THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 218 aidofartillery, it will beimpossible, except with the sacrifice of a great loss of life. Theforts are of three kinds. They are best described as the forts, the blockhouses, and the little forts. A big fort consists of two storeys, with a cellar below and a watch-tower above. It is made of stone and adobe (dried clay), and is painted a glaring white. Oneofthese isplacedatintervals of every half-mile along the trocha, and on a clear day the sentry in the watch-tower ofeach can see three forts on both sides. Midway betweenthe big forts, at adistance of a quarter of a mile from each, is a blockhouse of two storeys, with the upper storey of wood overhanging the lower foundation of mud. These areplaced at right angles to the railwayinstead of facing it as do the forts. Between each blockhouse and each fort are three little forts of mud and planks surrounded by a ditch. They hold five men, and are within hailing distance of one another. Behind them are three rows of stout wooden stakes, withbarbed wirestretching from one row to the other, interlacing and crossing and running in and out above and below,like anintricatecat's-cradle of wire. One can judgehowclosely knit it is by the fact that to every twelve yards of posts there are 450 yards of wire."

in the towns. Moreover, a man living in the country might be a rebel to-day and at work to-morrow. Weyler decided to simplify matters by orderingthat untilthe rebellion was over the country people must come within the lines of the fortified towns and cities, or collectincamps established under military guard. Those who persisted in living in the open country didso at the risk of being treated as rebels. Those who hesitated to move wereforced to makeup their minds by having their houses burned. An order likethiscould not beimmediately executed throughout the island, but its gradual enforcement, which wasleftinlarge part totheSpanish irregulars, the Cuban volunteers, led to endless misery throughout the island. One of its first results was to force largenumbers, who tillthen had wavered in theirallegiance,tothrow intheir lot with the rebels. The fighting men of a whole district would join the camps of Gomez or Maceo or Garcia, while the old men, the women and children, were driven into some fortified town. Probably the grim soldier who had planned the scheme did not mind much that such was oneof itsfirst results. He would say the open foe was better than the doubtful friend. Another result of the order was to give a newimpetus to the desolation of the country. Both sides had already been destroying what they could not carry off, lest the supplies they left might profit the enemy. Now Weyler's troopslaid waste the fields of those whohadfled to the rebel camps, and the insurgent guerillas burnt sugar-canes and ravaged tobacco plantations to cut off the resources of the government. Weyler could for some time to come, even at the worst, get all the supplies he needed from over the sea, and he was determined to starve therebelsout ifneedbe. topen themupbetween his barbed wire fortresses and cut off all help This barrier of felled trees, wire entanglements,andblockhouses,extendingfor fifty miles, absorbed an enormousgarrison. Another huge force was penned up in the lesser trocha of Mariel, west of Havana. Thousands more held the fortifications of the towns and the blockhouses, along the railways, and at theprotected plantations. Half the money and energy expended on forming a transport service of pack mules would have given better results, for it wouldhave enabledthe Captain-General to keep the field instead of repeating the tactics ot Martinez Campos, and wasting time and the lives of his men in useless little expeditions ol two or threedays each. But he relied on other measures than operationsin thefieldfor success. First an attempt wasmade to cut off the rebels from all communication with the towns. No one could pass the barriers or travel alongthe railways without a military permit and escort.

The police hunted down anyone who tried to correspond with the insurgents,or to whomany active efforts in their favour could be traced, and then there was a court-martial and an execution at sunrise. But so long as anyone dweltoutside the fortified lines it was difficult to cut the rebelsoff entirelyfrom their sympathisers from themby sea andland.

Unfortunately, this terrible system of repression weighedmost heavily,not on the rebels in the field, but on the unfortunate people who hadbeen driveninto the townsto prevent them from aiding or feeding the insurgents. These poor folk, whose numbers ran up to perhaps 400,000, were known sometimes as the "Pacificos" because they had not been in arms against the government; sometimes as the "Reconcentrados," because Weyler's decree had concentrated them in towns andmilitarycamps. First of all they were deprived of their homes and their ordinary livelihood,and for the most part plungedin a demoralising idleness. Then,