DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0045
29
sician, and a Prophet, and who, when the rains had begun, had
shut himself up in it with his wife and family, but the waters
rushed in through the wall and destroyed them all; and the desti-
nation of the great temple of Philffi, us a residence for his daugh-
ter, by another of the Egyptian kings. It must indeed be allowed
that some of the Arab fables regarding the.early times of Egypt
are at least as probable, and as connected, as those recorded in
the Grecian and Roman authors ; and that the Pyramids were built
to avoid the calamities of a deluge is as likely, as that they were
granaries.
On the occasion of another interview with the Bey, when it
was ascertained that the Mamaluke cause had been warmly
espoused by the English, he still continued to draw a compari-
son Between the late commander in chief, and the present, to
the prejudice of the latter, because Sir John Hutchinson had not
thought it necessary to repeat to the Mamalukes and to the Ve-
zir every day his determination to restore them to their posses-
sions. We told him, in answer, that when an English officer had
once given his promise, or entered into an engagement, he thought
it superfluous to repeat it; but that when the hour arrived for his
putting it into execution, he was ready to do his duty, and act
as a man of honour; that till now, however justly the Turkish
Government may have merited the title of faithless and per-
jured from other nations, yet they had never acted towards us
but in a friendly manner; therefore we were in nowise autho-
rized to suspect that they would do so now;—that, besides if
the Beys had distrusted the Vezir*, why did they not cpiit
Cairo, and join the English army before Alexandria, to assist in
expelling the enemy from their last hold ?—that they were now
* The Bey's description of the Turks was this : Their whole strength lies in their
words and in their writing; while their mouth says one thing, their heart says another;
wc hate the Jews as we hate the Devil, but we hate the Turks more.
too
sician, and a Prophet, and who, when the rains had begun, had
shut himself up in it with his wife and family, but the waters
rushed in through the wall and destroyed them all; and the desti-
nation of the great temple of Philffi, us a residence for his daugh-
ter, by another of the Egyptian kings. It must indeed be allowed
that some of the Arab fables regarding the.early times of Egypt
are at least as probable, and as connected, as those recorded in
the Grecian and Roman authors ; and that the Pyramids were built
to avoid the calamities of a deluge is as likely, as that they were
granaries.
On the occasion of another interview with the Bey, when it
was ascertained that the Mamaluke cause had been warmly
espoused by the English, he still continued to draw a compari-
son Between the late commander in chief, and the present, to
the prejudice of the latter, because Sir John Hutchinson had not
thought it necessary to repeat to the Mamalukes and to the Ve-
zir every day his determination to restore them to their posses-
sions. We told him, in answer, that when an English officer had
once given his promise, or entered into an engagement, he thought
it superfluous to repeat it; but that when the hour arrived for his
putting it into execution, he was ready to do his duty, and act
as a man of honour; that till now, however justly the Turkish
Government may have merited the title of faithless and per-
jured from other nations, yet they had never acted towards us
but in a friendly manner; therefore we were in nowise autho-
rized to suspect that they would do so now;—that, besides if
the Beys had distrusted the Vezir*, why did they not cpiit
Cairo, and join the English army before Alexandria, to assist in
expelling the enemy from their last hold ?—that they were now
* The Bey's description of the Turks was this : Their whole strength lies in their
words and in their writing; while their mouth says one thing, their heart says another;
wc hate the Jews as we hate the Devil, but we hate the Turks more.
too