VII. 
ALEXANDRIA. 403 
through the kindness of Signor Fontossi, from chap. 
whom we received many civilities, to trace with 
a pencil a beautiful plan of the Catacombs of 
Necropolis, which had been finished by one of 
the chief engineers belonging to the French In- 
stituted A poor Negro girl, who had been sold 
as a slave ^ to some Frenchman, endeavoured 
this day to throw herself from a very high win- 
dow ; but being alarmed in the attempt, by the 
depth below her, held by her hands, and re- 
mained suspended in that situation until her 
cries brought some persons to her assistance. 
(1) It is Uie same from which the Rev. G. TVilMns completed the 
drawing of those Catacombs that was engraved for this work. 
(2) The officers of the French army purchased a number of these 
slaves. The Negro women were particularly in request among them, 
and many were conveyed to France. The cause of this singular taste 
has been explained by one of their own Savans, in the Appendix to 
Peltier's Edition of Denon's Travels. 
V D 1 
