I98 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



CHAP. XIII. 



Journey from Alexandria to Rossetta — Maadie — He- 

 racleu — Rossetta and its environs — Glance over the 

 Delia. 



Placed between the Mediterranean sea on one 

 side, and a sea of sand on the other, modern 

 Alexandria is isolated, and seems to belong to no 

 country. In order to arrive in other lands, it is 

 necessary to Irust the inconstancy of the waves, 

 or to force a way through immense wastes, im- 

 pressed with the seal of the dereliction and the 

 reprobation of nature. It is, or almost so, a de- 

 sert which you have to cross, in travelling by land 

 to Rossetta. 1 have performed that journey seve- 

 ral timrs ; the first in company with the inspector- 

 general Tolt, attended by a numerous retinue, 

 among whom Savary was one. We left Alexan- 

 dria July 1 ith, 1777, at seven o'clock in the even- 

 ing. This train, I had almost said this rabble of 

 foreigners dressed as Frenchmen, gave umbrage 

 to the inhabitants ; we encountered, in passing 

 through the city, insults of various kinds, and were 

 even pelted with stones, one of which, too well 

 aimed, gave me a rude stroke on the breast. If I 

 had possessed any faith in augury, I should, un- 

 doubtedly, have relinquished a journey whose 



commencement 



