142 DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
is supposed to correspond to the canal of Man- 
sura ; and Andreossi imagines, that the ca- 
nal of Moez, which overflows the province of 
Sharkie, represents the course of the Tanitic 
branch. The openings of the lake which commu- 
nicate with the sea are shut up by shallow bars, 
which are only pervious to light vessels. Andre- 
ossi observed two other communications with the 
sea, which were closed by factitious mounds. 
The narrow bank, or stripe of land which se- 
parates the lake from the sea, and extends from 
Damietta to Pelusium, lies extremely low, re- 
mains uncultivated, and, like the shores of the 
lake, is in some places covered with marine 
plants. 
Menzala, from which the lake derives its name, 
is a small ruinous town, situated on a promontory 
which projects into the lake from the Delta, be- 
tween the two semicircular gulfs which it forms 
towards the land. At the extremity of this pro- 
montory lie the populous islands of Matharia, in- 
habited by a ferocious race of fishermen, who form 
a separate class, and have little intercourse with the 
other Egyptians, whom they prohibit from fishing 
in the lake. The ruins of San, or Tanis, are si- 
tuated upon the canal of Moez, about two leagues 
before it falls into the lake. The territory ad- 
jacent to Menzala is fertile and populous on the 
side of Damietta, but towards Pelusium becomes 
