the battery, which requires them to be 'the pick of the Army'. Kipling lays particular stress on the fitness, toughness and steadiness required. Kipling's admiration for the Mountain Artillery is clear from two letters he wrote to Lieutenant W.H. Lewis RGA in 1911 and 1912. Kipling congratulated Lewis, whom he had met as an A.D.C. at Government House in Capetown in 1905, on being posted to 5 Mountain Battery, RGA in 1911, starting his letter with: 'Loud and earnest congratulations! A mountain-battery is Some Guns and what I know of No 5 Mountain Battery is that it's about as smart as they make 'em.' and in 1912 he wrote: 'I can't tell you how glad I am that you like both the life and the country ? Come to think of it, there is really nothing more complex than a mule-battery ? I used to know one or two fairly well and the subs used to tell me that one could put in an honest 10 hours a day of work without doing too much.' The first recorded use of mules to carry artillery pieces in the British army was at the end of 1813 when French troops withdrew into the Pyrenees before Wellington's advance. Small muzzle-loading 3-pounders were carried on pack mules by two small units, each with 3 guns and British and Portuguese personnel. These units were disbanded in 1814 but a similar unit was raised by the Royal Artillery for the British Auxiliary Legion which fought in