Mourad Bey, who commanded in chief, speedily penetrated his design; and the Mamelukes advanced gallantly to the encounter.

"Soldiers," said Napoleon, "from the summit of yonder pyramids forty ages behold you;" and the battle began.
The French formed into separate squares, and awaited the assault of the Mamelukes.

These came on with impetuous speed and wild cries, and practised every means to force their passage into the serried ranks of their new opponents.

They rushed on the line of bayonets, backed their horses upon them, and at last, maddened by the firmness which they could not shake, dashed their pistols and carbines into the faces of the men.
They who had fallen wounded from their seats, would crawl along the sand, and hew at the legs of their enemies with their scimitars.

Nothing could move the French: the bayonet and the continued roll of musketry by degrees thinned the host around them; and Buonaparte at last advanced.
Such were the confusion and terror of the enemy when he came near the camp, that they abandoned their works, and flung themselves by hundreds into the Nile.