CHAPTER V.

A BATIDA IN THE SIERRAS OF ANDALUSIA.

Departure from Cork, and fresh spell of foreign service-A soldier's motto-Arrival at GibraltarBarren appearance of the rock-The AlamedaAssociations connected with a view of the bayOccupations on first arrival-Variety of people and costumes-Road constructed by General Don, leading to the summit of the rock-Magnificent view from thence-St. Michael's Cave-Stalactites -Supposed communication with Ape's HillO'Hara's Tower-Goats and monkeys - Serjeant Macdonald and the signal station The neutral ground-Evening music on the Alameda-Masked balls at San Roque-Field sports in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar-The Calpe hounds-Prince George of Cambridge-Meets of the hunt-Excursion to Castellar-Shot at an eagle-A village venta Monsieur Jean and his wife Alonzo Rovero, the old Caçador-A restless night-The Batida-The author asleep on his post-A bloody apparition My first deer-A sylvan repastSandy's battle with the boar-A wounded dogA good night's rest-Return to the garrison.

CHAPTER V.

A BATIDA IN THE SIERRAS OF ANDALUSIA.

"From the hill I return, oh, Morna! from the hill of the dark brown hinds; three have I slain with my bended yew; three with my long bounding dogs of the chase. Lovely daughter of Cormac! I love thee as my soul. I have slain one stately deer for thee: high was his branchy head, and fleet his feet of wind."-OSSIAN.

IT was on a fine sunny morning, towards the end of September, 1837, that, with drums beating, band playing and colours flying, amidst the farewell flutter of scarfs and kerchiefs gracefully waved o'er our heads by the fair daughters of Erin, and to the tune of "The lass we leave behind us," that the 46th Regiment marched through the streets of Cork, in order to embark immediately for foreign service. Three short years had

A SOLDIER'S MOTTO.

107.

scarcely elapsed since our return from abroad, ere we were thus again called upon to leave our native shores. The old corps had previously endured a spell of ten or eleven years in the West Indies, with an intervening respite of only six months at Jersey, when the shine was again taken out of it by an exile of twenty years in the East. On our return thence, we were allowed the short breathing time of one twelvemonth in "Merry Old England;" after which recommenced, for twenty months, what most of us considered a new course of foreign service, by being banished to the bogs of Ireland; and now once more on the world of waters, in a couple of troopships, we were making the best of our way to "Calpe's rugged Rock," our far-famed stronghold of Gibraltar.

"Here to-day, and gone to-morrow," ought, in common with the saying of Corporal Trim, to be the motto of every military man; yet it is a life endeared to us by custom, by the ties of long-formed friendships, the strong force of habit; and although, since I first commenced

"sogering," years may have grizzled my locks, whilst sun and storm united have, maybe, spoiled my complexion, I have never, up to the present moment, felt a single pang of regret at having taken "the shilling," and hope yet, as a soldier, to die in "harness."

After a pleasant passage of three weeks we entered the bay of Gibraltar, took up a snug berth under the New Mole, and as we were not to disembark till the following day, we had full leisure to contemplate the hoary old cloudcapped giant, Calpe, who frowned down upon us from his bare and rugged heights.*

It was in early autumn that we arrived, when,-scathed and burnt up by a long continuance of hot weather and scorching suns,the "Rock" presented to the eye a singularly arid and barren appearance, resembling from

* The prevalence of a "Levanter," or easterly wind, generally clothes the summit of the rock in a canopy of clouds, which are familiarly called the night-cap, and it frequently adheres as tenaciously to its grey head as the "cloth" does to the Table Mountain at the Cape of Good Hope.

afar some huge mass of volcanic remains, abruptly emerging from the smooth waters of a clear and translucid pool.* The aching sight, however, found relief in the verdure which overspread its base, where, even at this season of general drought, it gladly rested on the waving and noble alamos blancos,† and the dark green of the bellas sombras, which, amidst a wilderness of flowering shrubs, shaded that verdant oasis in the desert: the Alameda and its gardens; for the refreshing coolness of which the dusky rock scorpions (as the natives

* At the end of summer and beginning of autumn the "Rock" always presents the barren appearance here described; but after the fall of the first showers, which generally take place in October, this sterility is replaced by the brightest verdure, proceeding from the numerous bulbous plants which shoot out of every fissure and cranny of the rocks. Amongst these is conspicuous the white narcissus and a great variety of the crocus tribe.

+ The white elm, a tree very much resembling the

aspen.

The "bella sombra," or beautiful shade, which the name implies, is a fine shady tree of very rapid growth, and found in great abundance in the walks and gardens of the Alameda, or public promenade.