296 

 EGYPT AND HER PASHA. 



EARLY on the eleventh morning of our departure from the harbour 

 of La Valetta, we made the low land of Syria. As the sun rose above 

 the chain of mountains in the east, we discovered the Egyptian fleet in 

 the offing, composed of two three-deckers, four frigates, and several 

 smaller vessels and fire-ships. The low point of land on which the 

 town of Acre is built next became visible, in the increasing light, and 

 beyond it, stretching across the plain, the camp of the besieging army 

 of Egypt. Scarcely a breath of air ruffled the surface of the wave, 

 not a sound broke on the delicious stillness of the morning. The flag 

 of Abdallah Pasha, on the walls of the battered citadel, no longer dis- 

 played its ample folds, there was no breeze to waft it into life. The 

 beautiful cupola of the principal mosque, surmounted by its lofty mina- 

 ret, stood out in strong and picturesque relief from the clear blue sky 

 the scene was altogether novel and interesting. 



In the afternoon we boarded one of the line of battle ships. She was 

 a magnificent vessel, commanded by a Frenchman of the name of Bes- 

 son ; and considering the materials of which the crew were composed, 

 in tolerable order. From the moment of our arrival at the seat of hos- 

 tilities, it was our natural wish to become acquainted with the capabili- 

 ties of at least one side of the belligerents ; I therefore took an early 

 opportunity of riding out with the chaplain and a party of our young- 

 sters, to the head-quarters of Ibrahim Pasha. Nothing could be more 

 varied and more picturesque than the appearance of the Egyptian camp. 

 The splendid tents of the Pasha and his officers, the variety, both ot 

 physiognomy and costume, of its inmates, the occurrence of objects 

 calculated to lead back the memory to the days of the remotest anti- 

 quity, appealed most powerfully to the imagination. 



Accompanied by one of their new French military instructors, we 

 walked through the camp. The force of the Pasha before Acre he esti- 

 mated as follows : 24,000 disciplined Egyptian Arab infantry, with a 

 brigade of guns and battering train. The remainder was composed ot 

 irregulars, with 200 camels for the materiel of the army, making a 

 total of about 40,000 men. 



We witnessed the morning parade of the tacticoes, or newly disci- 

 plined infantry ; they manoeuvred rapidly, and handled their firelocks 

 with singular dexterity, but their marching was loose and unsteady, and, 

 to a military eye, their dress painfully unmartial. It consisted of a short 

 jacket, in colour approaching to brickdust, ample trowsers, in hue and 

 material similar to the jacket, and confined at the knee. The head ot 

 the soldier was covered by a red skull-cap, for what purpose designed it 

 would be difficult to say, and his feet by the awkward Turkish pa- 

 pooshes, or slippers. In the East, where the shape of a turban, or the 

 colour of a slipper, proclaim the rank and caste of the wearer, it is 

 singular that neither the Sultan nor the Pasha of Egypt, in their career 

 of military reform, should not have tried to turn to their advantage that 

 marked passion in their subjects for splendid costume ; a more becoming 

 dress would certainly have made the tactico service more popular with 

 the Turks. Among the irregular troops, there were two regiments of 

 Nubian cavalry that powerfully arrested our attention. They came 



