337 
Elfi being rejoined by some of his Mamelukes, esta- 
blished himself, in the desert; and with money, which 
the English transmitted to him, succeeded in forming a 
party, with which he subjected some villages, and even 
tribes. He blockaded the town of Damanhour, at a short 
distance from Alexandria, the inhabitants of which had 
declared against Eifi: but they defended the place for 
two years, with a small garrison of Arnauts. 
During this period , the agents of Elfi, and the English, 
obtained firmans from the grand seignior, constituting 
Elfi Bey, scheik-el-beled, that is to say, feudatory prince 
of Egypt. 
The porte sent the captain pacha, with all the Otto- 
man force, to try to enforce these firmans, and Mussa 
Pacha from Salenica, with some troops, to establish 
himself as pacha at Cairo; but Mahomed Ali and the 
scheiks of that city opposed this arrangement; and hav- 
ing negociated with the captain pachu, and the court of 
Constantinople, they obtained new firmans in favour of 
Mahomed Ali Pacha. The captain pacha and Mussa 
Pacha accordingly withdrew, without doing any thing, 
on the 18th of October 1806; and Elfi Bey remained 
alone, and aba<id« ned in the desert. This was without 
doubt a sad blow to the English, who lost by it the 
fruits of so many sacrifices, and the advantage of being 
masters of the commerce of Egypt. On the whole, I 
relate what was told me, without warranting the authen- 
ticity of my information; for I never answer for what I 
do not see; and although the captain pacha and Mussa 
Pacha had the goodness to load me with tokens of their 
esteem and consideration, from the first to the last, I 
kept myself always at a distance from their affairs; my 
