This is Roustam Raza’s account of Napoleon’s flight from Egypt:
We camped in the desert that night, lying on the sand. That evening Monsieur Elias arrived from Cairo via Boulak with a despatch for the general. He also brought with him two watermelons and these did me much good because it was truly very hot. He told me “There isn’t a Turkish army, nor an English one, as they said to you, you are going on a different sort of journey”. He did not say anything else and returned to Cairo.
The following day, at some point in the morning, we lost our way a little in the great clouds of sand. We spied some Arab women who were working the land and the general sent me to ask these women the way. I galloped over in order to make enquiry but when the women caught sight of me they hoisted up their shirts (this was all that they were wearing) to reveal their backsides and then showed their naked bodies. We reached a point on the Mediterranean coast between Alexandria and Aboukir at 10 o’clock that evening. The tents were put up and instructions were issued to prepare dinner. I saw two frigates at anchor and I asked Monsieur Eugene, who was the general’s aide-de-camp, what these two vessels were and who they belonged to. He said that they belonged to the Turks. He was still keeping the truth from me, for these were two French frigates which were there awaiting the general and his escort. I found this out later that evening.
It was so hot then that I went down to the coast to bathe in the sea. I was there when Monsieur Fischer, who managed the general’s household, came to fetch me. I returned to the tent, and ate some dinner. After the meal, everyone was really happy and very lively. The soldiers were throwing their knapsacks in the air, the cavalry were handing their horses over to those soldiers who were to remain in the country. I turned to ask Monsieur Jaubert the French interpreter who interpreted for the general “what does all this mean, I see everyone is so happy”. He replied that “We are leaving for Paris, it is good there and it is a large city. Those two frigates that we can see there before us are to carry us to France”. They told me that I should also leave my horse (a man had been selected to take the horses to Alexandria ), and that I should only take my small portmanteau with two shirts and a cashmere cloak.
I set off, accompanied by a number of officers to a place about half a mile from the camp. There we climbed aboard some boats that were to take us out to the frigates. The sea was quite rough, with some of the waves breaking over our heads and filling the boats with water. Everyone was sick on the way out apart from me, in fact I was hungry and asking for something to eat. The mameluke called Ali was also very sick. It was late when we climbed onboard the frigate but we set sail right away , everyone very happy to be underway. I did not see the general for the entire day, he had come aboard using another boat and I had been worried (I was only 17 and a half). In order to tease me the men said that when we reached France my head would be cut off because whenever the mamelukes seized French troops they would behead them like that. This terrified me. We had been onboard for three days when I asked Monsieur Jaubert, who spoke Arabic, whether I could talk to the general. He agreed to see me that day. The general said “There you are Roustam! How are you?” I told him that “Quite well, but I worry as to my fate”. “Why so?” he replied. And I told him “Everybody says that when we arrive in France, my head will be cut off. if it is true what they say, well I wish for my head to be cut off now so as not to drag out my suffering until we reach France”. Then, with his usual kindness, and pulling my ears as he usually did, he said to me “Do not believe what they are saying, they are being silly. We will soon arrive in Paris and there we shall find many beautiful women and lots of money. You shall see that we will be much happier, much more so than we were in Egypt!”. After that I thanked him for the way in which he had received me and given me peace of mind, for I had been sorely troubled.