THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 43 



article — stiff brick clay. As fast as the rain, in the rainy season 

 there, poured into it, it found an exit below. An engineer officer 

 was sent up from the lowlands to rectify the matter. He amused 

 himself one day poking fun at an old highland captain, asking him 

 if the weather on the hill did not remind him of the Scotch mists in 

 the Isle of Skye. " Why, the rain is utterly beastly here !" " Well, 

 mon, if you find it so vera disagreeable, how would it do for you to 

 shift your quarters to the only dry place here known to us, the engin- 

 eer's -ivaier-tank I" A roar of laughter from all present followed this 

 nejHO me impune lacessit, as the gallant officer retired discomfitted and 

 badly demoralized, like the retreating sergeant and his party at an 

 early stage of a fight during the Civil War. The story is : The brig- 

 adier noticed a considerable number of men retiring rapidly, and at 

 such a pace that he rightly concluded they were not wounded (falUng 

 to the rear), so he directed a staff officer to ascertain the cause of 

 this unusual proceeding. After a hard gallop they were overtaken, 

 halted, and the non-commissioned officer in charge asked by the 



indignant galloper " Why in h are you conveying so many 



slightly wounded from the field; none are seriously injured." 

 " True, sir," said the sergeant, as he gave the military salute, " but 

 you may inform the general the men were badly de?noralized." As far 

 as I know he resumed his retreat, despite all remonstrance. 



I placed a few local minerals (as a temporary arrangement) in 

 the large case at the upper end of the museum. We must regret our 

 inability to find anyone willing to take charge of this department, or 

 to replace the long-felt loss we sustained in other departments by the 

 removal of Moffat, Hanham and Leslie from the city. 



