Ruin at Agoola, Tigre, 1868

Watercolour by Captain Cornelius Francis James, Bombay Staff Corps, 1868.

James painted this view of ancient ruins in the Tigre region of Ethiopia during the advance of Lieutenant-General Sir Robert (later Field Marshal Lord) Napier's expeditionary force to Emperor Tewodros II (or King Theodore) of Abyssinia's capital at Magdala. Although the engineers laid a railway and built a road part of the way into the interior of the country, Napier's men still had to traverse over 400 miles (640 km) of difficult country to get to Magdala. James served with the Bombay Staff Corps during the Abyssinian (1867-1868) Expedition.