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142 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
most excellent, of a very soft, light, and very
warm woollen stuff, with a collar of goat-skin to
protect the neck and ears. The winter underwear
is also very good, and consists of thick, warm,
machine-knitted woollen hoods (to wear under the
cap), singlets, and drawers, all of first-rate
material ;
and with the great-coats and three
blankets per man, the soldiers are fairly snug and
comfortable even in the coldest nights.
With full command of the sea, and with the
railway leading right up to the rear of the
Japanese lines, the transport service in front of
Port Arthur was made comparatively easy,
the base of supplies being Dalny, where the
Quartermaster-General had established his head-
quarters. During the first part of the campaign,
before the railway was captured and the gauge
altered to suit the Japanese rolling-stock, all the
transport had to go by road, for the most part
being forwarded in carts, but also partly carried
by coolies.
A large number of Chinese carts found after
the capture of Kinchow and Dalny proved of
the greatest service to the Japanese. These
carts are heavy and clumsy, but very strong, and
the only kind of vehicle that can carry any weight
over Chinese “ roads ”
—simple tracks over the
country, ankle-deep in mud during the rainy
season, frequently becoming transformed into
real water-courses, full of round stones and
boulders in dry weather, and leading up and down
hill without any attempt to take advantage of the
natural formation of the ground. The light one-
horse Japanese carts, constructed after the model
of an Indian army cart, would have been of little
use on such roads for transporting the food and
warlike stores of a large army over any consider-
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