wars had for many years been an uninterrupted series of conquests; and at the time of our landing at Rangoon they had subdued and incorporated into their empire all the petty states by which it was surrounded." The long and gilded war-boats of the Burmese, and the skill and spirit of the Irawaddi boatmen, were not altogether unknown at Calcutta when our expedition was planned. Every town on the river, according to its size, was obliged to furnish a gilt or a common war-boat, and to man and keep it in constant readiness. These boats carried from forty to fifty men each, and the Lord of the White Elephant and the Golden Foot could muster from 200 to 300 war-boats. In actual war these boatmen were about the most respectable part of his majesty's force. At the royal mandate, the Irawaddi above Rangoon was speedily covered with warriors from the towns upon its banks.

As their troops rapidly increased in numbers, the enemy that were making the cordon round Rangoon became more daring, and gradually approaching nearer and nearer, they commenced stockading themselves in the jungle within hearing of our advanced posts. On the morning of the 28th of May, when they had stockaded an advanced corps within more than musket-shot distance from picquets, Sir Archi bald thought that it was time to punish their temerity. With four companies of Europeans, two field-pieces, and 400 sepoys, he moved against the foremost stockade. The work being incomplete, the Burmese quitted it, and retired through the wood, after firing a few shots. Sir Archibald and his column continued to advance through the wood by a winding and very narrow pathway, at every turn of which there was some breastwork or stockade. These works, however, were hastily abandoned, the Burmese not having time sufficient to finish them. After an advance of five miles, our troops, emerging from the jungles, suddenly entered a wide open field, intersected by a morass and rivulet, across which there was a long narrow bridge. Here the retreating enemy faced about, and attempted a formation for the purpose of defending the passage of the bridge; but they soon gave way before the fire of our two field-pieces, and then continued their retreat towards other woods and jungles. At this juncture a terrible storm began; the rain fell in tor

rents, and our two field-pieces could be dragged no farther. Sir Archibald Campbell, however, determined to proceed, hoping by a very rapid advance to be able to liberate the Rangoon women and children, being well assured that their release would be followed by the speedy desertion of their male relations, for whom they were held in pledge. Therefore, leaving the 400 sepoys to guard the guns, Sir Archibald pushed on rapidly with the four companies of British troops. After traversing another jungle, he reached the edge of the extensive plain of Joamoang. In the midst of this plain, and at a short distance from each other, stood two villages, closely flanked by jungle on either hand. On approaching the villages, they observed that they were defended in front by two stockades, filled with men, who seemed confident in the strength of their position, and who shouted and cried, "Lagee! Lagee!" (Come! Come!) At the same time large bodies of the enemy were moving from the rear of the villages and forming by the side of the jungle. Leaving one company to keep this force in check, Sir Archibald, with the three other companies, made a dash at the stockades. The enemy within them commenced a heavy fire, to which, from the wet state of their muskets, ours could at first make but little return. But the works were not above eight feet high, and our men forcing their way over them, brought their bayonets to bear upon a crowded, dense, and confused living mass. The conflict was now short, but very sanguinary. The works had only very narrow ways of egress, and the foremost fugitives, getting wedged in them, blocked them up and prevented the flight of the rest. When they could run away, they ran; but the Burmese never gave, and never expected quarter. Lowering their heads to a butting position, they blindly charged upon our soldiers' bayonets. They were killed in heaps, for our people had dried their muskets, and could now pour in volleys as well as use the bayonet. Few or none were spared, as from the barbarous and treacherous mode of warfare practised by the Burmese, death alone afforded safety. During the attack upon the two stockades, the enemy in the plain, whose force was roughly esti mated at from 4,000 to 5,000 men, made no movement in their defence; but as soon as they saw that our troops were

in possession of the works, they set up a horrid yell and began to move towards the stockades. The single company which Sir Archibald had left on the plain sufficed to keep them in check; and as our other three companies rapidly moved out of the works and formed, the Burmese host wavered and fell back. The British then collected their killed and wounded, and carried them from the field; and, as the day was drawing to its close, they marched back to quarters, slowly and without any molestation. The enemy left 300 dead in the stockades and adjacent fields, and many more were wounded. On our side Lieutenant Alexander Howard was killed, and Lieutenants Mitchell and O'Halloran were very severely wounded; two rank and file were killed, and about twenty were wounded. In going and returning, the enemy's advanced stockades were all destroyed.

The sharp lesson they had received shook the confidence of the Burmese commanders in their troops and stockades. Hitherto every effort to open communications with them had failed, but they now sent two deputies to the British general. These native chiefs conducted themselves with much ease and boldness, and with still more cunning and address. The senior, a stout old man in a scarlet robe, and with a red handkerchief tied round his head, opened the subject of their mission, with the question, "Why are you come here with your ships and soldiers?" The provocation they had given by invading our neighbours and dependants, by attacking our own territories, etc., was fully explained as being the cause of the war, and the nature and extent of the redress we demanded was fully stated. In spite of all their address, their real object was discovered, and they, indeed, betrayed it themselves, when they refused to remove the barrier placed in the way of communication and reconciliation, and asked for a few days' delay. Sir Archibald Campbell gave them to understand, that no delay would be granted, that their post on the river would be attacked forthwith. The two chiefs stepped into their war-boats with an air of defiance, and the boatmen went off with great speed, rising on their short oars and singing in chorus, "Oh, what a happy king have we!" The very next morning, the post on the river was attacked by our troops. It was at the village of Kemmendine, a war-boat station, only three miles

above Rangoon. The enemy laboured incessantly, day and night, to strengthen this position. The ground behind the village, elevated and commanding, was surrounded by a thick forest in the rear. The heights had already been strongly stockaded and albatised in front; and the approach on the land faces was rendered difficult by a thick jungle, while the swampy nature of the ground towards the Irawaddi strengthened the works on that side. But these defences were not tenable against two divisions of vessels which proceeded up the river to attack the stockade in that direction, and nearly 3,000 men, who marched to the attack by land, with four 18-pounders and four mortars. In a few

minutes after the attack commenced, a great part of the extensive work was carried, and the enemy there stationed were driven into the jungle, leaving behind them 150 dead. At the rear-gate of this stockade were found the gilt umbrella, sword, and spear of a Burmese commander of high rank; the umbrella, which chiefly denotes the rank, being shattered by a shower of our grape. The body of the chief himself was picked up a few yards farther in the jungle, and was recognized to be that of the stout and cunning old deputy who had visited our quarters the precedingday. This nighta night of storm and pitiless rain-was spent by our troops under arms, under the dripping trees of the jungle or in the inundated rice fields; but on the following morning, when they marched to storm the rest of the works, they found that they were entirely deserted, and that the Burmese had gone off in a panic to another stockade post, a good many miles in the rear of Kemmendine.

BATTLES OF THE GOLDEN DAGON PAGODA.

A. D. 1824. July 1, August 30, 31, December 1, 5, 7, 15.

SIR ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL'S forces at Rangoon were much diminished by sickness and death, brought on by hard service during an inclement season, by defective provisions, and by the ordinary casualties of war. But the opportune arrival of the 89th British Regiment from Madras, and of parts of two detachments which had subdued the islands of Cheduba and Negrais, raised the effective strength just at the critical moment. By the end of June, the Burmese in this quarter appeared to have somewhat recovered from their dismay. Chiefs of the highest fame, who, until they came in contact with our troops, had always been victorious, were sent down the Irawaddi from Ava, and from Prome, with orders to slay or torture and mutilate every Burmese soldier that did not fight to the utmost, and one of the brightest of golden umbrellas, Sykya Wongee, minister of state, was appointed commander-in-chief, with positive commands from the Golden Foot to attack and drive the British at once into the sea. On the first day of July, all the woods in Sir Archibald's front again exhibited bustle and commotion; 8,000 men had crossed to the Rangoon side of the river; the jungles around all seemed animated; clouds of rising smoke marked the encampments of the different corps of the Burmese army in the forest; and their noisy preparations for attack formed a striking contrast to the still and quiet aspect of the British line.

The Shoodagon, or Golden Dagon Pagoda, was the key of the British position. This splendid edifice, in itself a fortress, is about two miles, or two miles and a balt, from the town of Rangoon in shape it resembles an inverted speaking-trumpet; it is 338 feet high, and is surmounted by a cap made of brass forty-five feet high;