ABYSSINIA. 



was no easy matter to establish order. Guards 

 were placed at the gates and such places as 

 required protection. The family of Theodore 

 were committed to the care of Mr. Eassam, 

 who was requested to do all that was in his 

 power for their comfort and protection. The 

 Abyssinian prisoners were released from their 

 chains, and the very numerous body of Abys- 

 sinians whose histories and condition it was 

 impossible at the time to investigate were col- 

 lected in an open space in the centre of the for- 

 tress, where they could be protected, and where 

 they quickly threw up small huts for them- 

 selves and remained until their final departure. 



" On the 15th, the Fourth (King's Own) re- 

 giment relieved the Thirty-third in Magdala, 

 and the Forty-fifth were removed to Islamgie 

 to reenforce the detachment of the Tenth native 

 infantry, under Colonel Field, for the protec- 

 tion of the captured arms and ordnance and to 

 furnish working-parties for their destruction. 

 The inhabitants of Magdala were collected at 

 Arogie, where great vigilance was necessary to 

 protect them from the Gallas, who were lying 

 in wait both day and night for opportunities 

 of plundering and destroying them. Notwith- 

 standing the friendly relations with the Queens 

 of the Gallas, their people were so little under 

 restraint that it was frequently necessary to 

 fire upon them to drive them from molesting 

 our water-parties and carrying off the mules. 

 A party of them, in search of plunder, even 

 dared to make their way into Magdala, where 

 they were captured by the guard of the Thirty- 

 third regiment. 



"On the 15th and 16th the disarmed soldiers 

 and people of Magdala made their exodus from 

 Arogie. JSvery consideration was shown them, 

 and they were allowed to take all their prop- 

 erty. The Arogie defile was guarded by in- 

 fantry, and their procession, after crossing the 

 Bashilo, was guarded by cavalry patrols until 

 they reached Waddeba. 



" On the morning of the lYth orders were 

 issued to clear every one out of Magdala by 

 four P. M. At that hour, the whole of the 

 captured ordnance having been destroyed, the 

 gates of Magdala were blown up, and the whole 

 of the buildings were committed to the flames. 

 The wounded Abyssinians who had no friends 

 to take charge of them were conveyed into our 

 hospitals. The elephants and heavier ordnance 

 having been sent in advance on the 15th, on 

 the 18th of April the force recrossed the Ba- 

 shilo, on its return to the coast." 



The object of the expedition having been 

 attained, General Napier deemed it necessary 

 that some provision should be made for the 

 large numbers whose interests and safety had 

 centred in Theodore's existence, and who re- 

 mained disarmed and unprotected, and exposed 

 to merciless plunder and slaughter at the hands 

 of the wild tribes, which circumstances had 

 for the moment converted into allies of Eng- 

 land. The disposal of the fortress of Magdala 

 first demanded attention. This strong position, 



situated geographically in the country of the 

 "Wollo-Gallas, from whom it was finally wrest- 

 ed by Theodore about ten years ago, had im- 

 posed, in his hands, an effectual check upon 

 the encroachments of the Gallas on Christian 

 Abyssinia. General Napier desired, in the 

 interests of Christianity, to place the strong- 

 hold in the possession of Wagshum Gobazie, 

 the de facto ruler and principal chief of this 

 portion of Abyssinia. But when he sent for 

 his lieutenant, the Dajaz Mashashah, the latter 

 excused himself, in his master's name, from 

 accepting the charge, alleging as his reason 

 that it would require so large a garrison to 

 hold it, that it would be a source of weakness 

 rather than of strength. Wagshum Gobazie 

 himself, notwithstanding his repeated invita- 

 tions to the English, through Brigadier-Gener- 

 al Merewether, to come quickly to his aid, had 

 removed himself and his army to a distant 

 quarter in pursuit of objects of his own, and it 

 was impossible for General Napier to await a 

 reply to the letter which was addressed to him 

 on the subject of Magdala. General Napier 

 therefore destroyed the gates of the fort, burnt 

 every thing on the mountain that was com- 

 bustible, and abandoned it. Several claimants 

 for its possession had, in the mean time, ad- 

 dressed General Napier regarding it. One of 

 these was the Chief of Daoont, a small terri- 

 tory lying adjacent to Magdala. Werkait, one 

 of the two rival Queens of the Gallas, had also 

 put forward her claims, as likewise had Mas- 

 teeat, the other and more powerful of the 

 Galla Queens. Shortly after the arrival of 

 "Werkait's letter, soliciting that the fortress 

 might be delivered to her, the queen herself 

 arrived. She remarked to General Napier: 

 "We fought with Theodore as long as we 

 could, and when his power was too strong 

 for us to resist any longer, my son submitted 

 to him, on receiving a promise of good treat- 

 ment, notwithstanding which he was inhu- 

 manly cut to pieces, and thrown over the 

 precipice of Magdala ; and now I come to see 

 the grave of my enemy Theodore, and the place 

 where my son fell." It was deemed inexpe- 

 dient to comply with this wish. As news ar- 

 rived of the approach of Queen Masteeat, 

 Queen Werkait took a hasty departure, appre- 

 hensive lest she should be intercepted by her 

 more powerful rival. Queen Masteeat had re- 

 sponded very effectually to the request of the 

 English to close all avenues by which the 

 late king could have escaped, and thus she 

 came to General Napier in the character of an 

 established ally. To her request for the pos- 

 session of Magdala, it was replied that, Goba- 

 zie's lieutenant having declined to receive it, 

 the place would be abandoned, after disman- 

 tling it and burning all of it that could be so 

 destroyed, as a mark of the anger of the Brit- 

 ish at the ill-treatment of our countrymen, as 

 well as of our abhorrence of the cruelties 

 which Theodore had committed there. 



General Napier with his staff, and Theodore's 



