fallen overboard? or had she, smiling upon another, driven her fond admirer mad? Neither of these dreadful events had occurred; but I was the unhappy cause of his present distress of mind. The catastrophe was not long in arriving. In an instance he was by my side. The wildness of his eye was gone; his stern features had softened into a smile.

"You will excuse me, sir. I beg yonr pardon, sir; but that's not the way to carve a 'am! Hand me the knife, sir."

In another second I was disarmed, and the long blade, waving through the air, descended gently as a snow flake on the surface of the . meat. Slices now fell in red and white shavings on either side the dish.

"That's the way to carve a 'am !" exclaimed Mr. Amyere Cum. ming, the cuff of his coat turned up nearly to the elbow; his face beaming with delight.

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Bring the gentleman's plates, waiter! Any gentleman say 'am?" Many were the gentleman that said "ham ;" and busy was Mr. Cumming in his pleasing task.

"You seem to understand carving," remarked I, who, since my ab dication of the big knife, sat wonderingly regarding the intimate friend of our noblesse standing beside me, not eating, but, con amore, helping the passengers.

"Many is the thousand 'ams I've cut up," replied Mr. Amyere Cum. ming, intent on his occupation

"Thousands?" exclaimed I.

"Thousands ?"

"Yes old gentlemen; and no mistake. Only come to 'The gardens,' and I'll shew you what flare-up carving is!"

The truth burst on me at once. Mr. Amyere Cumming was a Vaux. hall carver! My gaucherie in murdering the ham had betrayed him. There was a scream at the end of the saloon-a lady had fainted.— Mr Cumming dashed down the carving knife, d-d himself for a fool, and rushed towards Miss Julia Maria, who was the fair

sufferer.

"My daughter doesn't want assistance, sir!" said Mrs. Aldgate; "and we shall be too unwell and out of sorts to see you at dinner in the Crescent."

"What do you mean, ma'am?" stammered Mr. Cmmming.

"That strangers should not intrude on their betters!" scornfully replied Mrs. Aldgate.

Miss Julia Maria was borne into the ladies' cabin. The Vauxhall functionary, who had refined slang into gentility, and learnt grace from the late Mr. Simpson, audibly cursed "blue goggles," and rushed on deck. Tom Willkins, the ingenious traveller, got another cut at the ham in the confusion, and just then the steamer reached Gravesend.

RICHARD JOHNS.

THE LOSS OF MY LEG.

It was a lovely evening in the month of February 182-, that a fleet of boats, containing the battalion of the regiment of Bengal infantry, to which I belonged, after following the whole day the tortuous course of the then unexplored Soormah, came to anchor on the southern bank of the river, immediately beneath the strong but deserted position of T-ne.

Much had been heard regarding the strength of this place, which was reported to be garrisoned by five thousand Burmese warriors, under a celebrated bundoolah, or chief; and rumour, we found, had been far from exaggerating the means of defence it possessed.

Young as I was at that time, one glance at the stupendous height before me carried conviction to my breast, that it would have been next to an impossibility for a small force like ours, so ill supplied with artillery as we were, for we had only three old six-pounders, without a single artilleryman to work them, to dislodge even a few determined men from so strong a hold, so admirably was the spot fortified by nature; besides, we had no reason to doubt the resolution of the enemy. Recent encounters had taught us that the Burmese, though but indifferent soldiers in the field, were cool, resolute fellows, when fighting behind their favourite species of fortification, (their stockades,) which they defended with considerable skill as well as bravery.

Not a heart amongst us, therefore, from the colonel down to the junior ensign, which latter grade I filled at that period, but felt more buoyant at finding ourselves at liberty to make a peaceable journey to the summit of the crag, without a single foe to dispute our progress in crawling up its abrupt and rugged sides.

Although our commandant was supposed to be desirous of reaping as many laurels as possible before he should be superseded by the brigadier-general appointed to command the expedition against the Burmese in this part of the world, still it was reasonable to conclude that, had the bundoolah with his five thousand men kept possession of the place, he would have hesitated in attacking him with so inferior a force as our single battalion, under circumstances so highly disadvantageous. In that case, we must have waited the arrival of the reinforcement, consisting of artillery and infantry, expected under the brigadier, which was nearly a month's march in the rear.

To have been inactive in such a country would have been dreadful; for it was truly a valley of the shadow of death, requiring the excitement of the most active employment to prevent our sympathising in the gloom that enveloped us, and thus falling easy victims to the pestilence that hovered around. Dense jungle of long coarse grass, attaining not unfrequently the height of ten feet, covered, with scarcely any intermission, the banks of the river. Beyond that, were swamps and marshy ground, abounding in rank vegetation, and swarming with horse-leeches of an enormous size, which often fastened themselves on the limbs of our men, when not protected by their clothing. If occasionally a village was seen on the higher spots, it was generally devoid of inhabitants as well as sup. plies. The villagers had fled at the approach of the Burmese army,

whose foraging parties had swept off every article in the shape of provisions; not even a grain of the coarse watery rice of the country was procurable. It would have been difficult to suppose the country had been recently inhabited, so desolate, so dreary was the wilderness around us, but for the murdered remains of some of the miserable nutives which occasionally met our sight, either lying near their own huts, or hanging up by their hair in the stockades we had taken from the enemy; and in one of which we had also liberated a number of unfortunate women they had most brutally abused.

The wound I had received in my right foot in the beginning of the month had kept me on my back till three days before, when I left my bed for the first time to be present at an attack on two of the enemy's stockades, both of which we carried. After the affair was over, I had been obliged to return to my couch once more, and my foot was still troublesome; but so beautifully serene was the evening, so cool and refreshing the light breeze that was superseding the sultry heat of the day, and above all, so strong was my curiosity to see a place that had engrossed so much of the conversation, and been the source of so many speculations to our little society of late, that I determined, like the others off duty, to employ the two hours' halt, allowed for the sepoys and boatmen to refresh themselves, in examining the place.

It rose directly from the banks of the Soormah to the height of some hundred feet; no other rising ground was to be seen for miles around; the river washed more than half its base, and the approach by land was low and marshy. There was but one pathway that led to the summit, and that was barely wide enough to admit of two or three of us mounting abreast. As we wound round the hillock, at every jutting point and abrupt turn our admiration burst forth afresh at the amazing strength of the position; and as we paused occasionally to draw breath, we expatiated again and again on the facility of pouring in a deadly fire on an attacking party from one spot, and of overwhelming them from another by hurling down loose masses of rock and soil upon their heads. At length we neared the summit. The last stage we mounted by a bamboo ladder, and found ourselves on a level spot, on which were erected temporary huts, bearing evident signs of having lately been occupied by an enemy's force.

Here we took breath again, and, as we contemplated the scene below us, we flattered ourselves the war was ended by our sole exertions; for all came to the conclusion, that if the Burmese chieftain had meditated facing us at all, he would never have evacuated the stronghold of T-ne, which, besides its other advantages, commanded the passage of the river completely; nor to this day can I even venture a surmise as to the cause that led the bundoolah to adopt so strange a measure, since he afterwards returned, with his army considerably weakened, and held good the place against the brigadier and his whole force, compelling him to retire with precipitation.

We had been but a few minutes on the height when our patroles sent up a couple of Burmese they had surprised in the jungle. This had been hitherto a war of extermination; no quarter had been asked or expected by either party; and being the first prisoners taken, we gazed on the two men before us with a considerable

degree of curiosity. They were both young, and, though shorter than the generality of our men, were the most robust and stronglybuilt Asiatics I have ever met with; in fact, few Europeans, I should suppose, could surpass them in physical powers. Though their hands were tightly bound behind them, and they were prisoners amongst Europeans, probably the first white men they had ever seen, no symptoms of anxiety or concern about their situation were visible on their dark, fierce, almost savage-looking countenances. Nothing could exceed the indifference they displayed to all around them. This apathy I attributed the at time to their belief in predestination; but when I called to remembrance, a few days after, the whole tenor of their behaviour, I thought, and still think, they were spies.

It being almost impossible for them to escape from the elevated spot we were on, their hands were unbound immediately they arrived; and cigars being offered by a young officer who was a great smoker, and had generally a supply in his pocket, thy squatted down together, and commenced smoking, seemingly not the least disconcerted by our presence as we grouped about them, or troubled with those prejudices of caste which characterize the Hindoo of British India; who would consider himself as defiled, were he to put anything to his mouth that had been contaminated by the touch of an European.

A red cap, and a piece of cloth, made of a mixture of silk and cotton, wound round their waists, formed the whole of their dress. They had a round hole perforated through the lobe of their left ears, into which, when spoken to, they thrust their cigars taking them out again, and resuming their occupation of smoking as soon as they had given their replies. None of us could speak the Burmese language; the conversation, therefore, was carried on by means of a native of Bengal, who acted as interpreter. My knowledge of Bengalee in those days was but slight, and much that was said on the occasion was untelligible to me. I learnt, however, that the bundoolah, with his army, which they reckoned at six thousand men, had crossed the river on a temporary bridge or float, made of plantain trees, and was but a few miles distant on the opposite bank.

My attention was soon called off by one of the most disgusting spectacles I ever witnessed. A party of the nagahs, or hill-men, came to pay their respects to their English allies, bringing with them several baskets full of human heads, which together with a number of swords, they laid at our feet. After making most profound salaams, one of them commenced an oration in a very lively manner, accompanying his rhetoric with various gesticulations and contortions of his face and body, doubtless very appropriate to enforce what he was saying; but, unfortunately, not a syllable of his harangue was understood by me, or any one else amongst us, excepting the governor-general's agent, who I believe, could speak their language.

It appeared that, after we had driven out the Burmese from their two stockades near B-ah, the hagahs had fallen on their rear as they were retreating through the passes in the hills, and the heads before us had been severed from the slain, from whom they had also taken the swords they had brought as an offering to our chiefs. Our

looks, I think, were not altogether the best calculated to impress our visiters with the most lofty ideas of our characters as warriors. Probably they deemed us not a little effeminate and squeamish in our notions for soldiers; for disgust was plainly depicted on every countenance, and every one applied his hand to his nose.

The weather was warm, and the trunkless heads had already began to emit a most disagreeable odour. These being removed to a respectful distance, two or three of the swords were accepted, and the donors presented in return with a couple of bottles of brandy. Squatting themselves down on their haunches in a line, each man took a mouthful as the bottle passed, stroking and patting his stomach with great complacency as he gulped down the liquor.

They also brought in, for the purpose of procuring medical aid, one of their own countrymen who had been tortured by the Burmese, with a view of exacting provisions, of which they were in great want during their retreat. This poor wretch, who still continued to breathe, was scored or gashed from head to foot, each cut being about an inch apart, and extending to the very tips of his fingers. I never saw him afterwards, nor did I learn his fate. That he should survive seemed impossible; and it is to be hoped, therefore, that death put a speedy termination to his sufferings.

I was now obliged to descend, it being my turn for the guard, that always kept pace with the flat along the banks of the river. Except ing the difficulties inseparable from a six-hour's march in a country devoid of roads, sometimes sticking in the mud, at others pushing through the long grass jungle reaching far above our heads, and in which there was more probability of encountering a tiger than a Burmese, the night passed over quietly enough. Not an enemy had been seen when the boats brought to at the dawn of the day.

Having lain down in my clothes when relieved from picket at midnight I was one of the first who landed that morning, and my friend A- soon joined me. He had been detached with the major against a small stockade, which the enemy evacuated on their approach, leaving a large quantity of rice behind them. This was the first time of our meeting since his return, he having only rejoined the evening before, after an absence of several days. Scarcely had we joined hands, and I had not had time to reply to a brief inquiry from him about the state of my wound, and his expression of sur. prise at seeing me on my legs again so soon, when I perceived a number of the enemy's cavalry, with their long spears and large circular flapped saddles, moving at a slow pace immediately in front of us, on the opposite side of the river, which was here probably about a hundred and fifty yards wide. To rush down to the boats, hurry out my men, and to draw them up on the top of the bank, were but the operations of a minute. Already had I pictured to myself one half of their troops rolling on the ground, and I felt an almost indescribable thrill of pleasupe as I hastened to give them a volley. But just as I was about to pronounce the word "fire," I experienced a sense of disappointment that baffles all description. The well-known voice of the colonel was heard close to my ear, peremptorily forbidding all firing a very necessary order when young subs like myself had charge of a company, which, from the paucity of officers with the battalion, had been the case since I joined it. It appeared that the govenor-general's agent, a civilian, was

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