The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-22 00:00:00

THE .181.5.51N1AN EXPEDITION.

(From the 7 imes Special Corre•ponclent.)
POONA, Oct. 2S.
As I date this letter from Poona, it may be, per-
haps, as well to begin by stating that at present
Poona is Bombay. I need scarcely explain that I
mean by this no reflection on the geographical
knowledge of your readers, and that I am not guard-
ing them from the error of supposing that Poona is
somewhere in the neighbourhood of Abyssinia. For

their sake and my own I could heartily wish it were,
• '

for I might then have something of interest to write
about. But even those best up in Indian geography
may not be aware that during the hot season, which
is not yet quite over, Poona becomes the headquar-

tern of the Bombay Government, and that the most
important work of the Presidency is done here.
hence the connection, not perhaps immediately ob-
vious to all English readers, between Poona and the
Abyssinian Expedition. Sir R. Napier is up here,
with his Staff, and the Governor returns to-day,
having been driven away a few dayS ago by over-
work and fatigue to Mahableshwur,_ a still cooler
and quieter retreat than Poona, which just now is
by no means at its best. Indeed, during October
there is not very much to choose between Poona and
Bombay ; but for the greater part of the year Poona
enjoys a charming climate, and is considered one of
the pleasantest—by many the pleasantest—of mili-
tary stations in India. Its admirers loudly assert its
claim to bcOurseat of Government in India, to the
intense wrath and disgust of long-favoured Bengal,

and not without a mild murmur even from Madras,

which points with pride to Ootacamund as the finest
hill station in India, and to the number of Bengal
and Bombay folk who, in search of health or plea-

sure, annually resort to it.

Poona is within easy access of Bombay, only 120
miles distant, with the journey entirely by railway.
It thus offers the immense advantages of a compara-
tively cool climate, without any serious drawback on
the score of inaccessibility, and these advantages,
to be properly appreciated, must be felt by those
who have hard work to get through in a given time
under a blazing Indian sun. The Abyssinian Ex-

pedition, for instance, has involved an amount of
labour of which people at home, who think more of
general results than of detail, have very little no-
tion, and which is not of a kind to excite much in-
terest or sympathy. It is, I fear, out of my power
to give even a tinge of romance or heroism to the
manly sweat, albeit on military brows, which is in-
duced by the exertion of auditing accounts, seeing
that bullocks are branded, inspecting pack-saddles,
or looking critically into the mouths of seedy ponies
and venerable mules. This is the principal work
now going ou here in connection with the Abyssi-
nian Expedition, and very hard if not very glorious
work it is, when it has to be done in a violent race
against time, with a certain allowance of minutes,
duly calculated, for the inspection of so many sad-
dles or so many mules. The Home Government
cannot, perhaps, be blamed for preferring to sacri-

fice any amount of valuable time rather than forego
the slightest chance of escape from a war in which
there was so little to gain and so much to lose. But
nevertheless the fact remains that, rightly or
wrongly, they gave final orders for the expedition
just three months too late, and, as a natural conse-
quence, economy has bad to be thrown to the winds,
and other considerations, not less important even
in the eyes of the British taxpayer than economy,
have gone with it. There is now little chance of an
army being ready to march into Abyssinia before
the beginning of next year, if then, and this leaves
barely three months, according to some accounts,
before the commencement of the rainy season,
during which marching may be found impossible.
If, therefore, Theodore bas enough power left,
which there is good reason to believe, to carry the
captives about with him for a short time without
being surrounded by enemies, there is no hope of
concluding the campaign in one year. Thus the
time lost, however unavoidably, in issuing positive
and final orders for the expedition will probably
make two campaigns necessary instead of one.
The delay, however, will certainly not be due to
any want of energy or activity among the high
officials of Bombay or their subordinates. The
popular notion both here and at home seems to be
that the whole burden of organising has fallen upon
Sir Robert Napier ; but, fortunately for Sir Robert,
the notion is a delusion. As it is, he has in all con-
science enough work to do, and is hard at it from
morning to night, but if he had a dozen such secre-
taries as Colonel Dillon, who is one of the best and
hardest working soldiers in the British army, to as-
sist him, the Commander-in-Chief could not get
through all the work that has just had to be done,
and still remains to do, for the organisation of the
Abyssinian Expedition. The purely military ar-
rangements have, indeed, most wisely been left un-
reservedly to him, and especially, with reference to
whatever has been required from England, every
suggestion of Sir Robert's has been forwarded home
without question, and has, I believe, been unhesi-

tatingly adopted by the Home authorities. So far
he has been, and, it is to be hoped, will remain dic-
tator. But in other matters—such as those that re-
quire the co-operation of the non-military depart-
ments, transport, both by land and sea, commissariat
arrangements, and generally all questions having re-
ference to finance and expenditure—the organisation
of the expedition has been placed in the hands of the
Government of Bombay ; and, fortunately, the pre-
sent Governor, Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald, is a first-
rate man of business, quick in mastering the details
of a question, and clear-sighted in detecting the
main difficulties to be overcome. •The Calcutta
press, and, it is said a portion of the Calcutta Go-
vernment—though not, I believe, the Viceroy—
are very angry at the Supreme Government being
thus excluded from all share in the organisation of
the Abyssinian Expedition. The feeling is not,
perhaps, unnatural in Bengal, which can scarcely
be expected to relish playing a subordinate part,
though the leading Presidency, in an undertaking
essentially Indian. Moreover, there exists a chronic
jealousy between Bengal and Bombay. But no
impartial outsider can for a moment blame the
Secretary of State for intrusting the management
of the expedition entirely to one Presidency. This
was the only method of attaining the two most im-
portant of all requisites—unity and promptitude of
action ; and if one Presidency was to be taken, the
most obvious and natural course was to select the
one nearest the field of action. The Home autho-
rities have themselves, I believe, most manfully re-
sisted the temptation to interfere. I have only
heard of one instance in which they have insisted
upon doing work which might have been better
done by the Bombay Government, and the instance
is worth mentioning, as it illustrates the mischief
that may be occasioned by the injudicious division
of power which Sir Stafford Northcote's censors
seem to wish. The Transport Department of the
Admiralty resolved, on the ground that they were
sending out transports from home, to take the con-
trol of the transports into their own hands, and
nominated Captain Tryon " transport officer" for
all vessels employed in the expedition, with power
to engage and discharge them as he might think fit.
Now, Captain Tryon is a capital officer, and
would probably perform this task, were it to be
performed, as well as any man ; but it is simply
au impossibility. Many of the transports are the
property of Government in India ; many are char-
tered for a long time ; all have occasionally to un-
dert:tke duties which have no connexion whatever
with the Abyssinian Expedition. A transport may
have to-clay to move a Madras regiment to relieve
one from Bombay ; next week it may have to bring
up invalids to embark for Europe in the new troop-
ships. The following week mules, coals, porter, or
Abyssinian troops may claim its care. From the
limited steam tonnage at the disposal of Govern-
ment it is only by great management that these mis-
cellaneous duties can all be got through, each in its
proper place ; and yet it was for this complex and
intricate work that the home authorities sent out
an officer ignorant of the country, with no autho-
rity over the departments with which he would
thus be brought into contact, and not under the
authority Of Government himself. Fortunately,
Capt. Tryon has common sense as well as profes-
sional ability, and he proposed to limit his opera-
tions to transports employed in the Red Sea, where
his services will be most valuable.
Bengal itself furnishes au instance, less important

in its practical consequence, but equally worth men-
tion as illustrating the mischief which results from
the division of power. The Government there, in the
same spirit as that of the Transport Department at
home, resolved that they would themselves manage
the transport of their own troops, and have in con-
sequence had to pay far higher rates than those paid
by the Government of Bombay. The Himalaya,
for instance, which had been offered to Bombay fur
£2 Bs. per ton per month, has been taken up at
Calcutta at £2 155., with an additional £lOO per
day for every day she is engaged in towing. The
State will probably be thousands of pounds out of
pocket by this ill-judged policy ; and, instead of
the two instances I have cited, there would pro-
bably have been ten or twenty times the number
if the Abyssinian expedition had been a sort
of joint-stock concern between Bengal and Bom-
bay. A portion of the Calcutta press complains,
moreover, that, in addition to the indignity of
being left altogether out of the management
of the Abyssinian Expedition, the Supreme Govern-
ment has further to submit to the outrage of having
its advice rejected. But surely it is only fair to
remember that those who have all the power have
also all the responsibility, and it is hard to make a
man responsible for any course of which he does

not himself heartily approve.
You will have inferred from my going at such
length into this question, which is, however, a very
important one, and has been attracting the principal
share of public attention out here, that 1 have no
news -whatever to send you—at least, nothing that
will have the faintest pretension to be considered
news by the time it gets home. Zoulla is just now
the word in every one's mouth, disposed of as glibly
and discussed as familiarly as if we had all been born

there, instead of most of us having never heard the
name of the place till a telegram announced the
other day that it had been chosen by the pioneer
party, under Colonel Merewether, as the point of
debarcation for the Abyssinian force. We make the
most of Zoulla here, for Abyssinia is our one all-

absorbing topic of conversation, and Zoulla's brief
history constitutes our one piece of Abyssinian news.
But long before this news can reach England the
British public will have devoured and leisurely
digested Zoulla and everything connected with
Zoulla ; will probably have even made up their mind
where the place is situated and how it ought to be
spelt ; whereas at present we are, some of us, in the
dark on both these important points. In a very limited
research I have come upon four varieties of spell-

ing the names of places in or near Abyssinia,
seeming, like those in India, to depend a good deal
"upon the taste and fancy of the speller ;" and as
regards the position, eat of four maps I have seen,
three place Zoulla on the western side of Annesley
Bay, some way up towards the north, while one,
but I believe the best, and drawn up in the
quartermaster-general's department, expressly for
the assistance of the Bombay authorities in the
Abyssinian expedition, places it south of the bay,
and slightly to the west. Its capabilities, however,
are of far more importance than its exact position,
but of these also the accounts are conflicting—in-
deed, contradictory. The official account is on the
whole favourable. The water supply is, of course,
the great question, and it is officially reported that
within four miles of Zoulla there is now a sufficient
supply of water for all immediate purposes, and
that within 16 miles there is an abundant supply at

all times at a place called " Wah River," to which
a road or tramway for the carriage of men and provi-
sions can easily be made. On the other hand, the
Times of India, usually a very well-informed paper,
publishes this morning a statement of a very diffe-
rent nature, and most unfavourable. It is of no use
discussing and balancing the probabilities of these
opposite accounts, for, as I have already said, fur-
ther detailed information will reach you before this
letter. Poona has not had quite time enough to make
up its mind which report to believe, but, stfange to
say, seems inclined to adopt the unfavourable one.
It is the first departure I have noticed from the in-
tensely sanguine couleur-de-rose view of the expedi-
tion which has prevailed in India, and which has
contrasted so oddly with the gloomy forebodings
rife at home. However, it must not be inferred from
this that the expedition is one whit less popular than
formerly. The Abyssinian fever was never more
virulent than at present. All kinds of appoint-
ments, no matter how pleasant, dignified, or
lucrative, are being eagerly thrown up in exchange
for the very lowest and least enviable place in
the expeditionary force. The "moke train," as
the Tr.ansport Corps is irreverently nicknamed
from the predominance in it of the mule ele-
ment, is full of eager volunteers, "glorying in
the goad," and sublimely proof against the fire
of chaff kept up by their more fortunate comrades,
who hint at the propriety of the " moke train"
all wearing white hats, and wonder why a Govern-
ment, which had the pick of Blackheath and Hamp-
stead, should employ men who, like Lord Chester-
field's herald, " don't understand even their own
foolish business." The " moke train" will, however,
enjoy the distinction of being, I suppose, the only
corps in the British army which has for its " vet."
an " honourable." I watched this gallant patrician
the other day examining the teeth and toes of some
bullocks before they were severally branded (the
unsavoury fumes of burnt bullock steamed up
under his very nose, but he never flinched), and
am happy to state that he performed the duty
with an assiduity and scientific severity which
would have melted the heart of the fiercest Demo-
crat, and which bore down hopelessly the opposition
of a native contractor, whose grandfather had sup-
plied bullocks to Colonel Wellesley, better known
as the Duke of Wellington. Engaged in the same
humble, but arduous occupation, and exhibiting the
same intrepid spirit, was a good-looking Hussar,
I who, for the honour of entering the Abyssinian
" moke train," had come all the way from the
North-West Provinces, resigning without a sigh the
much-coveted post of popular aide-de-camp, with
all its pleasant perquisites of balls, dinner, croquet
parties, pretty partners, and unlimited but safe
flirtation. Of course, these gallant volunteers do
not expect to return from Abyssinia with no other
laurels than such as can be reaped from skilful
bullock-driving or inuleteering. They count upon
what is briefly summed up in the pregnant
word " casualties," and though this business-
like view may at first seem to the lovers of
peace somewhat cold-blooded, there is no deny-
ing that it has about it a certain logical neatness,
also a certain resemblance to the maxim that
you should do unto others as you would they
should do unto you. For the characteristic charm
of a military casualty is that if it befalls your
neighbour you get promotion, while if it befalls
yourself you don't want it, and that you must either
give him what he wants or afford him the pleasure
of giving what you want. However, the moke train
is by no means without its fair share of what Dr.
Johnson -calls the " dignity of danger." It has
probably more than its share, for the Abyssinians
are less likely to show fair fight in open field than
to make sudden sallies upon the animals and stores.
The chief difficulty of the expedition will consist in
carrying these, properly protected, far into Abyssinia.
But no one here seems to look upon it as anything
more than a difficulty, the worst feature of which
is its expense. Now that Zoulla has been selected
as a landing-place, and the routes by Amphilla. and
Tajowrah thus put out of consideration, it is to be
presumed that the force will be taken from Zoulla
by the directest route to Haler, Dixan, Senafe, or
whatever place on the Abyssinian border may be
found best suited for the first large depot. Accord-
ing to Dr. Beke, Sepals, would seem the likeliest
spot. There Sir Robert will have the choice of the
two main routes to Debra Tabor and Magdala—that
by Axum and Gondar, and that by Antalo and
Sokota. The preponderance of authority is in favour
of the latter route. Mr. H. Lepoer Wynne, after
comparing the accounts of various travellers, men-
tions as its chief advantages that up to the river
Takazzy the route lies through Tigre, in which we
may possibly find or make allies, and that up to
Sokota, the ultimate destination of the force, will
still be left open. From Sokota it may, at the last
moment, choose for attack either Debra Tabor or
Magdala. If Sir Robert Napier adopts this route,
he will probably, for this among other reasons, make
Sokota his second large depot, Senafe being the first.
With these two depots, and possibly Antalo as a