390 " Connolations"' in Cholera. QOct. 



of the fever, his excellency the governor consented to grant them a free 

 pardon. The poor wretches, already half dead with fright, could scarcely 

 believe the words addressed to them, but as soon as their scattered senses 

 comprehended the proposal, they joyfully assented to the terms. Being 

 set at liberty joy lent them wings, they took to their heels, contending 

 with each other which should gain the barrack-yard first to communicate 

 the joyous intelligence to their families. Here all the women and chil- 

 dren, belonging to the different regiments of the garrison, had assembled 

 to join in the wailing and lamentation customary with the lower class of 

 Irish on these occasions. Uttering the wild shouts so peculiar to their 

 country, the four men with reversed jackets, and bandages with which 

 their eyes had been bound still hanging loosely round their heads, 

 bounded into the barrack-yard to the great terror and astonishment of 

 the women and children, who had already commenced the most dismal 

 bowlings, concluding this world had closed upon the condemned. Con- 

 fusion and dismay now seized every one present ; their natural super- 

 stition lead them to suppose these were but the apparitions of the de- 

 ceased. A cry of " ghosts !" was raised. Some of the women ran dis- 

 tractedly screaming to and fro, whilst the more bold shared in silent 

 trembling the general panic. On three of the four wives of the soldiers, 

 the yet unexplained phenomenon of their husbands' reappearance had a 

 fatal eifect. Strong hysterics seized their frames, as they viewed with 

 streaming eyes, and indistinct vision, the supposed spectres. The 

 pardon of the men was the death-blow of their wives, who never reco- 

 vered from the fearful eifects of that sudden surprise. The poor fellows, 

 however, braved the fever in its direst forms, and all except one survived 

 its fury. 



One third of the population of the garrison were at this time swept 

 off. Protestant, Catholic, Jew, and Mahommedan were buried in one 

 common grave. The cries of the sick and dying resounded from the 

 houses and ships. The heavy rumbling of the dead-cart was constantly 

 heard in the streets. Coflins, of rough deal, lay piled in pyramids in the 

 market-places. The scene of desolation was such as may not be painted too 

 minutely, but it may be easily imagined how every way terrific are these 

 scourges of Providence, if we for a moment picture the ties of kindred 

 or of love broken and despised — every one intent on individual safety — 

 flying from death in one shape but to meet it in another ! 



The extreme danger resulting from any unnecessary detention of a 

 corpse above ground, in so hot a climate, gave rise to some ludicrously 

 tragic events, which in the genei'al dark picture of an epidemic may 

 almost be considered the only endurable relief. 



A Genoese captain, from whose body the breath had scarcely escaped, 

 was placed in a shell for interment ; the evening gim told at this time 

 the closing of the garrison gates, outside of which was the burial grovmd. 

 The corpse was consequently allowed to remain in the apartment where 

 it laid, till the following morning. The mate of the vessel to which the 

 captain belonged, calling at the captain's house to ascertain his fate, was 

 informed that he was dead, and already nailed down in his coffin. The 

 mate recollected the captain wore a pair of gold ear-rings, and deeming 

 it a pity these should be interred with the body, watched a convenient 

 opportunity to steal up-stairs, when he removed the lid from the coffin, 

 and proceeded to detach the ear-rings from the captain's ears. One of 



