The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-08-19

nee civilian, Was at liberty to treat
rank and file with the same civiIitv.
! From the railway station we rode
/ through the narrow, ill-smelling streets
Of Paotingtu, entering by an intricate
way through the wall, the intricacv be
ing Intended to keep ont the devil, be-
cause, according to- the Chinese, he
moves only IN straight lines. Paotingfu
/ 1t may be remembered, is the town
which suffered a humiliating disgrace
at the hands of the allied army in 1900
! One Of the corners of Chinese town
i do not recollect at this moment
/ whether ii is the southeast or the south
/ west-should never be demolished bv
an enemy, its destruction putting the
town in perpetual disgrace; but this
! ignominy was here inflicted deliberate
J ~ as one of the punishments which
/ Faotingfu was required to suffer for
the part she played in the Boxer rising.
1t is said that the people of Paotingfu
expected to be maSSacred when the al
lies entered, as they themselves would
have massacred the foreigners had the
order of things been reversed with them
"a victors. They were amazed when
the foreign soldiers. instead of razing
3
main streets running through it. The
inhabitants had never before realized
the value of good roadways, having
been content for centuries with sloughs
in rainy weather and dust in the dry
seasons. They took up the new idea
like children with a new toy. and today
YOU may ride through any alley within
the walls on nicely macadamized paths.
Our ponies logged through the narrow
streets. lined with houses so low that
in many places we, perched high in our
saddles, were on a level with the caves
of the tiled roofs. What would these
people, who seldom build a two-story
house, have to say of the skyscrapers
of America?
Naked urchins scampered out of our
way or followed on the heels of our
ponies begging. and bare bodied work
men came to the openings of their tiny
shops to have q laugh, as they always
do, at the white man. whose face APP
pears to them all features.
Passing out of the walls on the other
side of the town we turned to the left
BY the side of a narrow canal crowded
with hunks from shore to shore. so
crowded that not one could change its
mOOrings till all We're ready to leave.
But the side of this waterway our road
led through the country for several
miles to the vast level parade grounds
and the barracks: mud built and mud
walled, though whitewashed.
Some of the most enlightened look
: ing men to be seen among the Chinese
met us at the main gate. Several OF
them spoke japanese and one knew
! . English. The general whom We me-
when we entered had finished his edu
cation at one of the German univer
= sites.
. Among them all there was only on
. who looked as though he suffered from
l the opium cure. which many official
addicted to the use of the drug arr
now testing with pitjful results. TIL
: others were well built, healthy lookln;
; men who would dwarf the japanese.
We were shown into a bare, white
: washed room furnished only with
-. plain table and chairs and with screen
y. over the doors. Contrary to the CHI
. nese custom, the officers removed thel
. caps when entering, and not only l
: this but in many other little ways the
gave evidence of having forsaken thel
= former satisfaction in their own pecr
= liar customs.
\ Though the morning hour of drill tel
minated at this camp at nine o'cloc
some crack companies of infantry an
!, artillery were kept on foot till we al
- peared to inspect them. Then for a
- hour and half we watched some O
- the most precise drilling that either Q
= us had seen.
h Military attaches in Picking will ger
g orally say that they doubt the capabi
- itv of these modern troops in action
: The defects Of the race of which lac
-, of initiative is not the least. will al
- pear. they think. when the army
- under fire Nevertheless. they all agrt
y. that the model divisions 90 throug
. ,he manual of arms with precision equi
:. to. if not generally better. than Fl
70 ropean armies. It is said by some thu
y even the hjghlv-trained German soldie-
% would be hard pressed to change pos
- tionS in closer uniformity.
=, We got a company to develop an a
. tack on an imaginary position, assai
~ ING it open order. which is. after a
the chief drill in which infantry
~, trained. This attack they performed
.. thoroughly approved style. and hl
:, for the TigtaiIs of the officers the who
company clad in khaki, might hay
- been mistaken at short distance fl
~ 4 body of European troops.
~, Nor is if only the infantry that drill
- so wei. The mounted men are Xix
-, wise masters of those tactics, whiC
= can be learned from books. We sa
battery of artillery 90 through
- turning movement at full gallop Sc
CraI consecutive times keeping the mu