Il6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



whereas, according to the most accurate measure- 

 ments, the city of ancient Alexandria was from 

 seven to eight leagues in circumference*. The 

 materials employed in the construction of some of 

 those towers, besides the fragments of the more 

 ancient monuments, are of a singular species, and 

 of which no traveller, so far as I know, has taken 

 notice. Common stones are to be seen only in 

 places which have been repaired, or more recently 

 constructed. Originally the mason-work was 

 composed of stony masses, consisting of a prodi- 

 gious quantity of small fossile and sparry shelly 

 concretions, mixed, without any order, with a 

 species of cement which binds the whole together; 

 so that this substance, which is of the hardest con- 

 sistency, appears to be a composition, an aggre- 

 gation of art, rather than a natural stone. 



The solidity of the walls, the vast capaciousness 

 of the towers, which may be considered as so many 

 forts, rendered the enclosure of the Arabs a ram- 

 part capable of making a stout resistance. In de- 

 fiance of the dispositions and the efforts of the Ma- 

 melucs and their troops, a handful of Frenchmen, 

 without cannon, and almost without ammunition, 

 carried the place by escalade, in a few moments. 

 Alexander had laid the foundations of a city, the 

 memory of which has been perpetuated by its 

 * Richard Pocock's Travels, vol. i. p. 493. 



commerce, 





