20 SIR WILLIAM FLOWER chap. 



with them, and are taken into our service, paid and rationed for 

 looking after the oxen and driving the waggons ; they are all 

 Tartars and Mohamedans, and profess to entertain more sympathy 

 for the Turks than for the Russians. The camels are of the sort 

 with two humps. Very little use seems to be made of them, two 

 of these huge beasts being always yoked in a small araba waggon, 

 and they seem never to be used as beasts of burden. 



Monday, September i8. — The disembarkation of horses still 

 continues. I went for a long walk with another officer, first to 

 the French camp, where we saw eighteen Russian soldiers who 

 had been taken prisoner ; then we visited the Turkish camp and 

 each of our divisions and the rifle camp in the village ; this was 

 situated in a hollow with a good many trees round it. The 

 houses, now nearly all deserted, were very comfortable and well- 

 built, and the whole showed signs of civilisation, comfort, and 

 cleanliness far superior to what I had expected. The great house 

 of the village was an exceedingly pleasant country residence 

 belonging to a Russian general. We went over it, and found it 

 furnished exceedingly well ; the inhabitants had evidently left it 

 in a great hurry on the appearance of our troops, but the servants 

 all remained, and were very civil in showing us over the rooms, 

 which we left in exactly the same state as we found them, with 

 the exception of a slight diminution in the stock of wine. There 

 was an excellent library, almost entirely of French books ; among 

 others I saw Shakespeare's works, Marryat's, and other Enghsh 

 authors translated into French. A very handsome illustrated 

 Life of Napoleon was lying on the drawing-table, also a card- 

 basket, drawing material, letters, music, etc. There was a piano 

 too, and round the house a goodly-sized garden, though badly 

 kept up. On returning in the evening we found to our great 

 grief that the tents were all to go back to the ships, and that we 

 should have no chance of seeing our baggage for some time to 

 come.^ So we had another night in the open air, the last in our 

 present situation, to-morrow being appointed for commencing 

 the march. 



' It was a month before Flower got his tent again, and more than nine 

 weeks before the baggage was landed from the Avoti, 



