The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-10-13
Soldering in AMMAN.

! CoiolciiuS III Auudm
The 81. James Gazette gives an in
teresting description of the army ut the
disposal of the King of AMMAN. 1t is
reckoned officially at 100000 men. OF
these 1000 garrison the capital, and
half that number is assigned to Hanoi
and the surrounding fortresses, Nam
Dinh, Mini Binh, and other places in
Tonquin: The rest are ordinarily dis
guised in civilian attire, and are not to
be distinguished from harmless agricul-
turists. When man is dressed in the
customary vestments of q Madras coast
coolie-a handkerchief and bit of
string-it is difficult ut the first blush
to determine his profession, In An
nam, however, the matter is rendered
comparatively simple. The law is,
from every three men one recruit. En-
cept, however, in cases of eXtraordina-
ry public necessity this rule is not act
ed up to; one man from every seven or
eight is much nearer the average. The
selection of the recruits is left entirely
to the local authorities, and the village
Mandarins make good thing out of
the annual levies.
THE DRILL.
In default of squad drill the AMMAN
csc recruits are put through Il variety
of unpleasant experiences designed to
test their courage. Physical courage
and endurance are supposed to be the
primary requisites of n soldier, and,
after that, the knowledge of how to
load and let off gun. 1t is pleasantly
assumed by the military officers that
the men chosen for the army are the
worst of the population. The Manda-
rims are supposed to keep their districts
quiet by drafting all their mauvaS
Sujets into the annual levy. There is.
accordingly, the less conjunction in
putting them through the prescribed
tests. The first of these is to assault
the raw recruit violently with Il saber
The saber is q wooden one, certainly;
but the drill sergeant hits hard, and
knows from personal experience where
it hurts most Operations commence
with blows on the back and end with
blows on the head. The recruit who
stands battering about the head for the
matter of five minutes without uttering
n groan or ilinching, even involunta-
rily, is hailed rs finished soldier and
excused further "drill.' TO shrink, or
even to moan when beaten on the head
with the wooden sabcr is considered
pardonable, and the victim is noted
down rs an "ordinary" soldier instead
of an able bodied one.
PUNISHMENTS.
But the recruit who cries out when
he is hit on the body or confesses by Il
wriggle that the exercise is painful is
reported for punishment and then put
through new course of instruction.
The punishment usually consists in a
certain number of blows from bam-
boo on the upper part of the thighs, SO
that, except for the dignity of the
thing, there is close resemblance be-
tween punishment and military disci-
plinc. The military Mandarins defend
the system on the ground that it is very
ancient, and that it is unique in the
military exercises of the world-the
latter assertion being incontroyertible.
Energetic officers of the army frequent
" invent fantastic tests of similar
character in addition to the regulation
exercises. A story ut Hue is related OF
beau S06reir of the Tay-son Rebel
lion, who had ditch dug and filled the
bottom with swords and spikes stuck
into the ground point upward. He
then called upon his men to engage in
drill They were to fling themselves
into the ditch. The most stoical of the
able bodied shrunk from this novel
addition to tho manual of exercises.
Only one man was found to do it. lie
went in with a rush, and the swords
and spikes collapsed before him, They
had been kept in position by the mos,
slender of threads.