from their thoughts than marching that day, for
several of the officers were busy planning a
coursing expedition for that morning. All at
once the trumpet sounded the call which in the
English service goes by the name of "boots and
saddles," and then the order came for a squadron
to prepare to march. I pulled out my watch
at the first sound of the trumpet, and observed
the time the men took to get ready. In thirty-five
minutes the horses were saddled, the men
dressed and mounted, the tents struck and
packed, and the roll of the squadron was being
called. Not a vestige remained of the troops'
whereabout on the ground they had occupied so
lately, and, in forty minutes from the time when
the trumpeter sounded his first note, officers
and men, bag and baggage, were on their way
to their destination. All who have served with
cavalry in the field will acknowledge that to
get ready so quickly, taking all their belongings
with them, shows great practice and good
discipline on the part of troops. I remember
seeing the 3rd Light Dragoons in the Punjab,
saddle, dress, and get ready to move, in thirty
minutes; but they were ordered to leave their
tents standing, and take no baggage with
them. Even this was deemed very quick work.
Moreover, on the occasion I refer to in Syria,
the Chasseurs d'Afrique did not hurry
themselves particularly; on the contrary, I observed
that they went to work with the greatest
method, each trooper half dressing himself, then
saddling his horse, packing his baggage, then
finishing his dressing, and finally bridling his
horse, mounting, and taking his place in the
ranks.

The Chasseurs d'Afrique are composed of
three regiments, each regiment having six
squadrons, and each squadron a hundred and
sixty horses. The division of a regiment into
troops, as with us, is unknown in French cavalry.
Each squadron has its first captain, second
captain, two lieutenants, and two sub-lieutenants;
each two squadrons have their chef
d'escadron or major; superior to them, there
are present with the regiment a lieutenant-
colonel and a colonel. Not only do I consider
this organisation of regiment superior to our
own, but it is much more economical in the
way of officers. A French cavalry regiment
on the war-establishment, has nine hundred
and sixty horses; to command which there is
an establishment of forty-two officers—namely,
one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, three majors
or chefs d'escadron, six captains, six second
captains, twelve lieutenants, twelve sub-lieutenants,
and the adjutant-major. An English
regiment of dragoons on the Indian establishment
has only seven hundred and one horses;
to command which there are also forty-one
officers—namely, two lieutenant-colonels, two
majors, eight captains, twenty lieutenants, eight
cornets, and the adjutant. So, in the French
service, the same number of officers bring on
the field two hundred and sixty more sabres or
lances than with us. Moreover, for troops which
are continually being detached in small parties—
as is the case almost always when cavalry are in
the field—the advantage of having every squadron,
a complete corps within itself, must be
obvious.

But what struck me particularly in the
Chasseurs d'Afrique, was the great number of
young men belonging to respectable and even
titled families, serving in the ranks of the corps:
some as privates, but most having attained the
rank of corporal, sergeant, or sergeant-major.
The mere conscript—the half-educated peasant,
or the badly educated shopman whose number at
the conscription has forced him into the army,
and whose destination has led him into the
Chasseurs d'Afrique—has no chance of rising in the
regiment. All this better class of troopers is
composed of men who, wishing to attain the
rank of officers but not having passed through
the military college of St. Cyr, enlist for this
particular corps, with the certainty, that if they
behave well, they will in a few years obtain their
commissions. Nearly all the officers in the
Chasseurs d'Afrique, are men who have risen from
the ranks. The sub-lieutenants are, I should
say, nearly all under twenty-five years of age:
having had five or six years' experience in the
ranks, just enough to make them practical
soldiers, and to enable them to appreciate their new
position.

I believe that, although there is no government
rule or regulation on the subject, the
French administration has for many years
refrained from sending any young man just entering
the service from the military colleges, as
sub-lieutenauts into the Chasseurs d'Afrique:
preferring to let the corps be almost altogether
officered by men who have worked their way
up from the ranks. This is the case in no
other regiment in the French army except the
Zouaves, the universal rule of the service being,
that, of the vacancies which occur in a corps,
two-thirds are filled up from the military
colleges, and one-third from the ranks.

The Chasseurs d'Afrique and the Zouaves,
being always either in Algeria or on foreign
service, young men of family and respectability,
some of whom have perhaps been a
little wild at their start in life, prefer to enlist
as volunteers in them rather than in corps
which would expose them to the idleness and
temptations of a garrison life in France, or to
the chance of being seen by wealthy relatives
or former companions, whilst wearing the
uniform of private soldiers. In one single squadron
of the Chasseurs last summer in Syria, I
was shown amongst the non-commissioned
officers, a marquis, two viscounts, the son of a
prefect, and the son of a supreme judge at
Algiers: while the orderly corporal of the
colonel commanding the cavalry, was a certain
well-known baron, whose family was of Scottish
origin, and must be well remembered by all
frequenters of the Paris Jockey Club and of Chantilly
some few years ago. This gentleman's
history may serve as an example of many others
of his class. He was born very wealthy, and
for seven or eight years lived and spent money