Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/168

 124 THE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP. VI. The shelter provided for the Fi-euch anny. For the Elnglish. Lord Rag- lan's imme- diate meas- ui'es for hatting the taoops. II. With means of shelter the French army was ill supplied, for it mainly used the ' tente d'abri/ a low canvas hutch, which is a miserable sub- stitute for the ordinary tent. Except when unhoused by the whirlwind of the 14th of Novemlier, the English army was at no time unsheltered by the ordinary bell tents ; for, although the Home Government failed to send out the new tents required until after a delay of many months, Lord Raglan found means to counteract this default by obtaining a supply from Malta. Still, Lord Raglan felt keenly that against the rigours of a winter on the Chersonese, mere canvas would afford to his troops a miserably insufficient shelter, and on the very morrow of the resolution which postponed the assault of Sebastopol, he took measures providing for the now too probable eventuality of a lengthened detention on the Chersonese ; and under his sanction, the Quartermaster-General required the Commissariat to send officers to Constantinople and several of the ports on the Black Sea, with orders to purchase large quantities of the timber, the nails, the tools, and all the materials neces- sary for the construction of huts. This mission (which went accompanied by an officer of En- gineers) proved completely successful ; and with remarkable promptitude great quantities of timber and the other needed materials were brought into the port of Balaclava ; but the task of