The water collected in the tanks
was of very little use. Those reservoirs were not covered after the
rains, and the water, impregnated with all kinds of vegetable and
animal matter, soon became quite unfit to drink. The principal
springs are at Islamgee; there are a few on the amba itself, and
numerous less important ones issue from the sides, not many feet
from the summit, at the base of the ridge itself.
Magdala was not only used by Theodore as a fortress, but also as a
gaol, a magazine, a granary, and as a place of protection for his
wives and family. The King's house and the granary stood almost
in the centre of the amba; in front towards the west a large space
had been left open and clear; behind stood the houses of the officers
of his household; to the left, huts of chiefs and soldiers; to the
right, on a small eminence, the godowns and magazines, soldiers'
quarters, the church, the prison; and behind again another large
open space looking towards the Galla plateau of Tanta.
Theodore's houses had nothing regal about them. They were built
on the same pattern as the ordinary huts of the country, but only
on a larger scale. He himself, I believe, never, or at least very
rarely, lived in them; he preferred his tent at Islamgee, or on
some neighbouring height, to the larger and more commodious abode
on the amba.
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