teep and
slippery rocks, or wade through deep gullies and ravines filled with
mud and foaming torrents of water, that rushed downwards with such
force as to carry along the loose rocks and tear up the trees and
shrubbery by the roots. Many of the horses falling into the ravines
refused to make an effort to extricate themselves, and were swept
downwards and drowned. Others, bewildered by the fierceness and terrors
of the storm, rushed or fell headlong over the steep precipices and
were killed. Others obstinately refused to proceed, but stood quaking
with fear or shivering with cold, and many of these perished in the
night from the severity of the storm. The advance party did not reach
the foot of the mountain and find a place to encamp until night--and a
night of more impenetrable and terrific darkness I never witnessed. The
ground upon which our camp was made, although sloping from the hills to
a small stream, was so saturated with water that men as well as horses
sunk deep at every step. The rain fell in such quantities, that fires
with great difficulty could be lighted, and most of them were
immediately extinguished.

The officers and men belonging to the company having the cannon in
charge laboured until nine or ten o'clock to bring them down the
mountain, but they were finally compelled to leave them. Much of the
baggage also remained on the side of the mountain, with the pack-mules
and horses conveying them, all efforts to force the animals down being
fruitless. The men continued to straggle into the camp until a late
hour of the night;--some crept under the shelving rocks and did not
come in until the next morning. We were so fortunate as to find our
tent, and after much difficulty pitched it under an oak-tree. All
efforts to light a fire and keep it blazing proving abortive, we spread
our blankets upon the ground and endeavoured to sleep, although we
could feel the cold streams of water running through the tent and
between and around our bodies.

In this condition we remained until about two o'clock in the morning,
when the storm having abated I rose, and shaking from my garments the
dripping water, after many unsuccessful efforts succeeded in kindling a
fire. Near our tent I found three soldiers who had reached camp at a
late hour. They were fast asleep on the ground, the water around them
being two or three inches deep; but they had taken care to keep their
heads above water, by using a log of wood for a pill