ness to one of these street skirmishes one evening, near the
_Sociedad_. A fellow received a perpendicular cut, which severed nearly
half the scalp, and the entire ear, leaving the mass hanging down the
neck, like a flap to a pocket-book; it was properly dressed by a skilful
surgeon, and the man was about again in six days. Indeed the climate was
most efficacious for wounds, and remarkable and most extraordinary cures
were said to be effected; two of a serious nature came under our
observation. The first, a sailor-sergeant, who, while returning from his
rounds, and walking up the Carita hill, not replying to the sentinel's
hail from above, in a sufficiently loud tone of voice, received a
musket-ball in his right breast, which wounded the lung, and passed out
of the back, below the shoulder-blade: the case was aggravated by a
severe and lengthened attack of fever, but the man eventually
recovered, and was entirely restored to health and strength. The second
instance was a young Mexican officer, named Soriano, who was shot by a
rifle-bullet at Urias, transversely through the breast, beneath the
ribs. After suffering some months, under a quack, he was brought to
Mazatlan, where he was successfully treated by one of our surgeons, with
every prospect of speedy recovery.

Of late, we had had no guerrillas worth mentioning, and were amusing
ourselves by drilling a troop of sailors into dragoons; and truly it was
a matter of as much satisfaction as mirth, to see how well the seamen
accomplished their task; of course, it was great sport for them, but
naturally fearless, and all well mounted, they soon were taught to dash
recklessly at anything, from a stone wall to the fire from a battery,
and in due course of time, became, for a sudden burst, quite equal to
any Mexican emergency that chose to stand the brunt of a charge. We
never had the opportunity of testing their cavalryship, but I think they
would have made a creditable report of themselves. They were commanded
by Captain Luigi, and at intervals I had the satisfaction of
accompanying his troop on short excursions into the interior. One night
we took a flying gallop down to Urias. On the way thither, over the
level marismas, the Captain's charger plunged into a hole and the whole
left file vaulted, or trampled, over him, but, as usual, he escaped with
the loss of a little parchment from the visage, while the horse had a
broken shoulder. On nearing the vicinity of our former _