EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN. 123 



On his return to Cairo, Captain Mains enjoyed some 

 little leisure ; by which he profited in order to examine 

 in detail the " Well of Joseph," which he described as a 

 masterpiece of perseverance and skill in construction. 

 He went also to visit the colossal pyramids of Gizeh, in 

 company with a man who might be truly called the colos- 

 sus of our army from his height and his bravery, General 

 Kleber. 



When the army set out on the expedition to Syria, 

 Malus, who was then occupied in reconnoitring the Delta, 

 was attached to the division of General Kleber. We 

 shall not follow him in the difficult route which our brave 

 soldiers had to traverse almost without provisions or 

 drinkable water ; the details which we find on this sub- 

 ject in the memoranda only inspire the most painful 

 reflections ; we will merely say, that the young officer 

 of engineers took a part with distinction in the siege of 

 El-Harisch. We find him taking by assault, and with 

 great intrepidity, an advanced post situated eighty metres 

 from the place, commanding in the trenches, and push- 

 ing the sap almost up to the foot of the breach, when the 

 enemy offered to capitulate. The young officer denounced 

 in energetic terms the breach of faith of which our gen- 

 erals were guilty in regard to the prisoners, in forcing 

 them to enlist among our soldfers. 



Malus relates the march of the army advancing into 

 Syria. It first took the infection of the plague in the 

 town of Gaza, abandoned by the enemy ; its divisions 

 arrived at length before Jaffa and invested that town, of 

 w r hich it raised the siege. The operations -were con- 

 ducted in a way which w r as not conformable to the rules 

 of the science originally laid down by Vauban. Our 

 young officer recounts that the breaching battery, being 



