Huge hospitals, with several thousands of beds, have had to be built from the foundations upwards for the reception of the wounded not able to endure removal to the rear. Furnes, the only town in the district, at first provided invaluable accommodation; but, when systematic bombardment of the city endangered even the lives of the poor wounded, the hospital services had to be transferred elsewhere. The splendid hospital at La Panne, Adinkerke, Hoogstade and Beveren-sur-Yser, have long been regarded as models of their kind, though their establishment was attended by serious difficulties. Every possible modern improvement has been turned to account in their equipment; and although within earshot of the never-silent guns, they have accomplished marvels which the greatest authorities on the subject have on many occasions unstintedly and rightly praised. We may conclude by just mentioning the aviation and balloon parks, the necessary installations for the various technical services, and the repair shops for motor- and horse-drawn vehicles, all of which have been established in the advanced zone by the Belgian Army. The vast amount of labour represented by these undertakings is self-evident, as the district contained practically no supplies of the materials needed. 4. _Artificial Screens._--Unless we were to be content to expose ourselves to grave inconveniences and suffer huge losses, it is obvious that we could not long tolerate the enemy's full command of a plain entirely devoid of any cover able to interfere with his observations. The only means of blinding him was to protect all our works with artificial screens, composed of branches, hurdles and canvas set or hung all over the area occupied. Viewed by an observer in the German lines, these screens overlap in such a way as to form a virtually unbroken barrier, impenetrable to the eye. To the layman this picturesque solution of the problem may seem simplicity itself, because he does not take into account the trouble of establishing these screens. As usual, all materials have to be brought to the spot from the rear. Fabulous quantities of branches are transported to the front by rail or barge, then loaded on to vehicles and taken to the workshops, where they are converted into enormous screens to be placed in carefully selected positions by special gangs detailed for the purpose. As the supply of branches is not enough to meet all requirements, our resourceful fellows make use of reeds cut in the marshes of flooded meadows, some of them adjacent to the enemy's lines. The reeds are tied into large bundles and carried on the back to the hurdle-works, there to be interwoven and arranged between suitable supports.