THE CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 322, 6 February 1868, Page 3

THE CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA.

From a letter from one of the Abyssinian captives, dated Magdala, the 7th of September, published in the Pall Mall Gazette, we make the following extracts : — " The only news of interest I have to communicate is the gradual downfall of the Emperor. He has been going down hill very rapidly during the last two months, and should the same state of things continue much longer we may never see his fjice again, as he will hardly venture so far with his disaffected soldiery. For the last four months he has only been able to communicate three times with the garrison here, and even then had to employ a servant of one of the native prisoners confined in this fort, fearing that one of his own people might be waylaid and murdered. There is now nothing but death between the peasantry and their late ruler. If any of the former fall into the hands of the latter, they are instantly burnt alive or barbarously mutilated and then left to die a lingering death. On the other hand, whenever any of the royalists fall into the hands of the peasants, they are forthwith hacked to pieces. I have managed to communicate twice with Mr Flad at Debra Tabor, but on each occasion my messenger was stripped naked on the road. Mr Flad gives me a sad account of the state of affairs in the royal camp. Nothing but destruction of life is going on there from morning till night. The whole country between Debra Tabor and the lakes, which formerly Avas thickly populated, has been laid waste, and all the inhabitants, men, women and children, who could not effect their escape, have been ruthlessly murdered. The garrison at Debra Tabor has been surrounded with a hedge ; and if a soldier attempts to desert, his wife, children, and .any other relations he may have are instantly butchsred. A body of 2500 men who attempted to decamp last month were slaughtered like so many sheep, and 295 chiefs were left to die of starvation, after suffering the mutilation of their hands and feet. Ladies, too, of noble families, after being stripped to nudity, and exposed to tie gaze of the soldiery, were tortured ard then executed. The most revolting cruelties, such as I must refrain from describing, are perpetrated on helpless women, who are held accountable for the desertion of their relatives. In addition to 400 confined in this fort, the Emperor has with him at Debra Tabor no less than 200 native captives, who, a few months ago were accounted among his most trusty adherents. Besides myself and seven other fellow prisoners here, six of the Europeans at Debra Tabor are in chains, five for an abortive attempt to escape,, and the sixtli because he was alleged to Save meddled in matters which did not concern him. There is some talk of the Emperor coming here at the end of this month, which I do not believe ; but if he should come, I fear we shall have a miserable time of it, unless he puts on once more tfie garb of friendship, in order to ward off from liini3elf any impending calamity. It is very extraordinary that he still manifests great friendliness towards me. No messenger arrives from the royal court without bringing me some polite message from his Majesty, and an injunction to the authorities to pay me every attention. This is the more extraordinary as he is dreadfully indignant with Colonel Merewether for having sent him a telescope, threatening to chain him as soon as he gets him into his clutches. The reason for thinking himself insulted by the gift, I take to be this. In his correspondence with me he generally uses the Abyssinian phrase ' I am blind' to describe his ignorance of many things known to Europeans. When the "telescope arrived he took it to mean that, .is lie had complained of being blind, nothing would suit him as well as that, instrument to cure his blindness. Mr Flad has told the Emperor plainly that England would be forced to fight him unless he released the captives and sent them to the coast. To which he replied, ' Let them come ; by the power of God I will meet them, and you may call me a woman if Ido not beat them.' His last letter to me was veiy friendly. After courteously declining a small present which I had sent, he goes on to say, ' What I require of my friend the Queen, and of you, my brother, is your friendship. Not that lam rich in wordly goods, but what I desire most is that you should open my eyes, for I am a blind donkey.' That letter Avas written on the 10th of April, and the messenger who carried my reply has been unable as yet to make his way back through the rebels who infest the roads. Mr Flad informs me that as recently as last month, when the Emperor had ordered some swords to be presented to different officers for bravery in the field, he caught sight of one which he had given to me before my incarceration, and forthwith directed it to be taken care of, adding, ' I intend shortly to bring him and them (the other Europeans) together, and will then restore him his property.' This I doubt very much unless he is constrained to release us by pressure from without. You will be surprised to learn that unless supplies reach ! us very soon from Massowah we shall all be in danger of starvation. Despite my instructions to the contrary, everything has been sent via Matammah, and the consequence is that they never reach us, and we are nearly destitute of the means "of subsistence. As regards the measures to be adopted for obtaining our release. I have repeatedly and distinctly given my opinion in the proper quarters, and unless the officer commanding the force follows my advice, I fear our lives will be in danger, and the troops will be greatly harrassed. We have no lack of friends in , the royal camp and elsewhere, but unfortunately they tremble at the very name of Theodore, and have not the pluck to move a finger on our behalf. "P.S.— We are afraid that Magdala will soon be besieged by the warlike Walloo Gailas, in which case no messenger would be able to leave or to approach it. A party of 400 men of this garrison very recently made a night attack upon one of their villages, about twenty miles from hence, and after killing the chief and a number of his followers, earned the re- 1

niainder of the inhabitants into captivity, arid plundered everything they could lay hands on. The reason for this attack was because two men of secondary note had decamped into the Galla country. I fear we shall have a troublesome time of it for the next two or three months. In addition to other causes of anxiety, there is much sickness just now on this mountain, and upwards of 100 native prisoners have died of what appears to be typhus fever during the last three 'months. Thank God, .the epidemic has not yet reached our quarter. I hear that from 40 to 50 persons are dying daily in the royal camp at Debra Tabor from different diseases."