so
perfectly organised, and if the oxen had not been so patiently
enduring as they proved to be, the Bulgarian army must have perished by
starvation.

[Illustration: THE SHIPKA PASS]

And yet at Mustapha Pasha a Censor would not allow us to send anything
about the ox-wagons. That officer thought the ox-cart was derogatory to
the dignity of the army. If we had been able to say that they had such
things as motor transport, or steam wagons, he would have cheerfully
allowed us to send it.

After Lule Burgas the ox-transport had to do the impossible. It was
impossible for it to maintain the food and the ammunition supply of the
army at the front, which I suppose must have numbered 250,000 to 300,000
men. That army had got right away from its base, with the one line of
railway straddled by the enemy, and with the ox as practically the only
means of transport.

The position of the Bulgarian nation towards its Government on the
outbreak of the war is, I think, extremely interesting as a lesson in
patriotism. Every man fought who could fight. But further, every family
put its surplus of goods into the war-chest. The men marched away to the
front; and the women of the house loaded up the surplus goods which they
had in the house, and brought them for the use of the military
authorities on the ox-wagons, which also went to the military
authorities to be used on requisition.

A Bulgarian law, not one which was passed on the outbreak of the
war--they were far too clever for that--but an Act which was part of the
organic law of the country, allowed the military authorities to
requisition all surplus food and all surplus goods which could be of
value to the army on the outbreak of hostilities. The whole machinery
for that had been provided beforehand. But so great was the voluntary
patriotism of the people that this machinery practically had not to be
used in any compulsory form. Goods were brought in voluntarily, wagons,
cart-horses, and oxen, and all the surplus flour and wheat, and--I have
the official figures from the Bulgarian Treasurer--the goods which were
obtained in this way totalled in value some six million pounds. The
Bulgarian people represent half the population of London. The population
is poor. Their national existence dates back only half a century. But
they are very frugal and saving; that six millions which the Government
signed for represented practically all the savings which the Bulgarian
people had at the