Colonel Ramsay to garrison Gizeh, he concentrated all his troops in the island.
It may not be out of place here to notice the effect which the sight of the Anglo-Indian army produced upon the Egyptians and Turks. The following passage extracted from the Asiatic Annual Register for 1802 may be accepted as giving an impartial view on the subject. "Whilst at Rhoda," writes the chronicler, "the Indian Army had attracted much surprise and admiration. The Turks were astonished at the novel spectacle of men of colour being so well disciplined and trained. Indeed the general magnificence of the establishment of the Indian army was so different from what they had been accustomed to see in General Hutchinson's that the contrast could not fail of being striking. But General Baird proved to them also that his troops were not enfeebled or himself rendered inactive, by these superior comforts. Every morning at day-light he manœuvred his army for several hours, and in the evening again formed his parade. Never were finer men seen than those which composed this force, and no soldiers could possibly be in higher order."
On the night of the 27th August the right wing of the army began to move in the direction of Alexandria and, with General Baird at its head, reached Rosetta on the 30th. A detachment under Colonel Lloyd was about the same time sent to garrison Damietta, but in consequence of a difference of opinion with the Grand Vizier, commanding the Turkish army, it was withdrawn, the European portion of it being sent to Rosetta, and the native (four companies Bombay N. I.) to Gizeh.
