A Narrative Of Captivity In Abyssinia With Some Account Of The Late Emperor Theodore, His Country And People By Henry Blanc
- Page 167 of 373 - First - Home
We Made A Very Long March On That Day, From 9 A.M.
To 4 P.M., Without A Halt.
The soldiers, who carried a few parcels,
came on shortly after us, but the baggage mules only arrived at
sunset, and dead tired.
As the small rowties we had brought with
us had not arrived, the head of the guard had a house in the village
of Argabea cleared out for our reception. No food being forthcoming,
we killed a sheep and broiled it over the fire, Abyssinian fashion;
hungry and tired, we thought it the most exquisite meal we had ever
made.
At sunrise, the following morning, our guards told us to get ready,
and soon after we were in the saddle. Our route lay E.S.E. Any
slight doubts we might still have had about our destination now
vanished; the former prisoners knew too well the road to Magdala
to have any misgivings on the subject. On the previous day the road
was a gradual ascent over a well-cultivated and populous district;
but on the 10th, the country bore a wild aspect, few villages were
to be seen, and but few dark tufts of cedars graced the summit of
the distant hills, proclaiming the presence of a church. The scenery
was grand, and for the artist no doubt full of attractions; but for
Europeans, driven like cattle by semi-barbarians, the precipitous
descents and steep acclivities had certainly no charms. After a few
hours' march, we arrived at an almost perpendicular precipice (almost
1,500 feet in height, and not more than a quarter of a mile in
breadth), that we had both to descend and ascend in order to reach
the next plateau.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 167 of 373
Words from 45490 to 45777
of 102802
