DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0395
S79
We made an excursion from Damietta, on the lake Menzaleh,
to visit the ruins of San. We crossed the narrow neck of land,
which separates the lake from the river, on foot. Here we had
an opportunity of observing the high embankments necessary
to prevent the salt water encroaching on the canals, which would
entirely destroy the vegetation. We embarked near the western
extremity of the lake, at a place called Ghaet-cl-Nassara. Our
boat was about eighteen feet long and eight wide, with a small
deck at head and stern, the centre open. The sternmost part
of the boat is three or four feet nearer water than the head, a
mode of construction which they find useful in fishing. Our
boatmen are both clad in sheep-skins; and while one steers, the
other is employed in netting. We passed several low islands, pro-
ducing a coarse low brushwood, and others much higher with
an appearance of having been once built upon. They have
each their appropriate name with Tell, or Mound, affixed to it.
The general depth of the lake is about three feet, sometimes
less. Nearly ten miles from Damietta we appeared to cross a
deeper channel, where the current set to the North, evidently
the course of the old Mendesian branch, now the canal of
Ashmoun.
Passing Matarieh to our right, we landed for a short time on
the island of Touna, one of the most remarkable in the lake.
Several stones, concealed under water, prevented us from ap-
proaching it on the western side, and we were carried on shore
on our boatmen's backs. No vegetation was to be seen on the
island but a few tamarisks. The ground rises gradually on all
sides towards the centre : the soil is a mixture of earth, broken
bricks, rubble, small pieces of talc, and fragments of earthen-ware,
all tending to prove it to have been the site of an antient town.
It is on the right bank of the Tanitic branch, which we had
3 c 2 con-
We made an excursion from Damietta, on the lake Menzaleh,
to visit the ruins of San. We crossed the narrow neck of land,
which separates the lake from the river, on foot. Here we had
an opportunity of observing the high embankments necessary
to prevent the salt water encroaching on the canals, which would
entirely destroy the vegetation. We embarked near the western
extremity of the lake, at a place called Ghaet-cl-Nassara. Our
boat was about eighteen feet long and eight wide, with a small
deck at head and stern, the centre open. The sternmost part
of the boat is three or four feet nearer water than the head, a
mode of construction which they find useful in fishing. Our
boatmen are both clad in sheep-skins; and while one steers, the
other is employed in netting. We passed several low islands, pro-
ducing a coarse low brushwood, and others much higher with
an appearance of having been once built upon. They have
each their appropriate name with Tell, or Mound, affixed to it.
The general depth of the lake is about three feet, sometimes
less. Nearly ten miles from Damietta we appeared to cross a
deeper channel, where the current set to the North, evidently
the course of the old Mendesian branch, now the canal of
Ashmoun.
Passing Matarieh to our right, we landed for a short time on
the island of Touna, one of the most remarkable in the lake.
Several stones, concealed under water, prevented us from ap-
proaching it on the western side, and we were carried on shore
on our boatmen's backs. No vegetation was to be seen on the
island but a few tamarisks. The ground rises gradually on all
sides towards the centre : the soil is a mixture of earth, broken
bricks, rubble, small pieces of talc, and fragments of earthen-ware,
all tending to prove it to have been the site of an antient town.
It is on the right bank of the Tanitic branch, which we had
3 c 2 con-