The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-15 00:00:00

---.-......,.........„...........
TEE MOSQUITOES OF MARSEILLES.

_ -
As you are dropping off to sleep, there comes at
you from the outer darkness a blast of a fiercely blown
little trumpet, which vibrates in your ears like the
note of a very shrill musical glass ; and, if you are
at all familiar with the sound, drives sleep away at
once. The first thing to be done is to shut the win-
dow, and in the course of this operation you damage
your fingers with that combination of crank and lever
employed to fasten windows in France. Your temper
is thus dangerously roused, and with towel and
lighted taper you go forth to battle determined to
spare neither age nor sex. In the blindness of your
wrath you murder a couple of innocent sleeping
flies, and smash a late spider who is hurrying home
to bed up the wall ; but of the enemy you can
see nothing. He is in ambush, however, watching
you, for no sooner are you in bed and the candle out
than he returns to the charge. Then you think of
trying a stratagem, and letting him settle before you
attack him. After a prolonged fantasia in some-
thing unusually sharp, the music comes to a sudden
stop, and you prepare to steel out your hand for a
match, when sting! goes his stiletto into the corner
of your left eyelid, and instinctively you deal your-
self a thwack on the adjacent organ that for the
moment produces the effect of a final burst of fire-
works at Cremorne. Surely you hit him that
time you think ; but you didn't, and he comes
down upon you again as soon as you are quiet ;
and so with sorties and retreats and severe
punishment about the face—and perhaps, if have
mosquito curtains, a diversion created by setting
fire to the house—the night drags on until at last,
wearied out and fairly beaten
off, you bid him
bite his best, and fall into a dogged doze and dream
that you are being pursued down very deep steps
on account of the informality in your passport, by
the whole French army, whimh somehow changes
into a cloud of mosquitoes just as you are getting
away. But the sorest trial comes with the morning
light. The field of Waterloo on the morning of the
19th was not a more touching spectacle than that
which yoeuyrel
•
glass presents
ltstoooyhnglike a little sackou. Left eye nearly
closed
of currant
a winkjelly,urrantx
aed and rueful ;
and forcing you
foreheadtoreg allardn ature
with over
bumps like the crust of a pigeon-pie or the surface
of a common where the moles have been burrowing.
Ndy, more than this. There are yet other woes in
store for you ; for is there not an unusual feeling
about the tip ofyour nose? Surely the accursed insect
cannot have violated the sanctity of that sacred
feature ? And yet, now that you COlll6 to look at it,
there does seem to be something wrong; it is far
redder than it has any right to be in a person of
your strictly temperate habits, and viewed side-
way-, there is a decided bump on the end of it. This
is the cruellest blow of all. Now, you think you
could have been happy with a closed eye and a
knobby forehead. What is even a black eye to a
nose that is gradually assuming—for you do feel it
swelling—the dimensions and colour of a tomato ?
There is something rudely heroic about a black eye;
it may have been received in the defence of beauty
and virtue, but the expression of your unfortunate
countenance is simply comical, and here you are
condemned to go about for at least eight-and-forty
hours (supposing you don't get bitten again) with
bitterness in your heart, irritation in your skin,
and a physiognomy as grotesque as a pantomime
mask.—Frassr's.magazine for April.

THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF INDIA

Accustomed as India has been to commanders-in-chief of
the type of Sir Wm. Gomm, thespectacle of Sir Hugh Rose
laying aside all state and travelling courier fashion over 600
miles of as wild and barren a frontier as the world can pro-
duce, is too remarkable to be passed over without an attempt
to chronicle his movements. It is well known that for many
months he has intended to make himself personally ac-
quainted with our Trans •Indus border, and that a journey.
from Peshawur to the confines of Scinde formed an impor-
tant part of his projected tour of inspection for the winter
of 1861-62. It was always his intention, with reference to
the known character of the country, to travel with a reduced
escort and staff, but it was only after his arrival at Pesh-
awur, and after consultation with Brigadier-Gen. Chamber.
lain, that the exact form in which the journey should be
made was determined on. The simplicity with which it has
been thus far conducted is remarkable. Not a single tent
has accompanied his progress. Each day's journey, averag-
ing from 30 to 50 miles, has been performed on horseback,
with an escort of a duffadar and five troopers of irregular ca-
valry. He has depended for shelter and refreshment each day
on the scanty resources of the frontier officers, and the re-
sult has been tint he has seen more of frontier life and sys-
tem in a few days than if he had paraded through the dis-
tricts in ordinary state for as many weeks. Sir Hugh Rose,
after completing his inspection of the troops and pasts in the
Peshawur valley, rode over from Peshawur to Kohat,through
the pass which formed the scene of Sir Chas. Napier's brief
campaign in 1849-50. He arrived at Kohat on February 3,
halted the next day, locked at the troops, consisting of a,
battery of artillery, a regiment of cavalry, and three of in-
fantry—all of the Punjab Irregular force, examined the fort
and everthing worth seeing, and on the 6th commenced his
arduous ride to Mittuncote, accompanied by Brigadier-
General Chamberlain, commanding the Punjab Irregular
force, Major Roberts, V.C., Assistant Quartermaster-Gene-
ral, Lieut.-Col. Sarel, Assistant Adjutant-General of
cavalry, one aide-de-camp and the staff officer of the Pun-
jab Irregular Force; six officers in all. The officers com-
manding the several stations and districts on the frontier
had received orders to provide relays of cavalry or artillery
horses, and of riding camels and mules from the regimen-
tal establishments, for the very limited baggage of the
party. Seven camels and nine mules were found sufficient
for the latter purpose. The frontier officers had also been
warned to have either tents or houses according to circum-
stances prepared for the party at each resting place.
Bahadoor Khan, a frontier post midway between Kohat and
Bunnoo, 63 miles from the former and somewhat less from
the latter station, was the first resting place. His Excel-
lency was contented with a small room in the keep of the
fort occupied ordinarily by the officer commanding. The
fort was built some years ago for the purpose of controlling
the Bahadoor Khail salt mine, a great resort of the power-
ful Wuzeeree tribe, who act as carriers of sal thence to
various parts of Affghanistan and the intermediate hill
tribes, It stands on the very edge of the British territory,
facing a remarkable natural fortress, in the shape of an
enormous hill, called the Infidel's Castle, about 15 miles
beyond the border, and sees in reverse the low line of hills
which separates the Wuzeeree country from •the valley of
Bunnoo. Through this range the Korrum finds its way,
and issuing into the plain fertilises a portion of the Min-
noo Valley and thence passes on to join the Indus. OR
the morning of the 6th the Commander-in-Chief rode
through a dery difficult, and, until late years, dangerous
defile, called the Soordak Pass, and thence on to Bunnoo
over the Wuzeeree Tull, or pasture ground of the nomad()
Wuzeeree tribe, for a full description of which we must
refer our readers to the pages of Colonel Ed wardes's book.
At Bunnoo he was entertained by Lieutenant-Colonel
Green and officers of the station. On the 7th he halted and
looked at the brigade, consisting of a battery of artillery, a
regiment of cavalry, and two of infantry, all, as at Kohat,
of the Punjab Irregular Force. On the Bth the Commander-
in-Chief rode on between 30 and 40 miles to Paharkheyl,
village at the mouth of the Bhaim pass which leads through
the low range of hills dividing Bunnoo and Murwut from
the plains of the Deraj at, a defile which has only lately been.
reclaimed from being utterly dangerous and impassable
without strong escort. Tents for the party had beelix ,sen,
on to Paharkheyl from Bunnoo. On the 9th his -hi
lency rode on to Tank, about 30 miles. This is thte.
princi-
pal ptha
gTrahnedctroomadusi ofis
accepting
el
headquartersmilitary oti t p outpost
theon t3hde
Punjab Der ls
Cavalrymai l K h a n
Herepyn frontier, and
entertained by Lieut. Kennedy and his officers,
thankfully the scanty accommodation
to visiting the post afforded. The 10th was devoted
exploring the well. known,
out-
posts in the Gomul valley,tion which such an out-
Affgha • t
nis an, the
Gomul or Gwalara pass,.
communication between India an
Lehs7 a merchants,
Khy-
ber and Bolan passes being
e or Povind
principally
complexions
whose athletic forms and Spanishare no un-
common object at this season in the bazaars of Calcutta.
used by the
one
and
t h the f otherthe three
two.
n over by the party this day was not less
The ground ridden
miles. 011 the morning of the
than 50 mi • 11th his Excellency
looked at the 3d Punjab Cavalry, and then rode into Dera
Ismail Shen, 43 miles, when he was entertained by Lieut.-
Colonel Vaughan and the officers of the station. On the
12th be saw the Brigade, consisting of a Battery of Artil-
lery, a detachment of the 51st Light Infantry and two in-
fantry regiments of the Punjab Irregular Force. The
evening was devoted to inspecting the small fort which con-
tains the magazine from
which all the troops on the fron-
tier south of Kohat are supplied. On the morning of the
13th the detachment of the 51st Light Infantry was put
through a searching inspection, and, this done, the Comman-
der-in-Chief
galloped off to look at a bund or dam in course
of construction six miles above the station, which, it is
hoped, will divert the stream of the Indus to the oppo-
site bank, and thus save the town from destruction, which
last altumn appeared imminent. In the afternoon a grand
durbar was held, and 170 individuals of various rank and
degree were presented to his Excellency. On the 14th, the
Commander-in-Chief rode out 38 miles to Drabund, a vil-
lage on the extreme frontier, opposite the pass of the same
name, and facing the grand mountain of the Soolyman
Ismailrat
in nge
called " Solomon's throne." Here he passed the nigh
few small tents which had been sent out from Dera
Khan for his accommodation. On the 15th he rode along
the frontier road to Vehowa, a small outpost 44 miles below
Drabund, and again passed the night in a camp _ _ex tem Po-
Heed for the purpose. On the 16th he rode on to ungrota.
30 miles, and according to the last accounts was tM o proceed
thence to Dera Ghazee Khan and Mittuncote, whence he
will maks his way to Mooltan and rejoin his camp at Pero-
zepore or Umballa. His tour thus far has not merely
gratified a laudable cariosity, but may be productive of
tangible good.—
Friend of India.