or to expose the flanks of their defences, and fought manfully hand to hand but the Coorg knife, though a formidable weapon in itself, is no match for the bayonet; neither, when pressed, had they time to load their awkward matchlocks, and their loss was very severe. Captain Budd, 32nd N.I., and Lieutenants Gibbs, Donelan, and O'Brien, H.M. 48th, were thanked in orders for their gallantry on this occasion, as was also volunteer Thomas Bell, son of Lieut.-Colonel Bell, commanding the 48th. He made himself conspicuous in every attack and skirmish with the enemy.

The obstacles thrown in the way of the advancing force were such as to detain them ten hours marching three miles. In mentioning this I do not allude to two stockades, and two barriers, which were turned and forced, but principally to the trunks of large trees which were thrown across the road to prevent the passage of the guns. Some of these were cut in two, others dug under, and, when these means appeared too troublesome, a road was cut through the jungle by the pioneers, who were always in advance, and in whose praise too much cannot be said. The exertions made to get the guns up the pass were tremendous; officers and men, Europeans and Natives, put their shoulders to the wheel; and at four P.M. every one was so much exhausted that the Brigadier deemed it necessary to order the force to take up a position for the night on a very small piece of ground surrounded by jungle, and about three miles and a half from the bottom of the ghaut. The damp air of the jungle, and the elevation to which the force had attained, made the night appear intensely cold; but all were tired enough to sleep; and the night was passed with only one disturbance, occasioned by a number of lights appearing in the jungle in front, which were withdrawn on a shell being thrown amongst them. I have heard it said that by good practice, assisted by good fortune, this shell pitched into a fire around which some of the leaders of the Coorgs were sitting with their men ; and, bursting, killed and wounded many, which, in addition to their loss of 4 chiefs and 250 men, which they had experienced during the day, so discouraged them that they did not oppose the advance of Colonel Fowlis the following morning.

This may, or may not be the case; it is certain they dread shells, and equally so that, when they have the best of it, and a chance of plunder, they care little about flags of truce, as the small force under Lieut.-Colonel Jackson was fired on when retreating, and was nearly being destroyed, by a large body of troops of the Rajah, many of whom, I have no doubt, had been opposing Colonel Fowlis's force, and who pursued him until the evening of the 7th; and it was only when he got out of reach of their ambuscades that it was presented, though they must have had it on the 4th at latest.

The force bivouacked in the best way it could. A strong party, with a gun and mortar, was pushed in advance. The flank companies of regiments were posted as piquets on the hills to the right, which commanded the position; and, although they were occasionally molested by the skirmishers of the enemy, nothing of consequence occurred during the night.

Taking into consideration the force of the enemy, and the difficult nature of the country, our loss was very slight, which must be attributed to sending out plenty of skirmishers on the exposed flank.

Wounded, Captain Butterworth, Staff, Lieut. Gibbs, 48th.

Killed and wounded, Captain, 1; Lieut. 1; and rank and file, 45

WESTERN AUXILIARY FORCE-LIEUT.-COLONEL JACKSON.

Early on the morning of the 3rd orders were given by Lieut.-Colonel Jackson to form two reconnoitring parties; one to proceed on the Buntwall road, where it was reported some of the enemy had been seen, and the other and larger to march along the road leading to Ballarypettah, and to reconnoitre a stockade reported to be at some distance. The smaller of these parties, under Lieut. Stubbs, H. M. 48th, advanced for three miles, and, finding all quiet, and no trace of an enemy, returned to the camp. The larger, consisting of 40 Europeans and 120 Sepoys, was commanded by Captain Noble, 40th N. I., and accompanied by Captain M'Cleverty, H. M. 48th, Brigade-Major. It left the camp at about 7 A.M., and after penetrating, by an excessively bad road, about four miles, its advanced skirmishers fell in with the abandoned weapons and rice of a piquet which the enemy had pushed forward on the road. Owing to the thickly-wooded hills and thick jungle, the enemy escaped without being seen. Proceeding cautiously rather less than a mile further, the situation of the stockade became visible. Whilst feeling the way with an advanced party, winding amongst steep and wooded hills, with a most impracticable country on both sides, a sudden turn of the road leading under a high jungly bank placed Captain Noble directly in front of the stockade. A straight and steep ascent led up to the gate, distant about a hundred yards, flanked by wooded hills crested with the prolongations of the stockade. When Captain Noble had advanced as far as he considered prudent, he halted the main body, and, having directed the subaltern commanding the party of the 48th to support him with a few men, he ran forward to a tree distant not more than fifty yards from the gate, and completed the reconnoissance on that side. Whilst he was doing this Captain M'Cleverty was endeavouring to penetrate a small pathway which appeared to lead to the proper left of the stockade. This the enemy, who had already been seen in pretty good numbers dodging about in the jungle, would not allow, and one or two shots were fired at him. This appeared a signal for a general volley, which was poured in from all sides, and from the high trees with which the party was surrounded, killing and wounding twenty or thirty men. The little party in advance were all either killed or wounded; the doolie-bearers dropped their doolies, and foolishly rushed into the jungle, where they were probably murdered, and the guides, profiting by

the momentary confusion, followed their example. The reconnoissance had been, however, completed as far as was deemed necessary, and the order was given to retire; but the guides had led the party through bye-paths, and there were many leading in all directions, and equally alike. A wrong one was taken, and the party must inevitably have been destroyed in the jungle, had it not been for Captain M'Cleverty, H. M. 48th, who, having narrowly examined the formation of the ground when advancing, was enabled to extricate the party, guiding it back to where the road was more beaten. But even this momentary delay had cost some lives, and the horses of the four officers, who had dismounted when nearing the stockade.

Regularity was, however, now attained. A sharp fire was kept up on any who allowed themselves to be seen in the jungle, and the retreat was steadily conducted. The road by degrees became a little more open, and, as the Coorgs did not willingly expose themselves to our fire, the loss became less severe. Still, however, the active enemy was enabled to occupy every post of vantage on the flanks, and sometimes in advance. A few cavalry, and two very small guns, followed in the rear. Soon after quitting the thickest part of the jungle, Ensign Johnstone, 51st N. I., was slightly wounded. He had volunteered for the occasion, and had only joined the force the day before. Having no command, he had taken his gun, and delayed in the rear, firing at the advance of the enemy, when he was again hit in the body, and fell. It was some little time before this was known, as the force was descending a small and rather steep valley, on the crest of which he was hit; but when the other summit had been attained, he was seen on the ground, with two of the enemy near him, and one who was leaning over him. This man was almost immediately wounded. I mention this occurrence particularly, as, when I was in the Coorg country afterwards, the Political Resident inquired of me if I had heard of the man who drank poor Johnstone's blood. I had not, and was informed that it was the fact that the Coorg had promised the Rajah that he would drink the blood of an English officer before he returned; that he fulfilled his promise to the letter, and was rewarded by the Rajah for his brutal deed. This was corroborated to me by the Coorg chiefs who were engaged against that party on that day; and the man himself at that time publicly acknowledged it, and boasted of the fact. I might have questioned him myself, but declined.

The reconnoitring party continued to retire fighting for about four miles. Their ammunition was nearly expended, and, from the want of water, and the fatigue of helping on the wounded, every one was so exhausted that the fire was slackening; and the Coorgas were momentarily becoming more bold, and closing in greater numbers around what they now considered their certain prey. But by this time the continued and approaching fire had been heard in camp, and Lieut.Colonel Jackson sent up two strong parties as supports. Lieut. Tidy, H. M. 48th, with part of this force, met and drove back the Coorgas with severe loss, and, thus covered, the reconnoitring party reached the camp without further loss, the enemy not daring to press the fresh troops sent as supports.

The loss out of 160 men was, however, severe.

Ensign Johnstone, 51st N. I., killed.

Lieut. Webber Smith, H. M. 48th, wounded (slightly).

Followers and doolie-bearers, 16 killed and missing, 2 wounded, 4 horses killed

and missing.

The Coorgas followed up the advantage they had gained, and placed ambuscades in every available position round the camp, and a strong one on the road which had been reconnoitred. A report was set afloat that some wounded men had not been brought in, and in particular a young serjeant, whose loss was much regretted; and a small party of brave men accompanied the young brother of the serjeant (Barlow, H. M. 48th), with the visionary hope of being able to ascertain the truth. They left the camp on this useless but gallant attempt, without the authority of their officers, and were immediately driven back with loss; neither could a reconnoissance in force be again attempted. The greater part of the brigade had been engaged or marching all day; and having assembled shortly before sunset in camp, from the number of the enemy in the vicinity, two-thirds were again sent out on piquet, to prevent, if possible, a night attack on the camp, which was expected, and which would have ended in the flight of every native follower.

It is very much to be regretted that this little force had not two or three small guns; they are always useful, besides having a great moral effect on the natives on both sides. Some of the defences employed by the Coorgas were simply trunks of small trees, seven or eight feet high, wattled together, crossing the road, and defended on their flanks by deep ravines or tangled jungle. A few six-pounder shot would speedily ruin this little obstacle, which, however, becomes much more serious when it is necessary to charge up a narrow road to it, and cut it down in the face of a numerous musketry. In addition to this, our troops are exposed to great disadvantages in endeavouring to outflank these barriers. The jungle in which they are placed is almost invariably dense; and struggling through this, with cross-belts, pouch, bayonet, scabbard, and, above all, with the heavy and useless shako, is enough, under a hot sun, speedily to exhaust the strongest man. What little warfare there now is, or may be, in the southern parts of India, must be principally in jungle, where rifles and light artillery are the most useful arms. The natives dread artillery, and a few shells thrown into a stockade would ensure its speedy abandonment.

One or two spies were caught creeping into the camp at night; but the piquets were not attacked, and the night passed quietly away.

I. W. S.

[To be continued.]

DIARY OF A RUN TO THE NORTH COAST OF FRANCE.

NORMANDY, as we all know, is one of the very few parts of France that puts one at all in mind of home as one looks across the country from the top of a diligence. Hereabouts, near Carentan, St. Lo, Vire, &c., ranging into Brittany, it has very much the air, at a distance particularly, from the division of the fields, hedges, trees along them, and in the careful cultivation; but go where we will, there is the comfortable feeling wanting of neat farm-houses; some there are, to be sure, especially in Brittany, but there is no such thing as a cottage ornée, or a villa, far or near. One often hears, in the towns, of the French going to the country for the summer and autumn, but I never could understand where they go to! From Paris, indeed, they go to some country town or village, for their châteaux are few indeed, and far between; and when such a factory does stand at the further end of two exact rows of trees, it looks wofully forlorn and out of order, and is, in fact, generally shut up; owned by the separated children of the sire, who may be found in the secondes et troisièmes étages in Paris; perhaps not liking to sell it, and yet not quite agreed about the division of it and their domain; thence, in part, the absence of country gentry; the small noblesse, and the few well to do, and aspiring to be genteel, living on a very slender income, are invariably to be found in the various towns. It is, besides, true, of course, that they have no taste for a pure country life; how should they? And yet we hear Frenchmen talk of "la chasse," but it is always much after the fashion of our cockney sportsmen. As to farming, that is entirely left to the working people; sensibly enough, for gentlemen farmers make sad hash of it, even with ourselves; but French gentlemen hardly know a turnip from beet-root in the fields-certainly not barley from wheat; they would rather play at politics or écarte, or study the exact sciences; for the French are very clever and studious, when they take that way, and more patient and persevering than we are in the upper walks of life.

There is a plant very much cultivated in Lower Normandy and other parts, which we know nothing of in England, and from which they make an immense quantity of oil at a very cheap rate; I allude to the Colza. The oil of Colza lights their towns, their lighthouses, is contracted for in their dockyards, and is, I believe, besides, used for most domestic purposes, where we use whale oil; with the difference, that it is not one quarter so expensive, with a sure supply to any extent. This is the only thing that strikes me as peculiar in their agriculture. They raise, however, much more buckwheat than we do (sarrasin), from which they make excellent cakes (galettes-I often ask for them, but it is not the season for them); being a grain that will put up with poor land, I think we neglect it too much; it is rarely seen now in England, but is much cultivated in the United States, where they are famous for their buckwheat cakes,

Came in on the pretty river Vire in the evening (driving through Carentan this time), a mile and a half beyond the town. As high as this sloops and small craft come up. The country now soon grows hilly; the river bearing the features of a rapid, brawling stream.

Stopped at the Chef-lieu of St. Lo-a rather pretty town, seated on