robbers, who saw that throwing themselves upon their faces was the only
chance of escape from being shot. We tied their hands behind them, and
handed them over to our syces, who drove them before them until the end of
the day, when we delivered them over to Colonel Graves of the 3d Cavalry,
who was in command at Dalanta, and had the satisfaction of seeing them get
two dozen lashes each, well laid on. After this skirmish, seeing numbers
of Gallas hanging about, we constituted ourselves a sort of rearguard to
the native column, and my double-barrelled rifle soon drove them to a
distance, the long range at which it sent balls into groups waiting for an
opportunity of attack evidently astonishing them greatly, and causing them
to scatter in the greatest haste. I think it a question whether the Gallas
or the Abyssinians are the greatest cowards. Two or three officers coming
up later upon the same day had skirmishes with them, and three or four of
the Gallas were killed. The natives encamped upon the plains of Dalanta,
their black blanket-tents extending over a great extent of ground. The
next day they crossed the Djedda, and after mounting to the table-land
beyond, were safe from the attacks of the Gallas, and were able to pursue
their way to Gondar, and the other places to which they belonged, in
quiet.
On the 20th the whole of the troops were at Dalanta, and a grand parade
took place. The troops marched past, and were then formed into hollow
square, and the following order of the day was read to them:
“SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF ABYSSINIA,
“The Queen and the people of England intrusted to you a very arduous and
difficult expedition—to release our countrymen from a long and painful
captivity, and to vindicate the honour of our country, which had been
outraged by Theodore, King of Abyssinia.
“I congratulate you, with all my heart, for the noble way in which you
have fulfilled the commands of our Sovereign. You have crossed many steep
and precipitous ranges of mountains, more than ten thousand feet in
altitude, where your supplies could not keep pace with you. When you
arrived within reach of your enemy, though with scanty food, and some of
you for many hours without food or water, in four days you have passed the
formidable chasm of Bachelo and defeated the army of Theodore, which
poured down upon you from their lofty fortress in full confidence of
victory. A host of many thousands have laid down their arms at your feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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