Damieta, a port-town of Egypt, situated on the eastern mouth of the river Nile, four miles from the sea, and 100 miles north of Grand Cairo. E. Long. 32° and N. Lat. 31°. The present town stands upon a different site from the ancient Damietta so repeatedly attacked by the European princes. The latter, according to Abulfeda, was a "town surrounded by walls, and situated at the mouth of the eastern branch of the Nile." Stephen of Byzantium informs us, that it was called Thamnatis under the government of the Greeks of the lower empire, but that it was then very inconsiderable. It increased in importance every day, in proportion as Pelusium, which was frequently plundered, lost its power. The total ruin of that ancient town occasioned the commerce of the eastern parts of the Delta to be transferred to Damietta. It was, however, no longer a place of strength, when, towards the year 238 of the Hegira, the emperors of Constantinople took possession of it a second time. The importance of a harbour so favourably situated opened the eyes of the caliphs. In the year 244 of the Hegira, Elmetouakkel surrounded it with strong walls. This obstacle did not prevent Roger king of Damietta-Sicily from taking it from the Mahometans in the year 550 of the Hegira. He did not, however, long enjoy his conquest. Salah Eddin, who about that period mounted the throne of Egypt, expelled the Europeans from Damietta. Fifteen years after they returned to besiege it; but this able sultan baffled all their efforts. Notwithstanding their land army was supported by a fleet of 1200 sail, they were obliged to make a disgraceful retreat.

It was the fate of this place to be constantly besieged. In the year 615 of the Hegira, under the reign of Eladel, the crusaders attacked it with a very considerable force. They landed on the western shore of the Nile; and their first care was to surround their camp with a ditch and pallidado. The mouth of the river was defended by two towers, furnished with numerous garrisons. An enormous iron chain, stretching from one side to the other, hindered the approach of vessels. The crusaders carried by storm the tower on the same side with their camp, broke the chain, and opened the entrance of the river for their fleet. Nejm Eddin, the sultan's son, who was encamped near Damietta, covered it with an army. To stop the enemies vessels he threw a bridge over the Nile. The Franks overturned it, and the prince adopted the measure of choking up the mouth of the river, which he almost rendered impassable by several large boats he sunk there. After alternate and various successes, many bloody battles, and a siege of 17 months, the Christian princes took Damietta by storm. They did not, however, long enjoy the fruit of so much blood spilt, and of an armament which had cost immense sums. Completely invested near the canal of Achmoun, by the waters of the Nile and by the Egyptian army, they purchased their lives and their liberty by the sacrifice of their conquest.

One-and-thirty years after this defeat St Louis carried Damietta without striking a stroke. The Arabs, however, soon recovered it; but, tired of keeping a place which continually drew upon them the most warlike nations of Europe, they totally destroyed it, and rebuilt it further up in the country. This modern Damietta, first called Menchib, as Abulfeda tells us, has preserved the memory of its origin in a square still called by that name. Writers in general have confounded these two towns, ascribing to the one the attributes of the other. The modern Damietta is rounded in a semicircle on the eastern bank of the Nile, two leagues and a half from the mouth of it. The eye, placed at one of the extremities of the crescent, takes in its whole extent. It is reckoned to contain 80,000 souls. It has several squares, the most considerable of which has retained the name of Menchib. The bazars are filled with merchants. Spacious ghals, or khans, collecting under their porticos the stuffs of India, the silks of mount Lebanon, fal-ammoniac, and pyramids of rice, proclaim that it is a commercial town. The houses, those in particular which are on the banks of the river, are very lofty. They have in general handsome saloons built on the top of their terraces, which are cheerful belvederes, open to every wind, where the Turk, effeminately reclining on a sopha, passes his life in idleness. king, in looking on the sea, which bounds the horizon on one side, on the great lake that extends itself on the other, and on the Nile, which, running between them, traverses a rich country. Several large mosques, adorned with lofty minarets, are dispersed over the town. The public baths, lined with marble, are distributed in the same manner as those of Grand Cairo. The linen you are served with is clean, and the water very pure. The heat and the treatment in them, so far from injuring the health, serve to strengthen, nay even to improve it, if used with moderation. This custom, founded on experience, is general in Egypt.

The port of Damietta is continually filled with a multitude of boats and small vessels. Those called Scherm serve to convey the merchandise on board the ships in the road, and to unload them; the others carry on the coasting trade. This town carries on a great trade with Syria, with Cyprus, and Marseilles. The rice called Mecelani, of the finest quality there is in Egypt, is cultivated in the neighbouring plains. The exports of it amount annually to about six millions of livres. The other articles of the produce of the country are linens, sal-ammoniac, corn, &c. A ruinous policy for the country prohibits the exportation of this last article; but the law is evaded, and it passes under the name of rice.

The Christians of Aleppo and Damascus, settled in this town, have for several ages carried on its principal commerce. Turkish indolence, content with extorting from them from time to time, induces them to become rich. The exportation of rice to foreign countries is prohibited; but by means of some douceurs to the customhouse officers, the people of Provence load annually several ships with it. The Boyaz preventing them from entering the Nile, their cargoes are conveyed on board by the boats of the country. This inconvenience is the source of endless vexation and abuse. The boat, which is loaded in the evening with rice of the first quality, is frequently not that which arrives at the ship; an inferior quality is substituted for it during the night. The Marseilles captains, aware of these ruses, without being able to prevent them, endeavour to play off trick against trick, so that this commerce has become a general scene of knavery. But the badness of the port is still more detrimental to Damietta. The road where the vessels lie being exposed to every wind, the slightest gale obliges the captains to cut their cables and take shelter at Cyprus, or to stand off to sea. It would be easy, by cutting a canal only of half a league, to open a passage for ships into the Nile, where there is deep water. This work, which might be executed at very little expense, would render Damietta a noble harbour; but despotic, insensible to the interest of the people, is always surrounded by destruction in its progress, and wants both the will and the power to create.

The tongue of land on which Damietta is situated, straitened on one side by the river, and on the other by the western extremity of lake Menzale, is only from two to six miles wide from east to west. It is intersected by innumerable rivulets in every direction, which render it the most fertile spot in Egypt. The soil there produces, communibus annis, 80 bushels of rice for one. The other produce is in the same proportion. It is there that nature, lavishing profusely her pomp and riches, presents flowers, fruits, and harvests, at every season of the year. Winter never deprives it of these advantages; its beauties are never impaired by summer. Destructive heats, as well as chilling colds, are equally unknown in that happy spot. The thermometer varies only from 9 to 24 degrees above the freezing point. Damietta is indebted for this charming temperature to the immense quantity of water with which it is surrounded. The verdure is nowhere so fresh; the trees are nowhere covered with such quantities of fruit. The rivulets around the fields of rice are lined with several kinds of reeds, some of which rise to a great height. The reed calamus is here found in abundance, which is made use of for writing by the orientals. Its slender stalk bears long narrow leaves, which hang gracefully, and spreading branches covered with white flowers. Here also are to be seen forests of papyrus, of which the ancient Egyptians made their paper. Strabo, who calls it Bidder, gives an accurate description of it. It is here also that the Lotus, of which the Arabs have preferred the primitive name of Nuphar, exalts its lofty stalk above the waters. Its large calyx blows either of an azure blue or of a brilliant white, and it appears with the majesty of the king of the aquatic plants. The marshes and the canals in the interior parts of the country are filled with this superb flower, which diffuses a most agreeable odour.

There are a great many villages around Damietta, in most of which are manufactures where the most beautiful linens of the country are fabricated. The finest napkins in particular are made there, fringed with silk. You are served at table with them, but especially on ceremonial visits, when the slave presents you with one to wipe your mouth with, after you have drank your sherbet, or eat the sweetmeats, which are carried round on a silver plate to all the company. These small towns, generally surrounded with little woods, or trees promiscuously planted, form a whimsical and picturesque assemblage. By the side of the tamarind and the melancholy tamarind, one sees the elegant caffia tree, with its clusters of yellow flowers, like those of the cytisus. The top of the date-tree, loaded with enormous bunches, rises above the grove. The caffia, with its sweet-scented flower, grows under its shade. The orange and lemon trees cover the labourer's cabin with their golden fruit. The banana-tree with its long leaves, the pomegranate with its scarlet flower, and the fig-tree with its fugary fruit, throw a vast variety into these landscapes.