Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-08-11
ANCIENT Ell ARISH
WAR REEVES INTEREST IN CITY
ALMOST FORGOTTEN.
Centuries Ago 1t Was One of the Most
Prominent Fortified Places in the
East-Was Captured by
Napoleon.

Eli Ar1Sfl. one OF the WOrI0S 10r-
gotten places until the English bonn
barded it short time ago. is the sub
ject of war geography bulletin is
sued by the National Geographic So
ciety. With it's large square fort and
battlemented walls, El Arish presents
Il much more formidable and imposing
appearance, viewed from the Mediter-
ranean to the north and from the Des-
ert et-Tih to the south, than its i'm
portanee has warranted in recent
years. Formerly populous halting
place for the numerous caravans fol-
lowing the 'short desert route from
Egypt to Syria, its trade has waned
materially since the completion of
modern railway connections with Jaf-
ia, Port Said and Alexandria. The
town clings to the banks of the Wad-
aiel-Arish, a stream which becomes a
small torrent after every rain. 1t is
more than 100 miles southwest of Je-
rusalem and a slightly shorter dis
tance from the Suez canal, which lies
to the west.
The recent hostilities in this area
revive host of historical associations
dating as far back as the time of the
Pharaohs. when this town was place
of exile for political prisoners, its an
cient name being Rhinokolura Its
present name is supposed to be de-
rived from the custom which obtained
here of cutting off the noses of male
factors whose death sentence had
been cummuted
Some 80 miles to the east of Ell
Arish, on the Egyptian-Syrian bound
ary, lies ancient Rhaphia, now called
Er-Rafa, where Josephus tells US that
the Roman conqueror Titus made his
first stop on his march against Jeru-
saiem. Here also Sarg6n over
whelmed the Egyptians in the eighth
century before the Christian era, and
500 years later there was fought on
the same sands the famous battle be-
tween Ptolemy Philopator and Anti
ochus, when the charging elephants of
both armies played such a spectacular
role. Of these great beasts, which
had been introduced into Syrian and
Greek warfare after fAlexander's con-
quests in India, much was expected.
The battle opened with a trumpeting
dash of the opposing armored noun
/ tains of flesh. Ptolemy's forces COM
/ manding 73 of the terror-inspiring
! chargers, while Antiochus sent into the
fray 102. With the first onslaught
practically all of Ptolemy's elephants
were captured, yet he won the day.
El Arish fell before Napoleon's
Egyptian army in September, 1798, the
credit for the city's fall being given
to Frances great general, Kleber, COM
'mander of the vanguard which also
4 seized Jaffa and GAIA. 1t was dur
ing this campaign that Napoleon COM
mitted the great atrocity at Jaffa,
shooting those prisoners whom he
could neither guard nor feed. yet
whom he feared to release. After Ma
poleon's departure Kleber concluded a
convention at Ell Arish with the Eng
lish admiral. Sir William Sidney
Smith, whereby the French were to be
allowed to capitulate and were to re
ceive safe transport back to France
This agreement was revoked by Lord
Keith. however. Whereupon Kleber
with 10000 men, marched to Heliopo-
lis and administered crushing defeat
to the Turks, who outnumbered hin
six to one. Had not a fanatic assas
sinated the great French tactician, OF
the day that Napoleon won the battle
Of Marengo, the fate of French arm:
in Egypt might have been different.
The Admiral Smith whose agree
ment with Kleber was disallowed wa!
the same British officer who haC
caused the signal defeat of Napoleon
before the walls of Acre, relief worl
for which grateful parliament voteC
him an annuity of $1,000.
In the center of the town of Ell Arisf
is a granite wall with an Inscription
in heiroglyphics perpetuating curl
Gus legend about the Egyptian goo
Shu. short distance beyond tn,
walls the traveller is shown the ruin
of the building in which Baldwin ]
one of the CRUSADER kings of Jeru
salem, died in 1118 after an unsuccess
. full attack on Egypt.