AMERICANS.—It is doubtful whether there was a more sensibly clothed or better armed body of troops in China than the Americans. The Marines wore soft brown felt hats, a blue flannel shirt, warm and comfortable, and Khaki knickers with dust-coloured leggings. The regulars dispensed with the shirt and wore a Khaki tunic instead. Both forces wore brown lace-up boots with exceedingly soft and comfortable uppers. The men carried blankets and ponchos for the bivouac, the latter being merely a waterproof cape with a hole for the head, comfortable, very light, useful, and, if necessary, capable of being folded up and put in one’s pocket. The rifles used were the Lee straight pull, and the Krag-Jorgensen, perhaps the worst and the best types of rifle at the front. The first, a rather complicated clip-loading rifle, firing a bullet of such a small bore, and light weight, that it was a hopelessly inadequate stopping weapon: this was only used by a small contingent of Marines straight from the Philippines, who had had no opportunity of being re-armed. The Krag-Jorgensen, on the other hand, is a .300 bore rifle, with a magazine containing ten shots. The whole mechanism lends itself to simplicity and speed, jams are infrequent, and structurally the rifle is capable of standing a large amount of wear and tear. With these advantages, in addition to very accurate sighting, the champions of the Krag-Jorgensen may well claim that the American army possess the most formidable rifle in existence. The bayonet is similar to ours, but, whereas, our bayonet is fixed underneath the rifle barrel in the same straight line, the American bayonet is fixed on the side of the barrel, and horizontally to it. Their ammunition was mostly carried in bandoliers round the waist. These are made of woollen material, and are double all the way round. The water-bottle is of metal, very large and most serviceable. The American cavalry were horsed on very heavily built chargers which were not at all suitable to the country. Their accoutrements differed but little from the infantry. Of course riding-breeches and top boots took the place of knickers and leggings, otherwise the dress was the same. They were armed with carbine and sword, which, according to British ideas, never was an ideal cavalry armament, and is now perhaps less so than ever. The American organisation was undoubtedly good and thorough, but in many cases the personal element spoilt everything. For instance, whilst their hospital corps was better off for stores, instruments, etc., than our own, we had fewer amputations by many, and no cases of Gangrene, as against twenty or more which they had, a sad case of which occurred after the severe fighting outside Tientsin City. Leonard, a lieutenant of marines, was shot below the elbow. The arm was amputated above the elbow, soon after which Gangrene set in, making another amputation necessary. Again Gangrene supervened, and a further operation was performed.