GEN. MOORE'S FALL OVER A PRECIPCIE. 45 



In further evidence, however, of the theory that when 

 a man sits properly in his saddle, it is the horse, and 

 not he, who suffers by a tumble, we submit to our readers 

 the following extraordinary narration by a young General 

 officer of high character, who has kindly permitted us to 

 publish it, briefly describing a fall on horseback to a 

 depth equal to 40 feet more than the height of the 

 weather-cock on the steeple of St. Martin's church, in 

 London, or to double the height of the Duke of York's 

 monument at the bottom of Regent Street. 



"United Service Club, 18th March, 1860. 



" In June, 1848, at the island of Dominica, in the West Indies, 

 I fell over a precipice of 237 feet perpendicular height, upon the 

 rocks by the sea-side. This occurred about a quarter past 7 o'clock 

 P.M., then quite dark, as no twilight exists in the tropics. Every 

 bone of my horse was broken, and I conceive my escape from in- 

 stant death the most miraculous that ever occurred. Three men, at 

 various periods, had previously been dashed to atoms at the same 

 spot, and one man twelve months after me, when the Legislative 

 Assembly passed a resolution to secure the road; but if twenty 

 thousand men were to fall there, I think nothing short of a miracle 

 could save one of them. My recovery from the shock I sustained 

 was also as miraculous as my escape with life. I sent out an artist 

 to take a drawing on the spot, and also had the place surveyed by 

 an engineer. I have often thought of putting down all the circum- 

 stances of that extraordinary accident, but the dread of being taken 

 for a Baron Munchausen has restrained me. I do not expect that 

 any one will believe it, although there are many living witnesses. 

 Nor do I expect any sympathy, for, as soon as I could hold a pen, I 

 detailed the catastrophe to my mother to account for my long silence. 

 I received, in reply, in due course, a long letter detailing family 

 news, without any allusion to my unfortunate case, except in a 



