Before losing sight of the contest that was in Egypt, it may not be amiss to glance at the unavoidable evils of _war_. With the inhabitants we had no quarrel: our sole object was to expel the French. But this could not be done, without the peaceful inhabitants receiving, in many cases, serious injury. The roads from town to town did not suit the march of the army to and from Cairo; the troops generally took the direct road through the corn-fields, and their encampments were sometimes in fields of corn, tobacco, poppies, sego, melons, indigo, &c. the produce of which, however valuable, was destroyed. Fuel was scarce; and the soldiers were necessitated to use whatever would burn. Stalks of tobacco, bean straw, and such like substances, were used to boil the kettles;[30] and in places where dry straw was difficult to be had, it was necessary to place guards at the entrances to the neighbouring villages or towns, to prevent the soldiers from unroofing the houses for wood to make fuel: and with all the attention of the officers, such was the necessity of the case, that injury could not always be prevented. The discipline of the army was strict, and the general behaviour of the troops good; but many instances of petty depredations and pilfering took place, that were not known, and could not be prevented. Many instances occurred of inhabitants, particularly Arabs, who sold bread, fruit, eggs, &c. having their articles taken from them by "fellows of the baser sort," without any payment, and sometimes with abuse into the bargain. The Arabs when so used would throw dust upon their heads, and call upon God, and the Prophet, and the Sultan. But as this usage was not general, and as the army spent a considerable sum of good money among them,[31] they were not deterred from following it with whatever they had to sell, and I believe many of them made more money at that time, than ever they had an opportunity of doing before or since. On the afternoon of the 2d October, we again left Rosetta, and lay for the night near the mouth of the river. The wind was moderate next morning; we passed the bar safely: had a pleasant voyage across the bay of Aboukir, and through Like Maadie; passed through the cut in the banks of the canal of Alexandria into Lake Mareotis,[32] and landed not far from the place where the battle of the 21st of March was fought, of which I had thus another view, and which I never can forget. I joined the regiment on the heights of Alexandria; we embarked next day at Aboukir, on board of two frigates; sailed on the morning of the 7th October; and lost sight of the celebrated land of Egypt by 12 o'clock. None regretted this. We indeed regretted our countrymen and comrades, who had found a grave there; but the country itself had no charms to make us regret leaving it. All our thoughts were now fixed upon home; and we rejoiced to think, that every day was bringing us nearer it. Footnote 16: