t civility; he heard our story, and desired his men to assist us
in burying the remains of our late commander.

We remained all day on the same part of the coast, but towards evening the
party fell back on the outpost to which they belonged--after travelling an
hour or so we emerged from a dry river course, in which the night had
over-taken us, and came suddenly on a small plateau, where the post was
established on the promontory of "_Punto Canoa_." There may be braver
soldiers at a charge, but none more picturesque in a _bivouac_ than the
Spanish. A gigantic wild cotton-tree, to which our largest English oaks
were but as dwarfs, rose on one side, and overshadowed the whole level
space.

The bright beams of the full moon glanced among the topmost leaves, and
tipped the higher branches with silver, contrasting strangely with the
scene below, where a large watch-fire cast a strong red glare on the
surrounding objects, throwing up dense volumes of smoke, which eddied in
dun wreaths amongst the foliage, and hung in the still night air like a
canopy, leaving the space beneath comparatively clear.

A temporary guard-house, with a rude verandah of bamboos and palm leaves,
had been built between two of the immense spurs of the mighty tree, that
shot out many yards from the parent stem like wooden buttresses, whilst
overhead there was a sort of stage made of planks laid across the lower
boughs, supporting a quantity of provisions covered with tarpaulins. The
sentries in the back ground with their glancing arms, were seen pacing on
their watch; some of the guard were asleep on wooden benches, and on the
platform amongst the branches, where a little baboon-looking old man, in
the dress of a drummer, had perched himself, and sat playing a Biscayan
air on a sort of bagpipe; others were gathered round the fire cooking
their food, or cleaning their arms.

It shone brightly on the long line of Spanish transports that were moored
below, _stem on_ to the beach, and on the white sails of the armed craft
that were still hovering under weigh in the offing, which, as the night
wore on, stole in, one after another, like phantoms of the ocean, and
letting go their anchors with a splash, and a hollow rattle of the cable,
remained still and silent as the rest.

Farther off, it fell in a crimson stream on the surface of the sheltered
bay, struggling with the light of the gentle moon, and tinging with blood
the small waves that twinkled in her