1825	The Burmese War	448

British lines, during which the flotilla boldly advanced under a crowd of sail, and exposed to the fire of the enemy's works. The Diana with a mortar-boat and four gun-vessels, pushed by the stockade and formed a junction with Sir Archibald's division, whilst the infantry, cavalry, and war-elephants, advanced upon the English. "The British cavalry, " says Major Snodgrass, " covered by the horse-artillery, was ordered to charge the advancing monsters: the scene was novel and interesting; and, although neither the elephants nor their riders can ever be very formidable in modern warfare, they stood the charge with a steadiness and courage these animals can rarely be brought to show. Their riders were mostly shot, and no sooner did the elephants feel themselves unrestrained, than they walked back to the fort with the greatest composure. During the heavy cannonade that took place between the flotilla and the stockade, Maha Bandoola, who was superintending the practice of his artillery, gave his garrison a specimen of the discipline he meant to enforce in this last struggle to retrieve his lost character and reputation. A Burmese officer being killed while pointing a gun, by a shot from the flotilla, his comrades instantly abandoned the dangerous post, and could not be brought back to their duty by any remonstrance of their chief : when Bandoola, stepping down to the spot, instantly severed the heads of two of the delinquents from their bodies, and ordered them to be stuck up upon the spot " pour encourager les autres." �

Between the 28th and the 31st the time was employed on one part in the construction of batteries, and on the other, in improving their defences ; the approaches were made, and on the 2d of April the English took possession of the place without the loss of a man. Bandoola had been killed the night previously by a shell, and his troops, after the loss of their chief, made a precipitate retreat ; leaving behind them 110 iron guns, 28 pieces of brass ordnance, and 269 jingals, mounted on the works, without disabling them in any way. A vast quantity of military stores fell into the hands of the conquerors, and the total loss sustained during the siege amounted to only 14 killed and missing and 69 wounded. The high sense of the services rendered by the naval department, during a period of six weeks, under every privation, surrounded by difficulties and dangers, exposed during that time in open boats, harassed day and night by the enemy, with all the vicissitudes of climate, all the annoyance of their cramped situation, is ably put forth in the letter of Sir Archibald Campbell, * and in Captain Alexander's despatch to Captain Coe. �

Sir Archibald profiting by the panic, marched on the 3d of April towards Prome, while the water division kept up a constant

* Marshall. � Snodgrass.

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