A SKETCH OF AFRICAN WARFARE. 18Y 



CHAPTER XII. 



A SKETCH OF AFRICAN WARFARE. 



Warfare in Africa is so curious by reason of the customs 

 and manners of the adversaries that the French have to com- 

 bat that I have thought it well to give a rapid sketch of it, 

 for the sake of those persons who have any interest in foreign 

 wars. 



The Arab population is divided into three different classes, 

 as follows: the Kabyles, residing in permanent settlements 

 near the sea coast ; the Chaouia, the ancient Numidians, that 

 form more than half of the population of the province of 

 Constantine, whose tents and troops occupy all the country 

 comprised between Kabylie and the desert ; and lastly, the 

 Arabs proper, who are the lords of the desert oases, roam- 

 ing about in caravans, or pitching their tents for a. night, 

 and passing the summer on the high plateaux, and the 

 winter in the desert of Sahara, or on its borders. 



As each of these people carry on a campaign after their 

 own fashion, I will explain their different manners of warfare 

 successively : 



The Kabyles live in the mountains with precipitous wooded 

 sides. They have no cavalry, but to make up for this defi- 



