Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

successfully accomplished its task, breaking down every resistance it encountered, and the chiefs of the Beni-Menacers had come to the General's bivouac to sue for aman.

By this important movement the greater portion of the troops became available for the spring campaign; and the General, fearing lest he should be overtaken by bad weather, was anxious to quit the country without delay. Accordingly the terms of submission having been quickly discussed and settled, we again set out in the direction of Milianah. A three days' march brought us back into the town, but we only halted a few hours there. Marshal Bugeaud had summoned the General back to Blidah in order to agree with him as to the operations of the spring campaign, soon about to open. At the conclusion of this conference we were to return and take up our quarters at Milianah, to await the commencement of the approaching hostilities. To establish a station in the valley of the Cheliff, forming another link between the provinces of Algiers and Oran; to win over to us the population of this valley; to subject the mountain tribes of Ouar Senis, and finally to pursue the smala to the high plateaux of Serssous, and destroy that moveable arsenal of the Emir's, was the plan of the campaign of the

spring of 1843. Marshal Bugeaud was to establish the post of Orleansville. The difficulties of the mountains of Ouar Senis fell as by right to the share of General Changarnier. Lastly, the smala was assigned to the Duc d'Aumale, commanding at Medeah.

In order to convey the materials necessary for the establishment of Orleansville, the use of prolonges was necessary; and to use these prolonges it was requisite that a road should be made across the Goutas leading into the valley of the Cheliff. Accordingly the troops of Milianah spread themselves in echelons along the valley of the Oued Ger--for these twenty leagues of road had to be completed in a fortnight. This valley, awhile so peaceful, now rang with the joyous songs of the soldier-workmen and the clatter of their pickaxes. At intervals of two leagues little camps were established, and the road sprang into existence as if by magic, winding in long zigzags up the sides of the Goutas, and diving down again into the valley of the Cheliff.

Returning to Milianah we made use of the newly constructed road. The chiefs of Djendel, Bou-Allam and his brother, Bagidadi, of the illustrious family of the Ouled-Ben-Cherifa, came to greet the General as we were descending the last

declivities of the mountain. Bou-Allam, formerly agha of the Emir's irregular cavalry, was a daring fellow, with an eye as black as his moustache, and an energetic countenance, and who governed the country far more by the strength of his arm than by the ancient renown of his illustrious blood. He was long our inveterate enemy, and was mixed up in every enterprise against us. He was seen everywhere, followed by his son, a child of marvellous beauty, the sole object of his affection. The hardened soldier could never part from him, and was ever in alarm for his safety when he was not One day, however, he returned to his tent alone; a French bullet had killed the child. From that time war became disgustful and he meditated submission. One night (it was in 1842) Bou-Allam betook himself to the bivouac of General Changarnier, offering to bring about the submission of seven tribes if the General would lend him his assistance. We showed our acknowledgment of this important service by allowing him to continue in the command which he shared with his oneeyed brother, Bagrdadi.

near.

The two Arab chiefs, followed by a brilliant suite of horsemen, journeyed with us towards Milianah. We crossed the valley of the Cheliff, marching over the identical ground on which the

red regulars and immense masses of cavalry encountered our troops in 1841. "They were so thickly crowded," said an Arab to me, "that they appeared like the ears of wheat in a corn field swayed by the wind." And now on the field of this tough contest we beheld only numerous flocks, going to drink in the Cheliff, and there resounded in the valley, instead of the clamour of fighting horsemen, the cries of the Arab women greeting the General's presence with the honouring "ion! ion!" At Oued Boutan, the new hakem of the town of Milianah, Omar Pasha, of the illustrious family of the pasha of that name, awaited our arrival. We met here with a fresh proof of the deep traces left in this country of the Turkish dominion. After a lapse of thirteen years the memory of the Turks is still so vivid among the people that the son of the Pasha Omar is treated with as much respect by all the chiefs as in the days when the power of his family was still unbroken.

One hour after this meeting the escort alighted at Milianah. What is a man to do who has to spend a fortnight at Milianah? Take patience, and repeat with the Arabs, It was written. Written indeed it was, fully and fairly written in the numerous despatches which General Chan

garnier exchanged with Marshal Bugeaud. We were obliged to wait until the Algiers column had passed Milianah ere we could commence marching. Fortunately as a compensation to our sufferings we were informed that the former Khalifat of Abd-el-Kader at Milianah, SiEmbarek, had organized a vigorous resistance among the Kabyles of Ouar Senis. The name was still held in veneration at Milianah; even our friends pronounced it with terror. The Arabs, indeed, are strongly imbued with respect for the past, and tradition, handing down the memory of former days, encircles the men of the present day in their eyes with a halo of the marvellous. If a family has been illustrious in the country all bow down before it. Milianah appears for ages past to have possessed the privilege attached to the influence of a name, by which sometimes an entire province is ruled. The Ouled-Ben-Yousefs, celebrated for their wise and prudent spirit, were natives of Milianah-which was likewise the abode of the Emir's faithful servant, Embarek, ere he established himself at Coléah. Finally, it was within but a few years that the Omars had retired to the same town. These three equally illustrious families have imparted a kind of prestige to Milianah. The two first, those of Ben-Yousef and

VOL. I.

D

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »