This mustering of the troops is occasionally varied by military exercises of a more novel nature.  The sailors of the flag-ship are brought on shore, for the purpose of perfecting themselves in the manual and platoon exercise, and in the performance of such military evolutions as would enable them to co-operate successfully with a land force, or to act alone with greater efficiency upon any emergency.  Though not possessing much skill in military affairs, I was pleased with the ease and precision with which they executed the different movements, their steadiness in marching, and the promptness with which the line was dressed.  They brought field-pieces on shore with them, which, according to my poor judgment, were admirably worked.  These parades were the more interesting, in consequence of the expected war with China, a war in which the sailors of the Wellesley will, no doubt, be actively engaged.

I had also an opportunity of witnessing from the deck of that vessel, when accompanying the Governor’s party on board, the manoeuvring of the ship’s boats while landing a force.  The mock fight was carried on with great spirit, and the most beautiful effect; the flashing from the guns in the bows of the boats and the musketry, amid the exquisite blue smoke issuing from the smaller species of artillery, producing fire-works which, in my opinion, could not be excelled by any of the most elaborate construction.  The features of the landscape, no doubt, assisted to heighten the effect of the scene—­a back-ground of lovely purple islands—­a sea, like glass, calmly, brightly, beautifully blue—­and the flotilla of boats, grouped as a painter would group them, and carrying on a running fire, which added much to the animation of their evolutions, the smoke occasionally enveloping the whole in vapour, and then showing the eager forms of men, as it rolled off in silvery clouds towards the distant hills.

As I gazed upon this armament, and upon the palm-woods that fringed the shore, I could not help calling to mind the lawless doings of the buccaneers of old, and the terror spread through towns and villages by the appearance of a fleet of boats, manned by resolute crews, and armed with the most deadly weapons of destruction.  The sight realized also the descriptions given in modern novels of the capture of towns, and I could easily imagine the great excitement which would lead daring men to the execution of deeds, almost incredible to those who have never felt their spirits stirred and their arms nerved by danger, close, imminent, and only to be mastered by the mightiest efforts.