The original plan was to proceed to Derne in the Argus; but the Turkish Governor of Alexandria refused to permit so large a force to embark at that port; and Hamet himself showed a strong disinclination to venture within the walls of the enemy.  The only course left was to march over the Desert.  Eaton adopted it with his usual vigor.  The Pacha and his men were directed to encamp at the English cut, between Aboukir Bay and Lake Mareotis.  Provisions were bought, men enlisted, camels hired, and a few Arabs collected together by large promises and small gifts.  The party, complete, consisted of the Americans already mentioned, Farquhar, an Englishman, Pascal Paoli Peck, whose name we take pleasure in writing again, with six men of his corps, twenty-five artillery-men of all nations, principally Levanters, and thirty-eight Greeks.  The followers of the Pacha, hired Arabs, camel-drivers, servants, and vagabonds, made up their number to about four hundred.

On the 8th of March, 1805, Eaton advanced into the Desert westward, towards the famous land of Cyrene, like Aryandes the Persian, and Amrou, general of the Caliph Omar.  The little army marched along slowly, “on sands and shores and desert wildernesses,” past ruins of huge buildings,—­relics of three civilizations that had died out,—­mostly mere stones to Eaton, whose mind was too preoccupied by his wild enterprise to speculate much on what others had done there before him.  Want of water, scarcity of provisions, the lazy dilatoriness of the Arabs, who had never heard of the American axiom, “Time is money,” gave him enough to think of.  But worse than these were the daily outbreaks of the ill-feeling which always exists between Mussulman and Christian.  The Arabs would not believe that Christians could be true friends to Mussulmans.  They were not satisfied with Eaton’s explanations of the similarity between the doctrines of Islam and of American, but tried again and again to make him repeat the soul-saving formula, “Allah Allah Mohammed ben Allah”, and thus at once prove his sincerity and escape hell.  The Pacha himself, an irresolute, weak man, could not quite understand why these infidels should have come from beyond the seas to place him upon a throne.  A suspicion lurked in his heart that their real object was to deliver him to his brother as the price of a peace, and any occurrence out of the daily routine of the march brought this unpleasant fancy uppermost in his thoughts.  On one point the Mahometan mind of every class dwelt alway,—­“How could Allah permit these dogs, who followed the religion of the Devil, to possess such admirable riches?” The Arabs tried hard to obtain a share of them.  They yelped about the Americans for money, food, arms, and powder.  Even the brass buttons of the infidels excited their cupidity.