LAKE MENZALE. 
421 
which was supported by four jasper columns, the polish of which 
was as perfect as on the day they were finished; one alone had a 
small piece broken out of it ; a fifth column of the same materials, 
and in as good a state, was at the entrance. We returned about 
five, having passed the whole length of the town, which is about 
two miles. 
May 1. — Major Missett having informed me he did not wish to 
detain the Panther any longer, I was all day employed in preparing 
my dispatches. Our baggage arrived, and to morrow we go to the 
Lake Menzale, which was but little known till the arrival of the 
French in Egypt, when General Andreossi was directed by Bona- 
parte to make a survey of it. This was published in the first vol. 
of the Memoires sur I'Egypte, with a memorial, giving a very in- 
teresting account of the lake itself, the inhabitants of its shores, and 
the ruins in its vicinity. 
May 2,' — In the morning we sent off the baggage, and soon after- 
wards followed ourselves on horses and mules, to the borders of the 
Lake Menzale. Signor Gabriello and the Padre accompanied us. 
We had four vessels waiting for us ; two very good and large ; the 
other two, small fishing-boats. We embarked near the tomb of 
Schech Ghalfa, with a very fair and stiflP breeze. In half an hour 
we fell in with a chain of islands, which are totally omitted by 
General Andreossi in his otherwise excellent chart of the lake. 
After two hours Sail we passed between two islands, through a chan- 
nel not above thirty yards wide, on the north bank of which was 
the tomb of Schech Elsebi, which are accurately laid down in the 
General's chart. The wind continued fair, but the men said that it 
had driven the water from this to the eastern extremity of the lake, 
