Two stately volumes are to be added to the literature,
already copious, of the Abyssinian Expedition.—Reconnoitring in Abyssinia, by. Colonel H. St. Clair Wilkins, R.E. (Smith, Elder, and Co.), contains what are, in fact, the first chapters of the narrative of the war. Our readers will remember with how many suggestions the Government were favoured, when the expedition had been determined upon, as to means of trans- port, and especially as to route. This last question could not be deter- mined by any private experience. What suited a party of travellers might easily be impracticable for ten thousand men, with at least as many camp followers. The rival routes had to be surveyed by military experts. Hence the reconnoitring party which pioneered the way,— a party which was under the command of Colonel Merewother, Colonel Wilkins commanding the Engineers. Two routes finally remained to be chosen from ; the one through Egypt, recommended by Sir S. Baker, being put out of the question by political considerations. One had the advantage of lying through a lowland country, but water was scarce and the climate was detestable. The other plunged, so to speak, at once into the highlands, but it had immense superiority in the other two points. For the part of this route, that is, to Senate, there was an alternative way, lying more to the west, which was also explored. This is the barest outline of the story which Colonel Wilkins has to tell. He tells it in a very amusing and lively way indeed. The good-temper and cheerful spirit which must have been needed to bear up against no slight hardships shine out through the book. Among other amusing stories, there is one of how we came to hold the island of Perim, at the mouth of the Red Sea. The French, it seems, had a notion of taking it
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