SWABEY DIARY. 121 
6th January.—Colonel Framingham, etc. still with us. I being on 
duty had little to do with the cock shooting. 
On this night, having previously reconnoitred and invested Ciudad 
Rodrigo, Lord W. caused a fort 400 yards from the place to be stormed 
by two companies of the 95th, two of the 43rd, and two of the 52nd, 
by whom it was carried in a most gallant manner, and with little loss, 
not more than 150 killed and wounded. Things seem now to wear a 
fighting aspect. 
This was the redoubt of Francisco, it was stormed by Lieut.- 
Colonel Colborne! with two companies of each of the British 
regiments forming the light division. “This he did with such 
fury, that the assailants appeared to be at one and the same 
time, in the ditch, mounting the parapet, fighting on top of 
the parapet, and forcing the gorge of the redoubt, where the 
explosion of one of the French shells had burst the gate open. 
Of the defenders a few were killed, not many, and the remain- 
der, about 40 in number, were made prisoners. The post was 
thus taken with the loss of 24 officers and men.” Napier, 
Vol. IV., pp. 377-8. 
7th Janwory.—An order arrived permitting the removal of the troop 
to better foraging quarters, the selection being left to ourselves 
Sth Janwary.—Set off with the commissary to range the Sierra 
d’ Estrella in pursuit of a suitable foraging district. The first adven- 
ture was the mule that Sutton rode giving him the slip and escaping 
entirely from us, which occasioned our being so late that we only got to 
Belmonte, a place I have seen before. Our billet was at a priest’s and 
given usasa great favour by the “Just,” whom we knew, but of all the 
cold places I ever was in this is the worst. The night was frosty and 
we got in so late that our fare was but indifferent, consisting of a tough 
beef-steak we brought with us, and we had much difficulty in getting 
bread to eat with it. It is always necessary to carry rations in this 
country as there is no meat to be purchased. Very little, except some- 
times pork, is eaten, probably this was not the case before the 
oppression they at present labour under, but I believe they never knew 
what comfort was. 
9th January.—Rose with the lark this morning, too cold however for 
his notes; crossed the Zezere, the most rapid river I have seen yet, 
and being directed to Famalicio by Major Downman, took the only 
road to it through Avilas in a ravine of the Hstrella where runs a 
branch of the river. It is a tolerable town but the inhabitants so lazy 
that they do not even carry the forage from the fields but stack it in 
small bundles exposed to the rain. We found even at this distance, 
four leagues, that the Hussars, who are the most industrious foragers, 
had been from Covilh&o. The snow lies constantly so deep during the 
winter months on these mountains that we found the road to Famalicio 
inaccessible for artillery, and indeed difficult for our horses, which we 
1 Afterwards Field-Marshal Lord Seaton, the distinguished Colonel of the 62nd Regiment, which 
Napier described, “ As unsurpassed in arms since arms were borne by men.”—F'.4. WV. 
