Frasers of Philorth > Volume 3

26 LETTERS FROM SICILY AND
XVII.
St. Jean de Luz, 30 January 1814.
Yours, my dear Miss Thurlow, of the 4th I received a few days ago. It had
been a most enormous time on its passage, as indeed have all the packets lately ;
for it is the latest packet we have from England, and now we have two due, and
a third will be so in a few days. I cannot conceive the reason of it, as the wind
with us has been northerly for some time past, and Admiral Pickmore has arrived
in a ship-of-war, and he left Plymouth on the 20th. Some people say that the
road to Falmouth is snowed up, and therefore the mail cannot get down ; be that
as it may, it is very provoking, as I expect to get my promotion every day, and
of course, you may suppose, look anxiously for the packet. I find old Hughes is
a very general favourite ; he is quite well, and when sober as good a servant as
ever, but he has learnt to cure sore backs of horses and mules, which in this
army is a very common complaint, and he, James Hughes, having gained the
name of a good doctor, is consulted on every occasion, by which means he
picks up so many shillings and so many friends, that he gets drunk now
past all former example.
You are quite correct as to the country being swampy, but it is not by [any]
means unwholesome, for the army never were known to be so healthy as at the
present time ; and excepting the regiments just come out from England, we have
no sick in the army. It is in the summer, when these swamps are nearly dry,
that this sort of country is unhealthy.
I will refer to the little map, but I much fear we are out of the district it
particularly notices. Our left is at Bidart, extending to the right by Arcangues
and Arauntz, crossing the Nive river in front of Ville Franehe, which is in the
map, so on to the Adour river by St. Pierre, also in the map, to Petite Moguere
on the Adour. We then take the course of the Adour river to Urt, where Sir
Stapleton Cotton is stationed with some cavalry and the Third Division of
infantry, to watch the movements of General Arispe, who is at St. Jean Pied de
Port with two divisions, and we shall most probably remain in this position for
some time, as the immense quantity of rain that has fallen within this week has
rendered the roads almost impassable.