Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/356



326 humaitA.

army uniform, which would be neat and handsome as that worn by the cavalry of the defunct East-Indian Company.

The Argentines move easily : they have little commis- sariat, and foul hides take the place of the neat Brazilian pal-tents. A change of camp is periodically necessary, the ground soon becoming impure in the extreme. The men carried, besides ammunition, arms, and accoutrements, poles to support their mats and skins, raw beef, chairs, tables, and round shot to make hearths. They were followed by women on horse and foot, the hideous lees of civilization, and by carts whose wheel-spokes were bound with hide, and which bore huge heaps of household " loot.'^ Being badly paid, and often not paid at all, the men must plunder to live. As might be expected from a force of the kind, there is no ardour for the cause, and esprit de corps is utterly unknown. As will be seen, they do not even take the trouble to bury their dead. They are kept in order only by the drum- head court-martial, and by the platoon ready at a minute's notice.

As for the "Oriental" army, I failed to find it. The force commenced under General Flores with 5600 men, and he handled it so recklessly that 600 were sent home, and 4600 were killed or became unfit to serve. The rem- nant of 300 to 400 is further reduced by some authorities to forty to fifty, of whom most are officers under a certain General B. Enrique Castro, who is characterized as a "gaucho ordinario."

The alliance of the Allies is evidently that of dog and cat. The high authorities have agreed not to differ, but the bond of union is political, not sympathetic. An exces- sive nationality amonst the Brazilians is kept up by their great numerical superiority ; whilst the Argentines, like our- selves in the Crimea, are sore about playing a part so palpably