VIII. 
RHODES. 279 
interesting to be passed over without notice ; chap. 
but we were hastening to the coast of E^ypt, 
and contented ourselves in copying the few 
inscriptions found within the town, or in its im- 
mediate vicinity-. The streets were filled with 
English sailors and soldiers ; and all other consi- 
derations were absorbed in the great event of 
the expedition to Ahoukir. A vessel had returned 
from Egypt, and put on shore a few of our 
wounded troops, who were taken to a hospital 
already prepared for their reception ; but these 
were men who fell in the first moments of land- 
ing, and could give but a very imperfect account 
of the success of an enterprise destined to 
crown with immortal honour the Statesman by 
whom it was planned, and the armies by which 
it was achieved. All we could then learn was, 
that, after a severe engagement, the French 
troops had retreated towards Alexandria. As 
because, at a distance, the island appears as a star; Poessa, Atabyria, 
Oloessa, Macaria, and Pelagia. " Some are of opinion that Rhodes was 
first peopled by the descendants of Dodanim, the fourth son of Javan. 
Both tlie Septuagint and Samaritan translation of the Pentateuch, ( Eg- 
■mont and Hey man, vol. I. p. 269.) instead of Dodanim, always use 
Rodanim ,- and by this appellation the Greeks always named the Rhodians." 
(3) The antient history of Rhodes, collected by Savary from difterent 
authors, and contained in die Twelfth Letter of his Travels in Greece, may 
be considered as the most favourable specimen of this author's talents, and 
perhaps the best account extant of the island. It is better to refer the 
Reader to such a source, than to repeat what has been already so ably 
detailed. 
