Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-09

fearful death to any and all enemies who
 came within reach! Next, in point of num- bers, came the yeomen, of whom few Car ried long spears and the majority short bikes then the tom tom, and gong men and horn blowers then a lot of shouting
 braves" whose province it was to alternate 1y incite their comrades to eeats of valor with
 their encouraging cries and to frighten their foes with frantic yells; then the tirecracker
 brigade, armed with long bamboos, to the ends of which were tied long strings of crackers that popped and spluttered terribly
 but continuously, fresh string commencing when an old one gave out and last numer- ictelly, were the matchlock men, the only arm of device capable of infictlng wound be- yond tba reach of a spears point, of whom there couldn't have been over dozen. They were all mixed together in most heterogen- eous mass the only semblance Of order being in the fact that the musicians and the various generals with their staNs brought up the rear. But what they lacked in arms equip ments and discipline, they more than made up in antics and lung power.
 About noon the march commenced; con- menced with ear-splittlng, lung-readhng yell from every throat save those of the horn blowers) to send terror to the hearts and curdle the blood of the enemy an extra bunch or two of firecrackers, an extra way ing If banners (and most remarkable of alb the first shot A furious and daring match lock man ran far ahead of his fellows, stopped, pointed his weapon towards the town, blew his torch alight and fired Twas intently watching the whole affair from second story window of the office building and it seemed as if the beggar aimed straight at me (so plainly did \ seem to see right down the barrel of his gum and dttc)te6 in most unvaliant manner--a needless pre- caution, however, for though have no idea where his shot went it didn't come anywhere near me. To anyone who does not know the Chinese matchlock from personal acquaint- ance, its possibilities as a weapon of destruc tion are as sealed book. It is very heavy and, usually, quite long, and as 1t is held against the right shoulder by the left hand, which grasps the piece about one third it's length out, the tendency to elevate the muz- gle from the instant it is brought to the posi- tion of ''aim" to that of ''fire'' seems to be continuous, if involuntary since the atten- tion of the marksman is concentrated during that interval upon the delicate task of blow ing alight his torch (made of wisp of soft brown paper which shoulders like punk, but possesses the curious property of blazing
 when the coal is blown with sharp, quick puff of breath abruptly stopped by throwing the tongue against the roof of the mouth), touching off the pan and spreading himself to resist the recoil. Naturally, therefore, the shot or (more properly speaking) shots, for they usually charge with several small bits of iron, etc., flies away over the head of the person aimed at and if anybody is hurt it is
 
 tor or perfectly disinterested person away off in the rear. In the hands of strong man, then, the range is greatest, but if the brave happens to be weak the reverse is apt to be the case. The range of the matchlock becomes very limited indeed, for, instead of being elevated, the muzzle is slowly but surely depressed during the interval between ''aim" and fire" and the shots go plough ing up the ground at his feet at a very short distance from him, though at close quarters these are the fellows who oftenest hit somebody or something near the person or object aimed at. On general principles, then, one is safest when 8 matchlock man aims dt him ?
 The effect of that first shot upon the townsmen electrical. From all the streets and alleys debouching on the plaza, from behind walls and houses, there rushed a mighty army CD of at least fifty valiant, daring rufians as were the besiegers, each one thirsting for gore and immortal fame closely followed by the rank and file of the noble defenders of "altars and fires," numbering about one hundred, with gongs. tom toms and banners galore, and the battle was fairly begun.
 It was exceedingly amusing to observe the
 ''etiquette of war" that forbade the besieged offering any resistance to the landing of the besiegers, or giving battle until the attacking party had comfortably finished all prelimi- naries and signifed its readiness to begin active hostilities by firing the first shot. The force of townsmen, who now came on the
 field of battle, was ample to have prevented ine Ta-ta Poh men landing at all, but to have done so would have of men bearing banners and crests, breathing scorching defiance from every fold and wrinkle l have often thought that we might we'll take a lesson from the Heather Chinee in the ethics of warfare that would materially enhance our comfort and so near ly eliminate the danger to make war game not altogether unpleasant for even | common soldiers to play at. It would still ! possess the spice of danger, but so tempered l as to make it exciting without reducing the l chance of coming out alive to the smallest 1 minimum, as is now the case. It would be something very like tiger hunting from a substantial howdah on the back of strong, | we'll trained elephant for instance. It might | be little longer and, therefore, probably somewhat more tedious, and, in the paltry matters of dollars and cents little more ex- pensive perhaps than now, but not very much, and 'twould be so much more pleasant for the soldier and much less narrowing to the soldier's friends. For example, if we , could only pattern our warfare on the follow ing system, how much better it would be than to bother about forced marches, artil- lery engagements, cavalry and infantry i charges and all the rest of the complications incident to modern warfare During the | whole of my several years' stay in China I 1 am quite sure that not . SlnRIe Qay pdSSeo | (holidays perhaps excepted) without my hear 1 ing the sound of cannon firing, and generally of pretty heavy ordnance, but cannot re- member having heard the same sound at night, unless it might have been when a mail steamer dropped anchor and fired the customary gun. And yet there was fighting going on between differ ent towns or villages in the vicinity of Swatow all the time, It was entirely too undignifed to fight at night: Robbers and , bad men might do that but honest burghers never. Therefore at evening one side or the other would stick up flag indicating that it
 was time to stop, and the other side, respect ing the rights of enemies, would ''cease fir
 ing,' all hands would retire to supper and to | rest and hostilities were suspended until after breakfast the next morning. The same thing occurred at noon when the contending parties wished to go to dinner. Irregularlty in meals or nasty deglutition initiates against l longevity and longevity is a very high trump | card with the Chinamen. Consequently it was foreign to all rules of asthetic warfare to | continue a battle through the dinner hour, I and positively indecent to hurry that import 1 ant meal just for the sake of beginning again, I speak now of the desultory warfare that l always seemed to rage between some the 1 other of the large villages and towns in our
 vicinity, in which the contending parties had each thrown up earthworks equipped with
 cannon, and made war on big scale, seldom condescending to sorties hand to-hand | fights, but oontenting themselves with | harmless sort of "artillery duel" know of l one case where of this kind had been l continued for several years Git wasn't | stopped when I left Swatow) between two l small towns, each having earthworks of con- ] siderable extent mounting several pieces of 1 quite heavy old smooth bore cannon, with l which the inhabitants ''blazed away" at each
 other almost every day, doing no serious | damage beyond burning any quantity of pow
 der and wasting a lot of shot. It could
 hardly be expected that they would do much
 damage to each other, for their guns were
 loaded in the crudest way imaginable. Loose
 powder poured in without being very
 snugly rammed home and the shot were 1 small enough to roll comfortably down on 1 the wadding without requiring any force to
 send them home. The muzzle, therefore,
 had to be considerably elevated to keep the | shot from rolling out, and as these villages
 were fighting at comparatively short range
 the gunners were in little danger themselves,
 and those unfortunates away off behind the 1 Notifications who were foolish enough to get
 in the way, paid for their temerity with | their lives. The warfare was not conducted
 in such way as to prevent the agricultural