and shouting of the rebel negroes, who discharged several musquets. The shot, however, did not reach the camp. This disturbance continued till day-break. As soon as it was light the colonel, though now himself excessively weak from a violent attack of ague, hastened in pursuit of the foe, but to no purpose; for, about one o'clock his troops got into a bog, from which they had the utmost difficulty to extricate themselves. At length they were obliged to return to the place of their previous night's encampment, with the loss of two of their men, who were supposed to have perished in the marsh.

Among what Captain Stedman denominates the plagues that were attendant on this march, he enumerates about eighteen different kinds of insects, and twelve species of disease by which the men suffered. Such, he says, were the pests with which they had to struggle in this baneful climate, that the poor men died in multitudes, without medical assistance, and frequently without a friend to close their eyes, or a coffin or shell to receive their bodies; and at last, like heaps of loathsome carrion, they were thrown promiscuously into one pit.

After this the colonel was joined by a corps of a hundred negro rangers, a most important reinforcement in their present juncture, particularly as these black soldiers knew how to engage with the rebels much better than the Europeans did. The colonel, on the 17th, issued orders for his little army to march in three lines or columns. They proceeded till about noon, when they came to a swamp, which they crossed. These swamps, or quagmires, are very common in Surinam, and very dangerous: they are a soft miry kind of bog, covered with a thin crust of verdure, sufficient, in many places, to bear the weight of a man when walked over. But should this crust give way, whoever breaks it is swallowed up in the chasm, where he must inevitably perish, if not immediately extricated. Several of the men, this day, sunk through the surface of the swamp, as if ice had

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broken under their feet; some of them up to the arm-pits, and they were not got out again without difficulty.

This day they approached within a few miles of the enemy's strong hold, but the men were excessively fatigued. On the ensuing morning they advanced, and, about eight o'clock, they entered an extensive and formidable swamp, which defended the rebel settlements, and in which they soon found themselves above their middle in water. After having waded about half a mile, the grenadiers mounted the beach on the opposite side: the main body followed, and the whole formed without the slightest opposition. On the spot where they now stood, a spectacle was presented to their view, sufficient to shock the most intrepid among them. The ground was strewed with skulls and bones, still covered with flesh, and besmeared with the blood of some unfortunate men, who, a little while before, had been defeated by the rebels.

The troops now followed a kind of footpath that had been made by the enemy; and not long afterwards they met a party of the rebels, each carrying a green hamper upon his back. They fired, dropped their bundles, and run back towards their village. In the hampers, which were formed of leaves curiously plaited, these negroes had been carrying rice from one part of their settlement to another. Advancing still further, the troops came to a field of rice and Indian corn, belonging to the rebels. Here they halted till the whole force came up. They then immediately proceeded, cutting their way through a small defile of the wood, and under a heavy fire of musquetry from the enemy on every side. At length they approached within view of the rebel town, situated amidst rice-fields, sheltered from the sun by the foliage of a few lofty trees, and presenting altogether a prospect romantic and enchanting beyond conception. Here a general attack was commenced, and a firing, like one continued peal of thunder, was kept up betwixt the rebels and

the troops for more than forty minutes. The approach to the town had been rendered extremely difficult by the trunks and roots of trees, which the enemy had placed in the way; and behind which, as temporary fortifications, they fired upon the troops, with deliberate aim. The troops, however, scrambled over these impediments, and fought their way with the most undaunted courage. They had approached the town, and were about to enter it, when a rebel captain, wearing a tarnished gold-laced hat, and bearing in his hand a torch of flaming straw, seeing that the ruin of the place was inevitable, set fire to it in the very presence of the invaders and so dry were the houses that they were all instantly in a blaze. This bold and masterly manœuvre afforded the enemy an opportunity of retreating with their wives and children, and carrying off all their most valuable effects; whilst the pursuit of the troops, and their expectations of plunder, were at once frustrated by the ascending flames and the unfathomable marsh, which they soon discovered on all sides to surround them.

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Captain Stedman says, that within the last hour, the continued noise of the firing, shouting, swearing, and hallooing of black and white men mixed together; the groans of the wounded and the dying; the shrill sound of the negro horns from every quarter, and the crackling of the burning village; the horrid appearance of the wounded men weltering in blood and dust: the ascending flames; and the clouds of smoke with which they were surrounded, formed on the whole a scene which it would be impossible to describe.

Here the troops halted a little while to rest and refresh themselves. After they had done this, they inspected the smoking ruins. They found the town to have consisted of about a hundred houses or huts, some of which were two stories high. Among the glowing ashes they picked up several trifles that had escaped the flames, such as silver spoons and forks, which had been pillaged from different estates. They

also found some knives, broken china, and earthen pots. Among other things, they observed three skulls fixed upon stakes, the mournful relics of some Europeans who, not long before, had fallen into the hands of the rebels. The colonel ordered the bodies of all the men who had been slain to be buried; and these bones were thrown with them into one pit. After this mournful ceremony was concluded, the troops proceeded to sling their hammocks for the night, under the beautiful and lofty trees, with which the town was surrounded. While this was doing, Captain Stedman was shocked to find the negro rangers employed in a most savage and barbarous amusement. They were playing at bowls with the heads of their slaughtered enemies. It was in vain to reprimand them for this inhuman diversion: it was the custom of the country, and they could not be restrained. Their subsequent treatment of these heads is too horrid to be described: finally, they took out the jaw-bones, and smoke-dried them, together with the right-hands of the slain, to be carried home, to their wives and relations, as trophies of their victory.

In the course of the ensuing night the rebels more than once annoyed the troops by firing upon them.. They even came so near as to enter into conversation; and they and the rangers insulted each other by a kind of war-whoop, by singing victorious songs, and sounding their horns, as signals of defiance. After a long and abusive contest, the rebels tinkled their hatchets, fired a volley, gave three cheers, and dispersed before the rising of the sun.

The rebel negroes are distinguished from others, by having their hair plaited close to their head. Their dress consists only of a cotton sheet, tied across the shoulders: this protects them from the weather, and also serves them to rest upon. They carry a pouch formed of the skin of some animal; have a few cotton strings round their ankles and wrists for ornament; and a superstitious "obia," or amulet round their neck,

and their weapons consist chiefly of a firelock and a hatchet.

The rebels of this settlement having been apparently subdued and dispersed, Colonel Fourgeoud gave directions that the crops of all their rice fields should be destroyed. This was done; and afterwards fifty marines and thirty rangers were sent to reconnoitre behind the town, and to discover, if possible, how the rebels could pass to and fro, through an unfathomable marsh, whilst the regular troops were unable to pursue them. The officer who commanded on this expedition, perceived, after a considerable search, a kind of floating bridge among the reeds, but so constructed that only one man abreast could pass it. On this bridge a few rebels were seated astride to defend the communication. They fired upon the party, but were soon repulsed.

On the 22d Colonel Fourgeoud ordered a detachment to cross the bridge, in pursuit of the rebels who had escaped. Captain Stedman had the command of this detachment. The party scrambled over the defile of floating trees, and soon afterwards found themselves in a large oblong field of cassava and yams, and containing about thirty houses, all now deserted. Here, to their astonishment, they discovered that the reason of the rebels approaching the troops shouting, singing, and firing a few nights before, was merely to cover the retreat of their friends. While this was going on, the troops were prevented, by the noise, from discovering that men, women, and children, were all actively employed in preparing hampers of rice, yams, and cassava, for subsistence during their escape. The project had been completely successful; and a more masterly trait of generalship has seldom been exhibited, even by the most enlightened nations.

Colonel Fourgeòud was excessively enraged at finding that he had thus been outwitted by negroes; and, though nearly destitute both of ammunition and provisions, he resolved to pursue them with unrelenting