Rosetta, which they occupied without difficulty, and with a large
flotilla of boats carrying provisions and stores, proceeded up the Nile
as far as Damanhour, at which town the main portion of the army arrived
after two days' painful march.

The French met with no resistance, owing to the fact that almost all
Bedouins near the coast had accepted Napoleon's tempting offers.
Nevertheless the troops were already discouraged. They had expected to
find a rich and fertile country, with palm-trees, lovely towns, and an
abundance of supplies of all kinds; but the Nile was now at its lowest,
and during the previous season it had not, as usual, overflowed its
banks and fertilized the country, consequently their march lay through a
sandy waste. The dust rose in clouds under their feet, the sun beat down
upon them; they suffered agonies of thirst, and many dropped from
exhaustion. And their disappointment was great when they found that,
instead of a rich and prosperous town, Damanhour was but a collection of
huts, affording neither means of subsistence nor booty of any kind.
Beyond the town large bands of Arabs had gathered, and the French army
were obliged to keep their ranks as they marched, to maintain a constant
watchfulness, and to travel at a slow pace in order that they might not
be separated from their baggage. General Muireur was seized with a
serious fever, the result of heat, thirst, and disappointment. He
mounted his horse on the morning after his arrival there, and rode out
beyond the outposts. He had gone but a short distance when a party of
Arabs, hiding among some bushes, sprang to their feet and poured in a
volley. He fell dead, and his body was stripped, and the Arabs, mounting
their horses, rode off before the outposts could arrive on the spot.

From this time the French dared not straggle. Every man who left the
ranks or lagged behind was killed. The Arabs were seldom seen, but they
lay concealed behind every inequality of the ground, every clump of
bushes. Occasionally, when there seemed to be an opening, a horde of
Arabs would sweep down, but these always recoiled from the steady fire
of the French infantry, and on the 10th of July the leading French
division, that commanded by Desaix, reached Ramanieh, on the Nile. Here,
after their terrible march, the French troops were seized with a
delirium of pleasure at seeing the verdure on the banks of the river,
and the water.

Disregarding all orders, they broke th