THE LANDING. 343 something to eat. There are no onions, red beans, lard, pork, or anything that comes from abroad, except the Polaria's rice and barley (this latter intended for the beer manufactory in Havana). Orders have been issued not to give ai y maize to horses or pigs, but to keep it for the people. The military in command at San Luis Cristo and other country places will allow nothing to go into town, as they want to keep it all for themselves. The streets are full of beggars going round begging for what formerly was given to the pigs, but now there is nothing over for the pigs.''

The land front of the town had beencovered with an improvised line of defences consisting of shelter trenches andblockhouses withbarbed wire entanglements in front. Small forts and blockhouses on some of the neighbouring hills formed outpjsts for the city, and as a second and inner line of resistance, barricades were begunin the streets of the suburbs. A number ofthe lighter guns from the fleet weremounted outside the town, and some of Cervera's seamen gunners werelanded to work them. The force which General Linares had in or near the city to man the sea forts and the landdefences, or to resist the American advance in the open, consisted of nominally 11,690 regular troops. The following list gives their organisation and numbers, on the assumption that all the battalions, batteries and squadrons were up to their full war strength.— Santiago Division.— Gen. Linares commanding; headquarters, Santiago de Cuba.

ist Brigade— Gen Vara del Rey. Batn. Constitucion, No.9 800 Batn. Escuadras, SantaCatalina .... 800 Batn. Toledo, No. 35 ..... . 800 Batn. Asia. No. 55 .... 800 Batn. Cuba, 2nd, No 38 800 2nd Brigade— Gen. Toral. ist Batn. Simancas, No.4 800 2nd Batn.Simancas 800 Batn. Principe, No. 5 . . ... 800 Batn Talavera, Peninsula, No. 4 . . . . 800 Batn. Leon, No. 38 800 Attached to Division. Batn. Cordoba No. 10 800 Batn. PuertoRico,ProvisionalNo. 3 . . 800 Batn. San Fernando,No. 11 800 3 Squadrons, Regiment del Rey . . . .225 6th Battery,4th Mountain Artillery ... too ist Transport Company 100 8th TransportCompany 100 ist Squadron Guardia Civil 75 Three Companies, Sappers and Miners. . . 300 ist Section, ist Company, Telegraph Batn. . . 50 5thCompany,Telegraph Batn 100 These numbers would give a total of 10,400 infantry, 300 cavalry and mounted gendarmes, and 550 artillery and engineers. The gunners had been reinforced from the fleet, and there were also some volunteers in the town. But none of the battalions were at anything like full strength, and it is certain that the total available force was nearer 7,000 regulars than the official figure. There were other bodies of troops at Holguin, Manzanillo and Bayamo, from which reinforcements might be drawn, but the practical difficulty in the way was that it was already hard enough to find food for the existing garrison, and every fresh battalion that marched in would aggravate the anxieties of the situation. It was therefore under the most unfavourable conditions that Linares awaited the attack of the invaders.

General Shafter had on board his transports 803 officers and 14,935 men. Some 10,000 more were available as reinforcements as soon as the transports could go back for them. The questions to be decided were the precise point of landingand thearrangements to be made fbi oo-operatii>n with the Cuban insurgent forces, under General Garcia, who were in the neighbourhood, but who as yet had shown little active of their presence. A conference was arranged with the Cuban general on Tuesday, the 21st, at the little village of Aserraderos, on the coast, about twelve miles to the westward of Santiago. Admiral Sampson, accompanied by his chief of the staff, Lieutenant Staunton, went on board the Seguranfa,and the transport, escortedby the cruiser Marblehcad, steamed for Aserraderos. The general and admiral, with a number of their officers, were taken ashore in a steam launch,and at the landing-place they were met by a ragged escort of Garcia'sCubans. The.party went up by a footway to the top of the ci.ss, where a temporary bivouac had been formed by somehundreds of the insurgents under their veteran leader. Mr. Richard Harding Davis gives a vivid impression of the scene in the description which he noted while the conference was in progress between the admirals and the two generals:— "It is," he writes," a historical moment in the history of Cuba and of America, for General Garcia, General Shaffer and Admiral Sampson have met for the first time. They are