596 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA 



the two forces ; the Abyssinians had nearly exhausted 

 their siippHes, had no intention of taking the offensive, 

 and in a few days' time must have begun to melt away 

 in search of food, there being no sort of commissariat 

 for feeding the army in the field. This was the position 

 of affairs when General Baratieri on 29th February 

 1896 received private information from friends in Italy 

 that in a few days time General Baldissera would land 

 at Massowah with orders to supersede him. Calling 

 his generals together, he told them that as the Intelli- 

 gence Department reported the Abyssinian force had 

 diminished to less than 40,000 rifles in the field, that 

 their ammunition was scanty, and that a good deal of 

 dissension existed among the chiefs, he proposed to 

 quit his position and attack Adua at once ; to this they 

 all assented. That night, leaving some 3500 men to 

 garrison Enticho, the Italian army set out in four 

 divisions on a twenty-mile march to Adua. The attack 

 was to be delivered at daybreak by three columns 

 simultaneously. The two wings and the reserve were 

 each about equal in strength, while the centre division 

 had approximately only half as many rifles. As day 

 broke, the two flank-columns had reached the positions 

 they were to take up, but the centre, with which were 

 General Baratieri and his staff, was still five or six miles 

 to the rear, although it had had considerably less ground 

 to cover than either of the wings. On the right. General 

 Dabormida, though meeting with considerable opposition, 

 had pushed boldly forward in the attempt to outflank the 

 Abyssinian left, until, as they found they could spare 

 more and more troops from harassing the other two 



