and was the fafeft and;readied fupply..for the army,, as
b eingperfed ily under command' o f our mufquets, where
our horfes could water without d an g e r : immediately fouth
from this ran a valley fu ll h a lf a mile broad,, which ended"
ip a large plain about two miles. ofiL
T he valley where Michaeland the van fir ft engaged, was-s
formed by the hills o f Belefleh on the eaft, and the river Ma*
riam on the weft, and near the middle o f the valley there ■
was a low and flac-topt- hill," not above 30 yards in height,
which did n o t. jo in . w i th . the- hillvsf; Serbraxos. s Between
them there was an opening o f about ioo yards, through
w hich ran Deg-Ohha, to the ford of* the river Mariam, from
which you afcended in a dire<ifton: nearly N. W. up into the
plain w hich reached to. the lake Tzana. On the fouth end
©f this hill, as I have faid, w h ich . m ight have been about
two miles in lengthy the banks o f the Mariam are very
liigh, and the river., ftands in large deep pools, w ith banks
o f fand between them.. Where.this hill ends to ¡the righ t:
is another ford ¡of :the f iv e r Mariam,, where a deep and narrow
fandy road'-goes winding up the banks, in a direction
N. W. like the former, and leads to the lame plain borderin
g on the lake. TZana : fo that the plain: o f the valley
where the Mariam -runs^which is bordered by th e fo o t o f
the, mountains . ofcBelefieri,; and, continues .along the plain ,
fouth to Tangoure, is, near, 200 feet lower titan the plain ?
that extends-on the fide o f the lake Tzana. Nor is there a-
convenient acceft from the plain to the valley, at leaftfhat
I law, by reafon o f .the.h’eight and fteepnefs o f the banks o f,
the Mariam,-excepting thefe. two already mentioned ; one
between ,the extremity o f the long even hill, and Hope o f
the mountain,on.the north, and the other , on the fouth,
through.
through the winding fandy road up the fteep banks o f the
river, by th e fou th end o f that low hill, as I have already
faid. At thefe two places are the two fords o f the river,
which continue paffable even in the rainy feafon, and the
water at that time ftands in pools below it, till feveral miles
further it joins the Zingetch Gomara, a larger ftream than
itfelf, whofe banks are low, and where the ftream is
fordable alfoy but the banks o f the river Mariam continue
fteep, and run in a fouthern diredlion. In this valley, at the
fouth end o f this hill near the ford was the engagement between
Michael with .the van, and the B egemder troops, on
the 16 th ; at thie ford on the north end o f this hill, in the
fame valley, was! the fight between the light troops and Kaf-
mati. Ayabdar, and the k in g in perfon, the vfery fame d a y ; fo
that the valley was perfectly known by the enemy, and as
they had few-or no mufquetry, was wifely confidered as not
fit ground for their purpofes being narrow and commanded
b y hills everywhere.
On the Tptb o f May, word was b rou ght that the whole
rebel army was in motion, and before eight o’clock (reckoned
in Abylfinia an early hour for fuch bufinefs) a great
cloud o f duft was feen rifing on the right o f the rebels towards
Korreva, and -this was the moment the Begemder
troops got on horfeback in the dufty plain ; foon after we
heard their kettle-drums, and about nine o’clock we faw
the whole troops o f Begemder appear, drawn up a f fifth
a diftance in the plain, above the road up the fteep bank
o f the Mariam, as to leave great room for us to form with
the road on our left, and a little on our rear ; Michael eafi-
ly divined Powuffen’s intention, which was to beat us back
by a fuperior force o f horfe, and then making a num.
U 2 bej.