138 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
The province of Sharkie, adjacent to the Nile 
of Damietta, is rich and fertile, but not so uni- 
form in the quality of its soil as the district of 
Garbie. Towards the shore, the consolidation of 
the alluvial territory appears to be incomplete, 
and the surface consists of a series of ridges, in- 
tersected with marshes and lagoons. The great 
lake Menzala, the Tanis of the ancients, extends 
about sixty miles, between Damietta and Pelu- 
sium, either as a continued surface of water, or 
as a morass, intersected with banks and ridges. 
The water of the lake is fresh at the period of the 
overflowing of the Nile, but during the rest of 
the year is rendered salt or brackish by its com- 
munication with the sea.* It contains various 
islands, which still exhibit the ruins of towns and 
cities, and Edrisi mentions the names of Nable, 
Tuna, Samna, and Hesn-Almai, all of which could 
only be approached by water. As these ruins 
emerge considerably above the level of the sur- 
rounding water, the natives in the vicinity of the 
lake give them the appellation of mountains. The 
isles, which are nearly level with the water, are 
barren, uncultivated, and void of every species 
of vegetation, except marine plants. The water 
of the lake is extremely phosphorescent ; the bot- 
tom consists of clay, mingled with sand, mud. 
* Geographia Nubiensis Edrisii; Paris, 1619, p. 103. 
