BOULAC, or BULAK, a town in Egypt, suppo sed by Niehhur to be the site of the ancient Litopo lis. It is situated upon the Nile, about two miles west of Grand Cairo ; and may be considered as the port of Lower Egypt, as Misriel-Attike is of Up per Egypt. It is a large but irregular town, which seems to have gradually risen around the place of em barkation, and is now the scene of great commercial activity, which the traveller Sonnini describes in a very picturesque style : "A multitude of men, oc cupied in removing bales of merchandise, exhiuited the activity of commercial ports. A groat number of boats, arranged in rows, sunk by degrees in the water, as they received their loading ; while others, whose cargo was unloaded, rose above the rest. All, agitated by the waves which an impetuous wind put in motion, balanced their long sail-yards ; and the moving and diversified picture, which the port of Bou lac presented to my view, made those moments pass rapidly away, which I was under the necessity of passing there." (Sonnini's Travels, vol. iii. p. 10.) This town contains a custom-house, a large bazar, or market-place, magnificent public baths, and various magazines and square buildings, named, in the lan guage of the country, Okals, which serve at once the purpose of an inn to the merchants, and of a ware house for their goods. One of the largest and most
convenient of these buildings was built by All Bey the Great, and is called the Alexandrian Okal, as being chiefly used for merchandise brought from that city. The grounds between the houses of Bou lac, and between this port and the town of Kahira, or Cairo, are filled with gardens, which give a rich and pleasing appearance to the place, and afford an abundant supply of fruits and vegetables. In the middle of the river, nearly opposite to the port of Boulac, is a small island, where NIurad Bey had a summer house, or place of retirement, and where are also several fertile gardens. On the opposite shore of the river is the village Embabe, or Embaell, fa med for the excellence of its butter, declared by Son nini to be the only place in Egypt where butter can be eaten fresh. The town of Boulac was almost completely destroyed by the French army in 1799. See Sonnini's Travels in Egypt, vol. iii. ; Brown's Travel's in flfrira; and Savary's letters fr9m Egypt. (q)