Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-21


out a lot of men," The resident. N. Rustant.
walked down to meet Us and take Us to the
residency. This proved TO be old temple,
or pagode as the French call all native build
ings, divided into rooms by board partitions,
and very meagerly provided with modern fur
nitare. Outside six-foot moat was dug. and
lined with spikes of bamboo so thickly that
hen could hardly walk about in it. On each
side of the moat was a stockade built of heavy
bamboo, eight feet high, and sharpened to a
spike at the top. At each corner lookout
was built of sods and bamboo in which a sentry
stood always with loaded rifle. The
front of the residency faced the river, where a
little gun boat lay at anchor. The back of it
looked toward the frontier. and therefore the
back entrance, with the kitchen and Offices, was
further protected with thick walls of sods to
guard against the bullets fired across at it from
long range. The residents guard consists of
120 native militia under two European officers.
But at night as we sat at dinner in the cold bare
cob-webbed bat-tenanted central hall of the
former temple the door was pushed noisily
open and q night guard of thirteen men and a
sergeant OF the foreign legion tramped past our
chairs TO an ante room and grounded their
arms with crash on the stone floor. At mid
night We We're awakened by the same tramp
and crash as the guard was changed. And there
Is no SHOW pidSin' about this; all these men
and their bail cartridges may be needed at any
minute.
GUNS TRAINED AT EACH OTHER.
Next morning we went to pay our respects to
the commanding officer and look round First
we climbed up to the forth on the top of the
sugar-loaf hill, where there are half dozen
light guns and a small force OF French artillery
men. and into which no native is ever permit
ted to set foot The frontier river winds along
like a silver thread three-quarters of mile of;
the citadel Is just below, and the half dozen
houses OF the foreign population. and through
glass you can see the Chinese guns and SOL
diers in their own fort on a similar nil couple
Of miles off or less. All these guns. of course.
are trained straight at one another And over
the hills you can see the telegraph wire con-
Meeting the furthest extremites of the Chinese
empire, stretching down into the town--a solid
and prosperous-iooking little pIace-like Mon
kay on this side before Col. DuSenne blew it
up. The French have no telegraph. but line
OF Photograph. to within few miles of Hal
phong, only allowed TO be used for official mes
sages. Indeed, there is nobody else to use it,
although the resident was kind enough to allow
me to receive private message from Hong
Kong by its aid.
ON THE ALERT.
Then We walked, always with an escort,
through the ruins of the town down to the
river. As We entered the street the quick eve
of the commandant caught sight of new marks
on blank brick wall. Climbing into the In
side we discovered that somebody from across
the frontier had come. probably during the pre-
cedIhg night. and actually loop holed the wall
for rifles, SO that tnev could steal across the
next moonlight night and pick off the sentries
at the fort! From the arrangements made then
and there fancy those gentry would getarecep-
ton TO surprise them. The river. which consti-
tutes the actual frontier, Is only about forty
yards wide, and can be forded at low tide. On
the French side the bank is high. while the
Chinese town is built almost down to the waters
edge. AS soon as we were seen on the opposite
bank the Chinese soldiery came down to the
river in crowds. in their bright yellow and red
jackets, to stare at us, and when l set mp my
camera they evidently became rather nervous
thinking it new engine of war. Indeed
the commandant said: Don't stay
there any longer than is necessary;
it's just possible they might take a pot-shot at
Us" Across this river. of course, not a soul
ventured. II a Frenchman should try his head
would be off his shoulders, or worse, in five
minutes. With good deal of difficulty
bribed China man 10 take telegram across
addressed to Sir Ko3ert Hart in Pekin, but
they refused to dispatch it and sent it back. In
fact the relations between the French and Chi
nese are just about as strained" as they can
possibly be. The commandment pointed out to
me a small cleared and leveled spot on the top
of hillock and told me its gruesome story.
Two months before my visit block-house had
stood there, garrisoned by sergeant and six
French soldiers and eight native regulars.
One night the people at the fort suddenly
heard rapid firing ind shortly afterward the
block-house burst into flames. The night was
pitch dark and 1t was no good for them to
move out to the rescue, az they did not know
that there were not a thousand Chinese,
and, as the block-house was burning, their
comrades had either escaped or been
killed. At daylight they marched down
and found the eight natives and five Europeans
dead, the sergeant hcadless and horribly and
indescribably mutiiated and one European miss
ing-evidently carried Off into China. as he
was never heard Of again. No wonder that a
ChinanIan who falls into French hands here
gets a very short shrift-generally about as
long as it takes to pull trigger. In fact. be-
lieve any Chlnamar seen at MOnkay at night is
shot on sight. The Chinese who come across on
these numbering expeditions are not pirates at
ali, or "black flags" or dacoits, or anything of
that kind; they are Chinese regulars. who leave
their yellow jackets behind and resume them
on their return. And, of course, if the prac-
tice were not encouraged or at least winked at
by the Chinese officials it could not go on.
THE NATIVE TROOPS.
are not very smart soldiers, but they take
kindly to the loose French discipline, and on
several occasions they have fought very well
indeed. Their dress consists of dark blue cot
ton knickerbockers and jacket a little pointed
bamboo hat. and a sash. They wear no shoes;
and the only difference between the militia or
civil guards and the regulars is that the sash
and hat of the former are blue and of the latter
red. At Monkay the total strength is about
$50 men-350 Europeans and 400 natives-not
nearly enough, the commandant complained
bitterly. Once as stood with him in the fort
he showed me valley miles off, and said,
There are 500 pirates over there. The day
after tomorrow / am going out to say .Bonjour'
to them. And two days after l got back to
Hong Kong read in the newspaper that he
had made his expedition, the Chinese had at
tackled his camp during the night. and that he
had been the first man shot. Don't forget TO
send me some of your photographs" he said
to me at the same time; they will be very
dramatic" HENRY NORMAN.
NervQnSnpSS in HOrSaS