hope not quite uninteresting, as describing ways and manners new to my readers, and very different from anything they have known; it is, however, time that I should think of fulfilling the promise implied by the title of the paper, and tell you something of what befell myself in this strange land.

In the town of Beling above mentioned I was left in command of a small party, consisting of 80 fighting men, natives of India, with only one other Englishman besides myself—a young subaltern of my regiment. We had no defensive post, for the stockade surrounding the town was so large that it would have required two thousand men to defend it properly; with my small party, therefore, it would have been impossible to attempt it, we therefore took up a position in two or three Poongyee-houses, situated about eighty yards outside one of the gates of the town. We had no cannon of our own, and nothing left us for our defence except the old-fashioned musket. We had found eight small cannon belonging to the Burmese in the stockade, but these were useless to us, as we had no ammunition for them. We removed them from the stockade and drew them up close under our Poongyee-house barracks, to prevent the Burmese making use of them, should they at any time be inclined to rise against us; and the value of this precaution was felt afterwards, for had they been left in the stockade our loss would have been much greater than it was. When we took up our abode in these wooden barracks we set to work immediately to cut down the thick brushwood of the jungle surrounding us on all sides, except that open towards the stockade -this precaution also stood us in good stead afterwards.

All went on smoothly enough for a short time, during which General Steele's column of troops was marching up the country, and taking up the different defensive posts it was intended to оссиру. When this was done the Commissioner of the Tenasserim Provinces, who had accompanied the advancing column, returned through Beling on his way to his head-quarters, Moulmein, and halted a day or two at Beling with his escort of troops. He had among his followers a Burmese Chieftain, who had made submission when the British troops advanced, and was consequently treated

with respect and consideration.

This man was possessed of great

influence in Beling and the surrounding districts, and, in reliance on his good faith, was permitted to remain at Beling when the Commissioner left the place on his return to Moulmein. Two or three days after the Commissioner had left Beling on his way home, I heard from some of my men that there seemed to be a great confusion in the town, the men running about with arms in their hands, and the women leaving the town in haste, or shutting themselves up in their houses. A Moulmein Burman who had been appointed Goungyope, or head man of the town, happening to be with me at the time, I asked him if he knew anything about the reported disturbance, but he did not, for being a Moulmein man and friendly to the English he had been kept in ignorance of the designs of Meng-hla-kyangh-goung, the chieftain above referred to. The Goungyope, however, sent some of his men to inquire, and one of these was seized by the rebels and beheaded. I also sent some of the men of my detachment to gain more information, and they returning told me that they had found about two hundred armed men in the stockade, from whom they had some difficulty in escaping-thus the rebellion had been got up secretly but quickly.

Expecting every moment to be attacked, I placed my small party under arms, and in the course of the afternoon, hearing that there were about five hundred men collected, but that no attack was to be made upon me until the night had set in, I commenced making preparations against the attack by moving into the Poongyee-house occupied by my men as a barrack all the ammunition, and the greater part of the Commissariat stores; these stores and the baggage of the detachment I had piled up round the sides of the barrack forming a slight defence about two feet high.

I then caused the eight Burmese guns to be dismounted close in front of the barrack, and their carriages broken up and wheels taken off; and the barrels of Burmese gunpowder that I had found in the stockade I had broken open, and as much of the powder as I could taken out of them, and water poured over it;

but the powder being much caked a large portion of it could not be taken out. The boarded sides of the barrack I had loopholed for musketry, and this completed all the defensive measures that I had time to take.

About fifteen yards distant from the barrack was a Poongyeehouse which I occupied, and some fifty yards beyond my house was another small wooden house occupied by my subaltern; these were all of wood, and fearing in a night attack that they might be easily set on fire by the enemy, I determined to receive the night attack, if made, outside the buildings instead of in them, and accordingly drew up my men for the night close in front of their barrack, where they lay down with their arms in their hands.

(To be continued.)

LAMENT FOR THE SUMMER.

Sing the mournful dirge; for fled
Is the Summer's beauty now:
Sadly o'er her cold death-bed

Withered flowers and leaflets strew:
The fairest season of the year is dead.

Change, ye heavens, your robe of blue
For the stole of sable gloom

That your grief prepareth you.

Howl, chill breezes, round her tomb;

With mournful cadence sigh the long night through.

Rain, dim clouds, your tears rain down;

Let the fair Sun veil his light;

Bid the Ocean billows moan,

Bid them gash their bosoms white.

Lament! the mistress whom ye loved is gone.

E. O.

A NEW BOY'S EXPERIENCES

YEARS AGO.

I NEVER was a good hand at opening an essay whilst at Sherborne, and so, to relieve you of the trouble of a long commencement, I will plunge at once in medias res. I was always very fond of Sherborne, and so I think the best subject for me to write about is my first week at the old place. (It was a fine, lovely-no, that's a story,) it was a shockingly wet and dreary afternoon when I was deposited at the door of the King's Arms at Sherborne, from the top of a coach, where I had been sitting cramped up the whole day between two huge agriculturists who had been discussing turnips, and occasionally leaning across me to whisper a treasured secret of the way to lay down manure, or some equally delightful occupation. Well, in due time, as I say, I was put down amidst a posse of very rude-looking monsters, whom I soon discovered to be my future companions by the insulting remarks that were passed on my personal appearance. Of course I felt anything but comfortable at seeing myself thus surrounded by biped wild animals-for so they seemed to me-and was not at all relieved by hearing twenty different voices exclaiming, in too quick succession for an attempt at any answer, "Well! young shaver, what's your name?". "Any one else come with you?"-" What form do you think you'll be in ?" and even one fellow was impertinent enough to say "Have you brought any grub?" After answering some of the questions, and declaring that I had not as yet begun to shave (which was "cheeky" and therefore merited a condign kick), I was hustled along into the School by the troop, to be criticized more at pleasure. To tell you all my admiration, and likewise the fact of my believing everything, even more than I was told, would be a waste of time. Of course I believed that the statue of Edward the Sixth was that potentate himself in a state of petrifaction: of course I made him a bow, and directly afterwards found myself sprawling on the dusty floor in my best clothes, which I had put on in order to make a good impression, and which the fellows did

not seem to appreciate. Of course I believed that the next morning the Masters would have a slice out of my person fried for breakfast. Of course, when tea began, I was told to sit at the VIth Form table, and was kicked away for my pains, which operation was repeated by every form until at last, in despair, I seated myself at the bottom of a table which I afterwards discovered belonged to the lowest boys. But of all the pleasures, as well as disagreeables, that I enjoyed most (for I did enjoy the latter to a certain extent), the first half holiday was the greatest. I found out (passive on my part) a very nice boy, who had come back the day before me and had spent all his money, and who showed me where the best "tuck" was to be obtained, and very kindly assisted me in laying out my small capital to such an extent, that when I came to reckon up, I found that after paying my cricket subscription, I should only have a penny left, and even that had to go to buy a stamp for a letter home. Then in the evening, when I walked into my bedroom from the passage, where the gas had been purposely extinguished, I had the satisfaction of receiving a large sponge full of water on my head, and from an after discovery I learnt that the person to whom I was indebted for this polite piece of civility was the self-same gentleman who had so kindly assisted me in spending my money during the previous afternoon. Foremost amongst the very pleasant things that a new and small boy had to encounter, was the being tossed in a blanket. Oh! the first time you got in! what a sudden inclination to shudder! First you slowly got into the blanket, which was held up on all sides by admiring executioners, delaying as long as you could the fearful moment, and looking to the door, hoping against hope for a reprieve in the shape of a Master. Then came the one-two-three-and suddenly you found yourself gasping for breath. But you have no time for consideration, for down you come again; and again at the third unit up you go like an elongated foot ball, and lucky you were if you did not hit your head against the ceiling. Then came the roll-call, when I first had the pleasure of hearing my name called out as a member of the School. I used to think "Adsum" was "Hats up!" and always sung it out to the best of