The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-15 00:00:00

ABYSSINIA AGAIN.

The Royal Geographical Society, under the presidency
of Sir Roderick Murchison, had the pleasure on Monday
of hearing the story of Abyssinia told over again by Dr.
Blanc, one of the captives. In commencing, the lecturer
declared that he desired to correct a false impression,
already too prevalent in England. Often on his way
down from Magdala, and often since his return to
England, he bad beard in the mouth of friends and
strangers the short but graphic sentence, "Abyssinia is a
wretched country." He would venture to assert, did he
not fear to be accused of jesting with mere words, or of
debating a foolish pardox, that the Abyssinian expedition
never entered Abyssinia at all. The line of march which
necessity enforced upon our troops was the lofty irregular
mountain chain separating the sandy shores of the Red
Sea from the plateaux, plains, and valleys of Abyssinia
proper. A barren desolate tract, as different from the lands
around as the snow-capped peaks of the Swiss Alps, are the
dreary contrast to the rich and fertilw rogiorao •rro.imr,,cl
the Isel or the Rhone. It was given to the expedition to
see only Abyssinia in its rude, desolate form to admire
the noble vista of a glorious Alpine scenery, the. unrivalled
beauties of a wild savage nature. The Shohos, and the
several Galla tribes, though somewhat unruly, wi;re on the it
best behaviour from Senafe to the Beehelo. Sir William
Merewether, the gifted, talented political officer, readily
won the confidence of the natives and smoothed all
possible difficulties. The high-minded commander-in-
chief, the people's friend, waged war with none but the
arch-traitor Theodore, and was justly beloved and
respected by all,; and last, but not least, Maria Theresa
Dollas worked marvels. Tigriniaus as well as Gallas
grasped eagerly at the prize. An invading army paying
its way, instead of plundering alike friends and foes,
was an enigma none could solve, but that all
gladly accepted ; and although their want of truth, their
sensuality, their thieving propensities will ever remain as
a by-word in the English army, still on the whole the
true character of the Abyssinian in the eyes of those who
took a part in the expedition remains for them as hidden
as the lands bathed by the Tana Sea, as unfolded as the
noble panorama of the rich fertile country even a Theodore
could not utterly destroy. Dr. Blanc then proceeded to
give a graphic description of the country of Abyssinia.
The climate of Western Abyssinia is, said he, upon the
whole good. In the valley of the lake itself some parts are
feverish and unhealthy ; the heat also in the middle
of the day is not sufficiently tempered by the cool moun-
tain breezes ; but some miles from the lake, or a few hun-
dred feet above its level, even the plateau of Tchalga, the
high plains of Achefar and Agau, with all their many ad-
vantages, cannot in that respect claim any superiority— all
are alike cool, pleasant, and healthy. Western Abyssinia is
within the range of the tropical rains, there much earlier,
longer, and more important than in Eastern and Northern
Abyssinia. The whole, be it valleys, plains, or plateaus, if
watered by countless streams ; the soil, the detritus os
volcanic rocks, is so rich, of such fertility, and enjoying as
it does so many climateric advantages, we could not be
surprised if three harvests were usually reaped in a year.
Western Abyssinia, well might we exclaim, is indeed a
land of milk and honey, a land blessed by God, but cursed
by man. At the close of the paper Dr. Blanc, at the
request of the president, gave a. few particulars of his
capture, but most of the facts'atated have been already
published.

The most difficult surgical operation.—To take
the cheek from a young man and the jaw from an old
woman.

The Duke of Edinburgh, instead of being in India
rt the latter end of February next, as at first proposed, will
not visit that Empire until the end of October next year,
and he will leave there about the end of January following.

LORD PALMERSTON.-Sir Henry Bulwer, it is
said, is about to write the life of Lord Palmerston ; a task
for which he is peculiarly well qualified by his tried literary
ability, his great political experience, and his special
mastery of so congenial a subject.

The composition of the new Ministry (writes the
London correspondent of the Birmingham Post) "is not en-
tirely satisfactory to the advanced Liberals. Mr. Forster cer-
tainly expected a seatin the Cabinet. Mr. Villiers was deter-
mined not to go back to the Poor Law Board, and did
not anticipate that Mr. Bruce would be put over his head.
Mr. Stansfold's friends know him to be a man of stronger in-
'ellectual fibre than Mr. Childers, who might possibly have
vccepted the Chancellorship of India from the Tories with-
out much loss to the Liberal party or benefit to India, and Mr.
Gladstone, it was understood, was well disposed to inf use due
share of new and decidedly Liberal blood into his Cabinet.
But Brooks's Club— that old rendezvous of C. J. Fox, Burke,
and the Whigs of four reigns—took the alarm, and told the
Premier that if he formed his administration in this spirit
there would be a split in the Liberal party."

DISCOVERY OF SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES AT
LIVERPOOL.— It is well known that a good many genera.
Cons ago the then Earl of Derby obtained leave from his
sovereign to build and fortify a castle at Liverpool. On
snore occas;ons than one, well•executed subterranean mean•
of communication between the castle and different points of
the river beach have been discovered ; none of these, how-
ever, surpassin; in interest and distinctness one which has
oeen brought to light within the last day or two in the area
of the Exchange Buildings. Here a deep excavation is
being made for the cellars. Irs the course of this excava
tion, which is all through rock, a well-marked gallery ha,
been opened up. It is cut in the solid rock, is fully six
feet in height by three feet in width, and its cr.,wn is
about six feet below the surface of the natural grouni. It
runs almost directly north from the site of the castle, from
which the Exchange is distant about 200 yards or more.
It has been very carefully excavated, the tool-marks of
the excavators being very distinctly left in the rock. Ir,
a few d .ys every trace of this portion of the galleries will
be oblite ated, as the rock is to be removed to a further
depth below their base.