DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
139 
in lavish profusion, fruits and flowers all the year 
round. The adjacent villages are surrounded with 
groves, where the elegant cassia displays its clusters 
of yellow flowers, beside the sycamore, the date, 
and the melancholy tamarind. The rivulets which 
intersect the fields of rice, are lined with different 
kinds of reeds, whose narrow leaves and white 
flowers produce a very picturesque effect. In the 
vicinity of Damietta, the ancient papyrus vegetates 
luxuriantly, and rises to the height of nine feet. 
In the marshes and canals, the mystic lotus, which 
the Arabs denominate Nuphar, raises its lofty stalk 
above the waters, like the king of aquatic plants, 
and expands its large calyx of an azure blue or 
brilliant white colour. The Nile of Damietta, at 
its greatest breadth, seldom exceeds seven hundred 
yards, and sometimes contracts itself to one hun- 
dred, while its depth varies from three to twenty- 
four feet. Though situated on one of the chief 
branches of the Nile, Damietta is not mentioned 
by any writer of high antiquity. Tamiathis is in- 
deed mentioned by Stephanus Byzantinus, as the 
name of a city of Egypt \ but it is conjectured that 
he applied this denomination to the district of Ta- 
mieh in Upper Egypt. It is, however, certain, 
that the modern town is built at a greater distance 
from the mouth of the river than the ancient city, 
which was the scene of so many obstinate conflicts 
between the crusaders and the Arabs. After the 
