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Voyage in Lower and Upper Egypt, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte. Vivant Denon | | | | |
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Vol. 1, Chapters 9-11
Chapter 9: Agricultural Arabs - Bedouin Arabs. (p.48)
By
observing the causes we are almost always less likely to complain about
the effects. Can we reproach the cultivating Arabs for being gloomy,
distrustful, avaricious, without care, without foresight for the
future, when we think that in addition to the vexation of the owner of
the land they cultivate, of the greedy bey , of the sheikh, of the
Mamluks, a wandering enemy, always armed, constantly waiting for the
moment to take away everything he dares to show that is superfluous?
The money that he can hide, and which represents all the enjoyments of
which he deprives himself, is therefore all that he can truly believe
is his; also the art of burying it is his main study: the bowels of the
earth do not reassure him: rubble, rags, all the livery of misery, it
is by only presenting these sad objects to view from his masters that
he hopes to shield this metal from their greed; it is important for him
to inspire pity: not to pity him would be to denounce him; worried
while amassing this dangerous money, troubled when he possesses it, his
life passes between the misfortune of not having any, or the terror of
seeing it taken away.
We had in truth driven out the Mamluks;
but, upon our arrival, experiencing all kinds of needs, by chasing them
away, had we not replaced them? and these Bedouin Arabs, poorly armed,
without resistance, having for rampart only shifting sands, of line
only space, of retreat only immensity, who will be able to defeat or
contain them? Will we try to seduce them by offering them land to
cultivate? but the peasants of Europe who become hunters cease to work
the land without return; and the Bedouin is the primitive hunter;
laziness and independence are the basis of his character; and to
satisfy and defend both, he (p.49) is constantly agitated, and allows
himself to be besieged and tyrannized by need. We can therefore offer
nothing to the Bedouins which could amount to the advantage of robbing
us; and this calculation is always the basis of their treaties.
Envy,
a fiend from which even the stay of need is not exempt, hovers still on
the burning sands of the desert. The Bedouins war with all the peoples
of the universe, only hating and envying the Bedouins who are not of
their horde; they engage in all wars, they move as soon as an internal
quarrel or a foreign enemy comes to disturb the rest of Egypt, and,
without attaching themselves to one or the other of the parties , they
take advantage of their quarrel to pound them both. When we went down
to Africa, they mingled among us, kidnapped our stragglers, and would
have plundered the Alexandrians if they had come to be beaten outside
their walls. Where there is booty, there is the enemy of the Bedouins:
always ready to negotiate, because there are gifts attached to the
stipulations, they only know necessity. Their cruelty, however, is not
at all atrocious: the prisoners they took from us,1 in retracing the
evils they had suffered in their captivity, considered them rather as a
continuation of the way of life of this nation than as a result of
barbarism; officers, who had been their prisoners, told me that the
work that had been required of them had not been excessive or cruel;
they obeyed the women, loaded and led the donkeys and camels; In truth,
it was necessary to camp and decamp at any time; the whole household
was packed up, and we were on the road in a quarter of an hour at most:
the rest of this household consisted of a grain and coffee grinder, an
iron plate for cooking pancakes, a large and a small coffee pot, a few
wineskins, a few grain bags, and the canvas of the tent which served as
an envelope for all this. A handful of roast corn and twelve dates were
the common ration for days of marching, and some (p.50) little water,
which, given its scarcity, had been used for everything before being
drunk; but these officers, not having had their souls blighted by any
ill treatment, they retained no bitter memory of an unfortunate
condition which they only saw themselves sharing.
Without
religious prejudice, without external worship, the Bedouins are
tolerant: a few revered customs serve as laws to them; their principles
resemble virtues which suffice for their partial associations, and for
their paternal government.
I must cite a feature of their
hospitality: an officer Francis had been the prisoner of an Arab leader
for several months; his camp surprised at night by our cavalry, he only
had time to escape; tents, herds, provisions, everything was taken. The
next day, wandering, isolated, without resources, he took a loaf of
bread from his clothes, and giving half to his prisoner, he said to
him: I do not know when we will eat another; but I will not be accused
of not having shared the last one with the friend I made. Can we hate
such a people, however fierce they may be? and what advantage does this
sobriety give over us compared to the needs we have made for ourselves?
how can such men be persuaded or reduced? will they not always have to
reproach us for sowing rich harvests on the tombs of their ancestors?
Chapter 10: Insurrections in the Delta. - Fire of Salmie -Egyptian Meal.
As
long as we had not been masters of Cairo, the inhabitants of the banks
of the Nile, regarding our existence as very precarious in Egypt, had
apparently submitted to our army during its passage; but, not doubting
(p.51) that it would soon melt before their invincible tyrants, they
had allowed themselves, either so that they would forgive them for
having submitted, or to give in to their spirit of plunder , to run and
shoot at the boats that we sent to the army, and at those which
returned from it: some boats were forced to backtrack, after having
received rifle shots for several leagues of the way, notably from the
inhabitants of the villages of Metoubis and Tfemi. An advisor and some
troops were sent against them: I was part of this expedition; the
instructions were peaceful; we accepted their submissions, and took
hostages. During the negotiations required by our treaty, I expressed
the views of Metoubis and Tfemi.
A few days later, another boat
left for Cairo: we heard no more of those who were on it; and it was
only through the people of the country that we knew that they had been
attacked beyond Fouah; that after having all been injured, their leaders
had thrown themselves into the water; that, left to the current, they
had failed; that when arrested and taken to Salmie, they were shot
there. General Menou felt obliged to make a great example. We therefore
appeared with two hundred men on a half-chebek and boats; we landed
half a league from Salmie; a detachment circled the village, another
followed the river bank; the third division, which was to complete the
circumvallation, remained engraved two leagues below. We found the
enemies on horseback, in battle, in front of the village; they attacked
us first, and charged even on bayonets: the main ones having been
killed at the first discharge, and seeing themselves surrounded, they
were soon in rout; the third division, which was to close the retreat,
not having arrived in time, the sheikh and all the combatants escaped.
The village was left to pillage for the rest of the day, and to fire.
as soon as night came: the flames and (p.52) cannon fire while the
darkness lasted warned ten leagues around that our vengeance had been
complete and terrible. I made a drawing of it in the light of the fire.
We
returned to Fouah, where we were received as victors who knew how to set
limits to their vengeance: all the sheikhs of the ancient province had
been summoned, and had assembled; They heard with respect and
resignation the manifesto which was read to them concerning the
expedition, and the bases on which the new organization of Salmie was
going to be established. A former sheikh was appointed in place of the
one whom the French had just dispossessed and proscribed; he was sent
to gather together the scattered inhabitants, and to bring a
deputation, which arrived on the third day. The detachment which had
led the old sheikh had been received with acclamation. The deputies
told us on arriving that they had recognized paternity in the hand that
had rested on them; that they saw clearly that we did not wish them any
harm, since we had only killed nine culprits, and burned only a quarter
of the village: they added that the fire had been extinguished, that
the house of the emigrant sheikh had been destroyed, and that they had
offered the rest of the chickens and geese to the soldiers who had come
to put an end to the remorse that had tormented them for three weeks.
We
established an ordinary post office in Salmie in agreement with the
neighboring districts, and we completed our expedition with a tour of
the department. In each village we were received in a more than feudal
manner; he was the principal personage of the country who received us,
and made the inhabitants pay our expenses. It was necessary to know
about the abuses before remedying them; seduced moreover by the ease
that chance offered us to observe the customs of a country whose morals
we were going to change, we let it happen again this time.
A
public house, which almost always had belonged to (p.53) Marmelouk,
former lord and master of the village, found itself in a moment
furnished, in the fashion of the country, with mats, carpets, and
cushions; a number of servants first brought fresh scented water, pipes
and coffee; half an hour later, a carpet was spread; all around we
formed a pile of three or four types of bread and cakes, the entire
center of which was covered with small dishes of fruit, jams, and dairy
products, most of them quite good, above all very fragrant. We seemed
to only enjoy it all; indeed in a few minutes this meal was finished:
but two hours later the same carpet was covered again with other breads
and immense dishes of rice in fatty broth and milk, poorly roasted
half-mutton, large quarters of calves , boiled heads of all these
animals, and sixty other dishes all piled on top of each other: these
were flavored stews, herbs, jellies, jams, and unprepared honey. No
seats, no plates, no spoons or forks, no cups or napkins; kneeling on
your heels, you take the rice with your fingers, you tear off the meat
with your nails, you dip the bread in the stews, and you wipe your
hands and lips with it; we drink water from the pot: the one who does
the honors always drinks first; he tastes the first of all dishes, less
to prove to you that you should not suspect him than to show you how
much he is concerned about your safety, and the importance he places on
your person. You are only presented with a napkin after dinner, when
they bring hand washing; then rose water is poured over the whole
person; then the pipe and the coffee.
When we had eaten, the
people of the second order of the country came to replace us, and were
themselves very quickly relieved by others: by principle of religion a
poor beggar was admitted, then the servants, finally all those who
wanted, up to until everything was eaten. If these meals lack
convenience and that elegance which whets (p.54) the appetite, we can
admire the abundance, the hospitable abandon, and the frugality of the
guests, which the number of dishes does not detract from. never more
than ten minutes at the table.
Chapter 11: Naval Battle of Aboukir. [1]
On
the morning of August 1, we were masters of Egypt, Corfu, and Malta;
thirteen ships of the line returned this possession contiguous to
France, and made it into one empire. England only cruised in the
Mediterranean with numerous fleets which could only obtain supplies
with immense difficulty and expense.
Bonaparte, feeling all the
advantage of this position, wanted, to preserve it, for our fleet to
enter the port of Alexandria; he had promised two thousand sequins to
anyone who provided the means: captains of merchant ships had, it was
said, found a pass in the old port; but the evil genius of France
advised and persuaded the admiral to embark at Aboukir, and to change
in one day the result of a long series of successes.
On the 1st,
in the afternoon, chance had led us to Abou-Mandour, a convent of which
I have already spoken, and which, from Rosette, is the end of a pretty
walk along the banks of the river: arrived at the tower which dominates
the monastery, we see twenty sails; arriving, getting into line, and
attacking, was the matter of a moment. The first cannon shot was heard
at five o'clock; soon the smoke hid the movements of the two armies
from us; but at night we were able to see a little better, without
however being able to realize what was happening. The danger we ran of
being carried off by the smallest body of Bedouins could not (p.55)
distract us from the eager attention excited in us by an event of so
great interest. The rolling and redoubled fire was perpetual; we could
not doubt that the combat was terrible, and sustained with equal
obstinacy. Returning to Rosette, we climbed onto the roofs of our
houses; around ten o'clock, a great light showed us a fire; a few
minutes later a terrible explosion was followed by a profound silence:
we had seen shooting from left to right at the flaming object, and, as
a result of reasoning, it seemed to us that it must have been ours who
had set the fire; the silence which followed must have been the result
of the retreat of the English, who alone could continue or cease the
combat, since they alone had the freedom of space. At eleven o'clock a
slow fire began again: at midnight the combat was again engaged; it
ceased at two o'clock in the morning: at daybreak I was at the advanced
posts, and, ten minutes later, the cannonade was re-established; at
nine o'clock another ship blew up; At ten o'clock four ships, the only
ones remaining intact, and which we recognized as French, crossed the
battlefield at full sail, of which they appeared to be masters, since
they were neither attacked nor followed. Such was the phantom produced
by the enthusiasm of hope
I spent my life at the Abou-Mandour
tower; I counted twenty-five vessels there, half of which were nothing
more than mutilated corpses, and the rest of which found it impossible
to maneuver to rescue them: three days we remained in this cruel
uncertainty. With my telescope in hand I drew the disasters, to see if
the next day would bring any change: we pushed back the evidence with
the hand of illusion; but the closed bogaze, and the communication from
Alexandria intercepted, told us that our existence was changed; that,
separated from the metropolis, we had become colonies, obliged until
peace to exist by our means: we finally learned that the English fleet
had (p.56) doubled our line, which had not been solid enough leaning
against the island which was to defend it; that the enemies, taking our
ships in a double line one after the other, this maneuver, which
invalidated all of our forces, had made half of them spectators of the
destruction of the other; that it was the Orient which had blown up at
ten o'clock; that it was the Hercules which had jumped the next day;
that those who commanded the ships the Guillaume Tell and the Généreux,
and the frigates the Diane and the Justice, seeing the others in the
power of the enemy, had taken advantage of the moment of his weariness
to escape his combined blows. We finally learned that August 1st had
broken this beautiful ensemble of our strength and our glory; that our
destroyed fleet had restored to our enemies the empire of the
Mediterranean, an empire that the incredible exploits of our land
armies had wrested from them, and that the mere existence of our ships
would have preserved us.
Footnotes:
1.
[Editor's note: ] The Battle of Aboukir Bay between the British and
French navies on August 1-3, 1798 concluded the naval campaign that
began with the sailing of the large French convoy from Toulon to
Alexandria, carrying an expeditionary force under Bonaparte. The
British fleet was led by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they
decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys
d'Aigalliers.
The French fleet had anchored in Aboukir Bay in
what was considered a formidable defensive position. On August 1, The
British fleet arrived off Egypt and Nelson ordered his ships to advance
on the French line and split into two divisions, with one passing
between the anchored French and the shore, while the other engaged the
seaward side of the French fleet. Trapped in a crossfire, the French
warships were battered into surrender during a fierce three-hour
battle. The French flagship Orient exploded, and only two ships of the
line and two frigates escaped from a total of 17 ships. The British
Royal Navy therebty gained the dominant position in the Mediterranean.
Their controlling force off the Syrian coast contributed to the French
defeat at the siege of Acre in 1799, resulting in Bonaparte's
abandonment of Egypt and return to Europe.
[Continue to next part]
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