MILITARY PROJECTILES. 535 



We this day erected howitzer and mortar batteries, 

 and when they first opened, they struck terror and con- 

 sternation into the enemy, who fled in every direction, 

 to avoid those destructive engines ; but, in a few hours, 

 they dug holes in the ramparts, which they got into 

 whenever they saw those unwelcome visiters on the wing ; 

 and, unless the shell happened actually to fall on them, 

 they escaped in this way. But our shelling in those days 

 was a mere bagatelle to what it is now. A shell in five 

 minutes, was then enormous ; now, twenty in one min- 

 ute is by no means extraordinary, and these twice as big 

 as in the times of which I speak. 



' This day the enemy was pretty passive ; no doubt 

 making places of refuge. Our shells, if thrown further 

 into the town, must have been most destructive, for the 

 population was evidently prodigious, from the number of 

 fighting men. The houses frequently appeared on fire, 

 and several small explosions took piace daily ; no doubt, 

 small magazines. These little incidents generally creat- 

 ed cheering by the besiegers, and redoubled firing by the 

 enemy. In the course of the day we saw the Rajah for 

 the first time : he was on the shabroodge, or royal bas- 

 tions, with his suit, reconnoitering with a spy-glass. The 

 officer commanding the howitzer battery laid a shell for 

 the shabroodge, which struck the very top of it, and soon 

 dislodged his highness and suite. In a moment, not a 

 soul was to be seen.' 



****** 



' On the following day, after reconnoitering the fort 

 and the ground in its vicinity, spots were fixed upon for 

 new breaching and shelling batteries; and, in twentyfour 

 hours afterward, we commenced our work of death on 

 the fort and its obdurate inmates. Long ere the hour of 

 the sun's decline, it grew as dark as midnight. About 

 ten o'clock, the terrific shelling commenced, every 

 whistling shell bearing on its lighted wings messengers 

 of death and desolation. I never saw these implements 

 of destruction so accurately thrown, some of them 

 scarcely five inches above the walls of the fort. In five 

 minutes the screams of the women in the fort were 



