Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/529

383 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 383 upon the surface, but left it in its essential resources chapter XI wholly unimpaired. The bounty of nature soon repaired the ravages of man, and the ensuing har- vest seemed to shoot up more abundantly from the soil, enriched by the blood of the husbandman. A more vigorous system of spoliation was now intro- duced. Instead of one campaign, the army took the field in spring and autumn, intermitting its efforts only during the intolerable heats of sum- mer, so that the green crop had no time to ripen, ere it was trodden down under the iron heel of war. The apparatus for devastation was also on a Devastatm? much greater scale than had ever before been wit- nessed. From the second year of the war, thirty thousand foragers were reserved for this service, which they effected by demolishing farm-houses, granaries, and mills, (which last were exceed- ingly numerous in a land watered by many small streams,) by eradicating the vines, and laying waste the olive-gardens and plantations of oranges, al- monds, mulberries, and all the rich varieties that grew luxuriant in this highly favored region. This merciless devastation extended for more than two leagues on either side of the line of march. At the same time, the Mediterranean fleet cut off all supplies from the Barbary coast, so that the whole kingdom might be said to be in a state of perpetual blockade. Such and so general was the scarcity occasioned by this system, that the Moors were glad to exchange their Christian captives for pro- visions, until such ransom was interdicted by the
 * ■ '^ _ forays.