DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0228
AND LOWER EGYPT. I99
commencement was so inauspicious. A misadven-
ture of another kind overtook us at some distance
from the city. The ass, loaded with (he provisions
for the belly, enraged at bearing a burden of so
much importance, shook offher panniers: bottles,
plates, pies, &c. all was reduced to shivers. Half
an hour almost was spent in collecting the wreck
of this halt, and a horse, less headstrong, was load-
ed with the fragments. We were speedily over-
taken by the night; it was impossible to have been
darker, and besides the irksomeness of marching
a long time without seeing any thing, in regions
utterly unknown, it was to me just as if I had not
quitted Alexandria. I had, as my particular suite,
an old servant well versed in the art of travelling,
a young draughtsman, and a naval gunner. We
proceeded in a close platoon, and, together with a
janisary, composed the advanced guard. After
having got half way on our route, we halted to
take a little rest. When it became expedient to
put the body again in motion, every one had to run
in quest of his own beast which he had let loose,
and which the darkness prevented him frOm find-
ing or distinguishing : all was outcry, wrangling;
the muleteers were beating each other, thejanisa-
ries beating every body. In the midst of this
hurly-"burly, my little cohort was mounted, from
the moment that the signal for decamping was
made, and we enjoyed at our ease, the comic
o 4 scenes
commencement was so inauspicious. A misadven-
ture of another kind overtook us at some distance
from the city. The ass, loaded with (he provisions
for the belly, enraged at bearing a burden of so
much importance, shook offher panniers: bottles,
plates, pies, &c. all was reduced to shivers. Half
an hour almost was spent in collecting the wreck
of this halt, and a horse, less headstrong, was load-
ed with the fragments. We were speedily over-
taken by the night; it was impossible to have been
darker, and besides the irksomeness of marching
a long time without seeing any thing, in regions
utterly unknown, it was to me just as if I had not
quitted Alexandria. I had, as my particular suite,
an old servant well versed in the art of travelling,
a young draughtsman, and a naval gunner. We
proceeded in a close platoon, and, together with a
janisary, composed the advanced guard. After
having got half way on our route, we halted to
take a little rest. When it became expedient to
put the body again in motion, every one had to run
in quest of his own beast which he had let loose,
and which the darkness prevented him frOm find-
ing or distinguishing : all was outcry, wrangling;
the muleteers were beating each other, thejanisa-
ries beating every body. In the midst of this
hurly-"burly, my little cohort was mounted, from
the moment that the signal for decamping was
made, and we enjoyed at our ease, the comic
o 4 scenes