Note 374 — Chapter XII

"The Mameloucs are an invincible race, inhabiting a burning desert, mounted on the fleetest horses in the world, and full of courage. They live with their wives and children in flying camps, which are never pitched two nights together in the same place. They are horrible savages, and yet they have some notion of gold and silver! a small quantity of it serves to excite their admiration. Yes, my dear brother, they love gold; they pass their lives in extorting it from such Europeans as fall into their hands;—and for what purpose?—for continuing the course of life which I have described, and for teaching it to their children. O, Jean Jacques! why was it not thy fate to see these men, whom thou call'st 'the men of nature?'—thou wouldst sink with shame, thou wouldst startle with horror at the thought of having once admired them! Adieu, my dear brother. This climate kills me; we shall be so altered, that you will discover the change at a league's distance. Remember me to the legislator Lucien. He might have sailed with us to advantage; we see more in two days than common travellers in two years."—Louis Buonaparte to his brother Joseph, dated Alexandria, July 6th; Intercepted Correspondence, part i., p. 8.