ad constructed an
oblong redoubt, well palisaded and surrounded by a strong post and rail
fence--a formidable obstacle to an advancing column, and difficult
to destroy with artillery; the interval between the side faces of
the redoubt and the swamps was defended by an entrenched line of
rifle-pits.”

This will give a fair type of the Maori method of defence, and is
sufficient evidence of a natural military eye for ground.

The attack was checked at first with heavy loss, and the enemy
escaped during the night. On the field were left 14 officers killed
and wounded, and 97 non-commissioned officers and men. For when the
stormers entered the work, the enemy had concealed themselves in
subterranean hollows or casemates, which both protected them from the
artillery fire and hid them from view, and from this cover close and
heavy volleys were fired by a concealed adversary at a range where
every shot told. The sudden panic so created spread to the supports,
and hence the disaster which fell so heavily on the gallant “fighting
43rd.”

The desultory fighting continued until the Maoris were exhausted, and
a better understanding between native customs and European methods has
led to prolonged peace.

       *       *       *       *       *

Many improvements had been made in the army during the years comprising
the period under review. Rifled artillery had entirely superseded
smooth-bores after the Franco-Austrian campaign of 1859. The Enfield
rifle was converted into the breech-loading “Snider” soon after the
value of the new mechanism had been proved in the Austro-Prussian War
of 1866; but even as late as the China War many of the Indian regiments
were still armed with the old flint “firelock” or “Brown Bess.” The
Act of 1867 had been passed, making the length of army service twelve
years, with power of re-engaging for twenty-one years for pension. An
effort was made to create a reserve.

The system of payment, too, was altered in 1824, and men were paid
daily. Previous to that time a certain amount of