EGYPT. 345 
until the business of reconnoitring-, now ren- chap. 
dered more difficult than ever, could in some ^ .\'- _. 
measure be again accomphshed. 
Thus was the descent of our army postponed Descent of 
until the eighth of March. The French had ^^"^ '^'^"'^" 
gained even more time than they thought 
proper to employ for the means of defence ; and 
were stationed upon the sandy heights eastward, 
and within gun-shot, of Aboukir Castle, between 
that fortress and the entrance to the lake. The 
spot selected for landing the troops was imme- 
diately under this hill ; and that a worse place 
could hardly have been chosen, is evident from 
this circumstance, that the enemy had, besides 
their artillery upon the heights, a covering for 
their flanks, of eight field-pieces upon the right, 
and four upon the left. These, together with 
the guns of the castle, bore down upon the place 
of landing^ The day prior to that of the 
descent, signals were made to cook three days' 
provisions for the troops, and for boats of every 
description to put off from their respective ships, 
and to repair to the Mondovi brig, as a point of 
(1) It is known to every officer who attended this Expedition, that 
the army might have been landed anywhere to the eastward, near Rosetta, 
without the loss of a single man. Whenever it is asked, Why was not 
this the case? there is but one mode of reply; namely, that which is 
suggested by another interrogation : Why were we as ignorant of the 
country of which we came to take possession, as of the interior of Africa? 
