nced, and, in his own phrase,
BOARDED THE BATTERY. In this resolute attempt he was bravely supported
by Despard, at that time a captain in the army, afterward unhappily
executed for his schemes of revolutionary treason. The castle of San
Tuan is situated about 16 miles higher up; the stores and ammunition,
however, were landed a few miles below the castle, and the men had to
march through woods almost impassable. One of the men was bitten under
the eye by a snake which darted upon him from the bough of a tree. He
was unable to proceed from the violence of the pain; and when, after a
short while, some of his comrades were sent back to assist him, he was
dead, and the body already putrid. Nelson himself narrowly escaped a
similar fate. He had ordered his hammock to be slung under some trees,
being excessively fatigued, and was sleeping, when a monitory lizard
passed across his face. The Indians happily observed the reptile; and
knowing what it indicated, awoke him. He started up, and found one of
the deadliest serpents of the country coiled up at his feet. He suffered
from poison of another kind; for drinking at a spring in which some
boughs of the manchineel had been thrown, the effects were so severe as,
in the opinion of some of his friends, to inflict a lasting injury upon
his constitution.

The castle of San Juan is 32 miles below the point where the river
issues from the Lake of Nicaragua, and 69 from its mouth. Boats reach
the sea from thence in a day and a-half; but their navigation back, even
when unladen, is the labour of nine days. The English appeared before
it on the 11th, two days after they had taken San Bartolomeo. Nelson's
advice was, that it should instantly be carried by assault; but Nelson
was not the commander; and it was thought proper to observe all the
formalities of a siege. Ten days were wasted before this could be
commenced. It was a work more of fatigue than of danger; but fatigue
was more to be dreaded than the enemy; the rains set in; and could the
garrison have held out a little longer, diseases would have rid them of
their invaders. Even the Indians sunk under it, the victims of unusual
exertion, and of their own excesses. The place surrendered on the 24th.
But victory procured to the conquerors none of that relief which had
been expected; the castle was worse than a prison; and it contained
nothing which could contribute to the recovery of the sick, or the
preservation of those who were ye