Excerpt from The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Vol. 2 of 4 After this, the French army marched for eight days without meeting any interruption, but often reduced to the greatest straits, and in one of the most scorching climates in the world. During the route they were much harassed by clouds of Arabs flocking from all parts of the Deserts, and hovering within a few hundred yards of the camp, with a view to intercept the communications, and to rob and murder all they could lay hands on. Their prae tice was to lie in ambush behind the dykes on their excellent little horses, and woe to him who stragg led a hundred paces from the main column! They killed a great number of soldiers and ofiicers. Among others, General Muireur, in Spite of the remon strances of the Guard, would go alone to a mount about two hun dred paces from the camp. Behind it were three Bedouins, who assassinated him. His death was much lamented by the army and by the general-in-chief. In the evening after the first day's march, the tr00ps bivouacked at a place called Shabur, under some fine old sycamores, where they found the fields full of bat ferjts, a species of water-melon, furnishing a wholesome and re freshing food. They met with them continually, as far as Cairo; and the soldier, to Show how agreeable this fruit was to him, named it, like the ancient Egyptians, the holy bat-tech. On the following day, the army began its march very late; some meat had been procured, which it was necessary to distribute with care as it was a great luxury. The flotilla still waited for the north wind to ascend the Nile. The army slept at Kounscheric; and arrived the next day at Alkam, where General Zayonscheck re s1ved orders to land on the Opposite bank, and advance to the point of the Delta. As there were no Arabs here, he could make what movements he pleased, and was of great assistance in pro uring provisions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.