never for a
moment lost his habitual sangfroid and self-possession.

The subsequent operations during 1861 were scarcely of a more decisive
nature than those in the early part of the campaign. They consisted for
the most part of slight skirmishes, which, though unimportant in
themselves, tended to establish the Turks in their occupation of the
country, and produced a good moral effect.

One event, however, deserves notice, as giving fair evidence of the
respective merits of the belligerent parties. In pursuance of the plan
which he had originally devised, Omer Pacha established a permanent
fortified camp in Piwa. Twelve battalions under Dervisch Pacha were
concentrated at this point; and at the time of the contest which I am
about to describe, Omer Pacha was himself present. Reduced to the
greatest straits by famine and the presence of the Turkish troops, and
inspired doubtless by the knowledge of the Generalissimo's presence in
the camp, the rebels resolved to make a desperate onslaught upon the
entrenchments.

On the morning of October 26, a strong force was despatched from camp to
procure forage, wood, and other necessaries. While thus employed, the
enemy, favoured by the formation of the surrounding country, made a
sudden and well-sustained attack upon this force, in conjunction with a
consentaneous assault upon the entrenchments. With more judgement than
is generally found amongst Turkish commanders, the foraging party was
brought back to camp, though not before it had suffered a considerable
loss. In the meantime charge upon charge was being made by the
half-naked savages who formed the Christian army, against the enclosed
space which was dignified by the name of an entrenched camp. Three times
they forced an entrance, and three times were they driven out at the
point of the bayonet, while the guns mounted on the works made wide gaps
in their retreating columns. After several hours' hard fighting, in
which both sides displayed exemplary courage, the assailants were
compelled to withdraw, leaving many hundred dead upon the field. The
Turkish loss was something under a hundred, owing to the advantage they
derived from fighting under the cover of their guns and walls.

Shortly after this event Omer Pacha returned to Mostar, contenting
himself with holding the various passes and other points on the
frontier, which enabled him to keep an unremitting watch over the
disturbed district.

Early in the spring of 1862