192 THE LION KILLER. 



their country, the most of them without ambition or the hope 

 of recompense, to behave with as much bravery and energy 

 in the combat, as patience and courage in the varied suffer- 

 ings which are attendant on these expeditions. 



One single trait of the character of the African soldier will 

 suffice to make him appreciated at his just value. 



However small his stipend, and however large his love for 

 women or wine, at his return into garrison the soldier prefers 

 the mountains of Kabylie, where there is nothing to hope for 

 but privations, fatigues, and the bullet, to the plain, where 

 booty and resources for comfortable life are all offered to 

 him. ■ 



This is because that in Kabylie he is always sure of a 

 battle, while he returns often from the plain without having 

 burned a cartridge. This is the feeling of the infantry. It is 

 not the same with the cavalier, who remembers the foray and 

 plunder, and for this reason loves the plain as much as he 

 detests the mountains. 



If a tribe has become insubordinate, or thrown off the yoke 

 of subjection, immediate measures are taken to inflict a heavy 

 punishment. 



It took three or four campaigns for the chiefs of our army 

 to learn the various ruses of the native Sheiks, but that 

 having been done, the chastisement follows always close on 

 the heels of disorder and insurrection. Generally the French 

 troops carry the field before them when they make a vigorous 

 attack, even when the enemy is in force, unless it may be 

 on those occasions, which are very rare, when the cavalry 

 alone are sent against the natives ; but as the Arab horsemen 



