bombardment had been promptly used up, either for fortification or for cooking[53]. Medical stores were wholly unobtainable: the chief hospital had been burnt early in the siege, and the sick and wounded, laid in vaults or casemates for safety, died off like flies in the underground air. The seeds of pestilence were spread by the number of dead bodies of men and animals which were lying where they could not be reached, under the ruins of fallen houses. The spirit alike of garrison and troops still ran high: the repulse of the great assault of September 19, and the cessation of the bombardment for many days after had encouraged them. But they were beginning to murmur more and more bitterly against Blake: there was a general, if erroneous, opinion that he ought to have risked a battle, instead of merely throwing in provisions, on September 1. Alvarez himself shared this view, and wrote in vigorous terms to the Junta of Catalonia, to ask if his garrison was to perish slowly by famine. [53] The very interesting list of the prices of commodities at the commencement and the end of the siege, drawn up by Dr. Ruiz, one of the Gerona diarists, may be found on p. 579 of Arteche’s vol. vii. Note the following--the real (20 to the dollar) = 2½_d._ :-- _Reals._ _In June._ _In Sept._ Wheat flour, the qr. 80 112 Barleymeal, the qr. 30 56 Oatmeal, the qr. 48 80 Coffee, the lb. 8 24 Chocolate, the lb. 16 64 Oil, the measure 2½ 24 Salt fish, the lb. 2¼ 32 Cheese, the lb. 4 40 Wood, the arroba (32 lb.) 5 48 Charcoal, ditto 3½ 40 Tobacco, the lb. 24 100 A fowl 14 320 Rice, the lb. 1½ 32 Fresh fish from the Ter, the lb. 4 36 Thus while flour and meal had not doubled in value, coffee had gone up threefold, chocolate and tobacco fourfold, cheese and fuel tenfold, and the other commodities far more.