tion of climbing, and accordingly after a careful examination,
with the view of selecting the most practicable path, we went resolutely
at it.

It was not quite so bad as it looked for about two-thirds of the way up;
but when we neared the top, the rocky face became so nearly
perpendicular--indeed, it actually overhung in places--that we had
serious thoughts of abandoning the enterprise altogether. However, we
did not like to be beaten after having achieved so much, so we
persevered, and at last, after a most perilous and laborious climb,
actually succeeded in reaching the summit.

The view from our exalted situation was superb. We were standing upon
the highest eminence for many miles round, and the air was so clear and
transparent that distant objects were as distinctly seen as though
viewed through a telescope. On our left the blue expanse of the
Mediterranean stretched far away to the northward and westward, dotted
here and there with the sails of a few tiny coasting or fishing craft.
Below us, and apparently near enough for us to have thrown a stone on
board any of them, lay the fleet of men-o'-war and transports, with
their sails loose to dry from a heavy shower of the previous night, and
the men about their decks reduced to mere moving specks. In front of,
and still below us, and so near that we could distinguish the
accoutrements of the men forming its garrison, was the redoubt, with its
twenty-one guns projecting their muzzles threateningly over the sod
parapet, and symmetrical little pyramidal piles of shot heaped up
alongside each gun. Beyond it lay San Fiorenzo, with its narrow
streets, red-tiled, white-washed houses, terraced gardens,
insignificant-looking churches, and the harbour beyond, with the cliffs
stretching away beyond it again as far as Cape Corso, and away out at
sea the small island of Capriaja. Upon our right a continuous chain of
hills reared themselves, thickly wooded to their very summits; while in
our rear Calvi, although something like thirty miles distant, was
clearly distinguishable.

But the redoubt was with us the chief point of interest. We examined it
with the utmost minuteness, and Mr Annesley, who possessed some skill
with the pencil, made an accurate sketch of it, indicating clearly what
seemed to us its weakest points. This done, we made a very careful
examination on all sides of the face of the rock upon which we stood,
finally coming to the conclusion that, though a