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A great proportion of the inhabitants retired to the mountains,

carrying with them their most precious possessions; some remained

to watch the sick, or to preserve their dwellings from the

flames, or to watch the valuable property which they had buried

or concealed; and others remained because they had nothing to

lose. When the first detachment arrived at the place where they

were to halt, the soldiers scattered themselves through the

country; and subjected it at once to pillage; all that could be

eaten or carried off disappeared; fields were destroyed, and

cottages burnt to the ground; every hiding-place, every method to

which people had resorted, in their despair, for the defence of

their property, became useless, nay, often resulted in the

peculiar injury of the proprietor.