gland cannot dream of, and against which no cloak could furnish
protection, began. In the midst of these were the troops embarked
in their new and straitened transports, and each division, after
an exposure of ten hours, landed upon a small desert spot of
earth, called Pine Island, where it was determined to collect the
whole army, previous to its crossing over to the main.

Than this spot it is scarcely possible to imagine any place more
completely wretched. It was a swamp, containing a small space of
firm ground at one end, and almost wholly unadorned with trees of
any sort or description. There were, indeed, a few stinted [sic]
firs upon the very edge of the water, but these were so
diminutive in size as hardly to deserve a higher classification
than among the meanest of shrubs. The interior was the resort of
wild ducks and other water-fowl; and the pools and creeks with
which it was intercepted abounded in dormant alligators.

Upon this miserable desert the army was assembled, without tents
or huts, or any covering to shelter them from the inclemency of
the weather; and in truth we may fairly affirm that our hardships
had here their commencement. After having been exposed all day
to a cold and pelting rain, we landed upon a barren island,
incapable of furnishing even fuel enough to supply our fires. To
add to our miseries, as night closed, the rain generally ceased,
and severe frosts set in, which, congealing our wet clothes upon
our bodies, left little animal warmth to keep the limbs in a
state of activity; and the consequence was, that many of the
wretched negroes, to whom frost and cold were altogether new,
fell fast asleep, and perished before morning.

For provisions, again, we were entirely dependent upon the fleet.
There were here no living creatures which would suffer themselves
to be caught; even the water-fowl being so timorous that it was
impossible to approach them within musket-shot. Salt meat and
ship biscuit were, therefore, our food, moistened by a small
allowance of rum; fare which, though no doubt very wholesome, was
not such as to reconcile us to the cold and wet under which we
suffered.

On the part of the navy, again, all these hardships were
experienced in a four-fold degree. Night and day were boats
pulling from the fleet to the island, and from the island to the
fleet; for it was the 21st before all the troops were got on
shore; and as there was little time to inquire into men's