:>,40 EGYPT. 
CHAP, expedition, could not be viewed without jea- 
I \ 
V [' 1 lousy by the commanding officers both of the 
army and navy. The most unpardonable re- 
sistance was therefore opposed to his measures, 
and to his suggestions. His situation was, in 
truth, singular. Some of the Captains in the 
fleet felt umbrage because one of their profes- 
sion associated so much with landsmen, and 
was so often on shore; while the Generals of 
the army could ill brook counsel, or even assist- 
ance, from a naval officer. Upon this account, 
the important project, which was recommended 
by him, of sending gun-boats into the Lake of 
Aboukir' previous to the action of the thirteenth 
of March, and the voluntary offer he made of 
conducting that operation, with a view to 
impede the retreat of the French, were not only 
(1) In the extraordinary changes to which this part o£ Egypt has been 
liable, the vei^ limited observations of the author do not authorize even an 
attempt to reconcile the existing appearance of the country with the 
description of antient geographers. Strabo (lib. xvii. p. 1135. ed Oxon.) 
journeying by land from the Canopian Gate of Alexandria towards the 
east, arrives, after the distance of one hundred and twenty stadia (fifteen 
miles), at the city of Canojms. This seems to coincide with the position 
otAhoukir. But as to the present lake, the result of an inundation 
during the year 1784, wliether it cover the original course of the Aieipu^ 
(by means whereof, as distinct from the Alexandrian Canal, the annual 
■voyage took place from Canopus to Alexandria), or whether it occupy ter- 
ritory formerly inundated, in a similar manner, by the sea ; or if the site 
of Aboukir may not rather be that of Taposiris than of Canopus, a(?cord- 
ing to Forsler's conjecture, in his Notes upon Granger, supported by the 
testimonifs of Z\icbnhr ; may remain for future determination. 
