Many thousands of square metres of these artificial masks have been set up all over the great plain. But, unfortunately, they are as fragile as they are picturesque. The wind, which often rises to a gale in this coastal region, blows them down or makes yawning holes in them; so they need constant attention. However, our long-enduring men have worked so well that the enemy cannot now watch what goes on in our lines. 5. _The Supply of Drinking Water._--By a peculiar irony of fate, although the Belgian soldiers live in a country so saturated with water that every possible means must be employed to combat it, they would die of thirst had not works of considerable magnitude been undertaken to provide them with water fit to drink. During the battle of the Yser, when complete disorganisation reigned among the supply services of our valiant but unlucky army, many of the men could quench their thirst only with the muddy and loathsome water of the ditches which served them as trenches. As soon as that tragic fight was over, the greatest precautions had to be taken to prevent an epidemic of typhoid fever decimating what remained of our army. The existing wells in the fighting area had been invaded by the brackish flood water, in which floated hundreds of corpses; while those in the districts not yet ravaged by fire scarcely sufficed for local needs. So to the rear, as in other cases, we had to look for drinkable water, which must be got up to the front lines in spite of transport difficulties. As soon as circumstances allowed, we began to sink an adequate number of wells; and while in some places our fighting men obstinately strove to protect their defensive works from the treacherous floods, in others our workmen dug and bored into the unkindly soil in search of a stratum yielding potable water, which was struck at a depth of 125 _metres_--sometimes even further down. This alone will give some idea of the obstacles that had at all costs to be overcome. Our desperate and unwearied efforts were happily crowned with success, and soon the whole army, including the many auxiliary services of the advanced zone, enjoyed an abundance of good water. 6. _The Telephone System._--Everybody knows how very important the telephone has become during the present war; but even the most far-sighted people who had strongly urged the general employment of this essentially practical and rapid means of communication, had not anticipated the extraordinarily wide scope which was to be given it.