drawn sword in one hand and a forage cap or shako in the other, cheering on the men to glory, as I had seen the scene portrayed in a picture at the Royal Academy. I was not a little astonished to hear that my duty was simply to attend to the men, and do my best to see that they kept their proper places-"unless," added the gallant captain, "myself and Mr. are knocked over, then comes your turn." The pleasing sound of bullets now assailed our ears, and numerous wounded of the French, who had entered the wood in front of us, were borne past us to the rear. At this point our column halted on the skirts of the wood to the left of where the French had attacked. As usual, there were several vivandeiras, who exposed themselves to the chances of wounds and death with an indifference and courage truly surprising, considering that their object could but have been the acquisition of a few vintems, the field of action being too well occupied to allow of their plundering the dead. It was necessary to keep a strict watch, to see that the soldiers were not plied with agoa ardente, as, although they were allowed to pile arms and leave the ranks, we were in momentary expectation of being engaged; and, therefore, the amiable ladies aforesaid, much to their dissatisfaction, were desired sans cérémonie to decamp bag and baggage." One of the sisterhood nevertheless, in spite of all admonition, pertinaciously stuck to her post, giving us all a great deal of trouble; and, being detected in the act of serving out spirits to one of the soldiers, her proceedings were summarily brought to a close by the adjutant, who cut the Gordian knot of the difficulty by dividing the spirit bottle with his sword. This circumstance was remembered against him when he shortly afterwards received his death-wound, and to it was attributed in their ignorant superstition what some of our men regarded as a judgment. Poor fellow! if a simple act of duty was the worst sin to be recorded against him on the last day, there are many with higher pretensions to piety who would be too glad to exchange with him.

66

The order came at last to advance, and we entered the

To resume. wood. I endeavoured to act up to the instructions I had received as well as I could; but, among the trees, which grew together densely, we lost our order, and in a minute or two I was left with a miserable minority of three or four who were unequal to the pace. I pressed impatiently forward, and soon found myself nowhere. The sounds of the firing appeared more distant; so I altered my course to the right, and, poking my way along, discovered to my delight the distinguishing shako, with its gilt chain, of Major Sadlier, who was standing with a group of officers in rear of some companies of the regiment, which, having cleared the wood, were lying down awaiting further orders. "Pray, sir," said I, can you tell me where my company is?" His keen gray eye rested for a moment on my puzzled physiognomy, and then relaxing its expression, he burst into a hearty laugh as he told me I ought to know best; but, having lost my own, I might, if I liked, join Captain W- -, who, with the grenadiers and 1st, was just then again moving to the front. I lost no time in joining them, and it was lucky for me as it happened, for these two companies bore the brunt of the fight, while the "light bobs" had been ordered to another point, and

mained in reserve during the rest of the day. We advanced across a oughed field, and charged through a lane, at the end of which we me in sight of the Miguelist camp, but, being wholly unsupported, ere unable with our small force to proceed further. A Portuguese giment ordered to support us, for some unknown reason never came p, and after maintaining and sustaining a severe fire for upwards of n hour, during which time we lost in killed and wounded many fficers and men, the word was given to retire to the edge of the wood, where we remained for some time inactive under the shelter of a bank. The fire slackened also on the enemy's side, each party giving an occaional shot to show each other they were not asleep, and we were ordered to lie down, standing to our arms when the firing now and then became orisker.

While affairs stood so with us, the 2nd Regiment, on the extreme left and in advance of ours, had met with equal success at first, and with as unsatisfactory a result. They had attacked and carried a steep hill, called Monte Castro, which dominated the town of San Joao, and had succeeded in reaching the castle of Quejo half a league beyond. The admiral was to have supported his assault, or, rather, to have prepared the way for it by a vigorous cannonade from the vessels of the squadron; but, unfortunately, Jack had taken it into his perverse head to mutiny again at the very time when he ought not, and before he suffered himself to be pacified by the oft-renewed and as often broken promises of payment of wages due and security for those to be earned, the golden opportunity was lost, and the guns were brought to bear too late in the afternoon to be of any service in the combined operations. Major Brownson, finding himself thus unsupported, and having no means of surmounting the walls, owing to the absence of scaling-ladders, was therefore obliged to retrace his steps as the 1st had done, but fortunately without great loss.

On our right matters had been bungled much in the same way. Brigadier-General Brito had received orders from Marshal Solignac to make a demonstration with his brigade supported by a field battery, which, according to circumstances, might either be converted into a real attack, or, by diverting their attention, draw off in his direction a portion of the Miguelist force opposed to us; but the same fatality attended all our movements on that day. It was said that the Emperor had interfered with the marshal's plan of battle, and, by giving counter orders, so embarrassed Brito as to render him powerless. Solignac soon afterwards resigned his command, and his resignation was generally attributed to a rupture with the Emperor created by the events of this day. While we were retiring, an ensign of ours, the handsomest fellow in the whole of the English force, received a wound which bade fair to render him the ugliest; a ball struck him across the upper lip, inflicting a desperate gash, the sight of which turned me nearly as sick as it made him; and, as if this was not enough at one time, another passed through his cheek, smashing his teeth and injuring his tongue, thereby placing him in imminent danger of starvation for some time to come from inability to swallow anything.

"Sweet are

the uses of adversity;" fortunate was it for him that want of food was

an inconvenience to which he had been tolerably accustomed for some time past. Eventually he was little the worse for his wounds, as when I last saw him he had pretty well recovered his good looks, and I had full evidence that his masticators were in as good working condition as

ever.

It was very mortifying to us, after having done so much in the commencement, to be obliged to retreat in the end without any advantage gained, except that of some promotions which our severe loss rendered necessary; but all hope of effecting anything more being over, and night beginning to fall, the picquets were called in, we fell back on the lines we had occupied in the morning, and after remaining since two o'clock A.M. without rest or food, with the exception of a morsel of bread given to me on the field by the major from a piece he was munching, I, with the rest, retraced my weary steps, scarcely able to keep awake, over rough rocks and through clayey puddles which alternately varied the formation of the wretched road leading to Oporto. We envied the 2nd, whose barracks were nearer than ours by half a mile, and at ten o'clock P.M., or thereabouts, after tasting some biscuit and wine which exhausted nature rendered absolutely necessary to enable me to reach my quarters, I turned into my sheets, and slept a dreamless sleep, such as only good consciences and digestions know. So ended my maiden field. S. J. J.

DEATH OF A HEROINE.-Mrs. Reston, better known as "The heroine of Matagorda," died in the Glasgow Town's Hospital at the close of December. She was with her husband, a sergeant in the 94th, when the French bombarded Matagorda, in 1810. During the bombardment she actively assisted the surgeon in relieving the wounded, and tore up her own linen, and the linen of her husband, to provide bandages. During the hottest of the fire, a drummerboy was directed to go for water for use in the hospital; and Mrs. Reston, seeing that the poor lad feared to face the tremendous shower of shot and shell, took the bucket from him and ran to the well herself. When Mrs. Reston returned to this country, she was received into the Town's Hospital in a state of destitution, on the death of her husband. A public subscription was, however, set on foot, and a fund raised for her, by which the latter part of her life was rendered comfortable.

THE DEMOLITION OF OLD ROCHESTER BRIDGE BY THE ROYAL ENGINEERS.On Tuesday, the 13th January, and again on Thursday, the 15th, the Royal Engineers had some experiments in destroying an isolated pier, by means of mines containing 4 charges of gunpowder, 2 of 60 lbs. each, and 2 of 30lbs. each, which was on the first day. They were fired simultaneously by the Voltaic battery, by Captain Cumberland, and proved to be very satisfactory. The foundation is totally destroyed, and the superstructure is so completely shaken, that the stone work can be easily removed by hand into barges and taken away. The effect produced by the explosion was very good, notwithstanding it was high water; the force of the powder threw up the water and a portion of stone a considerable height, and the shock was felt at some distance. On the second day the sight was one of grandeur; the quantity of gunpowder used was nearly 1,000 lbs. The Royal Engineers Corps, with the East India Company, and the Engineers' band, under command of Captain F. M. Somerset, were marched down to the bridge on both days to witness the experiments.. Besides the officers of the garrison, there were several distinguished officers. present on both days.

SCRAPS FROM SAINT HELENA.

THE following bon mot of Napoleon's is not generally known :

A mason employed in the construction of the new House at Longwood, had fallen from a height and hurt himself. The ex-emperor endeavoured to console him, by saying he hoped it was nothing serious. "You see," said he, "I have had a sad fall myself; nevertheless I am on my legs, and doing well."

After the emperor's death, on taking out the grate of the diningroom, they found numerous fragments of torn letters, which Napoleon, throwing them (as he thought) on the fire, had let fall down behind the grate; among them were pieces of letters, which proved that a certain well-known resident had been engaged in carrying on a treasonable correspondence for Napoleon. The consequence was, that the offender was obliged to leave the island, and Sir Hudson Lowe said, if he had known of it at the time, that he would have hanged him.

NATURAL HISTORY.

The domestic animals on the island are the same as in England. Rabbits abound in some situations.

On the discovery of the island the only animals found are said to have been seals, sea-lions, turtles, and sea birds frequenting the shore. Perhaps to these should be added the little field-mouse, so numerous over it, and one land bird, locally called the wire bird, and which, as it is supposed to be found only in the island, I will describe: I have two specimens preserved in spirits, which were shot for me by Captain Mason. In habits it resembles the sand pipes; its colour on the head and back is brown, something like that of the lark; long feathers of the wings nearly black; throat, neck, breast, and belly, pale fawn, nearly white; a dark brown band across the head between the eyes, and from the eyes down both sides of the neck to the shoulders; tail short; legs long and dark; from the thigh joint to the joint of the leg 2.1 inches; from the joint of leg to foot 1.6 inch; three toes, longest 0.9 inch; bill dark, 0·9 inch in length; weight of bird 13 ounce. chiefly frequents open ground, runs very quickly, and forms its nest under dry cattle droppings, where it lays two large eggs of a light stone colour, mottled with brown.

It

The sea birds are-man-of-war, tropic, whitebird, blackbird, eggbird, noddy, booby, and petrel.

Land birds: pheasant, partridge (become numerous since the Government gave them protection), pigeon, dove, minor, canary, averdavat, Java sparrows-so numerous that I once started a covey of at least 120 -cardinal, wire-bird, and Guinea fowl: the latter are seldom to be seen except in a domestic state, although formerly pretty numerous.

In 1827, the island was visited, for a short time only, by several birds of a different kind from any that had ever been seen on it before or since. Their bodies were as large as a pheasant, their legs long and black, but their claws open, and not webbed like water fowl, with long bills, resembling those of a snipe, but thicker and longer in proportion to the bulk of their bodies.

U. S. MAG., No. 339, FEB., 1857.

On

Scorpions and centipedes are found in the valleys next the sea. my one day pushing about one of the former with my stick, it testified no alarm, but, on the contrary, throwing its long tail over its head, it kept assailing the cane with the greatest fury. Their sting, though painful, is not dangerous. The scolopendras are from five to eight inches in length. There are spiders, some of a very great size. No bees, for although frequently introduced, they have always disappeared, supposed to be blown out to sea; but if such is the case, how is it that other winged insects do not disappear? There are cockroaches, mosquitoes (two kinds, one very large), flies, ants, death's-head moths (I had a caterpillar of this kind which was actually six inches long, and as thick as my finger), crickets or spring cans.

No frogs, toads, or snakes. Although some have arrived in bags, bales, &c., from the Cape and India, they have never survived their landing longer than a few hours, which is curious, as there is generally little difference between the climate of Saint Helena and the Cape.

It is computed that seventy-six species of fish frequent the coast. Those most commonly taken and used are mackerel, albicore, cavalloes, jacks, congers, soldiers, old wives, and bulls' eyes; and of shell fish, long legs, and stumps, the two last resembling the lobster in taste and colour, with the same kind of tail. Rock oysters are found in some situations. The coal fish, so called from its black colour, is from two to five feet long; it is singularly high-flavoured and delicate, tasting something like a salmon, but so scarce that seldom more than six or eight are caught in a year. The flying fish I have noticed in another part. Whales are frequently seen, and have occasionally been killed by South Sea whalers in the roads. Between the months of December and March, turtle frequent the island, and are often taken by the fishing boats. A few instances are known of cod being caught to leeward, in about 110 fathoms. About 1723, some large fish, supposed to be sun fish, got foul of a boat's moorings, and actually pulled the boat under water, when two of the garrison, out of three who were in her, were drowned. Sharks, of which there are four kinds, are numerous, and have killed several people at different times in the roads.

Of the vegetable productions indigenous to Saint Helena, there are more than a stranger would generally suppose. The trees are chiefly evergreens, and in general of a slow growth and hard wood. Those which abound most in the interior heights are the cabbage tree (differing materially from the cabbage tree of Juan Fernandez), and the white wood. The dog-wood grows to the height of from ten to fifteen feet. The string-wood, now very scarce, is not more than six or seven feet high. A great variety of curious ferns are met with in the interior woody heights, the most remarkable of which is the tree fern, rising sometimes to fifteen or twenty feet high, and in appearance resembling the palm. The red wood, rising to the height of about thirty feet or more, with blossoms white and red. Of the same genus is the dwarf ebony. The boxwood is a shrub four or five feet high, and grows in almost the driest and hottest parts of the island. In some of the most rocky and barren spots, as well as in other places, grows a very bushy tree, called the wild rosemary: nothing will grow under its shade. The wild olive is of the same genus. It bears a small dry berry; but neither