It is curious to contrast these accounts of the hopeless
weakness of the Hovas with the news from the French camp. This shows how true was the Hova boast that they com- manded an almost invincible force under Generals Fever and Famine. The difficulties of the French advance have been terrific, and, though they have met with no resist- ance, they are still nearly one hundred and fifty miles from the capital, and those miles are mostly set on end. It may not be true that the French Government have ordered the preparation of three thousand beds in the Algerian hospitals for the invalided soldiers, for this would mean that a fourth of the white force had been fever-stricken, but it is clear that the French Army is dwindling as it did in Hayti a hundred years ago. Why the French, who are brave and resourceful and full of energy, cannot march and fight in
the tropics is a mystery which seems wholly beyond solution. It looks as if a sort of disgust fell upon men and officers and made them indifferent whether they lost or won, died or lived.
