CHINO-JAPANESE WAR. 391 
It was an ideal landing place—about 14 mile of sandy beach, 
with a sufficiently steep slope to allow steam launches to come to 
within three yards of the shore—completely sheltered from the pre- 
vailing northerly winds—deep water close in so that the ships were 
able to anchor about 300° or 400 yards off—and cut off from the rest 
of the Shantung province by a narrow strip of land, which was com- 
pletely dominated by high hills. With these hills in their hands the 
Japanese were in an impregnable position against attack from the 
westwards, for any force advancing to the attack would have had to 
cross several miles of flat open sand, which could have been swept by 
the guns of the ships as well as by fire from the hills. 
The disembarkation went on very smoothly and quietly till the 
25th, when Marshal Oyama and his staff landed and moved to 
Yungcheng. 
Our Admiral, Sir Edmund Fremantle, had come to the bay with 
the Centurion, the Severn and some other ships which were anchored 
to the south of all the Japanese transports and men-of-war; and 
I was fortunately able to obtain leave from Marshal Oyama for 
Lieutenant Ogilvie, the Flag-Lieutenant, to join us for this expe- 
dition, and a very welcome addition he was to our party. My only 
objection was that he took the wind out of my sails and sent home 
a very good report of the expedition before I had a chance of 
doing so. 
The march from Yungcheng to Wei-hai-wei was made by two 
parallel roads, one along the coast and the other a little more inland. 
The 2nd division marched by the latter and the 6th division by the 
former. 
We left Yungcheng on the 27th January in most abominable 
weather. ‘There was a bitterly cold north-west wind with a little 
driving snow, and the road, or rather track, was very slippery with 
ice ; so that the ponies could with difficulty keep their feet. 
We marched with the head-quarter staff, and saw nothing of the 
small skirmishes that took place between the advance-guard and a 
Chinese force which was retreating before it; but we missed nothing 
of importance. 
The Chinese houses in the Shantung province were generally better 
built than those near Port Arthur, but they were even more filthy ; 
and the only thing to be done with them was to clear out all the 
furniture, sweep out the floor, and put down some clean straw which 
was generally procurable. 
On the 29th January the army was nearing Wei-hai-wei and on that 
day the advance-guard of the 2nd division drove in the outlying 
Chinese posts and pushed on to the line of the river which falls into 
Three Peak bay. At a place on this river called Onsento there 
are hot springs; and it was curious to see the Japanese bathing in 
them. ‘They made holes in the dry sandy bed of the river and sat in 
the hot wells thus formed whilst the thermometer outside was nearly 
down at zero, and the stream flowing close by them was thickly coated 
with ice. 
On the 30th it was intended that the 2nd division should occupy the - 
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