by founding a branch of his Egyptian commercial
company, and by graciously receiving a deputation of the Arabs of Tor
who came to sue for his friendship.[111] Then, journeying on, he
visited the fountains of Moses; but it is not true that (as stated by
Lanfrey) he proceeded to Mount Sinai and signed his name in the
register of the monastery side by side with that of Mahomet. On his
return to the isthmus he is said to have narrowly escaped from the
rising tide of the Red Sea. If we may credit Savary, who was not of
the party, its safety was due to the address of the commander, who, as
darkness fell on the bewildered band, arranged his horsemen in files,
until the higher causeway of the path was again discovered. North of
Suez the traces of the canal dug by Sesostris revealed themselves to
the trained eye of the commander. The observations of his engineers
confirmed his conjecture, but the vast labour of reconstruction
forbade any attempt to construct a maritime canal. On his return to
Cairo he wrote to the Imam of Muscat, assuring him of his friendship
and begging him to forward to Tippoo Sahib a letter offering alliance
and deliverance from "the iron yoke of England," and stating that the
French had arrived on the shores of the Red Sea "with a numerous and
invincible army." The letter was intercepted by a British cruiser; and
the alarm caused by these vast designs only served to spur on our
forces to efforts which cost Tippoo his life and the French most of
their Indian settlements.

* * * * *

CHAPTER IX

SYRIA

Meanwhile Turkey had declared war on France, and was sending an army
through Syria for the recovery of Egypt, while another expedition was
assembling at Rhodes. Like all great captains, Bonaparte was never
content with the defensive: his convictions and his pugnacious
instincts alike urged him to give rather than to receive the blow; and
he argued that he could attack and destroy the Syrian force before the
cessation of the winter's gales would allow the other Turkish
expedition to attempt a disembarkation at Aboukir. If he waited in
Egypt, he might have to meet the two attacks at once, whereas, if he
struck at Jaffa and Acre, he would rid himself of the chief mass of
his foes. Besides, as he explained in his letter of February 10th,
1799, to the Directors, his seizure of those towns would rob the
English fleet of its base of supplies and thereby cripple its
activiti