DAMIETTA, a large town of Lower Egypt, situated on the eastern branch of the Nile, about six miles above its junction with the sea. Under the lower empire it was called Thamiatis, and succeeded to the wealth and consequence of Pelusium, then rapidly declining with the drying up of the branch on which it was situated. During the middle ages it was a grand debateable point between the Saracens and the crusaders, being considered as a principal key, not only of Egypt, but of the Holy Land. The most remarkable siege was in 1218, when the crusaders, after investing it for seventeen months, and after several sharp actions, succeeded in taking the place; but having allowed themselves to be entangled amid the canals of the Nile, and surrounded by the Egyptian army, they were forced to exchange their conquest for liberty to reimbark. In 1249 St Louis carried the place by a coup-de-main ; but being soon afterwards taken prisoner, he too purchased his freedom by restoring it. The Arabians then burned the place, but it was subsequently rebuilt somewhat higher up the river.

Damietta is situated on the narrow neck of land, from two to six miles in breadth, interposed between the Nile and the lake Menzaleh. Its general appearance is as picturesque as that of any Egyptian town not dignified by the remains of antiquity; the houses are white, and built in a crescent along the right bank of the river, where it takes a bend; and on the opposite side is a peninsula, with the village of Selanie, half seen amidst a grove of sycamore and palm trees. The houses, especially near the river, are very high; most of them have pleasant saloons on their terraecd roofs, commanding a delightful view of the Nile, the lake, and the rich country intervening. The walls, formerly so strong, are now in ruins, and the two modern forts are not in a defensible state. The chief disadvantage of Damietta consists in the want of a harbour, vessels being obliged to lie in the roads at the mouth of the river, where they are exposed to all winds. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, the commerce of Damietta is very considerable. That with the European states, indeed, is almost quite engrossed by Alexandria; but with Syria and Cyprus, and other parts of the Turkish empire, Damietta maintains an extensive intercourse. It exports thither hides, tallow, rice, and occasionally corn, whilst it receives in return tobacco to the extent of 115,000 quintals, wood, soap, cotton, and raw silk. The country around Damietta is perhaps the most fertile in Egypt, as the ample opportunities for irrigating the land are assiduously improved. There is a very extensive cultivation of a species of rice called mezelaoui, which surpasses in quality any other raised in Egypt. The embankments formed for raising, and the extensive buildings and mills employed in cleaning and bleaching it, employ a very considerable capital. This branch of industry is reported to have suffered much from the French whilst they occupied the country. In the neighbourhood of the city there are very extensive salt-pans, into which the water is admitted at the season of the year when the Nile is low, in consequence of which a considerable influx from the sea takes place. This territory, with the city itself, is threatened by a serious danger from the gradual encroachments of the lake of Menzaleh towards the river, by which the space between these two waters is gradually diminished. Another apprehension is, that this branch of the Nile, which is annually becoming shallower, will cease in a few years to be navigable for boats of large burden. Under a more active nation and government this danger might be easily guarded against, but the Turkish administration seem to have viewed it chiefly as a pretence for raising money, and the works hitherto attempted for the purpose have generally failed in a few years.

The population of Damietta is stated by Savary at 80,000, but more sober estimates reduce it to 30,000 or 40,000. Though surrounded on every side by water, its air is considered as very salubrious; and the children of foreigners, who, it appears, have in Cairo scarcely any chance of arriving at maturity, are reared here without any peculiar danger or difficulty.

The inhabitants subsist chiefly upon fish, which is furnished in great abundance and excellence from the lake Menzaleh, and many hundred quintals of which are salted for exportation. Wild fowls are also very plentiful; but butcher-meat is bad, scarce, and dear. The commercial part of the society consists chiefly of Christians from Syria, who are accused of being addicted to habits of intoxication in even a greater degree than is usual with those of the same profession in Mahommedan countries. Long. 31. 49. 45. E. Lat. 31. 25. N.