was not much talking except now and then a "Toof be resh" would be heard, and one would exclaim to his neighbour "I spit on the beards of the rascals, and mean to secure at least half a dozen of their dirty heads;" some again attempted to strike up a lively air, but the strain soon became grave and touched on scenes of domestic happiness and of those who, sitting at the solitary hearth, might mourn the absence of the soldier, husband, or son, whose presence was once light to their eyes. At the appointed time, the troopers led forth their steeds and mounted in silence, the stars and the dying embers of their fires scarcely affording sufficient light to enable each man to distinguish his charger. The gurgling of a few caleoons was heard, and a few opium boxes were used as the Kizzilbash mustered outside the gateway, and then cautiously wended their way under the guidance of the peasant, who ran beside the stirrup of the Khan. The Aga counted the files as they rode along, and rated soundly some careless youths, who had lingered behind to collect their light baggage. The march was continued in anxiety and with hearts beating high with excitement, till at the termination of the plain which the party had been traversing for some time, and at the bottom of some broken ground, a distant twinkling light was descried, on which the guide touching the knee of the Khan, said, "Yonder are the Gïours," and a halt was immediately ordered. The Russian detachment, over which destruction seemed now impending, had occupied an advanced position near the Caspian, and on the breaking out of the late war had received orders to retire by forced marches beyond the Araxes into Georgia. In complying with the orders to retrograde, the Russians, after a fatiguing march, had reached the above-mentioned village, into which they gladly threw themselves, and occupied it for the night in fancied security. Sentries were posted at the two entrances to the village, which communicated with a road which led through it. But the commandant, careless from fatigue, had neglected to observe that there were certain breaches in the walls which ought also to have been guarded, and, allowing his officers and men to scatter themselves in the empty houses which the inhabitants had abandoned, the detachment sought repose. A watchful sentinel, wrapped in his great coat, and pacing backwards and forwards at his post, fancies he hears a dull sound at some distance from him on the plain; he listens, but a gust of wind agitates the leaves of a tree near him and distracts him from what had excited his attention. The breeze blowing over the damp ground chills his frame, and he attempts to beguile the tedium of the night hour by humming a plaintive air of the Ukraine, and impatiently he looks forward to the time of his relief; suddenly he is struck down by the blow of a sabre from behind, his musket goes off in his fall, which is the prelude to a desperate strife. A few of the bravest of the Persians had been ordered by the Khan to dismount, and to creep towards and endeavour to dispatch the sentries, whilst the rest, divided into two bodies, were to penetrate the village by the unguarded breaches. A dropping shot or two is first heard, succeeded by loud shouts Alli! The Russians, roused from their slumbers, grasp their arms, and most of them without taking time to accoutre themselves rush into the lanes. The Persians, to augment the confusion, set fire to several of the houses; with the glare of ruddy flames illuminating their ferocious countenances they charge down on the scattered enemy, confused and separated from their leaders; gallantly and in despair the devoted infantry stood back to back, and attempted to repel their bloodthirsty foes, but their courage is unavailing, and though the bayonet may pierce the breast of the steed, the keen blade of the horseman lays the foot soldier low. The work of death continues amidst the cries of the combatants, the groans of the wounded, and the roaring and crackling of the burning roofs; the Russians, quitting the lanes, seek to conceal themselves in the houses, but the Persians, with bared arms, caps thrown back, and tucked up skirts, pursue them on foot, bring them forth from their concealment, and with imprecation slay them without mercy. The Khan saves a handful of prisoners, and some more escape amongst the rocks which border a stream which washed the village walls. On the following morning the decapitation of the bodies of the slain, and of many who still breathed, occupied the Persians, whilst the heads of some of their own people, after removing the beards, were added to the bloody heap, which was divided into sacks, placed on led horses, and the whole to be brought in triumph as trophies of a victory to the Shah, who would cause pillars of heads to be raised to commemorate the triumph of the true believers. EPITAPH ON THE LATE COLOUR-SERJEANT ROBINSON, 5TH REGIMENT. WE transcribe with feelings of merited respect and regret, the subjoined appropriate epitaph on the late Serjeant James Robinson : Sacred to the memory of late first Colour-Serjeant of his Majesty's Vth Foot, 1831. As no man in his Regiment stood higher in the estimation of his Officers and brother Soldiers, SO the general indignation excited by his cruel and untimely fate to whose valour and whose worth they united to raise this * Cork. TARGET PRACTICE. On s'est attaché à l'envi à perfectionner le chargement du fusil, à tirer une plus grande quantité de coups par minute, c'est-à-dire à augmenter le bruit et la fumée ; mais on n'a travaillé ni à simplifier l'ordre dans lequel ces feux devoient étre faits, ni à déterminer la meilleure posture du soldat pour bien ajuster, ni à faire augmenter son adresse sur ce point, ni à faire connoître aux troupes la différence des portées et des tirs, ni enfin à leur enseigner jusqu'à quel point il falloit compter ou ne pas compter sur le feu; comment il falloit l'employer et le ménager relativement au terrein, aux circonstances, à l'espece d'arme qu'on a vis-à-vis de soi; quand, en un mot, il falloit cesser d'en faire usage, pour charger l'ennemi à la bayonnette."— GUIBERT. THE arms of the infantry are found much fault with by many officers of experience, who condemn the present musket as inefficient on account of its great weight, its too great length, and its bad construction; and it has been deemed matter of great surprise, that a nation so pre-eminent as ours in the manufacture of all sorts of firearms, should still have the worst armed infantry in Europe. This surely is a subject which calls for serious consideration. But as few persons, perhaps, are fully competent to give a just opinion on the expediency of a change, it may be more useful in the mean time to endeavour to point out means of improvement in the use of our arms such as they are. To this end it seems extremely desirable that proper places should be made at each military station for Target practice. Shooting-galleries might be erected at almost every barrack, and on a plan at once safe and economical. Build a wall parallel to any one of the four walls surrounding a barrack, at any distance which might be deemed expedient; a shed at one end for the men to stand in, and at the opposite one, another for the target, with a small hut near it for a marker, and the thing is done: there then only wants an iron-plate behind the target, and a cross-beam of timber at a proper height and distance from the firing party, to catch any ball that might be fired at too great an elevation. The places which they have for rifle-practice at Geneva, and at most of the towns in Switzerland, and the shootinggalleries in London, might afford other hints. As long ranges and short ranges are equally useful, the length of these galleries might be determined by that of the ground, so that if at one place a range of sixty or eighty yards only could be obtained, at another the ground might allow two hundred yards. Their breadth might be determined in like manner; room for a section would be enough; room for more than a company would never be required. In the sheds ought to be boards of orders containing instructions and directions for the recruit, to regulate the practice, and to explain the principles, traversing-rests, &c. Before orders are given to the district engineers for the construction of these shooting-galleries, let one be erected at Woolwich, and proved by the " scientific branch of the army." As in 1816 non-commissioned officers were sent to Mr. Angelo to learn the sword exercise, and as men of cavalry regiments are still sent to St. John's Wood to learn equitation, so let an officer and a certain number of intelligent men from each regiment and depôt be sent to Woolwich, to be taught how to fire at a mark. These small detachments at Woolwich might be made useful to their corps in various ways, as in teaching the exercise of great guns when opportunity offered, the construction of field-works, the making of cartridges, &c. &c. &c. MATTHEW MUSKET. THE LATE VOYAGE OF H. M. S. CHANTICLEER. THE present is a favourable season for the pursuit of scientific objects abroad, and accordingly several naval expeditions of this nature are now employed under the auspices of Government, in the various parts of the world. In Canada, Com. Bayfield is proceeding with his survey of the St. Lawrence; in the West Indies, Com. R. Owen, commanding the Blossom, is actively employed surveying; in the Mediterranean, Com. Copeland is engaged with his survey of the Archipelago; and on the Western Coasts of Africa, Com. Belcher is completing those parts left unfinished by the late Com. Boteler. At home, we have several naval officers surveying the coasts of England and Ireland, which completes the list of our present scientific operations connected with the naval service. In comparison with what yet remains to be done, if we turn for instance to the Indian Ocean, the above list appears small. But we must not complain. A spirit has been evinced by men in power since the war, to take advantage of peaceable times. The numerous but unfortunate expeditions to Africa-the valuable surveys of Capt. W. H. Smyth in the Mediterranean-the extensive voyage of Capt. W. Owen in the Leven-the expeditions of Sir John Franklin in North America-those of Sir Edward Parry to the Polar regions—that of Capt. King lately returned from surveying the shores of South America -and, finally, that of the Chanticleer, under the late Capt. Foster, all tend to prove that such matters have been held in due estimation. If we wanted a proof of the progress of science in the present day, we should assuredly point to the voyage of the Chanticleer. The two chief objects, namely, pendulum experiments to obtain the true figure of the earth, and observations for difference of longitude, may, perhaps, be considered the principal desiderata in the present day both for the navigator and astronomer. It has been justly observed, that chronometers have become the pride of modern navigators, and that scarcely a "well-found" British ship goes to sea without them. So great a step attained in our merchant service, demands a corresponding encouragement on the part of Government, and setting aside the value of it in other points of view, what can be more beneficial than affording them the means of turning these valuable machines to a still better account, by giving them well-fixed meridians to start afresh from, as they would from Greenwich, at each turn of their voyage? A still better knowledge would be thus acquired of chronometers, the longitude would be more easily ascertained by them, and from the various points thus established, others intermediate might be determined with facility, from which geography would eventually derive incalculable benefits. In addition to these considerations, a series of magnetic experiments were included among other objects of this voyage, which combined to render it one of the most interesting and useful expeditions that have sailed from our shores since the days of Capt. Cook. Planned by men of the first experience, both in science and nautical knowledge, it was matured and submitted to the Admiralty only to be approved, and ordered to be performed. Com. Fostert was * Since this was written, Capt. Fitzroy has been appointed to his former vessel the Beagle, to complete the charts of South America. + Com. Henry Foster entered the navy in the year 1812, and successively served with the present Admirals Bertie and Alexander in the North Sea and Channel Fleets. In 1817, he joined Capt. Hickey in the Blossom, with whom he served till the year 1819, in the capacity of Midshipman. At the time that this ship visited the Columbia River with the Commissioners to establish the boundary line between Great Britain and the United States, he commenced his scientific operations by surveying the mouth of that river. When in the Creole, afterwards, with Commodore Bowles, he made a survey of the north shore of the river La Plata, U. S. JOURN. No. 33. AUGUST 1831. 2 K appointed to conduct the voyage in H. M. S. Chanticleer, which vessel was fitted out at Portsmouth under his superintendence, and supplied with all the instruments necessary to such a service. After having made experiments with the pendulum in high southern latitudes, as well as near the Equator, and carried the chronometric observations across the Atlantic and Ethiopic oceans in various parts, it was intended on his return that he should proceed with the same purpose to the Pacific and Indian oceans, and thus encompass the whole globe by a series of such observations. Being fully equipped and prepared for the first voyage, the Chanticleer sailed from Falmouth in May 1828. The first place which the Chanticleer touched at was the island of Madeira, the longitude of which was measured to an extraordinary degree of accuracy. From Madeira, the island of Teneriffe in the Canary group, and Saint Antonio, one of the Cape Verd islands, were successively visited; the latter forming a point of departure for outward-bound ships, it was desirable should be correctly laid down. From thence the Chanticleer proceeded to the island of Fernando Noronha, where she arrived on the 20th of June, and afterwards at Rio Janeiro in the middle of July. Few days were employed at Rio Janeiro in the necessary observations and refitting the vessel, after which the Chanticleer sailed for the island of St. Catherine on the coast of Brazil, where she arrived on the third day. To a spectator entering the bay of St. Catherine, between the island of Arvoredo, and Point Rapa, the north point of St. Catherine's, the view is of the most magnificent kind. The island, as well as the main land, is covered with a profusion of foliage of the most beautiful description, on which the eye rests with delight. The lofty summits of Mounts Bahul and Camberella, are seen towering above the clouds, which cover the tops of the adjacent mountains on the coast, while beyond them in the distance, those of the interior gradually blend their hue with the thin transparent atmosphere. Cedars, orange-groves, laurels, and a variety of other trees, among which the tufted palm is seen bending gracefully in the wind, cover the face of the whole country. The cabins of the peasantry overlook the bay, and enliven the scene by their white-washed walls, forming a pleasing contrast with the dark green foliage by which they are surrounded. The bay, which is formed by the island with the main, is capacious and safe, the high lands that surround it affording ample protection from all winds. The general anchorage is between the islands of Santa Cruz and the northern Raton Island, abreast of the town of San Miguel, which, from the houses being built apart from each other in a straggling manner, assumes a which was of material service in constructing the present chart of that river. But it was not until serving in the Conway, under the command of Capt. Basil Hall, that his scientific qualities were fully evinced. In addition to the employment of surveying, he was here intrusted with the use of a collection of astronomical instruments, which had been supplied to Capt. Hall by the Board of Longitude. With these he made some excellent observations, which with pendulum experiments, the first he ever undertook, obtained him admission into the Royal Society. His next appointment was to the Griper, Capt. Clavering, on her voyage with Capt. Sabine to the coasts of Greenland and Norway; and on the return of this ship, in 1824, he received his Lieutenant's rank. In the unsuccessful voyage of Capt. Sir Edward Parry, in which he lost the Fury in Prince Regent's Inlet, Lieut. Foster had accompanied him as astronomer to the expedition. Here he employed the leisure afforded by an arctic winter in making some exceedingly interesting observations on magnetism, refraction, and the velocity of sound, besides those connected with determining latitude and longitude. For these observations, which are printed in the Philosophical Transactions, on the return of the last expedition of Capt. Parry from Spitzbergen, whither he had accompanied him, Lieut. Foster received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society, and in half an hour after his Commander's rank. His appointment to the present voyage took place a few days afterwards. |