His caliphs
and chiefs were ordered never again to meet the enemy in masses, but to
harass them in hanging on their flanks and rear, cutting their
communications, attacking baggage and transports, and waging a contest
of feigned retreats, ambuscades, and sudden sallies in order to bewilder
and weary the foe. Miliana was evacuated by Abd-el-Kader on Valee's
approach, but the chance of Arab warfare came when the French entered
the mountain passes. Unceasing attacks, day and night, caused severe
loss to the lately victorious French, with the capture of baggage and
the abandonment of all wounded men. The French garrisons in Medea and
Miliana were soon reduced to want by blockade of the surrounding
country, and by October, 1840, the garrison of Miliana had almost
disappeared, from the effects of fever and famine. Out of fifteen
hundred men, the half had perished; five hundred were in hospital and
the remainder were haggard wretches who could hardly hold their muskets.
Such was the warfare in the mountains of the Province of Tittery, and
Abd-el-Kader by his swift movements kept the enemy ever on the alert,
and often in trouble, from the frontiers of Morocco to those of Tunis.
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