content had already manifested itself against us. I was informed, likewise, of the approach of a considerable body of troops, commanded by General Andrea, to whom the pacification del Para had given great reputation.

Off the Isle of St. Catherine, and as we were returning, we fell in with a Brazilian war pinnace. We had only the Rio Pardo and the Seival; several days before the Cassapara had been separated from us in a dark night. We discovered the enemy on our prow, and there was no means of avoiding him. We steered down, therefore, straight upon him, and attacked him resolutely. We commenced firing, and the enemy replied; but the fight had but an uncertain result, on account of the roughness of the sea. Its issue was the loss of some of our prizes,-their commanders, terrified by the superiority of the enemy, having lowered their flags. Others had made for the neighbouring coasts. One only of our prizes was saved, it was commanded by Ignazio Bilbao, our brave Biscayan, who landed with it in the port of Imbituba, then in our hands. The Seival, having had its cannon dismounted, and making water fast, took the same route. I was, therefore, obliged to do as they had done, in my turn, being too weak to keep the sea alone.

We entered into Imbituba, driven by a north-east wind; with such a wind it was impossible for us to reenter the lagune, and to a certainty, the imperial vessels stationed at St. Catherine's, informed by the Andurinha, the vessel of war with which we had an affair, would soon be upon us; we must, therefore, prepare for fight. The dismounted cannon of the Seival was hoisted upon a promontory, which formed the bay of the eastern coast; and upon this promontory we constructed a gabioned battery.

As expected, day had scarcely broken, when we perceived three vessels directing their course upon us. The Rio-Pardo was at double anchor at the bottom of

G

the bay, and commenced a very unequal contest; the imperialists were incomparably the stronger.

1 had wished Anita to land, but she refused to do so, and as at the bottom of my heart I admired her courage, and was proud of it, I did nothing in this circumstance as in others, the first prayers being rejected, to force her will.

The enemy, favoured in the manœuvre by the wind, which was increasing, kept sailing, making short tacks, and cannonading us furiously. He was able in this fashion, to open, at his will, all the angles of diversion, of his fire, and to direct the whole of it upon our goëlette. In the meantime, we, on our side, fought with the most obstinate resolution, and as we attacked so closely that we could make use of carbines, the fire, on both sides, was most murderous; from our numerical weakness, the losses were greater with us than with the imperialists; and our deck was already covered with dead and wounded; but, though the side of our vessel was riddled with bullets, though our rigging had suffered severely, we were resolved not to yield, and to sink rather than surrender. It is true that we were animated to this generous resolution by the sight of the Brazilian amazon we had on board. Not only, as I said, had Anita refused to land, but, still further, carbine in hand, she insisted upon taking part in the fight. We were likewise, it must be allowed, valiantly supported by the brave Manoel Rodriguez, commanding our land battery; as long as the engagement lasted, his shots were skilfully and vigorously directed.

The enemy was furious, particularly in his efforts against the goëlette. Several times, during the fight, he pressed us so closely that I thought he aimed at boarding us. He would have received a welcome; we were prepared for that. At length, after an obstinate contest of five hours, the enemy, to our great astonishment, sheered off. We afterwards learnt that this was owing to the death of the commander of the Belle Américaine; this death put an end to the battle.

I experienced, during this fight, one of the most lively and cruel emotions of my life. Whilst Anita, on the deck of the goëlette, was encouraging our men, sabre in hand, a cannon-ball knocked down her and two men, close to her. I sprang towards her, expecting to find nothing but a dead body; but she rose again, safe and sound; the two men were killed. I then implored her to go below deck. "Yes, I will," replied she; "but only to turn out the cowards who have concealed themselves there."

As she said, she did go down, but soon returned driving before her three sailors, heartily ashamed of being less brave than a woman.

We employed the rest of the day in burying our dead and repairing the damages done to our goëlette by the enemy's fire, and these damages were not trifling. The next day, the Imperialists not appearing, we had reason to conclude they were preparing some new attack upon us; therefore, we embarked our cannon, weighed anchor towards night-fall, and, once. more directed our course towards the lagune.

We had gained some distance before the enemy were aware of our departure; they then immediately sailed in pursuit of us, but it was not till the next day that they were able to favour us with a few cannon shot, and that at such a distance as to prove harmless. We reached the lagune without any further accident, and were heartily welcomed by our friends, who were astonished at our having escaped an enemy so superior in numbers.

CHAPTER XXVI.
LAKE D'IMBRUI.

OTHER events awaited us in the lagune; as our enemies contined to advance upon us in such superior numbers that there was no chance of resisting them, and as, on the other side, our bad policy and our brutalities had

alienated from us all the inhabitants of the province of St. Catherine, which was quite ready to revolt against us and join the Imperialists; and as the population of the city of Imbrui, situated at the extremity of the lake, had already revolted; I received orders from General Canavarro to go and chastise that unfortunate country with fire and sword. I was compelled to obey the command.

The inhabitants and the garrison had made preparations for defence on the side towards the sea; I, therefore, landed at a distance of three miles, and attacked them, at the moment they least expected it, from the mountain side. Surprised and beaten, the garrisou was put to flight, and we found ourselves masters of Imbrui.

I pray for myself, as for every other creature who has not ceased to be a man, never to receive such an order as I had received, and which was so positive, that there was no means of my evading it. Although there exist long and prolix relations of similar facts, I believe it to be impossible for the most terrible relation to approach the reality. May God look with pity on me, and pardon me, but I have never had in my life а day which left in my soul so bitter a remembrance as that. No one can form an idea, in giving freedom to pillage, of what I had to undergo to prevent violence against persons, and to confine destruction within the limit of inanimate things; and yet, I believe I did succeed beyond my hopes; but, with regard to property, I could not possibly avoid disorder. Nothing could prevail, neither the authority of command, punishment, or even blows. I went even so far as to menace a return of the enemy. I spread a report that having received reinforcements, they were coming back upon us; but all was useless. If they had come, disbanded as we were, they might literally have made one slaughter of us. Unfortunately the city, though small, contained a number of magazines, full of wines and spirituous liquors, so that, excepting myself, who

never drink anything but water, and a few officers whom I succeeded in keeping with me, the drunkenness was almost general. Add to this, my men were for the major part people I scarcely knew, fresh recruits, consequently undisciplined. Fifty determined men, falling upon us unexpectedly, might have had a severe revenge. At length, by means of threats and vigorous efforts, I succeeded in getting these unchained wild beasts on board again.

We brought on board the vessel some provisions, the effects saved from the plunder that were to be divided, and then returned to the lagune.

In the meantime, the advanced guard, commanded by Colonel Texeira, was retiring before the enemy, who was advancing rapidly and in great numbers. When we reached the lagune, the baggage was beginning to be passed to the right shore, and the troops were soon to follow.

CHAPTER XXVII.

FRESH FIGHTS.

I HAD plenty to do during the day in which the passage of the division to the northern shore was effected, for if the army was not numerous, the baggage and embarrassments of all kinds seemed to have no end. Towards the narrowest point of the embouchure the current redoubled in violence. It was the labour then of all the hours between sun-rise and mid-day, to get over the division with the aid of all the barks we could procure.

About twelve o'clock, the enemy's flotilla, composed of twenty-two sail, began to appear; it combined its movements with the land troops, and the vessels themselves carried in addition to their crews, a great number of soldiers. I climbed the nearest mountain to observe the enemy, and I at once perceived that their plan was to unite their forces at the entrance of the lagune. I