536 MILITARY PROJECTILES. 



dreadful. In a place so confined, where numberless 

 houses were crowded together, every shell must have 

 found its way to some poor wretch's dwelling, and, per- 

 haps, torn from mother's bosoms their clinging babes. 

 No person can estimate the dreadful carnage committed 

 by shells, but those whose fate it has been to witness 

 the effects of these messengers of death. On this occa- 

 sion our shells were very numerous, and of enormous 

 size, many of them thirteen inches and a half in calibre. 

 The system of shelling had been so much improved in 

 the twelve years which had elapsed since the siege of 

 Bhurtpore, that, instead of about one shell in five min- 

 utes from a single battery, it was by no means extraor- 

 dinary to see twenty in one minute, from the numerous 

 batteries which were brought to bear upon this place. 

 It was, at times, truly awful to see ten of these soaring 

 in the air together, seemingly riding on the midnight 

 breeze, and disturbing the slumbering clouds on their 

 pillows of rest ; all transporting to a destined spot the 

 implements of havoc and desolation contained within 

 their iron sides. The moon hid herself, in seeming pen- 

 si veness, behind a dense black cloud, as though reluc- 

 tant to look on such a scene ; and the feathered tribe, 

 that were wont, in those warm nights of summer, to 

 melodize the breeze, retired far into the distant woods, 

 there to tune their notes of sorrow. Mortal language 

 cannot array such a scene in its garb of blackest wo. 

 Some carcasses were also thrown. These, when in the 

 air, are not unlike a fiery man soaring above. They are 

 sent to burn houses, or blow up magazines. Far and 

 wide they stretch forth their claws of death ; and well 

 might the poor natives call them devils of the night or 

 fiends of the clouds. To complete this dreadful scene, < 

 the roaring congreves ran along the bastion's top break- 

 ing legs and arms with their shaking tails. Nothing 

 could be more grand to the eye, or more affecting to 

 the sympathizing heart, than this horrid spectacle.' 



This storming was successful, and the writer of the'' 

 preceding account soon found his way into the fort, to 

 witness the havoc which he and his comrades had made. 



