re brought over to put the goods
on board. It was difficult to have them do as I desired, but the guards
with loaded carbines soon brought them to time, and in a few days my
work was completed, and on the 1st of January, 1862, the wing embarked
and sailed for Halifax.

When the battalion paraded in Cork barracks the morning they were
leaving, General Blood addressed them, giving some good advice to this
young regiment, warning them against drinking rum, but instead to drink
milk.

The first thing we had to face was seasickness, and very few escaped
it. The voyage was a tempestuous one. We met a heavy gale when out
several days, but no damage was done; the ship was intact at the end of
the passage and the men in the best of health and spirits. Arriving at
Newfoundland we took on a pilot. The colonel asked him how the trouble
between the two countries was progressing. He assured us that it had
been amicably settled. That meant no fighting. The men were
disappointed.

CHAPTER IV.

We arrived in Halifax, N.S., on January 11th, and quartered in
Wellington barracks. We were now waiting the arrival of the left wing,
which sailed a few days later but did not reach Halifax till the 10th
of February. The gale we encountered spent itself on the _Mauritius_.
She came into port with masts and bulwarks carried away. No one was
drowned or injured in the storm. They immediately disembarked and took
up their quarters in Wellington barracks.

The left wing of the 2nd Battalion (17th) sailed from Cork on the 9th
of January, 1862, having Major Colthurst in command, and, together
with some batteries of the Royal Artillery, embarked on the troopship
_Mauritius_. Every possible arrangement had been made by the War
Office for the care of these soldiers, and, having regard to the time,
they were well provided for. Almost the first thing furnished after
the men got on board was a plentiful supply of tobacco; this was
followed by kit-bags and warm underclothing, calculated to meet the
then severity of the Canadian climate. The men were allotted each a
hammock, and the color-sergeants were given a comfortable cabin with
six sleeping berths in it and three blankets each; but mattresses and
pillows were the result of artistic kit supply arrangements.

The officers had fairly good staterooms, but necessarily were a good
deal crowded together. The men's food was hard tack, salt pork (with
salt beef on two days of each week), good tea a