borne in common. Every man who picked up a live shellfish carried it to the general stock, which was safe from the attempts of the half-famished sufferers. Nor was any guard required. However, to prevent any temptations, sentinels were placed over the small store. But the precaution was unnecessary. No attempt was made to break the regulations established, and no symptoms of dissatisfaction were shown, except when they saw several ships passing them without notice, and without paying any regard to their signals. These signals were large fires, which might have attracted notice when seen on an uninhabited island. Captain Weatherall required no signal. He met with some boards and other symptoms of a wreck, which had floated to sea out of sight of the island, and, suspecting what had happened, immediately steered towards it. To his humanity, the safety of the people on the rock may, under Providence, be ascribed; for, as the violence of the gale was such as to dash the ship to pieces, leaving no part visible in a few hours, the men must have been swept off the rock at its

commencement.

Five men died from weakness; several were drowned in falling off the kind of raft made to convey them from the ship to the rock; and some were drowned by the surf in going on shore in all, fourteen soldiers and two Lascars were lost. Unfortunately, the gale that destroyed the ship blew off the island, so that no part of the wreck floated on shore. Had it been otherwise, some things might have been carried back to the island. *

The vessels which took the men off this island had an ex

* Since the publication of the first edition, I have been informed, that, after the Po set sail, and left the people on the wreck to their fate, several of the men behaved in a most improper manner, and, giving themselves up to despair, seized upon some liquor in the cabin, and threw themselves into a state of intoxication, which added to the wretchedness of their situation. The Lascars gave up entirely, and could not be made to exert themselves in any way. No part of this misconduct attached to the people on the island, whose conduct was exemplary throughout.

peditious passage back to Calcutta, where they landed on the 12th of December. After the men had been refreshed and new clothed, they embarked for England, in the end of February 1817, on board the Prince Blucher, Captain Weatherall, to whose humanity they in a great measure owed their lives. They sailed on the 1st of March, and landed in Portsmouth in June. From thence they embarked for Aberdeen, and in a few weeks were removed to Ireland.

At this time a report was pretty generally spread that the three Highland regiments, the 42d, 78th, and 92d, had been ordered out of Scotland, under a conviction that they were not to be trusted at a time when disturbances were expected in Glasgow and other manufacturing towns. This unfounded and malicious report must have originated in what was considered to be an unexpected removal of those national corps to Ireland, particularly the removal of the 78th, in a few weeks subsequent to their return to their native country, after a course of honourable service, and after an absence of twenty-three years, without having had an opportunity of seeing their friends and their kindred. The character of these soldiers is now too well established to admit of any distrust or want of confidence in their performance of their duty. The honour and good name of a soldier ought to be like the virtue of Cæsar's wife, not only pure, but unsuspected. The honour of Highland soldiers has hitherto been well supported, and Ross-shire has to boast that the 78th has all along maintained the honourable character of their predecessors. All those who value the character of a brave and virtuous race may look with confidence to this corps, as one of the representatives of the military and moral character of the peasantry of the mountains. In this regiment, twenty-three have been promoted to the rank of officers during the war. Merit thus rewarded will, undoubtedly, have its due influence on those who succeed them in the ranks.

4

List of Killed and Wounded in the Ross-shire Highlanders

Ahmednaggur, 8th June 1803, Capt. T. B. Mackenzie Humberstone.

Duncan Grant.

Lieut. James Anderson.

Assaye, 23d Sept. Lieut. James Douglas.

Weltevreede, 10th August 1811, Lieut. John Munro.

Cornelis, 20th

Lieut.-Colonel William Campbelle

Names of Officers Wounded.

Bommill Wart, October 1794, Lieutenant Archibald Christie.

Major Malcom.

Nimeguen, 4th November 1794, Captain Hugh Munro.

Gildermalsen, January 1795, Captain Duncan Munro.
Cape of Good Hope, 1795, Major Monypenny.

Captain Hercules Scott.

Ahmednaggur, June 1803, Lieutenant Larkins.

Assaye, 23d September 1803, Lieutenant-Colonel Adams.

Captain Alexander Mackenzie.

Lieuts. Kinloch and Larkins.
Ensign Joseph Bethune.

Weltevreede, 10th August 1811, Captain Donald Cameron.

Cornelis, 20th

Captains William Mackenzie and James Macpherson.-Lieut. William Mathieson.-Ensign John Pennycuik.

SEVENTY-NINTH REGIMENT,

OR

CAMERON HIGHLANDERS.

1793.

THIS respectable regiment was the second raised in this war. On the 17th of August 1793, letters of service were granted to Allan Cameron of Errach, for the purpose of raising a corps of Highlanders. To regiments embodied in this manner, Government generally allowed a bounty, but under no certain regulation, being higher or lower, according to time and circumstances. But, in this instance, no bounty whatever was given, and the men were recruited at the sole expence of Mr Cameron and his officers. How well they succeeded in the execution of this task appeared by the rapid completion of the corps. It was inspected at Stirling in February 1794, and embodied under the number and denomination of the 79th or Cameron HighlandMr Cameron was appointed lieutenant-colonel-commandant. The success of this first effort encouraged him to proceed; and, in a short time, the corps was completed to 1,000 men.

ers.

Not having been able to procure any detailed account of the movements and service of this regiment, beyond such a general sketch as must be familiar to all readers, as well as to military men, I shall, therefore, only state that it was employed in the campaign of 1794 and 1795 in Flanders; and that in the summer of the latter year it embarked for

the West Indies. A duty of two years in Martinique reduced the strength of the corps considerably.-In July 1797, a proposition was made to the men to volunteer into other regiments. Such of them as chose to return to Europe were to join the 42d regiment, then under orders to embark, and those who preferred the West Indies were at liberty to make choice of any regiment destined to continue on that station. The officers, and non-commissioned officers, were to return to Scotland to recruit for another battalion. Many of the men chose to remain in the West Indies. Those who preferred the 42d-a number amounting to 210 men-came home in 1797, and in such good health, that five companies of 100 men each, including the men of both corps, landed at Portsmouth on the 31st of August, in perfect health. It has been already mentioned, that when the report of the regiment was sent on shore, on the arrival of the ships at Portsmouth, it was supposed that the number of sick had been omitted through mistake, and no small surprise was expressed when the correctness of the report was ascertained.

Colonel Cameron and his officers came home in the same fleet, and were immediately ordered to Scotland to recruit. Great exertions were now made, (although there was less inducement on the part of the officers, who obtained no rank for their exertions, as their predecessors had done,) and, in an especial manner, Colonel Cameron himself was so zealous and successful, that, in the year 1798, a fresh body of 780 men was assembled at Inverness, and afterwards formed a part of the expedition to the Helder in 1799. The loss in this service, as well as all others, in which the regiment was engaged with the enemy, will be seen in the annexed lists of killed and wounded, which show, at one view, the actions in which the corps was engaged, and the total loss sustained from the beginning to the conclusion of the war.

VOL. II.

* See Appendix.