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CAMPS AND CAMP LIFE 133
the back country, forming a long semi-circular
line from coast to coast. They were, of course,
tethered in the open until the weather became
vmry cold, when mat-sheds or dug-outs were con-
structed for them in most places. The horses
were, as a whole, a very poor lot, though some of
the batteries had fairly good limber horses ;
but
by far the majority of them were the poorest and
most vicious brutes I have seen in any army.
Whether their viciousness is caused by their
treatment, or the soldiers treat them as they do
because they are so vicious, I cannot say. Of
all civilized nations the Japanese are, without
exception, the poorest horsemen, the word “ horse-
men ” being taken in its widest significance. Not
only are they poor riders, their general build
making it difficult for them to acquire a good seat,
but they do not understand how to work and
spare their horses so as to get the maximum of
work out of them with the minimum of fatigue.
They have no idea of the still more important
part, to breed horses, to break them in and to
treat them properly. The breed is rotten
narrow-chested, steep-shouldered, leggy, lanky
brutes, with poor loins and still poorer hind-
quarters ;
and as to breaking in, I do not think
that, with the exception of some few officers’
horses, a single one would pass muster at the
inspection of any remount-school in Europe. The
men have no love nor liking for their horses, they
consider them an enemy, a thing to be subdued
and kept down. I cannot remember to have
seen a single soldier pet his horse or try to make
friends with it. The horses are treated harshly,
with the obvious result that they become vicious,
if not already so by nature.
While on the subject of camps there is, in this
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