nd sugar (no milk, bread
or butter), and potatoes and cabbage. A lot of good rum was served out
to all twice a day. As both the artillery and infantry had been over
six months together in three-piece shelters or bivouacs at Aldershot,
with only one blanket each, this ship-board treatment was thought a
great luxury. It was at the period just after the Opposition to the
English Government had said that the British navy could not sail and
the British soldier could not march.

General Pennefather undertook to qualify the army in marching by
keeping about fifty thousand of them on their legs to the extent of at
least twenty miles per day, often thirty, and as there was no end piece
to the shelter tents, most of us were seldom dry, and rarely took off
our boots. This resulted in about one-fourth of the command being
weeded out, but those left were men such as the Duke of Wellington
praised when he said, "He could take his Peninsular Army anywhere and
do anything with it." It is true that when Wellington's veterans did
get back to barracks their bodies had to have insect lotion and their
clothing had to be burnt, but they were all men the Empire could be
proud of.

The voyage lasted thirty-one days and was a very rough one. The
beautiful horses of the artillery suffered greatly, although they were
all strung up in slings. After the first few days five or six were
found to be dead each morning, and it was pitiful to see their carcases
being thrown overboard. Owing to the length of the voyage, the nice
food provided for the officers ran out, and they cheerfully put up with
the hard tack and salted meats served to the men. We seldom got on
deck, but were a most happy family, excepting those who were seasick,
and with few exceptions these were all out of their hammocks after the
second week. One poor chap, Sergeant Regan, never got over his
sea-sickness, and swore he would never go to sea again. Strange to say,
he was the very first man to be ordered home to England again as drill
instructor for the Depot, so that he was scarcely on land three months
before he had to take his medicine again.

Owing to the very bad weather, the waves got into the habit of breaking
over the funnel of the steamer and thereby causing a steam explosion
down below. This so worked on the nerves of the stokers that they got
up a mutiny, in which the other sailors joined, the object being to
force the captain to return the steamer to England. They thoug