LOUIS-MARIE-JULIEN VIAUD, "Pierre Loti," was born in Rochefort, of an old French-Protestant family, January 14, 1850. He was connected with the French Navy from 1867 to 1900, and is now a retired officer with full captain's rank. Although of a most energetic character and a veteran of various campaigns - Japan, Tonkin, Senegal, China (1900) - M. Viaud was so timid as a young midshipman that his comrades named him Loti, a small Indian flower which seems ever discreetly to hide itself.