The missing despatch from Zoulla has turned up. It would
seem that Sir Robert Napier thinks it more important to do his work than to chatter about the way he did it, and consequently left his despatch unwritten until he got a hint from this side that a talkative Parliament does not think silence golden. His narra- tive does not alter the main facts much, but it leaves the impres- sion that Theodore's soldiers fought better than had been imagined, making "gallant efforts to rally" and "closing fearlessly with the Punjabees," and that the mountain fortress was one of the strongest positions in the world. Falls, the "key to the whole system" of rocks, is a "gigantic naturitil bastion, level at the top,'' with a summit surrounded by a natural scarp of rock from 18 to 20 feet high,—a pleasant place to storm ! It was, however, sur- rendered without resistance, the chiefs stationed in it having been demoralized by the fight on the Bashilo, though the soldiers with Theodore were reported as recovering heart. Sir Robert Napier confirms the statement that Theodore committed suicide.
