DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0164
HOLY LAND, AND CYPRUS. 131
had such pleasure in undergoing fatigue and danger to gra-
tify their passion for travel.
During my stay at Damietta I rode to the lake Men-
saleh, which supplies a vast quantity of fish, and employs
many fishermen. A great deal that is caught is salted, and
forms an article of trade to Syria. I regretted I had not
time to visit the remains of antiquity contained in several of
the islands in the lake, which, however, only prove the
ancient existence of considerable towns.
Damietta has little worthy of notice but its magazines of
rice, which are large; those belonging to the Pasha would
do credit to any European government. They are in an
extensive oblong building, with a wooden colonnade along
the front of the lower story; this is divided into a variety
of apartments, in some of which the rice undergoes its pro-
cesses of refinement.
Previous to being used it requires three operations. It
is first placed in heaps under a number of wooden levers, at
the end of which are hollow tin canisters, with the hollow
downwards, of six or eight inches long and about three in
diameter. The levers are raised by a wheel moved by two
oxen, and strike the canisters into the rice, which is received
into them, and is thus beaten without being bruised ; the
husks are shaken off, and after the third operation the rice
becomes white and fit for use, though a little reduced. One
s 2
had such pleasure in undergoing fatigue and danger to gra-
tify their passion for travel.
During my stay at Damietta I rode to the lake Men-
saleh, which supplies a vast quantity of fish, and employs
many fishermen. A great deal that is caught is salted, and
forms an article of trade to Syria. I regretted I had not
time to visit the remains of antiquity contained in several of
the islands in the lake, which, however, only prove the
ancient existence of considerable towns.
Damietta has little worthy of notice but its magazines of
rice, which are large; those belonging to the Pasha would
do credit to any European government. They are in an
extensive oblong building, with a wooden colonnade along
the front of the lower story; this is divided into a variety
of apartments, in some of which the rice undergoes its pro-
cesses of refinement.
Previous to being used it requires three operations. It
is first placed in heaps under a number of wooden levers, at
the end of which are hollow tin canisters, with the hollow
downwards, of six or eight inches long and about three in
diameter. The levers are raised by a wheel moved by two
oxen, and strike the canisters into the rice, which is received
into them, and is thus beaten without being bruised ; the
husks are shaken off, and after the third operation the rice
becomes white and fit for use, though a little reduced. One
s 2