DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4794#0081
T1
tents at this place, was incredible ; and
when, to get rid of them, gunpowder was
placed under the tents, and an explosion made,
the ground was completely covered with their
remains.
*
When the British army arrived at El Afb,
then, and not before, the real strength of
discovery was really accidental, and arose
from tlie circumstance of ransacking the
French huts by the British soldiers, solely
from motives of curiosity, to see if any thing
had escaped the flames. Here one of the
40th flank company, finding among the
ashes a piece of paper, with figures on it,
which he could not read, it went from his
officer to the general, and proved a correct
statement of the real number of- the French
force, making it amount to 3331, including
artillery, sappers, and miners, but not com-
prehending the cavalry,, which was 600 men.
Another curious and important paper was
also obtained at this time and place, viz. a
letter from General Belliard to another officer,
complaining of the reduction of his garrison
at Cairo by the plague, where 156 soldiers
had died in one day ; and farther stating, that,
within the last forty-eight hours, his wife
and three servants had shared the same fate,
and that he had been compelled to burn all
his but in.
When the Turkish cavalry, so long expected,
had arrived, the mortification of the English
was greater than when they first saw a speci-
tents at this place, was incredible ; and
when, to get rid of them, gunpowder was
placed under the tents, and an explosion made,
the ground was completely covered with their
remains.
*
When the British army arrived at El Afb,
then, and not before, the real strength of
discovery was really accidental, and arose
from tlie circumstance of ransacking the
French huts by the British soldiers, solely
from motives of curiosity, to see if any thing
had escaped the flames. Here one of the
40th flank company, finding among the
ashes a piece of paper, with figures on it,
which he could not read, it went from his
officer to the general, and proved a correct
statement of the real number of- the French
force, making it amount to 3331, including
artillery, sappers, and miners, but not com-
prehending the cavalry,, which was 600 men.
Another curious and important paper was
also obtained at this time and place, viz. a
letter from General Belliard to another officer,
complaining of the reduction of his garrison
at Cairo by the plague, where 156 soldiers
had died in one day ; and farther stating, that,
within the last forty-eight hours, his wife
and three servants had shared the same fate,
and that he had been compelled to burn all
his but in.
When the Turkish cavalry, so long expected,
had arrived, the mortification of the English
was greater than when they first saw a speci-