DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0396
380
consequently crossed in our way to it. A piece of granite
and a few subterraneous buildings, to which the mortar and
plaster used in them assigned a later date, are the only other
remains of antiquity we could perceive. A ruined mosque,
and the tomb of an Arab Santon, had given it the name of
Shekh Abdallah. Great part of the surface of the soil is co-
vered with a saline incrustation, which breaks and crackles
under foot. We returned hence to Matarieh, where we passed
the night, hospitably received by the principal Sheik of the
village, and much amused by witnessing the manners of a rude
race of fishermen, who compose the whole population of the
villages which go by this name. The northernmost village is
on an island formerly joined to a projecting point of the continent
by a causeway of stakes and boards, which was destroyed only
during the last inundation. That to the South is on this point:
the houses in both are built indifferently of mud, camels' dung,
sun-burnt bricks, boards and rafters of the date-tree, and even
of reeds and mats. This description does not promise much
wealth among the inhabitants, and there are evident signs of
their decreasing in property, industry, and in numbers. The
population of the two villages is estimated at about 1,100, who
subsist entirely on fhe profits of the fishery and fowling of the
lake, both of which they have in great abundance. The part
of the lake most frequented for these purposes is that near
the tongue of land which separates it from the sea. The fish
when caught are sold by a kind of open auction, in boat-
loads, to people who come to the spot from Damietta and the
neighbourhood. The greater part are then salted for exporta-
tion. The wild fowl are caught by a casting- or a drag-net du-
ring the night. They are first driven into a kind of marsh, with
palm branches sticking up in the mud, when a large double net
is
consequently crossed in our way to it. A piece of granite
and a few subterraneous buildings, to which the mortar and
plaster used in them assigned a later date, are the only other
remains of antiquity we could perceive. A ruined mosque,
and the tomb of an Arab Santon, had given it the name of
Shekh Abdallah. Great part of the surface of the soil is co-
vered with a saline incrustation, which breaks and crackles
under foot. We returned hence to Matarieh, where we passed
the night, hospitably received by the principal Sheik of the
village, and much amused by witnessing the manners of a rude
race of fishermen, who compose the whole population of the
villages which go by this name. The northernmost village is
on an island formerly joined to a projecting point of the continent
by a causeway of stakes and boards, which was destroyed only
during the last inundation. That to the South is on this point:
the houses in both are built indifferently of mud, camels' dung,
sun-burnt bricks, boards and rafters of the date-tree, and even
of reeds and mats. This description does not promise much
wealth among the inhabitants, and there are evident signs of
their decreasing in property, industry, and in numbers. The
population of the two villages is estimated at about 1,100, who
subsist entirely on fhe profits of the fishery and fowling of the
lake, both of which they have in great abundance. The part
of the lake most frequented for these purposes is that near
the tongue of land which separates it from the sea. The fish
when caught are sold by a kind of open auction, in boat-
loads, to people who come to the spot from Damietta and the
neighbourhood. The greater part are then salted for exporta-
tion. The wild fowl are caught by a casting- or a drag-net du-
ring the night. They are first driven into a kind of marsh, with
palm branches sticking up in the mud, when a large double net
is