The uniformed police are not all employed in the streets and _arrondissements_. There is a large reserve composed of the six central brigades, as they are called, a very smart body of old soldiers, well drilled, well dressed, and fully equipped: armed, moreover, with rifles, with which they mount guard when employed as sentries at the doors or entrance of the Prefecture. In Paris _argot_ the men of these six central brigades are nicknamed "_vaisseaux_" (vessels), because they carry on their collars the badge of the city of Paris--an ancient ship--while the sergeants in the town districts wear only numbers: their own individual number, and that of the quarter in which they serve. These _vaisseaux_ claim to be the _élite_ of the force; they come in daily contact with the Gardes de Paris, horse and foot, a fine corps of city gendarmerie, and, as competing with them, take a particular pride in themselves. Their comrades in the quarters resent this pretension, and declare that when in contact with the people the _vaisseaux_ make bad blood by their arrogance and want of tact. The principal business of four at least of these central brigades is to be on call when required to reinforce the out-of-doors police at special times. They are ready to turn out and preserve order at fires, and will, no doubt, be the first in the fray if Paris is ever again convulsed with revolutionary troubles. Of the two remaining central brigades, one controls public carriages, the other the Halles, that great central market by which Paris is provided with a large part of its food. The cabmen of Paris are not easily controlled, but they are probably a much rougher lot than the London drivers, and they, no doubt, need a much tighter hand. Every cab-stand is under the charge of its own policeman, who knows the men, notes their arrival and departure, and marks their general behaviour. Other police officers of the central brigades superintend the street traffic, but not so successfully as do our police; indeed, parties of the French police [Illustration: PARISIAN PRISON WARDERS.] [Illustration: "EVERY CAB-STAND IS UNDER THE CHARGE OF ITS OWN POLICEMAN" (p. 262).]