The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-06 00:00:00

sweeping is going on and the aspect of tho camp is
generally improving.
As far as I can learn, there is not much variation
in the health of the army since I last adverted to it.
There is still some cholera, and a good deal of dy-
sentery and diarrhoea. There is one article of food,
lately largely given as rations to this army, which
I am convinced tends to provoke the latter diseases
—which often terminate in the former and more
usually fatal one—and that is preserved meats in
tins. The soldiers have found out this from expe-
rience, and, although the meat thus preserved is by
no means unpalatable, many of them reject it, be-
cause they find it makes them ill, and prefer con-
tenting themselves with their bread or biscuit, and
with a not unsavoury mess they make out of rice
with a bit of bacon boiled in it. In officers' messes
the preserved viands are equally out of favour ;
many have brought out tins of different kinds of
meat, fish, stews, soups, which remain unopened,
while their owners dine off rice soup and ration
beef, boiled with beans. The meat in tins served
out to the troops is beef, preserved with gravy, and
with a large proportion of fat. It is of English pre-
paration, and often—indeed, generally—has an un-
pleasant flavour, which seems to proceed from the
metal in which it is packed. It is extremely unpo-
pular, and, I believe, not wholesome, and a very
different thing from the boiled beef, without gravy,
which was much liked by the British army in the
Crimea. A considerable portion of the provisions
now serving out to the Spanish army proceed from
English sources. The prime bacon, in barrels of
001 b., is the best that comes here. We get a great
deal of biscuit in huge cases marked " navy bread,"
and also English pressed hay. Barring the tin beef,
this army has had no reason to complain of the qua-
lity of its provisions, or of their quantity either ;
and this is the more fortunate that the soldier has
had but rare opportunities of adding to his rations
either by foraging or by purchase. He gets his pay
regularly, but since we left the lines of Ceuta he
has seldom been able to expend it because there was
little or nothing to buy. For five or six days, be-
tween Castellejos and Cape Negro, rabbits were in
season. The jungle of gumcistus and other plants
through which we marched swarmed with them.
There were also a few monkeys hunted, although
not always caught, for their agility set whole bat-
talions at defiance, but I have not heard whether
the soldiers brought their stomachs to stand that
peculiar diet. When we got into the plain we left
rabbits and monkeys behind us, and the only thing
I now see the men adding to their rations are a few
tortoises which they have picked up in this
neighbourhood. But we have now supplies of
another nature. A number of boats have come
from Ceuta with provisions, and a sort of
market is established along the banks of the
river. Booths are formed out of three long oars
with a sail thrown over them, and in them are sold
bread, wine, oranges, raisins, chorizos (the small
Estramaduran sausage, strongly flavoured with gar-
lie and red pepper), and various other things suited
to the soldier's taste. And as soon as day breaks the
camp is perambulated by itinerant vendors, crying
their wares and recommending them in the highest
terms to the soldiers. Aquadiente and a bastard
sort of Geneva are carried about in stone bottles ;
also chocolate, olives, and other things of common
Spanish consumption. So that for the present there
seems to be no danger of starvation, nor even of a
return to the rather short commons not a few had
to put up with in that camp of odious memory on
the muddy margin of the River Azreeer.

Since the above was written we have had a fight
of no great importance, which commenced in con-
sequence of the Moors coming down upon our
right, apparently intending to molest the engineers
employed in constructing the new fort already
mentioned. A couple of companies were sent out
to cover them, skirmishing began, and the Spanish
artillery struck in. General Rios having
advanced a battalion overmuch into a posi-
tion where a piece of stagnant water in some de-
gree cut it off from support, the Moors pressed upon
it, other troops were obliged to wade to its support,
and the action assumed larger proportions than
had been intended or than there was any occasion
for. The artillery fired a good deal, the gunboats
in the river made some very indifferent practice,
some of their shells bursting nearer to Spaniards
than to Moors, and finally the cavalry executed
several charges, in which some damage was done to
the enemy, and a standard was captured by a trooper,
who was made a sergeant and decorated on the
spot. The young Count d'Eu smelt powder for the
first time, went out among the skirmishers, and re-
ceived a decoration. I have not heard what the
Spanish loss was, but I should think it small. The
Moors displayed no great force, and the whole affair
was unimportant. The enemy, once fairly driven
back, showed little disposition to come on again,
and made but feeble attempts to harass the Spaniards
as they returned to their lines. There is nothing to
prevent their coming down to-night and destroying
the engineers' daily work at the outlying fort, but
judging from the way in which they respected the
new roads that were made outside the Ceuta lines it
is probable they will do nothing of the sort. It is
not unlikely, however, that they may again descend
from their hills to-morrow and provoke another
skirmish. During the fight to-day they fired some
cannon shots from their camp, but nothing was seen
of the balls. They have, apparently, two small pieces
of artillery up there, but probably very antiquated,
like some of those that were found in the fort and
custom-house. Their sound is faint and dull, very
different from the sharp reports of the rifled guns.
Moreover, the Moors have the reputation of being
very bad artillerymen and have evidently the
vaguest ideas as to the distance a gun can carry.
According to the Gibraltar Chronicle of the 20th
inst., the Moors boast of having carried off from the
Spaniards, on the night of the 11th, 97 mules, two
horses, and a donkey. I think it not unlikely that
between the lines of Ceuta and Cape Negro they
may have obtained possession of quite that number
of animals, some of them dead, and others too much
exhausted to proceed with the army. Round the
camp on the Azmeer they were continually prowl-
ing, and doubtless made some captures, thanks to
the stormy nights and the incorrigible stupidity
and obstinacy of the muleteers, who persisted in
taking their beasts to graze at a great distance from
the intrenchments, and used to leave them there
unattended. From one division alone 22 mules were
reported missing the day before we marched from
the Azmeer, but some of them afterwards turned up,
and others had lain down and died. Mules are
tough animals, but, unfortunately, no means have as
fndoiosdc,o vaenrde d
as of
mostprevailing
oorns e
st hweemr e tnoe
alive
yetwit hboeat e
or quite without corn at that time, it may be ima-
gined that the mules did not get a large ration.

(From the Clamor Publieo.)

The heroic and sanguinary "episode of the knap-
sacks" in the battle of Castillejos is described l'
the following manner by the -brave Count de Reu s
in a letter to a friend :
"The positions were held exclusively by the forces
of my division till one in the afternoon. At that
hour two battalions of the Cordoba Regiment came
up to reinforce me, and I ordered them to take off
their knapsacks, seeing that the soldier cannot
fight with such a weight on his back. It was
this order which, two hours later, obliged me to
do what I did. At three, the Moors having
concentrated their forces, charged in such num-
bers and so furiously, that they caused us to
lose the higher of our two positions. I was at
the time in the second. I drew my sword, ad-
vanced with two battalions, and the position was
again taken; I then returned to my first station.
Moorish supports came up; once more they attack
furiously, and my men are again obliged to retreat,
falling back in some confusion to the place where
I was posted. Here were the knapsacks of the
Cordoba Regiment. A hundred paces further in
retreat, and the Moors would have carried them
otf. In so critical a moment I seize the standard
of this regiment, address a few words to the.men
with all the energy of my heart, call to my brave
!'allows, the remains of the Principe. and Vergara
Regiments, and dash sword in hand upon the enemy,
n o kovill oast!.
who was so close upon that our fellows, in order
ptaimsseedin loading, used only the bayonet.
yataghans there cannot be described—Moors
and Spaniards
mixedcrossi up together—bayonets and
standard-bearing
soldiers same through terrible moment—but my
Viva la Reins!' ,creneral, and to the shout of
ugh. it ; the bravest follow their
on rva Espana!' we conquer for
the last timethat day. The Moors fly, and