Magdala and Selassie were
seen to be connected by a ridge, known as the Saddle of Islamgi, while
the ridge joining Selassie to Fahla was called the Saddle of Fahla. The
plateau on which Magdala stood rose to a height of upwards of 9000 feet
above the sea, and 3000 above the ravines immediately surrounding it.
The sides were so steep and scarped by nature that it seemed as if it
would be impossible to scale them, but a closer inspection showed that
two causeways led to the plateau, one from Islamgi and one from
Sangalat.

Theodore's army, its size and strength unknown, was seen encamped on the
spit of Islamgi. A deep ravine led into the wide valley beneath the
heights occupied by the Abyssinians. Over-looking the plain of Arogi
was a spur, bearing in different parts the names of Gumbaji and Afficho,
which Sir Robert had resolved to occupy, so that he could operate on
either side of Fahla, evidently the key of Theodore's position. The
army was encamped above the Bashilo, the troops in high spirits at the
thoughts that at length they were about to meet the enemy whom they had
marched so many miles to encounter.

Sir Robert and his staff having crossed the river and reconnoitred the
ground, at early dawn on the 10th of April the advance was ordered. As
no water was to be procured between the river and the fortress, except
under the enemy's fire, a band of carriers had been organised for
transporting a supply for the troops, while another band marched in the
rear with stretchers for the removal of the wounded.

While the greater part of the troops were toiling slowly up the steep
slopes of the Gumbaji spur, which they were destined to occupy, the
Naval Brigade and a party of artillery, with the baggage of the first
brigade, were making their way through the pass of the Wurki Waha
valley, which it had been the intention of the general to secure by a
body of infantry, and to form a road from thence up the Gumbaji spur.
The latter task, through a mistake, had not been performed, nor was the
issue of the pass secured. The day had been threatening, already
showers of rain had begun to fall, while roars of thunder and flashes of
lightning burst from the clouds. The mules of the artillery and the
Rocket Brigade had just emerged from the valley, when, echoing the roar
of the thunder, the report of a gun was heard, fired from the heights on
which Theodore's army was posted, from whence, at the same moment, a
body of warrio