the Tellare,
a distance of 16 miles, up and down the steep spurs of the Lasta
mountains. Starting soon after eight in the morning, with a long train
of mules, they had to scramble up and down the rugged, tree-covered
mountain-sides, the 33rd Regiment carrying, in addition to their arms, a
heavy weight of blankets and waterproofs. Towards the end of it rain
came on, and during some hours of the night the men came straggling in,
footsore, hungry, and wet, and complaining not a little of their
hardships.

The cold, too, was severe on that high ground after sunset. All
luxuries about this time also began to fall short. No spirits remained,
and but a small quantity of tea and compressed vegetables. Magdala was
almost reached. The country now appeared open and covered with grass;
long stages of grassy hill and dale, with occasional rocky ridges, and
here and there among the hills a lovely lake, with streams and narrow
valleys, formed the general aspect of the country. Round Magdala,
situated itself on a high rock, rose numerous peaks and saddles above
the large plateau on which it stands. They form a curve, Magdala being
at the east end, and a peak called Sallasye at its base, and a smaller
plateau called Fala at the south-west end. Sallasye and Magdala are
connected by a saddle about a mile long called Islamgye, bounded on
either flank by scarped precipices with sides below sloping rapidly down
to the ravines, and covered with trees and bushes, some of the ravines
nearly 3000 feet below the fortress. Meantime, Theodore was advancing
towards Magdala, having burnt his capital of Debra Tabor, likewise
forming roads up the steep sides of mountains and across deep ravines
for the transport of his heavy guns, on which he mainly depended for the
success of his arms, with a force under him of about 6000 soldiers, a
host of camp followers, and several European workmen. By the 18th of
March his army had reached Arogye. At this time there were in Magdala
the whole of the British prisoners, as well as 570 natives, many of them
chiefs. Some days afterwards, the king sent for Mr Rassam, Lieutenant
Prideaux, and Dr Blanc to visit him, and treated them with courtesy,
but the very next day in a drunken fit he ordered nearly 200 of his
native prisoners to be murdered. Some he killed with his own hands,
others were thrown over the precipice of Islamgye. A letter was next
addressed by Sir Robert Napier to the king, demanding the