194 THE LION KILLER. 



tions, or fires his gun with as steady an aim from his saddle, 

 as he would from the ground. It is only by the use of the 

 greatest caution and coolness that an attack of this kind can 

 result successfully, and in default of these qualities, or by the 

 slightest confusion, the numerous and daring foes fall imme- 

 diately on the bewildered soldier, and sweep over and bury 

 him like the sands of the desert. 



Within a few years our officers and soldiers have acquired 

 great experience in African warfare, and we can reach and 

 ruin an entire tribe without firing a shot. Formerly our 

 officers had to trust entirely to the information derived from 

 native chiefs, who often communicated to the hostile tribe 

 the progress of our forces, as we marched to chastise them. 

 But thanks to a new system, we are never placed in such 

 positions any more. In every division, subdivision, and circle 

 we have located an Arab office filled only by French officers, 

 w r hose duty it is to watch the different tribes and report to 

 the general in command, and by their means we can plan an 

 attack, and reach a rebel tribe at any distance, without any 

 anticipation of our intentions. 



We will now speak of the third manner of African warfare 

 on the desert of Sahara. 



Although the desert tribes are more nomadic than the 

 Chaouia, whose people rarely migrate beyond a certain com- 

 paratively narrow limit, yet they still have fixed habitations 

 which serve as depots of arms and provisions, and places of 

 refuge, and there are many villages built on the Oases in the 

 northern part of the desert, and some of them quite to the south. 

 These villages are placed in the centre of the Oasis, and are 



