e of
Kemmendine. Some of these were battered by artillery from the war vessels
in the river, and the shot and shells had such effect on the Burmese that
they evacuated them, after a very unequal resistance. It soon, however,
became apparent that the expedition had been undertaken with very imperfect
knowledge of the country, and without adequate provision. The devastation
of the country, which was part of the defensive system of the Burmese, was
carried out with unrelenting rigour, and the invaders were soon reduced to
great difficulties. The health of the men declined, and their ranks were
fearfully thinned. The monarch of Ava sent large reinforcements to his
dispirited and beaten army; and early in June an attack was commenced on
the British line, but proved unsuccessful. On the 8th the British
assaulted. The enemy were beaten at all points; and their strongest
stockaded works, battered to pieces by a powerful artillery, were in
general abandoned. With the exception of an attack by the prince of
Tharrawaddy in the end of August, the enemy allowed the British to remain
unmolested during the months of July and August. This interval was employed
by Sir A. Campbell in subduing the Burmese provinces of Tavoy and Mergui,
and the whole coast of Tenasserim. This was an important conquest, as the
country was salubrious and afforded convalescent stations to the sick, who
were now so numerous in the British army that there were scarcely 3000
soldiers fit for duty. An expedition was about this time sent against the
old Portuguese fort and factory of Syriam, at the mouth of the Pegu river,
which was taken; and in October the province of Martaban was reduced under
the authority of the British.

The rainy season terminated about the end of October; and the court of Ava,
alarmed by the discomfiture of its armies, recalled the veteran legions
which were employed in Arakan, under their renowned leader Maha Bandula.
Bandula hastened by forced marches to the defence of his country; and by
the end of November an army of 60,000 men had surrounded the British
position at Rangoon and Kemmendine, for the defence of which Sir Archibald
Campbell had only 5000 efficient troops. The enemy in great force made
repeated attacks on Kemmendine without success, and on the 7th of December
Bandula was defeated in a counter attack made by Sir A. Campbell. The
fugitives retired to a strong position on the river, which they again
entrenched; and here they we