DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 121 
Pagus of Strabo was placed a little to the eastward, 
and between its position and Alexandria was the site 
of the Chersonesus Parva of Ptolemy. Mareia, the 
Palaemaria of Ptolemy, placed by Herodotus on the 
confines of Egypt and Libya, coincides with the mo- 
dern Mariout on the north of the lake Mareotis. 
The lake Mareotis, probably at first an arm of the 
sea, occupied, in the time of Strabo, Pliny, and 
Ptolemy, an extent of 60 miles in circuit, and ex- 
tended towards the south-east more than 80 miles. 
Its banks were once covered with populous towns 
and villages ; it communicated by different canals 
with the Canopic branch of the Nile, and in its 
vicinity was produced the celebrated Mareotic 
wine ; but these canals have been long interrupted, 
the lake itself has disappeared, and instead of its 
ancient vines, its place is only marked by some 
scattered palms, and a degree of verdure slightly 
superior to that of the desert. To the eastward of 
Mariout lies the bay of Alexandria, about three 
leagues in breadth, and separated into two ports 
by the island Pharos, which is now connected with 
the continent. The country between the Plin- 
thine bay and Alexandria has relapsed into its pri- 
mitive sterility, and in various places exhibits the 
ruins of ancient cities, partially covered with sand, 
among which Taposiris, the Bosiri of Marmol, was, 
in the time of that author, distinguished by the 
superior grandeur of its remains. The geogra- 
