Several accounts of the British Expedition have been published, which have displayed a far higher literary ability than the following pages can venture to lay claim to. They have, however, been written by those who have not had access to those authentic documents which cannot be collected directly after the termination of a campaign.<br><br>The endeavour of the author of this sketch has been to present to readers a succinct and impartial account of an enterprise which has rarely been equalled in the annals of war. In the Abyssinian campaign the enemies to be feared more than the open foe were natural obstacles and starvation. These were successfully encountered and subdued. The difficulties would have been more apparent, had their reduction been less skilful.