At each halting-place food was cooked by men in advance, and whenever a half-battalion came in it was fed at once, and the cooks went forward to the next. Jerry's man, O'Farrel, was 'invaluable as an improviser of grub,' as Jerry said, though his cuisine was somewhat inferior to the luxuries of the transport mess. The first halt on New Year's night was at a place called Barraco, of which a party of the Naval Brigade were the first to possess themselves, and there they were as hearty and happy as British sailors could be, as the whole campaign in the bush seemed to them but a spree ashore. But they were chiefly in their glory at night, when an enormous camp fire was kindled by them--a fire upon which the absolute and entire trunks of trees were heaped--throwing its flames skyward and its red light far into the recesses and dingles of the untrodden forest. So on New Year's night, in that strange and isolated spot, were gathered the general and his staff, the sailors and their officers, and all made merry--the blue-jackets stepping forth in succession to sing their best, and often raciest, forecastle songs. On the next day's march, the second of January, the advanced guard raised a cheer. 'What's up?' asked Dalton--'the Ashantees in sight?' 'No,' replied an officer, 'but the Prah is--that famous river which they believe no white man will ever be able to cross.' Nevertheless, it was crossed that evening--the first man who stemmed its current being Lieutenant William Grant, of the 6th Regiment. It is sometimes called the Boosemprah, or river of St. John. Swift and muddy-coloured, here it was rolling with great force between banks that were almost perpendicular--it was seventy yards wide and nine feet deep. The foliage on the banks was singularly beautiful, and there the stupendous cotton-trees were towering high in the air above a rich undergrowth of palms and plantains. The troops crossed it by a pontoon bridge, and a trimly-hutted camp for three thousand men was speedily formed by the engineers, and then tents were pitched for Sir Garnet and his staff. Near them were parked the artillery under Captain Rait. It consisted of two batteries of steel guns, rifled muzzle-loaders, with one capable of throwing a seven-pound shell, or an oblong twelve-pound shell--sources of unutterable terror to Ashantees. There was also a multiplying Gatling gun for musketry. It was here that letters came from Koffee, the barbarous Ashantee king, expressive of a desire for peace, but not on such terms as the general could grant after having come so far; thus the advance on Coomassie, the capital, was still resolved on. The only written language of the people is Arabic, and the only persons who can write it are Moors; but their verbal language is the softest and most liquid on the Gold Coast, abounding in vowels and nearly destitute of aspirates.