On each side of us the mountains rose to a great height, crowned with perpendicular precipices, on one of which, seemingly accessible only to a bird, was the stronghold of some border chief. Presently the mountain sides receded a little, and we emerged into a small plain. In the centre of this ran the stream, and by its side were some very large trees, which I can best describe by saying they resemble oaks with willow-leaves. Here we encamped. The troops had taken four hours to do the eight miles; but the commissariat animals, as I have stated, were more than double that time upon the road. Both at Musgee and here there is a great lack of grain for the animals. One pound of grain was all they got yesterday, and to-day at twelve there is to be a similar large issue. If this sort of thing continues, the animals must inevitably break down. The drivers, after their day’s work was over, did go up into the hills and cut some grass; but the coarse grass contains very little nourishment, and the horses refuse to eat it. The mules eat it, indeed, but it can do them very little good. I have all along in my calculations of the probable duration of the campaign argued that we must expect to come to places where forage was not procurable, and that if we came to a place where for four days’ marches we could get no grain and but little grass, that we must come to a standstill and form dépôts. Of course the difficulty will be proportionately greater when we have the whole advance force, with its thousands of cavalry-horses and baggage-animals with us. We were to have started this morning at seven o’clock; but a messenger arrived at two this morning with a letter from the Commander-in-chief to General Staveley, saying that the road was so bad that we must halt for a day to enable the pioneer force to smooth some of the most impracticable places. We have also news of the head-quarters and three companies of the 33d who had pushed on by the “Phayre” road to Attala. They had a distance of fourteen miles to go, four of which they had comparatively cleared. They started early, and they got in the following day at twelve o’clock, having been twenty-eight hours on the road. The pioneer force is hard at work upon the road ahead, and to-morrow morning we start for Attala. It is stated to be an eight-mile march; but I hear that the opinion of those who have gone on is, that it is a good thirteen. At Attala I anticipate that we shall wait some days-that is, if forage is obtainable. Everything must now depend upon this vital point. We must push-on to some place where abundant forage can be obtained, and we must then wait for the remainder of the force to come up. This must entail a halt of some days, whenever it is; for the 3d Dragoon Guards and the 12th Bengal Cavalry were both some marches’ distance from Antalo when we left, and they will, of course, have to make a halt of a day or two at that place upon their advance, to rest their animals. I hear that in the