In the Sahara, the tents of the smala spread to the distant
horizon. In the Tell, they filled the valley and rose up the slopes of
the hills. All the arrangements were of military regularity. The
different _deiras_, or households, with tents varying in number with
their dwellers, were distributed into four great encampments. Each deira
knew its appointed place. Each chief had his station marked and his
special duties assigned. Four tribes were set apart to protect and guide
the smala in its wanderings, and the guard was composed of regular
troops. The existence of this organization, ever growing in extent,
became a powerful check on the disaffection of the tribes. When the
French leaders tempted them with fair promises, the warriors bethought
them of the pledges: the women, the children, the flocks and herds,
which were in the Sultan's hands. The genius of Abd-el-Kader had created
a new and widely extended political engine.
When the French leaders had learned to appreciate the importance of the
smala its capture or dispersal became a chief object with all officers
from the generals of corps to the colonels in charge of detachments.
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