Inside Sebastopol--The Last Bombardment of Sebastopol--On Cathcart's Hill--Rumours in the Camp--The Attack on the Malakhoff--The Old Work again--A Sunday Excursion--Inside "Our" City--I am taken for a Spy, and thereat lose my Temper--I Visit the Redan, etc.--My Share of the Plunder 167 CHAPTER XVIII. Holiday in the Camp--A New Enemy, Time--Amusements in the Crimea--My share in them--Dinner at Spring Hill--At the Races--Christmas Day in the British Hotel--New Year's Day in the Hospital 177 CHAPTER XIX. New Year in the Crimea--Good News--The Armistice--Barter with the Russians--War and Peace--Tidings of Peace--Excursions into the Interior of the Crimea--To Simpheropol, Baktchiserai, etc.--The Troops begin to leave the Crimea--Friends' Farewells--The Cemeteries--We remove from Spring Hill to Balaclava--Alarming Sacrifice of our Stock--A last Glimpse of Sebastopol--Home! 188 Conclusion 197 ADVENTURES OF MRS. SEACOLE IN MANY LANDS. CHAPTER I. MY BIRTH AND PARENTAGE--EARLY TASTES AND TRAVELS--MARRIAGE, AND WIDOWHOOD. I was born in the town of Kingston, in the island of Jamaica, some time in the present century. As a female, and a widow, I may be well excused giving the precise date of this important event. But I do not mind confessing that the century and myself were both young together, and that we have grown side by side into age and consequence. I am a Creole, and have good Scotch blood coursing in my veins. My father was a soldier, of an old Scotch family; and to him I often trace my affection for a camp-life, and my sympathy with what I have heard my friends call "the pomp, pride, and circumstance of glorious war." Many people have also traced to my Scotch blood that energy and activity which are not always found in the Creole race, and which have carried me to so many varied scenes: and perhaps they are right. I have often heard the term "lazy Creole" applied to my country people; but I am sure I do not know what it is to be indolent. All my life long I have followed the impulse which led me to be up and doing; and so far from resting idle anywhere, I have never wanted inclination to rove, nor will powerful enough to find a way to carry out my wishes. That these qualities have led me into many countries, and brought me into some strange and amusing adventures, the reader, if he or she has the patience to get through this book, will see. Some people, indeed, have called me quite a female Ulysses. I believe that they intended it as a compliment; but from my experience of the Greeks, I do not consider it a very flattering one.