The writer of military notes in the Pall Mall Gazette
draws attention to the remarkable forced march by General d'Amade's troops from Casa Blanca to Settat. They covered forty-eight miles in twenty-five hours on roads which are merely camel tracks. If the infantry marched at three miles an hour, they must have done sixteen hours' actual walking. Moreover, they arrived in such good condition that they immediately fought a successful engagement with the mahalla of Mulai Rachid. The roads from Casa Blanca and Rabat have thus been cleared as far as Settat, for they converge a little way north of that place. The French infantryman is beyond doubt a wonderful marcher; he carries so much that he is more independent of transport than the soldier of any other European Army, and observers have noticed that be marches rather better at the end of a long march than at the beginning. Good marching is a prized tradition with the French, and each regiment tries to eclipse the records of other regiments,—a valuable rivalry in which we fancy that even anti-militarists enjoy taking part.
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