I was soon taken into a large square building, having a square court in the centre, and piazzas round about from the bottom to the top; the ground flat, which was high in the roof, was occupied as cellars, store-houses, &c. There were two flats above, the various apartments of which communicated with piazza'd passages, round the centre square. This building, from the largeness of its size, and the number of its apartments, accommodated a great many patients, consisting of men of all the different regiments, promiscuously lodged together. In coming into a place of this kind, among so many strange faces, and various and opposite characters, it is a matter of some consequence to meet with some one previously known, to whom you can talk, in whom you can place confidence, and who will act the part of a comrade. In this respect I was fortunate; falling in with a man of my own company, whose bed was next to mine: a young man of agreeable dispositions. He was the rear rank man of the second file from my right, in the battle of the 13th March, who got the calf of his leg grazed by the cannon ball, as formerly related. His leg was now in a hopeful way; and being able to move about with the help of a stick, he was serviceable to me who was confined to bed. In this building we were more cool than on the sands of Aboukir; the flies were not so excessively troublesome through the day; and as the floor, which was upon arches, was paved with flat stones, or large bricks, the fleas were not so numerous. But a new enemy attacked us during the night, which we had not met with before--the mosquitoes. They were very troublesome; and there was no way of securing ourselves from their bite, which was very sharp, and for a while had an inflammatory effect; so much so, that every one for some time after his arrival, resembled a person in the height of the measles. Our accommodation and attendance were much better here in many respects. We were provided with sheets for our beds, which was very agreeable; for a sheet was as much as one could bear for a covering during the night; nor was even that needed so much for heat, as to be a partial defence against the musquitoes. Our woollen blankets, which would have been quite uncomfortable from their heat, were very useful now to put under us; for our beds being made of branches of the date tree, put across each other, with a slender matt, made of a particular kind of rushes, laid over them to cover the holes, the cross spars soon became prominent, and were very uneasy to lie upon. My knapsack was my pillow, and my blanket, folded _four-ply_, I put under me. Without it indeed, it would not have been possible to lie in the beds; and even with it, they were very uncomfortable, especially for those who were long and close confined to them.