“‘Après que vous m’avez quitté j’ai vu un Arabe qui a été à Reyha (Jericho) qui a causé avec Ibrahim, cet Arabe m’a dit qu’il pouvait avoir à peu près trois mille hommes d’infantérie; et qu’il n’avoit point de canons; cet homme pretend qu’ Ibrahim est parti de Reyha ce matin de bonne heure en prenant le chemin de Chalil, ce qui indiquerait de la part de l’ennemi l’intention de se rendu à Gaza; si cette nouvelle est réelle, il ne faudrait pas hésiter un instant d’attaquer l’ennemi; puisque nous avons plus d’infantérie que lui, nous avons des canons, et si cette coquette qu’on appelle la ‘Fortune’ n’est pas avec nous: c’est le Diable. “‘Tout à vous, “‘MEHMED RESCHID PASHA.” “‘Au Major-Général[52] Napier, &c. &c. &c.’ “Now, although the feasibleness of an attack on the Egyptians was hereby fully allowed;—although Reschid Pasha at the time imagined that Ibrahim was exposing his right flank in this rumoured advance on Hebron (Chalil);—and although I not only urged, but entreated them to make the attempt, the Turks were afraid to try the experiment; and it was decided that the following day we should make a reconnoissance, which accordingly took place, when we found Jericho in flames, and that Ibrahim, after its destruction, had just recrossed the Jordan, and thus slipped through our fingers! “His object had evidently been to delay our junction with head-quarters, and having effected this purpose, he was at present retiring unmolested by the south of the Dead Sea. “I now proposed to make a diagonal movement by Mount Hebron to try and cut him off in that direction, as we heard that General Jochmus had already advanced on Gaza, which, ere this, we concluded must have been captured. “Notwithstanding my urgent entreaties for expedition, _two_ days elapsed ere we reached Hebron, a distance of about twenty-two miles! “The Osmanlis, I plainly saw, still feared their old conqueror; and, on our arrival at Hebron,—meeting there Major Wilbraham and Lieutenant Loring, R.N., the bearers of your Convention to Ibrahim Pacha,—the exuberant joy of the Turkish Chiefs, at the termination of hostilities, led them, in some slight degree, to infringe the injunction of the Prophet. “E. NAPIER.” “To Commodore Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B.” Footnote 36: See _Levant Papers_, Part III., p. 294. Footnote 37: See _Levant Papers_, Part III., p. 295. Footnote 38: See _Levant Papers_, Part III., p. 295. Footnote 39: See _Levant Papers_, Part III., p. 295. Tahir Bey reports that after Ibrahim re-crossed the Jordan, he lost all his infantry, and arrived at Kerek with his cavalry only. Footnote 40: See page 124. Footnote 41: See _Levant Papers_, Part III., p. 298. Footnote 42: See page 128. Footnote 43: See _Levant Papers_, Part III., p. 270. Footnote 44: Ibid., pp. 271, 272.