374 ' ALEXANDRIA. 
CHAP. Every thing now seemed to indicate the 
, speedy evacuation of the garrison by the French ^ 
The officers and soldiers were ac^i cly em- 
ployed in selling the plmider they had made. 
Negro slaves of both sexes, watches, jewels, 
horses, camels, sabres, were bartered in all parts 
of the city. A plain silver watch might be 
bought for three or four dollars ; a fine Arabian 
horse, for about five and twenty. A French 
General sold two horses, of perfect beauty, with 
their saddles and bridles, to an English clergy- 
man, chaplain in the fleet, for fifty dollars. 
Several valuable camels, from the great scarcity 
of every kind of provender, were turned adrift, 
to find owners without the gates ; no purchasers 
being found, who would undertake the charge of 
Intercourse them withiu the walls. A better understanding, 
between 
theArmieg. howcvcr, began to subsist, at this time, between 
the contendinof forces. Some stra^sflers from the 
French army advanced, during the day-time, 
into the neutral ground between the two armies, 
and there offered their Egyptian sabres, and 
other articles, for sale to the English : here and 
there, even in the British camp, might be seen 
a French officer joining in conviviality v.-ith our 
(1) The first clivision of \.hc French aiiuv embaikid zl .dbs:ik:y on 
the 1 4th of September. 
