MASON JACKSON (BRITISH 1819-1903), THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION: THE MIDDLE SOOROO DEFILE IN THE SENAFE

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MASON JACKSON (BRITISH 1819-1903)THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION: THE MIDDLE SOOROO DEFILE IN THE SENAFE PASS AND 2ND HALTING GROUND AFTER Black and grey wash, on paperOne signed MJac[kson] (lower right) and both extensively inscribed (on the reverse)52 x 36.5cm (20¼ x 14¼in.) (2)Literature:The first published The Illustrated London News, 8 February 1868, p. 129 The present drawings relate to the British military expedition to Abyssinian (now Ethiopia) to rescue hostages held by Emperor Tewodros II in 1868. They depict the British army marching through the Middle Sooroo Defile in the Senafe Pass and relate the physical and logistical difficulties of the expedition which was keenly followed in the British press. The inscription on the reverse gives a vivid account '...the Middle Sooroo defile, with a pioneer party making their way along it...The Tekonda Pass from the coast has now been given up as the route to be followed by the British army in ascending to the Abyssinian table-land. A pass leading more directly to Senafe, from the landing-place at Zulla in Annesley Bay, has been found...and troops are now daily pushed up to Senafe by this road; but it has required many days' labour to make the road passable for guns upon wheels. The Senafe Pass, as it will henceforth be called, is fifty miles in length. The Sooroo is by far the most difficult part of the Senafe Pass. It is a very narrow gorge, between high and precipitous mountains; and for about four miles the bed of the stream is completely choked up with enormous boulders, which must either be removed by blasting, or built over, to construct a practicable road. By the labour of several companies of Sappers, and working parties of the 10th, 21st, and 27th Beloochee Regiments of Native Infantry, very much has been done'. From Illustrated London News, 1868.

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