THE HILL-MEN. 
39 
They made no unjust reprisals ; they treated their 
prisoners with extreme humanity, expressing every- 
where the greatest confidence in the British officers, 
whose superior tactics they extolled with the nohle 
ingenuousness of a brave and generous enemy. One 
instance of this confidence deserves mention. While 
the cannonading was pouring death and devastation 
into the fort at every discharge, a wounded soldier of 
the enemy advanced to the breach and waved his 
hand as a signal for a parley. The firing immediate- 
ly slackened and he came within our lines, where he 
was received with the greatest kindness. The lower 
part of his face had been dreadfully injured by a 
cannon-shot. He was immediately committed to the 
surgeon’s care and eventually recovered, though after 
a long and dangerous confinement. When perfectly 
restored — in fact, as soon as he could safely travel — 
he returned to his party with an exalted feeling of 
patriotism which would have done honour to the 
worthiest cause, to assist, as he said, the struggles of 
his countrymen against their generous but national 
enemies. These struggles lasted not long and the 
mountaineers were soon released from the Ghoorka 
tyranny. 
The natives of this wild and inhospitable country 
are in general not calculated to beget much sym- 
pathy either by their habits or appearance. In some 
districts there are, it is true, shades of difference, and 
occasionally there will be found a fine specimen of 
the hardy and generous mountaineer ; but these in- 
stances are certainly not common. The men are for 
the most part of small stature, though their limbs are 
