Division, who had been lying down in rear of the guns, almost down to Careening Bay.

The Second Division was the only one engaged, except a small party of the Light Division, to whose services I shall presently allude. The Guards were in reserve, and other Divisions were advancing; but the Russians retired before they could come up. The action lasted, perhaps, two hours; upwards of eighty prisoners were taken, and, about one hundred and twenty Russians were left dead on the ground; and were buried the next day. The enemy carried off the greater part of the killed and wounded from the position they occupied. The proportion of wounded to killed is, I believe, about four to one; from which we may estimate their loss on the occasion, from five-hundred to sixhundred men. Two officers were taken; one, a very tall, handsome man, was interrogated in German, by the Duke of Cambridge, in the camp of the Second Division. It was said that one of the two was the officer of the picket which took Lord Dunkellin prisoner, a few nights previously. Our loss was twelve killed,

and seventy-one, including five officers wounded. It was a very brilliant little affair, and reflects great credit on the Second Division, and on Sir De Lacy Evans, who commanded them. The Russian officers and men were dressed nearly alike, in long grey coats, and high cloth caps with a red band. Their coats are so similar in colour to the high brushwood, which grows abundantly about the position, that, unless in large bodies, they are almost invisible, at a distance; and, when dead, are most difficult to find.

The dead were lying in pools of blood, their faces and hands like wax; most of them had been killed by our Minié rifles. Our heavy conical balls cause frightful wounds; whenever they touch limb, they smash the bone! Each soldier had with him a large piece of rye-bread, sour, black, and half-baked. Their firelocks were old, bearing date, 1834; and had been converted from flint to percussion.

A very few minutes' experience sufficed to overcome the horror I felt in the morning, on passing the field of Balaklava. I was on the ground from first to last. The engagement

VOL. I.

E

had more the appearance of a review, than a real fight. The day was fine, there was not too much smoke, and I could see the whole perfectly.

The division returned to camp in high spirits; the battle had been a short one, and the Russians had been well beaten, with small loss to ourselves.

Sir Thomas Troubridge was in command of the guard in the five-gun battery, on the left bank of the large ravine running down to Careening Bay. It consisted of a company of the Rifle Brigade, and three companies of the 7th Fusiliers; one of which occupied some caves in the ravine below, where the powder for the service of the battery was kept. When the Russian skirmishers, supported by strong battalions, advanced up the heights on the opposite side of the ravine, Troubridge called in the company from the caves, fearing lest the enemy should cross, and attack him. in flank and and rear. He ordered Captain Markham to take the Rifles to the magazine caves, and endeavour to stop them from coming up or crossing the ravine.

They were, however, too late; every stone and bush concealed a sharpshooter, and some of them had got into the caves, and were eating the rations left there by the company of the 7th. There was a sharp action for a time; the Russians in the caves, and the Rifles outside, were dodging and bobbing their heads, so as to shoot without being shot themselves. At last, the enemy were driven out, and seven killed; two of them by Captain Markham, with a revolver. The Rifles then soon sent them back across the ravine; and afterwards made good practice at a Russian battalion which had advanced and taken possession of the white house in the ravine; which had been abandoned by a picket of the Light Division, at the commencement of the attack.

The five-gun battery commands the head of Careening Bay, which the Russians had to pass, to re-enter the town. As their columns crossed the ravine at this spot, they suffered severely from the fire of the Lancaster gun, directed upon them by Lieutenant Hewett, of the Beagle; who was there in command of a party of the Naval Brigade.

CHAPTER V.

CAMP LIFE.

October 27th.-LAST night there were two alarms, and the troops were turned out. Our men are greatly over-worked. What with out-lying pickets, and working-parties in the trenches they have seldom two nights together in their tents. Indeed, they never have a clear night's rest undisturbed; for it is the custom of the British army, when before the enemy, to get under arms an hour before daylight, the time when attacks are usually made, and so remain until daybreak; when, if all is quiet, the men are dismissed. Besides this, there