EXTRACTS FROM HIS MEMORANDA. 121 



On the 17th* Mains was attached to the advanced 

 guard of the invading army. The 21st,f in the evening, 

 he encamped on the road from Ramanieh. At that time 

 the corps of engineers had neither "material" nor troops. 

 An officer of this service, isolated in the army, was often 

 deprived of the commonest necessaries. We find an in- 

 stance in the following description, which I quote from 

 the memoranda : " Wanting a picquet to which to attach 

 my horse, I tied him to my leg ; I slept, and dreamt 

 peaceably of the pleasures of Europe." On the 25th.j 

 he took part in the glorious battle of Chebreys against 

 the Mamelukes. The 2d Thermidor, at the battle of 

 the Pyramids, he was in one of the battalions formed in 

 squares on the right wing beside General Desaix. 



On the 4th,|| in the morning, Captain Malus went with 

 a detachment of carbineers into the island of Raouda, 

 reconnoitring the right bank of the Nile to Mekias, and 

 sent over to the left bank the boats which were necessary 

 to enable the army to cross the river. The same even- 

 ing he accompanied General Dupuis, who was charged 

 with regulating the conditions of the capitulation of Cairo. 

 On the 15th Thermidor,^" he set out with the advanced 

 guard of the army, which marched against Ibrahim Bey 

 encamped at Belbeys, and took a very active part in the 

 important combats which signalized this expedition ; in 

 which many military errors were committed. 



Somewhat later, we find Malus accompanying General 

 Regnier in a reconnoitre which had for its object the de- 

 termination of the exact distance from Salchieh to the 

 sea. On his return he discovered the remarkable ruin 

 of the ancient city of San, or Thamis. It was durino- 

 this expedition that he learned the destruction of the 

 * July 5. f July 9. | July 13. July 20. July 22. f August 2, 



BEO. SKR. 6 



