CRIMEAN EXPERIENCES. 335 



had scarcely risen and the morning was as calm and 

 clear as spring produces in that charming part of the 

 earth. Poor young fellow ; he was sauntering 

 leisurely back, doubtlessly enjoying his release, and 

 possibly contemplating the numerous, beautiful wild 

 plants that were, in countless quantities, forcing their 

 way through the earth. A shell passed over his 

 head, and, when it had gone a hundred yards or more 

 it burst, and a fragment of it deprived him of life. 

 The exact spot in the air where the explosive burst 

 could not be mistaken, for a small, but gradually 

 expanding, puff of dense white smoke indisputably 

 marked it. 



The next instance was near the mortar battery, in 

 front of the picket-house, so not far from the Light 

 Division's encampment. The circumstances were 

 almost identical with the first mentioned, but death 

 did not bring instantaneous relief to the sufferer. 



The fragments of shell that caused both fatalities 

 came back some distance from where the explosion 

 occurred, although it was traversing space at a rapid 

 rate in a reverse direction. Now I think that this shows 

 that gunpowder suddenly ignited will explode in all 

 directions. A view of a shell burst at night looks like 

 a fireball centre with innumerable flaming arms radia- 

 ting from it, nor does this body of fire appear as if 

 propelled forward, but, on the other hand, to remain 

 stationary at the place where the explosion occurs. 

 It would be interesting to know if the fragments 

 from the front of the bombshell go as far or further in 

 the direction originally travelled by the projectile 

 when intact, than those fragments that are propelled 

 backwards. This might be a difficult matter to 

 decide, but I am inclined to believe that they do not, 

 for the reason that the ignition backwards would 

 be more abrupt, more, general, and consequently 

 more powerful. I have not alluded to those portions 

 of the projectile that have been forced up into space, 



