They discharge their cargoes, and immediately return for fresh ones, each boat probably making some twelve or foui'teen trips a-day. The ships' boats seem all to be em.ployed at this work, which 14: LINE OF THE TCIIEEXAYA. is no doubt performed by the sailors. The large supply of wood yielded hj the forests of the Cruiiea has been one of tlie chief aids to the defence of Sebastopol. Fuel for the steamers and for cookery has been obtained in abundance, and the want of coal has probably been little felt. Trees idled, and brought a distance of many miles, form the strong abattis, six feet high, ■which is one of the chief defences of the Redan. Fascines for the works have been obtained from Nikolaev and Kherson, and are brought in vast quantities.
The great number of arabas captvired by the French in their expedition across the Tchernaya would seem to indicate that ample means of transport exist in the peninsula; but the forage for the beasts which draw the Russian carts, and the herds of cattle with which the garrison is supplied with meat, must now begin to fail. In the spring and early summer the country is covered with a long rich grass, which aflbrds sufficient ibdder for all the animals required for the purposes of a most extensive transport service and commissariat. As June draws to a close this begins to wither, and although the present summer has been more than usually cool, and the north winds have kept the atmosphere moister than is generally the case, yet, in the vicinity of our camp, such a thing as a green blade of grass is hardly to be found, except in the vicinity of the Tchernaya.
The other streams of which the Russians have possession are of much smaller volume than this river, and the steppe to the north is, without doubt, entirely dried up. Hence will arise difficulties in the means of sustaining their armj', which will put the skill and energy of our enemies to the test. The camp is healthy enough, and it is probable that the summer will pass away without any of that sickness to which the nation has looked forward with such forebodings. The heat is by no means equal to the general temperature of the country in former years; in fact, both here and in Turkey the summer has been cool, and fever and diarrhoea have not been so prevalent as they were last year.
Balaklava has been, it is true, much afflicted with cholera, but the scene of its greatest ravages was the top of the harbour, where many thousand Turks lie with only a few inches of light mould between them and the air, and where the bodies are often laid bare in all their hideous ghastliness by one ot the thunder showers of the Crimea. The vessels outside the harbour were tolerably free from the disease, and since the transports which wo'e crowded one upon the other in the narrow and huid-locked port have been tomewhat thinned, the place has become tolerably healthy. If a low and sultry village like Balaklava bo free from disease in the middle of July, there is little cause for melancholy forebodings as to the health of troops encamped on a lofty plateau, exposed to every breeze that blows, and far removed from a too prolific vegetation.
Last year the seeds of cholera and fever were fostered by encamping in wooded Bulgarian valleys, in the vicinity of fetid morasses, or within the limits of a crowded and filthy seaport. The disease thus engendered was brought by the two armies to the Crimea, where privations and fatigue extended its ravages, and caused them to continue far beyond the season at which the}'- generally cease. Before Sebastopol the allies are encamped on a spot whei'e no deleterious emanations can reach them, except those engendered by the necessary impurities of a camp, and these, through the care taken in burning or bui-ying all oii'ensive matter, have as yet had little effect on the health of the troops. As to fever, the usual season for it is June, and this month has now past without causing any unusual sickness in the camp.
It is therefore to be hoped that the autumn will not be marked by any serious calamity. As to the dangers to be dreaded from winter, they may be averted by proper care and foretiiought. JuJii 11. To-day there has been heavy shelling from the Redan, against our advanced works. Lieutenant Mousell, 39tli Regiment, was killed in the trenches. The French are fast completing their battery at the Ouvrages Blancs. I have to relate the melancholy deaths of two gentlemen connected -with the staff of our army. One is Colonel Vico, French. Commissioner at the head -quarters of the British army, and holding the same situation here that General Rose fills on the staff of General Pelissier. Colonel Vico died of cholera, which disease has struck down so many of the notables of the camp within the last few weeks, and his death is greatly regretted by the staff-officers, with v/h.om he was a great favourite.