Note 32 — Chapter VI

The inundation in this lake extended farther than the eye could reach. The banks of the canal formed a road for communicating with the interior of the country; a bridge of boats united the banks, one of the boats being moveable, for the purpose of allowing vessels to pass in and out of Lake Mareotis. Before the army wholly left the country, the boats forming the bridge were sunk in the cut, and served for a foundation upon which the banks were rebuilt. When the British took Alexandria, in March, 1807, a detachment was sent to take Rosetta; but they were repulsed by those Turks who had accompanied the army on its march to and from Cairo, and who had acquired a considerable portion of British discipline. The rays of the sun had by this time so far dried up the salt water in Lake Mareotis as to render it passable; but the British again cut the banks of the canal, and admitted the sea into it, to protect Alexandria from being attacked by the Turks.