Napoleon's Egypt: Invading The Middle East - Reenactor.ru

58 NAPOLEON’S EGYPTthree biscuits per day. An enemy ship at one point was captured and provided asupplement of biscuits “of the very worst quality, very dirty, kneaded with awfulflour, mixed with old grease that even the rats avoided.” Moiret observes, “Onewould have had to be in our position to have the courage to eat them.” He dividedthem into four portions, making a small meal of each during the day, soakingthem in water first to soften them and reduce their saltiness.At the approach of the French, who were advancing up the west bank of theNile, Cairo’s elite had met and made preparations. Ottoman Viceroy Ebu BekirPasha, along with local paramount leader Ibrahim Bey and a group of administratorsand clerics, decided to make a stand at the riverine port of Bulaq, on theeast bank. They built barricades and set up cannon pointing north in case anyFrench troops came down on the east bank, and they mobilized Bedouins totake up positions at Shubra and elsewhere, just below Bulaq. They called allable-bodied men to the barricades and declared holy war on the advancing infidels.20 Cairo’s rulers began a search for weapons in the houses of European merchantsand other residents. They also put local Christians, whether GreekOrthodox or native Copts or Syrians, under surveillance. Suspicion spreadamong the city’s Muslim inhabitants that the Christians were disloyal to the OttomanEmpire. Al-Jabarti was convinced that rioters would have slaughtered theChristians had the authorities not restrained them.Al-Jabarti noted that on Tuesday (17 July) the emirs ordered that the generalpopulace begin moving to the fortifications. The crafts guilds that organizedmost urban workers took up a contribution so as to be able to provide tentsfor the guildsmen who went to Bulaq. Other Cairenes donated money so as tobe able to outfit Syrian and North African troops, who therefore functioned aspopularly funded militias. The Sufi mystics and dervishes raised banners in thestreets, played musical instruments, and chanted love poems to God. UmarMakram, the leader of the caste of notables (ashraf) who claimed descent fromthe Prophet Muhammad, staged a sort of parade. He “went up to the Citadeland brought down from it a big banner popularly called the Prophet’s Banner.He unfolded it and carried it from the Citadel to Bulaq. In front of him andaround him were thousands of people with clubs and sticks, cheering and shouting,‘God is great!’” 21 The relic of the Prophet was intended to bestow his blessing,or baraka, on the beleaguered capital. The crowd beat on drums and playedpipes and waved flags, for all the world, Darendeli wrote, as though they werehosting a traditional Egyptian wedding. Soon most of the city’s able-bodied men