WEI-HAI-WEI. 605 hills behind, these were protected by two forts, each armed with two heavyguns and two quickfirers. There were some other batteries and forts under construction.

Submarine mines had been laid down, and boomshad been placedinposition (i) across the western entrance,and (2) from the east end of Liu-kung-tao to I-tao, and then from I-tao to a shoal close to the mainland batteries, leaving openonly a smallpassage under their guns. The entrenched camp that had been formedby linking together the eastern forts and batterieswith earthworks. Besides these there were 4,000 sailors in the fleet who could be used for strengthening the garrisons of the forts ;4,000 troops had been sent from Tien-tsin to reinforceWei-hai-wei. They had to comeby land, a march of about six hundred miles. They started too late and never reached their destination.

MEW 01 WEI-HAI-WEI :II.LIC1 LYING AT ANCHOR IN THE BAY.

boomsconsisted of threestrongsteelhawsers,supported by floating baulks of timber, securedin position with chains and anchors, and having mines sunk in front of them.

TheJapanesehadmobilised anew army for the invasionof theShan-tungprovinceandthecapture ofWei-hai-wei. ItconsistedoftheSecondDivision and those troopsof the Sixth Division that still remained in Japan. In all,the effective force amounted to about 24,000 fighting men, with forty-eight guns and twelve mortars. Besides these there were 13,000 coolies and soldiers for the transport train. Tlae steamers that were to convey them were collected at Ujina andSimoneseki, where the troops were to embark. They were to beunder the commandof MarshalCount Oyama, and officially were considered to be another section of the Second Army already under his command in the Liao-tungPeninsula.

Behind the defences lay the fleet. It consisted of thetwobattleships Chen- Yuenand Ting-Yuen, anumber of cruisers, many of them much the worse for the damage they had sustained in the Yalu fight, the list including the Tsi- Yuen,Lai-Ynen, Hug- Yuen, Kwang-Ping, Wei-Yuen, Chng-Yuen and Kang-Chi, six gunboats, and eleven torpedo boats. Small and large, there were twenty-five warships in theharbour. The garrison consisted of about 1,000 in the island forts and 6,000in the mainland forts and in the