70 



taking; he died a few hours after reaching his tent; the attendant 

 was cut across the body with a sabre in passing an out-post, and 

 the native officer was promoted. 



Having at length collected all the scattered remnants we had 

 reason to expect, we left our unpleasant encampment at Darah, 

 and marched towards the enemy's post on the banks of the Saber- 

 matty: the country was delightful, the land highly cultivated, and 

 the villages populous, generally surrounded by mango and tama- 

 rind trees, overshadowing the wells and tanks which abound in 

 Guzeral; but it being now the end of the dry season, we found 

 all these reservoirs insufficient for our army, and we seldom re- 

 mained a night without exhausting them all. The commencement 

 of a morning march was pleasant, but by the time the Mahrattas 

 were in motion, and the sun had gained an ascendancy, the heat 

 and fatigue became excessive; a fierce glow impregnated the at- 

 mosphere; clouds of burning sand driven by hot winds continually 

 overwhelmed us; and to complete the unpleasant combination, 

 the coup-de-solell frequently struck the European soldiers with 

 instant death. 



Heat and dust pervaded the camp, fetid smells and swarms 

 of Hies rendered it inconceivably offensive: I can easily suppose 

 the plague of flics was not one of the smallest judgments inflicted 

 on Egypt; few things, not venomous, could be more troublesome 

 than these insects; they entirely covered our food, filled the drink- 

 ing vessels, and made it difficult to distinguish the colour of a 

 coat. Those who had read Gulliver's Travels, magnified these dis- 

 agreeable effects by recollecting the loathsome slime and disgust- 

 ing appearance of the flies in Brobdignag. 



