: the bayonet and the continued roll of musketry by
degrees thinned the host around them; and Buonaparte at last advanced.
Such were the confusion and terror of the enemy when he came near the
camp, that they abandoned their works, and flung themselves by hundreds
into the Nile. The carnage was prodigious. Multitudes more were drowned.
Mourad and a remnant of his Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt. Cairo
surrendered: Lower Egypt was entirely conquered.

Such were the immediate consequences of _the Battle of the Pyramids_.
The name of Buonaparte now spread panic through the East; and the
"Sultan Kebir" (or King of Fire--as he was called from the deadly
effects of the musketry in this engagement) was considered as the
destined scourge of God, whom it was hopeless to resist.

The French now had recompense for the toils they had undergone. The
bodies of the slain and drowned Mamelukes were rifled, and, it being the
custom for those warriors to carry their wealth about them, a single
corpse often made a soldier's fortune. In the deserted harems of the
chiefs at Cairo, and in the neighbouring villages, men at length found
proofs that "eastern luxury" is no empty name. The _savans_ ransacked
the monuments of antiquity, and formed collections which will ever
reflect honour on their zeal and skill. Napoleon himself visited the
interior of the Great Pyramid, and on entering the secret chamber, in
which, 3000 years before, some Pharaoh had been in-urned, repeated once
more his confession of faith--"There is no God but God, and Mahomet is
his prophet." The bearded orientals who accompanied him, concealed their
doubts of his orthodoxy, and responded very solemnly, "God is merciful.
Thou hast spoken like the most learned of the prophets."

While Napoleon was thus pursuing his career of victory in the interior,
Nelson, having scoured the Mediterranean in quest of him, once more
returned to the coast of Egypt. He arrived within sight of the towers of
Alexandria on the 1st of August--ten days after the battle of the
Pyramids had been fought and won--and found Brueyes still at his
moorings in the bay of Aboukir. Nothing seems to be more clear than that
the French admiral ought to have made the best of his way to France, or
at least to Malta, the moment the army had taken possession of
Alexandria. Napoleon constantly asserted that he had urged Brueyes to do
so. Brueyes himself lived not to give his testimony; but Gantheaume, the
vice-ad