The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-23
SEES THE NATIVES l KILLING DUCKS IN
 LAKE WITH SLINGS
Youthful Artillerymen Are Happy to See Visitors, Delighted With Gift of Some Cigars and Keen for Jokes
By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.


 saloniki. Greece, December 20-(Special Correspondence)-On the day the retreat began from Krivolak, General Sarraii, commanding the allies in Servia, gave the correspondents permission to visit the French and English front.
 The French advanced position and 2 large amount of ammunition, 500 shells to each gun, were then at Kriyolak; and the English base at Doiran. We left the train at Doiran, after lunch en route.
 The Italian correspondent had been de- tailed as chief of commissariat. But as his idea of campaign rations was hard boiled eggs and the straw covered fiasks of his native chianti. he was removed from his command. Fortunately, after that, we were the guests of the French army and the horrors of war, for us. were at an end.
 Our French guide" had not informed the English a mission militaire" was de- scending upon them. and in conseeuence at Doiran there were no conveyances to meet us. But charming English cap- tain communicated for us a vast motor truck. Stretched above it were ribs to support a canvas top, and by clinging to these as at home on the elevated we hang to strap. we managed to avoid being bumped out into the road.
 The English captain, who seemed to have nothing else on his hands. yoluu- teered to act as our escort and on splcn- did hunter galloped ahead of and at the side of the lorry, and, much like condlic~ tor on a sightseeing car, pointed out the objects of interest. When not explaining he was bsentmindedly jumping his horse over swollen streams, ravines and fallen walls. We found him much more inter- esting to watch than the scenery.
 HILLS AND MORE HILLS
 The scenery was desolate and bleak. T. consisted of hills, that opened into other hills, from the summit of which more hills stretched to a horizon entirely Of mountains. They did not form ridges, but like men in a crowd shouldered into one another They were of a soft rock and covered with snow, above which to the height of your waist, rose scrub pine trees and bushes of holly. The rain and snow that ran down their slopes had turned the land into a sea of mud and had swamped the stone roads. In walk ing for each step you took forward you skidded and slid several yards back. If you had an hour to spare you had time for 10 minutes walk.
 In our motor truck we circled Lake Doiran, and mile from the station came to a stone obelisk. When we passed it, our guide on horseback shouted to us that we had crossed the boundary rom Greece and were now in Servia. The lake is five miles wide and landlocked, and the road kept close to the waters edge. It led us through little mud villages with houses of mud and wattle and some of stone with tiled roofs and rafters and beams showing through the cement The sec ond story projected like those of the Spanish blockhouses in Cuba and the log forts from which, in the days when there were no hyphenated Americans, our fore fathers fought the Indians.
 BATHING IN ICE WATER
 Except for some fishermen, the Servians had abandoned these villages, and they were occupied by English army service men and infantry The front" which was hidden away among the tumble of hills, seemed, when we reached it. to con-
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