ROSETTA, or RASCHID, a considerable town of Egypt, situated on the canal of Rosetta, anciently the Balbitinum, one of the two great channels by which the Nile delivers its waters into the Mediterranean. Rosetta was built about the year 870 A. D. Even so late as the 13th century, it was a place of little import ance, yet when the other canal ceased to become na vigable, Rosetta became in the 16th century, the em porium of the merchandise of Alexandria and Cairo. It is HOW one of the handsomest towns in Egypt, ex tending about a league in length, by a quarter of a mile in breadth, along the western bank of the Nile. Although the streets are not regular. and are very nar row, not more than two yards, according to Sir Robert Wilson, each successive story of the houses project ing over the one below, so as to give a gloomy appear ance to the town, yet the town has an agreeable ap pearance in comparison with Eastern cities. The houses are built of a dingy red brick, while all the mosques, minarets, and chief houses, are plastered and white-washed. These mosques and minarets arc the principal public buildings; and as the houses have flat roofs, they appear to more advantage, overtopping them with their bold and picturesque architecture.
The environs of the town have been long celebrated: Groves of date, banana, sycamore, the palm, and other trees, surround it on all sides, and the orange, lemon, the pomegranate, and the pear trees, con tribute their beauties and perfume to the city. The garden of Egypt, as it is called, viz. the richest part of the Delta, is seen on the opposite side of the Nile, clothed with vegetation.
The chief article of cultivation near Rosetta is rue, which is one of the principal articles of export. Among the branches of commerce peculiitr to the town, are spices, cotton dyed red, brought from the adjacent districts, dressed flax, linen clothes, silk dies. There are store houses of natron in Rosetta. The quay is handsome and well built; population about 9000. East longitude 30° 28' 20". North latitude 31° 25' 0". See the Travels of Savary, Sonini, and Niebuhr.