Having, chiefly by the excellent regulations of the physicians in his army, checked the ravages of the plague ; and having sent one messenger to Constantinople, and another (the nature of whose mission we shall presently unfold) to Achmet-Djezzar, pacha of Acre in Syria, Buonaparte, on the 25th of December, quitted Cairo, and in two days afterwards arrived at Suez, attended, among others, by the members of, the "institute of Egypt," Monge, Berthollet, Costaz, and Bourienne. Without losing a moment, Buonaparte proceeded to reconnoitre the town, the harbour, and the neighbouring coast. He afterwards crossed the arm of the Red sea, at the end of which Suez stands, by means of a ford only practicable at low water, in order to reach a spot which the Arabs still call the " fountain of Moses," and where, according to the traditions of the country, lie the rocks from the striking of one of which the water was produced. Here, were seen the vestiges of a small modern aqueduct for conveying this water to some cisterns on the sea-shore, about three miles off, and by which vessels were, or rather had been supplied. In their way back to Suez, Buonaparte and his escort nearly suffered the fate of Pharaoh and his army. The ford, which the caravan had crossed with so much ease in the morning, being now covered with the tide, the travellers were obliged to descend to the bottom of the arm or gulf. Here, owing to some mistake about the depth of water, Buonaparte was obliged to be carried upon the shoulders of his guide, and both with difficulty escaped being drowned.*

On the 31st of December, Buonaparte again quitted Suez ; and, while one part of his attendants took the rout to Adjaroud, he coasted the Red sea to the northward, and, at the distance of about two leagues and a half from Suez, discovered some traces of the ancient canal. These he followed during four hours, and until, indeed, the traces disappeared in some lakes named Ammers. On his return to Suez, Buonaparte received advices which called for his active exertions in another quarter ; but, on arriving at his head-quarters at Cairo, he did not neglect to despatch to Suez his principal engineer, Lepère; with directions, that he should take the geometrical level of the course of the supposed canal across the Isthmus. Having made this digression, we now hasten to relate what it was, that, while Buonaparte appeared so intent upon pursuing his geological researches, thus gave a new impulse to his active mind.

About a month previous to his departure for Suez, Buonaparte had sent an officer of his staff to Achmet-Djezzar, for the purpose of engaging his vizier to preserve the relations of peace with him. The messenger was not permitted an audience, nor even to disembark from the vessel in, which he had arrived in the bay of Acre. The vessel, with Colonel Beauvoisins on board,

* Victoires et Conquêtes, tome ix., p. 246.

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