Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria, from the year 1792 to 1798

by William George Browne

On the 5th of the same month I arrived at Damiatt. This noted port presents an agreeable aspect on the first approach from the South, the town being built somewhat in the form of a crescent on a gentle bend of the river, and being surrounded with cultivated lands, which extend to the large lake called Manzalé. The distance from the sea is about six miles, and there is a bar across the Nile, so that vessels are obliged to have part of their cargo sent after them in small boats, and put on board after they have past the bar.

Damiatt is blessed with a soil almost unrivalled, and exuberant in orange and lemon trees, and other rich vegetation of the East, which would present an appearance very striking to a traveller accustomed to an English winter. Nor were my emotions unpleasant at here beholding, for the first time, the celebrated Papyrus, pushing its green spikes through the mud of the adjacent ditches[55].

This plant formerly abounded so much in the vicinity of Damiatt, that it was profaned, so to speak, in the fabrication of sleeping mats, which were transported to different parts of Lower Egypt. But of late years, by the sacred ignorance and supine neglect of the Mamlûks, who regard themselves as merely tenants for life, and delapidate at will this noble domain, the channel of the Nile, which ought to flow to Damiatt, pursuing the straiter course offered to it by the canal of Menûf, deserted its bed, and left access to the sea-water. Hence the plants of papyrus, as well as the other vegetables, were deprived of the prolific influence of the Nile, and expired in the noxious effluvia of a marine marsh. I was told by an European there, who had resided between thirty and forty years, that the papyrus used to attain the height of eight, nine, or more feet. The stem was about an inch or more in diameter; and of such substance as to serve my informer and his son for walking-sticks.

The gardens of Damiatt contain some mulberry trees and plantains. The Tethymalus, wart-weed, is found there in great quantity. Scammony is not uncommon. The East side of the river, from Damiatt to the North extremity of the coast, consists of sand hills, and most part of the way is lined with reeds.

Among the crops of Lower Egypt in particular must not be forgotten the Lucerne, Birsîm, which grows with surprising luxuriance.

Damiatt is vivified by a considerable trade, being the depôt between Egypt and Syria, and the mart of all the productions of the Delta; exporting particularly rice and flax to Syria, and importing cotton in return, which is manufactured there and in other parts of Egypt. Its European commerce is very inconsiderable: some Venetian and Ragusan vessels bring small cargoes of cochineal, and other commodities. Formerly there were several French merchants, but their usual misconduct with regard to the sex occasioned their expulsion.

Of an antient round building, called the Tower of St. Louis, which was standing in Niebuhr’s time, and which till of late existed at Damiatt, nothing now remains but a piece of brick wall, which was on the outside of the foss, and of which the mortar is no less hard than the brick. The remainder of the materials were applied by Mohammed Bey Abu-dhahab to the structure, which his fear of the Russians induced him to erect at a great expense, at the extremity of the shore. It was not sufficient to build this fort on the firm ground, nearest the mouth of the river; he chose to lay the foundation in the sand and mud, at the extreme point of land on the eastern side; and though now from the strength of the foundation a part remains, much has fallen, and the rest is surrounded by, and under water.

There are two mounts of ruins near the Eastern extremity of the town, on the most Northern of which is a piece of brick wall remarkably strong, which is reported to have been part of an ancient castle. From this elevation is seen the field of battle between the Christians and Saracens, in which St. Louis was, according to the Arabs, taken prisoner. It is called the field of blood, as the conflict is represented as having been so obstinate, that the earth and water were stained with blood for a considerable time after.

There is nothing farther worthy of remark in this town, except two mosques. One of them is a rich foundation of the same nature as the Jama-el-Azher, which it is said maintains five or six hundred poor shechs, many of whom are blind or paralytic. The other is an old and famous mosque, which has been raised, as is said, on the ruins of a Christian church, part of which is reported to exist under the building. Even the mosque itself is now deserted, and in a great measure fallen to ruin; the door which leads to the passage below is bricked up, so that I could make no observations on that part. The mosque is spacious, and contains a great number of marble columns. I observed, however, only one of porphyry, and one of red granite. The rest are of common blue and white, and yellow and white marble; one of the latter is reported to have the virtue of curing the jaundice; and for this purpose the poor people affected with this disorder scrape it and drink the powder, which is in such repute that a considerable cavity may be observed in the column. Another fine porphyry column I was told was lately carried away by a Mokaddem of the Bey, employed in collecting his rents here, for the purpose of forming a tomb for himself. The population of Damiatt may be partly conceived from the number of its mosques, which are supposed to be fourteen. There is also a Greek convent, in which strangers are lodged, there being no caravanserai in the place.

The lake Manzalé is of very considerable extent, being somewhat more than thirty miles in length, and is navigated by a number of small vessels employed in fishing, and in carrying the people to and from the islands. The fish called Bûri, a kind of mullet, particularly abounds; it is salted and dried at Damiatt, whence it is conveyed through the Lower Egypt and Syria, and even to Cyprus. It affords an insipid and insalubrious meal; yet is much used by the common people, especially by the Christians in their frequent fasts. The desert islands interspersed in the lake are haunted by numbers of aquatic birds, which migrate thither in autumn and winter: they are ensnared in nets, and furnish a livelihood to many of the lower class of the people, who sell them in the markets. The water of this lake is brackish, but not very salt. Where the most easterly branch of the Nile fell into it, still remain some ruins of the antient city of Tanis, which I had not an opportunity of visiting.