, than that which we have here experienced. The letters from the captives had informed us that Theodore had burnt everything upon the plain of Dalanta; and we had in consequence imagined that we should be able to obtain nothing whatever either for ourselves or animals, and that the prospect of the latter especially was gloomy in the extreme, for we had not any corn whatever remaining for them. Captain Speedy, however, rode out to see the chief of Dalanta, with whom he had an acquaintance when residing in the country. He returned in the afternoon with the tidings that the chief had promised at least 100,000 lbs. of grain in two [pg 367]days. It is evident that he is a man of his word, for we have had a market to-day which has surpassed anything we have seen in the country except at Antalo. There is a crowd of people with grain, bread, fowls, &c. &c., and the four or five commissariat Parsees cannot pay out the dollars for the bucket-loads of grain half as fast as the natives bring them in. It is indeed quite a scramble among these latter.

This unexpected influx of grain, &c., may be said to be the turning-point which secures the success of our expedition. Had we found no grain here we must have lost all the transport-animals, as these have already been on very short commons for some days. The supplies for the men too were running extremely short, and if Magdala holds out for a week our position would have been most unpleasant; now we are safe. We have abundant grain for the animals for another week, and we are told that supplies will continue to come in in any quantities. Very large quantities of bread too have been purchased, and both officers and men have laid in a stock of fowls, eggs, &c. All anxiety is at an end. We have fairly overcome now all the difficulties of the country, and of supplies. Theodore and his men are, in comparison, contemptible foes.

Staveley’s brigade came up yesterday, and are encamped at a spot about two miles beyond us. Now that supplies are coming in in abundance, and a day is no longer of vital consequence, we shall, I believe, wait for another day or two to allow the wing of the 45th, the second wing of the Beloochees, and the 3d Dragoon Guards, to come up.

Yesterday almost every officer in camp went to the edge of the ravine to have a look at Magdala. It is a ride of a little over two miles, and the ravine goes down in an almost [pg 368]unbroken precipice of 500 or 600 feet from the upper edge. The view is one of the finest, if not the very finest, we have had in Abyssinia. It is grand in the extreme. At our feet was the perpendicular precipice, then a short shoulder, and then another sharp fall down to the Bachelo, which is 3900 feet below us. This side of the ravine is very similar, but steeper, to that of the Djedda. Upon the other side, however, the character is altogether different. In place of a corresponding ascent, as at the Djedda, the ground rises in a succession of billows one behind another, higher and higher, to the foot of some very lofty mountains, which form the background forty miles away. Such an extraordinary sea of hills I never saw. It was most magnificent, and stretched away east and west as far as the eye could reach. Above all this Magdala rose like a great ship out of the surrounding billows. There was no mistaking it, with its precipitous sides, its frowning aspect, and the cluster of tents clearly discernible upon its summit. As the crow flies it was about eight miles distant.

I will endeavour to give as clear a description of it as possible, in order that our future operations may be readily understood. From the bed of the Bachelo the ground rises in a mass of rounded hills, with somewhat flat tops; down through these, deep ravines convey the streams from the distant hills into the Bachelo. One of these ravines comes down nearly direct from Magdala, and it is up this that the road goes, until it gets within about two miles of Magdala, when it leaves the ravine and goes up on to the flat hill-tops from the midst of which Magdala rises. Magdala, from here, appears like a three-topped mountain with almost perpendicular sides. Two of the summits, which together resemble [pg 369]a saddle with high flat peaks, face this way. The hill to the right is Fahla; that on the left, which is some hundred feet higher, is Salamgi. The road winds up the face of Fahla to the saddle between the two, and it is evident that Fahla will be the first position to be attacked. There are apparently very few huts upon Fahla. The road, we hear, after reaching the top of the saddle, turns to the left, and crosses over Salamgi. Salamgi is tremendously strong; it is a series of natural scarps, of great height; and upon the terrace formed by these scarps a great portion of Theodore’s force is encamped. Salamgi, if well defended, even by savages, will be a most formidable position to assault. The third top of this singular fortress is Magdala itself. This, like Fahla, has a flat top, which is completely covered with large huts. We see only the top of Magdala, over the saddle between Salamgi and Fahla. It is apparently lower than Salamgi, but higher than Fahla. It is, we hear, connected with Salamgi by a flat shoulder. It appears to be about a mile distant from the summit of this mountain, and when, therefore, we have taken Salamgi, our light guns will not be of much utility in bombarding Magdala at so great a distance.