g that name was, like
Damanhour, a vast assemblage of mere huts, destitute of everything
that could render life comfortable or agreeable. To such a
melancholy state of mind had they brought themselves that two
dragoons threw themselves, completely clothed, into the Nile, where
they were drowned. It is nevertheless true that, though there was
neither bread nor wine, the resources which were procured with
wheat, lentils, meat, and sometimes pigeons, furnished the army with
food of some kind. But the evil was, in the ferment of the mind.
The officers complained more loudly than the soldiers, because the
comparison was proportionately more disadvantageous to them. In
Egypt they found neither the quarters, the good table, nor the
luxury of Italy. The General-in-Chief, wishing to set an example,
tried to bivouac in the midst of the army, and in the least
commodious spots. No one had either tent or provisions; the dinner
of Napoleon and his staff consisted of a dish of lentils. The
soldiers passed the evenings in political conversations, arguments,
and complaints. 'For what purpose are we come here?' said some of
them, 'the Directory has transported us.' 'Caffarelli,' said others,
'is the agent that has been made use of to deceive the
General-in-Chief.' Many of them, having observed that wherever there
were vestiges of antiquity they were carefully searched, vented their
spite in invective against the savants, or scientific men, who, they
said, had started the idea of she expedition to order to make these
searches. Jests were showered upon them, even in their presence.
The men called an ass a savant; and said of Caffarelli Dufalga,
alluding to his wooden leg, 'He laughs at all these troubles; he has
one foot to France.'"]

CHAPTER XIV.

1798.

The mirage--Skirmishes with the Arabs--Mistake of General Desaix's
division--Wretchedness of a rich sheik--Combat beneath the General's
window--The flotilla on the Nile--Its distress and danger--The
battle of Chebreisse--Defeat of the Mamelukes--Bonaparte's reception
of me--Letter to Louis Bonaparte--Success of the French army--
Triumphal entrance into Cairo--Civil and military organisation of
Cairo--Bonaparte's letter to his brother Joseph--Plan of
colonisation.

On the 7th of July General Bonaparte left Alexandria for Damanhour. In
the vast plains of Bohahire'h the mirag