only eighteen deaths out of the 200 men there stationed between the 5th
of May and the 6th of June, the period when the epidemic was at its
height; while in the town there were more than 1500 deaths, out of a
population of some 5000.

In 1870 the three years' tour of service of the regiment on the West
Coast of Africa expired. The 3rd West India Regiment having been
disbanded, a considerable reduction in the West African garrisons became
necessary, and it was intended that the relief for the eight companies
of the 1st West India Regiment should consist of four companies of the
2nd. On the 24th of May, the head-quarters, with A, B, and F Companies,
under Captain Samson, embarked at Sierra Leone in H.M.S. _Orontes_,
which, proceeding to the Gambia, took on board the two companies there
on the 29th. The head-quarters, with the three companies from Sierra
Leone, landed at Jamaica on the 27th of June, and the _Orontes_ then
sailed for Nassau, where the two companies from the Gambia were
disembarked. On the return of the troopship to the West Coast of Africa
with the four companies of the 2nd West India Regiment, the company of
the 1st West India Regiment at Cape Coast Castle was embarked on the
24th of August, and the remaining two at Sierra Leone on the 27th. All
three proceeded to Jamaica, under the command of Captain J.A. Smith, and
landed at Kingston on the 3rd of October. The distribution of the
regiment was now as follows: head-quarters and six companies at Jamaica,
two at Nassau, and one at Honduras. On the 15th of November, F Company,
under Captain Butler, embarked at Jamaica for Honduras; thus making up
the detachment at that station to two companies.

During the West African tour of 1866-70, two officers succumbed to the
influence of the climate, Lieutenant Gavin having died at Sierra Leone
on the 22nd of February, 1869, and Lieutenant Maturin on the 7th of
December of the same year.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 60: By the Gazette of September 25th, 1867, Lieutenant R.E.D.
Ness, 2nd West India Regiment, was promoted Captain, by purchase, in the
4th West India Regiment.]

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE DEFENCE OF ORANGE WALK, 1872.

On the 1st of September, 1872, a most determined attack was made by the
Ycaiche Indians on the outpost of Orange Walk, British Honduras, which
was garrisoned by thirty-eight men of the 1st West India Regiment, under
Lieutenant Joseph Graham Smith.

Orange Walk is situated on a deep a