XXXIX. The operation was conducted with an almost fault- CHAP. less skill, and (until a firm lodgment had been gained) it proceeded in the way that was thought to be the right one for landing in the face of the enemy. Though the surf was at times somewhat heavy, not a man was lost. With the French, who had no cavalry, and a scanty by the supply of artillery horses, the disembarkation was a French; comparatively easy task; and if they had so desired it, the French might have been ready to march long before the English; but, knowing that their allies, having cavalry, would necessarily take a good deal of time, they were without a motive for hurrying; and during the whole of the five days which the English took for their disembarkation, a like work was seen going on at the French landing-place. Turks. The Turks did the work of landing very well; and, by the indeed, they quickly showed that they had an advantage over the French and the English in their more familiar acquaintance with the mode of life proper to warfare. They landed their camp equipage; for, with them, the carriage of tents is a very simple business. Two soldiers, one at each end, bear the pole of a tent between them, and the canvas is carried by others in turns. So early as the 15th, the first day after that on which the landing began, the Turks were comfortably encamped on the ground assigned to them; and whilst the young troops of France and England were still sitting wretched and chilled by the wet of their night's bivouac, the warlike Os CHAP. manlies seemed to be in their natural home. XXXIX. Soliman, who commanded them, was able to welcome and honour the guests who went to visit him in his tent as hospitably as though he were in the audiencehall of his own pashalic. He had all his tents well pitched; and his men, one could see, were still a true Moslem soldiery - men with arms and accoutrements bright, yet not forgetful of prayer. He had a supply of biscuit and of cartridges, and a good stock of horses, some feeding, some saddled and ready for instant use. He was not without coffee and tobacco. His whole camp gave signs of a race which gathers from a great tradition, going on from father to son, the duties and the simple arts of a pious and warfaring life. CHAPTER XL. XL. tions from the Tartar the Eng quarters. WHEN the people of the neighbouring district came CHAP. to see the strength of the armies descending upon Deputa their coast, the head men of villages began to present) themselves at the quarters of the Allies. The first of villages to these deputations was received by Lord Raglan in lish headthe open air. The men were going up to headquarters when they passed near a group of officers on foot in blue frock-coats, and they learned that the one whose maimed arm spoke of other wars was the English General. They approached him respectfully, but without submissiveness of an abject kind. Neither in manner, dress, appearance, nor language, would these men seem very strange to a traveller acquainted with Constantinople or any of the other cities of the Levant. They wore the pelisse or long robe, and although their head-gear was of black lamb-skin, it was much of the same shape as the Turkish fez. They spoke with truthfulness and dignity, allowing it to appear that the invasion was not distasteful to them, but abstaining from all affectation of enthusiastic sympathy. They seemed to understand war and XL. CHAP. its exigencies; for they asked the interpreters to say that such of their possessions as might be wanted by the English army were at Lord Raglan's disposal. Pleased with the demeanour of the men, as well as with the purport of their speech, Lord Raglan told them that he would avail himself of some of their possessions, more especially their waggons and draught animals, but that everything taken for the use of the English army would be paid for at a proper rate. Much to Lord Raglan's surprise (for he was not accustomed to the people of the East), the head man of the village resisted the idea of the people being paid, and anxiously pressed the interpreter to say that their possessions were yielded up as free gifts. Result of exploring expeditions. Pure ignorance of the invaded country gave charm to every discovery tending to throw light upon the character and pursuits of the inhabitants; and if our soldiery had found in the villages high altars set up for human sacrifices, they would scarcely have been more surprised than they were when, prying into the mysteries of this obscure Crim Tartary, they came upon traces of modern refinement and cultivated taste. In some of the houses at Kentugan there were pianos; and in one of them a music-book, lying open and spread upon the frame, seemed to show that the owner had been hurried in her flight. But the owners of these dwellings must have been official personages. The mass of the country people were Tartars. XL. In the villages there was abundance of agricultural CHAP. wealth. The main want of the country was water; but Airey caused wells to be sunk. The English system of payment for supplies rapidly began to bear its usual fruit, and the districts from which the people came in to barter with us were every day extending. * lish army lute free crime. In their passage across the Euxine our battalions The Enghad not yet been followed by that evil horde who -its absoare accustomed to cling to an army, selling strong, dom from noxious drinks to the men. Therefore our army was without crime. It was with something more than mercy, it was with kindness and gentle courtesy, that the people of the villages were treated by our soldiery; and the interpreters had to strain the resources of the English tongue in order to convey a faint apprehension of the figures of speech in which the women were expressing their gratitude. chief favourites, it seems, were the men of the Brigade. Quartered for a day or two in one of the diery and villages, these soldiers made up for the want of a lagers. common tongue by acts of kindness. They helped the women in their household work; and the women, pleased and proud, made signs to the stately "Rifles" to do this and do that, exulting in the obedience which they were able to win from men so grand and Their Kindly in- * This statement, broad as it looks, is meant to be taken literally, and to be regarded as a statement taken from the right official source. tercourse our sol the vil |