Sonnini de Manoncourt, Charles Nicolas Sigisbert: Travels in upper and lower Egypt (Band 2) (London, 1807)

AND LOWER EGYPT. 283

Mourat, who has not been afraid to combat the
French, is a very fine man. He has a martial ap-
pearance. His chin is covered with a thick black,
beard ; and large eyebrows form arches of ebony
over his eyes full of fire. A long scar, seaming
one of his cheeks, heightens the fierceness of his
countenance. With great bravery, he possesses
extraordinary strength and address: he has been
seen, passing an ox on horseback, to cut off his
head with a single stroke of his scimitar. An in-
trepid warrior, capable of supporting the severest
hardships, an excellent horseman, dexterous and
powerful in handling the scimitar, courageous in
adversity, bold in his enterprises, cool in action,
and terrible in an onset, Mourat, with a little
instruction, might have become a great general.
His proud and generous mind gave him the ap-
pearance of sovereign dignity ; but injustice, ig-
norance, and barbarity, rendered him a cruel ty-
rant.

(See the portrait of this Mameluc, PI. XXIII*.)