From the 20th of February Forts Bourbon and Louis, with the town of Fort Royal, were completely invested, and the General was busily employed in erecting batteries on his first parallel. On the north-east side the army under General Prescott broke ground on the 25th of February, and on the west side towards La Coste (where Sir Charles Gordon commanded, Prince Edward not having as yet arrived from Canada) fascine batteries for mortars and cannon were erecting with every possible expedition. In this business the seamen, who formed a camp at Point Negro under Captain Josias Rogers of the Quebec, eminently distinguished themselves; and though the roads were not quite so bad as on the Sourier side, yet they had many severe difficulties to encounter, that rendered dragging the mortars and heavy ordnance to the batteries fatiguing and hazardous in a great degree. Part of the way which they were obliged to go was in sight of Fort Bourbon; soon after which they descended into a hollow way or ravine, where a rivulet invited them to refresh themselves, and it was with difficulty their officers could prevent them from slaking their thirst at this stream, which crossed them at a time when the fatigue and heat they sustained rendered the temptation almost irresistible, especially to men fearless of danger, and thoughtless to a proverb. No sooner did they begin to descend into this ravine, than the enemy threw their shells with such judgment, that they frequently fell at the moment our people were passing the rivulet. It was in the afternoon of the 22d of February that Lieutenant James Miln of the Boyne was proceeding with his company of seamen to relieve those who had been the fore-part of the day at work on one of the advanced batteries, and having been observed on his march by the enemy in Fort Bourbon, they as usual began to fire their mortars into the ravine; Mr. Miln, who, added to the greatest courage, possessed much prudence, was hurrying his men through this dangerous pass, and was in the act of calling to two men who were drinking at the rivulet (the rest of his company having passed on), when a shell burst near him, carried off one of his legs, and shattered the other in a dreadful manner. At the same time one of the men, who had loitered, lost a leg. In this dreadful situation he was carried two miles to Sir Charles Gordon's camp, before his wounds could be bound up, and from thence to his own quarters at Point Negro, where he suffered amputation of one leg. The next day the surgeon general of the navy went to him from the Boyne, and finding his situation dangerous in the extreme, having no better place than the ground, in an open sugar-house, part of which was the head quarters of the naval officers, and being within range of the enemy's guns, which frequently threw their shot and shells over him, he was conveyed to the royal hospital at St. Pierre; but from the loss of blood he had sustained, and the nature of the