The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-18 00:00:00

THE A•i.6IAVLT.

During the last half hour all the infantry bad ilescen.:.l
from the heights, •id immediately the 2nd Brigade
vanced, led by General Sir Charles Staveley in perk a.
The 33rd were in the van, and to them was wiped the
honour of leading the assault, a duty which the)
charged in a manner worthy the fame which ha• f,,,
many years attached to the gallant corps. Thee 5,.,,
supported by the 4:ith Regiment, and the Ist .1,
(consisting of the 4th Regiment, Ist Bass •
and Madras Sappers) followed at sorie inn t •
On reaching the foot of the zig.r.ag leadin2 t
gate • few musket shots were fired from the
then our men halted, and for five or six minutes pia,e4
into the invisible defenders such an extraordin-ry ..r.l
unparalleled fire that no soldiers in the wnrld could h.,a
withstood it—no one who saw and heard the r.
rupted volleys will ever forget it, and the bullets rattlal
with even more frequency and vehemence that, the
hailstones which were pouring down with trl a 1
violence at the time. It was a knell t
must have made many a heart quake re.ti
In five minutes more the leading files of the
:kird and their gallant commanding officer, Major I ••••:.. r,
were knocking at the door for admission ; but it a,. a
formidable barrier—a door of inirneneely ,f.
three inches in thickness, behind it a solid w,Ol ry
12 feet in depth, and then a second door s,
struction to the first. Major Pritchard, of tis la
was one of the leaders of the storming party, a!,.1 to hills
was entrusted the honourable but perilous ....it
of blowing up the gate. Ye gods' who can ..cct .ct
for the strange things that happen? It is incl.:dine,
but nevertheless true, that when the powder w
asked for, no one had it; it had been known.
The word was passed for pickaxes and scaling ladders, bat
long before they could arrive the boys of the 3:trd, eager
to close with the foe, and by no means appreciating the
fun of standing still to be shot at, clambered up the
steep and dangerous sides of the precipice, and, furiously
tearing down the formidable fence which protected the
topmost 'edge (from behind which the enemy were firing),
speedily effected a lodgment in the fort. A loud ch• er
proclaimed that Magdala was ours, and in the tw:nk:ing
of an eye the British flag waved proudly over the much
anathematised gate. The resistance was a mere nothicg,
and we lost nut a single man.

qmpsithy in the absence of an interpreter, by • few
wader pats on the shoulder, while he told her that
Theodora was majish, and she was not to be afraid."
•- Mafish," it may be mentioned, is one of the few words
picked up by the soldiers, signifying " No." Her Majesty
& lady-like woman of about six-and-twenty, with very
sac complexion, full eyes, fine aquiline nose, and beautiful
Lod. What most attracted attention, however, was her
magnificent hair, arranged in neat plaits, and, instead of
being tied In a knot at the nape of the neck, as is
the country, falling in a cascade of glossy ringlets
over her shoulders. Her dress was the simple
rhea cotton dream of the country, g►thered in
a fold at the waist by • band. Theodore's left-
Landed but favourite queen is altogether a different sort
of woman—stoat, dark, and voluptuous-looking, remind.
ing one very much of a fat Indian ayah. In the palace
was a miscellaneous collection of " Europe " articles and
tokens of &civilisation which showed itself nowhere else—
pianos, harmoniums, musical boxes, cartridges for breech-
loading rifles, and, ■s the catalogues say, "a variety of
other articles too numerous to mention." The future of
Theodore's young son must possess interest for many
readers. lie is to be placed by Sir Robert Napier under
the care of the Rev. Dr. John Wilson, of Bombay, to be
brought up and educated at his excellent institution.
Sir Robert Napier offered Magdala to °obese,
who is now the foremost man in Abyssinia ; but
he declined it, and the place was atonceburnt. The
oily thing that makes Magdala remarkable —its un-
equalled natural strength as a mountain fastness—
, %linos be destroyed. Its artificial fortifications
(Insisted only in a few yards of rough stone wall
:ma palisade, which it may have taken an hour or
two to pull down, and a very strong gateway, de-
-I,nded by beams and doors of immense thickness,
which it cost a few pounds of powder to blow up.

A letter on the 19th says the army is now on its
homeward march, longing as intensely for " the
sea, the sea," as ever did the brave Greeks who
returned from Cynaxa under old Xenophon.