whenever called upon, they fought well, marched well, drilled well, and behaved creditably always. The FRENCH forces with whom the Naval Brigade had anything to do consisted for the most part of the Infanterie de la Marine, and some Tonquinese troops. Some of the regular line regiments, and some excellent artillery, arrived in time to take a not very glorious share in the relief of Pekin, but as they had no opportunities of working with the Naval contingents, it is not proposed to attempt a description of them. The French Marines, as they were fallaciously called, were clad in a hideous ill-fitting suit of blue cotton. They wore a white helmet trimmed with blue, likewise hideous, and generally worn with the back side foremost. Their heavy marching order was of the heaviest description, and in common with the uniform already mentioned, went far to create a slovenly and unsoldierlike appearance. Their arms consisted of the Le-Bel rifle, an 8-shot magazine weapon, differing from the majority of magazine rifles in that the magazine is after the old Winchester type, carrying the cartridges up underneath the barrel, and unsatisfactory, because each round fired must materially alter the balance of the weapon. Their ammunition was carried in side pouches, and they had a serviceable water-bottle. The bayonet was totally unlike any used by the various other troops, and was a most cruel-looking article. About 18 inches long, with a white metal handle, and a good method of attachment, its extraordinary feature lies in the blade. It can be likened to nothing better than a long steel used for sharpening knives, yet it was not so thick, and it had four deep grooves running along it from the base to within an inch of the point. It certainly looked a very deadly weapon, but appears to lack strength. Also, unlike our sword-bayonet, which seems to be the commonest type in use, it is quite useless for any other purpose but man-killing, as it has no edge. The hospital and transport arrangements seemed good, and the behaviour of the men, until all danger was over, was all that could be desired. Unfortunately, however, there appeared to be a great diminution of discipline after each engagement, and still more so when affairs at Tientsin had quietened down. The men seemed to lack the much vaunted qualities of the French _piou-piou_ to a most lamentable degree, and on the only occasion on which a really hard march was called for, before the dreary advance to Pekin, the men straggled terribly. Their native troops, mostly Annamites, were small, of poor physique, and compared in no way favourably with our strapping Wei-Hai-Wei regiment. They were dressed in a sort of Khaki, and armed with an old single-shot carbine with a long sword-bayonet. Their headgear was a board, from which fell a neck covering of Khaki cloth, and their footgear was usually wanting—by which it is not meant to infer that no boots were provided, but that they preferred to march barefooted.