already attained. I have never yet heard a doubt expressed among the
officers as to the _superiority_ of these men to white troops in
aptitude for drill and discipline, because of their imitativeness and
docility, and the pride they take in the service. One captain said to
me to-day, "I have this afternoon taught my men to load-in-nine-times,
and they do it better than we did it in my former company in three
months." I can personally testify that one of our best lieutenants, an
Englishman, taught a part of his company the essential movements of
the "school for skirmishers" in a single lesson of two hours, so that
they did them very passably, though I feel bound to discourage such
haste. However, I "formed square" on the third battalion drill. Three
fourths of drill consist of attention, imitation, and a good ear for
time; in the other fourth, which consists of the application of
principles, as, for instance, performing by the left flank some
movement before learned by the right, they are perhaps slower than
better educated men. Having belonged to five different drill-clubs
before entering the army, I certainly ought to know something of the
resources of human awkwardness, and I can honestly say that they
astonish me by the facility with which they do things. I expected much
harder work in this respect.

The habit of carrying burdens on the head gives them erectness of
figure, even where physically disabled. I have seen a woman, with a
brimming water-pail balanced on her head, or perhaps a cup, saucer, and
spoon, stop suddenly, turn round, stoop to pick up a missile, rise
again, fling it, light a pipe, and go through many evolutions with
either hand or both, without spilling a drop. The pipe, by the way,
gives an odd look to a well-dressed young girl on Sunday, but one often
sees that spectacle. The passion for tobacco among our men continues
quite absorbing, and I have piteous appeals for some arrangement by