Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/382

352 RESOURCES OBTAINED FROM CHAP. Ill the villages there was abuudauce of agricul- ^^"^- tural wealth. The main waut of the country was water ; but General 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. The English In their passage across the Euxine our battal- abToVo ions had not yet been followed by that evil from crime, horde who are accustomed to cling to an army selling strong, noxious drinks to the men. There- fore our army was without crime.* It was with something more than mercy, it was with kindness and gentle courtesy, that the people of the vil- lages were treated by our soldiery ; and the inter- preters 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 Kindly in- wcrc cxprcssing their gratitude. Their chief fa- betw^nlur vouritcs, it secms, were the men of the Eifle the'vniagcri Brigade. Quartered for a day or two in one of the villages, these soldiers made up for the want of a 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 ' Kifles ' to do this and do that, exulting in the obedience which they were able to win from men so grand and comely. When the inter- preter came, and was asked to construe what the • This stateineut, broad aa it looks, i.s iiuaiit to bo taken literally, and to be regarded as a .statement taken from the ri"ht olficial source.