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wolves followed, and were to be seen in all directions committing 

 havoc among the dying crowd. They absolutely occupied many 

 gardens and out-houses, and oflen in open day trotted about like 

 so many dogs, proceeding from one ravine to another without 

 seeming to entertain the least apprehension. So familiar had they 

 become with mankind, and so little did they seem disposed to re- 

 move from what to them was a scene of abundance! I cannot 

 give a stronger idea of our situation than by informino; the reader, 

 that not only the wolves, but even the swine, were to be seen in all 

 directions attacking the poor wretches, whose feeble endeavours to 

 drive away their ravenous devourers, were the only indications that 

 the vital sparks were not quite extinct. 



" The demise of such numbers tainted the air, and caused a 

 sickness among the troops. Many officers died of putrid fevers, 

 and the most serious consequences would inevitably have followed 

 but for the setting in of the rains, which both abated the extreme 

 heat of the atmosphere and carried off immense quantities of of- 

 fensive remains. It is not easy to assert how many died, but I 

 heard it stated by some gentlemen of the committee for managing 

 the subscription money, that at least two hundred thousand per- 

 sons had flocked from the country, of whom not more than one in 

 twenty could be maintained for the number of months which must 

 elapse before the soil could render its aid. To calculate upon 

 less than a regular supply until such should be the case, would 

 have been absurd ; for there was not the smallest probability 

 of the scourge being abated in the meanwhile. The lower pro- 

 vinces, as before remarked, could do little more than support them- 



