ABYSSINIAN.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 283, 27 June 1868, Page 3

ABYSSINIAN.

The closing scene of the assault at Magdala is told as follows by the correspondent of the " Times of India" : " Sir E. Napier ""could see that the defence of the garrison was not likely to be desperate. When either shell or rocket fell among the group of houses near the gate, where the defending forces might have been expected to be, a rush of women and children from the spot was all that could be He humanely forbade artillery to be advanced, as the butchery of the innocent and defenceless would be wholesale. The guns were silenced, and the order of assault was formed about four o'clock, in the following order—the Eoyal Engineers and the Bombay and Madras Sappers went first; then the 33rd Eegiment; after them the 45th Eegiment. The 4th (King's Own) was in reserve, with Beloochees supporting. * The batteries, winch also moved forward, now and again cleared the neighborhood of the gateway with shells. The storming, party advanced close to the natural wall of Amba before firing a shot, and then the Sniders opened fire. On the approach of our columns, Theodoras sounded his last rallying cry, aud gathered his men around him for one more desperate effort. The bullets came whistling thick and fast over our heads, but as our squadrons closed on their centre, all that was over. A party had taken refuge behind the gate, from whence they kept firing upon the Engineers, who were busy belaboring the fabric. On either side of the gate was a loop-holed wall, flanked by a strong thick fence, composed of horizontalpointed stakes, through which it was found impossible to force one's way, and the slightest slip involved a fall of eighty or a hundred feet. A narrow track, fit only for goats was discovered, and a few daring fellows scrambled along the narrow track, hauled up the scaling ladder, crossed the fence, chased the Abyssinians from behind, and assailed gate, while the 33rd swarmed rapidly after them. Some woodwork then gave way, whereupon it was discovered in what the strength of the entrance consisted. The doors

were double, and the space of twenty feet between them was strongly built up with largo stones. Inside the gate lay a group of dead and wounded, mostly chiefs. But another and narrower ascent had yet to be faced which was defended by strong doors at the top, and commanded by loop-holed battlements all round. Up this the 33rd swarmed in single file, or climbed over huts, houses, and wall into the fort, bayoneting and shooting every armed man in the way. Magdala was taken. The firing had ceased. Theodorus lay dead beside the inner gate. The captives were crowding round the hands and feet of their deliverers, and the women were chanting notes of welcome."