# Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 1/Chapter 12

Contents
CHAPTER XII.
EGYPT.
EFORE the form of the earth was known to be that of a globe, every nation thought that their country occupied the centre of the world, and a mere child could point out the precise spot — lake, mountain, or temple — which was supposed to be the middle of the earth. But the exploration of our planet has proved that on the circuit of the globe, no less than in infinite space, "the centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere."
Nevertheless, if the surface of the globe is studied according to the disposition of the continents, Egypt, the Misr of the natives, more than any other region may certainly be considered as occupying the veritable centre. From a geometrical point of view, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Mesopotamia might have as much right as the plains of the Lower Nile to claim a central position in the group of the three continents of the old world. But Egypt has the advantage over them of offering an easy passage from one marine basin to the other. Here cross each other the two great diagonal lines of the world, that of the overland routes between Asia and Africa and the ocean highways between Europe and India. The very opening of the Suez Canal has placed Egypt midway between America and Australia. The ancient Egyptians were quite justified in giving their country the position of the heart in the terrestrial globe, and one of the etymological renderings of its ancient name of Memphis gives it the sense of "The Middle of the World."
Historic Retrospect.
The people who dwell on the banks of the Lower Nile played a part in history corresponding with the geographical position of the land. Egypt is the first region of which there is any record in the annals of human culture. It already existed as a civilised power conscious of its own greatness at a period antecedent to the foundation of Babylon and Nineveh, and when the whole of Europe was still overrun Ly savage tribes that have left no record behind them.
The inhabitants of Asia Minor and Hellas, who were destined to become the teachers of the nations succeeding them, were still cavemen and denizens of the ​808 NOETH-EAST AFEICA. forest, armed only with clubs and sharpened flints, at a time when astronomical observations, arithmetic, geometry, architecture, all the arts and nearly all the industries of the present day, as well as the games which now delight our child- hood, or afford relaxation from the serious work of life, were already known to their Egyptian contemporaries. The origin of our sciences, and many moral pre- cepts still taught by the " wisdom of nations," are foimd recorded on the papyri and on the bas-reliefs of the monuments of Upper Egypt ; whilst many a dogma on which existing religions are based, may be traced in its original form to the documents discovered in the tombs of Thebes and Abydos. To Egypt we owe the art of writing, afterwards modified by the Phoenicians, by whom it was communicated to all the peoples of the Mediterranean basin. The very groove of our thoughts had its origin on the banks of the Nile. Mankind is undoubtedly ignorant of its first epochs, nor can anyone assert positively that civilisation first arose in Egypt. Nevertheless, we are unable to trace it further back than the written records of this land, whose pyramids mark for us the limit of past times. Egyptian Chronology. The Egyptians had no chronology properly so-called, their only division of time consisting of the length of reign of their successive sovereigns. But the uncertain dates obtained from the succession of the reigns partially indicated on the buildings, and those handed down by Manetho, a priest under Ptolemy Phila- delphus, can be checked by a few fixed dates, such as those of astronomical pheno- mena. Biot, when examining the hieroglyphics translated by Emmanuel de Roug^, was thus enabled to determine three dates in the history of Egypt com- prised between the fifteenth and thirteenth centuries of the Ancient era. In the series of events the Egyptian annals accordingly yield us at least one established date, seven centuries anterior to the Chaldean era of Nabonassar, which another astronomical coincidence has enabled us to place in the year 746. Chabas has also found in a " medical " papyrus in the library of Leipzig the cartouche of Menkeri or Mycerinus, followed by a reference to the solar ascension of Sothis or Sirius, as having taken place in the ninth year of his reign. If the interpretation of the text be correct, calculation would fix the date between the year 3,007 and 3,010 of the ancient era, or a thousand years after the epoch attributed to the reign of Menkera in Mariette's chronological table. In any case, it is to be hoped that future discoveries will enable us with certainty to trace back the course of ages, and to determine positive dates for the origins of history, with which may be connected the fluctuating chronology of the most remote events of which the human race has preserved the memory. The same necessity which has caused the metrical system to be adopted for the measurement of terrestrial spaces, and which is now endeavouring to establish a common meridian, renders it equally indispensable that a common era should be sought, so as to establish a concordance for the events of various nations. Sooner or later, when the savants shall endeavour to get rid of the absurd chronoios;ical system which at present prevails in Christian Europe, ​SOCIAL CONDITION OP THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 800 dividing history into two eras, in the first of which the years and centuries are counted backwards, they will very probably search the Egj'ptian annals for the first clearly defined starting-point between the dim twilight of unknown ages and the broad daylight of history. Social Coxditiox of the Axciext Egyptians. So ancient is the civilisation of Egypt that in certain respects it was known only by virtue of its decadence. The national records reveal to us the peoples of the Nile Valley constantly in a state of bondage, consequently living under a system which must have debased them, suppressing all personal impulse, replacing spontaneous growth of thought by formal rule, and substituting formulas for ideas. But the extent to which a nation can develop itself and increase its store of knowledge is determined by the amount of liberty which it enjoys. AVTiat a ruler lavishly squanders in one day, to enhance his glory, had been laboriously acquired by free men or by those who enjoyed intervals of rest from the slavery imposed upon them by internecine warfare and the vicissitudes of their oppressors. Hence before being able to acquire their material resources, and the science of which the monuments they have left us are an existing proof, the Egyptians must have passed through a period of autonomy and obtained a state of relative indepen- dence. The erection of the Great Pyramids, which so many writers have appealed to as an indication of the highly civilised state of Egypt, is in fact a striking proof that before this period the nation had made very considerable progress in the arts and sciences. But at a period of about fifty centuries anterior to the present time the people had already commenced to degenerate. As Herder remarks, can any one conceive the dire state of misery and the utter degradation into which the masses must have fallen before it became possible to employ them in erecting such tombs ? A mournful civilisation must that have been, which employed thousands of men for years in transporting a few blocks of stone ! The slavery of the Egyptians, attri- buted to Joseph by the Hebrew writers, must have been effected long before that time, to enable the kings and priests to employ them on such works. The land and its inhabitants had already become the property of the Pharaohs ; under these masters the people sank to the level of a mere herd of cattle. Like the Nile, the Egyptian civilisation conceals its source in regions hitherto unknown, and, in times antecedent to King M^nes, whom the anuais state to be the founder of the empire, the hieroglyphics show the Ilor-chesou, or " servants of Horns," also engaged in raising monuments in Eg}T)t, according to plans traced on gazelle skins. The social state of the people inhabiting the banks of the Nile at this period is unknown ; but the most ancient buildings that they have left us, notably the step pyramid of Saqqarah, and the temple of Annakhis near the great sphinx, assuredly prove that they already possessed a well-established civilisation. No other Egyptian statue is more lifelike or approaches nearer to the high artistic standard than that of Khephren, -although it is one of the most ancient. In the earlier times of Egyptian history, the paintings which cover the walls ​810 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. of the necropolis show that the philosophy of the Egyptians was humane and rational, and, as Mariette remarks, it in no way resembled the mystical fetishism which sprang up in Thebes twenty centuries later. From all points of view the most perfect epoch is precisely the most ancient that is known to us. When Egypt entered upon one of those periods of warlike rule which so many persons still consider the indication of true greatness, the Egyptian sovereigns were enabled to use for their conquests the effective power which their armies had already acquired during the course of a long-established culture. Their empire already extended far beyond the natural limits of the Nilotic basin, even far into Asia. According to Mariette and most other Egyptologists, the monarchy of the Pharaohs, at the time of its greatest extent, embraced the whole region comprised between the equatorial countries of the Upper Nile, the shores of the Indian Ocean, and the mountains of the Caucasus. But warlike expeditions are always the forerunning sign of decadence. Under the rule of the conquering Ramses II. the decline became rapid, and the latter part of his reign is marked by barbarous works, and sculptures " of a most extra- ordinary coarseness." The force derived from a superior civilisation ended by exhausting itself, and Egypt was conquered in her turn, and for more than twenty centuries she has never ceased to be under the rule of foreign dynasties. Present Social axd Political Position. The political and social destiny of the cultivators of the Egyptian soil is clearly indicated by the surroundings amidst which they live. The Nile, the common property of the nation, floods all the land at the same time ; and before it had been surveyed by geometricians, the land itself should also have been rendered common property. The irrigating canals, which are indispensable for cultivation beyond the limits attained by the annual floods, can be dug out and kept in order only by multitudes of workmen labouring in unison. There is, therefore, only one of two alternatives to be accepted by the agricul- turalists, either to unite together in a commune, or else to become the slaves of a native or foreign master. During the course of written history, the latter alterna- tive is that which has been realised, whatsoever may have been the apparent pros- perity of the country under the sway of the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, and the Sultans. The bas-reliefs of the monuments show us the Egyptian of three thousand years ago bowed down beneath the lash, just as they are at the present day. The victim of a continual oppression, and an excessive extortion, the fellah is unable to shift his quarters like the nomad Bedouin. In the vast level plain of the delta, or in the narrow valley of the river, there is not a single retreat in which he can hope to find a refuge from his taskmasters. Although his misery is without issue and his future without hope, still he passionately loves the land of his birth. jVway from the banks of his beloved river, the fellah is overwhelmed by sadness and dies of home- sickness. The most commonplace landscapes are still the most beaiitiful in the eyes of their inhabitants. ​PRESENT SOCIAL ANT) POLITICAL POSITION. 811 For nearly a century the conquerors of western Europe ha>x» disputed the possession of Egypt, which was even in 1072 spoken of by Leibnitz as the natural centre of the Old World, and the key to all the colonial jMssessions on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The vital importance of this commanding position could not fail to be observed by statesmen who were contending for the possession of the Indian peninsula. Had the armies of the French Republic succeeded in retaining Egypt, which they had so rapidly overrun, there would have been an end to British rule in Hindustan, and England would have lost the inheritance of the Great Mogul. But after the destruction of the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, Great Britain, resum- ing undisputed possession of the ocean highways, again became in her turn the mistress of Egypt, without even having the trouble to conquer it, and the French were obliged to withdraw after two years of occupation. To the clash of arms succeeded diplomatic manauvres and incessant struggles for obtaining the upper hand at Cairo and Constantinople. At the time of the inauguration of the Suez Canal, which opened up a direct route for steamers to India, and was the work of a French engineer, France at last seemed on the verge of obtaining a kind of suzerainty over Egypt. But England, concentrating all her efforts to secure this highway to India, has finally succeeded in acquiring political possession of Egypt, just as she has secured to herself the commercial pre-eminence over the canal between the two seas. Oflicially, England intervenes only to advise and assist the sovereign, but in reality her envoys are not far from being the absolute masters of the land. They draw up the treaties, declare war, and conclude I)eace, distribute places and pensions, dictate the sentences to the magistrates. But they leave the authority to the Egj-ptian officials, when it is necessary to sanction lists of taxes or to undertake affairs for which it does not suit them to be respon- sible. It may be said that the Nile basin, with its 40,000,000 inhabitants, has for a period, more or less extended, virtually become part of the vast British Empire. Although the English generals have scarcely any army at their disposition, mer- cenaries of all nations will be found ready to assist them in finishing the conquest of the country, in recent times commenced on behalf of the Khedive and the Sultan by Munzinger, Baker, Gordon, Gessi, Stone, Prout, and others. But the military difficulties attendant upon the annexation of this country yriW not be the only ones that Great Britain will have to deal with. Even should the other European powers assist England in consolidating her supremacy in Egypt, this authority would not be supported, as in most other English colonies, by the co-operation of a population of British origin. Those amongst the foreigners settled in the country who dispose of the financial resources, establish industries, conduct the papers, and guide public opinion, are mostly Continental Europeans, Italians, Frenchmen, Greeks, and Austrians, whose interests and aspirations are often antagonistic to those of the English. These European immigrants, much better preferred by the natives to the phlegmatic Englishman, who will always be prevented by the climate from founding colonies properly so-called, form in the towns an ever-increasing community, which already numbers nearly 100,000 ​312 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. persons, and which will not fail to act as a check on the exercise of British power. Undoubtedly the new masters possess a certain means by which they can make themselves, if not loved, at least respected by the people. For they have it in their power to restore the land to its cultivators, to rescue them from the usurers who absorb their substance, to assure them an impartial justice, and to leave " Egypt more and more to the Egyptians." But what Government ever possessed this virtue of gradually effacing itself ? Will that of Great Britain set the example ? If the solemn and reiterated affirmations of the heads of the English Government are to be believed, their only ambition is to re-establish order in the finances and government of Egypt, and then, this pious work accomplished, to withdraw, leaving their successors to follow the good example they have set. GEOnRAPHICAL EXPLORATION. Connected as it is with the circle of attraction of European politics, Egypt is naturally one of the best-explored countries of the African continent. At the time of the French expedition towards the end of last century, the numerous scientific men who accompanied Bonaparte, Desaix, and Kleber, thoroughly studied the land from the various standpoints of its mineralogy, geology, the history of the soil, hydrography, annals, architecture, manners and customs, and the social economy of the country, and their joint labours still constitute the most considerable scientific monument which exists regarding the lower Nile valley. The general map, which they drew up to the scale of Yis^J^ins^jry ^^^ ^^^® remained in many respects the most complete that we possess, notably for Upper Egypt, or Said. The smaller map that Linant de Bellefonds, Director of Public Works in Egypt, caused to be engraved, is another valuable document. But, beyond the salient features of the country, defined by the rocky backbone which bounds the verdant plains, the outlines of the land change yearly, and any local maps, drawn up with the greatest care during the preceding generation, would have to be nearly entirely recast. On one hand the slopes of the Nile have been eaten away by the water ; on the other, alluvial deposits have been developed, which the fellahin have already embanked and commenced to cultivate. Choked up canals have been replaced by other irrigating channels, whilst routes and villages have changed both locality and name. The special maps, made for the survey of the great domains, constantly assign them different outlines. On the other hand, the " Arabian " and " Libyan" deserts are still imknown, except along the track of a few explorers, on one side between the Nile and the ports of the Red Sea, and on the other in the direction of the oases. It is time that the country in which Eratosthenes, more than two thousand years ago, first measured an arc of the meridian, should at last possess a network 'of geodetic measurements with wjiich all the local maps might be connected. But most Egyptian explorers have studied the ancient history of the people
Cbampolliun's discovery revealed the mystery of the hieroglyphics so long and so earnestly sought for, and when the savants were able at last to decipher the inscriptions which cover in thousiinds the walls and columns of the immense architectural librar}' of Egypt, they plunged with rupture into this hitherto almost unknown field of inquiry. To the works of Herodotus and of the Greek geographers were now added still more precious documents, the so-called " tables," and the papyri written forty centuries ago by the Egj'ptiuns themselves. Thanks to the investigations of Mariette, now continued by M. Maspero, and thanks to the interpretations of Lepsius, Birch, Chabas, Emmanuel de Rouge, Diimichen, and so many other Egyptologists, the history of the ancient land of the Nile is being gradually reconstituted. The Western nations are beginning to become acquainted with the private life, the deep moral character, and as it were the very soul of this people, from whom they have inherited such a large part of their ideas. Whatever may be said to the contrary, great changes have taken place since the times represented on the oldest monuments. Doubtless the same type of face and figure may be found amongst many descendants of the Retu, and even fashions have survived, if not amongst the Egyptians at least amongst the Nubians whom they had subjugated. The art of husbandry has not been modified, at least amongst the peasantry, and as formerly " the unchanging temperature of Egypt endows the people," as Bossuet has remarked, "with solid and constant minds." But the series of historic events could not have been accomplished without producing a correspond- ing effect on the Egyptian people ; immigrants of all races have completely modified the urban civilisation. After acting as the teacher of the surrounding nations, Egypt had to be taught in her turn, and the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and European peoples successively became her masters. Extent and PoruLAXioN. Egypt may possibly now possess a smaller population than she did when at the height of her power ; but towns and villages have always been numerous on the banks of the Nile, and they follow in close proximity along the banks of the river, 08 in the time of Herodotus. In comparison with its extent of arable land, Egypt possesses one of the densest populations in the world. Indeed, Egypt proper consists entirely of lowlands which could be brought within the zone of irrigation. The rocky or sandy tracts which stretch beyond the valley of the Nile form a portion of Libya on the west, or of "Arabia," as it is called, on the east. The narrow strip of " golden thread," with its " fringes " in the delta, composes the whole of the domain of the felluhin, and the only inhabitable spots beyond these limits are a few oases to the west, and the pasturages found in the eastern uplands. The triangle of the delta and the winding river valley, which a pedes- trian traverses easily in a few hours, provided he can find a boat in which to cross the Nile, compose all the rest of the country, which Amru described to the Caliph Omar in these words : " Imagine an arid desert and a verdant plain between two mountainous ramparts ; that is Egypt." ​814 NORTH-EAST AFEICA. Egypt is officially said to possess a superficial area of 400,000 square miles, omitting the Asiatic possessions beyond the Suez Canal, .but including all the Nilotic region between Assuan and Wady-Halfa. The population of 6,800,000, according to the census of 1882, would be very small in proportion to this immense space, much less, in fact, comparatively speaking, than that of Scandinavia. But the inhabitable part of Egypt, resembling in shape a triangular kite with a long sinuous tail, is scarcely 12,000 square miles in extent, which gives the country a density of population three times greater than that of France, and even superior to that of Belgium and Saxony. Egypt is the Nile, and its very name is that by which the river was formerly known. The most ancient name of the country, that of Kem, or Kemi, that is to say, *• Black," also comes indirectly from the Nile, because it was derived from the violet tint of the alluvia deposited by the current, forming a contrast with the " red " sands and rocks of the desert. The term Kam, or Kham, applied to the African peoples in Genesis, is probably nothing more than the name of Egypt itself. From this black soil, composed of fluvial deposits, spring forth the nutritive plants ; whilst, according to an ancient legend, man himself issued from it. All the towns and villages of Egypt are disposed along the banks of the river and its canals, depending for their existence on its life-giving waters. Communications between Upper and Lower Egypt could recently be effected only by the Nile, which is* easily navigable, since boats ascend and descend with equal facility, either driven up stream by the north wind, or else drift down with the current. Shipwrecks or prolonged stoppages are likely to occur more especially at abrupt turnings, and on navigating the ravines, whence irregular winds sweep across the course of the stream. The Arabian or Coast Range. Here and there, from Assuan to Cairo, the banks of the Nile are commanded either by the slopes of mountains, or by the edges of plateaux, whose height ranges from 300 to 2,300 feet. From these heights a whole section of Egypt lies at the feet of the traveller, from the eastern to the western frontier, with all its villages, canals and cultivated lands. Lower down the yellow walls of the rocks in many places bear the aspect of quarries, whose cleared spaces are now laid out in garden-plots. It is especially towards the east that the cliffs here and there assume an imposing appearance, although nowhere rising to any great elevation. The traveller must penetrate some distance from the Nile to the neighbourhood of the Red Sea before he reaches the coast range or border chain, which, however, has been very imperfectly explored. It forms a northerly continuation of the Etbai range, some of whose peaks are said to attain a height of considerably over 6,000 feet. These highlands of the Arabian desert, commonly spoken oj^ simply as El-Jebel, or " The Mountain," consist of crystalline rocks, such as granite, gneiss, mica schist, porphyry, and diorite. They are disposed in several distinct groups, separated from each other by the ramifications of sandy wadies. One of these ​groups in Southern Egypt gives rise to the transverse chain of the Cataracts, which forms the northern frontier of Nubia proper, and merges near Assuan in the Libyan range. In the syenite and granite formations, here skirted by the rapids,
are situated the famous quarries, now abandoned, where the Pharaohs procured the materials for their obelisks, statues, and other huge monolithic blocks. Towards 2 east the same group of hills, whence springs the chain of the Cataracts, ​316 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. advances into the Reel Sea in the form of a triangular peninsula, terminating in the Ras-Benas headland, and sheltering on the south the gulf of Umm-el-Ketef, identified as the ancient port of Berenice. North of the Nubian frontier, where the crystalline rocks occupy the whole breadth of Upper Egypt, the zone of granitic formations is gradually narrowed, while still maintaining its chief elevations in the neighbourhood of the coast. This reo'ion, now frequented only by a few scattered nomad tribes, was formerly worked for its mineral wealth by nimierous gangs of miners and quarrymen. The Jebel-Zabarah, the Sraaragdus of the ancients, which rises on the Red Sea coast, under the latitude of Edfu, contains in its veins garnets and other valuable crys- tals ; and in the year 1816, Cailliaud here discovered the beds of emeralds, which though far from abundant and of rather indifferent quality, were worked by the sovereigns of Egypt down to the year 1358. North and south of the mountain are still visible the remains of the villages erected by the miners. Farther north, in the depression which runs from the Nile at Keneh to the port of Kosseir, and near the Hamamat wells, have been discovered the remains of a town of two thousand inhabitants, built of stone, and not far off vast quarries of " verde antico," of " Egyptian breccia," and of other varieties of diorite, which were used especially for cutting vases, sarcophagi, and statues. Still farther north follow the two groups forming the ancient Mount Claudian, now severally distinguished as the Jebel-Dokhan and the Jebel-Fatireh, the latter granitic, the former porphyritic. The monoliths hewn out of these hills were conveyed down to the coast of the Red Sea, and thence transported by the Suez Canal, or " Trajan's R,iver," to the Nile, and so on to Alexandria, and there shipped for all the Mediterranean cities of the Roman world. The Jebel-Dokhan, or " Smoky Mountain," the " Porphyrites Mons " of the ancients, contained a group of quarries, which during the Roman epoch was more actively worked than any other in Egypt, although the Egyptians themselves had never quarried this close-grained stone. Since the reign of the Emperor Claudius, Rome and Byzantium continued to import the admirable red porphyry, which was used in the erection of their temples and palaces. Here are still found columns 58 feet long, and 24 feet in compass, hence larger than the largest block in " Pompey's Pillar." The Arab invasion of Egypt put an end to the operations carried on at these famous quarries, whose site is still indicated by enormous heaps of refuse and the remains of large towns. The porphyry formation of the Jebel-Dokhan crops out in the midst of the granitic rocks, like the analogous porphyries of the Jebel-Katherin amid the granites of the Sinai peninsula. Over against Mount Tor, on the Sinaitic coast, stands the Jebel-Gharib, whose granite peaks rise to an altitude of 6,120 feet. This is the last lofty summit of the border range, and according to Schweinfurth, it forms the culminating point of the whole Arabian desert. So abrupt are its sides that it seems quite inaccessible. In the distance are visible Mount Tenareb and the Jebel-Shellalla, the latter separated by the Wadj-el-Tih from the Jebel-Attaka. All the mountain groups in this region are distinguished by nimierous pyramidal crests, whose spurs are ​similarly disposed in pyramids grouped symmetrically round the central cone. These uplands, which do not exceed 1,000 feet in altitude, and which are indebted for their imposing appearance to their abrupt walls falling precipitously down to the Gulf of Suez, form the northern extremity of the granitic system. Farther north, nothing occurs except limestone rocks or sand dunes. Both slopes of the range are also overlaid with layers of more recent formation. On the east side cretaceous taluses are found in many places resting on a granite foundation, and
several of the headlands along the coast belong to these cretaceous formations. Here also occur deposits of sulphur, as well as naphtha springs and beds of bitumen. Basaltic eruptions occurred at some remote period in the Jebel range, and these lavas are visible as far as the neighbourhood of Ismailia.
Geology of the Coast Range.
On the coast the prevailing rocks are sandstones and limestones of contemporary formation, in which are embedded fossil shells and polyps. Some more recent sandstones and limestones of like origin are entirely formed of these animal remains.
As on the Arabian seaboard, a gradual movement of upheaval has been observed ​818 NORTH-EAST AFEICA. along the Egyptian coast, produced either by the vertical rising of the land or by the subsidence of the surrounding waters. Altogether the west coast is more healthy and less obstructed by coral reefs than the opposite side. The sea is also deeper near the shore, and good harbours are consequently more numerous. West of the granites, schists and porphyries of the border range, the rocks over- lying the crystalline nucleus consist of sandstones and limestones. In the southern district rises an isolated sandstone mass resembling those of Nubia, Kordof&n, and Senar. This rock, especially at the Jebel-Silsileh between Assuan and Esneh, is very close-grained and disposed in regular layers, rendering it peculiarly suitable for the erection of large buildings. Hence from this source have been obtained the materials for the construction of thousands of temples and other structures. The breaches made by the ancient quarrymen in the rocks on the right side inspire a sort of awe by their prodigious dimensions. According to Charles Blanc, these mountains supplied the building stone for at least half of the old Egyptian monu- ments. The quarries on the west side, although less extensive, are more remarkable from the artistic point of view, for they contain several temples excavated in the live rock, as well as sepulchral caves and statues. Scarcely had the quarries been opened when they appear to have been, converted into tombs. In the northern section of the Arabian range the sandstones are replaced by limestones of various dates, some belonging to the cretaceous, others to the eocene epochs. To these chalk formations chiefly belong the cliffs stretching along the right bank of the Nile, which present the most varied and picturesque forms of monumental aspect, separated by mere fissures or by gloomy ravines, and often crowned with fantastic towers and pyramids. In the extreme north the last hills, terminating at Cairo itself with the Jebel- Mokattam, or " Inscribed Moimtain," are composed almost entirely of nummulites — osti*aBa, cerithium, and other shells massed together in a limestone conglomerate. Owing to the abundance of their fossils, they have become a sort of Eldorado for geologists. These nummulitic strata include in some places transparent alabasters of the choicest quality. Such are, west of Beni-Suef, those of the Jebel-Urakam, whence have been derived the materials employed in the construction of Mohammed Ali's mosque in the citadel of Cairo. Such are, also, farther south the alabasters, which take their name from the city of Alabastron, whose site was not far removed from the spot now occupied by the town of Minieh. But more important than these costly marbles are the quarries of building- stone skirting the Nile, especially those of Turah and Masarah. From the vast pyramids erected on the opposite side of the river some idea may be formed of the excavations begun six thousand years ago in these nummulitic limestone quarries, which also supplied the building materials for the cities of Memphis and Cairo. ​THE UBYAN PLATEAU— TUE MIBAOE. 819 The Libyan Plateau. The Libyan hills are lower than those skirting the right side of the river. Taken as a whole, the relief of Egypt presents the character of a plane inclined in the direction from east to west. From the crest formed by the coast range the highlands and plateaux diminish gradually in height down to the Nile Valley. From the western edge of this valley the ground also falls until at last it sinks below the level of the sea. On both sides of the strip of verdant and inhabited land fringing the Nile the zone of rocks is alike destitute of permanent dwellings. But the Libyan region being more uniform, void of lofty eminences and covered with sand, presents a more desolate appearance than the eastern zone. It already forms part of the great desert, which stretches thence westwards right across the continent to the Atlantic seaboard. Seen from the pyramid of Cheops, this Libyan plateau might seem to be nothing more than a boundless plain varied only by sand dunes. But this is merely the effect of an optical delusion, as we are assured by the few travellers who have ventured to penetrate into these dreary solitudes. Taken as a whole, the desert comprised between the Nile and the depression of the oases is a plateau of nummu- litic limestone rising to a height of 830 feet above the river level. The limits of this plateau are indicated by escarpments, while its surface is dis|)oscd in distinct sections by the erosive action of old marine waters. Hillocks of uniform elevation rising here and there above the plain serve to indicate the primitive level of the land. The base of all these promontories was undoubtedly washed in pre-quater- nary times by the Mediterranean, whose waves were broken into surf amid these rocky archipelagoes, where at present water appears only in the form of delusive mirages. The Mirage. Nowhere is this remarkable phenomenon of the mirage seen to greater advan- tage than in the Libyan and Arabian deserts. It often assumes the most weird and fantastic forms, the outlines of lovely landscapes, hills and valleys, verdant plains, everywhere interspersed with the treacherous appearance of broad lacustrine basins, glittering under the torrid rays of the tropical sun. And so vivid are these scenic effects, that the most experienced travellers, and the animals themselves, are at times deceived by the pleasant phantom and thus beguiled to their destruction. When crossing the Arabian Desert in the year 1883, Colonel Colborne tells us that on one occasion the mirage was intensely real. Before him stretched a large lake, its blue waters laughing in the sun, studded with gem-like islets clad in verdure, and bordered by castles, high pinnacles, turrets, and battlementa, and again by gleaming villages and smiling hamlets — the whole scene fairylike in its beauty, while presenting a most painful contrast to the arid sand and fierce heat and con- suming thirst from which the traveller was suffering. It is in vain that we rub our eyes and seek to disabuse ourselves of the illusion. The spectacle lies before us ​820 NORTH-EAST AFEICA. undeniable, apparently solid and tangible. We know it is mocking us, like an ignis fatuus ; but the most accurate knowledge of the physical laws which govern the phenomena will not brush the image from the retina. There is little wonder that the ignorant and inexperienced should have frequently yielded to the delusion. But life is always the price paid for such a mistake. Some years ago a company of soldiers perished from thirst in this very region. Disre- garding the warning of their guides, the unfortunate men, fresh from Egypt, and mad with thirst, broke from the ranks and rushed towards the seeming lakes of transparent water which were presented to their eyes on all sides. They pressed on eagerly towards the ever-receding phantom, and one by one fell prostrate, to leave their bones to bleach on the sands. On another occasion a detachment was sent across the desert to Berber on its way to Khartum. The soldiers, refusing to be checked by the guides, consumed all their supply of water when in sight of the El-Bok Mountains, confident of their ability to reach the imaginary lake. The heat was intense ; the men grew faint and in a few hours died one by one in horrible agony. It is not surprising that by the Arabs this strange phenomenon should have been named the bahr-esh-Sheitan, or " Devil's Sea." * Geological Features. The Surface of the Libyan desert is completely covered with sand, which accumulates in vast quantities in the depressions, leaving only the higher rock}' eminences partly exposed. In few places are the cliffs absolutely bare, being almost everywhere clothed with the yellow or reddish particles of disintegrated quartz. These quartzose sands are certainly of foreign origin, for the plateau itself presents nothing but limestone rocks and clays. These remains of primitive rocks have been brought from distant uplands by the action of the winds and, possibly, also of marine waters. By their ceaseless movement over the surface the shifting sands have imparted a remarkable smoothness to the surface rocks, which in many places exhibit the lustre of polished marble. All the scattered blocks are, as it were, varnished by the sand, which has rounded off their angles and softened their rugged outlines. Some of these boulders have thus acquired such brilliancy that observers have mistaken them for volcanic obsidians. The geologist Zittel supposes that the incessant friction may even have tended to produce a chemical modification in the very structure of the rocks ; for a large number of flints are met, in the centre of which is embedded a core of nummulitic limestone. Hence the stone has been apparently transformed from the outside inwardly, a phenomenon which can be attributed only to the constant friction of the sand on the surface. Amongst the myriads of nummulites covering the ground in dense layers, all those occurring on the surface have by this action of the arenaceous particles been entirely changed to flints, assuming a bluish or even a metallic appearance, whereas those lower down, being protected from the friction as well as from the action of light, remain white and retain their limestone formations.
But whatever be the chemicul forces that have converted the nummulites into flints, these do not remain intact after their transformation. The vicissitudes of the temperature, which beneath these cloudless skies varies so greatly between day and night, cause the stones to chip, strewing vast spaces with their fragments. Occasionally the breakage of these flints is effected in such a way as to give them a perfectly regular fonn. Thus in a wudy of the Arabian range west of Beni-Sucf are met, scattered about in considerable quantities, siliceous fragments resembling truncated cones and presenting eight symmetrical facets. To the sudden changes of temperature have also been attributed the broken and even-worked flukes that have been found in various prehistoric workshops through- out Egypt. But human labour is so clearly stamped on these specimens that it is quite impossible to confound them with the products of natural causes. In the Libyan desert Zittel sought in vain for any naturally produced siliceous chippings bearing even a remote resemblance to the spear and dart heads worked by the men of the stone age, whether in Egypt, Europe or the New World. Amongst the stones of regular form found in the Egj'ptian deserts, Cailliaud and Russegger were the first to cull attention to the carnelians, jaspers, agates, and other hard stones pre- senting the form of lentils or discs of various dimensions, encircled by a round ridge somewhat like a ring. The interior of these natural specimens is often disjxjsed in concentric circles, and such concretions are very frequently found associated with fossil wood. The Egyptian Petrified Forests. By a remarkable contrast, petrified trees are known to occur in many parts of a region where living plants have become so very rare. On the east slope of the Jebel-Mokattam, not far from Cairo, is found, if not a " petrified forest," as it is usually called, or " masts of shipwrecked vessels," pierced with holes by phollades, and covered with marine deposits, as the curly truvellers pretended, at least a number of stems transformed to blocks of flint or chalcedony. But by penetrating farther into the desert we come upon far more extensive petrifications, which might really deserve the name of " forests." In a depression of the Arabian plateau, to the south- east of Cairo, the trunks of trees of all sizes are found in such multitudes that certain tracts are exclusively covered with the siliceous stems or fragments of fossil wood. In the Libyan desert, west of the Pyramids, other " petrified forests " contain stems over sixty feet long, with their roots and branches, and even with the bark still perceptible in some places. Travellers have also discovered similar masses of fossil wood in various parts of the Nubian desert, in Senar and Kordof&n, and even on the upland pluteaux of Abyssinia. In all these regions the vegetable remains BO petrified belong to the order of the sterculiaceoc. In Egj'pt the prevailing variety is the uichoUa Nilotica, and a species of bamboo obtained from these forests is also preser>'ed in one of the natural history collections in Cairo. Whence come all these stems of petrified trees ? Some geologists have suggested that they may have been washed up by the sea at a time when the Mediterranean 21— AP. ​5322 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. penetrated mucli farther southwards than at present. But in that case it is difficult to understand how these fossil woods could have been stranded in such a good state of preservation, and, moreover, without being associated with any of those vegetable or animal marine organisms which are always found adhering to driftwood. Nor is any theory advanced to explain how this flotsam and jetsam could have been borne over lofty mountains to the upland plateaux of Abyssinia. On the other hand it is impossible to suppose that these petrifications can have been brought down by fluvial currents such as that of the Nile, because they are nowhere associated with any alluvial deposits. Hence these sterculiaceae of the Nilotic basin must be regarded as still in situ, or at least in the immediate vicinity of the places where they originally flourished. The opinion which finds greatest
the action of thermal waters, such as still occur in various parts of Egypt, and especially in the region of the oases. Becoming saturated with these waters, the fallen trunks would be gradually changed to stone, just as they become converted into peat or turf in the swampy districts of more northern latitudes. Doubtless the petrifications of herbs and other vegetation at present going on round about the geysers of Iceland and of Montana in North America, differ from those of the Egyptian deserts in their general appearance and process of formation, for in these districts the plants are changed not into particles of quartz but into amorphous flints. But allowance should, perhaps, be made for climatic dif- ferences and for the long action of time. Close to the " petrified forest " of Cairo is observed a dome-shaped sandstone hill, the Jebel-el-Ahmar, or ** Red Mountain," the interior of which is easily quarried, thanks to the softer character of the deeper strata. May not this sandstone hill, isolated amid the surrounding nummulitic limestones, have been gradually accumulated by the action of some ancient geyser ? And to the similar action of thermal springs may we not attribute the preservation of the trees on the neighbouring plain, which at that time was doubtless thickly wooded ? The Western Oases. To the west of Egypt as well as to the west of Nubia a chain of oases is developed which describes a curve almost parallel to the course of the Nile. The first of these oases is that of Kurkur, which although scarcely more than 60 miles from Assuan, has never been inhabited. At about the same distance in a north-westerly direction stretches the so-called *' Great Oasis" of the ancients, now known as that of Khargeh, from the name of its chief town. Including the palm- groves of Beris, it occupies a depression stretching north and south for a distance of 90 miles. It does not, however, form one continuous oasis, but rather an archi- pelago of small oases, a cluster of cultivated islands separated from each other by intervening tracts destitute of vegetation. West of Khargeh lies the oasis of Dakhel, or Dakleh, that is to say, the "Interior," also known as the Wah-el-Gharbieh, or "Western Oasis." Dakhel is ​( THE WESTERN OASES. 828 eeparatod by a limestone wilderness, partly covered with shifting sands, from the oasis of Farafreh, which is situated 120 miles to the north-west. Tlic labyrinth of rocks occupying the intermediate space between Dakhel and Farafreh is one of the most remarkable formations of the kind in the whole world. The narrow fissures winding along and intersecting each other at variuos angles amid the still preserved upright rocky masses resemble the streets of some weird city lined with fantastic monuments, pyramids, obelisks, triumphal arches, sphinxes, lions, and even statues faintly reproducing the outlines of the human figure. One of the natural gates on the north side of this uninhabited city has by Rohlfs been named the Bab-el-Iasmund, in honour of a fellow-countryman. A still more colossal gate- way, which stands at the outlet of the labyrinth facing the Dakhel oasis, is known as the Bab-el-Cailliaud, in memory of the first European traveller who in recent times has penetrated into these inhospitable regions. Several oases of smaller size are scattered round about the Wah-el- Farafreh, forming an archipelago which is prolonged in a north-easterly direction by the oasis of Bakharieh, probably the "Little Oasis" of the ancients. It is one of those lying nearest to the Nile, being situated not more than 90 miles from the plains of Minieh in the fluvial basin. But in this district the series of depressions ramifies in two different directions. One branch continues to develop itself parallel with the Nile, while the other follows the line of the Mediterranean seaboard west of Alexandria. Its axis intersects the depressions of the Bahr-Bel&-m&, or " Water- less Lakes," and other dried-up lacustrine basins, ultimately terminating in the oasis of Siwah, formerly consecrated to Jupiter Ammon. North of the Siwah depression rise the rocky escarpments of the plateau of Cyrenaica, while towards the south an isolated system of coarse limestones is encircled by lofty sand dunes. In this region bordering on the sea and already comprised within the zone of winter rains, the water develops vast lacustrine basins, all saturated with salt. Amongst them is the extensive Lake Sittra, which floods the lowest part of a depression lying midway between the Bahr-BelA-m& and the Siwah oasis. But this " sparkling sapphire set in gold," as it has been described, merges in one direction in dreary morasses. Other cavities are now empty. Excavated in the form of wells to a depth of from 60 to 150 feet, they still retain at the bottom a deposit of mud mixed with salt and gypsum. Springs even continue to bubble up in some ; but the banks of these saline waters are everywhere destitute of vegetation. In the dried-up lacustrine hollows nothing is seen except a little scrub in places where the saline efllorescences have been overlaid by a thick layer of drifting sands. Not far from Lake Sittra stretches the now-abandoned oasis of El-Araj, which is being gradually swallowed up in the sands. The outer zone of plantations has already partly disappeared ; the half-choked-up wells now contain nothing but a scanty supply of brackish water ; and the time is rapidly approaching when the only evidence of the former residence of man in this district will be tombs in the
The Siwah Oasis.
The Siwah oasis, where spoke the renowned oracle of Ammon, consulted on one occasion by the Macedonian conqueror, rivals in beauty that of Dakhel, although the limestone hills forming its outer enclosure cannot be compared with the picturesque heights of the Bab-el-Cailliaud. Nevertheless they present scarcely less fantastic forms. In certain parts of the plateau the cliffs terminate in flights of steps with perfectly horizontal slabs and of uniform depth, like those leading to some palatial structure. The strange effect is heightened by the colour of the stone, which contrasts vividly with the white sand strewn over the steps. In the
depression enclosed by these remarkable cliffs the steep heights rise to the level of the plateaux, of which they originally formed an integral portion. They now stand isolated amid the cultivated plains and palm-groves, some crowned with edifices, others disposed in ramparts and turrets presenting the appearance of fortifications. The blue lakelets scattered over the verdant plain impart to the oasis of Jupiter Ammon the aspect of a pleasant retreat from the interminable wilderness, But the traveller’s anticipations are presently dashed by the brackish taste of the waters and by the miasmatic exhalations rising from the surrounding marshy tracts. Near the saline springs flow some streams of fresh water, though ​ORIGIN OF THE OASES. 885 for the most part thermal ; other waters contain sulphur, while the so-called fountain of the " Sun," said to be alternately cool in the middle of the day and wann at night, has really a nearly uniform temperature of from 84° to 85° F. It has been identified with the spring still flowing at some distance from the temple of Um-beiduh. At the same time it is easy to understand that, in the absence of precise measurements, the ancients may easily have been deceived as to its real temperature, and thus suppose it cold by contrast under the burning sun, and hot during the chilly nights. With the date groves of the oasis are intermingled the olive, the apricot, the pomegranate, the plum, and the vine, while the clearings are planted with onions. Although annexed to Egypt in 1820, Siwah is rather a geographical dependence of Cyrenaica ; for it is connected with the slopes draining to the Gulf of Sidra by the Faredgha oasis and by other verdant islets surrounded by rocky and sandy wastes. Towards the north another depression in the plateau on the route to Alexan- dria is occupied by the oasis of Gara, which is inhabited by some forty persons. According to a local tradition this number of forty cannot be exceeded, death inevitably re-establishing the equilibrium whenever disturbed by an excess of births or by too great an inroad of immigrants. Origin of the Oases. At sight of the chain of oases diverging from the Nile, and winding through a series of valleys and gorges seawards, it was only natural to regard these low-lying and fertile tracts as the remains of some old watercourse, some western branch of the Nile now partly obliterated by the invading sands. The natives have pre- served legends recording the gradual desiccation of this waterless stream, and down to a recent period most travellers still sought the traces of the Nile in the oases of the Libyan desert. Even on some contemporary maps the channel of the so-called Bahr-Bela-m& is drawn from valley to valley, as if its course had actually been determined by local surveys. It is in any case highly probable that at some remote geological age fluvial or marine waters, excavating straits and valleys, may have flowed through the region now occupied by the oases. But during the present epoch no branch of the Nile or inlet of the Mediterranean has penetrated into these depressions of the desert, which contain neither alluvia of fluvial origin, nor marine deposits asso- ciatetl with contemporary molluscs. Nevertheless the thermal waters of the oases contain animal species belonging both to the Mediterranean and Red Sea fauna. Such, for instance, are the two little fishes called cifpriuodon disjxtr and cyprinodon ca/aritanus* But if in their formation the oases are independent of the present Nile, they may possibly be connected with it through the waters which feed their date plantations. Certainly the copious springs serving to irrigate the oases of Dakhel • ZittaU " Die Saham." ​826 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. and Farafreh cannot have their origin in the districts themselves, for rain is here the rarest of phenomena. The natives are thoroughly convinced that these waters are derived from the Nile, and they even pretend to have observed 'a certain increase in their volume during the period of the great inundations. But this would be very surprising considering the great extent of sands which the imder- ground currents would have to filter through. Yet the explorers Cailliaud and Russegger accepted the theory of the natives that the oases derive their supplies from the Nile. But Dakhel being at a much higher level than the main stream under the same latitude, the source of its springs must in any case be sought in the upper reaches of the Nile. They probably come from the southern regions lying within the zone of the tropical rains. But, however this be, the high temperature attained by the current during its imdergroimd passage shows that it must flow at a depth of several hundred yards below the surface of the ground. All the springs have a mean temperature of from 98° to 100° F., and they are utilised as well for the cure of certain maladies as for irrigation purposes. Since the year 1850 their volume has been consider- ably increased in the Farafreh oasis, thanks to the intelligence of a native, who after travelling with the French engineer Lefebvre, returned to his home, where he sank a number of wells and carried out a regular system of irrigation. Care was also taken to construct underground galleries analogous to the kanats and kJiariz of Persia, Afghanistan, and other parts of the Iranian plateau, in order to prevent excessive evaporation. So far the new wells do not appear to have at all diminished the abundance of the old sources, so that the underground supply seems to be practically inexhaustible. In the oasis of Beris, south of Khargeh, two hundred wells have been choked with the sands. But there still remain twenty-five whose thermal water ranging from 77° to 86° F. is highly ferruginous, and is found only at a depth of 200 feet from the surface. According to the ancient writers some of the wells in the great oasis had in former times been sunk to a depth of over 650 feet. The walls of the shafts are supported by beams of acacia wood affording access to the bottom. But the boring of new wells and the work of clearing the old pits of their accumulated sands are not unattended by danger. After the last layer of sand is pierced, wherever the flow is abundant, as in Dakhel and still more in Khargeh, the water tends to spread out in malarious swamps. The Natron Lakes. ' North of the Bahr-Bela-m&, and parallel with the series of depressions collec- tively known by this name, a valley of more regular form running south-east and north-west is occupied in its lowest cavities by seven shallow morasses. These are the so-called " Natron Lakes." Althotfgh separated from the nearest bend of the Nile by a shingly desert over 24 miles broad, the El-Natrun Valley most probably receives its supply of moisture from the river. During the three months following the autumnal equinox the water, "of a dark blood-red colour," due ​perhaps to the infusoria inhabiting it, oozes up to the surface from the east side of the valley, whence it flows in rills and rivulets down to the lakes.
In these basins the waters increase till the end of December, by which time they have attained a depth of about 5 feet. Then they subside, leaving some of the cavities quite dry. Their composition varies with the different basins. In some marine salt prevails, in others carbonate of soda; while the sulphate of soda is intermingled in diverse proportions. Two of the lakes, presenting a reddish appearance when dried up, leave an encircling ring of red or brown salt, which emits the pleasant fragrance of the rose. The decomposition of the marine salt by the carbonate of lime contained in the moist soil produces crystals of soda, which
are deposited in a greyish layer, and which are collected by the natives of Terraneh, a village on the left bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile.
A few springs of fresh water, which have their source in the neighbouring rocks, help to support a scanty vegetation, mainly comprising Mediterranean species and a few sickly palm-trees. The only inhabitants of the Natron district are the inmates of the Baramus, Saint Macarius, and other convents founded in the fourth century of the Christian era, at a time when thousands of monks took refuge in the caves and valleys of this rocky and sandy region. Like the old anchorites, the recluses of the Natron Valley are forbidden to consume the ​828 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. duots of their own gardens, so that all their supplies have to be brought from Egypt. However, the spirit of abnegation has nowadays little to do with the peopling of these monasteries of the wilderness, most of their inmates being in fact exiles condemned to a lingering death. No remains of ancient monuments are found in these solitudes, with perhaps the single exception of the traces of a glass manufactory, which may be recognised by the ruins of some brick furnaces and the fragments of scoria) and vitrified sands strewn about. Before the recent events, which have brought about the British occupation of Egypt, it was proposed to survey the region west of the Nile, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it might not be possible to construct a canal from the main stream, or from the Bahr-Yusef to the Bahr-Belsl-msL depressions, and thus bring 500,000 acres under cultivation. General Features of the "Western Oases. The level of the oases docs not present a regular slope from the frontiers of Nubia to the Mediterranean seaboard. Cailliaud's barometric measurements had already shown that the region of the depressions falls from the Dakhel oasis to that of Farafreh, again rising towards that of Bakharieh, beyond which it sinks in the Siwah district below the level of the sea. The operations executed by Jordan in 1873 and 1874 with more care and with better instruments have con- firmed this general conclusion, while slightly modifying the figures given by the French explorer. There is now no longer any doubt that the palm-groves of Siwah stand at a lower level than the Mediterranean, while the oasis of Araj would appear to be even some 150 feet still lower.* Farther on the chain of oases, which was perhaps a marine inlet during a former geological epoch, is continued south of the plateau of Cyrenaica through the Faredgha, Jalo, and Aujila oases. The whole series seems to be also below the level of the sea, a barrier of reefs and sand dunes alone preventing the marine waters from penetrating into the depression. Its mean level seems to be about 100 feet below the Mediterranean. After having determined this geographical fact engineers began to discuss the project of converting the whole of Cyrenaica into a large island by introducing the sea into the region of the oases. In the same way it has been proposed to create a vast " inland sea " farther west beyond the Syrtes. The term oasis at once suggests the idea of an earthly Eden, diversified with running waters and verdant plains. By the ancients, the Egyptian oases were called " Isles of the Blest," as if a residence in these palm-groves in the midst of
Ehargeh . Dakhel . Farafreh . Bakharieh Araj Siwah CRillinnd. Feet. 345 . JorcLnn. Feet. 226 182 . 330 110 . 252 117 . 376 —200 . . —266 —110 . . —120 ​TII£ LIBYAN DESEBT. 820 the wildcrnoss were a Bpcciul favour of heaven. Ncvertheleaa the sovereigns of Egypt, and after them the Roman and Byzantine emperors, were well aware that these oases were not the happy abodes sung by the poets, for thither they banished their enemies to perish of weariness and inanition. Thousands of Christians, exiled by their fellow-Christians of different theological opinions, yielded to home-sickneas in these dreary " convict stations." Some of the oases, amongst others that of Dakhel, possess the romantic beauty imparted by a superb rampart of cliffs, with their fantastic towers and embattlements rising from 800 to 1,000 feet above the hamlets and pulm-groves. But the traveller's admiration is, even here, due mainly to the impression of contrast presented by the patches of verdure to the dismal waste of bare rocks and sand encircling them. lie is naturally enraptured when, after traversing the waterless desert, the constant sport of the mirage, he at last comes upon real streams of water, flowing beneath the shade of leafy groves. But then comes the inevitable feeling of oppression produced by the narrow limits of these garden-plots, everywhere surrounded by boundless wastes, stretching in all directions beyond the horizon. The Libyan Desert. The sands of the desert form shifting dunes like those on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Between the Nile Valley and the chain of oases several ranges of these dunes are disposed, nearly all in the direction from the south-east to the north- west, parallel with the course of the river between Assuan and Miuich. The sand- hills do not attain an elevation comparable to those of the French landes ; doubtless the laboratory where rocks are weathered into minute particles are more remote, while the winds are less powerful. A few stunted shrubs, especially the tamarisk plant, are the chief instruments employed by nature in binding the sand in compact masses. Behind these obstacles a little heap is formed, the horns of its crescent curving forward with the wind. Soon the plant is enveloped, and would in a short time be entirely swallowed up, if its gro^-th did not keep pace with the rising sands. Thus are formed hillocks, whose mean height scarcely exceed 12 or 14 feet, and on the crest of which is visible the foliage of a tamarisk or some other shrub. A peculiar physiognomy is imparted to the Libyan desert by these low eminences, which in form and colour resemble eroded cliffs, but all of which bear a plant of some kind on their summits or slopes. The sands do not pass beyond any rocky heights exceeding the mean elevation of the plateau ; they are also arrested before the Pyramids on the edge of the limestone rocks skirting the valley of the Nile. Hence arose the otherwise groundless and absurd hypothesis that the huge tombs of the Pharaohs were erected to protect Egj'pt from the invading sands of the desert. When the west wind prevails, thousands of small streams of red or golden sands overflow from the rocky battlements of the plateau, fonning long ridges which here and there encroach on the cultivated lands. In this way the course of tho ​830 NORTH-E-iST AFRICA. Bahr-Yusef has been gradually deflected eastwards by the ranges of dunes skirting the left bank. But the progress of the sands is extremely slow, and may perhaps be compensated by the erosions caused by the action of the current along the right bank of the Nile. Moreover the sands themselves may be cultivated like other lands, wherever they can be brought within the reach of the irrigating waters, bringing down the rich alluvia of the stream. West of the oases, the Libyan desert has not yet been traversed by any explorers in the direction of the Kufra oasis and of Fezzan. An inhospitable region at least 400,000 square miles in extent, inaccessible even to travellers provided with all the resources of modem industry, occupies this part of the continent, completely separa- ting Egypt and Cyrenaica from the lands comprised within the Tsad basin. The natives of the Egj'ptian oases are unable to give strangers any information regard- ing these mysterious and terrible regions bounding their horizon, and into which they are careful not to penetrate. A few confused legends destitute of all historic value are, however, kept alive amongst them regarding strange events supposed to have occurred in these frightful solitudes. In the year 1874, Rohlfs, Zittel, and some other German explorers, vainly attempted to make their way in a straight line across this region to Fezzan. In anticipation of a long journey they organised a whole caravan of camels, carrying water in iron chests lined inside with tin. But after a six days' march from Dakhel, they became convinced that it would be impossible for the camels to traverse the endless ranges of dunes barring the route in the direction of Fezzan. Hence they turned northwards to seek a refuge in the Siwah oasis. This point was reached twenty-two days after leaving the last watering-place, and throughout the whole of this expedition nothing was met except sand and rocks, and the " devil's water " shown by the mirage. The part of the Libyan desert lying nearest to the Egyptian oases resembles that skirting the Nile Valley. Here the surface is still varied by a few limestone hills, interspersed with ranges of dunes and stunted scrub. But when the traveller reaches the region of quartzose sandstones all vestiges of vegetation disappear. Nothing now meets the eye except sand and stratified rocks, alternating with deposits of a very rich iron ore. The land rises gradually in the direction of the west, and towards the parting-line between the limestones and sandstones the plateau attains an elevation of 1,460 feet. Here begins the ocean of sand, which stretches for unknown distances in the direction of Fezzan. In the north it extends for no less than 240 miles towards the Siwah oasis. The vast dunes of this region, produced by the weathering of the sandstone rocks, have a mean altitude of over 300 feet, hence exceed in elevation the largest sand-hills of Europe. Some are even said to attain a height of 500 feet. Disposed in the direction from south to north, or from south-south-east to north-north-west, perpendicularly to the polar winds, the ranges follow each other like the ocean waves under the regular action of the trade-winds. Secondary systems of dunes, which may be compared with the false cones occurring on the flanks of Etna, are developed by the irregular atmospheric currents, and these are usually disposed ​CLIMATE OF EGYPT. 881 transversely or obliquely to the norniul ranges. The bottom of the trough between two parallel ridges presents a tolerably good footing to the wayfarer ; but progress is extremely difficult on the slopes of the crumbling sandhills. No springs rise at the foot of the dunes ; no living thing dwells in this region of death, where travellers themselves plodding wearily and silently through the sands seem like phantoms to each other. Climate of Egypt. The climate of Egypt, although very different in the neighbourhood of the Meditorranoun and in the narrow valley of the Upper Nile skirted on both sides by the escarpments of the desert plateaux, is remarkable especially for the uniformity of its phenomena, the regular course of the atmospheric currents, and the dryness of its atmosphere. In its meteorological conditions, the valley of the Nile, that is to say, Egypt, resembles the Red Sea. As in all mountain gorges, the aerial currents which penetrate into this marine basin follow it regularly in the direction of its length. Here they become changed either into the shemal, or wind of the Gulf of Suez, or else into the mHiab, or wind of the Gulf of Aden. Thus the north-east monsoon, which in the Indian Ocean prevails from October to March, changes its direction on entering the Gulf of Aden, where it becomes a south-east wind. So also the khamsin, which comes from the Libyan desert — that is, from the west — on reaching the Red Sea is deflected northwards parallel with both coasts. In the same way the western, northern, and north-eastern currents from the Mediterranean, all alike take a direction contrary to that of the south- east monsoon. On the other hand, the land and sea breezes, which alternate with such remarkable regularity on most of the tropical coast lands, play a very feeble part along the shores of the Red Sea. Utilised to a limited extent by sailing vessels for a few hours of the day, they are borne now to the north, now to the south in the general current of the atmosphere. They acquire a little influence only at the change of seasons in spring and autumn. Under the action of the alternating northern and southern breezes, a correspond- ing movement takes place in the Suez Canal, where in summer the Mediterranean waters are driven towards the Red Sea, in winter, those of the Gulf of Suez towards the Bay of Pelusiura. About 14,000,000,000 cubic feet of water thus ebb and flow from season to season, at a velocity varying from 6 to 26 inches per second. In the Nile Valley, as in the long trough of the Red Sea, all the winds, whatever their original direction, change in the same way to currents setting north and south. In Lower Egypt alone, where no obstacle intervenes to obstruct their course, they blow from all quarters of the compass, according to their original direction and modifying local influences. The alternation of the aerial currents is regulated in the Nile Valley with less uniformity than in the Red Sea. In this longitudinal basin they succeed each other in almost rhythmical order. In winter the south-east monsoon, which rushes impetuously into the Strait of Bab-el- Mundeb, acquires the ascendancy, and makes itself felt at times as far as the neighbourhood of Suez. In summer, on the ​882 NOETH-EAST AFEICA. contrarj', the north-west winds prevail almost as far south as the entrance of the Gulf of Aden. In order to avoid this opposing current, mariners from India or from the Hadramaut coast found it convenient to land their cargoes at some port more easily accessible than the Gulf of Suez. To this cause was due the great importance acquired by the ports of Berenice and Myos Hormos, inducing the Ptolemies and the Caesars to open up highways, provided with watering stations, across the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea. In Egypt also the northern currents prevail normally during the hot season, thus tending to temper the excessive summer heats. Their prevalence is due to the higher temperature of the surrounding sandy deserts, and to the same cause must be attributed the predominance of the same winds even in winter. From the end of March to the beginning of May alone, a struggle takes place between the opposing currents. During this season Egypt is frequently exposed to the influence of the so-called " fifty days' wind," although it seldom prevails for such a length of time ; nor is it ever felt during the night. Everything becomes parched by the hot breath of the khamsin, which is charged with particles of dust, according to Pictet, in the proportion of one gramme to 35 cubic feet of air. At times this pestilential wind deserves the name of simun, or " poison," and numerous instances are recorded of caravans and travellers who, even in Lower Egypt, have lost their pack-animals, killed by the deadly blast of the khamsin. A graphic description is given by Mrs. Speedy of one of these frightful sand- storms, by which her party were nearly overwhelmed in the Arabian desert. " On the horizon coming up behind us was a dense wall of impenetrable dust and sand. It had been scarcely visible in the morning, and even at the time I am now speaking of it was only rising into view. But the keen Arabs, children of the desert, had descried the long dark line as it lay almost immovable in the early morning, and scented the possible danger. Should the wind rise it would be brought up rapidly, and might sweep over us before we could reach Tokar. " We were soon going like the wind. We on our camels, and the Arab on foot, fled before that sandstorm at the rate of between seven and eight miles an hour for over three hours, doing nearly four- and- twenty miles in that time. We had not gone half-way when I insisted on stopping, fearing that the man would be utterly exhausted ; and it was during that rest that I discovered the real state of the case. " We dismounted and sat down among the imdidating ridges of sand on the vast plain, when I turned my head and clearly perceived what we were flying from. The whole truth broke upon me, and for the moment I felt almost paralysed. The wind was rising, coming up as the day advanced, and we were yet a long way from Tokar. There was but one thing to be done. Up again and press on as before. I think we scarcely spoke again before we reached Tokar; the one absorbing thought was to get forward. " Shortly before we arrived at the town, however, the Arab slacken^ his pace and turned round. He made us turn too, and pointed out that the wind had unexpectedly changed, and swept the storm, which had at first set out in our direction, another way. The great thick wall, which might have imprisoned us ​RAlXFAIJi. 888 had turnwl southwards, and wa« now travelling over the dcaert away from iw, I earnestly hoped, to expend itself in space before meeting with any unfortunate victims. Inexpressibly thankful was I as we entered the town, for I could not but fiH'l that it had perhaps been a race for Kfo. It was now over and we were safe ; but it was several hours, or I may more truly say days, before the effect on my overstnmg nerves passed entirely away." * On an average, northern breezes are six times more frequent at Cairo than those from the south. But as we ascend the Nile and approach the equatorial regions the equilibrium tends to be established between the conflicting currents, and in Nubia the northern or winter are about fairly balanced with the southern or summer winds. Rainfall. The region of the Egyptian delta is comprised within the Mediterranean climatic zone. Winter arid summer here succeed each other as in Southern Europe, the only difference being that the intermediate seasons of spring and autumn are reduced to much narrower limits.! The Egyptian summer, during which the Nile waters rise and spread over the land, is accompanied by the clearest skies ; yet the atmosphere is then heavily charged with moisture, often almost to the point of saturation. On the Red Sea coast especially, the traveller finds himself at times enveloped as in a vapour bath. Winter is the rainy season, but it is seldom attended by much humidity, although in the lower delta the rainfall often suffices to interrupt the communica- tions. The banks of the canals, here the only highways, are changed by the slightest showers into quagmires of treacherous and slippery mud. Even in Alexandria, lying as it does within the influence of the moisture-bearing clouds from the Mediterranean, the mean annual rainfall is only 7 inches according to Russegger, or 8 inches according to more recent observers ; that is to say, one-third of the quantity received by Paris, and one- fifth of the average for the whole of France.* At Cairo, where the marine vapours arrive already deprived of much of their humidity, the mean discharge is much less, amounting to no more than about 1| inch, or the fiftieth part of the discharge at Cherra-Ponji in British India. The ancient Egj-ptians called themselves the inhabitants of the "Pure Region." Nevertheless the sky is overcast at Cairo for over three months in the year, and at times the downpours have been heavy enough to flood the streets. In 1824, and again in 1845, several houses were destroyed by these sudden freshets. In the Arabian and Libyan deserts south of the delta, the rains are still lighter, although not altogether unknown, as is so often asserted. Tremendous discharges • " Wanderings in the Sudan," vol. ii., p. 260. t Mean temperature of Egypt . Alexandria, 68' F. Cairo, 70 F. Toil Said, 7 1* F. „ „ in August (hottest month) „ 79* F. „ 86* F. „ „ in January (coldest month) „ 64' F. „ 60" P. Higheat recorded „ lU'F. „ 116« F. X Mean fi|maal rainfall at Alexandria from 1873 to 1881, 8-6 ische*. ​884 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. were experienced both by Cailliaud in the Siwah oasis, and by Rohlfs in that of Dakhel farther west. In the Arabian desert the sudden rains on one occasion swept away the village of Desara, near Atfieh which was afterwards rebuilt on a site farther removed from the bed of the wady. On the other hand, there has been at times a total absence of rain. Not a drop fell for the space of six years in the district between Kosseir and Keneh; all vestiges of herbage disappeared from the valleys, and of trees the acacia alone resisted the effects of this protracted drought. Nevertheless the cisterns, which were fed by rain water along the old highway between Coptos and Berenice, are sufficient proof that this district does not lie within the absolutely rainless zone. In certain places natural cisterns or basins are met, formed by the subsidence of the numraulitic rocks, and here the water is collected on an impermeable bed of siliceous formations. These so-called mgheta, which differ greatly from the surface springs, usually known by the name of el-din, nearly always contain excellent water, the existence of which the surrounding tribes endeavour carefully to conceal from Europeans. But however slight is the winter rainfall, it nevertheless suffices, even without the aid of irrigation, to impart to the vegetation an appearance of freshness and vitality, which again disappears during the summer months. In this respect the Egyptian winter season presents the most striking contrast to that of temperate Europe. In the delta, however, the rainfall represents a part only of the actual discharge. Here the night dews are tolerably abundant, especially during the prevalence of the marine breezes, when they are heavy enough to regularly moisten the roofs and balconies of the houses in Alexandria. But the amount of dew diminishes in direct proportion to the distance from the Mediterranean, and in the Nubian desert, there is a slight discharge only in the vicinity of the river. In the heart of the Egyptian solitudes, where the bare rocks and white sands cause the heat of the sun to radiate into space during the night, it often happens that the dew freezes towards the morning. At its rise the sun, which will in a short time raise the temperature of the ground to over 100° F., begins by melting the slight layer of hoar-frost covering the desert. Even on the arable lands the plants are occasionally frozen, and Mr. Maspero picked up an icicle on the route between Edf u and Esneh. The extremes of heat and cold, although less considerable than in Nubia, are nevertheless very great in Upper Egypt. They increase gradually, proceeding from the north southwards, ranging in this direction between the isothermal lines of 20° and 25°. Climatic Changes during the Historic Period. Egypt is one of those regions whose climate must have undergone the greatest changes within the historic period. To judge from the bas-reliefs decor^iting the walls of the Saqqarah necropolis, probably the oldest in the world, the habits of the people at that time were not those of a nation everywhere hemmed in by the wilderness. They had no knowledge of the camel, a domestic animal without ​which the Arab of our days could not venture to penetrate into the burning wastes. Before the arrival of the Hyksos they were even unacquainted with the horse or the sheep, and possessed the laborious ox alone.
The Egyptians of that remote epoch had not yet become the herd of serfs, such
as they are depicted on the bas-reliefs and wall-paintings of subsequent times. They were still a light-hearted peasantry, lovers of feasts and the dance, ignorant of the hateful arts of war. All this would seem to justify the hypothesis that they ​886 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. lived in a climate different from that of our days. Oscar Fraas goes even so far as to assert positively that " the desert was not yet." * Such an assertion is doubtless exaggerated ; but it is at the same time certain that water was formerly far more abundant in the now arid valleys of the Libyan and eastern uplands. In many places the traces may still be observed of ancient cascades, which flowed perennially in these now all but waterless regions. At that epoch the woodlands still yielded sufficient timber to work the mines, which now lie idle for lack of fuel. To bake their bread, the fellahin use nothing but cakes of dung mixed with mud and dried in the sun. But while the supposition of a considerable change in the Egyptian climate since the dawn of history may be accepted as highly probable, the statements of several travellers and meteorologists regarding certain climatic modifications, supposed to have occurred since the beginning of the last century, cannot be admitted as yet demonstrated. It is often asserted that the plantations of mul- berries and other trees made by Mohammed Ali have directly tended to bring about an increase of moisture, and the great progress in agriculture made during the present generation is supposed to have had a like result. But these statements rest entirely on personal impressions, which have not yet been confirmed by systematic observations. It may also be questioned whether the local climate of the Isthmus of Suez has really undergone any slight modification at all since the construction of the fresh- water and marine canals. These works, however gigantic in the eyes of man, still remain too insignificant, compared with the extent of the surrounding seas, to have produced any appreciable change, except perhaps in the immediate vicinity of the canal. They can scarcely have had any general influence in moderating the extremes of heat and cold, rendering the atmosphere more humid, or increasing the abundance and duration of the rainfall. Flora of Egypt. Few regions of the globe beyond the polar zones possess a flora so poor in vegetable species as that of Egypt. The uniformity of its plains, the lack of variety in the chemical composition of its soil, the absence of well- watered hills and uplands, the monotonous character of the agriculture, everything tends to produce this result. Thousands of years ago the peasantry had already destroyed the forests, unless the tracts be regarded as such which are still partly covered with the 8unt (^acacia Nilotica), the formerly sacred tree used by the Israelites to build the Ark of the Covenant. So valuable is timber in Egypt that the boatmen use cow-dung kneaded with clay and chopped straw instead of planks to deck their barges. Taken as a whole, the Egyptian flora presents a mixture of European, Asiatic, and African species. But the last mentioned are the most prevalent, at least beyond the region of the delta. The characteristic aspect of the Egyptian land- • " Au8 dem Orient." • 4 ​FLORA OF THE OASES. 887 scopes is due especially to the prevailing African vegetation, here represented by the tarfa {^tamaris Nihtica), the dute, and sycamore. The diim-palrn, which, however, nowhere grows spontaneouHly in Egypt, is met in the gardens only above Esneh. Formerly the Fayum bore the name of " Sycamore Land ; " and one of the ancient appellations of Egypt itself was " Land of the Bek Tree," probably a species of palm. All the villages have still their avenues of palms encircling the walls, or fring- ing the banks of the canals, and everywhere the people gather in the evening beneath the shade of the broad-branching sycamore. The sycamore, a very ditrcrent species from the plant known by that name in Europe, was formerly far* more common in Egypt than at present. Its wood, supposed to be "incorruptible," was employed in the manufacture of costly furniture, and especially of the cofBns placed in the sepulchral chambers. After a lapse of three thousand years, the boards recovered from these tombs still retain their finnncss and delicacy of texture, thanks to the excessive dryness of the atmosphere. The fruit of the sycamore was regarded by the ancients as one of the choicest, whence the saying that " the man who had once tasted it could not frfil to return to Egj'pt." On this account it was customary on setting out for foreign lands to eat of these figs, in order thereby to secure the traveller's return to the Nilotic plains. Now, however, the fruit of the Egj'ptian sycamore is regarded as fit food only for the ass. Has its flavour deteriorated, or has the taste of the Egyptians themselves undergone a change since those times P But if some species would seem to have been modified, others are known to have entirely disappeared. The dug-out tree stems in which the dead were laid during the eleventh djTiasty belong to varieties which are now met only in Sudan. The fruit of the diim-palm, which is no longer found north of Upper Egj'pt, and that of the argun, now confined to Nubia, occur in great abundance in the old Egyptian burial-places. And what has become of the papyrus, whose name is associated more intimately than any other with Egj'ptian civilisation itself? Salt, Drovetti, Reynier, Minutoli, have discovered it in the neighbourhood of Damietta ; but it is no longer found in any other part of Egj-pt. Thus it has all but disap- peared from its original home, while still flourishing in Syria and in Sicily, whither it was introduced from the Nile Valley. Where also are the masses of pink lotus, with its broad-sprcuding leaves, beneath which the people of Alexandria, in the time of Strabo, floated un the still waters, enjoying the cool zephyrs and perfume of the flowers ? The white lotus, formerly diffused throughout the whole land, is no longer met beyond the limits of the delta. Reeds and the pink epilobium are now the plants most frequently occurring on the shores of the lakes and meres in Lower Egypt. Flora of the Oases. The flora of the oaaes, separated from that of the Nile Valley for an unknown cycle of ages, presents some remarkable features. Thus while the Egj'ptian 22— AP. ​888 NOKTH-EAST AFRICA. plants are mainly of African origin, those of the oases, whether cultivated or growing in the wild state, are mostly of European descent. Hence the inference that these depressions were in direct contact with the west Mediterranean lands at an epoch antecedent to their relations with Egypt properly so called. The greater the extent of the oases, the greater is naturally found to be the variety of their flora. In that of Farafreh Ascherson collected ninety-one species, more than double that number in Dakhcl, and as many as two hundred in Khargeh. But the widely diffused plantaga major, foimd both in Farafreh and Khargeh, is unaccountably absent from the intervening oasis of Dakhel. In the Arabian desert the characteristic plant on the slopes and uplands is the ratama, a species of broom resembling that of the Canary Islands. The mugwort flourishes in aU the depressions and along the banks of the wadies ; in other respects the flora of this steppe region is allied to that of Palestine. Fauna. Like its flora, the Egyptian fauna is more African than. European. If some domestic animals have been associated with the ass, which is seen figured on the ancient monuments of Egypt, the camel, the sheep and the horse, the latter a " Turanian " variety introduced by the Hyksos, have reached the Nile Valley from Asia. Most of the wild beasts have disappeared from the region of the Lower Nile, where they have retreated before the advance of human culture. The monkeys, which are represented on the old bas-reliefs as associating familiarly with man himself, are no longer found in Egypt. The lion and the leopard have also moved southwards, while the hippopotamus and even the crocodile have retired to the Nubian reaches of the Nile. None are now found farther north than Ombos. Hyaenas are still common on the skirts of the desert ; but of other wild animals scarcely any have survived except the smaller species, such as the caracal, the jackal, fox, "cat of the steppe," supposed to be the ancestor of our domestic cat, the ferret, and the ichneumon, or " Pharaoh's rat.'/ The fox-dog figured on the bas- reliefs of the temples, and on the paintings of the sepulchral chambers, lives freely in Egypt, venturing even as far as the skirts of the desert. The species of greyhounds sculptured on the old monuments have also survived to the present time. On the other hand the wild boar, although not represented on the ancient bas-reliefs, now infests the reed thickets in the Lower Nile region. In the solitudes bordering on the arable land, antelopes descended from varieties which the Egyptians had formerly tamed, are still numerous. They are here represented by several spGcies, nearly all of which have adapted themselves to their surroundings, assuming almost the identical colour of the ground now inhabited by them. The mice and all other rodents, as well as the reptiles and insects, have also a grey or yellowish tint, causing them to be easily confused with the sands and rocks of the wilderness. . The Egyptian avifauna is very interesting, owing to its European species, such es the stork and quail. These birds of passage cross the Mediterranean twice every ​FAUNA. 889 year, flyinj^ in spring north to Europe to enjoy the freshness of the temperate climuteH, rfturning in uutumn to reoccupy their nest«, which stretch along the banks of the Nile as far south as the foot of the Abyssinian highlands. Of stationary birds in Kgypt there are numerous species, several of which are distinguished for their rare beauty. The white eagle sours into the higher aerial regions ; while the nectarine with its metallic sheen, lovely as the humming-bird of the New "World, flits and darts amid the garden flowers. The charadrim ^gyptiacHS, supposed by the ancients to be the faithful companion of the crocodile, still enlivens the banks of the Egyptian Nile, from which the great saurian has long retreated to the Nubian waters. With him also the ibis has departed for the southern solitudes ; but pigeons still flutter in dense clouds above the cultivated plains. In fact this bird forms everywhere a characteristic feature of the landscape in the inhabited parts of the country. " Every village has its pigeon-houses, looking like great mud cones, and in the evening the owners go out and call them in. An amusing instance of the usual Egyptian dishonesty was told me the other day. When a man wants to get hold of extra pigeons, he goes out of an evening ; but instead of calling them he frightens the pigeons away. They do not understand this ; keep circling above, and swoop down now and then towards their houses. Other pigeons, seeing this commotion, join them, and as soon as the man sees there are enough, he hides. The whole of the birds, old and new, then go into the house, and the man returning, shuts them in. This would be a fine business if it were not that all of them do the same thing, and therefore each gets caught in his turn. They know this perfectly well, but no Egyptian fellah could resist the temptation of cheating his neighbour."* The waters of the lakes and lagoons, throughout the delta region, are also frequented by myriads of aquatic fowl. Amongst the commonest species here met are the flamingo, pelican, heron, crane, and duck. Some of these birds are captured by the hand. Concealing his head in an empty gourd, which seems to float casually on the surface, the fellah swims stealthily towards the bird keeping guard, and seizing it suddenly by the feet from below, draws it under before it has time to give the alarm. Then the flock being more easily surprised, may be tiiken in largo numbers. Like the aquatic birds on the sedgy banks, fish teem in multitudes in the waters of Menzaleh and the other lakes of the lower delta. The annual ojMjning of the fishing season is celebrated by a feast, which coincides with the arrival of the mullets from the Mediterranean in the Gemileh lagoon. All the channels leading into the interior of the basin are closed by a long line of nets ; then at a given moment the fishermen get their boats ready, armed with hooks and harixwns, while on the neighbouring beach the feast is prepared by the women. Presently the sea begins to glitter ; the shoal of fish, pursued by the porpoises and other voracious animals, crowd about the entrance, causing the water to sparkle with a thousand prismatic tints. A suppressed murmur, as of many voices, caused by the rush of the living masses and splash of the troubled waters, gradually increases, and • E. Sartoriut, " Thn* Montlw in the Sudun," p. 32. ​840 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. becomes mingled with the shouts of the men, and the shrieks of women and children. Now the terrified shoals get pent up in the narrow passage and entangled in the nets. Here they are easily captured in myriads, and in a few hours all the fishing-smacks are filled to the gunwales. But after this first take the fish are allowed for the rest of the season to enter freely into the lagoon, where they are hunted in the open waters. In the Nile itself the most common species is the so-called shohal, a fish armed on the back with three sharp and barbed spines, which inflict painful wounds on those who touch it. The shabal is amongst the very few species that utter a faint cry when taken from the water. The sound resembles somewhat the chirp of the cicada, although not quite so loud. A large number of the Nile and Red Sea species have been represented on the ancient monuments with such truth to nature that Russegger has succeeded in identifying all of them.* The opening of the Suez Canal has been followed by a partial intermingling of the Mediterranean and Red Sea fauna, which had hitherto remained quite distinct. Fishes, molluscs, and other marine forms have passed from one basin to the other, while shoals of various species have met midway in the Bitter Lakes. The free navigation from sea to sea is obstructed by several causes, such as the exclusively sandy nature of the canal bed and embankments, the currents setting in and out, the excessive salinity of the water, the incessant passage especially of steamers. The carnivorous species do not penetrate to any great distance into the canal, owing to the absence or rarity of the fish they prey upon. Nor has the Mediterranean yet been reached by the various corals which are so richly represented in the Red Sea. One of the Egyptian insects, the ateuchiis sacer, or sacred beetle, has acquired in the history of myths the symbolic sense of creation and renewed life. An image of the sun and of all the heavenly orbs in virtue of her globular form, she also creates a little world or microcosm of her own with the clay in which she deposits her eggs, and which she rolls with untiring efforts from the river-bank to the edge of the desert, where she buries it in the sands. She dies immediately her work is accomplished ; but as soon as hatched, the young scarabaei resume their creative functions. This particular variety appears to have migrated southwards, like so many other animal and vegetable species in Egypt. While still very common" in Nubia, it is now seldom met below Assuan, although a certain number were lately seen by M. Maspero at Saqqarah. The cause of its almost total disappearance from Upper Egypt is perhaps to be attributed to the greater breadth of the cultivated zone which in many places now intervenes between the banks of the Nile and the okirt of the desert. In Nubia the distance the beetles have to traverse with their precious burdens is usually much less. The Coptic mothers often suspend round their sick child's neck a living scarabajus wrapped in a rag or enclosed in a nut- shell. •
Inhabitants of Egypt. The present Egyptian descendante of the ancient Retu still greatly resemble their forefathers, although during the last four thousand years many foreign elements have tended to nicxlify the original tj-pe, at least in the delta and Middle Egypt. The Copts especially may be regarded as of comparatively pure stock, and are in fact still often known as the " People of Faran," that is, of " Pharaoh." Under the dj-nasty of the Ptolemies, and later during the Roman period, they must have doubtless become diversely intermingled with the neighbouring races on the Mediterranean seaboard. But since their conquest, over twelve centuries ago, by the Mohammedans, religious hatred has erected a barrier between these Christians and the invaders, so that amongst them the national type has been better preserved than amongst the other Egyptian communities. The Copts. The Copts are much more numerous than has till recently been supposed. According to the patriarch of Alexandria questioned on this subject by Vansleb in 1671, they appear at that time to have numbered not more than 10,000, or at the most 15,000 souls. But they were a few years ago estimated at 150,000, while the census of 1882 returned them at no less than 400,000, or about one- fifteenth of the entire population. More than any other section of the community, these Copts have the right to the title of Egyptians. The very name of Copt, or Kubt, appears to be a mere corruption of the ancient name of Memphis, Hsl-ka-Ptah, or " Abode of Ptah," corrupted by the Greeks to Aiguptos, a term applied indifferently to the river and the country. However, this appellation of Copt has also been referred to the name of Guft, or Coptos, a town where they are still very numerous. The des- truction of this Christian city by Diocletian is the starting-point of the Coptic era. The Copts are concentrated chiefly in Upper Egypt, in the districts of Assiut, and in the Fayum, where they possess whole villages all to themselves. In certain places they have taken for their habitations the so-called der or deU partly fortified monasteries, whose former inmates were devoted to celibacy. In these remote regions, far removed from the capital and situated at some distance from the main routes of trade and conquest, they have succeeded in preserving their customs and the monophysite form of Christianity which, like the Abyssinians, they had received from the early Byzantine Church. In the Nile Valley, north of Assiut, they are found only in the towns as artisans, money-changers, and employes. Since the spread of religious tolerance they have taken advantage of the right to establish themselves in all parts of Egypt. But none of them have ever occupied high political functions, like the Turks, Armenians, and even the Jews. Before they bad acquired equal civil rights with the Mussulmans, constant inroads were made on their numbers by Islam, especially through mixed marriages. Most of the Copts being circumcised, in accordance with the old Egyptian custom long antecedent to the time of Mohammed, their entrance into the mosque suffices to ​842 NOETH-EAST AFEICA. make them be regarded as Mussulman converts. Formerly the men were dis- tinguished by the colour of their turban, the women by that of their veil, from the Mohammedan fellahin ; and even then the Copts would often afPect the white turban and general costume of their neighbours, in order to command greater personal consideration. At present there are one himdred and twenty Coptic churches in the various provinces ; but in many districts where the Copts are no longer found, the ruins of religious edifices attest the survival of Christianity down to comparatively recent times. The Christian communities are now once more normally increasing by the natural excess of births over deaths ; for the Copts, who usually marry later than the other Egyptians, pay more regard to the family ties, and bestow greater care on their children. But if the religion of Mohammed has failed to triumph over that of the cross, the language of the Arab Mussulmans now everywhere prevails in Egypt. The old Coptic tongue, which has afforded the key to the interpretation of the hierogly- phics, thus restoring the speech of the Pharaohs, from which it differs little, is no longer anywhere current. Most of the Copts learn the ancient language only for the purpose of reciting the prayers of a liturgy the sense of which they do not always understand. Some of their religious books are even now written in Arabic. The Coptic writing system is merely a modified form of the Greek alphabet, to which have been added a few letters borrowed from the cursive or demotic forms of the national hieroglyphic writing. The oldest document in the Coptic language dates from the middle of the third century of the vulgar era ; in the tenth century it was still currently spoken by all Egyptians except their rulers. But since the seventeenth century Arabic has become the general language throughout Eg3rpt, although a great number of old Egyptian terms still survive in the local dialects. Ancient rites, undoubtedly long anteiior to the introduction of the foreign religions, have also been maintained among the Copts. Thus their tombs are still built in the form of houses, and each family continues to assemble once a year in the mausoleum for a funeral banquet. One of the names frequently given at baptism is Menas, which recalls that of Mena or Menes, true or pretended founder of the first Eg}*ptian dynasty. Those of the Copts who have received some education usually display a remark- able talent for keeping accounts and managing money matters. They are the worthy descendants of those ancient Retu whose day-books, and ledgers, and treatises on arithmetic, with sums in fractions, rules of partnership in business, equations of the first degree, have recently been brought to light.* Under the government of the Mameluks the administration of the finances was entirely in the hands of the Copts, who by means of a specially devised sj-^stem of book-keeping had rendered the public accounts so incomprehensible to all others, that they had secured an absolute monopoly of this department. But the introduction oi European financial methods, and especially the continually increasing immigration of the Syrian Catholics, no less skilful intriguers and even more instructed, with a wider • The "Rhind Papyrus" in the British Museum. ​knowledge of Arabic literature, gradually deprived the native Christians of the
chief administrative functions. The inferior positions of scribes and notaries are,
however, still left in the hands of the Copts, and the Egyptian bureaucracy comprises altogether more Christians than Mohammedans.
The Coptic clerk, we are told by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, is even "practically the judge of first instance, for it depends upon his favour whether the peasant's ​844 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. suit ever reaches the governor's or judge's ears at all, and this favour is only to be obtained by hard cash, so that unless the peasant has . enough money about him to bribe the Coptic intermediary he never wins audience of the judge himself at all. The only plan is to ' square ' the scribe, and thus you obtain, not necessarily justice, but your suit. These Coptic scribes are found in every town, and at some places, such as Girgey, a large proportion of the population is Coptic. The black turban and kaftan would always distinguish them, but a glance at their face is generally enough. It is difficult to say exactly in what they differ in appearance from Mohammedans, but one is seldom wrong in identifying them. They constitute the lower official class, and are decidedly more corrupt and voracious than the Turkish governors themselves. There is an exceedingly good understanding established between the two orders of thieves, so far resembling that Avhich exists between a local justice of the peace and the clerk of the justices, that it is really the clerk who knows and administers the law, while the great man takes the credit of it. Probably any other official class would prove as venal as the Coptic scribes — indeed the experiment has been tried with native Muslims without improving matters — but there can be no doubt that so long as our friend Girges or Hanna holds the clerkly inkstand and portfolio there will be no justice in the land." * The Feu.ahin. The fellahin, or peasantry, belong, like the Copts, to the indigenous race, more or less modified by crossings. Those living away from the great cities of Cairo and Alexandria call themselves Aulad-Masr, that is to say, " Children of Masr," or " Egyptians." Like their ancestors, both Copts and fellahin are in general of mean height, 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches, with pliant body, straight and strong limbs. The head is of a fine oval shape, the forehead broad, the nose regular and rounded at the tip, the nostrils dilated, the lips full but finely designed, the eyes large, black, and soft, with the lids slightly raised outwardly. Most of the children are of sickly constitution and sullen temperament, with dull eyes, wan complexion, and full paunch. But such as escape the ravages of endemics grow u;) handsome and robust figures. The stranger wonders how such fine young men and women could have developed in the wretched hovels of these villages. Men are frequently met of really grand forms, recalling the characteristics of the sphinx, and most of the young women are endowed with an agreeable figure, a graceful and haughty carriage. There is no more pleasant sight than that of a young mother carrying her naked babe astride across one shoulder, as is their habit. In the rural districts the women do not veil themselves so closely as in the towns. Nearly all paint the lips a deep blue, and tattoo a floral device on the chin. Some even decorate the brow and other parts of the body in the same way. All but the abjectly poor also wear diadems and necklaces of true or false pearls, jcoins, or gilt discs, the whole family fortune being thus at times lavished on them. The fellah has, so to say, no other want except this superfluous wealth, which he
he loves above all things, and in no other country where the conscription has been introduced are cases of voluntary mutilation of such frequent occurrence, the peasantry making themselves cripples, maimed of one hand, or blind of an eye, in order to escape military service.
The Egyptian is generally of a simple, kindly disposition, cheerful, obliging, ​846 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. and as hospitable as his misery will permit him. Even if he has recourse to fraud or falsehood, the usual weapons of the weak against their oppressors, he seldom succeeds. His little tricks and subterfuges are easily seen through, and frequently serve only to redouble the brutal treatment of his masters. The Copt is as a rulo more adroit in this respect than the Mussulman fellahin ; for he has not only hud to endure all kinds of hardships, like his Mohammedan neighbours, but has had over and above to cringe and play the hypocrite in order to escape from religious persecution. To avoid wholesale plunder he has had to conceal the few effects laboriously scraped together, carefully economising the fruits of a life condemned to ceaseless toil, stratagem, and beggary. The Arabs of Egypt. The Semitic element has been largely represented amongst the Egyptian popu- lations, even from times long anterior to the Arab conquest. Thus, according to ^lariette, the indigenous communities settled on the southern shore of Lake Meuzaleh are possibly the direct descendants, with but little intermixture, of the Ilyksos, those " people of low race," who overran Egypt over forty centuries ago. Their type is said exactly to resemble that of the royal statues and sphinxes* heads discovered at San, the ancient Tanis, amid the alluvia of the lake. These supposed Asiatics inhabit the townships of Menzaleh, Matarieh, Salkieh, and the neighbour- ing villages. They are described as of tall stature and strong muscular development, with very broad features in comparison with the round cranium, large nose, prominent cheek-bones, very open facial angle, high forehead, intelligent glance and smile. According to Bayard Taylor, the descendants of the Hyksos would appear to be also very numerous in the Fayum depression. But to the Arab and Syrian Mussulmans who arrived under the leadership of Amru, the population of Egypt is indebted for the largest proportion of its Semitic blood. Doubtless these Arabs have nowhere preserved themselves in a perfectly pure state amid the Egyptian communities ; but they and their successors were numerous enough profoundly to modify the aboriginal element, especially in the towns, where all the Muslims who are neither Turks nor Circassians are uniformly spoken of under tlie general appellation of Arabs. On the Red Sea coast the Abs, the Awasim, the Irenat, and other more recent immigrant tribes from Arabia, live on fishing and the coasting trade. In the rural districts on the verge of the desert, many Bedouin tribes collectively known as Ahl- el-Wabar, or " People of the Tents," have proudly preserved their lineage intact, tracing their genealogies back to the early conquerors. The Arab will no doubt at times take a wife from the family of a fellah, but will never condescend to give him a daughter in return. Leading a half-nomad life between the reclaimed lands and the wilderness, he despises the wretched peasant condemned to ceaseless labour in the furrow. Should Ne himself abandon his wandering habits, he would be at once looked upon by the nomad Bedouins as a mere fellah, like all the rest. But
Nevertheless after settling down as sedentary colonists, the children of the desert continue to enjoy great privileges, and for generations are exempt from the corvée and conscription. At the same time the Bedouins of Egypt are by no means politically independent. Separated into two distinct groups by the Nile valley, those of the Arabian desert, no less than their kindred of the Libyan oases, occupy districts easily commanded on all sides. Hence they are completely dependent on their neighbours for their supplies of all kinds. They are moreover divided into some
fifty different tribes, several of which live in a constant state of hostility amongst themselves. No instance has yet been recorded of all the Bedouins of the desert making common cause in defence of their common freedom.
One of the most powerful tribes of the Arabian desert is that of the Maazeh, or "Goatherds," who, according to Maspero, are the ancient Maziu Libyans assimilated to the Arabs within a recent period. They are the hereditary foes of the Ababdeh, who are of Beja stock, and who dwell to the south of Kosseir, in the valleys of the Cataract range, and in Lower Nubia. The Ababdeh live mainly on milk and durrah, the latter eaten either raw or roasted, or made into unleavened cakes. Their chief ​employment is stock-breeding and camel-driving. They keep camels, goats, and sheep, but never horses. Pasture is available only during the winter rains, so that in the dry season the herdsman has often to make long journeys to the hills in
search of fodder. He is occasionally even compelled to diminish his flocks or hire himself out for a time to till the land in the Nile Valley, always returning to the steppe when it is again clothed with verdure. Although all are excellent dromedary riders, the people dwelling along the Nile are now more frequently employed than ​the Ababdeh as camel-drivers in large caravans. But some still live close to the trade routes, and besides keeping stock, earn something from the services of various kinds which they render to passing caravans. They are also stationed here as roadwatchers, receiving a little payment from their chiefs for this service.
The Ababdehs and Turks of Egypt.
The Ababdeh, who number about 30,000 altogether, are governed by an hereditary "chief," who nominally controls and deposes subordinate sheikhs for the different districts. Although nominally a vassal of the Khedive he pays no tribute, but on the contrary receives a sort of subsidy from a portion of the road dues
levied on the caravans which pass through his territory. The chief and his representatives, jointly with the tribal elders, settle all internal disputes, so that the Egyptian Government has nothing to do with the clansmen, neither imposing taxes nor forcing them into the army. The chief is, however, personally responsible for the safe conduct of travellers along the caravan routes traversing his country. He furnishes camels and guides, and living himself in the Nile Valley, is held a hostage for the security of the desert roads. Mohammed Ali introduced this system of hostages among the Bedouins, and the result of this wise measure has ​850 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. i been profound "peace and absolute security in these inhospitable tracts. Before this time, these and all other Bedouins were much dreaded marauders. They made inroads from time to time into the cultivated territories, and the merchants and pilgrims, as late even as the time of Burckhardt's visit, never ventured to cross the wilderness except when armed and banded together in large caravans. All this has now been so much changed for the better that articles even lost on the road may now be recovered by giving due notice to the Ababdeh sheikhs. " * In the Libyan desert west of the Nile delta, the dominating tribe is that of the Aulad-Ali. The Ilawarahs of Upper Egypt, who furnish to the Egyptian army nearly all its irregular cavalry, are of Tuareg (Berber) origin. According to the census of 1882, the number of all the nomad and serai-nomad Bedouins, hitherto estimated at f rom70,000 to 100,000 at the utmost, was found to be about 246,000, with a considerable preponderance of the male sex. The men were said to outnimaber the women by 11 per cent., a proportion nowhere else presented by any country where regular returns have been made, except in certain districts of the Japanese Archi- pelago.f But it may be presumed that in several instances inaccurate statements were made by the Arabs to the Government officials. The Turks, although the official masters of the country since its conquest by Sultan Selim in 1517, are still looked upon as strangers. They have always held aloof from the mass of the people either in their military or bureaucratic capacity. They are far from numerous, numbering according to the various estimates from about 12,000 to 20,000. But the statement currently made that the offspring of these strangers are condemned by the climate to a premature end appears to be groimdless. No doubt infantile mortality is excessive in families imperfectly acclimatised; but the issue of mixed marriages almost invariably follows the nationality of the mothers. It becomes Egyptian in the physical type as well as in speech, and the name of the foreigner merges in the local element. Accurate statistics have shown that the former Mameluks had very small families. But that all the Mameluks, whether Georgians, Circassians, or Albanians, did not become extinct is evident from the case of Mohammed Ali, the very man who pitilessly massacred these mercenaries. Although himself an Albanian from a Macedonian island he left a numerous progeny, founding in his own family the dynasty which is still supposed to rule in Egypt. The Levantines, Europeans, and Nubians. Even the Levantines, that is to say, the Syrian, Greek, Italian, or Spanish Christians long settled in the country, have certainly established themselves for several generations on the banks of the Nile, as have also their rivals in trade, the Yahud, or Jews. Although for many centuries marrying only within their own circles, they have in no respect lost their vital energies. The Europeans also settled • Klunziffor, " Upper Egypt," p. 2o6. t Proportion of the sexis amongst the indigenous inhabitants of Egypt in 1882 : men, 3,216,247; women, 3,262,869. ​TIIE "PLAGUES OF EOYTT." 861 at Cairo and in the other large towns bring up their children succciwfully, provided they are careful to observe the onlinary laws of health. lufuut mortality is even less amongst them than amongst the natives, whose poverty for the most part pre- vents them from bestowing the necessary care on their offspring.* Nevertheless the foreign colony, in which the men are far more numerous than the women, increases not by an excess of births over deaths, but only by immigration. At present the European element is represented in Eg^'pt, or at least in Alexandria and Cairo, by much more numerous communities than those of the Turks.t In 1882 it exceeded 90,000, and will probably acquire still further expansion now that the country has been placed under the protectorate of a Western power. Thanks to their greater intelligence, strength, and resources, the Euro- peans rather than the Turks are the true masters of the land. To this immigration of conquerors from the north corresponds that of the Nubian Bar&bra or Barbarins from the south. These Barabra, engaged almost exclusively in menial occupations, are the "Auvergnatsof Cairo."+ The figures of Nubians carved on the ancient Egyptian monuments show that this immigration has been going on for ages. There remain to be mentioned the Ghagars, those Hindu tribes to whom the Spaniards and English have given the name of Gitanos and Gypsies, that is, " Egyptians," and who are still found in the Nile Valley. Amongst these wandering communities the men are chiefly horse-dealers, tinkers, mountebanks, and fortune-tellers. They also supply the tattooers and serpent- charmers, as well as the dancing dervishes, who are usually but wrongly supposed to be zealous disciples of the Prophet. Notwithstanding their Asiatic t^'pe and wild penetrating glance, by which the Gypsies are everywhere distinguished, they all claim to be pure Arabs, pretending to have migrated at first towards West Africa, whence they returned to Eg}-pt many centuries ago. The most " noble " tribe of the Ghagars even takes the name of Barmecides, though more commonly known by the appellation of Ghaw&zi, whence may possibly be derived the terms Gabachos and Gavaches, applied in Spain and in the south of France to the Gitanos and even to all despised immigrants. Amongst the Ghawdzi are chiefly recruited the dancing-girls, wl^o are not to be confused with the more respectable class of the Almeh, or singing- women. The "Plagues of Egypt." The numerous population of Egypt, which has increased threefold since the beginning of the century, and which is progressing at the mean yearly rate of about 50,000, is a sufficient proof of the salubrity of the climate.Ji In Upper Egypt especially, where the atmosphere is not charged with moist exhalations, the climate is very healthy notwithstanding its high temperature. It is even • Mortality of children under ten years in 1878 : Europenns, 39-97 per cent. ; nntivrs, 65-6-5 per cent, t Europeans in Eg^ypt, according to the census of 1882 : men, 49,Ud4 ; women, 41,832. X Edmund About, " Ahm^d le Fellah." § Population of E^'pt in 1800, under the French oocupition : 603,700 hoos s, or 'J,ol4,400 sools, reckoning 8 per hoiue. Average mortality, 26 to 27 i>er l,0o0. ​852 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. better still in the desert, as was shown by the medical statistics taken while the heavy works were in progress for the construction of the Suez Canal. Egypt is even visited in winter by a number of European invalids, especially those suffering from affections of the chest. But the large cities of Cairo and Alexandria, where the streets are constantly swept by whirlwinds of dust, do not appear to be the best places of residence for persons subject to these complaints. Here in fact consumption commits great ravages amongst immigrants from the Upper Nile, and every year carries off numerous victims, even amongst the natives. In Cairo a seventh part of the mortality is due to pulmonary affections, and in the military hospitals as many as one-third of the deaths has sometimes been caused by tuber- culosis. But the maladies Europeans have most to dread are dysentery and, in certain parts of the delta, marsh fevers. Hepatitis, a " specific poisoning of the liver," almost unknown amongst the Mohammedans, who abstain from alcoholic drinks, is very common among Europeans, owing to their less careful habits. The chief disorders of the natives are such as may be attributed to their abject poverty. The plague, formerly so terrible, and which in 1834 and 1835 carried off 45,000 persons in Alexandria, and 75,000 in Cairo, has ceased its ravages in the Nile Valley. Even cholera, which in 1883 converted Damietta into a vast hospital, now confines its periodical visitations to a very restricted area. But on the other hand anemia, caused by insufficient nourishment, is everywhere endemic and fatal, especially to children. In no other country are blind and one-eyed persons so numerous as in Egypt. On landing at the quays of Alexandria the stranger is at once struck by the effects of contagious ophthalmia amongst the crowds clamouring around him, and this first impression is confirmed by his sub- sequent observations and supported by statistical returns.* Poverty of blood, the reflection of the light on the white walls and on the surfaca of the river, the sudden changes of temperature, and especially the saline and nitrous dust formed by the decomposition of the Nilotic mud and raised in whirlwinds by the breeze, are the chief causes to which must be attributed these dangerous ophthalmic affections. Nevertheless the Bedouins of the desert are nearly all endowed with excellent sight. The flies, the " plague of Egypt," certainly contribute much to foster and aggravate these disorders. " When one sees the normal fly -ridden countenances of the Egyptian children, it is. impossible to be surprised at the enormous proportion of blind or one-eyed adults. Ophthalmia arises in various ways ; but it is undoubtedly propagated by flies, and to the carelessness and pre- judice of mothers and the un cleanness of infants must be ascribed a good deal of its prevalence. The women think it is unlucky to wash a baby's face, and prefer to let him go blind all his life to removing the pestilential flies that cover his eyes like a patch of court -plaster, "t They lose even the strength to drive away the swarms of their tormentors, and patiently wait for sleep to relieve them from their sufferings. Leprosy, although less common than in Syria, has unfortunately not dis- • Proportion of persons sufferinar from ophtlialinic disorders in Egj-pt, according to Amici : 1 7 per cent t " Social Life in Egypt," page n9. ​RELIGION— THE M0UAMMEDAN8. 858 appeared from Egypt. The species of gnstrio fever known in the East hy the name of deng is also very prevalent, while the elephantiasis of the Arabs frequently attacks the natives, especially in the delta. Another skin disease, the so-called ♦• button " of the Nile, analogous to the " date " of Bagdad and the " button " of AlopiH) and Hi^kra, is endennc in the country Most of the inhabitants as well as strangers suffer from this sore once during life or during their residence in Egypt, although for the most part under a somewhat mild form of the malady. Religion. — The Mohammedans. Upwards of nine-tenths of the Egyptians are Mohammedans. But in a land where religions have succeeded each other like the alluvial deposits of the Nile, the people have not had time thoroughly to conform themselves to the official cult. Hence more than one observer has discovered in the legends and ceremonies of the fcllahin traces of the religion which formerly attracted multitudes of wor- shippers to the vestibules of the great temples at Thebes and Memphis. Thus the nocturnal feast attended by the peasantry in the expectation of a visit from the golden cow in the ruined sanctuary of Denderah, recalls the solemn processions made in honour of the divine heifer Ilathor.* In truth the Egyptians are Mussulmans only on the surface, and compared with the indifferent masses, very few are those who scrupulously observe the prescriptions of the Prophet. The mosques are little frequented ; the fellah does not always perform his ablutions in the canal flowing by his dwelling, nor does the Bedouin stop in the wilderness to carry out the prescribed formality with sand in the absence of water. During the last fifty years the spirit of religious tolerance has made rapid strides in P^gypt. However intense the zeul of the most ardent hajis, none of them came forward to oppose the English until the " holy war " was proclaimed, and even then none of the few volunteers who entered the ranks were natives of Lower Egypt, t However proud of belonging to the chosen people, the Egj-ptian Muslims have forfeited the right any longer to despise aliens to their faith, with whom they have not dared to try issues, and who confront them with all the marks of intellectual superiority and all the resources of material strength. Nevertheless within the limits of Egj-ptian territory is found the very centre of the hostile movement against the Christians. The formidable Mussulman brother- hood of the Mahdi, or " Guide," Sidi Mahommed Ben Ali-es-SenCisi, has its metro- politan convent at Serhftb, or JarahCib, in the oasis of Faredgha. But the Guide himself, allied apparently with the Mahdi who raised the Arab tribes of EordofILn and the Upi>er Nile, is a native of Algeria, and from Mauritania come nearly all the faithful that have rallied round him. The choice of this place was due to two distinct advantages which it presented — an almost central position for the pro- paganda in the Mussulman world, and its remoteness from all military and trading stations in the hands of Europeans. Here he has been able almost secretly to • O. Miuf e o, " Maniiacript Notet.'* t Slatkousie Wallace, " Kgy|it and Ibe F<rvptlan Quectioa." 28— AF. ​develop his projects during the past twenty years free from the danger of interference from foreign states.
In accepting their religion from the Arabs the Egyptians have also, notwithstanding their great numerical superiority, adopted the language of their conquerors.
Arabic is spoken with purity in Egypt, and the University of El-Azhar at Cairo is even one of the places where are discussed and regulated the most delicate questions of Arabic grammar and literature. The only differences between the local idiom and that current in Hejaz are the use of a few Coptic and Turkish terms, and a peculiar manner of pronouncing certain letters of the ​SOCIAL USAGES. 855 alphabet. But if they ore now Arabs in religion and speech, the Egyptians have become Turks in their political organisation, administration, and absence of a hereditary aristocracy. Social Usages. In their social institutions they have also to a large extent assimilated them- eelvos to their Arab and Turkish rulers. More readily even than by the Turks polygamy has been adopted, especially amongst the governing classes ; while mono- gamy is still universal among the peasjintry. Divorce is more generally practised than in any other Mussulman country, and nearly half of the marriages are said to be followed sooner or later by repudiation. In certain Coptic circles it is customary to contract temporary alliances even for so short a period as a few weeks. Yet the priests bless these unions with the same solemnity as those of a permanent character. At the same time such temporary marriages may be made binding, should the contracting parties so desire. Cousins are frequently betrothed from the cradle, and marry on arriving at the age of puberty. Adul- tery is of rare occurrence in the Egyptian family. A curious account is given by Mr. Lawrence Oliphant of a Coptic wedding witnessed by him. " The ecclesiastic who performed the ceremony occupied evidently a very subordinate position in the Church, and his principal object seemed to be to finish the operation as speedily as possible, and get paid for it. He seated himself on a low chair in front of the happy couple, pulled a Coptic prayer-book out of his breast, and gave the signal to his attendants to commence operations, on which a man squatting on his heels behind the chair clashed a huge pair of cymbals, and half-a-dozen others in a like attitude set up a lugubrious chant in a loud nasal voice. Whenever they paused the women ranged on the benches burst forth in a shrill scream, with a quaver or ululation resembling the note of the screech-owl. It had a wild barbaric e£fect, as from time to time it broke in upon the uncouth chanting and dunging cymbals of the choir. Then the priest took up his part and read the service at a racing speed. All this time the men were talking and laughing loudly, babies were crying, and every now and then the priest would stop, apiwrently to hold a little conversation with those nearest to him on the topics of the day. Anything more irreverent or less like a religious ceremony it would be difficult to imagine. In the midst of it all the priest seized the bridegroom's left hand and put a ring on his little flnger. After some more chanting, reading, screeching, and general conversation he took a phial, which I presumed contained holy water, and crossecl the foreheads of the bride and bridegroom with its contents. Again after an interval he produced a black cord which he bound round the body of the brideg^room under his outer garment, and tied a piece of scarlet thread round his head, and did the same to the bride, who must long since have been nearly 8tifle<l. In spite of the rapidity with which the service was read, what with chanting and talking at least an hour elapsed before the priest seized the heads of the bride and bridegroom, pressing them ​85C NOETH-EAST AFRICA. against one another and waving his hand over thera, which I presume was a blessing. He then untied the cords and threads, meaning I suppose that another spiritual knot had been tied, and then abruptly snatched the handkerchief out of the bridegroom's mouth and spread it over his own knees. For the first time there was a silence as of hushed expectation ; then some silver coins, amoimting I should say to about ten shillings, were dropped into the handkerchief, and the priest rose suddenly, put some of the money into his pocket, and proceeded to ilistribute the rest among the minor officials, on which arose the most furious clamour and dispute how the filthy lucre should be divided. But order was some- how at last restored and the bridegroom got up and walked to the door. The bride, however, seemed more difficult to deal with. Her mother and two or three other women seemed to be packing her up in some mysterious way against her will, rolling her about on the bench like some bale of goods. At last in the midst of her struggles a man, I presume her father, rushed in, put her on his shoulder, and carried her off, followed by the rest of the women." * Slavery. Officially slave-dealing is strictly prohibited in Egypt as well as in the dependent territory of the Upper Nile basin. In virtue of previous conventions made with England personal servitude should have already been completely abolished by August 4, 1884, within the limits of the Khedival possessions. But the articles of these treaties have remained a dead letter, and the representatives of Great Britain, now paramount in Egypt, have limited their action to the despatch of a circular recalling the law imposed on the Khedive. It seems pro- bable that they will observe in this respect the same reserve that Gordon did in Eg}'ptian Sudan, leaving to the owners the absolute possession of the men and women acquired by capture or by purchase. If the slave-markets are closed the traffic goes on all the same, while the grandees always find the means of procuring eunuchs to look after the women of their harems. The maintenance of slavery in Egypt is necessitated by these very harems, whose mysterious regime could not be enforced xi'ith servants free to break their contracts at pleasure. At the same time it is certain that outside the palaces of the highest Mohammedan circles, domestic service is gradually replacing slavery. All Negroes who apply to the police for their " paper of freedom " obtain it, and may take up any industry in any place they choose. Thus the Western conquerors, like their Arab and Turkish predeces- sors, have introduced a new social organisation. " It should also be stated that in Egypt, as in most other Mohammedan countries, the slaves are usually treated with great kindness. They are regarded as useful members of the household by the head of the family, whose interest it is to look after their health, and make them feel as satisfied as possible with their position. The more content with their lot, the more willing they are to work, and they thus gradually learn to identify their interests with those of their masters. Hence they • "Tho Land of Kh«<nn," p. 164 et $eq. ​LAND TENURE. 857 soon ^ve up all desire of returning to their tribal homes, and begin to despise their kindred, regarding them tun savages and ' infidels.' ' Hero wc are well cared for by our kind father,' said some slaves of tho Dinka nation from the country south of Scn&r ; ' he clothes us, and when meal-time comes we sit under his roof and eat our fill, and at night we have good bedding and shelter. "When wo desire it he gives us money to go to the bazaar ; and what belongs to him belongs to us. We are of his family. Why should we wish to return to the misery and incertitude of our early life ? ' "Such appears to be the general feeling of those in servitude. They become, so to speak, members of the household of their masters. They benefit largely by the civilisation, such as it is, that surrounds them. They form ties and affections. They marry and have children, and they become thoroughly identified with the country and surroundings of those who own them. "The female slaves, if really they can be called so, seem to sit as high at their dress tables as the lighter- coloured mistress whom they serve. Of ornaments they have plenty, silver and gold coins being woven into their innumerable thinly-plaited tresses. Amber, coral, and jasper necklaces fall in rows over their, when young, statuesque bosoms, here, as is the custom of the country, left untrammelled by robe or corset. " To sum up briefly, the curse of slavery is not the actual holding of slaves, but the misery caused by the destruction of villages, the severing of family ties, and the cruelties perpetrated in the work of capture. People are dragged miles and miles without water, chained by the neck ; in fact, the trails of the capturers may be followed by the skeletons of the captives left on the line of route. Hence, what- ever may be the kindness shown by the master to his bondman, all must rejoice that the days of slavery seem at last to be numbered in all Mussulman countries brought under European influences. The Government of the Khedive, rightly influenced, is determined to stamp it out ; and the presence of English officers now in the service of His Highness in the distant provinces of the Sudan will undoubt- edly aid in effecting the extinction both of domestic slavery and of the slave traffic throughout Eastern Africa." * Land Tenure. The administration of landed estates is also being modified through the inter- vention of Europeans in the internal affairs of the country. According to the strict letter of the Mussulman law the community of the faithful, represented by the bcit-elm&l, or public trcasur}', is the sole owner of the land, which can only be held temporarily by private persons such as mortgagees, who have come to inherit it by custom rather than legal right. However, this principle has long fallen into abeyance, and as in Eurojx}, private proprietarj' rights have been established over a large portion of the Egyptian territory. Since this revolution, which allows the tree exchange of laud, its value has been greatly enhanced. The present • •• With Hicks Pasha in the Sudna." ​proprietors themselves, who no longer pay the taxes in kind, have certainly benefited by the new order of things. At the same time a new social class has been constituted, that of the agricultural proletariates, a multitude of hand to mouth labourers, who have no longer any share in the land, and who are obliged to accept employment on any terms in order to live. The lauds of dispossessed peasants, nearly all confiscated for non-payment of taxes, have enlarged the personal domain of the sovereign, of various members of his family, and of many high dignitaries of State. The Suez Canal Company has also become one of these large landed proprietors. All the estates that under sundry titles have fallen into the hands of
the khedival family are estimated at about one-fourth of all the arable land in Egypt. Between Assiut and Bedrashein nearly all the soil belongs to the Khedive. Another fourth of the land consists of the so-called ushuri, or "tithings," held in absolute right by those cultivating them. On the other hand the lands of the poor, divided into small lots round the villages, and comprising, with the commercial possessions, about half of the country, are burdened with the karaj, a variable tax, which may be increased at the pleasure of the Government, but which still averages about one-fifth, as in the time of Joseph. On paying this tax the occupier of the ​THE KHEDIViVL DOMAIN. 859 land still remains none the less at the mercy of the State. lie holds it only on sufferance, nor are the rights of his heirs acknowledged until they show them- selves capable of cultivating the estate bequeathed to them and paying theimjwsts. If they want to change their karajieh lands to an absolute projKjrty, they can do so only on condition of paying in advance a six years' tax, either in a lump sum or by instalments. Besides a safe title, these anticipated disbursements relieve them in future from half of the land-tax. The trakf (urakuf) estates belonging to the mosques or schools will probably ere long change hands in part, if not altogether. The confiscation of this mortmain property might enable the Government to cover the present annual deficits. The Khedival Domaix. Officially the largest landed estate in Egypt might seem to be that of the Khedive. JJut this domain, the so-called duirah-sanieh, having been mortgaged to European lenders since the year 1878, is administered by a commission, whose headquarters are not in Egypt, and the real owners are at present the European bankers. A considerable portion of the estate is rented to speculators, who sub-let to the peasantry. Certain parcels are directly ceded to the labourers ; but a large part of the dairah, which would certainly be brought under cultivation if in the hands of the fellahin, is allowed to lie fallow. For direct exploitation the creditors of the Khedive have recourse either to hired labourers, or to agents and " middle- men," who arrange with the village headmen for the hands required to till the land. Their work is remunerated by a regular pittance, or by personal gifts made to the gangers. All systems of payment are nicely graded, from the gratuitous corvee to the amount of direct wages freely determined between employer and labourer. But so many intermediaries have to receive a share of the profits in the cidtivation of the khedival domain, so many interests claim compensation for their "disinterested" services in the "regeneration of Egypt," that the revenues of these otherwise extremely fertile lands are frittered away to little over twenty shillings an acre. There is even a yearly deficit if to the current expenses be added the interest due on previous debts.* Irrigatiox — The Ixuxdations of the Nilb. To the contrast between the estates of large proprietors and the karajieh holdings of small owners corresponds in many places the contrast between the systems of irri- gation. In this respect it is necessary carefully to distinguish between the so-called
Acres directly cultivated 192,660 „ leased 134,100 ,, grunted to the peasantry 87.670 „ waale or f tllow 82,860 446,880 ​860 NOETH-KVST AFEICA. Hefi and nili lands. The latter, as indicated by the name itself, comprise all those tracts that would be flooded by the annual inundation but for the retaining dykes, as well as those reached through infiltration by the deep waters derived either from the main stream or from natural or artificial channels excavated at a slight depth below the surface of the ground. The lowest dykes derive their waters at a depth of about 13 feet below the cultivated lands, and are flushed only during the period of the inundations, remaining dry for the rest of the year. During the last century the wliole of Egypt was watered exclusively by means of basins disposed at different elevations along both banks of the river, and receiving their supplies through the nili canals, and over three-fourths of the cultivated tracts in Upper Egypt are subject to the same method of irrigation. The sefi, that is, " summer " canals, all of recent origin, are excavated below the mean low-water level from 26 to 30 feet below the surface, so that they are reached by the stream even at the very height of the dry season. In Upper Egypt they are disposed parallel with the river and at a very slight incline, so as to bring them at once to the level of the lands to be irrigated. But in Lower Egypt, from which the system of irrigating basins has entirely disappeared, the sefi canals remain everywhere at a lower level than the fields, to which the water must be raised by means of steam-engines, sakiehs, or shadufs. One of these sefi canals is the famous Mahmudieh channel, which derives its water from the Nile in order to irrigate the tracts skirting the desert as far as the city of Alexandria, and which serves at the same time as a great navigable highway. But having become partly choked by the mud, it is no longer deep enough to admit a regular current, hence has to be partly filled by means of steam-engines established at Atfeh, on the Rosetta branch of the Nile. The Damietta branch also feeds numerous summer canals, thanks to its relatively high elevation above the plains of the delta. The sefi system was first introduced under Mohammed AH, when the cultivation of Jumel cotton was begun. By this method are still almost exclusively raised the larger and more important crops, such as sesame, sugar, and cotton, which are thus watered for three months continuously before the period of the ordinary inundation. So it happens that the small holdings have no share in the benefits reserved for the large estates irrigated during the period of low water. The high State functionaries and rich money-lenders alone derive any advantage from growing these larger industrial crops. Yet they are not the only contributors to the maintenance of the works, the cost of which is enormous, owing to the mud constantly accumu- lating in the ditches and gradually filling them up in many places. A single year would suffice to convert a sefi canal into a simple nili channel but for the numerous gangs of fellahin employed for weeks and months together on the work of excavation. The sefi canals taken collectively represent a quantity of deposits about half as much again as that of the Suez Canal, and every year the amount of mud and earth required to be again displaced to keep open the dykes is not less
The Forced Labour or Corv£e System. For these vast works the combined labour of the whole population is needed. As the daily labour of the fell&h scarcely suffices on the average to displace half a cubic yard of earth, or three-quarters at the utmost under favourable conditions, the days of labour on these works must be reckoned at tens of millions. In 1872 Linant de Bellefonds estimated at 450,000 the number of hands employed on an average for two months every year in clearing out the sefi canals. Each fellah has, moreover, to attend to the nili canals of his commune, as well as to the particular canal bringing water to his own fields. On the Mahmudieh Canal alone, Mohammed Ali employed 313,000 under the corv^ system of labour. Nor is this all. The exceptionally high inundations of the Kile might be the cause of widespread disaster were the dykes not carefully maintained, and even under dangerous circumstances raised to a higher level. In 1874 all the summer crops — sugar, cotton, durrah, maize — were threatened with complete destruction, and the whole wealth of the land would have been engulphed, had not the entire ixjpulation, animated by a sense of the common danger, k<'j>t up an inces- sant struggle with the rising waters. For over a whole month 700,000 men laboured to repair and strengthen the embankments, so as constantly to make head against the swollen stream. Frequently a third of the population has been simultaneously engaged in this struggle with the Nile, and even in normal years the Government calls out 100,000 men imder the corvee system, drawn in about equal proportions from Upper and Lower Egypt. These constant efforts to adapt the land to the fluvial conditions have seldom a spontaneous character. Summoned under the corvee, and receiving from the authorities nothing but a shovel and a basket, the peasantry present themselves in gangs at the works, preceded by their Sheikh-el-BeltHl, or village headman, and often accompanied by their women and children. Temporary encampments are established along the embankments, and the men enter the canal to dredge and bring up a little mud, gradually heaping it to a height of 30 or 40, and even 50 feet, over the side of the dyke. The women do the cooking — that is, prepare a few cakes of durrah in the fire; the children tumble about in the sand, while the armed pickets tramp silently up and down the embankment. It is doubtless natural and reasonable that all the inhabitants should take their share in the maintenance of the canals. From the mud of the Nile springs all the wealth of Egypt, and in this respect the whole population has a common interest. The canals, also, which distribute the fertilising waters, and but for which the riverain peoples would be reduced to starvation, represent an amount of labour far beyond the resources of private enterprise. But, on the other hand, it seems only fair that this work, to which all hands contribute, should be really carried on in the interest of all. It should tend to promote the prosperity not only of a few large domains, but also that of the smaller village holdings. It should certainly not weigh as a heavy bunlen exclusively on the labourers who are too poor to purchase exemption or find substitutes for the onerous task. Nor should the wretched victims of the ​862 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. corvee, wallowing in the beds of the canals, be allowed to suffer hunger or be deci- mated by epidemics, or be made to writhe under the lasl*. of the cruel kurbash. The very monuments of Egypt have recorded for six thousand years the sad fate of the fellah, bent beneath his load of mud while the overseer stands flourishing the scourge above his head. The names may change, but this ancient form of slavery still survives. As Amru said to the Caliph Omar, the Egyptian people " seem des- tined to toil only for others, without themselves deriving any benefit from their labour." Conservatism and Progress. There are few other countries where the old usages, adapting themselves with difficulty to modern times, contrast more strikingly with the methods introduced by Western civilisation. While the ancient method of cultivation remains unchanged, and while the peasantry, regulating their work according to the yearly inimdations, sow and reap always at the same period, make use of the same implements, gather the same cereal crops, eat the same bread, modern agriculture draws the water by means of steam-engines directly from the river, cultivates the exotic plants of India and the New World, employs improved ploughs, reaping, threshing, and sifting machines. To manure their fields the peasantry still rely on the most precarious refuse from their farms and pigeon-houses, while the scientific cultivators import from Europe and America chemically analysed phosphates and guanos. Railways run close to the old mud hovels ; skilfully constructed iron or steel bridges span the canals and the great branches of the Nile, while elsewhere the fellah must swim or wade through the stream, his tunic gathered like a turban round his head, or else crosses over seated on a mat of palm-leaves floated on inflated skins or calabashes, or on a string of tufted foliage, which he propels by converting his shirt into a sail. And, again, on the very sands and marshes skirting the wilderness, lighthouses with electric burners, the " suns of the Christians," as the natives call them, light up between the Mediterranean and Red Sea the great navigable highway which, even in these days of colossal undertakings, stands out as one of the most stupen- dous works of human industry. But amid all these strange contrasts between the old conservatism and the new ideas, the clearest signs of material and intellectual progress are everywhere conspicuous. "Nothing," remarks the distinguished traveller, Charles Beke, " surprised me more in my present journey, though I have visited Egypt frequently since 1840, than the many changes for the better that were observable in the whole country. When one has passed the Mareotis Lake, and the barren district west of the Rosetta arm of the Nile, the land presents most distinct evidences of higher and more extended culture. " I was told that in this part of Egypt, where in 1850 only 100,000 acres of land were under cultivation, now double that extent is planted. The cottpn harvest is now just over, and the fields are being ploughed. Once I saw what I have never seen before, a camel drawing the plough. Far and wide there waves a green sea of cornfields or of rich pasture-land, on which cattle, asses, sheep, and goats ​TUE SUEZ CANAL. 808 are grazing. Trees have been planted, and not only along the roads ; some places have been »et so thickly as almost to apix>ar like little forests. The route across the delta, on the clear sunny day on which I travelled, was indeed charming, and I had often to remind myself that I was really in Egypt, so totally changed was the picture ; for here and there, also, the tall chimney of some manufactory was to be seen rising alx)ve the trees or over the villages. Egj^pt will soon belong only geographically to Africa ; in everything else it is becoming European. " The condition of the lower classes, also, shows a marked improvement. Ophthalmia, jXThaps the most jminful scourge of Egypt, is now neither so wide- spread nor so intense as formerly ; and if the people are not better fed than they used to bo, they have at least sufficient for their wants. Those inhabiting the towns are rt^narkably improved. In Cairo there are not nearly so many barefooted people as formerly ; and they arc not contented with slippers, but wear European boots. The fellahs, or jx^asants, also are decide<lly improved. Their nmd huts are better built, and especially better roofed ; indeed, here and there peosant houses of quite European type are now to be seen. " No doubt this rapid progress in Egj'pt has its shadow side. Like the children of Israel of old, the people do not work for themselves, but are in heavy bondage almost beyond their powers. Yet this development under high pressure is imdeniably to the advantage of the country. The greatest and most imix)rtant, because most universally active change, is certainly that of the improvement in the climate, brought about by the more extended cultivation, and especially by the numerous plantations of trees. Egypt is in a fair way to overturn its proverbial rainlessness. In Alexandria rain now falls even to excess ; and Cairo, of which the prophet of all travellers, Murray, in his handbook, still maintains that it enjoys at most five or six light showers in the course of the year, had to record not fewer than twenty-one such in the past year. I myself experienced a rainy day there quite as wet as any known in England. The consequences of it were that the unpave<l streets were covered ankle-deep with mud, and all traffic except that in carriages was at an end. •* Naturally the ignorant Arabs ascribe these changes to supernatural agencies, and since the year corresjx)nd8 with that of the ascent of Mohammed Ali to the throne, the witchcraft if. supjwsed to emanate from him and his dynasty." The Suez Canal. The channel between the two seas, after having perhaps existed as a natural artery for a short period during quarternary times, is known to have been indirectly restored by the Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty, over thirty-three centuries ago. A tradition recorded by Strabo attributes the construction of the canal to Sesostris. Herodotus also tells us that Nekos, son of Psammaticus, began near Bubastes a canal which skirted the quarries, that is, the hills now knov^-n as the Jebel-Mokattam, thence trending eastwards to the Red Sea. A hundred and twenty thousand hands had already perished on these works of canalisation between the Nile and the coast. ​864 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. when their farther progress was arrested by an oracle which declared that they were being executed " for the benefit of a barbarian." And it was, in fact, a foreigner. King Darius of Persia, who opened the com- munication between the Nile and the Gulf of Arsinoe, consequently between the Mediterranean and Red Sea, by a well-constructed canal, wide enough, says Herodotus, to allow two triremes to pass each other in mid-stream. According to Diodorus Siculus, the same king even entertained the idea of cutting a canal from sea to sea, between the Gulf of Pelusium and the Red Sea. The works seem to have even been begun, for the banks, some 16 feet high, are still to be seen of a ditch from 160 to 180 or 200 feet wide, running from Lake Timsah by the Gisr towards El-Kantara. But it was feared that the " waters of the Red Sea, standing at a higher level than the plains of Egypt," would flood all the land, and for this reason the works were discontinued. Monuments bearing inscriptions in four languages — Persian, Medo-Scythian, Assyrian, and Egyptian — were erected on the banks of the canal near Suez. These inscriptions record the fruitless attempts made by Darius to accomplish the work successfully carried out in our days. The fear entertained by the Persian monarch — a fear still shared by most engineers down to the middle of the nineteenth century — is all the more easily understood when it is considered that the mean level of the southern waters does in fact exceed that of the Mediterranean at Pelusium. At ebb there is scarcely any perceptible difference, but at flow the Red Sea is considerably higher, in exceptional cases as much as 90 or 100 inches. In the time of Darius the current setting north- wards in consequence of this difference of level would have even been stronger than at present, for the channel was narrower. But the old canal derived from the Nile gradually silted up, and the ditch cut across the isthmus became choked with sand and mud. Nevertheless the memory of the work accomplished did not perish, and more than one Egyptian ruler continued to regard the project of uniting the two seas as an enterprise glorious beyond all others. Ptolemy II. is said to have restored the canal, and, arguing from certain somewhat obscure passages in Strabo and Diodorus, some writers have even asserted that the cutting was effected directly from gulf to gulf. Skilfully constructed sluices gave access to vessels without flooding the surrounding low-lying tracts. However, the traffic between the two marine basins was doubtless insufficient to pay for the maintenance of the banks and sluices, and it has been supposed that in the reign of Cleopatra the navigable highway must already have been again closed. At least, according to Plutarch, the Egyptian queen endeavoured to have her ships transported overland to the Red Sea, in order to escape, with aU her treasures, from Octavius after the battle of Actium. Nevertheless it is quite possible that the canal may even then still have existed, if not permanently at least during the Nilotic inundations. The time when she wanted to escape happened to coincide with the period of low- water, when the canal would have been dry. After the Ptolemies the Roman conquerors took up the dream of uniting the two seas. Trajan, who tried his hand at so many great enterprises, set to work also on this project, and under the reign of Hadrian boats were navigating the ​so-called "River of Trajan," excavated, like the older river of Nekos, between the Nile, the Timsah, and the Bitter Lakes, across the desert zone skirting the arable lands. As Letronne has observed, the exploitation of the great porphyry quarries at Mount Claudian would have been unintelligible, unless some waterway existed between the sea and the river for forwarding the huge monoliths extracted from the mountain. They could not certainly have been transported to the Nile Valley over the intervening hills and rocks of the Arabian range.
Like most of the works executed by the Romans, Trajan's Canal was made to last, and in fact it was maintained for centuries. Makrizi tells us that in the early period of Islam it was still accessible to vessels. After seizing Egypt, Amru had little more to do than clear out the channel and restore the sluices. But be appears to have harboured even more ambitious views, intending to open a canal directly
from the Red Sea to Farama on the shores of the Gulf of Pelusium, possibly by utilising the cuttings previously made by Darius and the Ptolemies. But Omar fearing, as is said, lest the Greeks might take advantage of this highway to attack the pilgrims journeying to Mecca, refused to sanction the work. Nor did the canal restored by Amru last very long, having been closed a hundred and thirty-three years afterwards by order of the Caliph Abu Jafar-el-Mansur, to prevent some rebel from receiving his supplies.
During the interval of nearly eleven centuries from that epoch to modern times, the slow work of nature gradually effaced the work of man. Houses, sluices, dams disappeared; the dykes became choked by alluvial deposits and sands, while marshy depressions took the places of the embankments. The coast-line has been modified round the gulfs and lagoons; but numerous vestiges nevertheless still ​survive of the former Egyptian, Roman, and Arab works. In some places, and notably near Suez, the dykes, built with such hard stone that the Arabs take them for natural rocks, rise here and there some 18 or 20 feet above the plains.
It is probable that to a barrage, the remains of which are still visible, the ground-sill of Gisr owes its Arabic name of "dyke."
While the mud and sands were obliterating the monuments of the Pharaohs, Ptolemies, Trajan, and Amru, the Sultans of Constantinople, after the reduction of Egypt, frequently entertained the idea of renewing the works of their predecessors. ​THE SUEZ CANAL. 867 But the project did not take definite shape till the time of the French expedition. With the cxiKKlition came a number of distinguished naturalists, eager to accom- plish great things, and one of the greatest to them seemed the idea of reuniting the two seas. Lepere and other savunts forthwith set to work to survey the surface of the isthmus, and accurately determine the conditions under which the enterprise might be successfully undertaken. Unfortunately the results of this exploration were vitiated by a fatal error. Lepere fancied he had found the level of the Red Sea nearly 33 feet higher than that of the Mediterranean. Under the influence of this serious miscalculation he allowed himself to be influenced by the illusion of the ancients, who feared the low-lying tracts on the Mediterranean coast would be engulfed by the waters of the Red Sea were the project carried out. He accordingly gave up the idea of cutting a direct maritime canal, although recognising how greatly the trade of the world would be benefited by connecting the two basins by a deep channel not subject to the alternative rise and fall of the Nile waters. Falling back on the scheme of the Pharaohs, he proposed to construct a canal, from 14 to 16 feet deep, running from Cairo to Suez, in four sections at four different levels, two filled with the sweet water of the Nile, two with the saline water of the Red Sea. This canal was further to be completed by a navigable highway flowing from the head of the delta to the port of Alexandria. Being accessible only to river craft, the canal projected by Lepere could have been used for inter-oceanic traffic only during the periodical inundutiuus of the Nile. The French occupation of Egypt was too short for the work to be undertaken. But the idea of separating Asia and Africa by a new Bosphorus was destined never again to be laid aside. It even became the dogma of a new religion, the Saint -Simonians having introduced it into their " articles of faith." Their jour- nals were already discussing the question in the year 1825, and when several members of the sect had to leave France, the study of the Suez Canal was one of the chief reasons that induced them to turn towards the East. I^ater on, when the Saint-Simonian religion had cease<l to exist, but when most of its former adherents had become men of influence in the commercial world, the scheme fuund its most zealous champions amongst them. At last public opinion became so clamorous, that it was found necessary to undertake a fresh survey, in order to verify or set aside that of Lt^j)ere, which Laplace and Fourier, besides many other savants, had always regarded as erroneous. In 1S47 a European society was instituted, and under the direction of the engi- neers Linant, Talabot, and Bourdaloue, accurate levellings were taken across the isthmus, from Suez to Pelusium. Henceforth it was once for all placed beyond doubt that, apart from the inequalities caused by the higher tides in the Gulf of Suez, the surface of the two seas presented but slight discrepancies of level. The operations of the Bourdaloue survey were again checketl in the years 1853, 1855, and 18oG, the results being each time almost identical.* • MrdiU^rranMin at Tineh. on tho Gulf of PoliiBiiim :— Low wnter. metres ; high wat«r, O'M metios. lied Sou al Suez :— Low water, 0-7414 meire* ; bi^h wat«r, 2-U6SG muires. ​After the settlement of this important point in physical geography, nothing more apparently remained to be done before proceeding to construct a direct canal across the isthmus. But the first project, presented by M. Paulin Talabot, one of the engineers engaged on the survey, proposed the construction of a canal from Suez through Cairo to Alexandria. This scheme, which has been recently again adopted by some English engineers in opposition to the present undertaking, involved the construction of locks and sluices, in order on both sides to reach the level of the Nile above the head of the delta. It would have also been necessary to provide for a system of flood-gates, to resist and regulate the fluvial inundations, besides a tcw-bridge across the Nile between the two sections of the canal, in order
to tow the vessels from one side to the other. As a highway of navigation, the inferiority of this canal, winding through Lower Egypt, compared with that across the isthmus, dispensing with sluices and nearly three times shorter, is self-evident. But the primary object of this canal, which would have been 240 miles long, was the irrigation of the delta rather than traffic. The interests of navigation and irrigation however being different, and even antagonistic, seeing that shipping requires a low level, while cultivators naturally seek to raise the bed of their artificial streams as high as possible, it would be a mistake to construct a canal
THE SUEZ CANAL. 869 for this twofold purpose. Should the riverain tract« of the delta ever be enclosed by a circular artery, this canal will probably be utilised exclusively for irrigation and the local traffic. The firman granting a concession to pierce the isthmus directly from sea to sea, was at last signed in the year 1854. While signing this document, the Sultan Nvas himself incredulous as to the possibility of executing the work, and even among the engineers engaged on the vast undertaking, many were wanting in the confidence required to stimulate their efforts. But Ferdinand de Lesseps, in whose favour the firman had been signed, was a man of strong faith and tenacious will. He was discouraged neither by financial difficulties, nor by faint-hearted friends, nor yet by the secret or avowed opposition of adversaries. Amongst these adversaries was the British Government, fearing the opening of a direct route to India, of which it was not sure of always holding the key. Yet it was compelled in its turn to acknowledge itself vanquished, and on November 17th, 1869, a whole fleet of steamers followed in gay procession, bearers of the Khedive's invited guests from Port Said to Lake Timsah. Fifteen years had sufficed to complete this colossal undertaking. But to bring it to a successful issue, new engineering methods and new mechanical contrivances had to be devised. A sum of nearly £19,000,000, nearly half subscribed in France, had been expended, apart from the numerous substantial services con- tributed by the Egyptian Government, such as concessions of land, the erection of lighthouses, harbour dredgings, pecuniary advances without interest, gangs of labourers under the corvee system, representing at least a capital of some £4,000,000. The number of natives engaged on the works averaged about twenty thousand. This great highway, a veritable marine strait, which is visited by sharks and cetaceans, and where are now intermingled the various flora and fauna of the Mediterranean and Red Sea, presents dimensions which at the time seemed prodigious, but which are already acknowledged to be inadequate. The canal, which is 98 miles long from sea to sea, and from 200 to 330 feet wide between the banks, has a depth nowhere less than 26 feet, and in some places nearly 28 feet. Dredges are constantly engaged, clearing out the sand and mud, which the wash of passing steamers causes to accumulate on the bottom. Without including these subsequent dredgings, which amount to about 21,000,000 cubic feet yearly, the excavations represent a mass estimated at 2,910 millions of cubic feet, equal to a pyramid 1,100 yards square and 830 feet high. From a mere lagoon, Lake Timsah, that is, of the "Crocodiles," from which, however, these animals had long disappeared, has been transformed to an inland aea. The basin of the Bitter Lakes has also received from the Red Sea a volume estimated at seventy billions of cubic feet ; the vast salt-beds formerly occupying this depression are being gradually dissolved under the influence of the currents setting alternately north and south. The canal presents a superb spectacle, especially at EUGisr, between the two lines of dunes rising on either side some 50 feet above the surface. And it is difficult to suppress the feeling of wonder 24— A F. ​produced by the scene as viewed from the Port Said lighthouse, commanding as it does a panoramic prospect of the city rising above the sands, the vast harbour with its wet-docks and side basins crowded with shipping, the white piers disappearing in the distance amid the blue waters of the Mediterranean, and in the interior those huge steamers, like floating palaces, gliding away between the surrounding sand dunes as if propelled by some magic force across the isthmus.
The traffic of the Suez Canal has developed more rapidly than its constructors expected. Without the aid of tugs, sailing vessels are unable to navigate the Red Sea in either direction, either against the northern winds or against those from the south blowing directly into the gulf. But for the Indian traffic sails lave been superseded by steam; ships of a special build have even been constructed
for this inter-oceanic service through the canal and the Red Sea, and the mean tonnage continues to increase from year to year. During the year 1883, a solitary sailing vessel passed from sea to sea, whereas on an average ten steamers every day availed themselves of this route.
Hence the necessity for enlarging this navigable highway has already arisen. Certain sharp turnings will also have to be got rid of, as has already been done at El-Gisr, and several other improvements will have to be made, such as the deepening of the channel, the completion of the stone facing to the embankments where the shifting sands are too easily eroded by the wash, the construction of ports in the riverain lakes, and especially a general widening of the whole canal in order to be able to dispense with the sidings, or "shunting stations," which now | ​occur at intervals of 6 or 8 miles along the route. The original projectors had anticipated a yearly traffic of six million tons; but provision must now be made for a double and even fourfold movement at no distant date. It is proposed to treble the width of the present channel, so that steamers may pass each other without slacking speed, and also to prevent the whole traffic from being blocked by the grounding of a single vessel, as so frequently happens at present.
England, which formerly opposed the opening of the canal, is the very power now most urgent in calling for its enlargement. But the results afford a ready explanation of this change of attitude. The canal has in fact become an almost exclusively British highway, and an eighth part of the whole trade of Great Britain, representing a value of over £80,000,000, passes through the Isthmus of
Suez. The British Government has also become one of the chief shareholders, and since the occupation of Egypt it practically controls this route, which it may open or close at pleasure, as was seen before the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, when all traffic was for a short time suspended, in spite of the conventions guaranteeing the neutrality of the passage between the two seas, Thus Great Britain, which feared lest the marine route to India might fall into the hands of her rivals, has succeeded in securing its possession at least for the present. At the same time, according to the terms of the international convention concluded in 1885, the canal is henceforth declared an open highway under the joint guarantee of the European powers. It is thus absolutely free to the ships of all nations, and in time of war even to those of belligerents; which, however, cannot remain in the canal for a ​872 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. period of more than three days, nor during their stay commit any acts of hostility against the vessels of their antagonists. The terms of this important international agreement are briefly resumed in the subjoined series of articles, adopted after much discussion by the Suez Canal Com- mission : — "Article 1. The Canal shall remain open both in time of peace and war to merchant and war ships without distinction of flags. The contracting parties undertake to place no obstacle in the way of free passage through the Canal either in time of peace or war, nor to blockade the Canal, nor to subject it to any other measure of war. Article 2. As a sweetwater canal is recognised to be indispens- able for a maritime canal, cognizance is taken of the Khedive's obligations to the Suez Canal Company in that respect, and the Powers are pledged not to compromise in any way the safety of the sweetwater canal. Article 3. All parties agree not to damage the material for building and repairing purposes. Article 4. It is agreed that no fortifications shall be erected on such points as could command or threaten the Canal and serve as the basis for offensive operations, nor shall any such point be occupied by troops. The maritime entrances to the Canal, as also the territorial waters, shall be excluded from all miKtary operations. Article 5. Although in time of war the Canal will be open to the passage of the belligerent fleets, no acts of hostilities and no measure preparatory to the same shall be carried out in the Canal or in the territorial waters of Egypt, even should Turkey be one of the belligerents. No troops, provisions, ammunition, nor war material shall be landed there. The passage of ships must be as rapid as possible, and the stop- page at Port Said or Suez must not exceed twenty-four hours. There must be an interval of twenty-four hours between the departure of ships belonging to nations at war. Articles 6 and 7 refer to captured vessels, which will be treated as belonging to belligerents. For all damage to the Canal or to the material belonging to it, the Power whose ship has caused the damage will be held responsible, though the right of appeal is reserved. Article 8. No Power will be entitled to have more than one war ship at a time in the Canal, and more than two at Port Said and Suez. Article 9 provides for the rights of the Sultan and of the Khedive. The measures required for the defence of Egypt in case of need must not affect the safety of the Canal. Article 10. A Commission composed of representatives of the signatory Powers at London, on March 17, 1885, to whom shall be added an Egyptian delegate with a consultative voice, will sit under the presidency of a special Turkish delegate, and make arrangements with the Suez Canal Company for the enforce- ment of the present regulations for the Canal navigation and police. The said Commission shall, within the limits of its attributions, see to the execution of the present treaty and submit to the Powers proposals for securing its observance. It is understood that the Commission shall not infringe the Sultan's rights. Article 11 prescribes that Egypt shall within the limits of its rights take measures to ensure respect for the treaty, and in case of need shall appeal to Turkey and to the signatory Powers. Article 12 stipulates that none of the signatory Powers shall seek territorial or commercial advantages or privileges of any kind in connection ​TOPOORAPUY— MAllATTA— PniL^. 87» with the Canal. Article 13 provides for the Sultan's rights, and, finally, the con- cluding article is to the effect that the Powers will communicate the treaty to those States which have not signed it, and will invite them to endorse it." Topography. "NMiile new towns are springing up in £g}i)t, the ancient cities are crumbling to dust. Most of the larger centres of population stand at some distance from the ruins marking the sites of former copitals. But these ruins, fur more interesting than most of the modern towns, still relate the history of Egyptian culture. In many places the hovels of the fellahin, small cubical blocks of brick or mud covered with a reed roof or a terrace of beaten earth, are almost lost in the shade of mighty gateways and peristyles of temples. Since the scientific exploration of Egypt has been actively begun, fine monuments hove been rescued from the sands in which they hud long been buried ; but many others have disappeared for ever. The salt- petre with which the sands and alluvial dusts are impregnated gradually corrodes the hardest stones of these buildings ; treasure- seekers demolish their walls ; while still greater destruction is caused by the peasantry, who make the sihak/i, an excellent composition, by mixing the dust of the ruins with earth. The limekilns have consumed layer after layer of the temples built with limestone, so that the monuments of sandstone, which can scarcely be utilised for modern structures, have suffered least from these destructive processes. The Egyptian villages bear the most diverse names, according to the origin of their inhabitants, or the tenure of the soil. Thus occur such names as Nahieh, Kafr^ Ezhehy Nag, Abadie/i, Menshat, and Nazleh, this last term, which means "settlement " or " colony," being applied to villages built by Anib nomads who have become culti- vators. The villages also frequently shift their sites, owing to the inundations, or the opening of some fresh canal. In the same way their names often become changed, according to the social status of the proprietors by whom they are pur- chased. Yet in these villages are still to be read the records of ancient Egj'pt. The country has been compared to a palimpsest or media)val parchment, on which the Bible has been written above Herodotus, and the Koran above the Bible. In the towns the Koran is the most legible, while in the rural districts Herodotus reappears.* Mah ATTA — Phi L-E. Classical Egypt begins at the First Cataract, at the spot where the Nile craft from Nubia still land their cargoes of gums, ivory, and ebony, in the shade of the palms and sycamores fringing the Mnhattn beach. At Mahatta, which stands on the right bank, the river is still smooth as a lake ; but towards the north we already perceive the black reefs, amid which wind the foaming currents of the rapids. But before plunging into this labyrinth of falls, the sluggish waters wash the shores of a cluster of verdant isles, one of which is the famous PhiUe, the llak of the • Lucy Duff Gunloa, " LoUen from £gjrpt." ​874 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. Egyptians, the holy island, whither was transferred the tomb of Osiris from Abydos. Of all solemn oaths the most solemn was that sworn by the " Osiris who dwells at PhilsB." It is a small island, less than half a mile in circumference ; but its out- lines describe a charming oval, and there is no more graceful monument in all the land than the kiosk on the east bank, whose festooned columns and floral capitals rival the elegant forms of the shapely palm-stems overshadowing them. This Egyptian edifice, dating from the time of Tiberius, is one of those that have been most frequently reproduced by the pictorial art. It bears neither reliefs nor inscriptions ; but it recalls the outlines of the Erechtheon at Athens, and it occupies a lovely site. The other monuments on the island, temples of Isis reconstructed after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander, are more remarkable for their inscriptions than for their architecture. Perfectly preserved paintings are still visible on their columns. Philae has become famous in the history of archaoological studies through its two bilingual inscriptions, one of which, a copy of the celebrated " Rosetta Stone," commemorates in hieroglyphic and demotic characters the triumph and greatness of Ptolemy V., named the ** Immortal." At Phila) also was found the obelisk on which Champollion, after having already discovered the secret of the sacred writings, deciphered the name of Cleopatra. This precious monument, carried off by Banks and Belzoni, now forms part of a private collection in England.* Another inscription at Philae, dated the eighteenth ventose of the year seven, records the passage of the first division of the French army under the command of Desaix in pursuit of the Mameluks, beyond the Cataracts. At one time a tunnel passed under the narrow channel separating the island of Philae from that of Biggeh, which was formerly also a holy land. AssuAN — Abu. The valley through which flowed the Nile waters when they stood at a higher level than at present, now forms the main route of caravans skirting the Cataracts and transporting merchandise overland between Mahatta and Assuan. Here the Khedive Ismail constructed a railway nine miles long, for military purposes, and this line was extended by the English far into Nubia during the campaigns of 1884 and 1885. The importance attached for at least the last forty-seven centuries to this commercial highway is evident from the inscriptions in various languages engraved on its rocky walls. Its strategic value was also fully recognised, as appears from the remains of a rampart constructed to defend Si/ene from the attacks of the Blemmyes. The town lies below the Cataracts, on the right bank of the river, where its houses are disposed in amphithcatral form on the slopes of the rocks. The creek of Assuan is crowded with river craft, although less numerous than at Mahatta, and the Shellali, or "Men of the Cataract," swarm on^the beach every time a dahabiyeh weighs anchor in the direction of the rapids. The bazaar is well stocked with arms and ornaments, ostrich feathers, skins of wild beasts, ivory,
Under its Arabic form of As-Suân, the old Egyptian name of Suân has survived for nearly five thousand years, and under its Greek form of Syene had already become famous in classical times. To geologists it recalls the granite and "syenite" quarries, which have been excavated to the south of the city for a space of nearly
four miles. Here is still to be seen an obelisk 120 feet long, not yet entirely detached from the rock. Astronomers also are reminded by this name of the experiments here carried out by Eratosthenes, over twenty-one centuries ago. Assuming that Syene stood exactly on the line of the tropic of Cancer, which, however, is not strictly correct, and finding that at Alexandria the shadow of the gnomon stood at a fiftieth on the day of the summer solstice, from these data Eratosthenes deduced the degree of the earth's curvature, and consequently #0 far ​876 NOETH-EAST AFEIOA. determined the dimensions of the planet. He did not take the direct measurement of the distance between Syene and Alexandria. But the Egj^tian people, who knew so well how to turn their edifices towards the rising sun, must have also known not only the distance, but also the exact position of these places. Hence the common estimate accepted by the Greek astronomer must have come very close to the truth. If the measurement of the meridian made by him was in Egyptian feet, as is probable, his calculation was wrong by scarcely a sixty-fifth. The real length of the arc of the meridian, between Alexandria and the parallel of Syene, is exactly 787,760 metres, while the measurement of Eratosthenes gave 810,000 metres.* Elephantine Island, which faces Assuan on the other side of a channel 500 feet wide, was also the site of a famous city. Here stood Abu, the " City of the Elephant," which afterwards, during the Greek and Roman periods, appears to have been the great emporium for the ivory brought down from the Upper Nile. But scarcely any of its ancient monuments have survived to the present day. Its temples were demolished in 1822, to supply building materials, and little is now to be seen except a Nilometer restored in 1870, and some heaps of ancient pottery on which the custom-house officers of the Roman epoch used to scratch their receipts. On the ruins now stand two villages of Barabra Nubians. But Elephantine, the
brilliant foliage presents a striking contrast to the black rocks commanding the issue of the cataract. Ombos — Edfu. The site of the ancient city of Ombos is now indicated only by the hamlet of Kom-Ombo, situated on the west bank, and by the ruins of two temples dedicated to two rival dieties, Horus, god of light, and Sebek, the genius of darkness. But the stream is continually eating away this bank, with its sanctuaries and the sand encimabering them. The defile of Silsikh, or the "chain," below Kom-Ombo, would be the most convenient point for constructing a barrage to raise the level of the river and divert a portion of the current to the irrigation canals. According to the proposed plan, the main channel would skirt the foot of the Libyan range, watering all the now barren tracts which stretch west of the Bahr-Yusef. But, as elsewhere pointed out, there are many serious objections to this scheme, which, if carried out, would probably have the effect of throwing out of cultivation some ifixtensive districts along both banks of the Nile. The Silsileh defile, formed of sandstone rocks, is one of the most remarkable Tp^aces in Egypt. On the east side the cliffs have been cut by the ancient quarry- men into avenues and cirques, affording an opportunity of admiring the rare skill with which they made choice of the finest-grained stone and the care with which they extracted it. In this respect the Silsileh quarries might still serve as models for our modem contractors. It might almost seem, remarks Mariette, as if the
whole mountain hod been disposed in regular blocks, just as tho skilful joiner cute into planks the stem of some valuable tree. On the west side the cliffs have been less encroached upon ; but they are richer in sculptures and inscriptions. Amongst the bas-reliefs of a rock temple is an image of the goddess Isis suckling Ilorus^-one of the noblest and most charming pictures left us by ancient Egyption art.* Two colossal pylons announce to the traveller from afar the approach to the city of Eilfn, the Teb of the ancients, the Apollinopolis Magna of the Greeks and Romans. Of all the temples of Egypt that of Edfu has been the best preserved in all its parts, and although dating only from the epoch of the Ptolemies, it presents a purity of lines and a harmony of proportions justifying a comparison with the monuments of the most flourishing periods of Egyptian art ; nowhere else had the traditions of the native builders been better preserved. This marvel- lous structure has been protected from the ravages of time chiefly through the sands of the desert. After removing the ninety-two hovels scattered over the mound and sweeping away the heaps of accumulated sand, J^fariette found the edifice in almost as perfect a state as on the day of its dedication. Nothing is missings except perhaps a few stones of the gateways and roof ; even the outer enclosure, which concealed the temple from profane eyes, has been preserved intact. From the entrance of the court we see the perspective of colonnades and chambers stretching for a distance of nearly 430 feet, and throughout this vast space there is not a single recess whose ornaments and inscriptions, all in a state of perfect repair, do not clearly explain its purpose. Each chamber bears a separate name ; thus one is the " house of books " or library, and the catalogue of the contents is here engraved on the walls. The whole structure is itself a vast library, containing not only prayers and acts of thanksgiving in honour of the holy trinity, Harhut, Hathor, and Har- pokhrot, but also religious scenes of every description, astronomic tables, histories of campaigns, representations of sieges and battles. The temple thus presents an encyclopcedia of Egyptian records and mythology. But the chief interest of the Edfu monument lies in its seven-and-twenty geographical lists of Egypt and Nubia, enumerating all the provinces, with their products, their cities, and tutelar divinities. Thanks mainly to these nomenclatures, supplemented by fifteen other more or less complete lists found on various monuments along the banks of the Nile, Brugsch has been able to restore the ancient geography of Egypt, t From one of the pylons, which commands the entrance to the temple from a height of 125 feet, a pros|>ect is afforded of the present town laid out like a chess-board in little cubic blocks of yellow earth, with the cupola and minaret rising in the centre — modest buildings at best compared with the great temple of the Eg}'ptian gods. " It may be asserted without any exaggeration that if the priests of Edfu could rise from their graves with all their sacred paraphernalia, once more to do honour to the supplanted gods of the Nile Valley, they would here find ever)' chamber, • Alariette, " Itin6raire de la Haute- Egypte." t " Geographie des altcn ^gypten." ​878 NORTH- EAST AFRICA. every crypt, and every step just as they left it 1,600 years ago. "Without replac- ing a single stone, the votaries of the divinity might march in solemn procession and in the prescribed route throughout the sacred precincts which have so long been desecrated; and should they have forgotten, during their long sleep, the purpose and use of each chamber, the inscriptions, marvellously well-preserved, would inform all who could read the hieroglyphics of the object to which each hall and cabinet was devoted. As regards preservation, Edfu is superior even to Denderah, for there the outer portions of the temple have disappeared, all but one propylon, and here no part has suffered any considerable injury. " The sanctuary of Edfu was dedicated to the great god Ilorus, who overthrew the evil principle Seth, or Typhon, for his father's sake ; and the town to which it belonged was therefore called by the ancient Egyptians Hut, after the winged sun- disc, or the city of the throne of Horus, or the city of the raising of Ilorus (to the throne of his father Osiris), or sometimes the city of the piercing (tebu*) of Typhon, in the form of a river-horse. The Greeks compared Horus to their Apollo, the god of light or the sun, and called the city of Horus Apollinopolis. " The sanctuary seems to have been founded at a very early date. Indeed Ptah, the oldest of the gods, is said to have built it for Ra. Kings of the. twelfth dynasty, as well as Thothmes III., took part in the services carried on in it. The venerable structure was still intact at the time of the Persian dominion ; but under the first Ptolemies it had become necessary to erect a new temple on the old site. " Euergetes I., the third of the Lagide kings, began the building in accordance with the plans of the best Egyptian architects. It is a mighty structure, which was not finished till one hundred and eighty years later under Ptolemy Dionysius, or Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, in the year 57 B.C. Huge pylons stood at the entrance facing those worshippers who approached the sanctuary, decorated with the likeness of the Pharaoh as victor over his enemies. The visitor entering the bronze portals found himself in a vast peristj'le surrounded on three sides by colonnades, and at the upper end of it rose a tall hypostyle, into which no glimpse was possible, since the walls connected the pillars which closed in the peristyle in front. "The actual temple-building is closely allied to that of Denderah as to the arrangement and decoration of the chambers. After passing through the hypostyle or great forecourt, of which the roof is supported by eighteen columns, we come to a * prosekos ' with twelve columns, which is called the great banqueting-hall. Thence we proceed through the hall of sacrifice and the central hall of the * repose of the gods,' and reach the sanctuary and grand throne, which consists of a huge block of porphyry brought to Edfu during the Persian dominion by the native Egyptian king, Nectanebos I., who ruled in opposition to the Persian invaders. " The inscriptions in the laboratory and the little library are of the greatest scientific interest. The library was full of papyrus and leather roljs, and it adjoined the front wall of the hypostyle lying to the right of it. As at Denderah the roof was reached by a straight stair, and by a spiral flight of steps, and here • "Tebu," me.ining "piercing," is the Coptic " Atbo," whence the Arabic " Edfu." ​ESXEH— THEBES— LUXOB—KABNAK. 879 also not the smallest spot is bare of inscriptions and pictures, including the • calendar of festivals,' and others that have essentially contributed to our know- ledge of ancient Eg'ptiun geography."* ESNEH. Below Edfu a gorge opens eastwards, through which formerly descended the Herusha marauders, ancestors of the present Ababdeh tribe. Against their incur- sions nimiMirts hud been constructed across the gorge, the entrance of which was commanded by a fort. The ^'illage of El-Kah now occupies the site of this strong- hold, which was the Nehhab of the ancient Egyptians, and the Eilethia of the Greeks. Amongst the numerous sepulchral caves excavated in the neighbouring rooks, one has been discovered in which are represented the victories of Ahmes, or Amosis, over the Shepherd Kings and the Ethiopian tribes. Lower down, the valley of the Nile broadens out as it approaches the modem Esneh, whoso fields and gardens occupy a considerable space on the left bank of the stream. The LntopoUs of the Greeks, Esneh still preserves its ancient name of Stii. Capital of a province and an industrial centre, producing blue cottons, shawls, and various kinds of pottery, it ranks as one of the chief trading places in "rpi)er Egypt. A portion of the surrounding plain is covered with sugar-cane plantations ; a few ddm-palras are also still seen, but farther down the vegetation along the river banks is almost entirely restricted to date-trees. The population of Esneh is of a very mixed character, comprising besides Coptic Christians and Mussulman fellahtu, Nubians, various tribes of Bejas, and others from the oases. It was to Esneh that the Alraeh of Cairo had been banished by Mohanmied Ali, and here tbey are still more numerous than elsewhere. The ancient temple of Sni, dedicated to Kneph, " Soul of the World," was partially freed in 1842 from the heaps of sand and refuse encumbering it ; but it still resembles a shrine in one of the Roman catacombs rather than an edifice erected above ground. The style of its architecture is much inferior to that of Edfu. Thebes — Luxor — Karnak. After describing a great bend below Esneh, and passing the pleasant village and sugar plantations of Erment, the Nile emerges on the plain where are seen 8cattere<l over both banks the still perfect or ruined monuments of mighty Thebes — a world of palaces, of colonnades, temples, and underground buildings. Nowhere else is such a splendid display of religious edifices presented to the view. Yet but a very small portion of Thebes of the ** hundred gates " has been preserved. The four chief groups of ruins still standing enclose a space of not moi*e than five square miles. But in the days when No, the " City," in a pre-eminent sense, better known under the name of Pa- Amen, or '* Abode of Ammon," was the centre of Egj-ptian trade and power, it stretched much farther north along the plains skirting the
Luxor (Lugsor, Al-Aksoreïn) or "The Two Palaces," the largest village erected on the site of the ancient city, merely occupies an artificial mound or heap of crumbling ruins. But in this mound is partly buried a fine temple, which is at present being excavated. Before the monument stood two obelisks bearing inscriptions in honour of Ramses II. But of these one only survives, the other now occupying the centre of the Place de la Concorde, in Paris. Round the temple nothing is visible except shapeless masses of refuse and cultivated ground,
but towards the north-east stretches an avenue 2,200 yards long lined with pedestals, some still supporting fragments of sphinxes with the body of a lion and head of a woman, and holding in their fore-paws the effigy of Amenhotep III. This avenue is succeeded by an alley of sphinxes with rams' heads, leading directly to the monuments of Karnak — pylons, sculptured walls, naves, colonnades, obelisks, sphinxes, and statues.
Further explorations by Professor Maspero in the year 1885 have resulted in some important fresh discoveries. The great roofed sanctuary of Amenhotep III. is now completely cleared; the columns of the central colonnade are visible for over two-thirds of their height, and the original pavement of this part of the ​TIIEIJE.S— LUXOR— KABNAK. 88t edifice has been laid bare. At the northern end, that is to my, in the first great courtyard approached through the double pylons, a partial clearance ha« also been efTected, revealing the existence of a small portico and several colossi, some prostrate, some still erect on their pedestals. The portico dates from Ramaes II., and it now appears that the temple, when first constructed, was not separated as it now is from the Nile by an extensive space of rising ground ; but that all the southern end of the building behind the sanctuary, and part of the western side, rose, as it were, direct from the water's edge, like the western gallery at Philae. Some remains of a great quay, inscribed with the names and titles of Amen- hotep III., have also been brought to light. M. Maspero is able now to assert that Luxor, freed from the modem excrescences by which it has hitherto been disfigured, is for grandeur of design and beauty of proportions almost equal to Kamak. The sculptures with which the chambers and columns are decorated are of the finest and most delicate execution ; while some of the wall subjects would not suffer in the comparison if placed side by side with the choicest bas-reliefs of Abydos.* For a period of three thousand years, from the twelfth dynasty to the last of the Ptolemies, temple after temple was erected at Kamak. Everywhere the eye lights on miracles of workmanship ; but the glory of this architectural museum is the chamber of colonnades, or " hypostyle," constructed in the reign of Seti I. It is the largest work of the kind in Egypt, one of those stupendous monuments which the memory instinctively conjures up when the mind iwsses in survey the great masterpieces of human genius. The ceiling of this chamber, which is no less than 76 feet high in the central nave, is supported by 134 columns, of which those in the middle row have a circumference of no less than 32 feet. All are covered with paintings and sculptures in intaglio, as are also the walls, and amongst the bas-reliefs there are some of the greatest historical importance, repre- senting the victories of the Pharaohs over the Arabs, Syrians, and Hittites. In the " great temple " near this place is the famous " wall of numbers," a chapter of the national records, a portion of which was deposited by Champollion in the Louvre, and all of which are now known, thanks to the researches of Mariette. To the same explorer is due the discovery of a geographical list of six hundred and twenty .eight names of peoples and places inscribed on gateways. Amongst the tribes enumerated, Egj'ptologists have succeeded in identifying several from Phoenicia and Palestine, from Assyria and other remote Asiatic lands, from Ethiopia and the region of aromatic herbs stretching along the African seaboard south of the Red Sea. Certain names have also been deciphered which have been referred to the distant region of the great equatorial lakes in our days again for the second or third time discovered by Speke, Grant, Baker and other explorers. According to Ilartmann, the Funj type may be recognised in the clearest manner amongst the figures of Ethiopian captives. t • Amelia B. Edwardn, " Acudcmy," March 21, 1885.
Tue Necropolis of Thebes.
The Thebes of the left bank was rather a city of the dead than of the living. Nevertheless the portion of the plain where the ground begins to rise towards the Libyan escarpments also abounds in monuments, mostly, however, of a sepulchral
character. An eminence bearing the Arabic name of Medinet-Abu is covered with temples containing painted and sculptured historical pictures, on which are depicted with extraordinary accuracy the types and costumes of Hittites, Amorrheans, Philistines, Teucrians, Danaans, Etruscans, Sards, Ethiopians, Arabs, Libyans and ​I THE NECROPOLIS OF THEBES. 888 other conquered peoples. Once cleared of the accumulated refuse, the temple of Me<linct-Abu, the " book of the conquests and triumphs of Ramses III., roaster of the sword on earth," will become the most complete, the most valuable and interesting of all the Egyptian sanctuaries. Close by stands the almost Greek temple of Deir-el-Medineh, built by Ptolehiy Philopator, and the Ramcsscum with its triumphal gateway, adorned with four colossal decapitated figures. This is the edifice described by Diodorus under the name of the " tomb of OsjTnondias." In one of the temple courts lies the broken pink granite statue of Ramses II., formerly a monolithic block 55 feet high, weighing over one thousand tons, consequently heavier than the largest block in the temples of Baalbek, but at least a third less than the erratic boulder on which has been erected the equestrian statue of Peter the Great. Between the Ramesseum and the temples of Medinet-Abu stood several colossal statues. Of these two only are still erect, those that became so famous in ancient times under the name of the statues of Memnon, but which in reality represent the Pharaoh Amenhotep II., seated in the hieratic attitude with his hands resting on his knees. Both are nearly 65 feet high with their pedestals, which, however, have sunk deep into the alluvial soil. The colossus which the Greeks and the Romans visited in crowds, and which they covered with writings in prose and verse, is the northernmost of the two. Its celebrity was due to the sound which it emitted, like that of the chord of a lyre when it breaks, and which, according to some authorities, began to vibrate in harmonious sighs as soon as the first rays of the sun dispersed the morning dew. But after Septimius Severus caused a fracture in the statue to be clumsily repaired, its voice was hushed for ever. No sound is any longer heard at dawn ; but in the temple of Kamak there are some granite blocks which still emit sonorous vibrations when lit up by the morning sun. North and west of the Ramesseum and of the temple of Seti which crowns the Kamak eminence are situated the rocks and ravines honeycombed with under- ground structures. Above the plain rises a hill of pyramidal form, shaped by the hand of nature into vast parallel flights of steps. According to some writers this characteristic form served as the model for the artificial pyramids raised over the royal tombs. Thus was realised at Memphis, as well as at Thebes, the formula of the ritual pronounce<l by the god of the lower regions : " I have set apart a dwelling unto thee in the mountain by the west." The winding gorge ramifying amid these cliffs bears the name of Biban-el- Moluk, that is. " Gates of the Kings." It presents an imposing aspect with its bare rocky sides scored by vertical fissures, giWng access to the royal tombs. Towards the extremity of the gorge is situate<l the sepulchral cave of Seti I., discovered by Belzoni in 1818, and remarkable especially for its painted bas- reliefs, one of which represents the "four races of the world" — Rotu, ^Vmu, Nahesu, and Tamahu, that is to say, the Egj-ptians, Asiatics, Negroes, and Libyans^ marching in solemn procession at the obsequies of Seti. At the opening of the gorges between the Kumah and Assassif hills, Marietta ​discovered in 1859 the mummy of a certain Queen Aahhotep, probably the mother of King Ahmes or Amosis. The ornaments of this queen, now preserved in the Bulag museum, near Cairo, are of such marvellous workmanship that modern jewellers confess their inability even to imitate them. It seems probable that from another tomb in the Assassif hill also comes the Ebers papyrus, the "hermetic" book containing the pharmacopœia of the Egyptians at the time of the Thotmes dynasty.;
West of the chief eminence, and not far from the Sheikh Abd-el-Kurnah, another hill pierced with galleries like a rabbit-burrow, a series of terraces is
The subterranean structures of Thebes have altogether supplied whole collec- tions, which now form the pride of the various European museums. From the crest of the surrounding hills and heaps of refuse, a magnificent panoramic view is afforded of the groups of stupendous monuments in everlasting stone, raised by the Setis and liamses on the opposite side of the river. Kuirri — Eeneh. The great bend described by the Nile in an easterly direction below Thebes, and the wide breaches in the Arabian range at this point affording easy access to the Red Sea, could not fail to confer paramount commercial importance on this section of the valley. But the site of its central emporium has frequently been shifted, each city, ruined by wars or even razed to the ground by conquering hosts, still springing up again at some distance from its predecessor. In this region Kubti, the Copfos of the Greeks, and now the obscure village of Gv/t or Kqff, was the oldest trading- place, dating from the eleventh djiiasty, some five thousand years ago. xVs a royal residence it was for a time the rival of Thebes itself, and down to the massacre of the Christians which took place in the reign of Diocletian, it continued to flourish as the entrepot of the produce imported into Egypt by the Red Sea and the port of Berenice. In the year 1883, while exploring a temple of Isis, Maspero discovered at Coptos two black basalt square blo<k.s, bearing the fragments of a remarkable inscription, which had reference to the construction by the Roman legionaries of some wells or cisterns on the routes from Coptos to Berenice and Jilyos Hormos. Coptos was succeeded as an emporium by Kiis or Gus, the Apollinaris Parra of the Romans, which stood some 5 or 6 miles farther down on the same right bank of the river. During the time of the Caliphs and Mameluk sultans, Kus became the most flourishing place in Upper Egypt. It is now replaced by Keiieh, the Kninopolis, or " New Town," of the Greeks, as the chief mart for the transit trade between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea. Kcneh is the capital of a province, and the centre of a large pottery industry, supplying Lower Egypt with vast quantities of the finest earthenware produced in the country. These objects are made by mixing the ashes of alfa grass with the soft clay washed down from the Arabian range by the Wady-Keneh when suddenly flushed by the rare tropical downpours of this region. KOSSEIR. The opening of the Suez Canal, and the consequent displacement of the commercial centres, has greatly diminished the importance of Eeneh as the entrep6t of the traffic between the Nile and Red Sea. Owing to the same causes the seaport of KoHsei'r, the outport of this trade and the place where the pilgrims embark for Mecca, has also recently lost much of its activity and population. Nevertheless the caravans still find their way across the desert between these two l)oints, and we still hear of the projected railway, some 120 miles long, which ii is 25— AP. ​proposed to construct along the old route from Keneh to Kosseir, which might thus — again become one of the chief commercial outports of the Nile Valley. Here the large steamers plying on the Red Sea might ship goods, thereby saving the heavy transit dues across nearly tue whole of Egypt to Alexandria. In 1862 an alternative but longer line was proposed by the English, running from Keneh to the ancient port of Berenice, and mainly following the old Roman route. Were this
railway constructed, sailing vessels would be enabled to avoid the tedious and dangerous navigation in the northern waters of the Red Sea.
The present town of Kosseir stands on an almost flat beach, in front of which the shipping is obliged to anchor in an exposed roadstead. But the smaller Arab craft find a shelter close inland, where they are protected by a coral reef from north and north-east winds. The dilapidated fort commanding the town was built by the French during the Egyptian expedition under Bonaparte. Kosseir is badly supplied with wells, which explains its scanty vegetation. The only real fresh water comes all the way from the Nile; but most of the inhabitants are fain ​DEXDERAH. 887 to bo satisfied with a slightly sulphureous liquid, which has to bo sought over a diiy's journey in the desert. The hills and pkins of the surrounding district are almost destitute of verdure, and uU along the coast little is to be seen except sands and the coral reefs that have boon slowly upheaved above the present sea-level. Old Eosscir, lying over 3 miles to the north-west, is no longer accessible to shipping. The %heh, or labyrinth of coralline rocks developed in front of the beach, has rendered the entrance of the harbour so narrow that pilots no longer venture to risk the passage Either Kosseir, or possibly some point farther north on Abu-Somer Bay, marks the site of the ancient Mi/oh Ilonnos, which during the Roman period was one of the most frequented ports on the Red Sea. Numerous tombs, inscriptions, and other remains of antiquity are found in the neighbourhood of the town and round about the wells along the routes across the Arabian desert. Rich sulphur beds were till recently worked at a place farther north near the headland of Ras-el-Gimsah, which faces the Ras Mohammed at the southern extremity of the peninsula of Sinai. Denderah. On the left bank of the Nile over against Keneh the verdant plains of Denderah^ the TentyrtH of the Greeks, afford a pleasant relief to the heaps of yellow refuse and the triple enclosure of the triple temple still marking the site of this ancient city. The inhabitants of this place were famous in former times for their skill in capturing and charming the crocodiles, which they used as mounts. At present there are no longer any crocodiles in this part of the Nile. The great temple of Deuderuh, built on the foundations of older monuments, is of comparatively recent date, as appears from the medallions of Cleopatra and the Roman emperors down to Antoninus Pius. Nevertheless in its disposition and ornamentation it reproduces the more ancient sanctuaries, although evidently under the influence of Hellenic art. Huthor, the tutelar divinity of Denderah, was a very different being as understood by the Alexandrian platonists from the same goddess as worshipped in the time of the Pharaohs. The temple of Ilathor, which is in a good state of repair, is one of the richest in documents of a religious character, ceremonial programmes, geographical tables of cities and provinces, texts of prayers and incantations, calendars of feasts, medical recipes, lists of drugs, and so forth. At Denderah was found the precious zodiac, since transferred to the National Library of Paris. Mariette has devoted a large work solely to a descrip- tion of this temple, a very " Tahuud in stone," which he himself contributed to decipher, and many a page of which he discovered.* Taken as a whole this monument unfolds in all its details a picture of the ancient ritual, revealing in succession all the ceremonies from chamber to chamber, until we reach the " holy of holies," where the king alone penetrating found himself face to face with the deity. "The portico of the temple is about 135 feet in width, and is architecturally
one of the richest and most beautiful structures of its class. It is supported by twenty-four columns, four deep, nearly 50 feet in height, and having a diameter of more than 7 feet at the thickest part. The capitals have sculptured on each of their four sides a fidl face of Athor, crowned by a small shrine or temple. The sculptures, which are of less merit than the architecture, represent offerings made by some of the early Cajsars; and on the ceiling are various mystical subjects, probably of an astronomical import, and the famous quadrangular zodiac, which is still in its original position.
wall of the temple), the visitor enters a hall supported by three columns on each side, with cup-shaped capitals beneath those formed by the temple-crowned faces of Athor ; and then proceeding right onwards through two similar halls, he reaches the sanctuary, which is isolated by a passage running all round. " On each side of the temple are many small apartments, and two entrance- ways from the exterior, as well as singular inclined passages in the walls, two of Avhich arc entered from the sides of the portico. All the chambers and passages, except the two last mentioned, are profusely covered with sculptures and inscrip- tions of a religious character, chiefly depicting and narrating the piety of the sovereigns by whom the temple was erected. The royal names have not always been filled in ; but, where they have been sculptured, they are generally those of the last Cleopatra and Cajsarion, her son by Julius Caisar. " A staircase on the left-hand side of the second chamber behind the portico conducts to the roof of the temple. Here are a sort of chapel and some small chambers, one of which is very interesting, because its sculptures relate to the story of Osiris. The exterior of the temple is as completely covered with sculptures as the interior. Among the figures there represented are those of Cleopatra and Caesarion ; but they cannot be supposed to bear any resemblance, since they belong not alone to a conventional art, but also to its lowest period. " There are two smaller temples within the same inclosure as the great temple of Athor, one dedicated to Isis in the thirty-first year of Augustus, and the other usually known as the Typhonium, from the representations of Typhon on the capitals of its columns, but probably connected with the worship of Athor." * ThINIS — GiRGEH. In the broader part of the Nile Valley, below Denderah, the two hamlets of Harahdt-cl-Madfuneh, that is, " Harab^t the Buried," and El-Khargeh, still mark the site of Abydos. Till recently these ruins had been identified with the ancient This (Thinia), which at one time eclipsed the fame of Thebes and Memphis themselves. But according to Mariette the remains of this venerable place should be sought lower down, either at Girgch itself or in its immediate vicinity ,^nd in any case it is now certain that This and Abydos were two different places. At This was bom Mena, or Menes, the reputed founder of the Egj'^tian monarchy. Here • " Eocyclopsedia Britannica," ninth edition, art. Denderah. ​also, according to the legend, the body of Osiris, since transported to Philæ, had been buried hundreds of thousands of years before that event. In other words, to this hallowed spot tradition pointed as the cradle of the autochthonous people, from whose independently developed civilisation is mainly derived our modern culture, through the intermediate channel of the Hellenes.
All traces have vanished of the temple whither pilgrims were attracted from all parts, just as those of the Christian world still direct their footsteps towards the
Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. But the nitrous sands of the district have revealed a large number of tombs here built by Egyptian devotees anxious to repose by the side of their national deity. According to Maspero far more than half of all the sepulchral stones preserved in the European museums come from Abydos. <A group of tombs large enough to have assumed the appearance of a volcanic mound is known by the name of Kôm-es-Sultan, or "King's Mount." The explorations here being made continually reveal tombs of older and older date, the farther the ​390 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. search is prosecuted. Hence some hope has been expressed that sooner or later the excavators may light upon the very entrance of the crypt that led to the shrine of the god himself. To the original sanctuary has succeeded » monument which, however posterior to the temple of Osiris, is still none the less one of the most venerable in Egj-pt. This is the so-called Memnonium, here erected by Seti I. thirty-three centuries ago, in order to transmit his glory to future generations, but which his son, Ramses II., turned to far more account to perpetuate the memory of his own exploits. Geographical lists have been sculptured on the basement of this temple of Seti I., and the British Museum possesses a " table of Abydos," a mutilated list of kings from the temple of Ramses II. But a new " table of Abydos," containing the complete list of the seventy-six kings from Menes to Seti, has been brought to light by the researches of Mariette. Below Abydos the older monuments of Egyptian culture have for the most part disappeared. Here nothing is met except towns and villages, which, if not absolutely modern, no longer contain any important remains of ancient times. Git'fjeh or Gcrga, capital of a province, stands on the west side of the stream, which being here abruptly deflected from the opposite side, has eroded the left bank, carrying away half of the town, with its mosques and minarets. A little lower down, Sohag and the industrious town of Akhmui, the ancient Chemno and the Panopolis of the Greeks, face each other on either side of the river. Then follow on the western plain, Tahta and Ahidig, near which is a gorge still visited by pilgrims, who here assemble to worship the sacred serpent as of old. In this part of Upper Egypt the Coptic language survived for some time after it had become extinct elsewhere in the Nile Valley. SlUT. Farther on near the same bank, but more inland, are seen the picturesque out- lines of a large town, which under the slightly modified form of Sint or Assiuf has preserved its ancient name of Saut. This is the Li/copoHs, or " wolf town," of the Greeks, so named because it was dedicated to the god Anubis. Platinus was a native of Siut, which as the capital of all Upper Egj'pt is a place of some trade and industry. Here are made a peculiar kind of black, white, and red earthen- ware, and pipes so highly prized that they are even exported to foreign countries. The bazaar is well stocked with the produce of Dar-F6r and the surrounding oases, which finds an outlet through the neighbouring riverain port of Hamrah. Till recently the Coptic monks of the adjacent village of Zawiet-el-Deir carried on under special privilege the nefarious trade in the mutilation of children, who were afterwards sold as guardians of the Egyptian harems. Other Copts are more worthily employed in the weaving of linen fabrics, which have become one of the
The Great and Little Oases.
Siut, more than any other Egyptian town, maintains direct relations with the oases, which are develope<l in a vast crescent parallel with the bend of the Nile sweeping round from the south to tho west and north-west. The "Great" or "Southern" Oasis, known also as that of Khargeh, although the largest, is no longer tho most populous, but still enjoys some importance as a station for the caravans from Dar-Fôr. Its capital, whose site has never been shifted throughout historic times, has preserved a temple of Ammon built during the reign of Darius,
"Son of Isis and Osiris." An avenue of pylons leads to the sanctuary, whose bas-reliefs present an extraordinary variety of historical and other figures. In this respect the temple of Darius is altogether unique.
All tho surrounding cliffs are pierced with sepulchral chambers, in which Christian tombs are very numerous. The oasis of Beris, more to the south, has also preserved an Egyptian temple dating from the Roman period. Round about the present oasis are scattered many ruins, showing that the cultivated lands formerly covered a far greater extent than is now the case. All these tracts might be reclaimed by clearing out the choked-up wells, and draining the soil where the water used in irrigating the rice-fields in some places forms unhealthy ​marshes. The inhabitants, of somewhat darker complexion than the Egyptians, due probably to a mixture of Negro blood, for the most part present a cadaverous look, They are also very poor, being often obliged to pay the taxes in kind with palm-leaf baskets and suchlike articles.
Within the Kasr of Khargeh the buildings are crowded one on the other, and the network of narrow lanes runs underground through vaulted galleries. At rare intervals an aperture like that of a well gives access to a dazzling ray of light, relieving the gloom of these dark passages. Such is the style of building prevalent throughout all the towns of Siwah, as well as in many other towns in the oases, and the same arrangement occurs even in Nubia.
The Wah-el-Gharbieh, or "Western Oasis," better known as that of Dakhel, or Dakhleh, that is, the "Interior," is by far the most densely peopled, although scarcely mentioned by the ancient writers. Like Khargeh, it has its temple of
Jupiter Ammon, which is situated in the neighbourhood of the capital known by the name of El-Kasr, or "The Castle." This is probably the sanctuary that Cambyses intended to visit during the expedition to the south which ended so disastrously. The population consists of fellahin with the same usages and engaged in the same pursuits as those of the Nile Valley, but far more crowded together. Every foot of available land is carefully cultivated, and the date groves, tended with almost filial devotion, yield abundant supplies of delicious fruit.
Although described as a "detached fragment of Egypt," the Dakhel oasis nevertheless differs from it in its vegetation. Here are found plantations of olives, lemons, and oranges interspersed among the palm groves, and producing 4he finest fruits of the oases. The inhabitants of Dakhel have a few horses, but they have failed to breed camels, in consequence of a poisonous fly that infests the district during the summer, and whose bite is fatal to this animal. To the want of camels ​is mainly attributed the profound ignorance of the natives respecting the wilderness stretching westwards, For them the sandy shores of their islet are like those of the trackless ocean on which no sail is seen.
The small oasis of Farafreh lies exactly under the same parallel as Siut, but 180 miles in a straight line to the west. It is of little importance, and all of its few hundred inhabitants might easily find a refuge within the enclosure of the Kasr, which commands the chief hamlet. It has been only twice visited by European explorers, Cailliaud in 1819 ard Rohlfs with his companions in 1874. Nor is Farafreh very well disposed towards the "Infidel," thanks to the brotherhood
of the Senusi, who have here found a large number of adherents. These Mohammedan missionaries, who arrived poor, are now the largest proprietors in the oasis. They have in fact reduced the whole population to a state of serfdom, in return for their enforced labour teaching them a few verses from the Koran. In this way all the children have learnt to read and write.
Siwah — Gara.
The oases farther removed from the Nile and forming a physical dependence of Cyrenaica rather than of the fluvial region, constitute the Siwah group, famous in ancient times for the oracle of Ammon, which, according to Herodotus, was of equal antiquity with that of Dodona. Siwah and Agermi, the two chief towns in the oasis, are built of nummulitic limestone and blocks of impure rock salt, each on the slope of a rocky hill. Their outer walls and terraces are so disposed as to form irregular fortresses of extremely picturesque appearance. That of Siwah, approached by no less than fifteen gates, has a circumference of not more than 1,260 feet, and its ramparts are surmounted by high, square, and round towers, all
of different form. These towers are in reality so many houses piled up close together, and built over a labyrinth of subterranean galleries. The town thus grows in height before its base is broadened out.
The temple of Jupiter Ammon, whither the Macedonian conqueror went to have himself oracularly proclaimed master of the world, is still standing near Agermi, and within half a mile are visible the ruins of another sanctuary amid the surrounding palm-trees. The hieroglyphics on this building have not yet been deciphered. The Jebel-el-Mutah, one of the isolated crags in the Siwah depression, is honeycombed in all directions by the galleries of a necropolis. °
Dates are the staple commodity of Siwah. M. Jourdan made an attempt to calculate the produce of the date groves in this oasis, taking as a standard of measurement the cube of the fruit accumulated for the expedition on the market​ASmnJNEIN— ANTINOE. 895 place near the great earavanflerai. According to this rough estimate the one hundred thousand puhns of Siwah might supply throe million kilogrammes of dates, and those of Agenni much about the same quantity. This is exclusive of the public plantations, which yield fruit of an inferior quality, supplj-ing fodder for the animals. The suit of Siwah, which is of a superior quality, was formerly reserved for certain religious ceremonies, and was exported as far as Persia for the use of the royal household. Tlic inhabitants of Siwah, who are of indolent habita, seek no foreign markets for all these commodities, or for the tobacco smuggled into the oasis from the coast of Cyrenaica. Of disagreeable appearance, and probably of very mixed origin, they betray no resemblance to the fellahin, but are as emaciated and fever-stricken in appearance as the natives of El-Khargeh. Their language is of Berber origin, although most of them understand and even speak a little Arabic. They are excessively jealous, and oblige all the unmarried adult males, whether bachelors or widowers, to dwell together outside the town in a sort of fortress, where they remain shut up during the night. Newly married people remove at once to the town, a sort of common tribal harem, where the husband's kindred assign them the upper story of their pyramidal houses. In these dwellings the generations are thus distributed on an ascending scale from the ground-floor upwards. The village of Gara, in the oasis of like name, presents like Siwah the aspect of a feudal stronghold. The inhabitants of Siwah and Gara are still very fanatical, although less so than those of the oasis of Faredgha, which lies farther west in the direction of the Gulf of Cabes. Here on the slopes of the plateau skirting the depression on the north, is situated the parent house of the Senusi brotherhood. Jarabub or JerkbQb, as this place is variously called, was foimded in the year 1860, as the residence of Sidi Mohammed el-Mahdi, the grand-master of the Senusi. A small arsenal and a small-arms factory are attached to this monastery, the inmates of which, mostly immigrants from Algeria, Morocco, and other distant Mohammedan countries, appear to have numbcTcd about 750 in the year 1883. According to Godfrey Roth, the Mahdi of Faredgha is the " benefactor of the Bedouins." To him is due the establishment in the Sahara of over fifty stations where caravans can obtain water and provisions. • ASHMUNEIN — AnTIXOE. From Siut to Cairo all the towns, connected together by the Nile Valley railway, follow along the left bank of the river, the only side skirted by a broad zone of land under cultivation. Beyond Manfalut begins the Ibrahimieh Canal, which derives its supply from the Bahr-Yusef. ITere the plains are intersected in all directions by channels and irrigation rills. This fertile region of Egj'pt was formerly covered with several large towns. At the foot of the Arabian range lies the great necro- polis of Tell- ff-Amn run, where all the dead were placed under the protection of the Semitic god Aten (Adon, Adonai), the " radiant orb." Ashmunein, near the station and large sugar factory of Hoda, occupies the site ​896 NORTH-EAST AI'EICA.. of Khmunu, which the Greeks and Romans called HermopoUs Magna, and whose necropolis, excavated in the Libyan hills, contains large numbers of mummified ibises and cynocephals. Farther east on the right bank, over against the town of Mallaireh-el-Arish, the palm groves surrounding Sheikh- Ahailch are strewn with ruins, the remains of the ancient Antinoc, founded by Hadrian in honour of Antinous. Numerous monu- ments of this Roman city, notably some superb Doric and Corinthian colonnades, were still standing down to the middle of the present century. But they have since been destroyed to supply lime and building materials for the modern buildings in the district. This part of the Arabian range also contains a vast number of sepulchral chambers. North of Sheikh- Abadeh the cliffs conceal other grottoes, some of which are nearly five thousand years old. These subterranean buildings which take the name of Bciii-Ifassan, from a neighbouring village, comprise the most interesting tombs in all Egypt, precisely because they are not consecrated to kings and high officials of the royal courts. The pictures on the walls have less conventional pomp, and represent fewer funeral rites and mystic ceremonies ; but they introduce us to the very life of the people : its struggles, its pursuits of all kinds, its family circles ; its sports and games, such as pitch and toss, tennis, hot cockles, and even cricket. The painted bas-reliefs of these tombs reveal to us the Egyptians of the olden times, such as they were in war, on their farms, in the workshop, in their hours of relaxation and repose. Here are revealed all the secrets of their crafts, and the very tricks of their jugglers and mountebanks. MiNIEH — AbU-GiKG. Minieh, or Miniet, which has replaced the ancient Miinat-Khnfu, or "Nurse of Cheops," is a provincial capital, and still one of the great cities of Egypt. It has preserved no remains of its ancient monuments ; but a large market is held under its wide-sprefading sycamores, and its sugar factory is one of the most active in the country. On a cliff near Minieh stands the famous Deir-el-Bakara, or " Convent of the Pullej%" so called from a pulley-rope by which its Coptic monks let them- selves down to the river, and swim out to ask bakshish of every passing vessel. In the interior of the Arabian desert, but much nearer to the Red Sea than the Nile, are situated two other convents of the " Lower Thebais," Saint Anthony and Saint Paul, the first of which, with a community of about fifty monks, is the oldest Christian monastery not only in Egypt, but in the whole world. Both possess shady gardens enclosed within the convent walls. The town of Abu-Girg, standing near the Nile and on the railway, has sup- planted in commercial importance its former rival Behnesch, which lies more to the north-west on the Bahr- Yusef amid the ruins of the ancient Pauisjat, the Oxyrrhin- chos of the Greeks. Then follow farther down the valley Mar/haga, Feshn, and Beni-Suef, the last-named capital of a province and a trading-place, where some cloth-mills are kept going. From time immemorial this has also been the chief ​ELLAHUN— ABSINOE. 897 centre for those hatching ovens, or artificial hatchers, which have for ages constituted one of the special industries of Egypt Beni-Suef has succeeded the ancient lIeraclvo/H>fi«, which was a royal residence during the ninth and tenth dynasties, and the ruins of which lie further west, scattered round the modem village of Ahnas-el-Medinch. Travellers intending to visit the Fayum depression generally leave the main route at Beni-Suef or some of the neighbouring stations nearer to Cairo, and take the routes leading westwards. From JUl- Wanta they reach the province directly by a branch line ; but from the two southern stations the Fayum is approached through the opening followed by the Bahr-Yusef Canal, which was formerly lined by monuments dating from the ejx>ch of the Pharaohs. • El-Lahun — Arsinoe. At the very entrance of the gorge, near the village of El-Lahun {Illahun), which has preserved its ancient Egyptian name of Lo-IIun, or " Mouth of the Canal," are seen the remains of the dam and sluices by which the waters of Lake McDns were regulated. Farther on stands a pyramid, now a shapeless mound, which is supposed to have been erected by Amencmha III., under whose reig^ the vast lacustrine reservoir was excavated. Another pyramid, calletl by the name of Howara, about 100 feet high, occupies a site beyond the gorge within the circular basin of the Fayum, the ancient " country of the sea.'* Fonneil of a rocky nucleus, round which have been built layers of bricks made of the Nile mud, this structure presents somewhat the appearance of a natural hillock ; but it is in a good state of repair, compared at least with the building which Lepsius supposed must have been the famous " Labyrinth, which comprised two stories of fifteen himdred chambers each, where the visitor became entangled in endless passages." Of the sumptuous group of buildings forming the Loparohun, or " Temple of the Canal Mouth," if it really stood on this spot, nothing now remains except heaps of rubbish, crumbling brick walls, vestiges of gateways, and some choice fnigmcnts of sculpture in granite and limestone. Here has also been discovered the head of a royal sphinx, resembling those of S4n, a proof that the Ilyksos must have pene- trated into this part of Egypt. A papyrus preserved in the museum at Bulaq contains a minute description of the ancient edifice, and serves as a " guide-book " to the archajologists, who are endeavouring to restore the original plan. The flooded basin of Lake Mooris, over four miles broad, and enclosed by embankments which can here and there still be traced, formerly separated the Labyrinth from Pa-sebak; one of the great cities of Egypt. This " City of the Crocodile," as its name indicates, was the Arsinoe of the epoch of the Ptolemies, when it still covered a vast extent of ground. The remains of walls, a broken obelisk, and other debris, show that it stretched for at least five miles in the direc- tion from north to south. In some of the neighbouring tombs have been discovered several papyrus manuscripts of the highest interest, written in various languages — Egyptian, Hebrew, and even Pehlvi, or old Persian. The Greek documents have furnished variant readings of the text of Thucydides, Aristotle, and the Gospels. ​898 NORTH-EAST AFEICA. Mei)Inet-el-Fayum — Kasr-Kerux. Medinet-el-Fayum, the modern capital, which was a country residence of the Mameluk dynasty, is one of the most animated and original as well as one of the pleasantest places in Egypt. The gardens yield in abundance fruits and flowers, amongst others those lovely roses which are at once the glory and the chief wealth of the Fayum, being used by the Copts in the preparation of costly essences. North of Medinet stands Senhures, also an important town. The surrounding plains of the lacustrine basin, fabled to have been originally conquered from Typhon — that is, reclaimed from the wilderness through the beneficent influence of Osiris, tutelar deity of the Nile water8-»-yield rich crops of wheat, cotton, maize, sugar. The sugar factories of this district are connected by numerous branches with the main railway system. But the cultivation of some plants has had to be abandoned, owing to the increasing saline character of the soil, insufficiently saturated by the irrigating waters. The vineyards, which during the seventeenth century were cultivated in the neighbourhood of seven different villages, have entirely disappeared. Near the northern extremity of the Birket-el-Kerun, the " Lake of Ages" or of " the Horns," as it is variously interpreted, where are collected the superfluous waters from the irrigation canals, are seen the ruins of a temple bearing the name of Kusr-Kerun, or " Horn Castle," which is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Dionysias. South of the lake the plain stretches away in the direction of the Wady-Reyan, some parts of which, separated by a rising ground from the "Lake of Ages," lie some 270 feet below the entrance of the Bahr-Yusef at El-Lahun. It was in this depression that Cope Whitehouse expected to find the great reservoir of Lake Moeris ! Meidum — Saqqarah. Almost immediately to the north of the entrance to the Fayum stands the remarkable pyramid of Meidum, with which begins the long line of monimients of this type terminating northwards beyond Memphis. The sloping walls of the Meidum, which terminated in two retreating stories, spring from the midst of a pile of refuse encircled by a number of tombs. This curious monument, whose present height exceeds 200 feet, is known to the natives as the " False Pyramid;" but its antiquity is much less than was till recently supposed. According to Maspero, by whom it has been opened, it dates only from the eleventh or even the twelfth dynasty. Farther on the village of Matanieh is overshadowed by two other pyramids, one of which is of the classical tjrpe, while the other, more inclined towards the summit than in the lower section, presents the appearance of an enormqus prism. Then follow in the neighbourhood of the Nile the four so-called pyramids of Dashur, one of which attains a height of 330 feet. This ranks as the third in height of all the Egyptian pyramids, and has preserved its original facing of ​polished stone better than any other. The seventeen similar structures which are disposed in a line along the foot of the Libyan escarpment above the village of Saqqarah, are all surpassed in elevation by the famous three-storied pyramid, regarded by most Egyptologists as the most ancient of all. Its very form, modelled on the outlines of numerous crags in the Libyan range, appears to have been the primitive type of all these monuments. According to Mariette, it dates from the first dynasty, and must consequently be at least sixty-five centuries old. Several of the recently opened Saqqarah pyramids have been thoroughly explored, and were found to contain the tombs of some of the sovereigns of the sixth dynasty. Square structures in the form of huge sepulchral blocks, standing
on the skirt of the Libyan cliffs, are the so-called mastaba, which are built over the chambers of the dead here excavated in the live rock. The largest of these sepulchral buildings, known to the Arabs by the name of Mastaba-el-Faraun, is traditionally said to have been the seat from the summit of which the early Egyptian monarchs proclaimed their will to the people. But the explorations carried out on the spot have shown that it was the tomb of Unas, a high official of the fifth dynasty. The tombs of this vast necropolis are divided into square groups by streets running at right angles; and Maspero suggests that the pyramids were also disposed in some similar symmetrical order. Those of the first dynasties are situated in the extreme north, those of the twelfth in the Fayum; while between ​400 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. these two groups archeDologists may expect to come upon the royal tombs of the sixth to the eleventh dynasty inclusive. Thus would be filled up the " great gap " indicated by Mariette in the sequence of the historical monuments of ancient Egypt. Memphis. At the foot of the slopes crowned by the pyramids of Saqqarah, the inequalities of the soil conceal all that now remains of Memphis. The little village of Badresheiii occupies the southern extremity, that of Mit-Rahineh, the central point of this region of ruins, a large portion of which is now overgrown with a forest of palms. The city, whose foundation is attributed to Menes, must have covered a vast space, judging at least from the remains of embankments here skirting the river, and the heaps of refuse strewn over the plain. But this great metropolis, while escaping the destroying hand of the conqueror, fell a surer prey to the inevitable vicissitudes of time. The foimdation of Alexandria, followed by the rise of Cairo, " the victorious," on the right bank of the river, possessing geo- graphical advantages fully equal to those of Memphis, rendered the existence of this place unnecessary. Its marbles and its granites were floated down to Alexandria ; its less valuable materials were utilised by the builders of the neighbouring towns ; what remained was distributed among the surrounding villages of the fellahin. Nothing survives but the name, perpetuated in that of the Tell Movf, or " Hill of Memphis," and two colossal statues of Ramses II. in the immediate vicinity. The vast necropolis of Memphis^ which covered an area of over a hundred square miles, has been a receptacle for many millions of human and animal mummies. Many monuments doubtless lie buried beneath the sands borne by the west winds from the Libyan desert. Mariette, observing in the year 1850 the head of a granite sphinx, which had been exposed by a current of air, conceived the idea that here perhaps lay concealed the avenue of the Serapeum, described by Strabo. He accordingly at once set to work, and had the satisfaction of finding his anticipa- tions verified. By sinking shafts to a depth of 65 feet at uniform distances over a space of about 220 yards, he came upon an avenue where one hundred and forty- one sphinxes were still in situ, and terminating with a semicircular row of statues representing the great men of Greece. Then to the left he reached an Egj'ptian temple built by Nectanebo, and farther on he discovered to the right the entrance of the vast underground chambers forming the tomb of Apis. Thus was con- firmed the fact, anticipated by science but hitherto unproven, that the god Serapis, or Osor-Apis, was the bull Apis after his death, that is to say, the incarnation of Osiris. The works of excavation were not unattended by difficulties and even dangers, for even in the pursuit of knowledge the savant has sometimes to contend with jealous rivals ; but the results were of vast importance. , The clearing out of the Serapeum brought to light no less than seven thousand monuments, the most valuable of which are now preserved in the Louvre and
means of which Mariette wua able to dctcnniiic with certainty the chronology of Egypt as fur buck as the year 980 of the old era. The necropolcs of Saqqarah have also furnished Mariette and other explorers with objects of the highest interest, amongst others the " Table of Saqqarah," containing a list of kings, and the statue of a scribe with eye of rock crystal and characteristic expression, now deposited in the Louvre. One of the tombs, that of Ti, described by M. de Roug^ as the " marvel of Saqqarah," forms an exquisite idyl, with its series of charming scenes representing the landscapes, daily labours, and pleasures of rural life. One of the scenes bears a legend in these words, summing up the history of Ti : " When he toils man is full of sweetness, and such am I." * The Great Pyramids. The pyramids terminating northwards the long line of royal tombs are known as those of Gizeh, from the village of thJit name, which stands on the right bank of the Nile over against Old Cairo. In these stupendous monuments the whole of Egypt is symbolised. The three enormous piles overshadowing the verdant plain and winding stream are the embodiment of the mental image conjured up by the very name of Egypt. Their triangular outlines, towering above the Libyan plateau, are even visible over a vast distance throughout the Nile Valley and plains of the delta. For hours together the wayfarer journeying onwards beholds them standing out against the horizon, apparently neither enlarged nor diminished in dimensions. They seem still to accompany him, moving mysteriously along above villages, trees, and cultivated lands: A nearer view reveals them filling up all the 'prospect in one direction ; and the eye now follows with amazement the graded lines of the prodigious masses, showing in the light the profile of their rugged slopes, disposed in flights of fractured steps. They resemble mountains hewn into square blocks rather than structures raised by mortal hand, revealing as it were " the transition between the colossi of art and the giant works of nature." " All things fear time," says the Arab proverb ; " but time fears the pyramids," Doubtless these piles of stone have only the beauty of their geometrical lines, lacking all architectural display ; but they overawe by their very mass, and still more by their antiquity : by the memory of the generations of man that, like the everlasting stream of the Nile, have flowed silently onwards at their feet. For however old in themselves, these monuments of human slavery attest the existence of a still older antecedent culture, marked by the slow evolution of science and the industries from their crude beginnings in the Nile Valley. In these gigantic structures geometry has discovered measurements of supreme accuracy, for here all has been measured and planned in due proportion. The very perfection of these proportions has suggested to many observers the idea of a deep symbolical meaning, and has even given birth to a sort of " religion of the pyramids," which
26— AF. ​has found adherents, especially in Scotland and the New World. By their proportions and dimensions the pyramids have thus come to be regarded as so many "Bibles in stone."
The Pyramid of Cheops, or Khufu, the largest of the three, is estimated to
cover an area of over twelve acres, while its four triangular sides present altogether a surface of no less than twenty acres in extent. The quantity of materials required to be brought from great distances by the Nile, placed on their rocky ​THE GREAT PYRAMIDS. 408 foundations, raised to a height of over 500 feet, and adjusted with the greatest curt', was no less than 90,000,000 cubic feet, a quantity sufficient to build a wall seven feet high and twenty inches thick across the whole of Western Europe from Lisbon to Warsaw. The basilica of St. Peter's would disappear altogether, with its colonnades and cupola, in the interior of this prodigious polyhedron in stone. According to Herodotus, an inscription on the Great Pyramid estimated at 1,600 silver talents, or £400,000, the sum expended on the purchase of the garlic, onions, and parsley retjuired to supply the workmen with these articles of food ; and for tho implements, machinery, quurrj'ing, transport of materials, and so forth, who will estimate tho enormous outlays that must have been incurred ! But, above all, how many human lives must have been sacrificed on the works! According to a Greek tradition — which, however, according to Maspero, rests on no historic evidence — tho people held in horror these monuments of their bondage and oppression. They were even said to have avoided uttering the very names of the kings in whose honour these mountains of stone had been raised. While exceeding all other structures in bulk, the pyramids are surpassed in height by some of the minsters in tho west of Europe. Tho Pyramid of Cheops, diminished by some forty feet through the loss of its stone facing and tho subsidence of its foundations, has a present height of 456 feet ; • that of Khephren, or Khef ra, about six feet less ; while tho third, of ^fycerinus, or Menkera, falls below one-half of these elevations. The other pvTamids of tho plateau, " mere embryos," so to say, can scarcely be distinguished from the heaps of refuse scattered at the base of the two larger piles. The last, proceeding northwards, is that of Abu-Roash. Notwithstanding the statements often made to the contrary, the two great pyramids are easily scaled, even ^'ithout the assistance of tho Bedouins, who under- take for bakshish to look after the safety of travellers. In any case the labour expended on the ascent is amply compensated by the marvellous view commanded from the summit. From this altitude tho eye sweeps over a boundless and varied prospect, where the red and yellow sands of tho desert roll away in one direction like ocean billows, while in another the verdant plains with their dark groups of hamlets and silver lakelets left by the last overflow of the Nile and its canals stretch beyond the horizon. Travellers often ascend the Pyramid of Cheops before dawn in order to contemplate the morning sun suddenly lighting up these limitless spaces. The great pyramids face tho cardinal points so exactly that the Bedouins of the district perfectly understand how to use these monuments not only in discriminat- ing the seasons, but also in calculating the time of day. At the equinox the rising sun seen in a line with tho northern or southern face of the structure presents exactly half of its disc to the view. At tho time of the French expedition, Cou- telle, measuring the Pyramid of Cheops with the compass, calculated that its orientation was perfect. But this was not confirmed by the subsequent and more precise measurements of Nouet ; while the minute observations of Flinders Petrie, continued for a period of several months, have placed it beyond doubt that the two parallel east and west sides, instead of pointing due north, are inclined 3' 40" to the
The blocks used in building the pyramids of Gizeh were drawn from the nummulitic formations of Torah and Masarah, which skirt the east bank of the Nile, and which still supply the materials required for the enlargement of Cairo since those obtained from the ruins of Memphis have been exhausted. According to the popular legend, the countless fossils in the stones forming the steps of the J pyramids are the lentils left by the workmen engaged in erecting them. Formerly
the nummulitic blocks were faced by a smooth limestone resembling marble. A portion of these facings even still survives towards the summit of the Pyramid of Khephren, but no trace remains of the hieroglyphics which at one time decorated the surface of these monuments.
The passages in the interior, so disposed as to lead treasure-seekers astray, and prevent them from penetrating to the sepulchral chambers, are faced in granite. After long subterranean explorations, archælogists have at last discovered the sarcophagi of the sovereigns for whom these vast burial-places were prepared. That of Khufu is still in situ in its vaulted chamber. The blocks of black granite ​CAIBO. 405 with which it is faced ore so exquisitely polished that hy the light of the torches the visitor sees himself reflected as in a mirror. The tomh of Meiikera, or Mycerinus, was excavated in the very rock which served as the original core or nucleus above which the pyramid was raised. But the sarcophagus which it con- tuinc<l was lost when the vessel transporting it to England foundered off the Por- tuguese coa.st. In the angle formed in the north-west, between the two colossal monuments of Cheops and Khephren, the irregular and hilly plateau has been excavated in all directions by the tombs and burial-gounds where repose the subjects of the I'huraohs. To the south and east are other remains, wells, and sepulchres, while on the skirt of the plateau, encircled by dunes, is seen the famous sphinx, gigantic guardian of the pyramids. This prodigious statue, contemplating the plain with motionless eye, seems verily the " marvellous work of the gods," as recorded in an ancient inscription recently deciphered. It consists of a sandstone rock, to which chance had given the vague outlines of an animal figure, and the form of which was completed by the Egyptian architects. The spacious cavities were filled with rough stones disposed without art ; but the surface consists of small and regular layers carefully cut and sculptured, so as to produce the very muscles of the animal, which represents the god Ilar-em-Khu, that is to say, " Horus in the bright sun,'* or " Horus of the two horizons." An inscription discovered by Mariette attributes to Cheops the " restoration " of this monument, on which the natives have conferred the titles of " Father of Fear," and " Lion of the Night." The chamber or rooms said to have been seen by Vansleb and other explorers in the back of the sphinx cannot now be traced. But to the south-west, in the immediate vicinity of the colossus, Mariette brought to light from beneath the sands an underground temple, with enormous pink granite and alabaster walls, faced with the largest limestone blocks hitherto discovered. This building, destitute of all ornament, seems to date from a period of transition between the early megalithic monuments and edifices properly so called. The statue of Khephren found in this temple, and now preserved in the Bulaq ^Nluseimi, is perhaps the finest kno^'n work of Egj'ptian statuary. At that period of the national art inflexible forms and conventional tj'pes had not yet been imposed by the hieratic laws on the native sculptors. The statue had been hidden, or perhaps thrown into a well, after the erection of the temple. Cairo. Cairo, the heir of Jilemphis, occupies a situation analogous to that of the old metropolis of Lower Egypt. This " diamond clasp " closing the " fan of the delta," stands like ^lemphis at the apex of the triangle of alluvial lands formed by the main branches of the river, and consequently occupies the natural converging I)oint of all the routes across Lower Egypt, between Alexandria and El Arish. But although lying near the bifurcation of the Nile, its site has been displaced towards the north with the channel of the river itaelf. Were it removed to tho ​406 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. left bank of the Nile, Cairo would form a simple northern extension of Ikfemphis. It would even seem more natural that the capital, like nearly all the other cities of Middle Egypt, should stand on the west side, which comprises over three-fourths of the arable lands, and which gives more easy access to Alexandria, the chief out- port of the country. But Cairo is not an Egyptian foundation. It was built by Asiatic conquerors, who naturally could not think of founding their chief strong- hold on the wrong side of the river for them. Thus the very position of Cairo on the right bank of the Nile suffices to show that Egypt is a conquered land. The name of El-Kahirah, or the Victorious, officially given to the capital of Egypt, is not current amongst the people themselves. 3Iasr, the old name of the whole country, to which is often added the epithet of " Mother of the World," is the expression more usually employed in speaking of the city. Nothing but a small fort bearing the name of Babelun (Babylonia) occupied a site a little above the present capital down to the nineteenth year of the Hegira, when it was captured by Amru. After this event it began to extend northwards by the addition of the El-Fostat, or " Tent," which afterwards became the Masr el- Atikah, or " Old Cairo." Again besieged and reduced, over three centuries afterwards, it continued still to expand in the same direction by absorbing a third quarter, the so-called military encampment of El-Kaireh. Here was developed the modem city, whose name has been slightly modified to Cairo and other forms in the European idioms. . Towards the north-west the right bank of the Nile is skirted by the wretched hovels of Bnlaq, a large and industrial suburb now connected with the city by a new avenue lined with buildings. The old walls have been in great part destroyed or overlapped by new structures ; but they are still standing towards the east and south, half buried amid heaps of refuse. The cliffs of the Jebel-Mokattam extend to the south-east angle of the city, where their advanced spurs are crowned with the citadel, which was occupied by the British forces in 1883, immediately after the battle of Tel- el-Kebir. From this eminence, flanked by sustaining walls and ramparts, a view is commanded of the whole city, with its cupolas and minarets, its party-coloured buildings, its groves and gardens. Round this city of bright colours and throbbing life, stretches the grey and silent plain overlooked from a distance by the pyramids. Cairo had been built on the bank of the Nile ; but since the tenth century the stream has been displaced, and until recently the city was separated from the river by a belt of groves and gardens, nearly two miles broad in some places. It is, however, traversed in its entire length by the narrow Khalig Canal, which runs dry for a part of the year. The Ismailieh Canal, another and broader channel, deep enough to remain flooded throughout the year, runs north-west of the city in the direction of Suez, through the Wady-Tumilat. The Nile, 1,320 feet wide between its embankments, is here crossed by a modern iron bridge resting on stone foundations, and continued westwards by a long viaduct across a branch flooded during the inundations. But for the palms fringing the left bank, the dahabiyeh and other craft moored along the quays, one njight almost fancy at the sight of this bridge
407 of the new town — which has been constructed between the native quarter and the Nile — includiug biirracks, government offices, palaces, and hotels, also presents u European aspect. The vegetation alone, enclosed by railings in the gardens, and the shady lebek acacias planted on both sides of the broad streets, remind the observer that ho is still in Kgypt. Elegant structures, 8urroundc>d by verdure, present a pleasant contrast to the commonplace buildings of this new quarter. Some broad and straight thoroughfares, lined by houses in a vulgar style of architecture, have recently been opened through the heart of the old quarters ; but with these exceptions, Cairo has almost everywhere preserved its characteristic physiognomy. These irregular streets, some broad, some narrow, winding at abrupt angles between buildings facing in all directions, present . an endless variety of perspective. Here we come upon irregular " squares " or open spaces, flanked by the painted arcade of some picturesque mosque ; elsewhere the two sections of a palace meet overhead by vaulted galleries thrown across the street ; right and left are gates leading through intricate byways to blind alleys, or traversing court- yards surrounded by overhanging balconies gay with strips of tapestry fluttering in the breeze. Here and there marble colonnades or carved porticoes project from walls of grey or red brick. The musbarabiehs all differ in the patterns of their gratings or lattice-work. Unfortunately these musbarabiehs (raeshrebiyehs) are gradually disappearing, at least from the more frequented thoroughfares. They are simply projecting windows or casements made of ingeniously designed lattice-work, or else, in the poorer houses, merely of rough boards ; and there are still not a few houses where the passenger stops to admire tier upon tier of these singularly picturesque contrivances. The name is derived from a root meaning to drink, as in " sherbet," and is applied to the musbarabiehs because the porous water-bottles are often j>laced in them to cool. " The delicately turned knobs and balls by which the patterns of the lattice-work are formed, are sufficiently near together to conceal whatever passes within from the eyes of opposite neighbours, and yet there is enough space between them to allow free access of air. The musharabieh is indeed a cooling place for human beings as well as water-jars, and at once a convent grating and a spying-place for the women of the harem, who can watch their enemies of the opposite sex through the meshes of the windows without being seen in return." * The different stories even of the same house at times present a variety of contrasts in their architecture and their projecting lines, corbels, and gables. In some quarters all the upper part of the structure spreads out like a huge Chinese folding- screen, furnished with numerous nooks and comers, whence the inmates may survey the passing scenes at their leisure. The very temperature is varied by the different character of these edifices, with their supporting beams and matting 8usix>nded at different elevations above the roadway. Gloomy passages are here and there sud- denly relieved by a flood of dazzling light, and the wayfarer's progress is constantly arrested by heaps of unsavoury refuse, pools of stagnant water, or whirlwinds of • "Social Life in E^ypl," p. 9. ​blinding dust. In these quarters of the old town the inhabitants themselves present as great a diversity of types as do their quaint and rickety dwellings. Egyptians and Nubians, Arabs and Negroes, jostle each other in the narrow lanes, selling their wares, crowding about the hucksters’ shops, or collecting in picturesque
groups round about some noted story-teller. But the most shifting scenes of this strange panorama, the most varied types and costumes, are to be seen chiefly in the Muski and other streets in the neighbourhood of the bazaar, where the direct traffic is carried on between the natives and Europeans. Here veiled women, Mussulmans or Copts, glide rather than walk silently by, moving heaps of clothes, with nothing ​OAIBO. 409 exposed except the eyes peeping through a slit in the veil attached to the head- dress by a gold clasp. The country women, dressed in a simple flowing robe, moWng freely with the movements of the body, go nearly all unveiled, like their Syriun, Levantine, Jewish, and European sisters, all of whom may bo easily recog- nised by their type, thfir carriage, dress, style, and manner, as they move amongst the busy crowd, or stop to examine the tempting display of goods in the well- 6tocke<l shops. The graceful Nubians in their long white smocks, Bedouins proudly draped in rags and tatters, Negrtx^s of every tribe, each with the distinctive marks of his nationality stamjxHl on his features, intermingle freely with the native Egyptians, distinguished by their official garb and tarbush headdress, with Eurojieans of every nation still more or less faithful to the costume of Western civilisation ; with soldiers of all arms in helmets, turbans, or other oriental or ancient headdress. Followed by their little donkey-boys shouting and gesticulating, the magnificent Egyptian asses trot nimbly by, however tall or heavy be their riders. But military chiefs and wealthy strangers prefer the graceful Arab steed, or elegant European equijMiges, which drive rapidly through the crowd preceded by a sais, or running footman, dressed in the gorgeous Albanian costume bedizened with gold and silk, and armed with the traditional rod, which was formerly freely used to clear the road of loiterers. At times, overtopping the throng, like some magnificent " wise man of the East " out of a painting by Rubens, some Xcgro captain makes his appearance, clothed in white and red silk, glittering with damascened arms find mounted on a gigantic camel, with its embroidered cloths and velvet housing fringed in gold. At present instances of foreigners being insulted by fanatical Mohammedans are almost unheard of, except when they behave in an offensivo manner. They may now move about freely even in the neighbourhood o^ the El-Azhar mosque, where reside the more zealous champions of Islam. The gay wedding processions and solemn funerals may be followed without any risk through the narrowest byways of the native quarter. The great religious ceremonies, at which Christians could not formerly be present except protected by the police and soldiers, have been shorn of much of their ancient splendour, and certain parts of the original programme are henceforth interdicte<l. The chief local feast is that of the " Cutting," by which the beneficent waters of the rising stream are admitte<l to the town canals. But the esst^ntially religious solemnities are those associated with the departure and arrival of the pilgrims from Mecca. At the feast of Mnhmal, or the Departure, by the Europeans called the " Carpet Feast," a camel decked with embroidered tnippings, plumes, and burnished metal ornaments, bears a sumptuous litter containing the yearly present sent by the Khedive to the Eaaba of Alecca. It is preceded by musicians and troops, and followed by a motley throng of pilgrims of every race and colour. On the return of the sacre<l caravan the anniversary is celebrated of the birthday of the Prophet, during which the city is given up to the dervishes, dancers, and jugglers. No more favourable opportunity is afforded for studying the varied elements of the {wpula- tion of Cairo. All the back slums and remote recesses of the native district« now ​410 NOETH-EAST APEICA. pour forth their Arab, Negro, Abyssinian, Beja, Somili, and Nubian denizens on the public squares and into the great plain near the suburb of Bulaq, where the sheikh of the dervishes passes on horseback over a layer of human bodies. The noble animal resists at first, but the bridle being held by two slaves, he is forced to follow them over this carpet of living flesh. The presence of English troops sum- moned to take part in this feast in the year 1884 served to remind the Mussulmans that henceforth the city of Amru was in the hands of the infidel. The most remarkable monuments of Cairo are its mosques and tombs. Of the four hundred sacred edifices scattered over the city, some are amongst the very finest in the Mohammedan world. The mosque of Tulun, which formed part of the Fost&t settlement before the foundation of Cairo, although falling to ruins, still pre- serves the beauty imparted by the noble simplicity of the original plan — a large open court surrounded on three sides by a double peristyle and leading to a sanctuary with four aisles and pointed arcades built of date wood. Unfortunately the galleries, decorated with charming arabesques, have been closed up and converted into mean refuges for the sick and insane. Sultan Hassan's mosque, the finest in Cairo, and indicated from a distance by its lofty minaret, is threatened, like that of Tulun, with total destruction. At sight of the tottering windows of its high outer walls the visitor almost hesitates to enter the court where the cool fountains still spatter, or to cross the threshold of the sanctuary and lateral aisles beneath the vast porticos tenanted by flocks of birds. The El- Azhar, or " Flowery " mosque, was also originally a simple court enclosed by porticos. But to the primitive structure have been added numerous other buildings, for El- Azhar is now at once a university, a library, a hostelry for studious travellers, a blind asylum, and a refuge for the poor. The roof of the sanctuary is supported by 380 marble, granite, and porphyry columns, some of which formerly embellished the Roman temples in Egypt. Round the court the colonnades are reserved for students, who are here grouped according to their several nationalities. From Marocco to India, from the Niger to the Oxus, all the peoples of Islam are represented in this university, which claims to be the oldest in the world. As manj'^ as twelve thousand students, exclusive of the free attendants, here study the Koran, jurisprudence, mathematics, and the Arabic language, under the direction of two hundred professors. In the liitcdk, or group of buildings disposed round the aisles, there are also about a dozen preparatory schools, each with thirty or forty scholars, besides a special school for the blind.* Another mosque, that of Sultan KaUun, is almost entirely utilised as a mad- house. That of Mohammed Ali, situated within the citadel, is certainly a very sumptuous edifice, with its transparent alabaster pillars and pavement; but its very wealth of ornamentation serves only to illustrate the bad taste of its builder.
„ of the Shafeh rite 500 . „ 100 „ „ Malekiterile 4,000 . „ 74 „ „ Hanefite rite 1,500 . „ 37
South of the citadel in the direction of Old Cairo, and northward of the fort of the Jebel-Mokattam, other mosques of all sizes raise their graceful domes above
the tombs of kings and princes. These elegant structures present a striking contrast to the bare ground, here strewn with all manner of débris, and to the rugged walls of the surrounding quarries. The Kait-bey mosque, north of the cluster of hills, dates from the fifteenth century, but has been recently restored. It is, perhaps, the most perfect specimen of Arab architecture in Egypt, at least as regards the arabesque and geometrical designs of its fretted walls, and the exquisite symmetry of its minaret, disposed in corbelled galleries. Thus the country which ​412 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. boasts of the pyramids and similar structures of unequalled solidity, may also claim to possess in its minarets edifices unrivalled for the elegance and delicacy of their- outline. The first city on the African continent in size and population, Cairo also takes the foremost place for its scientific institutions and art treasures. Besides the already described religious university of El-Azhar, and the hundreds of Arab schools attached to the mosques, the city contains excellent European schools, nearly all denominational — Catholic, Coptic, Melkite, Protestant, or Jewish. There are also a school of medicine and pharmacy, a public library, lecture-halls, an observa- tory, a valuable collection of maps and designs, unfortunately damaged when the place was occupied by the British, a geographical society, and other learned corpora- tions. BuLAQ, Hei.wan, Matarieh. But the glory of Cairo is its museum of antiquities, established in the suburb of Bulaq on the very embankment here skirting the right side of the Nile. This priceless collection, founded by Mariette, continued by Maspero, and already far too rich for the original building, presents, so to say, a complete and admirably illustrated course of Egyptian history and native art. Besides the thousand objects found in all museums, such as statues, steles, mummies, amulets, jewellery, papyri, it contains amongst other masterpieces the diorite statue of Khephren in a majestic and placid attitude, the wooden statue of the unknown person whom the Arabs have dubbed the Shiekh-el-Belod, or " Village Chief," the sphinxes of the Syksos, which so faithfully reproduce the type of those shepherd conquerors. In the court stands the tomb of Mariette, a black marble sarcophagus, standing at the foot of which the visitor beholds the mysterious stream flowing slowly by. Bulaq is the chief industrial centre of the capital. Here the Government possesses a large printing-office, military workshops, a foundry, and manufactory of small arms. The river traffic, which formerly had its docks and warehouses at Old Cairo, has now established its chief depots at Bulaq, where the stream is constantly covered with steamers, sailing vessels, and rowing boats. What remains of Fostdt, or Old Cairo, stands rather more than half a mile from the south-west suburb of Cairo, and is disposed along the right bank of a small branch of the Nile. The ancient splendour of the city is still recalled by a mosque surrounded by heaps of debris. This was the sanctuary erected by Amni in the twenty- first year of the Hegira under the eyes of Mohammed's personal followers. After those of the holy cities no other mosque is more venerated than this venerable monument, which, however, has been frequently restored. Some of the 230 columns which supix)rted the vaults of the galleries and sanctuary built round the central court have given way beneath the weight of the nave. The island which separates Old Cairo from the main channel, and which js mostly under cultivation, takes the name of Jeziret-el-Randah. Here a nephew of Saladin had founded the school of the " Baharites," or " Riverain People," who were the
mckyfts, or " Nilometor," which in some years is so anxiously consultcil to ascertain the progress of the inundations. The ancient Nilometer, which hus been replaced by thut of Runduh, occupied a position farther up on the right bunk of the river, over against Memphis. Connected with the capital of Egypt is the watering village of Ifehcan, which is situated 14 miles to the south by rail, near the right bank of the Nile. Its sulphureous waters, which are slightly thermal (74° to 86^ F.), are said to be very efficacious. Numerous palaces are dotted round the village, mostly encircled by parks or gardens, some of which cover some square miles in extent. On the left bank facing Cairo are the palaces of Gize/i and Jezireh, while to the north of the capital stands the palace of S/ttibrah, connected with the railway terminus by a magnificent avenue of sycamores, which is lined by pleasant suburban residences. To the north-east, on the verge of the desert, are visible the palaces of El-Kubhrh and El-Abbmnichf at present occupied by the polytechnic and military schools. This palace is not far from the village of JUatarUh, which covers jwrt of the site of the ancient " City of the Sun," the Pe-Ita of the Pharaohs, the lleliopolU of the Greeks, where the Egyptian priests came to be initiated into the esoteric doctrines of the national religion. Of this city of temples and schools there remain only the foundations of two enclosures and an obelisk, which was raised by Usortesen I. forty-six centuries ago, and which since then has gradually subisided over 30 feet into the ground. It is the oldest of all existing obelisks. In the surrounding marshes still survives the species of heron known as the anlrn garzetta, which has become so famous in the history of symbols and in legend under the name of the phoDnix. At intervals of five hundred years, on the day of the summer solstice the sacred bird was fabknl to return from Arabia or India, and perch on the summit of the Temple of the Sun. Here it was consumed on a pyre of scented wood, ever rising from its ashes with renewed life. The village of Matarieh on the right, as well as that of Enihdheh on the left bank of the Nile, recalls the memory of some famous battles. At the latter place Bonaparte gained the 80-calle<l " Battle of the Pyramids," while a Turkish anny was routed by Kleber at Matarieh and in the ruins of IIelio|)«lis, In a delightful garden at ^latarieh the Coptic monks show the " Virgin's Tree," a sycamore less than three centuries old, beneath which the Holy Family is supjwsed to have rested on the flight to Egypt. Matarieh is the only place in the delta where ostrich farm- ing is at present carried on. Barrage op the Nile. The barrage of the Nile, whoso crenellated towers loom in the distance like the battlements of a citadel, must be included anK>ngst the monumental works of the Egj'ptian capital. Formed of two bridges with one hundred and thirty-four arches altogether and over half a mile — or, including the approaches, more than a mile — long, it runs athwart the stream 8t)mo 12 miles below Bulaq, at the j)oint where the Nile ramifies into two main branches. Ilero the intermediate cutting of the ​414 NORTH-EAST AFRICA.
Menufieh Canal intersects the large island of Shalaganeh, which has been converted by walls and ramparts into a fortified stronghold. This is the important fortress of Saadieh, which at once commands both branches of the Nile, and the two principal lines of railway in Lower Egypt. This colossal work, the first stone of which was laid by Mohammed Ali in the year 1847, was originally planned for the purpose of reclaiming many tens of thousands of acres of waste land and regulating the navigation throughout the whole of Lower Egypt. But the enthusiasm of the Albanian viceroy was not sustained by an equal degree of perseverance, and some parts of the general design were either neglected or indifferently executed. Hence the foundations have partly given way, wide openings are visible in many of the
arches, and of the three canals, the Sharkieh, Beharah, and Menufieh, that should have been excavated, the last-mentioned alone has been completed.
Suez.
Before the opening of the Suez Canal, Cairo was connected with its port on the Red Sea by a direct line of railway, crossing the desert through the depressions followed by the ancient pilgrims’ route. The present seaport of Suez, lying at the
southern extremity of the marine canal, has replaced the Clysma of the Greeks, the Kolzim of tho Arabs, which has by some archæologists been identified with the Tell-Kolzum, lying nearly four miles farther north, and by others with the station of Arsinoe, afterwards known as Cleopatris, whose site has been sought farther east, not far from the village of Agerut. ​416 NOETH-EAST AFEICA. Traces of the former presence of the waters of the Red Sea may here be still traced all the way to the Bitter Lakes. The waters have gradually retired, and if the town had to follow the progress of subsidence it would have to be again dis- placed and rebuilt some two miles farther south at the entrance of the canal. Here has been created the modern port of Teufik, enclosed by two diverging piers 7,700 feet long, and lined with warehouses belonging to the Suez Canal Company. At the end of one of these piers a few trees have been planted round the statue of Waghom, a man distinguished beyond all others before the time of Lesseps by his persistent endeavours to open up more rapid communications between England and her Indian possessions. Suez, which has lost the aqueducts constructed under the Ptolemies, now receives its supply of fresh water through a canal derived from the Nile and running through the "VVady-Tumilat. Hence the town might now be freely developed without running the risk of perishing from thirst, as at the time when it had to depend entirely on the brackish wells sunk at the foot of the Jebel-Attakah. But after rapidly expanding at the time of the construction of the inter-oceanic canal, Suez has again diminished in population and importance. It derives little advan- tage from the ever-gi'owing traffic between the two seas, because most of the inter- minable line of steamers pass on after getting their papers signed. The chief depots of supplies for the shipping have been established, not at the head of the Red Sea, but at Port Said, at the northern extremity of the canal, facing Europe. Nevertheless, sufficient local trade has been developed in connection with the through traffic to enable Suez to rank next to Alexandria and Port Said in the general commerce of Egypt.* BaLBEIS ZaGAZIG BUBASTIS. At present the railway connecting Cairo with its port on the Red Sea skirts the northern foot of the advanced spurs of the Arabian or coast range, running thence to the canal along the depression of "VVady-Tumilat. Here was the land of Goshen, cultivated by the " Impure," that is, by the Hebrews in bondage ; and the Tumilat Arabs, who give their name to the district, have also become agriculturists. The presence of the Israelites in this region is still commemorated by the Tell-el-Yahud, or " Jews' Hill," a small eminence lying not far from the station of Shibin-el- Kanater. Here have been discovered some vestiges of an edifice erected by Ramses II. Farther on stand the towns of Balhcis and Bordein, in this vast and well- watered plain, where every village is surroun/ied by cotton plantations and by the tall chinmey of some factory built amid the palm-groves, where the raw fibre is cleansed and compressed into bales for exportation, mostly by Greek agents of the growers. • • Trade of the Port of Suez in 1830 acording to Ajnici : — Arrivals 681 vessels of 682,110 tons Departures 663 ,, 677,626 „ Total . 1,144 „ 1,359,736 „ ​But the great entrepôt for the cotton and the cereals of this region of the delta is the populous city of Zagazig, which occupies a central position at the junction of several lines of railway, over against the western outlet of Wady-Tumilât. The population of this place has increased fivefold since the year 1860, thanks chiefly to the development of the cotton plantations.
South of the Zagazig gardens a number of high mounds, collectively known by the name of Tell-el-Bastah, still recall the ancient city of Pabast, the Bubastis of the Greeks, which was the capital of Egypt some twenty-seven or twenty-eight centuries ago; that is to say, during the twenty-second dynasty, when the frequent
wars with Assyria required the centre of gravity of the kingdom to be shifted more towards the east. Broken shafts and sculptured blocks still scattered about attest the former splendour enjoyed by this now ruined city. North-east of it, on the very verge of the wilderness and on the last irrigating canale derived from the Nile, lies the village of Karaim, surrounded by palm-groves which have the reputation of yielding the finest dates in Egypt.
Tell-el-Kebir — Pithom.
The entrance of the Wady-Tumilât is guarded on the west by the station of Tell-el-Kebir, that is, the "Great Mound," where in the year 1882 the Egyptian forces under Arabi vainly attempted to make a stand against the British expedition advancing from Ismailia, its base on the Suez Canal. The fortifications erected by ​418 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. Arabi were partly stormed, partly outflanked, after a midnight march planned with a skill and executed with a precision seldom surpassed in the annals of European warfare. A palace standing in the neighbourhood of Tell-el-Kebir forms the central point of the so-called " Farm of the Wady," a domain about 25,000 acres in extent, which was cultivated for several years by the Suez Canal Company. Near the eastern extremity of the Wady-Tumil&t other mounds collectively known as the Tell-el-Maiskhata, and in appearance resembling Tell-el-Kebir, were hitherto supposed to indicate the site of the ancient Pithom, the " City of Treasure," here erected by the captive Israelites for Ramses II. Recently, however, M. Naville has thoroughly explored these ruins, which now appear not to be those of the city of Ramses, but of another which has been identified as the Pi- Turn or Pithom of Exodus, and which seems to have been built about the same period and by the same hands. During the Greek and Roman epochs Pithom was known by the name of Hero, or HcroonpoUs. This identification of the ruins explored by M. Na^^lle at Tell-el-Maskhata, has given rise to much controversy amongst Egyptologists, one of whom gocK so far as to say that " the Pithom of the Exodus is apparently as far to seek as ever."* Dr. Ebers, however, who is one of the chief authorities on archceological questions of this sort, after carefully sifting all the evidence, finally decides in favour of M. Navillc's view. In a long communication to the Academy he writes, "Now I have attentively and impartially studied the inscriptions excavated by M. Naville, and fully discussed them in the AUgemeine Zeitung, after having gained the firm convic- tion that Tell-el-Maskhata is the site on which, in the time of Ramses and subse- quently, there was a city called by the sacred name of Pi-Tum, i.e. Pithom, and by the profane one of Thuku-t, being doubtless the same as Succoth. It is true that Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Dr. Lepsius, M. Maspero, and myself as well, had regarded Tell-el-Maskhata as the site of the biblical Ramses. After the appearance of M. Naville's book, however, there will scarcely be found a single Egj'ptologist who will still adhere to this view, and refuse to look upon Tell-el-Maskhata as the site of an Egyptian town which bore the sacred name of Pithom and the profane one of Thuku-t. The first object confirming this view was the inscription on the statue of the prophet of Tum of Theka, which begins, * When under his majesty it was proclaimed how the sanctuary of his father Tum of the good god of Thekut was completed on the third of the month of Athyr, the king himself came to the district of Heroonpolis, into the house of his father Tum,* &c. " These inscriptions render it so certain that Pithom and Thuku-t were one and the same town, and that both were built on the site of the modern Tell-el-Maskhata, that we may dispense with the further evidence afforded by the Anastasi papyrus. Here King Merneptah, very probably the Pharaoh of the Exodus, states in writing his having permitted the Shasu (Bedouins) of Atuma (Edom ?) to cross the fortress bearing his name, which was also called Theku, in the direction of the^ ponds of Pithom of the king Merneptah, which is called Theku." t • Athenenim, April, 1886, No. 2994. t Academy, May 23rd, 1885, p. 373. ​POBT SAID. 419 IsMAIMA — El-KaNTARA. At Nefish, in the same district, the road and the Freshwater Canal running to Suez turn towards the south-east, whilst another branch of the canal takes a north- easterly direction to the new city of hmailia, on the shores of Lake Tiinsah. While the great canal was in progress Ismailia enjoyed great imix>rtance as a chief centre of the supplies for the hands engaged on the works. But at present it is far too extensive for its reduced population. Its open spaces are deserted, and its streets, fringed by shady trees and skirted hero and there by gardens and shrubberies, resemble the avenues of a jmrk more than the thoroughfares of a commercial town. Nevertheless, Ismailia might again become inhabited, were the stream brought by the Freshwater Canal made more generally available for the irrigation of the oasia already reclaimed from the surrounding desert. Nor is this artery much used for navigation, although it has a normal depth of 10 feet and a width of about 180 feet, sufficient to give access to vessels of 400 tons burden. Some traffic, however, is carried on by means of the Suez Canal, and the port and open waters of the lake are often crowdetl with large vessels riding at anchor in these inland waters. Exclusive of the transit trade, the movement of the port of Ismailia amounted, in 1882, to over two hundred and seventy steamers, with a gross tonnage of nearly 600,000 tons. Along the line of the canal from Ismailia to Port Said the only station deserv- ing the title of village is El-Knntara, or " the Bridge," so named from a small structure of this sort which here fonnerly crossed a channel flowing between I^kes Ballah and Menzaleh. Standing on an isthmus between inundated tracts, El- Eantara formed an indispensable station for all caravans along the main highway between Asia and Africa. This station is even still annually use<l by several thousand camels, which are watered at the great reservoirs that the Company has here constructed near the banks of the canal. In Lake Ballah, to the west of El-Kantara, a large " gare," or shunting station, is to be formed for the conve- nience of steamers using the canal. Port Said. Port Said, which, like Ismailia, is a new town, but full of life and bright pro8|x»cts, thanks to the constantly increasing navigation of tho great marine high- way, has been founded on the narrow strip of sand seiwiratiug Lake Menzaleh from the Mediterranean. The creation of this city on a surf- beaten strand fully twenty- four miles from all freshwater streams, from any cultivated lands, or the smallest clump of trees, may be regarded as one of the triumphs of motlern industry. Ljing between the open roadstead and the inner basins of the harbour. Port Said consists of some fifty islets, sejrarated from each other by broad streets disposed mainly at right-angles. Most of the houses, built either of wood, brick, or iron, are used as warehouses and depots for all kinds of produce and provisions, as rich and well-stocked as similar structures in the European trading-places. ​At a distance of a few hundred yards from the European town stretches the Arab quarter, in which more than one building in the style of the "Infidels" has already sprung up, and which promises ere long to be completely surrounded by its flourishing neighbour. In any case the bed of Lake Menzaleh, which is here very shallow, offers an unlimited space for the development of the city.
The outer port is sheltered by two breakwaters built with blocks of concrete weighing 20 tons each. The western structure is 8,300 feet, the eastern 6,300 feet
long, and they jointly enclose a space of about one square mile in extent, which gives ample room for the largest vessels to ride at anchor, and which in front of the city ramifies into several basins, affording a further space of 175 acres for the shipping. Facing the city on the east or Asiatic side are vast depots of coal, of which over 540,000 tons were imported in the year 1883. On the southern or African side are the workshops and dry docks built for the construction and repair ​EL-ABISn— PELU8IUM-8AN. 421 of vessels, and especially of the dredges employed in the canal. Here there is an incessant movement of steamers, yawls, and other craft pljnng from bunk to bank, while larger shipping is moored near the quays, and men-of-war cast anchor in the roadstead near the lighthouse. Although situutetl on Egyptian territory, Port Said is a Eurojx'an, or rather a French city, as regards its inhabitants, its social life, and local traffic. French is the dominating language, and in it instruction is imparted to the fifteen hundred pupils of the rival establishments opened here by the Capuchin friars and the Freemasons. Port Said is the healthiest place in Lower Egypt. By means of cast-iron pipes it derives its water supply from the Ismailia Canul at the rate of about 35,000 cubic feet a day, a quantity which barely suffices for the wants of the inhabitants, leaving nothing for irrigation purposes. Hence the surrounding gardens languish, and the great want of the place is avenues of shady trees, such as have been planted at Ismailia. Hitherto the Suez Canal Company has in vain made every effort to obtain the concession of a canal derived directly from the Damietta branch of the Nile, although it has offered in return to give commercial unity to Egypt by connecting its seaport with the local railway system by means of a brunch constructed across Lake Menzaleh. Fearing to be supplanted by Port Said, Alexandria employs all its influence to check the progress of its eastern rival, which nevertheless cannot fail sooner or later to acquire the commercial supremucy, thunks to its s|)ucious and convenient harbour, and to its situation at the northern extremity of the inter-oceanic canal.* El-Arish — Pelusium — San. East of Port Said Egypt still possesses a group of habitations which, as the chief town of a province, may claim the title of city. This is El-Ariah^ which stands on an eminence commanding the approach to a wady, usually regarded as the natural frontier between Egypt and Pulestiiie, at the exact centre of the concave bend here developed by the Mediterranean coast-line. But of the ancient cities, situated in this north-eastern district of Egypt no vestige can now be discovered, everything having been thickly overlaid by ulluvial deposits. Of Peiusium, the " City of Mud," nothing is visible, except a mound in the midst of the swamps, not far from a depression once flooded by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. Farther west the two islands Tenneh and Tunah have nothing to show except shapeless heaps of refuse. More important remains, however, have been left by San, or Tatm, which under the name of Ila-uar, or Aran's, was the ancient capital of the " Shepherd Kings," and at one time one of the great cities of Egypt. The mound standing near the southern shore of Lake Menzaleh still bears
Arrivals 1,507 vewels of 907,611 ions. Depaituies .... 1.530 „ 9«7,S95 ., To: Hi . },0S7 .» ljn6,(M „ ​the ruins of three temples; and here have been discovered columns, obelisks, and the remarkable sphinxes which represent the type of the Hyksos, with their broad features, large nose, and prominent cheek-bones.
All these monuments were executed in materials far more costly than similar works in Upper Egypt. The building-stone for the temples was brought by Ramses II., not from the nummulitic or sandstone rocks lying nearest to the delta, but from the pink granite quarries of Assuan, on the southern frontier of the empire. But of these sumptuous edifices, whose remains lie strewn over the mound at San, nothing was respected by subsequent generations of builders, whether Romans, monks, Christians, or Arabs. Not one of the fourteen obelisks, the largest in all Egypt, has survived; while the colossi have been broken into small fragments und even ground to dust. Amongst the ruins, however, has been discovered the precious "Stone of San," a tri-lingual stele which might have revealed the mystery
of the hieroglyphics, had not Champollion and Young already found a clue to their interpretation in the "Rosetta Stone."
The enclosure surrounding the great temple is no less than 80 feet thick, and the modern observer may well ask how such a metropolis could have been raised in the midst of these half-submerged lands, these swamps, and quagmires, and saline depressions now skirting Lake Menzaleh. But the district seems to have undoubtedly undergone vast changes since the oldest recorded times, changes which should probably be attributed to local subsidence.
Although the less copious of the two Nilotic branches enclosing the delta, that of Damietta is utilised to a far greater extent for irrigation purposes, thanks to the higher level of its bed. Along its course are situated some large towns,ewhile in many places numerous villages form an almost continuous city. Benha-l'-Assal, or the "City of Honey," which supplies the inhabitants of Cairo with considerable ​MAXSURAII— DAMIETTA. 428 quantities of this comnKxlity, with the other produce of its gardens and orchards, derives some iiniKjrtanee from its jMsition at the converging point of the throe lines of railway between Alexandria, Cairo, and Zaguzig. Here the river is traversed by a long viofluct. Near the station another " tell " or mound of ruins, situated like the modem touii on the right bunk of the Dumietta branch of the Nile, is all that now remains of the ancient AthribU. Maxsurah — Damietta. Mil Ghamr and Ziftah, which face each other on both banks of the river, are amongst the most populous cities of the delta. Lower down on the right bank Santanhud, the SohentnjtoH of the Greeks, and the birthplace of Manetho, the his- torian, possesses in the neighbourhood the remains of a temple, the Iseum of Ptolemy Philadelphus, which is now known by the name of Behbeit-el-IIagar. Jlansurah, or the " Victorious," which follows on the right bank, preserves no monuments of the jjast, but is one of the most commercial and industrious cities in Egj'pt, and capital of a province. It was here that the French King Ijouis IX. fell into the hands of the Mohammedans. Twenty-nine years previously — that is, in 1221 — the Crusaders had been defeated in the same place, and it was to commemo- rate these triumphs of the Crescent over the Cross that the " Victorious " was founded. At Mansurah the Bahr-es-Sogheir channel branches off from the Nile, and flows to Lake Menzaleh, which it has divided into two basins by a peninsula formed of its alluvial deposits. At the extremity of this low marsh-encircled peninsula stand the two towns of Menzaleh and Matarieh, inhabited by poor communities of fisher- men, whose type, according to Mariette, betrays their lineal descent from the Ilyksos, who overran Egypt thousands of years ago. The profits of these fisheries are almost entirely forestalled by the sheikhs of ^latarieh, some of whom have become millionaires. Damietta, or Dumiat, which gives its name to the east branch of the Nile, still remains the largest city on its banks. However, it does not stand on the same site as its Greek predtniessor Tamiat/tis, which stoo<l on the left bunk quite close to the mouth of the river. Rut immediately after the unsuccessful siege laid to the place by Louis IX., Sultim Bibars caused it to be demolished, and removed the inhabitants some six miles farther up, to a point less accessible to an enemy arriving by sea, and near an abrupt bend in the channel, which might eui$ily be defended against a hostile fleet. The modem Damietta manufactures various kinds of textile fabrics and does a considerable trade in rice, suit, and fish. Here, also, vessels engaged in the coast- ing trade between Syria, Asia Minor, and the JSgean Sea, come for their supplies of provisions, which they take in exchange for various manufactured goods.* But
Arrival* 1,198 ahipa of 83.116 totu. Departurts 1.176 „ 79,996 „ T.tal 2.374 „ l'«8.2ri ,, ​the entrance to the harbour is dangerous, and shipping is sometimes prevented by the rough seas for days together from entering the river. The great mosque of Damietta, built by Amru, and remarkable especially for the richness and variety of its marbles, is indebted for the exceptional celebrity it enjoys to its "miraculous" column still covered with clotted blood and dry foam. According to the local tradition, all invalids who come with sufficient faith and lick the stone till their tongue bleeds are sure to recover. Nevertheless, the recent history of Damietta has
made it sufficiently evident that a far more efficacious way of getting rid of epidemics would be to sweep the streets clean of the filth encumbering them at every turn.
In an often inundated plain which stretches south-west of the city in the direction of Lake Burlos, there is another holy place, where miracles continue to be wrought, not, however, by Mussulman hajis, but by a female Christian saint. This is the Coptic convent of Setti-Damiana, or "Our Lady Damian."
Menuf, Tantah.
THE DELTA
lying in a lugoon whose winding waters discharge therasclvcs into Lake Burlo« ; Tanfah, a city of merchants ; Mahallet-el-Kebir, or the "Grout City," which formerly enjoyed a monopoly of the Egyptian silk industry, and whoso scattered quarters are surrounded by cotton plantations. Of all the towns of the delta, Tantah, capital of the province of Garbieh, occupies the most central position. It stands exactly midway between Cairo and Alexandria, as well as between the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile. Here converge and intersect each other canals, roads, and highways. To these causes, combined with the great reputation enjoyed by the mosque of Seid-el-Radawi, the greatest saint of the Egyptian Mussulman calendar, is to be attributed the excep- tional im})ortance enjoyed by the annual fairs held at Tantah. In the eyes of the pilgrims the pool which receives the sweepings of the mosque possesses healing properties rivalling those of the Damietta column itself. In population, also, Tantah competes with Damietta for the third place amongst the cities of Egjrpt. Here is also the famous El-Ahmadi School, which, next to that of El-Azhar at Cairo, holds the first nink amongst all the Arab schools in the country. In the year 1877 it numbered as many as 4,885 scholars. Terraneh, Sais, Fuah. On the Rosetta branch, which is skirted for half its course by a line of railway, itself flanked by the first swellings of the Libyan range, the only important town is that from which this channel takes its name. Terraneh, perhaps the ancient Terenuthis, is the chief dep<)t for the natron collected in the saline lake of the Wady- Natrun, near the convent of Saint Macorius. Tnrie/i, which lies farther down, at the outlet of the narrow belt of cultivated lands here stretching between the hills and the left bank of the Nile, has also succeeded to an ancient city whose ruins are visible on the neighbouring Tell-el-Odameh, or " Bone Mound." Kn/r-el-Zaiatf where the railway between Cairo and Alexandria crosses the river on a long bridge of twelve arches, has no old Eg}'ptian remains in its immediate neighbourhood. But about twelve miles farther down, on the same east side of the Rosetta branch, are situated the extensive ruins of Sd, the Sois of the Greeks, and now called Sa-el-IIayar by the fellahin. Sa, which was the capital of Egj-pt at the time of the Persian invasion under Cambyses, is perhaps one of those places which ought to bo held in the greatest veneration by all mankind ; for, according to the legend, from this city set out the colonists who founded Athens, bringing with them the image of the goddess Ncith, who became the Athena of the Greeks and the Minerva of the Romans. From Sa also came the legendary DanaidsD, who first brought under cultivation the thankless soil of Argos, so different from their native plains enriched by the inundations of the Nile. Of the old sanctuaries of Sais little remains except heaps of refuse, and its tombs now yield to the treasure-seeker but few objects of interest. But its enclosure still excites surprise at its enormous proportions. It is no less than ​426 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 82 feet high and 53 feet thick. The holy lake which formerly existed here is now a mere swamp. Below Dessuk — ^where the river is spanned by an iron bridge, and whose fairs are only less frequented than those of Tantah — the pleasant town of Fuah, or "Madder," occupies a position on the right bank, opposite the junction of the large navigable Mahmudieh Canal, which affords direct communication with Alex- andria. Fuah, still noted for its numerous minarets, was the rival of Cairo in the fourteenth century ; but it no longer cultivates the valuable plant from which it takes its name, and its industries are reduced to the manufacture of tarbushes. ROSETTA. At present Fuah has been eclipsed even by Reshid, or Rosetta, capital of the province, which lies on the left bank of the river about nine miles above its mouth. Founded by the Arabs in the ninth century, Reshid, like Fuah, had its period of prosperity. During the eighteenth century its port was the most frequented in Egypt, and vessels engaged in the coasting trade called here from every part of the Levant for cargoes of rice, which still forms the chief article of export.* The towTi is surrounded by delightful gardens, in the midst of which the remains of ancient structures have often been found. Almost every house in Kosetta is embellished with some fragment of columns, marble, porphyry, or granite, taken from older buildings. The famous ** Rosetta Stone," which, in the hands of Champollion and Young became the point of departure for discoveries of supreme importance in linguistics and history, was discovered in the year 1799 by the engineer Bouchard, of the French expedition under Bonaparte, at some distance to the north of the town, where now stands Fort Julian. This precious tri-lingual inscription, originally composed in honour of " Ptolemy the Immortal, bom of the sun," was ceded to the English by capitulation, and deposited in the British Museum. When the Nile falls to its lowest level it occasionally happens that the tides ascend the stream to even beyond Rosetta, whose inhabitants are then obliged to use the brackish water found in the depressions. So bad is the supply of this indis- pensable article that in the year 1885 a commission was appointed to examine the question on the spot, and adopt measures for procuring a better supply for the town. Pending the completion of their labours the supply at Edfeh has been stopped, and the water is at present pumped higher up the Nile at Kututbeh, a point beyond the reach of the highest tides from the Mediterranean. West of the Rosetta branch the whole north-west comer of the delta is water<?d •
Arrivals 738 vessels of 20, 1 24 tons. Departures 726 ,, 19 717 „ Total . 1,464 „ 39.841 „ ​DAMANAUUR—KiVFR-DWAR—CANOPIS— ABUKIR. 427 by canals derived from the main stream. Hero the plains are irrigated by the Mariut, Abu-Dibat, Damanahur, and Metmudieh Canals, with innumerable smaller channels, all of which discharge their waters into Lakes Mariut and Edku. Damanahur — Kafr-Dwar. Damanahur, consisting of a group of numerous hamlets, is the capital of this region of arable lands, where the tall chimneys of the cotton-cleansing factories almost out- number the minarets of the mosques. Between Damanahur and Alexandria this part of the delta is connected with the seaboard by a narrow isthmus, where road, railway, and canal arc all alike protected by embankments against the waters of liakes Abukir and Mariut. This strip of land is one of " the gates of Egypt." Accordingly during the late military insurrection Arabi Pasha caused the approaches from this direction to be blocked from bank to bank by the Kafr-Dicar embank- ments. Instead of forcing these lines the English General Wolseley took them in flank and roar by suddenly embarking his forces and re-landing them at Ismailia on the Suez Canal, whence be advanced into the heart of Egypt by the opposite gate of the AVady-Tumilat. The success of this mana?uvre was complete. The formid- able Kafr-Dwar lines became useless, and Arabi was compelled hastily to withdraw his army to defend the approaches from the Suez Canal, this movement being followed by his crushing defeat at Tell-el-Kebir. Canopis — Abukir. North of the Kafr-Dwar isthmus Rosetta is connected with the peninsula of Alexandria by another belt of narrow land, which is also utilised by a line of rail- way, and which passes by the little dune-encircled town of Edku, or Edko. At the outlet of Lake Abukir the Maadieh, that is to say, the ford or passage, indicates the course of the ancient Canopic branch of the Nile, the most westerly of all the (ieven fluvial ramifications. Cauopin, whence this branch took its name, has left only some doubtful remains on a 8|X)t frequently washed by the surrounding waters. Throughout the whole of the maritime tract adjacent to the Maadieh ford, the sands have swallowed up the sites of ancient structures, which have also served to supply materials for building the neighbouring villages of Mandarah, Abukir, and others. Abukir, situated on the shore of the bay to which it gives its name, probably on the very spot formerly occupied by the town of Zephyrion and the temple of Arsinoe Aphrodite, is a small but busy seaport, far better known, however, for its historic associations than for its local trade. It was in the Abukir waters that in the year 1798 Nelson destroyed the French fleet, thereby cutting off all communi- cation between the conquerors of Egj-pt and the mother country. And although next year Bonaparte was still strong enough to annihilate a Turkish army which ​428 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. had disembarked at this place, the fruits of Nelson's famous victory were soon after reaped by the total failure of the expedition, and the surrender of the French forces to the British after the battle of Alexandria. Alexandria. Alexandria, one of the great trading places of the world, and the second city of Egypt and the African continent in size and population, is also one of the most remarkable for the originality of its form. Its outline, however, has been greatly modified since the period when, some twenty-two centuries ago, the obscure town of llhacolis received from the Macedonian conqueror the world -renowned name which it has borne ever since. At this point of the coast the rocky marine belt running in the direction from south-west to north-east has been broken by two wide breaches. Thus was created an island, under shelter of which the fleets of Phoeni- cians and Greeks formerly rode at anchor. Such was the famous island of Pharos, already mentioned in the Homeric poems. When Dinocrates laid out the city of Alexandria on new lines, he did not dispose the temples and palaces along the continental coast-line, which here pro- jected to a point in the direction of the island standing at a distance of over 1,500 yards from the mainland. But Ptolemy Soter, one of the first sovereigns of the Greek dynasty, bridged over the intervening space by means of the so-called " Seven Stadia Embankment," leaving two open channels of communication between the two harbours that were thus created. The channels have been gradually obliterated and the causeway enlarged, partly no doubt in conse- quence of marine deposits, but much more by the action of the Greek and Italian vessels, which throughout the whole of the Middle Ages were accustomed to dis- charge their ballast of stones in the Alexandrian waters. At present the causeway has been transformed to a strip of land over 1,300 yards broad connecting the site of the ancient city with the north-east part of the former island of Pharos. Here is now situated the " Turkish quarter," a labyrinth of irregular and winding lanes, pierced here and there by a few broad modem thoroughfares. The island thus changed to a peninsula has itself become covered with streets, houses, barracks, depots, palaces, and buildings of all sorts. At its 80ith-western extremity stands the lofty tower of the modern lighthouse, the successor of the famous " Pharos " of Ptolemy Philadelphus, a monument of white marble in the form of a step pyramid, which originally stood at the opposite end of the island, and which was regarded by the ancients as one of the " seven wonders " of the world. Masudi, who saw the ruins of this structure, says that in his time it was still " four hundred cubits high," and according to Mahmud Bey it rose to an elevation of over 400 feet. No vestiges are now visible of the light- house, whose very site has been washed away by the marine waters. Nob has the neighbouring fort which bears its name even been constructed with the materials of a monument whose name alone survives as the common designation of all light- houses throughout the Greek and Latin seafaring communities.
​While the alluvia brought by the marine currents were developing the isthmus of the "Heptastadium," which was further enlarged and elevated by the ruins of a city more than once destroyed and rebuilt, the other parts of the neighbouring
seaboard appear to have undergone the opposite movement of subsidence during the same historic period. Roads, quays, old quarries, tombs excavated in the cliffs along the adjacent coast, as well as the works known by the name of "Cleopatra's Baths," are still constantly encroached upon by the marine waters, even ​480 NOETH-EAST AFEICA. when they are at their lowest level. In spite of the extensive operations carried out by the engineers employed by Mohammed Ali, it was found impossible to drain Lake Mariut, which the English had created in 1801 by opening three or four channels in the intervening strip of coast skirting the west side of Lake Abukir. It required sixty-six days to flood this depression, which in certain places has a present depth of seven feet. It will certainly prove an arduous undertaking to recover for agriculture a district 150,000 acres in extent, lacustrine in its lowest parts, swampy round its margin, where 150 villages are said to have stood before the irruption of the waters which converted Alexandria into an insular city. After the marine floods have been drained off it will be necessary to get rid of the excessive saline particles by drenching all the depressions of the basin with fresh water drawn from the Mahraudieh Canal. At the time of Strabo the Mareotis vineyards yielded one of the choicest wines throughout the whole of the Mediter- ranean seaboard. In this lake a port had been excavated for shipping all the produce brought down by the Nilotic canals from the interior of the country. At present the basin is no longer available for navigation, and the Mahmudieh Canal, instead of discharging into it, skirts its shores between two embankments. The " European City," stretching west and south of the Turkish quarter, occupies very nearly the exact site of the city built by Dinocrates and the Ptole- mies. Its broad straight streets form a regular and compact mass of buildings, merging towards the north-east in some modern suburbs, whose chief thoroughfare is the old Canopic highway leading direct to Rosetta. But within the limits of the modern city no traces are any longer visible of its ancient predecessor. All that still survived at the close of the last century, when the population had dwindled to scarcely more than six thousand souls, has been demolished by the builders of the new quarters that have since sprung up, since the revival of its former prosperity. A few fragments of sculptures have alone been rescued and preserved in public or private collections. The site of the Soma, the magnificent tomb of Alexander, and the position of the famous observatory, associated with the illustrious names of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy the geographer, are subjects of discussion among archajologists. The traces are vainly sought of the no less renowned museum and library, where Euclid and Erasistratus taught, which were frequented by Theocritus, Aratus, Calliraachus, and Lucian, and where had been accumulated as many as seven hundred thousand volumes, all consumed during the wars of Caesar in Egypt. Another equally famous library stood near the Temple of Serapis, beyond the limits of the present city. But it is matter of history how the fanatical Egj-ptian monks, armed with the edict issued by the Emperor Theodosius, proceeded in Alexandria and throughout the whole of Egypt to systematically destroy the temples, overthrow the statues, and commit to the flames all the paptri and treasures of art inherited from the remotest antiquity. Thus perished the library, in which had been carefully collected all the masterpieces of Hellenic science and poetry. ​"At that time," writes the eloquent historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, "the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was filled by Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood. His pious indignation was excited by the honours of Serapis; and the insults which he offered to an ancient chapel of Bacchus convinced the pagans that he meditated a more important and dangerous enterprise. In the tumultuous capital of Egypt the slightest provocation was sufficient to inflame a civil war. The votaries of Serapis rose in arms at the instigation of the philosopher Olympius, who cxhorted them to die in the
defence of the altars of the gods. These pagan fanatics fortified themselves in the temple of Serapis, repelled the besiegers by daring sallies and a resolute defence, and by the inhuman cruelties which they exercised on their Christian prisoners obtained the lust consolation of despair. The efforts of the prudent magistrate were usefully exerted for the establishment of a truce till the answer of Theodosius should determine the fate of Serapis. But when a sentence of destruction against the idols of Alexandria was pronounced, the Christians set up a shout of joy and exultation, whilst the unfortunate pagans retired with hasty and silent steps, and eluded by flight or obscurity the resentment of their enemies. Theophilus ​482 NORTH-EAST AFEICA. proceeded to demolish the temple of Serapis without any other difficulty than those which he found in the weight and solidity of the materials. But these objects proved so insuperable, that he was obliged to leave the foundations, and to content himself to reduce the •difice itself to a heap of rubbish, a part of which was soon afterwards cleared away to make room for a church in honour of the Christian martyrs. The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged and destroyed, and near twenty years afterwards the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice. The colossal statue of Serapis was involved in the ruin of his temple and religion." On the eminence where the Serapeura has left nothing but a shapeless heap of debris, a solitary pillar about 100 feet high still stands like a monument of death amid the surrounding decay. This is the pillar popularly known as " Pompey's Column," although if not actually built, it was certainly restored in honour of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Originally it may probably have formed part of the Serapeura. The capital has been hollowed out, either to receive the pedestal of some statue, or possibly in early Christian times to serve as an aerial chamber for some Egyptian rival of Simon Stylites. Near the beach to the north-west of the city, the proximity of ancient ruins was till lately indicated by an obelisk of pink granite usually known as "Cleopatra's Needle," although it was originally brought from Heliopolis and re-erected in Alexandria during the reign of Augustus, consequently some time subsequent to the death of the Egyptian queen. A few years ago it was again transported, this time to London, where it now adorns the new granite embankment on the left side of the Thames. Another " needle," after lying for some generations half buried in the sands, has been removed to the New World, ambitious to have her share in the spoils of Egypt. Presented by the Egjrptian Government to the municipality of New York, it has been set up in the Central Park of that city. The equestrian statue of Mohammed Ali, standing on the elongated *' Consul's Square " in the heart of the European quarter, is a sorry compensation for all the works of art wantonly destroyed in past times. The city was even again threatened with destruction during its bombardment by the English in the year 1882. On this occasion Fort Cafarelli was demolished by the British guns, and after the attack the work of destruction was continued during the night by incendiaries and plunderers, instigated by Mahommedan fanaticism. Even two years after the catas- trophe some of the best-built and wealthiest quarters still presented a lamentable appearance. Enormous heaps of rough stonework, the remains of ruined houses, lined both sides of the streets, where every gust of wind raised dense clouds of lime-dust. In many places where the work of destruction had been complete, the district presented the aspect rather of a quarry than of an inhabited town. The work of restoration was long delayed by the state of imcertainty prevailing amongst the mercantile classes, and by the ruin of so many owners of house
The Egyptian Institute, the principal scientific establishment in the Nile Valley, has been founded, not in Cairo, but in Alexandria, as if the intention has been to
revive the old traditions of the place as a famous seat of learning. It could never be forgotten that this city was formerly the "brain of mankind," and that here the great school of Alexandria has been established and conducted by such men as Plotinus, Proclus, Porphyrius, and Jamblichus. Thanks to the influence of this university, there was brought about that blending of national myths and that ​484 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. change of ideas between the Eastern and Western worlds, between India, Greece, and Egypt, out of which arose the modern philosophies and religions. Nevertheless, Alexandria has failed to revive its past glories as a centre of the sciences and letters. At present it is essentially an emporium of commerce. More than one-third of all the Egyptian exchanges with the rest of the world are effected in this seaport, which before the opening of the Suez Canal enjoyed a monopoly of the export and import traffic with the West. In 1866, the year of its greatest prosperity, caused by the effects of the American Civil War on the cotton trade of the world, its exports rose to nearly £20,000,000. The north-east harbour, wrongly called the "New Port," although no improvements have been executed here, is very shallow, and frequented only by small coasting craft. During the last century vessels of this class owned by Christians were compelled to cast anchor in this harbour. The south-east, or " Old Port," the Eunostos, or " Haven of Welcome " of the ancients, is alone available for vessels of heavy draught. Unfortunately it is of difficult access, the channels being tortuous and obstructed by reefs, amongst which large ships cannot venture without a pilot. In rough weather even light craft are not free from the risk of running aground. But inside the pier, which forms a south- westerly prolongation of the coast-line from the peninsula of Pharos, shipping of every description finds complete shelter and ample space to ride at anchor. There is altogether a water surface of no less than 1,000 acres, with a normal depth of from 28 to 33 feet. The Mahmudieh Canal, which has its outlet in this port, should and occasionally does serve, jointly with the railway, as a highway of communication between Alex- andria and the Nile Valley. But notwithstanding its foul condition, the water of this canal is utilised chiefly to supply the inhabitants of this seaport, and to irrigate the surrounding plains. At times the canal has been completely exhausted, leaving the boats frequenting it landed high and dry on its muddy banks. The local industries contribute but little to the general trade of the place. The chief articles here manufactured are silk and cotton woven goods, reed and palm matting, essences and perfumery. Ramleh — Meks — MUDAR. Like all other great cities, Alexandria has its complement of suburban resi- dences, environs, and pleasure-grounds. Along the canal and fortifications stretching southwards the country seats enjoy the shade of avenues of palms, clusters of bananas, mimosas, and other tropical plants. Towards the north-east Nicopolisy built by Augustus to commemorate the battle of Actium, has been replaced by the modem town of Ramleh, or "The Sands." During the last century little more than a shifting dune, Ramleh has now become an extensive aggregation of palaces, country residences, villas, hotels, houses in every •form and style of architecture, painted in every hue, and scattered without order along the beach or within view of the sea. Southwards stands the chateau of MekSy at a point of the coast-line where it ​NAUCRATIS. 485 commands at once the shore, Lake Mariut, and the port of Alexandria. From the limestune rocks of this coast have beea obtained the materials for the construction of the great city, the piers, and breakwaters of its harbour. IJeyond Meks nothing occurs except groups of hnta, fishing hamlets, and the remains of ancient cities. In this direction the wilderness begins where the din from the busy seaport is no longer heard. West of the swamps and coast-line of Meks, the ancient city of Tuposiris is still recalled by the modern village of Abmir. Beyond this point, ranges of hills, detached sections of the plateau which stretches southwards in the direction of the Siwnh oasis, follow at intervals along the sea-coast. Here the two headlands known to the ancients by the name of Katabathmus are less than S'30 feet high. The village of Miidar is the only collection of houses on this now almost unin- habited coast, which was formerly strewn with many towns, and which extends westwards as far as Cyrenaica. Mudar is the halting-place for caravans journeying between Alexandria and the Siwah oasis. Naucratis. On the Canopic branch of the Nile stood the ancient city of Xaucratis^ the first Greek settlement in Egypt, originally founded by a colony from Miletus, during the reign of Amasis. Being the only place in the country where the Greeks were permitted to carry on a regular trade with the natives, Xaucratis soon acquired great importance, and for a time became a chief centre of Hellenic culture in the delta. But after the foundation of Alexandria, its fame was eclipsed by the metropolis of the Ptolemies ; it lapsed into obscurity, and for many ages its very site was unknown. Recently, however, Mr. Petrie has discovered some ruins and archax)logical remains at a spot which has been identified by Egj'ptologists as the site of the famous Hellenic emporium. A selection of pottery and other antiquities has already been forwarded to England by the Egypt Exploration Fund, and deposited in the Bronze Room of the British Museum. " The fragments of vases," writes Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole, " range through at least three hundred years, and from the geographical position of the settlement form a most valuable commentary on the vases of Rhodes, especially Kamiros, and on the early art of Ionia. " These specimens, fragmentary though they are, give us most interesting examples of each class. On the oldest the design is paintid on a pale yellow ground. Similar fragments were found by Mr. Wood in the earliest stratum of remains under the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The specimens with figures and animals in crimson and other colours on a pale ground are ver}' similar to early vases of Eamiros and lalysos in Rhodes, of which there is a fine series in the First Vase Room. The subjects are very varied, animals and the lotus-pattern pre- dominating, with occasionally the human figure. These are followed by the successive archaic styles and the work of the best period. "Taken in connexion with the archaic fictile ware, a most interesting find is a large fragment of the shell called Tndavhna squamom^ on which are incised patterns ​486 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. of an Asiatic origin. We know that the shell is not found in the MediteiTancan, but belongs to the fauna of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Specimens of it, similarly ornamented, have been found in Assyria, in Palestine, in Rhodes, and at Canino in Etruria. The discovery of a fragment at Naucratis adds one more link to the chain, and we can hardly resist the conclusion that all these shells were imported by the Phojnicians by the trade-routes of the Red Sea, and afterwards formed objects of barter in their traffic with the Greeks and Etruscans at least as early as COO h.c, or even earlier. " Next in order of interest are the figures in limestone, alabaster, and terra-cotta, some recalling Rhodes or Cyprus, others purely Greek, others again Grajco- Egyptian. Among the most noteworthy is a very beautiful headless figure of a girl, ornamented with flower- wreaths, which reminds us that the weaving of gar- lands was a well-known craft of Naucratis. It is hard to assign this work to a purely Egyptian or Greek origin. The age is probably about 500 B.C., and, but for the modelling of the bust, it might be assigned to the Saite school. On the other hand, in spite of a somewhat Greek treatment, there is nothing Greek which absolutely recalls it. We have here, as in the earlier fictile ware of Naucratis, an intermediate style, such as that already recognised in the vases of Kamiros, but in this case distinctly under Egyptian influence. The stamped handles of diotae are selections from a great series, surely indicating the trade-routes of this Greek emporium, while the Athenian tetradrachms equally witness to the intercourse with Greece. " These discoveries clearly point to commercial relations at a very early age with Miletus and other cities on the west coast of Asia Minor, and with the neighbour- ing islands, and confirm in the most striking manner the accounts we have from Herodotus and other ancient authors, of the establishment of Naucratis under the Saite kings as an emporium and centre of Hellenic trade. It is partly to the liberality of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies that the results at Naucratis are due, the work having been aided by a grant made by them for exca- vations on this site." * Agriculture. Egypt still derives its resources almost exclusively from its agriculture, as in the olden times when lean kine and fat kine were the respective sj'mbolic repre- sentations of the misery or prosperity of the land. The alluvial soil, which has an average depth of about 32 feet, might be rendered extremely productive. But its exhausted strength requires to be restored by manure, and in many places it becomes saturated with saline and nitrous particles, unless regularly washed by copious inundations. On the whole the cultivation of the land is still in a rudimentary condition. The badly harvested wheat crop of the Nile Valley is always largely mixed with clay, and so saturated with salt that it is very difficult to keep. Almost as soon as « Academy," May 30, 1885, No. 682. ​AOBICULTUBB. 487 it is gathered into the granaries it becomes a prey to weevil. The linseed also contains foreign grains in the pro])ortion of one-fifth ; the indigo iH parched and earthy ; the opium adulterated with lettuce-juice ; the cotton fibre mixed with all kinds of impurities. The fields cultivated by the peasantry grow scarcely any large plants except palms, while the products of the Euroj^un fruit-trees arc usually of very indifferent quality. The tree valued beyond all others is still the date-palm, each plant of which yields an average yearly revenue of about sixteen shillings.* The domestic animals are badly cared for, nor have the Egj'ptian stock-breeders any right to boast of their really splendid breeds of asses, especially the large white variety, which appear to have come originally from Yemen. Wheat, barley, durrah, lentils, peas, haricots, lupins, saffron, clover, hemp, the poppy, melons, and divers kinds of vegetables, are cultivated in all the small holdings of the fellahin, while other plants unknown to the ancient Egj'ptians have also been introduced into the annual rotations of crops. Such are indigo, tobacco, maize, rice, the sugar-cane, mulberry, and cotton plant. Progress has shown itself especially by the great change that has taken place in the method of cultivation. To the plants grown in past times there have been addetl many others; artificial irrigation also now supplements that of the periodical inundations, while steam ploughs have in many districts replaced the primitive implements, such as we see figured on the bas-reliefs of the ancient tombs. The pointed sticks by which the surface is scratched rather than ploughed in Dar-F6r, have also every- where disappeared iu Egypt, except in the neighbourhood of Kom-Ombo. In good years the cereal crops amount altogether to from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 quarters, of which about 2,000,000 are wheat, 1,250,000 barley, 1,750,000 maize. Rice and lentils are also exported in considerable quantities. The sugar-cane is cultivated especially in Upper Egypt and in the Fayum, on the large estates of the State and industrial companies. The great capital required for the establish- ment of factories and " smoking obelisks" necessarily prevent small holders from engaging in this industry.f Cotton, however, has been introduce<l on the farms of the peasantry, thanks to the Greek agents, who buy up the raw material and prepare it for the market in their small jinning mills. But no foreign hands are ever found working jointly with the natives. The low price of manual labour must always prevent European agricultural settlements from being established in Egj-pt. Immigrants from the AVest can find a footing only in the large towns. Introduced into Egypt during the government of Mohammed AH, largely through the efforts of the Frenchman Jumel, the cotton plant has gradually acquired, under the name of niako, a certain importance in the export trade of Egypt. When the usual supplies of raw cotton were suddenly arrested by the outbreak of the war of Secession in the United States, all the efforts of the Egj'ptian cultivators were directed towards the production of this valuable commodity, vast quantities of which were then exported from Alexandria.
t 6ug&r plantations in 18S0, 38,000 acre* ; yield, 46,750 tona; ralue of the crop, £935,000. ​488 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. But after a short period of unexampled prosperity, the inevitable reaction set in, accompanied by wholesale failures and commercial ruin. The cultivation of the cotton plant ceased to encroach on the lands under cereal crops ; nevertheless, it has continued to hold the foremost rank for the annual value of its yield. Even the cotton seed, of which no use was formerly made, has acquired very considerable economic importance. The oil extracted from it by powerful machinery is not only utilised by the peasantry in the preparation of their food, but is also employed to adulterate the " olive oil " consumed especially in the south of Europe. The mills of Douvres alone import whole cargoes for the fabrication of these oils, used partly for alimentary purposes, partly in the manufacture of soap. At the beginning of the present century the scientific explorers who accom- panied the French expedition under Bonaparte estimated at about 10,000 square miles the total area of the arable lands in Egypt. Since then the space under cidtivation has been increased by, perhaps, one-fifth, thanks to the development of the network of irrigating canals. But over one-third of the delta still remains to be reclaimed, either by draining the marshy tracts or by effecting improvements in the present irrigation system. Nearly the whole of the coastlands extending from Lake Mariut to Lake Menzaleh are occupied by stagnant, brackish, and even saline waters. Amid the swamps stand bare sandy dunes, and along the edge of the lakes from the Arabian to the Libyan desert there stretches a zone of territory with an average breadth of from 18 to 20 miles, the so-called Berari, whose surface, lying almost flush with the surrounding waters, has been brought under cultivation only at a few isolated points. The present state of this region of the delta is somewhat analogous to that of the Camargue in France, although the remains of cities scattered over the rising grounds are sufficient proof that there was a time when these now abandoned lauds supported a numerous population of agriculturists. In the midst of the sands along the sea-coast the explorer is surprised still to meet at certain points groups of houses surrounded by date-trees, vineyards, and fruit- gardens. Hence it is obviously possible to bring the sands themselves under cultivation, although the process certainly proves very laborious. The sand has to be dug sufficiently deep to enable the roots of the plants to reach the necessary moisture ; at the same time care must be taken not to penetrate too far, which would have the effect of causing the vegetable fibre to rot. The holes have also to be surrounded by hoardings, in order to prevent them from getting choked by the sands of the shifting dunes. The ground so prepared jaelds pistachios, figs, and all kinds of fruits of better quality than those grown in any other part of Egypt. It is noteworthy that the sandy tracts about the mouth of the Guadalquivir are brought under cultivation much in the same way. Hence it has been suggested that immigrants from Egypt may probably have taught the natives of Andalusia to reclaim their so-called " navasos " by this process. • ​mmOATION— INDUSTRIES. 489 Irrigation. For the future of Egyptian agriculture the most important question is that connected with the cfRcicnt irrigation of the land. It is naturally felt by many economists that the Nile waters, which might be so largely utilised in converting desert spaces into arable tracts, should no longer bo allowed to run waste in the Mediterranean. Since the beginning of the present century much has been done to attain this result. The network of canals has been extended in all directions ; the so-called " nili " channels, formerly flooded from the main stream only during the periodical inundations, have been transformed to " sefi " canals, which dispense the fecundating fluid uninterruptedly throughout the whole year ; the primitive and somewhat rude methods of drawing water have been supplemented, if not altogether i*eplaced, by powerful steam-engines, by which the irrigating streams are raised to a higher level.* The works carried out at the Sadieh barrage have unfortunately not proved entirely satisfactory, and some alarm has even been caused by the suggestion of further operations intended to retain the waters above the Silsileh gorge. If executed such an undertaking might, it is feared, utterly ruin the cultivated tracts situated in higher reaches between that point and the neighbourhood of Assuan. The fertilising alluvia now carried down to the plains of the delta might also be arrested above the gorge, while the waters lodged in the derived canals might become gradually more brackish, as has, in fact, already happened in the lateral branches of the liamudi and Ibrahimieh districts, where some formerly productive lands have had to be abandoned in consequence of the increased salinity of the irrigating streams. For the same reason the sugar plantations of Upper Egvpt and the Fayum are no longer cultivated, it being found impossible to get rid of the salt with which they have become superabundantly charged. Industries. In the agricultural districts we frequently see the ancient methods of tillage handed down from the time of the Pharaohs still practised without modification side by side with the modern processes introduced from Western Europe. In the same way, by the side of the industrial methods inherited from the ancient Egyptians and maintained in the spirit of routine resulting from long usage, the native industries also present processes of more recent date introduced by the Arab and Syrian conquerors of the land. Many factories on a large scale have also in still more recent times been established and conducted by European capitalists and engineers. The contrast is thus everywhere presented between an Egypt of the Pharaohs, • Nili Canals n 18A0 8,000 milea. Sea „ 2,000 „ Steam Pump* in 1880 600 Sakiehs in 1880 30,000 bbadufs „ 70,000 ​440 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. changeless in its forms, and a new Egypt brought within the influence of the restless and ever-progressive European world. The chief industry dating from the oldest times is that of pottery, the raw material for which is always supplied in abundance by the mud of the Nile and surrounding wadies. Along the banks of the main stream whole houses are met built entirely of earthenware, which here so often replaces the ordinary brickwork.* The so-called bardaks, or water-jars, produced in large quantities especially at Xeneh in Upper Egypt, are noteworthy both for the variety and elegance of their forms and for their serviceable character. Many are charged with a delicate and durable perfume, while all are made more or less permeable to water. They thus act partly as filters, partly as coolers, keeping the fluid fresh even in the hottest weather by the process of evaporation. The transport of these vessels to Cairo is effected in an ingenious and inexpensive way. Large numbers joined loosely together with their mouths downwards form perfectly buoyant rafts of convenient shape, which by the aid of two or three boatmen are safely floated down the Nile to the head of the delta. The industries introduced by the Arabs are the same as those that have been developed in all other Mussulman lands — saddlery, carpet-weaving, leather-work, copper-work, damascening, gold and silver work. The iron and hardware trades are unimportant, and all utensils and implements of all sorts made of this metal are imported from Europe. Egypt has no iron mines, and in early times the only iron ores known to her were those of meteoric origin. The very expression " celestial substance," employed to designate iron, seems to show that the ancient Egyptians represented the firmament as a metallic vault, some fragments of which occasionally broke away and fell on the surface of the earth, f Trade — Railways and Telegraphs. In the direction of the surrounding deserts, the valley of the Nile is still restricted in its commercial relations to the periodical despatch of caravans, which do not return for some months, and occasionally even for a whole yesLr, from the interior of the continent. But the main stream itself is navigated by steam as well as sailing vessels, while the inhabited districts are traversed in all directions by the locomotive. By steam most of the pilgrims now make the journey to the port of Mecca and back.+ In proportion to its superficial extent, but not to the density of its population, the Nile delta is one of those regions in which the railway system has been most fully developed. Besides this means of communication, over 600 miles of canals, exclusive of the two great branches of the Nile, are open to navigation throughout the year, and during the inundations the navigable arteries are at least three times longer. • • G. Rohlfti, " Drei Morale in der Libyschen "Wuste." t Fr. Lenormant, '• Premitros Civilisations." X Egyptian steamers on the Nile, 40 ; Egyptian steamern on the Red Sea and Mediterranean, 16 ; total of the commercial fleet, 1,500 vessels ; boats and other river craft, 10,300. ​From the head of the delta the network of railways is continued along the right bank of the Nile southwards to Siut. For the purpose of forwarding troope, and other military purposes, the late Khedive had also caused other lines to be constructed still farther south, which at one time the English intended to carry as far as Dongola. All the sugar plantations, both in Upper Egypt and in the delta, have also their special system of narrow-gauge lines connected with the general network. Amongst the projected lines there are several which, when carried out, will place the whole of the Nile Valley in direct railway communica- tion with the ports of the Red Sea. .
The telegraph has preceded the locomotive in every direction, and a few years
ago had already been extended across the desert southwards to the equatorial regions. But the small number of private messages, as well as the low proportion of postal correspondence, less than one letter per head of the population, shows that, apart from the Government officials, little use is made of these means of correspondence except by Europeans and other strangers domiciled in Egypt.
Speaking generally, the trade of Egypt is relatively more developed than that of several European countries. Calculated by the number of inhabitants, it amounts to nearly half the commerce of France, while even exceeding it in the relative movement of the shipping in the ports of the Mediterranean and Red Sea. Even before taking possession of the country, England held the first position in this respect, about forty-five per cent. of the gross tonnage of all vessels frequenting ​442 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. the Egyptian ports flying the British flag. The next in importance are Austria and France, both ranking before Egypt herself, whose flag covers little more than nine per cent, of local traffic. Public Instructtox. Of late years education has received a considerable impulse, although most of the Mussulman schools are still mere kuttdbs attached to the mosques, and in which instruction is limited to reading and writing and the recitation of passages from the Koran. Besides the primary establishments there are several high schools, in which, as in the University of El-Azhar, courses of mathematics and jurispru- dence are added to the general curriculum. Since the time of Mohammed Ali elementary schools on the European model were founded in some of the large towns, but most of these establishments have been closed and replaced by institutions opened or supported by the various European colonics and religious communities. The Egyptian Govermnent has also endeavoured to keep pace with the European States by founding higher and special schools for secondary instruction. Moreover, there are at Cairo a medical college, a polytechnic establishment, and other schools specially devoted to the teaching of law, the mechanical arts, languages, mensuration, and similar branches of practical knowledge. Nevertheless, most young men anxious to prosecute their studies in the higher departments of science, generally prefer to finish their course in the European colleges. Of modern European languages French is the most widely diffused in Egypt ; but, under the new administration, the budget of public instruction has undergone retrenchment, especially at the cost of the French teachers and professors. This step would seem to have been adopted for the purpose of sooner or later excluding the French language altogether from the civil and military educational establish- ments of the country. Government. The government of Egypt still practically remains what it has ever been — almost a pure despotism. According to the accepted political tradition, the only right enjoyed by the mass of the people is that of paying the imposts and obeying the law ; but, by a singular complication, caused by the action of a thousand foreign intrigues and rivalries, the Egyptians themselves scarcely know whom to regard as their true masters. Hence they have nothing to do except resign themselves to a situation from which there is no escape, repeating the wliile the old Arab sa}nng, " The people are like the grain of sesame, which is ground so long as it yields oil." * Ofiicially, the ruler of Egypt is a prince of the family of Mohammed Ali, bearing the title of Khedive, which implies a rank somewhat intermediate between
those of viceroy and sovereign. The legal aovereigii is still the Sultan of Constan- tinople, in whose nonie the im|x>8t8 urc levied, and whose monogram is stamped^ on the native currency. The pudishaw continues to reoeiiw a yearly tribute of £700,000, just as if the present intervention of Great Britain had not iiffiuml the last vestif^o of his authority. lie also derives an income of from £280,000 to £320,000 from the monopoly secured to the import trade of Turkish tobacco. Nevertheless, at least three-fourths of the tobacco consumed in the countrj' ii introduced by an organised system of smuggling, especially across the frontier of the desert towunls Palestine. Till recently the official language was Turkish, not Arabic, which is neverthe- less the mother tongue of nearly all the native inhabitants of Egypt. But the political power has passed from the hands of the Sultun, and is now practically exercised by the Christian states of Europe. A few years ago the Condominium was jointly exercised by England and France. Their agents controlled the finances, which they disposed of at their pleasure, thereby substituting their own authority for that of the Khedive. The European nations were also more powerful in Egypt than the local Government, in virtue of the consular tribunals, which, in the terms of the " Capitulations," claimed exclusive jurisfliction in all matters of dispute in which both Europeans and natives were concerned. But the Condominium has lapsed, and Great Britain alone exercises the control ever since the military revolt under Arabi Pasha — a revolt which, although made to the war-cry of " Egypt for the Egyptians," would, if successful, have resulted in handing over the country to new Mameluks of native origin no less oppressive and extortionate than the former Mameluks of foreign race — Arabs, Circassians, Annenians, Sudanese, and others. The ministers appointed by England decide the most important questions in accordance with her decrees, without even taking the trouble to consult the official sovereign. His function seems to be simply to attach his signature to all state documents. In return for this service he retains his nominal rank and personal revenues, but he no longer possesses even the privilege of putting an end by abdica- tion to his present somewhat ignoble posit ion. Finance — Army and Navy. The political situation of Egypt is all the more strained and bewildering that the English, while exercising sovereign rights, omit no opportunity of asserting their set purpose to quit the land at no distant date, and restore to the Eg}'ptians the autonomy they had so long forfeited to the stranger. At the same time their deeds themselves speak another language. British subjects, even Anglo-Hindus, Christians and Mussulmans alike, flock in hundrecls to the Nile Valley, where they are installed in the places of emolument withdrawn from the native and non-British foreign officials. The public revenues formerly set apart to meet the claims of money-lenders at high interest are now applied in the first instance to pay the salaries of these new functionaries. They are also to some extent made available to ​444 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. defray the costs of the British military occupation, although to meet these heavy charges it has also been found necessary to draw upon the revenues of the home country. The conveyance of the Queen's troops to Sudan, including provisions and supplies of all sorts, has been estimated to amount to at least £1,000 per head. In spite of the official budgets, which at the beginning of each financial year show a balance in favour of the treasury, the Government has for some time been hopelessly drifting to a state of absolute bankruptcy. In fact, payments would have been already suspended but for the loan of £8,000,000 sanctioned by the British Parliament and guaranteed by the European powers in the year 1885. The lowest rate of interest on the advance made by foreign bankers and capitalists since 1870 is 12 1 per cent. ; but numerous debts have been contracted at even double that heavy rate of interest.* Thus it has come to pass that within the short space of ten years the Egyptian people, who still supposed their masters to be the wealthiest in the world, found themselves saddled with a debt of nearly £120,000,000, or in the pro- portion of over £80 per family. The Egyptian army, composed of about 3,000 men, or scarcely more than one- fifth of its former strength, has been reduced to the position of a mere police force, and the question of its complete suppression has even been discussed. Meanwhile the conscription, without being officially abolished, has fallen into abeyance. All the military service is now being performed by the British troops, which towards the end of the year 1884 numbered over 13,500 men, and which in the spring of the next year had been raised to a total effective strength of nearly 25,000 for the whole of Egypt and the Sudan. Special constables have even been introduced from England, while the local constabulary is completely under the control of the British authorities. The fleet comprises officially about a dozen steamers, manned by perhaps 2,000 hands. Future Prospects. Certainly the Egyptian people would not be justified in placing too much reliance on the promises held out to it of political independence. Although, like most other modern nations, it has also its constitution drawn up in a charter of forty-nine articles, it elects no representatives, nor is it consulted in any way on political matters. The Assembly of Delegates, which was annually convoked under the government of Ismail in order to take into consideration the financial situation of the current year, has ceased to meet as a deliberative body. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the national sentiment is being gradually but steadily developed in Egypt, although the country has forcibly become an integral part of the European world, and although the European powers are continually interfering more and more in its internal affairs. At the same time these very powers will have henceforth to reckon not only with the European element settled in the Nile • MacCoan, " Egypt na it is." ​RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION— ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. 446 Valley, but also with the native population itaelf, which is bcinj^ brought daily more under the influence of modern ideas. The time is probably approaching when the or}' of " Egypt for the Egj'ptians," already raised under unhappy auspices, will again be heard in a way to command the respect and consideration of European statesmen. Religious Organisation. For the Eg}'ptian Muhommedan world the chief dignitary of the Mussulman religion is still the Sheikh-el- Islam of Constantinople. Hence, in raodifjing the laws of the country without first obtaining the sanction of this spiritual head of the faithful, the British Government has shown a complete disregard and indifference to the most hallowed traditions of the land. In Egypt itself the chief religious authority is centred in the corporate body of doctors attached to the University of El-Azbar in Cairo. The " Jacobite " or National Church of the Coptic Christians is governed by the Patriarch of Alexandria, who, notwithstanding his official title, also resides permanently in Cairo. Like the patriarchs of the orthodox Greek Church, he is chosen not from the active clergy, but from amongst those leading a monastic life. The priests themselves never take orders until they are married, but the principle of celibacy is so far recognised that once become widowers they cannot contract a second marriage. For analogous reasons, marriage with the widows of priests, henceforth vowed to the Church, are also forbidden to all the faithful. The small section of the Coptic Christians who recognise the spiritual headship of the Roman pontiff have no national patriarch, but are governed by a bishop always conse- crated in Rome. Administrative Divisions. For administrative purposes Egj'pt is divided into mudirieh, or provinces, governed by a miuiir, or prefect, who takes the title of mohafez in those provinces which consist only of a large city and its suburban district. The mudirieh are in their turn divided into niarkaz or kism, administered by officials bearing the title of iiazir, and these again into districts of the third rank known by diverse names, corresponding to our circuits, cantons, parishes, and the like The mudirs, or chief governors, administer their respective provinces in the com- bined capacity of civil prefects, receivers of the revenues, and military commanders. All the other provincial authorities are placed under the direct jurisdiction of these mudirs, who, however, discharge most of their multifarious functions by means of a reki/, or lieutenant, and with the aid of the notaries who form their dicaH or private council. The karas and the bodies of police placed at their disposal are charged with the maintenance of order amongst the fcllahin or peasantry of the rural districts. This duty is usually attended by little difficulty, thanks to the naturally peaceful disposition of the inhabitants of Egypt, always ready to yield ​448 KORTH-EAST AFEICA. obedience to the orders of the authorities. Nevertheless the recent years of civil war and foreign invasion have given rise to many local disturbances. Bands of marauders have made their appearance in the plains of the delta ; and for the first time for many generations the unwonted spectacle has been witnessed of villages attacked and plundered by brigands. The number of paid functionaries is estimated at no less than 21,000, amongst whom as many as 1,280 were Europeans of all nations in the year 1882. But besides these there are numerous rural dignitaries, whose salaries are drawn directly from the products of the imposts. The large landed proprietors are the true masters of the villages standing on their estates. Thus it may happen that a single person may be at once the omdeh of a whole district ; that is to say, the oflBcial whose will is absolute in all matters connected with the levying of taxes, and with the corv^ or forced labour service required for the maintenance of the irrigation works. In the same way in the teftish belonging to the domains of the Khedive and the mem- bers of his family, for whom are now substituted the employes of the European bankers, the administration of affairs is in the hands of the representatives of the territorial lord. In other villages the functions of mayor are exercised by the sheikh-el-beled, or " district chiefs," each of whom has jurisdiction over a group of families. Some villages have but one, others several, and even as many as twenty of these rural headmen. In theory they are elected by the community ; but as a rule their authority is transmitted from father to eldest son, or else within the same family circle by seniority from father to brother, or from father to son or nephew. In certain remote districts, and especially in the Berari of the delta, the sheikh-el- beled are absolute masters — so many " petty kings," against whose decisions there is no appeal.
* ↑ Natron of the Terranch lakes, according to Berthollet: —   Chloride of sodium 52 per cent. Sand 3 per cent. Carbonate of soda 52 " Carbonate of lime 0-9 " Sulphate of soda 11 " Oxide of iron 0-2 "
* ↑ Average wages of the peasant labourer: fourpence to sevenpence, according to the season.
* ↑ Latitude of Assuan, 24° 5' 23".
* ↑ Hoskins' "Visit to the Great Oasis of the Libyan Desert."
* ↑ Flinders Petrie, "The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh.”
* ↑ Flinders Petrie, Times, April 24, 1884.