The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-11 00:00:00

NG, MARCH 11, 1865.;

THE ABYSSINIAN EXP.EDI7ION.

(From the Times Correspondent.)
ATTEGERAT, February 17.
The British advanced guard has occupied Antalo.
This place is half-way between the sea-coas t and
Theodore's fortress of Magdala, where now all the
prisoners are confined. The head chief of Antah
has expressed friendly feelings towards us, and has
promised to obtain some supplies for our troops.
The supplies which have as yet been obtained from
the country are, however, so meagre that no reliance
can be placed upon them. The country has been

devastated by civil war, and is so poverty-
stricken that, though the inhabitants readily
sell us all they can spare, nothing worth speak-
ing of in the way of supplies can be obtained
from the country. On the ships in Annesley-
bay the army has hitherto had to depend for its
resources, and it appears certain that this will eon-

tinue so until the termination of the campaign.
Hence our progress has been slow, for the transport
train has not yet had time to recover from its mis-
fortunes at the commencement of the operations,
and on it depends the carriage of all supplies from
the sea-coast to the front. Energetic measures
have been taken by Sir Robert Napier to secure
from Arabia and Egypt animals which may fill
the vacancies in its ranks caused in the first place
much more by the want of a proper system of
organisation than by the epidemic of Zoulla. But
these animals can arrive only slowly, and it is
feared that a considerable halt may be necessary at
Antalo to allow provisions to be brought up to that
station.

Senafe is the first post in the highlands which is
to be held as a main link of the chain of communi-
cations. Attegrath, 37 miles further to the south,
is the second. It is an important point, as here the
roads to Adowa and Antalo branch of. A small
intrenched camp is being formed here for the per-
manent security of the post. At Dongollo, half-
way between Attegrath and Antalo, another small
post will be formed, and at Antalo a fourth. These
will keep open the road between the army and the
sea, and will act as places of refuge for the convoys
coming up from the base of operations with supplies
for the troops in the front.
Antalo is eight marches south of Attegrath. The
distance between the two places is variously esti-
mated at from 76 to 96 miles. Probably as soon
as the road is surveyed the truth will be found to
be between the two. Although we have no maps
on which absolute reliance can be placed, the map
prepared in the Topographical Department of the
War-office is an excellent guide, and of surprising
accuracy, considering how little was known of the
geography of Abyssinia before this expedition was
undertaken. After the expedition this will be a
well-known land, and, as a party of engineers are
making an accurate trigonometrical survey while
following the march of the army, its topography
will be almost as certain as that of the midland
counties.

The Commander-in-Chief will leave Attegrath on
the 18th for Antalo. On the 20th he is to have an
interview with Kassa, Prince of Tigre, at Ad-
Abaga, two marches south of this place. The
Prince, according to national custom, could not
leave his capital for 40 days after his installation on
the throne of Tigre. This ceremony took place at
the beginning of February, and properly Kassa
ought to stay as strictly for 40 days in the vicinity
of Adowa, his capital, as a bridegroom would be
expected during a honeymoon to cultivate the
society of his bride. An exception, however, has
been made in favour of the English General, and
the Prince is to be waiting on his line of march to
pay his respects to him on the 20th. In Abyssinia
the elephants are considered very wild an untame-
able by the natives, who positively refused to be-
lieve that it was possible to reduce them to
a state of subordination to man. In order
to impress Prince Kassa two of the elephants which
have been brought for the carriage of guns have
been brought on to Attegrath for the use of the
Commander-in-Chief and his Staff at the meeting.
Their passage through the country has been fol-
lowed by crowds of wondering and awestruck Abys-
sinians, who formerly thought that any one who
told them an elephant could be tamed was dealing
in the most flowery romance.
A sensation, second only to that caused by the
elephants, was created by the arrival yesterday of
Murray's battery of 12-pounder Armstrong guns.
It was almost doubtful whether it would be pos-
sible to get the guns over the very difficult road
across the mountains between Senafe and this place.
The gunners, however, achieved their task, though
not without incurring considerable difficulties, and
marched into Attegrath looking as smart and well
as if they were on Woolwich Common. As soon
as the guns appeared on the brow of the gentle
slope over which the road falls into the valley of
Attegrath, nearly the whole camp turned out to
greet them, and to congratulate the artillery on
their success in bringing them safely through all
the dangers of the mountain road. The Abyssi-
nians, of whom there is always a large crowd in the
neighbourhood of the camp, rushed across to meet
them, and to see what strange things we had so
much trouble in drawing with many horses over an
almost impassable country.
There is no news from the prisoners in Magdala
since their last letter of the 17th of January. Many
reports are brought to us through the country
people, but, of course, none are reliable. The na-
tives appear, as a general rule, to think that Theo-
dore will either stand an assault in Magdala or will
come out and fight in front of his fortress. I 4 is
certainly taking immense trouble in getting his
heavy guns into the place, and is said to be strength-
ening its naturally strong defences. It seems pro-
bable that he may either fight in Magdala or, per-
haps, attempt to fall upon the advancing British
force north of that place with one of his favourite
night attacks. He has in Magdala considerable
treasure, and in a few days will have placed there
all his cannon. With them he could not retreat
rapidly enough to avoid pursuit and to elude cap-
ture. Without them his prestige would be gone,
and his means of subduing rebellious chieftains de-
parted. He may give up the prisoners, he may
run away with them, sacrificing Magdala and his
stores there. It is almost impossible to calculate
what course he will adopt, but the popular opinion
of the country appears to be that be will fight, and
it seems it is his interest to do so.

The road beyond Antalo will be through the pro-
vince of Lasta. This is the most difficult and
mountainous of the provinces of Abyssinia, and we
must expect a rough road and a slow advance.
Two routes lead from Antalo in the direction of
iNlagdala. Neither are well known. The more
direct or eastern route leads past Lake Ashangi, in
the neighbourhood of which it passes through
some very broken, hilly country. The western
route leads by Socota. It is said to be easier than
the other as far as that place, but beyond is hardly
known at all, further than that the country
over which it must pass is the very backbone of
the Abyssinian highlands. As this route
also causes a detour it is probable that by
Lake Asbangi will be selected. Whichever is
chosen there is one thing certain, that till the trans-
port train receives strong reinforcements in animals
to make up for those which have died or been lost
the advance of the troops cannot be very rapid. It
is perfectly wonderful that under the cramped con-
ditions under which it is suffering the advanced
portion of the force has been able to move as fast as
it has. On the transport everything must depend
in a country where every article of supply worth
mention has to be brought from the shipping over a
distance of 200 miles as it is to Antalo, or of 400
as it will be to Magdala.
Every exertion is made to reduce the baggage of
the troops to the lightest possible figure. The cli-
mate, however, prevents such a reduction as could be
made in an European climate in a summer campaign.
Here the thermometer often stands at freezing
point in the night, and sometimes even lower.
Warm clothing is absolutely necessary for the
troops and followers, and blankets for covering at
night cannot be dispensed with. The hosts of
native followers who accompanied the troops from
Cudia were much diminished before the advance
from Zoulla, and have been further reduced at
every subsequent post, as the climate proved them