VII. CHAP. near to the place where the sluices were cut through the Canal of Alexandria, for inundating the old bed of the Lake Mareotis. The Pasha was out on horseback; and the officers of the pavilion, drawn up in two lines, from the entrance of the tent to the rich cushions placed for the Pasha at the upper extremity, were amusing themselves with the tricks of a buffoon kept by the Pasha, who was mimicking the state ceremonies of his master when giving audience; consequently, one of his frolics was to receive the author as if the Pasha had been present. This unusual facetiousness on the part of the Turks was soon put to flight by the arrival of the great man himself, with his Interpreter; who no sooner heard the answer to his message, than, acting with much less dignity than his buffoon, he spat on the ground', stamped, and, abruptly quitting the tent, (1) The malediction of the Turks, as of other Oriental nations, is frequently expressed in no other way than by spitting on the ground, of which an instance will be related in the next Chapter. May not this explain the reason why our Saviour, (who taught to bless, and curse not," and who, in the annihilation of Heathen superstitions, frequently made the outward sign subservient to opposite purposes of grace and benevolence,) when he healed the blind and the deaf, is said to have " spat on the ground." See John ix. & Mark vii. 33. and viii. 23. See also a Note in Chap. IX. Vol. I. of these Travels, where allusion is made to this custom, as practised at a Russian Christening. hurried on board a covered boat upon the lake, in which he was accustomed to pass the night, and made his appearance no more on that evening. All hopes of a passage on board the frigate seemed therefore, for a moment, at an end. But Isaac Bey, the Capudan Pasha's interpreter and secretary, conducted the author to his own tent, and, pleading a sudden indisposition on the part of his master, promised to accommodate matters; begging, at the same time, that the Pasha's behaviour might not be noticed at head-quarters, and desiring us to call again upon the sixteenth. A curious adventure befel us upon our return for the second time this evening, Monday, September the fourteenth, into Alexandria. The English sentinels had advanced from their former stations, close to the gates of the garrison; the first division of the French army having this day embarked at Aboukir. The word for the night, as given by the French General for passing the gates, was " Citoyen." As the author rode up to the Rosetta Gate, hearing a distant challenge somewhat indistinctly, and supposing he had passed all the English sentinels, he gave the word as he had been instructed to do by the French. Presently, drawing CHAP. VII. VII. CHAP. nearer, he plainly perceived a soldier levelling his musket at his breast, exclaiming at the same time, with a broad Scotch dialect, "Wha's that says Citoyen?-gee the richt word, or you're a deed mon!" Had this happened during the negotiation for the surrender of the city, the honest Highlander would not, perhaps, have acted with so much forbearance; but the French and the English sentinels were then standing close to each other, and it was probably nothing more than a vaunt of his patriotism in the presence of his enemy. Some difficulty, too, occurred at the inner gates, which had never before happened; the sentinels there refusing to lower the drawbridge without a written order from Menou. We offered to shew our passport, signed by General Réné; but must have passed the night upon the sands, if one of our party had not resorted to a stratagem, and pretended being the bearer of despatches to the French Commander-in-chief. We were then allowed to enter; and being conducted by a sentinel to head-quarters, were permitted, after explaining what had happened, to return to our lodgings. The fifteenth was passed chiefly in taking leave of our friends, and in preparations for our voyage to Greece. We obtained permission, through the kindness of Signor Fontossi, from whom we received many civilities, to trace with a pencil a beautiful plan of the Catacombs of NECROPOLIS, which had been finished by one of the chief engineers belonging to the French Institute'. A poor Negro girl, who had been sold 2 as a slave to some Frenchman, endeavoured this day to throw herself from a very high window; but being alarmed in the attempt, by the depth below her, held by her hands, and remained suspended in that situation until her cries brought some persons to her assistance. CHAP. VII. (1) It is the same from which the Rev. G. Wilkins completed the drawing of those Catacombs that was engraved for this work. (2) The officers of the French army purchased a number of these slaves. The Negro women were particularly in request among them, and many were conveyed to France. The cause of this singular taste has been explained by one of their own Savans, in the Appendix to Peltier's Edition of Denon's Travels. Preparations for leaving Egypt-Journey to Aboukir- CHAP. IN the morning of September the sixteenth, we left Alexandria: taking back our horses, &c. to VIII. |