2-913-622 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Vessels passing the bar at the Rosetta Mouth of the Nile, 1854. Ships off the north coast of Egypt. 'As we approached the bar of sand, which constantly shifts its position, and prevents vessels of any considerable tonnage entering the Nile, porpoises and numbers of seabirds sported round the vessel; and we encountered a little fleet of djermes, the coasting boats of Egypt, whose pretty lateen sails are very picturesque objects...To the east, a low shore is indented with lagunes, which furnish salt to the Egyptians. Two forts command the Mouth of the Nile. When constructed by Mohammed Ali, they stood upon the sea-shore; now the yearly deposit of sand has so accumulated, that the forts are above half a mile from the shore...Some distance up the left bank of the river stands Fort St Julian; near this was found the celebrated trilingual "Rosetta Stone", in the British Museum'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.