The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-08
THE FRENCH HEADQUARTERS

0J - AOs AAe OJner places. As we
were rowing uD, big red pheasant was
sitting in tree not twenty wards away. /
picked up my rife to try and shoot its head
on, as We do with cartridges in the Maine
woods. Don't fire here said Watts
quickly; the people at the fort would
think there was trouble, and probably turn
out a lot OF men, The resident. II. Rustant.
walked down 10 meet US and take US to the
resldency. This proved to be an old temple.
or pdgode. as the French call sll
native buildings, divided into rooms by
board partitions and very meagerly pro-
vlded with modern furniture. Outside, a
slx-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 stockade built of heavy bamboo, eight
feet high, and sharpened to a spike at the
TOP. at each corner a lookout was built
OF sods and bamboo in which sentry stood
always with loaded rife. The front Of
the residency faced the river, where
little gun-boat lay at anchor. The back of
1t 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 consist Of 100 native mill
tia, under two European officers. But at
night as we sat at dinner in the c1ld bara
AsbaL-tCndAlcUC cItIdl H6ti Oh L0e
former temple, the door was pushed noisiIY
open and night guard Of thirteen men
and sergeant Of the Foreign Legion
tramped past our chairs to an ante-rOom
and grounded their arms with crash on the
stone floor. At midnight we were awakened
by the same tramp and crash as the guard
was changed. And there is no "show-pidginn
about this; all these men and their ball
cartridges may be needed at any minute.
Next morning n
spects to the commanding officer, and look
round. First we climbed up to the fortja
on the top OF the sugar-loaf hill. where
there are half dozen light guns and
small force of French aruillerymen, and
into which no native is ever permitted 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 soldiers in their own fort, on a
similar HILL a couple of miles off, or less.
All these guns. of course, are trained
straight at one another.
Then we walked, always with an escort,
| Though the ruins of the town down to the
| river. The river, which constitutes the act
| ual 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. Across this river, of course,
| not a soul ventures. If Freedman should
| try. his head woul be off his shoulders, or
worse in five minutes. With good deal
Of difficulty, | bribed a Chinaman to take a
| telegram across, addressed to Sir Robert
Hart, in Picking, but they refused to dis
| patch it, and sent it back. In fact, the re-
lations between the French and Chinese are
just about as strained as they can posi-
bly, be,
LITTLE GARRISON ENTIRELY WIPED OUT.
The commandant pointed to me a small
cleared and leveled spot on the top of a
hillock, and told me its gruesome story.
Two months before my visit a block-house
mad stood there, garrisoned by a sergeant
and six French soldiers, and eight native
regulars One night the people at the fort
suddenly heard rapid firing, and shortly
afterward the block-houss burst into flames.
The night was pitch dark, and 1t was no
good for them to move out to the rescu e, as
they did not know that there were not 900
c. inese, and, as the block-house was burn
ing, their comrades had either escaped or
been killed. At daylight they marched
down and found the eight natives ana five
Europeans dead, the sergeant headless and
horribly and indescribably mutilated, ana
one European misSing-evidently carried of
into China, as he was never heard OF again.
No wonder that a Chinaman who falls into
French hands here gets very short shrift-
generally about as close as it takes to pull a
trigger. In fact, believe any Chinaman
seen at Mo kay at night is shot on sight.
The Chinese who come across on these
numbering expeditions are not pirates at all
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 practice were not encouraged, or at
least winked at by the Chinese officials, it
could not go on.
THE FRENCH CoALMANDANT's "BoN JoUR-"
The native troops are not very smart
soldiers, but they take kindly to the loose
French discipline, aud on several occasions
thev have fought very well indeed Their
dress consists of dark blue cotton knicker-
bockers and jacket, little pointed bamboo
hat, and 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 Monkav the total strength
| is about $50 men-350 Europeans and 400
natives-not nearly enough, the command
ant complained bitterly Once as l stood
| with him in the fort he showed me a valley
| close by, and said: There are 500 pirates
over there. The day after tomorrow / am
going out to say Bon jour to them" And
two days after got back to Hong Kong |
read in the newspaper that he had made his
| expedition, the Chinese had attacked his
camp during the night and that ne had been
| the first man shot. 'FDon't forget to send
me some of your photographs" he had said
to me at tbs same time; ''they will be very
| 10