First Italo-Ethiopian War, 1895-1896: soldiers returing from Eritrea being taken into hospital in Naples. Process print by Meisenbach after J. Fortuné Nott after H. Lanos.

"The Italian transports that are taking fresh troops and supplies to Massowah on their return voyage bring back as many of the sick and wounded as they can conveniently accommodate. The steamers performing this service, however, are too few and too small, so that even now--two months after the terrible defeat of Adowa--there are still some thousand or so of sick and wounded waiting at Massowah for passage back to their native land. In every shipload that has arrived up to the present, the men who have been prostrated by fever preponderate very largely in numbers over those who have been wounded, for many of the latter are too severely maimed, or ihave been so fearfully tortured and mutilated by their savage opponents, that they cannot be moved from the hospital-tents where they now are. The sufferings some of these poor fellows have undergone are almost beyond belief. In a few cases their minds have given way, and one or two of the boys who have been brought back are now in a condition of drivelling idiotcy. The sick and wounded are landed at Naples, the former are distributed among the city hospitals which have been prepared for their reception, and the latter are sent to the Ospedale della Trinita, which has been for many years the military hospital of Naples."—The graphic, loc. cit.