The Shasta courier., 1868-07-11
NUMBER Is.
British Loot I'm Abyssinia.
Correspondence of the New York Herald,
dated Magdala, April 18th. saws:

Correspondence of the New York Herald,
dated Magdala, April 18th. says:
The troops pundered the treasure houses,
carrying OF golden crowns, golden chalces,
crosses of gold and silver, nuggets of the
the same precious metal. boxes full of silver
dollars, chests full of gold and silver plate,
censers of gold, silver mugs, dishes, kettles
and goblets of the same material /; great
chests full of ornaments and richest silk
dresses; bottles of champagne wine, arrack,
beer. casks of tel and mead sacks of -four
and'grain, jars OF butter. jhee and milk, mag
nlhcent silk tents of variegated co!ors--rose,
pink, lilac, and white-where Theodorus
used to loll when il good humor, surrounded
by his wives and concutines theo~
torn, ripped and divided among the soldiery,
who made light of the most valuable things.
Persian carpets, English, French and Turk
ish silks fell to the lot of the meanest camp
followers; robes of furs, lion skins and
ard skias were sold by the fortunate possess
ors and realized fabulous sums shields or
namented by thick gold plates globes of
filigree, gold and silver fringed with small
bells of the same material state umbrellas,
richly adorned with all the barbaric mag
nifcence that the genius of Gondar and
Bejemder conld manufacture swords and
and silver hlts scabbards of crimson mo-
rocco, studded thickly with golden buttons
parchment books and manuscripts Bibles,
written in Amharc tongue ; albums and
photographs, presented by Napoleon the
Third to Theodore, of American, English,
French and Turkish scenery, strewed the
grounds of his palaces for many rods around;
bureaus, escritoires full of royal letters, com.
plimentary and diplomatic notes from differ
ent sovereigns of Europe. In a small writing
desk, richly ornamented with mother of
pearl was found the royal seal, with the
lion of the tribe of Judah engraved on it
In corner of his house was found the royal
standard, with the lion of Judah worked in
red, blue and white silk and in a strong
chest was found the Abuna's mitre, three
hundred years old. Many of these things
were destroyed by the ruthless soldery, and
yet valuable things were saved, such as the
four royal crowns, one Abuna's mitre, ard
two golden chalices, three hundred years
old, and the King S magnificent state shield,
heavy with topazes and sapphires.
Another relic was saved which is likely to
possess much interest for antiqu arans and
curiosity seekers. viz: Theodorus' shield,
which he wore when he first undertook to
rebel against Wellad Sellan, the former EN-
peror of Abyssinia. This is very ordinary
shield, decorated with thin plates of silver.
All these trophies have been sent to the En-
glsh Government, with the exception of the
Abuna's mitre, chalice, and the Kings shield
which Mr.. Holmes, of the British Museum,
secured. Some of the soldiers filled their
pockets with the dollars and nuggets and got
a. beastly drunk, so dashing cornct said,
on the arrack and tel.
Passing through the treasure houses the
Chamber of Horrors, the distlleres and the
royal palace, your correspondent returned
to the spot where lay the corpse of Theodorus.
He was surrounded by furious mob of Off
GERS and men, who conducted themselves IN
most unseemly manner, hustling each other
rudely and pushing one another violently, in
their eagerness to possess piece of Theo-
dorus' blood stained shirt 1t seems that
this mania had suddenly taken possession of
both officers and men. l saw the Quarter
master rGeneral struggling with private for
piece, and the New York Herald's cores
pendent, following suit, purchased piece
foot long and two inches wide for a dollar
No guard had been placed over him, no re-
srect was shown his body. There it lay,
subjected to the taunts and rufianly iests of
the brutal When he was nearly naked a
guard was stationed to keep the crowd away,
which seemed to increase every moment, and
thus semblance of propriety and order was
preserved. Continuing my inspection of the
fortress, | came to the place where the dead
who fell in its defence lay piled. Singuarly
enough. most of the fallen were shot through
the head. and terrible were the wounds caus-
ed by the Snider bullet In some instances
it had ploughed three inches deep.