eaday; and it was determined to push
forward, at once, on the long march of three hundred miles to Ava,
before the enemy could rally from their defeat, and gather for the
defence of these positions. On the 9th the first division, under
General Campbell himself, started from Prome. The roads were
extremely bad, and they were able to move but slowly.

Their course was first directed inland; as it was intended to turn
the enemy's position at Meaday, by following a road several miles
from the river, and thus forcing them to fall back as we advanced.
On the next day the force reached the spot where Colonel M'Dowall
had been killed, in the unsuccessful attack upon Maha Nemiow; and
it then turned north, and followed the road parallel to the river.

On the 12th tremendous rains, for some hours, converted the road
into a morass and, although the march was but five miles long, the
greater portion of the column failed to reach its destination.
This, however, was not the worst. Cholera broke out at once, and
carried off a large number of victims--two of the British regiments
being rendered almost unfit for service by its ravages.

On the 14th the division encamped on dry ground, on a ridge of
wooded hills, and waited for a couple of days to allow the baggage
train to come up. The change greatly benefited the health of the
troops, and amusement was afforded by the partridges, jungle fowl,
and deer which abounded in the neighbourhood of the camp.

Up to this point, no single native had been seen. The villages were
all destroyed, and the country was completely deserted. On the 16th
a strong Burmese fortification was taken, it being unoccupied save
by a small picket, which retired on our advance. This had evidently
been erected for the purpose of preventing the river fortifications
from being turned, and its abandonment proved that the object of
the land march had been gained; and that the enemy had abandoned
the positions they had, with so much care, prepared for the defence
of the river.

On the 18th they joined General Cotton's column and, the next day,
entered Meaday. Here a terrible spectacle was met with. The town
and the ground within the stockades was strewn with dead and dying;
some from wounds, others from cholera--for the ravages of this
plague had been as great, among the Burmese, as in the British
force. A number of men were found crucified on gibbets, doubtless
as a punishment for attempting to desert. The air was p