The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-04-15
The Egypt of
1922, A. D.

| Ills l..Ie ~ kIilS, 44e '''>' 'ti-A'> 49,
first king Of Egypt since the Ptole-
maic regime says a bulletin is
sued from the Washington. D. c.,
/ headquarters Of the National Geo
graphic Society.
The old Egypt Of nillenniums
ago is in many ways more familiar
ito the world at large than the
/ Egypt OF today" continues the
! bulletin. pictures Of its great
+! ryra rnids: and SphinXes. its column
ed temples and rock-hewn tonlhs
fill histories and encyclopedias; and
! inevitably the readers attention IS
centered. not on the problems OF
to-day. bur rather on the evidences
! of dead civilization.
Monuments Background for Hard
life
But aside from the fact that
mummy hunting was for many
years one Of the leading private
industries Of the country; and that
now conyictS. instead of building
roads, eXcavate tombs and temples
for the government. the old mon
uments are merely 4 background
for life hard enough TO center
f! local thoughts mostly on daily
! bread winning.
'.SuperGcialN Egypt seems a
! large county. The eye sees its col
or spread over 4 considerable part
OF the northeastern quarter Of the
map Of Africa, and statistics credit
il with an area Of more than $780,
/ 600 square miles. But the real
(! Egypt-the habitable parts like
4 cord with q frayed end: the mar
row valley and flaring delta OF the
Nile. Except q few scattered cases.
most of the rest OF the nominal
! Egypt is parched resert sand,
gravel and rocky hills. OF its more
than a third OF a million square
mile OF territory, about 10000 are
estimated TO be capable Of cult
vation, and n considerable part OF
! this has not yet been actually till
f! ed
L
In comparing the Egypt Of to-
day with that OF the dawn OF his
tory one is divided between wonder
al the marked changes on the sur
lace and the lack OF changes in
some fundamentals. The Egyptian
OF today does not speak his old
tongue, but instead. Arabic; his
old gods are forgotten, and he has
with the exception OF Snlali
minority-adopted the religion OF
Mohammed. But in spite OF num-
erous invaSions, the blood OF the
.rea: majority OF the population
has been altered hardly at ALL
Practically the fellaheen, or peas
ants, might have stepped from the
! ancient carvings: they are but a
fresh generation Of the men who
dragged the great blocks OF stone
into place 10 build the artificial
mountains Of the Pharaohs, or who
dropped seeds into the mud OF the
receding Nile thousands OF years
ago. even as they are dropped to-
day.
''Egypt'S resources are ain1oss
wholly agricultural, and IL the
agricultural schme the millions OF
fellaheen are the ultimate units.
They work long hours scratching
the soil with crude implements. OF
tediously raising water in skin
buckets attached 10 piyoted poles
that the thin stream may save their
plants from parching. Taxes are
heavy, and it is the lowly fellaheen
! who keep the treasury supplied.
Living conditions are very poor:
mud huts house most of Egypt S
thirteen millions. In the fields they
wear little more than q loin cloth,
! and the Younger children of the
villages go naked. When the fel-
lah is dressed up he,wears a rough
shirt and loose trousers.
One of Earliest Governments
There is little cause TO marvel
at Egypt's checkered history. A
| simple reason is that she began
early. Here is one Of the earliest
places i'm which man lived an or
dered life and left records OF his
activities. Some anthropologists.
in fact. look upon central Africa as
the place OF origin of men. and up
on Egypr rs one OF the first way
stations in his diffusion over the
other continents.
After the long reign Of the
Pharaols Egypt had its Grecian
and Roman regimes which brought
but few changes Then in Gal a.
d. came the invasion Of the Sara
Gems. from which time began
Esypt'S Mohammedan history. For
: 2 time the country WAS Il province
Of he Arabian CaliphS; later IL MAS
independent. though still Moham-
medan. under the MamelukeS; and
finally. in 1916. it became 4 pro-
vince OF Turkey, which controlled ii
! first through 4 governor and later
through 4 sort Of hereditary vice
roy or khedive
khcdive-Snltan-k King.
Ter the third time Europe took
:, hand in the affairs OF Egypt in
l79S when Napoleon won his battle
of the Pyramids. The British
drove the French out in 1901 and
turned the country back TO Turkey.
In 1862 came the building OF the
has given Europe an eVer-SrowinS