Frasers of Philorth > Volume 1

230 THE FRASERS OF PHILORTH, LORDS SALTOUN.
An incident occurred at this time of which Lord Saltoun made a memor-
andum, and which, to use his own words, shows " how little attention your
English soldier pays to anything, unless long service and severe experience
has driven something like observation into him."
The memorandum is as follows : — " We had been some months at
Oontessa, when the French, who since the battle of Maida had remained in
upper Calabria, suddenly marched a large force down to the straits of
Messina, commenced a sort of siege of the Castle of Scilla, where we had a
garrison, and taking possession of Eegio, a town on the coast, nearly opposite
our cantonments, began collecting boats and making preparations to invade
Sicily. A party of an officer and 30 men was established at a place called
Milia, about six miles from our cantonments, in order to give the alarm should
any landing take place about there ; and we communicated by small posts
of a corporal and three men at certain distances all along the line, to a parti-
cular point from which it was about 3 miles to Milia, which post was visited
every night by the captain on duty, and a patrol of a corporal and file of
dragoons went from Messina to Milia twice during the night.
" It had rained most of the evening, and I had started a little later than
usual to go my rounds, and I had met the first patrol on its return from
Milia, a little before I came to the great fiumara or watercourse, which ran
from the mountains into the strait ; in summer this was in general dry, or at
most very small, but in heavy rains often impassable, and on the Milia side
of this fiumara was situated our extreme corporal's picquet on the right, our
left one communicating with the Citadel of Messina.
" When I crossed the fiumara it was running a strong stream, but nothing
dangerous. I proceeded on to Milia and visited the post there, stayed a short
time, and smoked a cigar with the officer. According to the time of the
patrol, I ought to have met it between the fiumara and Milia, but I did not,
and when I came to the fiumara I at once saw that it was utterly impassable ;
it was raging with a force that would have carried away an elephant, and in
the current of the burn, from the stones it covered at the sides, must have
been more than ten feet deep. I made no doubt but that the patrol finding
it in this state had returned.
" This ford was about 200 yards above the junction of the fiumara with