Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 2 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773 — John Shaqi
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 2 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773Bruce, James
History
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 2 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773
Bruce, James
Egypt -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- History; Natural history -- Ethiopia; Nile River
The Moors did not, in this instance, disappoint the king’s expectation;
as they, with all possible secrecy, marched to the attack of the camp,
while the king, having refreshed his troops, put himself in motion
to intercept them; and they were now arrived, and engaged in several
places with very great vigour. The camp was in apparent danger, though
vigorously defended. At this moment the king, with his fresh troops,
fell violently upon their rear; and, it being known to the Moors that
this was the king, they withdrew their army with all possible speed,
carrying with them a very considerable booty.
The success which had followed these night expeditions, above all,
the small loss that had attended the pursuit, even after they were
defeated, from the perfect knowledge they had of the country, inspired
them with a resolution to avoid pitched battles, but to distress and
harrass the king’s army every night. They accordingly brought their
camp nearer than usual to the king’s quarters. This began to be felt by
the army, which was prevented from foraging at a great distance; but
provisions could not be dispensed with. The king, therefore, detached
a large body of horse and foot that had not been engaged or fatigued.
The greatest part of the foot he ordered to return with the cattle
they should have taken, but the horse, with each a foot-soldier behind
him, he directed to take post in a wood near a pool of water, where
the Moorish troops, after an assault in the night, retired, and took
refreshments and sleep by the time the sun began to be hot. The Moors
again appeared in the night, attacked the camp in several places, and
alarmed the whole army; but, by the bravery and vigour of the king, who
every where animated his troops by his own example, they were obliged
to retreat a little before morning, more fatigued, and more roughly
handled, than they had hitherto been in any such expedition.
The king, as if equally tired, followed them no further than the
precincts of his camp; and the Moors, scarcely comforted by this
forbearance after so great a loss, retreated to receive succour of
fresh troops as usual, and enjoy their repose in the neighbourhood of
shade and water. They had, however, scarce thrown aside their arms,
disposed of their wounded in proper places, and begun to assuage their
thirst after the toils of the assault, when the Abyssinian horse,
breaking through the covert, came swiftly upon them, unable either to
fight or to fly, and the whole body of them was cut to pieces without
one man escaping.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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