They Would Be The Last, At All Events, And, Full Of Trust In Our Deliverance, We Now Looked Forward To Spending The Next At Home.

CHAPTER XVI.

Theodore's Proceedings during our Stay at Magdala - His Treatment of Begemder - A Rebellion breaks out - Forced March on Gondar - The Churches are Plundered and Burnt - Theodore's Cruelties - The Insurgents increase in Strength - The Designs of the Emperor on Kourata Frustrated - Mr. Bardel Betrays the New Workmen - Theodore's Ingratitude towards the "Gaffat People" - His Raid on Foggara Unsuccessful.

Theodore remained at Aibankab for only a few days after our departure, and returned to Debra Tabor. He had told us once, "You will see what great things I will achieve during the rainy season," and we expected that he would march into Lasta or Tigre before the roads were closed by the rains, to subdue the rebellion that for years he had allowed to pass unnoticed. It is very probable that if he had adopted that course he would have regained his prestige, and easily reduced to obedience those provinces. No one was so much Theodore's enemy as himself; he seems to have been possessed with an evil spirit urging him to his own destruction. Many a time he would have regained the ground he had lost, and put down to a certain extent rebellion; but all his actions, from the day we left him until he arrived at Islamgee, were only calculated to accelerate his fall.

Begemder is a large, powerful, fertile province, the "land of sheep" (as its name indicates), a fine plateau, some 7,000 or 8,000 feet above the sea, well watered, well cultivated, and thickly populated. The inhabitants are warlike, brave for Abyssinians, and often have repulsed the rebels venturing to invade their province, so firm in its allegiance to Theodore.

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