68

JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL,

The new lineof communica-tion to theplateau.

Right Attack.

subsequently opening on theworking party a heavy mus-ketry obliged them to bewithdrawn.

During this period theenemy seldom fired more thanthree or four rounds a day,but these with such precisionas generally to do mischief.

Left Attack.

was the commencement of aseries of more advanced works,no sooner became aware of itsconstruction than they firedsalvos of grape and shell atthe working party. For-tunately, secure cover had by jthat time been obtained, and jno casualties occurred.

As the enemy’s occupationof the Mamelon rendered itadvisable to secure the rightflank more perfectly againstsurprise, approaches _ werecommenced to connect theright extremities of the 1stand 3d parallels ; but the in- jadequate strength of the Iworking parties during this iperiod of the siege completely jchecked all progress. Fro- !quent demands were made for ja further number of men,but the British army was tooweak to furnish them, andthe Turkish soldiers, fromsickness, famine, and disease,were so reduced that almostdaily many of them had to becarried to hospital.

IxKKiiMAx Attack.

enable the troops to chargeover it in line. The groundwas found to be very rocky,and required much “blasting.”The interior revetment wasformed of stones built up intoa low wall.

On the afternoon of the10th December, while recou-noitering the Inkerman valley,Captain Gibb discovered inone of the ravines a largequantity of Russian miners’tools, which he succeeded inconveying to the park. Al-though heavy, and of clumsyconstruction, they proved ofgreat use.

December 15th to December 22d.

The clear and dry weather of the previous week, which had enabled theallies to convey a quantity of stores and provisions to the front, was followedby heavy rains, and storms of hail and sleet, which injured to a greatextent the communication from Balaklava to the camp. The original road,or rather track, was too deeply cut up to be any longer practicable, andmany drivers sought a better line, by deviating to the right and left of it.But the traffic was so great, and the clay everywhere so deep and stiff, thatthese new lines soon got ploughed up into holes and furrows, into which thevehicles sunk up to their axletrees in mud, and not unfrequently got buriedtoo firmly to be speedily extricated. The old track, through the plain of