'Victors in every encounter,' says Cyprien Robert, 'the Mussulman Spahis began to visit on horseback the villages, more than two hundred in number, which had taken part in the insurrection. The devastation that ensued was worthy of the most barbarous time. Neither age nor sex was spared. All the young were carried off to the vulture-nests of the Spahis of the Balkan. In vain did Redschid Pacha enjoin milder measures; neither he nor the Sultan could check these bloodthirsty tigers. There needed to that end the unexpected arrival of Omer Pacha at Nish. He fell among them like a thunderbolt, and all was silence. The Bulgarians ceased to flee, the Spahis to pursue, and, what was more, the Russian army of Wallachia halted at the moment it was about to cross the Danube. That terrible Omer, the queller of so many revolts, had at Bucharest an opportunity of making his qualities felt by the Russian Generals, and they were completely disconcerted by his sudden arrival at Nish, when they thought he was hemmed in by the insurgent Serba in the gorges of Bosnia, without the means of making his way through them. The Russian troops paused, awaiting fresh orders from St. Petersburg: orders came, and the whole scheme was quashed. Cleverly as the Russian plot had been laid, it was completely baffled by the rapidity of Omer Pacha's movement.' Once again order was re-established. Serayevo was again made the seat of the provincial government, and numerous reforms were brought into force, all of which tended to ameliorate the condition of the Christian population.