and heard numbers of my comrades say that they did not see so well as usual, and yet they had no pain in their eyes. About two o'clock in the morning the signal was made for the first division of the troops to get into the boats, and at three o'clock they were ordered to row for their rendezvous in the rear of one of the light war-vessels that was anchored about a gun-shot from the shore. This was a very fatiguing service to the seamen; because the fleet was so widely anchored, and many of the large ships so far from the shore, that it was nine o'clock before they were all collected and arranged. The enemy could see all our movements; and the unavoidable delays that took place, gave them a fair opportunity to provide for their defence, for they now knew the only point at which we could land. I contemplated the scene with an anxious aching heart. The number of troops in the boats was about 5500, and the whole army about 15,000, of which there were about 1000 sick at the time of landing, and of these about 400 belonged to our own regiment.--There were two bomb ketches and three sloops of war, anchored with their broadsides to the shore; on the right flank of the boats there were a cutter, two Turkish gun-boats, and two armed launches; and on the left flank, a cutter, a schooner, one gun-boat, and two launches. These light vessels were to go as near the shore as the water would admit, to annoy the enemy and protect the boats. At nine o'clock the signal was made for the boats to advance; and the whole line advanced at the same instant, giving three loud cheers. "The French, to the number of two thousand, were posted on the top of sand-hills, forming the concave arc of a circle on the front of about a mile, in the centre of which elevated itself, a nearly perpendicular height of sixty yards, apparently inaccessible."[7] The left of this rising ground was a continuation of sand-hills close to the shore, gradually diminishing in their height until they ended in a long flat tongue forming the entrance of Lake Maadie. The ground to the right of the centre height on the shore was flat, but there were clusters of thick bushes, (such as form the date or palm tree), which were favourable for concealing the enemy; and on the extremity of the right stood the castle of Aboukir, in which were several 10 inch mortars, and a large Martello tower, having two brass 32 pounders on its top, and which, from its position and height, commanded nearly the whole shore. As soon as the boats set off for the beach, the two bomb ketches, and the three sloops of war, began to throw their shot and shells upon the shore; and the light vessels, stationed to protect the flanks of the boats, moved along with them and began to fire. The bulk of the enemy's field artillery was in the flat ground, to the right of the height before mentioned, the rest was among the smaller sand-hills on the left of it. As soon as the boats were within the reach of their shot, they