34-6 TRAVELS IN VPTEK 



journey along the coast, we arrived at Aboukir 

 gt one o'clock in the afternoon. 



This is now nothing more than a village, with 

 a castle built upon the point of a cape, which ad- 

 vances pretty far into the sea. Some shelves, de- 

 tached in front of the cape, contain, in the large 

 bay which the coast forms in this place, a little 

 port, where the vessels are in safety, even at the 

 very foot of the castle, and in front of which there 

 is a very good road. This was the usual anchor- 

 jng-place for French frigates when they cruised 

 in those latitudes. It was equally resorted to by 

 merchant-ships, which were obliged by stormy 

 weather to shun the new, the little frequented and 

 dangerous port of Alexandria, as well as by the 

 germes of the country, when they could not gain 

 Alexandria, nor get clear of the Boghass of the 

 Nile, at the mouth of the branch of Rossetta. 



It was in this same sand, but at too great a dis-* 

 tance from the coast, that the fleet of the republic, 

 commanded by the brave and unfortunate Brueys, 

 sustained a combat so disadvantageous, against 

 the English fleet, under the command of Nelson ; 

 an engagement which it would have been easy 

 and prudent to avoid, and the unsuccessful issue 

 of which has spread a new brilliancy of glory 

 over French valour. 



