to turn the trucks, with the heaviest pieces of ordnance, on turntables,
and to push them forward without going off the rails at the curves.

The trucks which have been adopted for the service of the new forts in
Paris are drawn by six men, three of whom are stationed at each end of
the gun, and these are capable of moving with the greatest ease guns
weighing 9 tons.

The narrow-gauge railway was tested during the war in Tunis more than in
any preceding campaign, and the military authorities decided, after
peace had been restored in that country, to continue maintaining the
narrow-gauge railways permanently; this is a satisfactory proof of their
having rendered good service. The line from Sousse to Kairouan is still
open to regular traffic. In January, 1883, an express was established,
which leaves Sousse every morning and arrives at Kairouan--a distance of
forty miles--in five hours, by means of regularly organized relays. The
number of carriages and trucks for the transport of passengers and goods
is 118.

The success thus attained by the narrow-gauge line goes far to prove how
unfounded is the judgment pronounced by those who hold that light
railways will never suffice for continuous traffic. These opinions are
based on certain cases in the colonies, where it was thought fit to
adopt a light rail weighing about 18 lb. to 27 lb. per yard, and keeping
the old normal gauge. It is nevertheless evident that it is impossible
to construct cheap railways on the normal gauge system, as the
maintenance of such would-be light railways is in proportion far more
costly than that of standard railways.

The narrow gauge is entirely in its right place in countries where, as