French cavalry have always been famous, and it is said that they were never better than in 1914. The riding was good and the horses were excellent. What are known as the Chasseurs d'Afrique are perhaps the best of all French horse soldiers. At Sedan their furious charges almost turned the fortunes of that black day. The Cuirassiers[4] wear a brass helmet, from which a tail of horsehair hangs down the back. The helmet is covered with gray cloth in time of war. French artillery is generally thought to be the best in Europe. What is known as the 75-millimetre gun[5] is a very rapid quick-firer, and is wonderfully accurate; no better piece of artillery has ever been known in the history of warfare. French generals show great ability in using their artillery to cover the advance of infantry. What is known as the Foreign Legion is peculiar to the French army; no other army in the world has anything like it. The men who serve in the twelve battalions of this Legion are not Frenchmen but foreigners, who for one reason or another have taken service in the French army. Englishmen, Americans, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, and Russians rub shoulders in the ranks; and most of them have enlisted under false names. No questions are asked of any man who wishes to join the Legion; if he is strong, and can ride and shoot, and is willing to "rough it," he is promptly enlisted. [Illustration: Infantry of the Line leaving Paris. _Photo, The Sphere._] The men of this Legion have been called the "scallawags of Europe," and the story of their past is usually sad and painful. Some have committed crimes; some are bad characters who have been driven out of society or have been thrown over by their friends; others have held honourable positions, which they have lost by wicked or foolish conduct; and many of them are desperate men, who hope to find death as quickly as possible. Like the "free lances" of the Middle Ages, they are prepared to sell their swords to any country that will employ them, and they will fight as fiercely against their own land as against any other. They have only their lives to sell, and, as a rule, they are prepared to sell them as dearly as possible. They are not easy to discipline; but it is said that they are always courteous to women. One of the rules of the Legion is that its members shall always lead the "forlorn hope;" refusal to do so means the punishment of death. For this reason they are always placed in the firing line at the most dangerous point, and they ask for nothing better. In peace time two-thirds of them serve in the French possessions in the Far East, and the remainder in North Africa.