rescued a part of the caravan of Mecca, which the arabs had carried
off into the desert.
While Bonaparte was arranging the government of Egypt,
and establishing a society of arts and sciences in it’s capital, as in
the midst of a country enjoying the profbundest peace, brigadier
general Fuguières was sent with a battalion O O to Mehallet Kabira,
the capital of Garbich, where he was obliged to sustain a conflict
for an hour, before he was able to gain admittance into the village.
At Gomila, too, a battalion commanded by general Damas
was attacked by a party of arabs, but they were soon dispersed.
At the same time the arabs of Bonde, believing their village impregnable,
as it was surrounded by the inundation, infested the
Nile by their piratical depredations. Generals Murat and Lasne
marching thither, where they arrived on the 28th of September,'
dispersed the arabs after a few vollies, and pursued them for twelve
miles up to the middle in water. Their horses, camels, and effects,
fell into the hands of the french, and about two hundred
were killed or wounded.
Meanwhile general Desaix had left Cairo, and proceeded up
the Nile with two half-galleys and six advice-boats. At Fehuesa,
on the canal of Joseph, fourteen boats, laden with baggage, tents,
and four pieces of cannon, belonging to Mourad bey, fell into his
hands. He continued his course two hundred and fifty miles
from Cairo, following the bey’s little fleet; which at length took
refuge in the neighbourhood of the cataracts, and then he gave
up the pursuit. On his return he had several skirmishes at Fel-
mese, which were the prelude to the affair of Sediman. On the
7 th of October, when the day broke, he had arrived in sight of
Mourad bey’s army, consisting of six or seven thousand horse,
and a body of foot, which defended the intrenchments at Sediman
with four pieces of cannon. The mamalukes did not long hesitate
to commence the attack, and were received by the french with
great coolness. The chasseurs of the twenty-first demibrigade
did not fire, till their adversaries were within twenty yards, and
then they rushed on with fixed bayonets. Many of the brave
mamalukes fell dead in the ranks of the french,' after havinOg thrown
maces, battleaxes, muskets, and pistols, at the heads of their enemies.
They even alighted from their horses, to avoid the bayonets,
and cut the legs of the french soldiers. Their intrepidity,
however, was of no avail; they were at length obliged to flee; and
the french made themselves masters of the intrenchments by assault.
Two of the beys with Mourad were wounded; and three
left on the field of battle, with four hundred of his bravest troops;
while the loss of the french was but trifling.
While such was thè state of the country, Cairo itself had not
settled into a calm submission. Informed that the inhabitants
were plotting in secret, to throw off the yoke of their new conquerors,
Bonaparte deemed it a necessary measure of security, to
arm every european in the metropolis. This was done in thè beginning
of October, but it did not stay thè rising fermenti. On the
morning of the 21st, general Dupuis, to whom the command of
the town had been intrusted, heard that a crowd was collecting
at the grand mosque. The cause assigned for this tumultuous
meeting was the oppressiveness of the taxes imposed. Attended
z