I could not help laughing at the implicit belief the old man appeared to place in this story, and giving him leave to retire, was soon fast asleep; nor were my slumbers disturbed by "the Spirit of the Lake," with whose story I amused our party not a little next morning when we met at breakfast. We determined, however, to visit, when we had leisure, the abode of this evil genius, and in the meantime occupied ourselves in boating, shooting, &c.

The day of our visit to the Goundum pagodah at length arrived, we embarked early, and after two hours hard pull, succeeded in making the point where it stood. It presented the usual sombre appearance of a Hindoo pagodah, increased by the gloom thrown over it by the high trees with which it was surrounded, and was evidently of very ancient construction; for although the massive manner in which it was built of large blocks of granite, supported by pillars of the same material, prevented it from crumbling into ruins, yet the bastard banyan trees, which shot out from every part of the masonry, fixing their roots in the interstices between the slabs of granite, painly testified that time was laying on it its slow though unerring grasp, while the rubbish which encumbered the interior, and the strong and disagreeable smell of bats, which were now its usual inhabitants, bore evidence to its having been long since abandoned.

We passed the day as time is generally spent on similar occasions, in shooting, reading, or lounging about, till a late Tiffin brought us together, in discussing which, time passed away so fleetly, that ere we were aware of it, the lengthened shadows proclaimed the approach of evening, and we were preparing to depart, when old Ahmed hurriedly entered the pagodah, exclaiming, "Saheb, a mist having risen from the lake, the people are afraid to remain, on account of the Tālāb Kā Jinn.'” Whether the alarm of the rest of our people exceeded that manifested by Ahmed is a matter of doubt; but whatever faith we might repose in his intimation, as to the approach of the Jinn," it was evident that a dense fog was slowly rising from the surface of the lake, which by decreasing the short twilight of a tropical evening warned us of the necessity of immediate departure.

We accordingly proceeded to the spot where our little skiff was moored, and hurrying on board, directed our course towards the camp; -as the shades of evening darkened, the fog grew more dense, until it became impossible to ascertain the direction we were to hold.

As they beheld the mist wreathing itself into fantastic forms along the smooth surface of the water, the alarm of our people increased to such a degree, that after declaring it was the Spirit of the Lake, with all its attendant demons, the Lascars threw down their oars, refused to pull another stroke, and sat in despair, recommending themselves to the Ramah Samee. Old Ahmed, the only Mussulman present, was equally well employed in vociferating Allah! illah! and invoking every saint in the Mahomedan calendar.

All that now remained for us to do was to arm ourselves with patience, and make up our minds to spend the night in our present uncomfortable situation. But fate had decreed otherwise; the mist began to clear gradually away, but only to expose to our view a sky of the most threatening appearance, which intimated the approach of one of those sudden and violent storms peculiar to a tropical climate. Nor were we kept long in suspense; the dismal moaning of the breeze, as

it swept by us, preceded by a few large drops of rain, the dark aspect of the heavens, partially illumined by the forked lightning, that played from every quarter of the horizon, made it plainly manifest, that we could not escape the threatened danger. In a few minutes it burst on us in all its fury, accompanied by torrents of rain, whilst the waters of the lake becoming gradually agitated, presented at last the appearance of a stormy sea, leaving our little bark at the mercy of every wave.

All our exertions were now requisite to weather the gale, as the natives were perfectly useless; sickness having added to their former terrors, they lay like corpses at the bottom of the boat, lamenting their hard fate in thus becoming victims of the "Tālab Kā Jinn." By dint of baling we managed to keep afloat, and fortunately for us, were drifted towards the camp, to which we were directed by the shots fired by the Sepoys of our guard. After much trouble we landed, and pro ceeding towards the tents, found here another scene of confusion. Nearly all the tents having been carelessly pitched were lying prostrate on the ground; the grass huts our people had built up were also demo◄ lished by the violence of the storm, which continued to rage with unabated fury; the baggage-bullocks were adrift, and all the camp fol lowers were crowding for shelter around the only remaining tent that still continued to brave the elements.

Our first care was to get on dry clothes, which we with difficulty procured; our next, to get the tent properly secured; and having accom plished these important points, we set down quietly to await the course of events, over our grog and cheroots.

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I shall never forget the appearance of our tent on that eventful evening, occupied as it was by such an heterogeneous group, composed of coolies, seapoys, bullock-drivers, palankeen-boys and servants; many of whom had crowded in as the space would admit, all trembling with cold and terror, for it was their universal belief that the whole of this "fracas" had been caused by the much-dreaded Spirit of the Lake; -whilst in one corner lay rolled up in horse-cloths and blankets such of the crew as had suffered most from fear and sickness, under the influence of which, and of a tolerable quantum of brandy, with which we had dosed them, they lay void of speech and motion; amongst them was conspicuous the grizly beard and withered phiz of old Ahmed, protruding from beneath a heap of carpet.

The adventures of the evening should certainly have concluded here, but it was written otherwise; we had not been long in the situation above described, when a sudden yell which rose loud above the contending elements, announced some new event, and was followed by a rush from those outside the tent, accompanied by the cry of, Bagh! bagh! (a tiger) which startled all the inmates. On inquiry, we found that a tiger had approached the camp, probably in quest of some of the stray bullocks, but had been scared away by the abominable yell set up on his appearance. On hearing this account, Ahmed gave an incredulous shake of the head, and muttered something about the Tālab Kā Jinn, which was solemnly re-echoed by all around.

The following morning, the sun rose in unclouded splendour, the air had been cooled by the storm, and all nature appeared revived. Before noon our tents were repitched, and for two or three days every thing went on as smoothly as it had done before our expedition to the Goun

dum pagodah-at the end of that time, however, a malignant fever broke out among the followers, which gradually extending, at last attacked our friend Lessterre.

He held out for some days, but finding it increase in violence, Cygnet and myself at last prevailed on him to return to Secunderabad, whither we accompanied him, leaving Barbell to carry on his duty. He lingered on for some time, until at last his continued ill health, obliged him to leave the country, more dead than alive; ere this happened, I was one day surprised at receiving a message from him, requiring my immediate attendance; as I feared he might possibly be worse, I lost no time in complying with his request. On arriving at his house, I found him standing, pale as death, before a palankeen in the verandah, to which he silently pointed: but what was my horror and surprise, on recognizing in it the corpse of poor Barbell; it appeared to be nearly in a state of decomposition; the countenance was quite black, to which the long beard and hair gave an appearance at once ghastly and revolting.

It appeared that he had been taken ill shortly after we left him; that the fever increasing, he ordered his bearers to carry him in as quickly as possible; but as he was totally in want of medical assistance, he died when within three days' march of the Cantonment.

These events confirmed the belief of our people in the existence of the "Spirit of the Lake," if it were not already fully established by the circumstances of the mist, the storm, and subsequent visit of the tiger; and they readily attributed to supernatural causes what was in reality occasioned by the natural and well-known insalubrity of the dense jungles we had visited, accelerated perhaps by our imprudent exposure to the sun-under these circumstances, my being taken dangerously ill, a short time after Barbell's death, caused old Ahmed little surprise-a sick certificate to return to Europe was deemed necessary to the recovery of my health, and as, supported by Ahmed, I crawled towards the Mussoulah boat in which I was to cross the surf, his last words were, "Ai! Saheb, this is all owing to the Talab Ka Jinn.”

I cannot conclude without remarking on the neglect or paltry economy evinced by the Madras government, in not furnishing the Hyderabad survey with medical assistance. The party consists of two European officers, five or six assistants, with their attendants, a havildar's (serjeant) guard of sepoys; the whole, including camp-followers, amounting to upwards of one hundred persons. This body, from the month of October till May, is constantly in the field, frequently in the most unhealthy parts of the country and two or three hundred miles from any medical assistance; and strange to say is not even supplied with an apothecary or a dresser.-Should human life be no object, at least the good of the service here imperiously requires amendment; delays having frequently taken place in the survey of different parts of the country, from sickness having obliged both officers and their assistants to desert their posts, and return to cantonments.

That this evil is not imaginary, can be testified by the annals of the Hyderabad survey; within the last few years, three or four of the officers in charge of it having been obliged to return home with the total loss of health, and one having died, as above described.

The query is, whether these evils might not be partly avoided, by the possibility of obtaining medical aid, when required, on the spot? E. N.

FRENCH PRIVATEERING IN THE WEST INDIES.

Can sons of Neptune, generous, brave, and bold,
In pain and hazard toil for sordid gold?
They can! for gold too oft, with magic art,
Subdues each nobler impulse of the heart.

FALCONER.

-DURING the late wars, from the facility with which private vessels of war could be fitted out in the ports of the different islands belonging to France and Spain in the West Indies, the Caribbean Sea teemed with small privateers, which, notwithstanding the utmost vigilance of the officers commanding British men-of-war, committed great depredation upon our trade.

Our merchants and ship-owners, although they knew that such a system of privateering existed in the West, from feeling its effects, yet they were, perhaps, ignorant of the pertinacity with which it was carried on by the numerous daring commanders of the enemy's private armed vessels; and, I dare say, have often thought and complained of a want of activity in our cruisers, at the very time that the greatest exertions were used for the capturing and destroying those picaroons: these recollections may serve to explain the matter briefly; and to show that our naval commanders had to deal with a most subtle and clever enemy, that often bade defiance to all their skill and perseverance.

The Spaniards engaged in this pursuit were never equal to the Frenchmen who embraced the same line of employment; they were deficient in that activity and skill possessed by the latter; and were more intent upon petty predatory exploits, such as landing upon the unprotected coasts of Jamaica and stealing negroes, than running any hazard by attempts to capture our vessels at sea: a resolute disposition on the part of our merchant ships to contest for victory, generally had the effect of driving them off; but it was very different with the Frenchmen; they were not to be frightened so easily by a display of courage on the part of our merchantmen.

Of the war of 1794, Pierre Olanger was considered one of the most clever and resolute commanders of French privateers, but he appears to have been a great scoundrel. In the last war, Jacque Mathieu (by the privateer's-men themselves called Jacca Matu, and by our sailors Jack Mathew) became notorious for his enterprise and success on the Jamaica station. I shall here relate, briefly, one of the tricks he played off, which may give some idea of his expertness, skill, and intrepidity :A British sloop-of-war fell in with a small felucca commanded by this man, and by dint of carrying sail off the wind, brought her alongside. Mathieu lowered his sails, and the ship hove-to; whilst a boat was preparing to take possession of the prize, the captain of the sloop-of-war went into his cabin to take some refreshment, but had scarcely seated himself when he was surprised at hearing the discharge of several cannon, the balls from which broke his cabin windows and swept the decanters and glasses off the table! Hastening upon deck, he had the mortification to see the daring Frenchman luffing his little vessel so close as nearly to touch the ship's quarter: all sail was soon set, and chase given to the privateer, but she having had time to gain the wind, U. S. JOURN., No. 58, Sept. 1833.

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from superior sailing close-hauled, and under cover of the night, after a long trial, effected her escape! I have often heard the captain relate this circumstance, and he said that, although he never had more cause, in his encounters with privateers, to be surprised and chagrined, yet he could never revert to the subject without laughter, it was altogether so unexpected, and placed the ship-of-war in such a ridiculous light,-a lion stung by a mosquito; besides, at every turn he took upon deck he met "long faces," which, but a few minutes before, were drawn out quite the other way by smiles at the golden prospect. The fellow certainly deserved to escape, the ruse of lowering his sails and appearing to give up all as lost, in order to put his enemy off his guard, was one of those clever tricks Jacque had often played off on British men-of-war. Long before this he had displayed, under very trying and hazardous situations, an extraordinary promptitude of action in taking advantage of the slightest circumstance that afforded a chance of escape; and with the exception of Captain Love, who was the king of the picaroons, Mathieu was certainly the most enterprising, audacious, and successful among the French privateer's-men.

At night it was a very difficult matter to catch one of those "low, sneaking-looking things," as the sailors termed the Ballahous and other small vessels of the enemy; it was by no means easy to retain sight of them, even with the aid of good night-telescopes, they were such small objects on a wide horizon; especially as they were constantly trying some manœuvre to deceive or elude the vigilant eyes they well knew were aching in keeping them in view; and sometimes when they were even under your bows they would steal away, and puzzle you exceedingly to catch another glimpse of them; indeed, I have known an instance where one of these vessels, after nearly carrying away a frigate's flying-gibboom at noon-day, actually effected her escape. At times, when the moon shone brightly, they would "lead you a dance" almost round the compass, until they arrived at the sweep of the horizon which was most obscure, when they would lower down every sail, so that, in an instant, the person in the chaser employed with the night-glass would lose sight of the chase, and in nine cases out of ten not see her again! At other times they would allow the light in their binnacle to be seen by the man-of-war in chase, and then dropping a cask with a lantern suspended to a pole fixed in it, extinguish their own light, alter their course, and laugh in their sleeves, in anticipation of the chagrin which the English captain would feel in taking possession of an old tar-barrel instead of the expected privateer!

Until you had actually removed the men from one of these French craft, you could not be sure she was your prize, although under your stern, crossing under your bows, or, indeed, in any position; this has been proved in several instances besides that which I have just related. I recollect a schooner in the Mona Passage, (between Hispaniola and Porto Rico,) giving us, in a corvette, a chase of twelve hours, during which time, at night, we described a circle: that is to say, from before the wind to a close hard-on starboard-tack-tacked-close haul on larboard tack-then gradually off until before the wind again! At daylight the point of the schooner's gaff-top-sail was alone visible above the horizon. The object the commander of the schooner aimed at, and which ultimately was successfully gained, was to try our rate of sailing upon