Egypt and the Sudân; handbook for travellers[Electronic Edition]

]> Egypt and the Sudân; handbook for travellers[Electronic Edition] Baedeker, Karl Creation of machine-readable version: TechBooks Creation of digital images: Electronic Resources Center, Fondren Library, Rice University Conversion to TEI.2-conformant markup: TechBooks Parsing and proofing: Electronic Resources Center, Fondren Library, Rice University Distributor: Rice University Funding for the creation of this electronic text provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Computer and Information Technology Institute (CITI), Rice University ca. 2.40 Megabytes Rice University Houston, Tx 2005 TIMEA, BaeEg6

Publicly available via the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA) through the following Creative Commons attribution license: "You are free: to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work; to make derivative works; to make commercial use of the work. Under the following conditions: By Attribution. You must give the original author credit. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Your fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above."

This text is part of the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA), funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Computer and Information Technology Institute (CITI), Rice University.

Illustrations have been included from the print version. Egypt and the Sudân; handbook for travellers Karl Baedeker

6th remodelled ed.

clxxxiv, 439, [1] p. front., illus., maps (part fold.) plans (part fold.) diagrs. 17 cm. Karl Baedeker London 1908 From the collection of Dr. Paula Sanders, Rice University.

This electronic text is part of the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA), developed by Rice University.

The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 4 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.

All electronic texts have been spell-checked and verified against printed text.

Quotation marks have been retained.

Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved. No corrections or normalizations have been made, except that hyphenated, non-compound words that appear at the end of lines have been closed up to facilitate searching and retrieval.

Footnotes have been moved to the end of the paragraph in which they are referenced.

Images exist as archived TIFF images, one or more JPEG versions for general use, and thumbnail GIFs.

Library of Congress Subject Headings 1908 English Egypt -- Guidebooks Sudan -- Guidebooks April 2007 LMS ed. Spellchecked, corrected tagging errors, verified and enhanced metadata. Auto-encoded place names against NIMA names database.

EGYPT

Illustration of title-page EGYPT AND THE SUDÂN HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS BY KARL BAEDEKER WITH 24 MAPS, 76 PLANS, AND 57 VIGNETTES SIXTH REMODELLED EDITION LEIPZIG: KARL BAEDEKER, PUBLISHER LONDON: DULAU AND CO., 37 SOHO SQUARE, W. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 153-157 FIFTH AVENUE ‘Go, little book, God send thee good passage, And specially let this be thy prayere Unto them all that thee will read or hear, Where thou art wrong, after their help to call. Thee to correct in any part or all.’

MONEY TABLE.

(Comp. p. xv and Tables at end of the book.)

Approximate Equivalents. ARABIC NAME. Egyptian Money British Money French Money American Money Piastres Milliémes Shillings Pence Francs Centimes Dollars Cents Gold Coins. Ginê Maṣri (Egypt, pound, £ E) 100 1000 20 6 25 90 5 — Nuṣṣeh Ginê (half £ E) 50 500 10 3 12 95 2 50 Silver Coins. Riyâl Maṣri 20 200 4 1 5 18 1 — Nuṣṣeh Riyâl 10 100 2 ½ 2 59 — 50 Rub'a Riyâl 5 50 1 ¼ 1 30 — 25 Kirshein (double piastre) 2 20 — 5 — 52 — 10 Ḳirsh (great piastre, Ḳirsh ṣâgh) 1 10 — 2 ½ — 26 — 5 Nickel Coins. ‘Ashrîn (‘Ashrîn faḍḍa) or Nuṣṣeh Ḳirsh (small piastre; also called Kirsh tarifeh, ‘piastre tarifée’)† ½ 5 — 1 — 13 — 2 2 Millièmes 2/10 2 — ½ — 5 — 1 1 Millième (milyêm) 1/10 1 — ¼ — 2 ½ — ½ † The great piastre is generally indicated by P. E. (‘piastre égyptienne’), sometimes also (especially in Alexandria) by P. T. (‘piastre tarifée’). The contraction ‘pias.’ is used uniformly throughout the Handbook for the great piastre (ḳirsh). Travellers should be on their guard against the tendency of shopkeepers and others to substitute the ‘small’ for the ‘great’ piastre.

In COPPER there are also pieces of ½ and ¼ millième (called also 2 Para and 1 Para pieces, from the old system).

The Pound Sterling (Ginê inglîsi) is worth 97 piastres 5 millièmes; the French Twenty Franc Piece (Bintu, derived from Napoleon Bonaparte) 77 pias. 2 mill.; the Turkish Pound (Mejidîyeh) 87 ¾ piastres. A ‘purse’ is equivalent to 500 piastres or about 103s.

Weights and Measures.

1 Dirhem = 3.12 grammes = 48.15 ‘grains troy; 1 Wiḳiyeh (12 dirhem) = 37.44 grammes = 1.32 oz. avoirdupois; 1 Roṭl (12 wiḳiyeh) = 449.28 grammes = 15.85 oz. (just under 1 lb.); 1 Oḳḳa (400 dirhem) = 1.248 kilogrammes = 2.7513 lbs. (about 2 lbs. 12 oz.); 1 Ḳanṭar = 100 Roṭl = 36 Oḳḳa = 44.928 kilogrammes = 99.0498 lbs. (about 99 lbs. ⅘ oz.).

1 Rubʽa = 8.25 litres = 14 ½ pints; 1 Weibeh = 33 litres = 7 gals. 1 qt.; 1 Ardebb = 6 weibeh = 198 litres = 43 gals. 2 qts.

1 Dirâʽ beledi = 0.58 mētre = 22.835 inches; 1 Ḳaṣabeh = 3.55 mētres = 11 ft. 7.766 inches = 3.884 yds.; 1 Square Ḳaṣabeh = 12.69 square metres = about 15 sq. yds.; 1 Feddân = 4200 square mētres = about 5023 sq. yds. = 1 1/20 acre.

Official Time.

East European Time (i.e. that of 30° E. long.) has been officially adopted in Egypt and the Sudân. Egyptian time is thus 1 hr. in advance of Central Europe time (Italy, Switzerland, Germany) and 2 hrs. in advance of Greenwich time.

PREFACE.

Ever since the attention of the civilized world was redirected to Egypt at the beginning of the 19th century, the scientific investigation of its innumerable monuments has pointed with ever-growing certainty to the valley of the Nile as the cradle of history and of human culture. At the same time Egypt, like other Eastern countries, possesses high natural attractions, in the peculiar charms of its Oriental climate, the singularly clear atmosphere, the wonderful colouring and effects of light and shade, the exuberant fertility of the cultivated districts contrasted with the solemn, awe-inspiring desert, and the manners, customs, and appearance of a most interesting and most diversified population.

The HANDBOOK TO EGYPT, of which the present is the sixth edition, is founded on the combined work of several Egyptologists and other Oriental scholars. Among the former must be specially mentioned Professor Georg Steindorff, of Leipzig University, who has edited the German Handbook since the year 1897, and has also supervised the preparation of the English editions. The Editor hopes, that by confining himself to essential points and by carefully arranging his material, he has succeeded, within small compass, in supplying the traveller with the necessary information regarding the country and the people he is about to visit, in protecting him against extortion, and in rendering him, as far as the nature of the case permits, independent of outside assistance. An attempt has been made to indicate clearly the most important among the bewildering multiplicity of the monuments of antiquity and the descriptions of these have been so arranged that, assuming the traveller to have previously read at his leisure our account of the origin, history, and significance of a particular temple, or tomb, etc., he will find adequate guidance on the spot in that portion of our description that is printed in larger type, while those who have time and inclination for a more thorough examination, will find additional particulars in small type. A first visit to the Temple of Dendera, for example, may in this manner be accomplished in about an hour, which is approximately the time allowed to passengers by mail-steamer.

The contents of the Handbook are divided into THREE SECTIONS (I. Introductory Matter, Approaches; II. Lower Egypt; III. Upper Egypt, Lower Nubia, Upper Nubia and the Sudân), each of which may be separately removed from the volume by cutting the gauze backing visible on opening the book at the requisite pages. Linen covers for these sections may be obtained through any bookseller.

The MAPS and PLANS have been the object of the Editor's special care, and all have been carefully revised by Prof. Steindorff, with the aid of the most recent publications. To the present edition have been added a new map of the environs of Assuân, plans of Khartûm and Omdurmân, and many new ground-plans. The spelling of the names on the maps of the Fayûm and of the Nile from Cairo to Assuân (3 sheets) follows the official French system of transliteration adopted in the ‘Recensement général de l'Egypte du 1 juin 1897’, published in 1898. In all the maps and plans the North is at the top of the page, except where there is an express indication to the contrary.

Ancient Egyptian names are transliterated on the system indicated at p. cviii.

HOTELS, etc., see p. xvii. Hotels which cannot be accurately characterized without exposing the Editor to the risk of legal proceedings are left unmentioned.

To hotel - proprietors, tradesmen, and others the Editor begs to intimate that a character for fair dealing and courtesy towards travellers forms the sole passport to his commendation, and that advertisements of every kind are strictly excluded from his Handbooks. Hotel-keepers are also warned against persons representing themselves as agents for Baedeker's Handbooks.

CONTENTS.

Page I. Preliminary Information xiii (1). Plan of Tour. Season. Expenses. Money. Equipment. Travelling Companions xiii (2). Coinage. Passports. Custom House xv (3). Conveyances: Steamers. Railways. Narrow Gauge Railways. Electric Tramways. Cabs. Donkeys xvi (4). Hotels xvii (5). Post and Telegraph Offices xviii (6). Public Safety. Consulates. Courts of Justice xix (7). Egypt as a Health Resort. Medical Hints xx (8). Intercourse with Orientals. Dragomans xxiii (9). Arabian Cafés. Story Tellers, Musicians, Singers. Baths xxv II. Geographical and Political Notes xxvii a. Area and Subdivisions of Egypt (by Captain H. G. Lyons) xxvii b. Origin and Present Condition of the Egyptians (by Dr. G. Schweinfurth) xxix (1). The Fellahin xxxii (2). Copts xxxii (3). Beduins xxxviii (4). Arabian Dwellers in Towns xl (5). Nubians xli (6). Sudân Negroes xlii (7). Turks xliii (8). Levantines, Syrians, etc xlii (9). Armenians and Jews xliii (10). Europeans xliii c. The Nile (by Captain H. G. Lyons) xlv d. Geology of Egypt and Notice of the Desert xlix e. Agriculture and Vegetation lii (1). Capabilities of the Soil lii (2). Irrigation liii (3). Agricultural Seasons (Winter, Summer, and Autumn Crops). Agricultural Implements liv (4). Farm Produce of Egypt lv (5). Trees and Plantations lvi f. Climate of Egypt (by Captain H. G. Lyons) lviii III. Doctrines of El-Islâm (by Prof. Socin) lx Remarks on Mohammedan Customs lxx Religious and Popular Festivals of the Mohammedans lxxiii

IV. Outline of the History of Egypt lxxvi I. Ancient History (by Prof. G. Steindorff) lxxvi a. From the Earliest Times to the Macedonian Conquest in 332 B.C lxxvi 1. Prehistoric Period lxxvi 2. Earliest Period of the Kings lxxvii 3. Ancient Empire lxxvii 4. Middle Empire lxxviii 5. New Empire lxxix 6. Period of Foreign Domination lxxxii 7. Late-Egyptian Period lxxxiii b. Græco-Roman Period (332 B.C.-640 A.D.) lxxxv 1. Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Period lxxxv 2. Roman Period lxxxviii 3. Byzantine Period xc II. The Middle Ages xci Egypt as a Province of the Empire of the Caliphs xci Egypt under Independent Rulers xcii III. Modern History xcvi Turkish Domination after 1517 xcvi The French Occupation xcvii Mohammed Ali and his Successors xcvii V. Hieroglyphics (by Prof. G. Steindorff) cii VI. Frequently Recurring Names of Egyptian Kings cix VII. Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (by Prof. G. Steindorff) cxvi List of the chief Egyptian Deities and Sacred Animals cxxiii Representations of the most important Deities cxxvii VIII. Historical Notice of Egyptian Art (by Prof. G. Steindorff) cxxxi I. Architecture cxxxi II. Sculpture and Painting cxliv IX. Buildings of the Mohammedans (by Franz-Pasha) cl Mosques cliii Tombs clv Dwelling Houses clvi X. The Arabic Language (by Prof. H. Stumme) clx XI. Works on Egypt clxxxi Route 1. Approaches to Egypt (Steamship Lines) 1 Lower Egypt. 2. Alexandria 7 3. From Alexandria to Cairo 27 4. Cairo 30 5. Environs of Cairo 100 6. The Pyramids of Gîzeh 119 7. The Site of Ancient Memphis and the Necropolis of Saḳḳâra 138 8. Baths of Ḥelwân 163 9. From Cairo to Manṣûra viâ Zaḳâzîḳ 166 10. From Ṭanṭa to Damietta viâ Manṣûra 169 11. From Port Sa‘îd to Cairo or Suez viâ Ismâ‘îlîya 172

12. The Suez Canal from Port Sa‘îd to Suez 177 13. Suez and its Environs 183 14. The Fayûm 186 Upper Egypt. Preliminary Information 196 15. From Cairo to Luxor by Railway 201 16. From Cairo to Assiûṭ by the Nile 204 17. From Assiûṭ to Girga and Beliana (Abydos) by the Nile 227 18. Abydos 231 19. From Beliâna to Ḳena (Dendera) by the Nile 238 20. Dendera 240 21. From Ḳena to Luxor (Thebes) by the Nile 246 22. Luxor and its Environs: the Site of Ancient Thebes 248 23. From Luxor to Assuan by Railway 327 24. From Luxor to Edfu by the Nile 329 25. Edfu 335 26. From Edfu to Assuân by the Nile 340 27. Assuân and its Environs. Philæ and the Nile Dam 348, 356 28. Routes through the Eastern Desert 367 Lower Nubia. Preliminary Information 373 29. From Shellâl (Philæ) to Kalâbsheh 377 30. From Kalâbsheh to Korosko 383 31. From Korosko to Abu Simbel 389 32. The Rock Temples of Abu Simbel 394 33. From Abu Simbel to Ḥalfa 400 Upper Nubia and the Sudân. Political Summary. Climate. Preliminary Information 405 34. From Ḥalfa to Kharṭûm 407 35. Kharṭûm and Omdurmân 411 Longer Excursions to the Southern Sudân 417 Index 421

Maps.

1. Map of the Delta (1: 1,000,000), before the Title Page Page 2. General Map of Egypt (1: 10,000,000) xxvii 3. Map of the Environs of Alexandria (1: 150,000) 22 4. Special Map of the Environs of Cairo (1: 125,000), Sheet I 100 5. Map of the Tombs of the Caliphs (1: 12,300) 107

6. Map of the Environs of Cairo (1: 250,000) 115 7. Special Map of the Environs of Cairo (1: 125,000), Sheet II 119 8. Map of the Pyramids of Gîzeh (1: 13,560) 121 9. Map of the Ruins of Memphis (1: 20,000) 141 10. The Pyramids and Tombs of Saḳḳâra and Abuṣîr (1: 25,000) 142 11. Map of the Suez Canal (1: 500,000) 181 12. Map of the Gulf of Suez (1: 150,000), with the Springs of Moses (1: 50,000) 183 13. Map of the Fayûm (1: 500,000) 186 14. Map of the Nile from Cairo to Beniḥasan (1: 500,000) 195 15. Map of the Nile from Beniḥasan to (Beliâna) Nag‘ Ḥamûdi (1: 500,000) 213 16. Map of Abydos (1: 14,500) 232 17. Map of the Nile from Nag‘ Ḥamâdi to Assuân (1: 500,000) 238 18. Survey Map of Thebes (1: 45,500) 250 19. Map of the Necropolis of Thebes (1: 19,000), with the Tombs of the Kings at Bîbân el-Mulûk (1: 10,000) 277 20. Sketch Map of the Tombs of Sheikh ‘Abd el-Ḳurna 305 21. Map of the Environs of Assuân (1: 100,000) 348 22. Map of the Island of Philae (1: 3030) 358 23. Map of the Nile from Assuân to the Second Cataract (1:1,000,000) 373 24. Map of the Environs of Kharṭûm and Omdurmân (1: 500,000) 411

Plans.

1. Section of the Step Pyramid of Saḳḳâra cxlii 2. Arabian Dwelling House: Ground Floor clvii 3. Arabian Dwelling House: First Floor clviii 4. Plan of Alexandria (1: 18,000) 7 5. Plan of Ancient Alexandria, 100 B.C. - 100 A.D. (1: 58,800) 10 6. Plan of Ancient Alexandria in the 3rd-5th cent. after Christ (1: 58,800) 11 7. Catacombs of Kôm esh-Shuḳâfa 16 8. Plan of Ramleh (1: 70,000) 22 9. Plan of Cairo (1: 12,300) 31 10. Mosque of El-Ashar (Arabian University; 1: 1250) 52 11. Mosque of El-Muaiyad (1: 1500) 56 12. Arabian Museum at Cairo 59 13. Mosque of Sultan Ḥasan 62 14. Mosque of Mohammed Ali 65 15. Mosque of Ibn Ṭulûn 67 16. Bâb el-Futûḥ and Bâb en-Naṣr 72

17. Egyptian Museum at Cairo 77 18. Plan of Old Cairo (1: 7150) 102 19. Church of Abu Sergeh, at Old Cairo (1: 483) 103 20. Tomb Mosque of Sultan Barḳûḳ 108 21. Tomb Mosque of Ḳâït Bey 109 22. The Great Pyramid of Gîzeh 124 23. The Second Pyramid of Gîzeh 129 24. The Third Pyramid of Gîzeh 130 25. Granite Temple, adjoining the Great Sphinx 133 26. Serapeum at Saḳḳâra 144 27. Maṣṭaba of Ti 146 28. Maṣṭaba of Mereruka 156 29. Maṣṭaba of Ke-gem-ni 158 30. Maṣṭaba of Plathotep 160 31. Plans of Port Sa‘îd (1: 50,000 and 1: 25,000) 172 32. Plan of Suez (1: 43,100) 183 33. Tomb of Amenophis IV 222 34. Temple of Sethos I. at Abydos (1: 1476) 233 35. Temple of Hathor at Dendera (1: 685) 241 36, 37, 38. Crypts of the Temple at Dendera (1: 685) 244, 245 39. Plan of Luxor (1: 10,000) 248 40. Temple of Luxor (1: 1967) 254 41. Sketch Plan of Karnak (1: 3968) 258 42. Temple of Ammon at Karnak (1: 1364) 259 43. Temple of Khons at Karnak 259 44. Temple of Sethos I. at Ḳurna 278 45. Tomb of Ramses IV 281 46. Tomb of Ramses IX 283 47. Tomb of Merenptah 283 48. Tomb of Ramses VI 284 49. Tomb of Ramses III 285 50. Tomb of Sethos I 288 51. Tomb of Thutmosis III 292 52. Tomb of Amenophis II 293 53. Tomb of Thutmosis I 293 54. Temple of Deir el-Baḥri 295 55. The Ramesseum (1: 1200) 301 56. Tomb of Nakht 307 57. Tomb of Rekhmerē 307 58. Tomb of Sennofer 308 59. Tomb of Amenemheb 309 60. Temple of Deir el-Medîneh 312 61. Tomb of Huyē 313 62. Tomb of Queen Titi 315 63. Tomb of Prince Amen-her-khopshef 316 64. Tomb of Nefret-erē Mi-en-Mut 316

65. Temple of Medînet Habu (1: 2300) 317 66. Temple of Horus at Edfu 337 67. Rock Chapel of Gebel Silsileh 341 68. Temple of Kôm Ombo 345 69. Plan of Assuân (1: 25,000) 348 70. Temple of Isis on Philae (1: 1005) 359 71. Temple of Kalâbsheh 380 72. Temple of Gerf-Ḥosein 384 73. Temple of Dakkeh 386 74. Great Temple of Abu Simbel 396 75. Temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel 399 76. Plan of Kharṭûm and Omdurmân (1: 60,000) 411

Vignettes.

1. Mohammedan Postures of Prayer lxvi 2. Names of Egyptian Kings cix-cxv 3–22. Mythological Illustrations cxxvii-cxxx 23–30. Art Illustrations cxxxii-cxxxiv, cxxxviii, cxlv 31. Lady in Walking Dress 42 32. Woman and Child 42 33, 34. Water Carriers (Saḳḳa, Ḥemali) 43 35. Public Kitchen 44 36. Arabian Barber 44 37–56. Reliefs in the Maṣṭaba of Ti, at Saḳḳâra 146–155 57. Hypostyle Hall at Karnak (reconstruction, after Maspero) 266

Abbreviations.

R. = room, route; B. = breakfast; déj = déjeuner (luncheon); D. = dinner; L. = light; A. = attendance; pens = pension, i.e. board and lodging. — N. = north, northern, etc.; S. = south, southern, etc: E. = east, etc.; W. = west, etc. — r. = right; l = left; min. = minute; hr. = hour. — M. = English mile; ft = Engl foot; yd. = yard; fr. = france; c = centime; £ E = Egyptian pound; pias = piastre; mill. = millième (comp. Table before the title-page). — ca. = circa, about. — comp. = compare. — Dyn. = Dynasty — Pl. = Plan.

The letter d with a date, after the name of a person, indicates the year of his death. The number of feet given after the name of a place shows its height above the sea-level. The number of miles placed before the principal places on railway - routes and highroads indicates their distance from the starting point of the route.

Asterisks

are used as marks of commendation.

I. Preliminary Information.

(1). Plan of Tour. Season. Expenses. Money. Equipment. Travelling Companions.

PLAN. The facilities for travel in Egypt are now such that the intending visitor may make an outline of his tour at home with almost as great ease as for most of the countries of Europe. During the travelling season, moreover, the weather is always fine (comp. below), and never causes disappointment and derangement of plans as in most other countries. A glimpse of the country may be obtained in 4 or 5 weeks (exclusive of the journey out) as follows: 2–3 days may be devoted to Alexandria and the journey thence to Cairo, 10–12 days may be spent in Cairo and its neighbourhood in the manner suggested at p. 38, 3 days may be given to the Fayûm, and 14 days or more may be devoted to Upper Egypt (railway to Luxor or Assuân), while a few days must be set aside for resting.

SEASON. The best time for a tour in Egypt is between Nov. 1st and May 1st. In Alexandria stormy and rainy weather very often prevails from December to March, but in the interior of Egypt, to the S. of a line joining Damanhûr, Ṭanṭa, and Manṣûra, the case is considerably altered. Even in the Delta, however, marked falls in temperature (sometimes to 43° Fahr.) occur between the end of November and the end of March, and rain-storms, rendering the roads almost impassable, are not infrequent. In Cairo December, January, and sometimes February are distinctly chilly, which is the more inconvenient as there are no adequate heating-arrangements in the houses; but November and March are very fine, as also usually are October, April, and May, especially for travellers who do not object to a little heat. In Upper Egypt, from the beginning of November till the end of March, there are but few days of bad weather (comp. p. xx); the prevalent temperature is that of a delicious spring or moderate summer. Those who intend to winter in Egypt should spend November in Cairo, move on thence in December, on the approach of cold weather, to Upper Egypt (Luxor, Assuân), and return to Cairo in February. — In summer prices are naturally much lower.

EXPENSES. The cost of a tour in Egypt, and in Oriental countries generally, is greater than that of a visit to most parts of Europe, and the traveller should estimate his average daily expenditure at not less than 25–30s. With modest requirements, however, it is possible to live more cheaply. (Steamboat-fares are of course extra; pp. 1–4.) The traveller whose time is very limited, or who is accompanied by ladies, will also require the services of a guide, or ‘dragoman’, as they prefer to style themselves (5–10s. per day).

MONEY. A small sum of money for the early part of the journey may be taken in English or French gold, but large sums should always be in the form of circular notes. These notes, which if kept separate from the ‘letter of indication’ cannot be cashed by a stranger, are issued by the principal London banks and by Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son. Fresh supplies may be forwarded from England by post-office order, in sums not exceeding 500 fr. (comp. p. xviii). European bankers in Alexandria and Cairo, see pp. 8, 33. The cheques issued by the great American Express Companies are also convenient.

EQUIPMENT. For all ordinary purposes a couple of light tweed suits, a few flannel and soft cotton shirts, a supply of thin woollen socks, one pair of light and easy boots, one of shoes, and one of slippers, a moderately warm ulster or long travelling cloak, a pith helmet and a soft felt hat, together with the most necessary articles of the toilet, will amply suffice. It is advisable, for the prevention of colds and chills, to wear a woollen fabric next the skin; but light underclothing, with an Oxford shirt, will be found more suitable to the climate than a heavy flannel shirt. Evening dress is usually worn at dinner at the principal hotels. A light silken (or muslin) cloth tied round the hat and allowed to fall over the back of the neck and ears is an indispensable protection against the sun. In prolonged riding tours a sunshade is a fatiguing encumbrance. All articles should be new and strongly made, as it is often difficult to get repairs properly executed in Egypt. Few travellers walk in Egypt, except for very short distances, but sportsmen should add a stout pair of waterproof shooting-boots to their equipment.

Among the most important extras to be brought from Europe are a drinking-cup of leather or metal, a flask, a strong pocket-knife, a thermometer, a pocket-compass of medium size, and an electric or acetylene lamp for lighting caverns and dark chambers. — Photographic materials, dry plates, films (not very practical in the hot season), etc., can be obtained in Cairo, but it is preferable to bring a good stock carefully packed from home, taking care to attend the customs examination in person.

COMPANIONS. The traveller can hardly he recommended to start alone for a tour in a country whose customs and language are so entirely different from his own. Travelling as a member of a party is, moreover, much less expensive than travelling alone, many of the items being the same for a single traveller as for several together. — In spring and autumn TOURIST PARTIES are organized for a visit to Egypt and the East by the tourist-agents Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son (Ludgate Circus, London) and the Hamburg-American Line, programmes of which, with full information, may be obtained on application. Travellers who join such parties are enabled to inspect the principal points of interest with the minimum expenditure of time and trouble, but must naturally surrender, to a great extent, both their freedom of choice of companions and the disposal of their time. The expenses are not much below that of an independent tour.

(2). Coinage. Passports. Custom House.

COINAGE (comp. the tables before the title-page and at the end of the book). The Egyptian Pound (‘Livre Egyptienne’; £ E) is worth 20s. 6d., and is divided into 100 Piastres, worth 10 Millièmes each. The Arabic name for the piastre is Ḳurûsh; pronounced in Cairo ʽirsh, ʽurûsh), but the European name is everywhere current. Travellers should note the distinction that is still frequently made between the ‘great piastre’ (ḳirsh ṣâgh), worth 10 millièmes, and the ‘little (or half) piastre’ (ḳirsh tʽarîfeh), worth 5 millièmes. — Egyptian gold coins are seldom met with, their place being taken by the British sovereign (Ginê inglîsi = 97 pias. 5 mill.), the French napoleon (20 fr.; Bintu = 77 pias. 2 mill., but regularly reckoned at 77 pias.), and the Turkish pound (Mejidîyeh = 87 pias. 7 ½ mill. = ca. 18s. 3 ½d.), all of which are legally current. At Alexandria and Suez, and a few other points, reckoning in francs is still common. Where British influence is strong, as in places with large garrisons, the word Shilling is used for the Rubʽa Riyâl, which is equivalent to about 1s. ¼d.

Obsolete coins are rare in Egypt, but counterfeit or depreciated (i.e. worn or perforated) pieces are common enough. As these are more likely to be offered to foreigners than to natives, travellers should be on their guard against them when obtaining change. A liberal supply of small change is more essential in the East than anywhere else (comp. pp. xxiii, 33).

PASSPORTS are not absolutely necessary; and one's visiting-card practically serves all its functions in the interior. Bankers, however, frequently require strangers to establish their identity by some such document; and the countenance and help of consuls must also depend upon the proof of nationality offered to them by the traveller. — For the Sudân, see p. 406.

Passports may be obtained in England direct from the Foreign Office (fee 2s.) or through C. Smith & Sons, 23 Craven St., Charing Cross (charge 4s., including agent's fee); Buss, 4 Adelaide St., Strand (4s.); Thos. Cook & Son, Ludgate Circus (3s. 6d.); and Henry Blacklock & Co. (‘Bradshaw's Guides’), 59 Fleet St. (5s.). — In the United States application for passports should be made to the Passport Bureau, State Department, Washington, D. C.

CUSTOM HOUSE. Tourists are seldom troubled by a custom-house examination; if one is held, it is desirable to superintend it in person. The objects chiefly sought for are tobacco and cigars, on which a somewhat high tax is levied (25, 40, or 100 pias. per kilogramme or 2 ⅕ lbs., according to quality). The custom-house is now under European management, and it is advisable to refrain from an attempt to facilitate matters by bakshish (p. xxiii).

Good, though somewhat expensive, cigars may be obtained in Cairo and Alexandria. The importation of one's own cigars is attended with so much trouble as hardly to be worth while. The traveller is recommended to content himself with cigarettes (comp. p. 36). Tobacco (Dukhkhân) should be purchased in small quantities only, as it gets dry very soon.

(3). Conveyances.

Steamers. The necessary information about the steamer-lines between Europe and Egypt is given at pp. 1–4. For the Nile steamers (to Upper Egypt), see p. 197; to lower Nubia, see p. 373.

Railways. The official time-tables are published in the Indicateur des Chemins de Fer de l'Egypte, which is sold for 20 mill. at the chief railway-stations and the Cairo central telegraph office, and is also to be seen in the larger hotels (small edition, without the light railways, 10 mill.). The railway-carriages resemble those of France or Italy. First-class passengers are permitted to take a reasonable quantity of small luggage with them into the carriages. The second class carriages are comfortable enough for day-journeys on the main routes (Alexandria to Cairo, Cairo to Manṣûra, Cairo to Port Sa‘îd or Suez, Cairo to Assuân), especially by the express-trains; and their use effects a saving of 50 per cent in fares. But on branch-lines all travellers should take first-class tickets. The third-class carriages are quite unsuited for Europeans.

The trains run much more slowly than in Europe. The process of booking luggage is very slow and troublesome. The traveller should therefore be at the station fully half-an-hour before the hour for starting. The personal tickets are printed in English and Arabic, the luggage tickets in Arabic only. The luggage-tariff is somewhat complicated: hand-luggage up to 55 lbs. is free, provided there is accommodation for it, but large trunks must be registered and paid for at ‘grande vitesse’ rates. A reduced tariff and cheap return tickets are in use on the Lignes de Banlieue or suburban lines (between Cairo, Ḳalyûb, and the Barrage du Nil; between Cairo, Maṭarîyeh, and El-Merg; between Suez and Suez Docks; between Alexandria, Ramleh, and Abuḳî). Return-tickets at a reduction of 15 per cent on the double fare are also issued to and from the larger stations. — In hot weather the dust, which penetrates the carriages even when the windows are closed, renders railway travelling in Egypt exceedingly unpleasant. At the chief stations on the express-routes there are Railway Buffets in the European style. At other stations refreshments are brought to the carriage-windows (bargaining necessary; 3–5 oranges ½-1 pias.). The water offered for sale is better abstained from.

Narrow Gauge Railways. The Egyptian Light Railways cover the Delta and the Fayûm (p. 186) with a network of lines, which, though of little importance to the ordinary tourist, enable the business man, the explorer, and the specialist to reach various remote points with comparative ease.

Electric Tramways ply in Alexandria, Cairo, and Port Sa‘îd. They have two classes; Europeans invariably patronize the first only. The various omnibus-lines in Cairo are little used by foreigners.

The Cabs (Arab. ʽArabîyeh) in the large towns are generally very good. Notwithstanding the official tariffs, advertised in the ‘Indicateur

des Chemins de Fer’ (see p. xvi), a special bargain should be made in every case, especially for drives of any length. Few of the drivers understand any European language or are able to read the names of the streets, while many of them know the various points only by names of their own. But Arabs with a smattering of European languages are usually to be found standing about near the hotels, and one of these may be employed as interpreter (though offers of further service should be firmly declined). The traveller should keep his eye on the direction taken by the cab, as sometimes the cabman drives straight ahead in complete ignorance of the way, and requires to be guided, e.g. by being touched with a stick on the right or left arm according to the turning, or with the words yemînak (to the right), shemâlak (to the left), dughri (straight on). The cabs usually drive rapidly, so that their use saves time and strength.

Donkeys (Arab. ḥomâr) still form the best means of conveyance, not only in the smaller towns and on the bridle-paths in the country, but also in the environs of Cairo, as they can go anywhere and are not confined to the dusty carriage-roads. Egyptian donkeys are of a much finer, swifter, and more spirited race than the European, and are at the same time patient and persevering. Those in the towns are generally well bridled and saddled (many of them with side saddles). In small country-places both the donkeys and equipment are often inferior; saddles, stirrups, and even bridles are occasionally conspicuous by their absence. As the gait of some of the donkeys is very uneasy when they break into a trot, care should be taken not to engage one with this defect for an excursion of any length. The best method of guiding the donkey is to strike it lightly on the head with a stick. The donkey-boys (Arab. ḥammâr) are fond of showing off the pace of their beasts, and often drive them unpleasantly fast, though galloping is forbidden in the towns. The rider who prefers a slower pace shouts ʽala mahlak or ʽala mahlukum; if a quicker pace is wanted, yalla, yalla, or mashi, or sûḳ el-ḥomâr; if a halt is to be made, oṣbur, ʽandak, waḳḳif (wa’if), hush, or the English word ‘stop.’ The donkey-boys (especially at Cairo) are usually active and intelligent, though occasionally mischievous and impudent. At some of the most frequented tourist-resorts the traveller has to protect himself from the charge of the importunate light cavalry by threatening to use his stick.

(4). Hotels.

The large hotels in Cairo and its environs are among the best in the world, combining western comfort with eastern luxury. Almost as much may be said for the leading houses at Luxor and Assuân (comp. pp. xxi, xxii), while there are good hotels at Alexandria, Port Sa‘îd, and a few other places. They are managed mainly on the American system, a fixed sum daily being paid for lodging and board, the latter consisting of breakfast, luncheon, and dinner.

Wine, beer, and other liquors, which are extras, are dear, the cheapest wine costing 10–15 pias. per bottle, and British and German beer about 10 pias. The waiter's fee should be calculated at about 5 per cent of the bill. — The larger hotels have laundries, which, however, are somewhat expensive. Clothing is generally charged at the rate of 2 ½-3 fr. per dozen articles for men's garments, 4–5 fr. per dozen for women's garments, quite irrespective of size. The Arab ‘washermen’ are good and much cheaper.

In other towns the hotels are much inferior. The more remote a place is from the ordinary track of European travellers, the poorer the inns are according to European ideas; and houses bearing most pretentious names are often nothing more than miserable inns.

(5). Post and Telegraph Offices.

The Egyptian Postal System (pp. 8, 33) is admirably organized, not only in all the principal towns but also in the smaller towns of the Delta and Upper Egypt. The officials are civil and attentive. The addresses of letters destined for Egypt should always be written very distinctly, particularly the initial letters. They had better be directed to the hotel at which the traveller intends to stay, or the traveller may leave his local address at the Cairo Post Office and have his letters forwarded thence. On leaving for Upper Egypt travellers should notify the postal authorities at Cairo, so that letters may be punctually forwarded; passengers by the Nile steamers may have their correspondence looked after by the steamboat-company. — Registered Letters not addressed to a hotel are not delivered to the addressee unless he has a passport or gets a resident or the consular kavass (p. xix) to testify to his identity; those addressed to a hotel are delivered on presentation of the official notification of their arrival, bearing the stamp of the hotel. — The Postage for letters within Cairo is 3 millièmes; within Egypt and to Great Britain 5 millièmes; to other countries in the Postal Union 10 millièmes; domestic Post Cards, 2 millièmes; foreign, 4 millièmes. — Parcels not exceeding 11 lbs. in weight may be sent to the countries of the Union for 9 piastres, and must be accompanied by two declarations (one in French, one in the language of the country of destination). An export duty of 1 per cent ad valorem is charged. Parcels not exceeding 3 lbs. may be sent from England viâ P. & O. steamer for 1s., from 3 lbs. to 7 lbs. 2s., from 7 lbs. to 11 lbs. 3s.; viâ France and Italy the rates are 2s., 3s., 4s. Within Egypt parcels under 2 ⅕ lbs. cost 30 millièmes, under 6 ¾ lbs. 40 millièmes, up to 11 lbs. 50 millièmes. — Post Office Orders are issued in Great Britain for payment in Egypt at the following rates: for sums not exceeding 2l., 6d.; 6l., 1s., 10l., 1s. 6d.

Telegraphs. There are two telegraph - systems in Egypt, the Egyptian and the English, Messages within Egypt may be sent only by the former, which has over 300 stations, of which at least 30 are

open day and night. The tariff is 20 mill. for 8 words or less, and 5 mill. for every two additional words. Telegrams may be sent in any European language, except from the smaller stations, where Arabic messages only are accepted. — Telegrams to Europe and the United States should be sent by the English Eastern Co., viâ Malta and Vigo. To England each word (not exceeding ten letters; if longer, it counts as two words) costs 1s., to Canada and the United States 96–121 millièmes. — A telegram from Great Britain to Alexandria costs 1s. 7d. per word; to other parts of Egypt 1s. 10d., 2s., 2s. 3d., or 2s. 6d.

(6). Public Safety. Consulates. Courts of Justice.

Public Safety. The authority of the Khedive is so well established throughout the whole of Egypt that travellers are as safe as in Europe. Weapons for self-defence are an unnecessary encumbrance. — Fowling-pieces may be purchased in Cairo or hired at the principal hotels. Sportsmen who bring their own guns must sign a declaration that they are for their personal use only and not intended for sale. This declaration includes the right to import the necessary ammunition, though this latter may generally be equally well obtained in Cairo. In the towns farther up the Nile nothing but coarse gunpowder can be obtained.

Consulates. Consuls in the East enjoy the same privilege of exterritoriality as ambassadors in other countries. On public occasions they are attended by kavasses, or armed consular officers. A distinction is sometimes made between professional (‘consules missi’) and commercial consuls; and there are consuls general (who act as political agents), consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents, possessing various degrees of authority. In all cases of emergency the traveller should apply for advice to the nearest consul of his country.

There are no consuls within the Anglo-Egyptian Sudàn (p. 405).

Courts of Justice. In place of the exclusive consular jurisdiction to which foreigners were formerly liable, a system of Mixed Tribunals was established in 1876. The judges consist of natives and foreigners (the latter generally appointed by the Khedive from qualified officials nominated by the Great Powers), who give their verdicts in accordance with Egyptian law, founded on that of France and Italy. Cases in which the Khedive himself and the Egyptian government are concerned are also tried before this tribunal, which includes courts of first and second instance. The courts of the first instance are at Cairo, Alexandria, and Manṣûra, and there is a delegation at Port Sa‘îd. The appeal-court is at Alexandria. Lists of qualified barristers are exhibited in the anterooms of the courts. — Important civil cases between natives, and all criminal cases, are tried by the Native Courts, established in 1884. Tribunals of the First Instance are situated at Cairo, Alexandria, Benisueif, Assiûṭ, Ḳena, Ṭanṭa, and Zaḳâzîḳ. These also form the Tribunals of Second

Instance for the petty misdemeanours and civil suits dealt with by the Summary Tribunals. The appeal-court for important cases is at Cairo (at the Bâb el-Khalḳ); about half the number of its judges are Europeans. The procedure is based upon the Code Napoléon.

(7). Egypt as a Health Resort. Medical Hints. By Leigh Canney, M. D. (Lond.), F. R. Met. Soc.

The beneficial influence of the climate of Egypt (comp. p. lviii) has been known since the Roman period at least, and of late years an increasing number of visitors have flocked to the Nile to enjoy the benefits of its remarkably dry winter-climate. Phthisis (if not too far advanced and if the patient has a sound heart and little or no fever), asthma, chronic bronchitis, Bright's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, insomnia, dyspepsia, and mental strain are some of the most important ailments that are at least alleviated by a visit to Egypt. Invalids should remember that a stay of a few weeks only is not sufficient, and should make up their minds to stay in the country from the beginning of November to the middle of April. In deciding which of the health-resorts in Egypt a given case should be sent to, the physician must of course consider whether or not warmth must be secured along with dryness of air, whether purity of air alone or also a bright stimulating climate is to be specially sought, and whether cold winds are harmful or not. Invalids who have not been ordered to a particular health-resort before leaving home should consult a physician immediately on arriving in Egypt; and it is advisable in all cases to secure the advice of the physician resident at the spot selected.

It is now generally understood that Cairo cannot properly be considered a health-resort. The presence of a large city with its noise and bustle, the higher relative humidity, owing to the N. wind and the neighbourhood of the Delta, and other causes, all combine to compel those who seek health from the climate of Egypt to look to other stations. There are, however, excellent health-resorts in the immediate vicinity of the capital, such as the Mena House Hotel and (still better) Ḥelwân. Luxor and Assuân, in Upper Egypt, offer still more favourable climatic conditions. There is at least one English physician at each of these four stations.

Mena House Hotel (p. 31), 8 M. to the W. of Cairo, stands near the N. side of the Great Pyramid of Gîzeh, on the verge of the Libyan Desert. The mean maximum temperature is 69° in Dec., 66° in Jan., 72° in Feb., 74° in March, and 80° in April. The mean minimum for the four months Dec. to April is 50°. The daily range of temperature is 21°. The relative humidity (i.e. the amount of moisture, in relation to the temperature at the time, that the air holds out of a possible 100 per cent) from Dec. to March is

58 per cent by day (8 a. m. to 6 p. m.) and 80 per cent at night (8 p. m. to 6 a. m.). Dew falls in winter on about two nights out of three. At both Mena House and Ḥelwân the prevailing winds and the amount of rain are probably much the same as in Cairo. The purity of the air at both places is marked. — The medical and sanitary arrangements are excellent; and there is a resident nurse under the orders of the physician who resides there.

Ḥelwân (p. 164), 14 M. to the S. of Cairo and 3 M. from the cultivated land, is 115 ft. above the river. The mean maximum temperature is 70° in Dec., 67° in Jan., 73° in Feb., and 76° in March. The mean minimum for these four months is 50°. The daily range of temperature is here also 21°. Dew rarely falls. The relative humidity from Dec. to March is 47 per cent by day, 66 per cent at night. — Ḥelwân has the advantage of being in the desert in a pure atmosphere. It also has warm natural springs of three kinds: viz. sulphurated, carbonated iron, and saline water, each of which is richer in natural constituents than the corresponding springs at Aixles-Bains, Harrogate, Buxton, etc. The cases suitable for the baths here are such as would derive benefit from hydro-therapeutic treatment as carried on at Harrogate, Bath, Aix, etc. A large Bath Establishment has been erected here, and there is also a well-equipped Sanatorium (Al Hayat, see p. 164). Two English physicians and a trained English nurse are resident at Ḥelwân.

Luxor (p. 248) is situated 418 M. to the S. of Cairo, in the Theban plain and on the right bank of the river. The prevailing winds are N.W. and N., as in the whole country, but the force of the wind is probably less than at any of the other stations in Egypt. The mean maximum temperature is 76° in Dec., 74° in Jan., 78° in Feb., and 85° in March. The mean minimum for these four months is 50°. The relative humidity is 41 per cent by day, 64 per cent at night. Dew falls about every third night in Jan.; it rarely falls in other months. In the W. Desert near Luxor dew very rarely falls, and the mean of the relative humidity for the four months is 43 per cent only, day and night. — In addition to the advantage of its warm and dry climate, with less wind than other stations, Luxor has an almost inexhaustible interest in its numerous antiquities, temples, and tombs. It has good hotels, two European physicians, and a resident nurse. — The temperature is 6–8° warmer than at Mena House and Ḥelwân. The importance of the extra warmth of Upper Egypt must not be lost sight of, in cases where it is imperative that the action of the skin should be at its highest level — especially as with this warmth a bracing effect is obtained from the dryness of the air.

Assuân (p. 348), situated at the First Cataract, also on the right bank of the river, is the dryest of the Egyptian health-resorts and may be specially recommended in winter, when N. Egypt is often decidedly chilly. The prevailing winds are, as at Luxor, N.W. and N. in winter. The mean maximum temperature is 78° in Dec. and

Jan., 82° in Feb., and 91° in March. The mean minimum for these four months is 55°; and the relative humidity is 35 per cent by day, 49 per cent at night. Dew does not fall at Assuân. — Assuân is more under the immediate influence of the desert, but it is exposed to a rather stronger wind than Luxor. The air is bracing, although 3–6° warmer than at Luxor. The beauty of the surroundings and the interest of the Cataract lend a peculiar charm to Assuân. — The accommodation for invalids is very good. Two English physicians and one German one are in residence at Assuân in winter. Resident nurses are also at hand.

Patients should not leave Upper Egypt until the third week in March, on account of the cold N. wind, and should then travel by railway. They will find at Beyrout, Athens, Corfu, Sicily, and Capri and other points near Naples, admirable transition-stations in spring.

Medical Hints. As regards clothing, invalids must remember that flannel or woollen materials are desirable, as it is often very cold in Egypt. A fur coat or similar garment is of use. Merino underclothing of thin and also of medium texture is required. Thin merino cholera belts may be used by invalids to protect affected organs, but they are not required by healthy individuals, except in case of emergency. Patients should be careful to pay attention to the daily changes of temperature (p. lix). Warmer clothing or a cloak are useful in the morning, then lighter clothing till nearly sunset, when the cloak should be resumed. Most invalids should not leave the hotel (or, in certain cases, their bedrooms) before 10 a. m. The hour for returning to the hotel varies with the place and the month, being earliest in Jan. and latest in March and April. If the patient be guided by the relative humidity, it would be earliest at Mena House, say about sunset; a little later at Ḥelwân; at Luxor still later, 6 p. m. (except in Jan.), and 8 p. m. in March; and latest of all at Assuân, — it being always understood that precautions as to extra clothing have been taken. — Those who are not invalids, and in some cases invalids also, may sleep with the windows open with safety, but travellers should be chary of doing so on board the steamboats.

There are good chemists at Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor, and Assuân, from whom small medicine-chests adapted for the climate may be purchased. The advice of the traveller's physician at home will be useful in stocking such a medicine-chest. In serious cases of illness a European doctor, when procurable, should always be consulted, as the traveller's own experience acquired at home is of little avail in the climate of Egypt.

Diarrhœa, which is apt to develop into dysentery, is a very common complaint in this climate, and is generally the result of catching cold. Early treatment by a physician will generally result in cutting short an attack. The patient should first take a slight aperient, and afterwards tincture of opium. A simple farinaceous diet will be beneficial, while fruit, meat, and fatty substances should be avoided. In some cases of diarrhœa all remedies are sometimes unavailing except change of climate.

Sprains, which often result from exploring ruins and caverns, are most effectually treated with cold compresses, while the injured limb should be tightly bandaged and allowed perfect rest.

The sting of a scorpion is relieved by incising the spot, and applying ammonia. Lemon juice and brandy may be administered internally.

Sunstroke is uncommon is Egypt before the month of April or after November. The head may be carefully shielded in one of the ways indicated at p. xiv. The usual remedies are rest and shade; cold applications may be used for the head and neck. In cases of high temperature ice baths are urgently required.

Grey (better than blue) spectacles or veils may be used with advantage when the eyes suffer from the glare of bright weather. In case of irritation of the eyes from dust or glare, boracic acid eyewashes may be used frequently.

Revaccination is a safeguard to all travellers in Egypt, if not already performed.

(8). Intercourse with Orientals. Dragomans.

The average Oriental regards the European traveller as a Crœsus, and sometimes too as a madman, — so unintelligible to him are the objects and pleasures of travelling. He therefore looks upon him as fair game, and feels justified in pressing upon him with a perpetual demand for bakshish (baḳshîsh), which simply means ‘a gift’. Travellers are often tempted to give for the sake of affording temporary pleasure at a trifling cost, forgetting that the seeds of insatiable cupidity are thereby sown, to the infinite annoyance of their successors and the demoralization of the recipients themselves. Bakshish should never be given except for services rendered, or to the aged and crippled; and the Government appeals to the tourist by public placards not to encourage the habit of begging. A beggar may be silenced with the words ‘al Allâh’ or ‘Allâh yeḥannin ‘aleik’ (God have mercy on thee!) or ‘Allâh yaʽṭîk’ (may God give thee!). The best reply for more importunate cases is ‘mâ fîsh, mâ fîsh’ (I have nothing for you), which will generally have the effect of dispersing the assailants.

It is, of course, inevitable that coachmen, guides, donkey-boys, and the like should expect a gratuity in addition to the stipulated fee for their services, and the traveller should therefore take care to be amply supplied with small CHANGE at all times, and especially before taking an excursion into the country (comp. pp. xv, 33). Payment should never be made until the service stipulated for has been rendered, after which an absolutely deaf ear should be turned to the protestations and entreaties which almost invariably follow. Even when an express bargain has been made, and more than the stipulated sum paid, they are almost sure to pester the traveller in the way indicated. When no bargain has been made, the fees and prices mentioned in the Handbook, all of which are ample, should be paid without remark; and if the attacks which ensue are not silenced by an air of calm indifference the traveller may use the word rûḥ or imshi (be off!) in a quiet but decided and imperative tone. At the same time it must be admitted that the increasing number of visitors

to Egypt tends to raise prices during the chief travelling season, so that a larger bakshish than is mentioned in the Handbook may sometimes be necessary.

While much caution and firmness are desirable in dealing with the people, it need hardly be added that the traveller should avoid being too exacting or suspicious. He should bear in mind that many of the natives with whom he comes in contact are mere children, whose demands should excite amusement rather than anger, and who often display a touching simplicity and kindliness of disposition. The native communities hold together with remarkable faithfulness, and the bond of a common religion, which takes the place of ‘party’ in other countries, and requires its adherents to address each other as ‘yâ akhûya’ (my brother), is far more than a mere name. On the other hand, intimate acquaintance with Orientals is to be avoided, disinterested friendship being still rarer in the East than elsewhere. This caution is especially necessary in reference to the Dragomans, who sometimes presume on their opportunities of social intercourse (comp. below).

Notwithstanding all the suggestions we have ventured to offer, the traveller will to some extent have to buy his experience. In most cases the overcharges to which he will be exposed will be comparatively trifling; but if extortion is attempted on a larger scale, he had better refer the matter to his consul or the police.

Travellers about to make a tour of any length may avoid all the petty annoyances incident to direct dealings with the natives by placing themselves under the care of a Dragoman (Arab. Turgumân). The name is also appropriated to themselves by the ordinary commissionnaires in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Sa‘îd, Luxor, Assuân, etc. Most of them speak English, French, and German. Charges, see p. 35. Dragomans proper are usually employed for the longer tours only, such as the voyage up the Nile (p. 196), the journey to the Fayûm (p. 186), and a visit to the less frequented towns in the Delta. Before engaging a dragoman, the traveller should carefully inquire into his record at the hotel. For a fixed price per day the dragoman contracts to supply the necessary riding-animals and boats and to defray the entire cost of lodging and provisioning the party, including all hotel-bills. The contract, which must be signed at the consulate, should expressly determine all details as far as possible, including the duration of the journey, with due provision for prolonging it if desired. It is usual to pay the dragoman one-half of the total stipulated sum before starting, and the remainder on the return, or one-third before starting, one-third during the journey, and the remaining third on its conclusion. Both parties to the contract should bind themselves to submit disputes or differences to the arbitration of the consul.

The dragomans are inclined to assume a patronizing manner towards their employers, while they generally treat their own countrymen

with an air of vast superiority. The sooner this impertinence is checked, the more satisfactory will be the traveller's subsequent relations with his guide. Above all, travellers should never permit their dragoman to ‘explain’ the monuments. These men are without exception quite uneducated, without the least knowledge of the historic or æsthetic significance of the monuments; and their ‘explanations’ are merely garbled versions of what they have picked up from guide-books or from the remarks of previous travellers.

On the successful termination of the journey travellers are too apt from motives of good nature to write a more favourable testimonial for their dragoman than he really deserves; but this is truly an act of injustice to his subsequent employers, and tends to confirm him in his faults. The testimonial therefore should not omit to mention any serious cause for dissatisfaction.

(9). Arabian Cafés. Story Tellers. Musicians. Singers. Baths.

Arabian Cafés (ḳahweh) are frequented by the lower classes almost exclusively. The front consists of woodwork with a few open arches. Outside the door generally runs a maṣṭaba, or raised seat of stone or brick, covered with mats, and there are similar seats in the interior. Coffee is served by the ḳahwagi at ¼-1 pias. per cup (fingân), and several shîsheh and gôzeh (water-pipes) are kept in readiness for the use of customers. The tumbâk (Persian tobacco) smoked in the latter is sometimes mixed with the intoxicating ḥashîsh (hemp, Cannabis Indica), the strong and unmistakable smell of which is often perceptible even in the street. The importation and sale of ḥashîsh are now nominally prohibited in Egypt.

Story Tellers (who in private domestic circles are generally women) still form a characteristic Oriental institution. Wherever they make their appearance, whether in the public streets or the coffee-house, in the densely peopled alleys of the large towns or in the smallest country-villages, they are sure to attract an attentive, easily pleased, and exceedingly grateful crowd. The more sensational the tale, the better, and the oftener is the narrator applauded with protracted cries of ‘Aah’, or ‘Allah’, or ‘Allâhu akbar!’. — Most of the story-tellers belong to the so-called Shoʽara (sing. Shâʽir), literally ‘singers’. They are also known as ‘Anâlireh (sing. ‘Antari) or Abu Zeidîyeh, according as their theme consists of tales and romances from the history of ‘Antar, a Beduin hero, or from that of Abu Zeid. Others again are called Miḥadditâti, i.e. narrators of history, their province being the recital in prose of passages from the history of Sultan Beybars, who reigned over Egypt in 1260–77 (p. xciv). The entertainments of the ‘alf leileh u leilch’ (thousand and one nights) are, however, no longer heard, as popular superstition has branded this collection of tales as ‘unlucky’. The themes of the whole fraternity are too often of an immoral character.

Musicians by profession, called Alâtîyeh (sing. Alâti), are indispensable on every festive occasion. The usual instruments are

the riḳḳ or tambourine with little bells, the naḳḳâreh or semispherical tambourine, the zemr or hautbois, the ṭabl beledi or drum, the ṭabl shâmi or kettle-drum, and the darabûkeh, a kind of funnel-shaped drum (generally made of earthenware, but sometimes of wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell, with a fish-skin stretched over the broad end), which last is accompanied by the zummâra, a kind of double flute. A better class of instruments, used for chamber music, includes the nây, a kind of flute, the kemenyeh or two-stringed violin, the body of which consists of a cocoa nut shell, the rebâbeh, or one-stringed violin with a square wooden body, the ḳânûn, a kind of zither with strings of sheep-gut, and lastly the ‘ûd, the lute or mandoline, the oldest of all the instruments.

The Egyptians consider themselves a highly musical people. The Egyptian sings when indulging in his keif (i.e. dolce far niente), whether sitting on his heels or stretched out on his mat, when driving his donkey, when carrying stones and mortar up a scaffolding, when working in the fields, when at the sâḳeyh, and when rowing. He sings whether alone or in company, regarding his vocal music as a means of lightening his labour and of sweetening his repose. A peculiarity of the Egyptian songs, however, is that they have no tune, though they have a certain rhythm, which is always dependent on the text. They are sung through the nose on seven or eight different notes, on which the performer wanders up and down. The character of this so-called music is exceedingly monotonous and, to a European ear, displeasing. The songs (mawwat or shughl) are generally of a lyrical, religious, or erotic description, though some of them extol the pleasures of friendship and rational enjoyment, or express derision of an enemy, or contempt for the rustic fellah — Comp ‘The Songs of an Egyptian Peasant’, by H. Schäfer (English edition, Leipzig, 1904).

FEMALE SINGERS (‘Awâlim, sing. ‘Almeh; i.e. ‘learned women’) of a good class are now very rare and perform only in the harems of wealthy natives. — Good FEMALE DANCERS, or Ghawâzi (sing. Ghâzîyeh), were formerly one of the chief curiosities of Egypt, but are now rare; the performances in the cafés chantants in Cairo are very inferior. — The SNAKE CHARMERS (Rifâ‘îyeh, sing. Rifâ‘i; p. lxviii) exhibit performances of a very marvellous character, as credible European residents in Cairo have testified; but the traveller will rarely come in contact with them except by lucky accident. The men and boys who exhibit small snakes in the streets or at the hotels must of course not be confounded with the Rifâ‘îyeh. — The JUGGLERS or Ḥuwâ (sing. Ḥâwî) of Egypt are similar to those of other countries. — The performances of the BUFFOONS (Ḳurûdâti or Moḥabbazi) are disgracefully indelicate.

Arab Baths. The baths of Egypt, with their hot-air chambers, are those commonly known as Turkish, but they are neither so clean nor so well fitted up as some of those in the larger cities of Europe. Those who wish to visit the baths should do so early in the morning, when they are at their cleanest. Fridays are to be avoided, as numerous Moslems bathe early on that day, which is their Sabbath. When a cloth is hung up at the entrance to the baths, it indicates that women only are admitted.

SKETCH MAP OF EGYPT

II. Geographical and Political Notes.

a. Area and Subdivisions of Egypt. By Captain H. G. Lyons.

EGYPT proper, the country between the mouth of the Nile and the First Cataract (comp. p. 357), is a small region with well-defined natural boundaries on three sides. On the N. is the Mediterranean Sea, on the E. the Arabian Desert and the Red Sea, and on the W. the Libyan Desert. The S. boundary is not marked by any natural feature, and has therefore at all ages been liable to alteration. Its fluctuations, sometimes to the N., sometimes to the S., form a kind of standard of the fluctuating political power of Egypt, and the causes of the variations involve a great part of Egyptian history from the most ancient times down to the present day.

When Mohammed Ali, the founder of the modern vassal kingdom of Egypt (comp. pp. xcvii et seq.), died in 1849, he bequeathed to his successor a power extending far to the S. of the First Cataract, and including not only the Nubian Valley of the Nile, with the Nubian desert-regions, but also the so-called Egyptian Sudân (Bilâd es-Sudân, ‘land of the blacks’) consisting of the districts of Tâka, Sennâar, and Kordofân. The Khedive Ismâʽil (p. xcviii) pushed his boundaries towards the S. until they comprised the whole course of the White Nile and the greater part of the basin of the Baḥr el-Ghazâl, and finally extended to about 2° N. latitude. But the rebellion of the Arab tribes that broke out in 1883 under the Mahdi (pp. lxx, c) utterly destroyed the new Egyptian power on the White Nile and caused the frontier to be withdrawn to Ḥalfa. The campaigns of 1896–98 and the capture of Omdurmân (pp. ci, 414), however, finally united the Sudân with Egypt, though under totally altered conditions. Thus Egypt strictly so called now includes the valley of the Nile up to a point 25 M. to the N. of Ḥalfa, the desert-strip along the Red Sea, the coast to the W. of Alexandria as far as the Gulf of Solun, the great Libyan Desert with the five Oases, the greater part of the Sinai Peninsula, and the region of El-‘Arîsh (comp. Baedeker's Palestine). Its area, exclusive of the deserts, may be estimated at ca. 13,000 sq. M., of which ca. 9100 sq. M. are cultivable. The whole area, including the deserts, may be taken approximately as 400,000 sq. M. The Sudân, which begins on the Nile a little to the N. of Ḥalfa and on the Red Sea at 22° N. lat., is under a special Anglo-Egyptian administration (comp. p. 405).

From the earliest times Egypt has been divided into two parts of very unequal size, known as Lower and Upper Egypt. The boundary between these is still, as in antiquity, to the S. of Cairo. Upper Egypt, known as Eṣ-Ṣaʽîd, extends nominally to the First Cataract only, but now embraces in a political sense most of Lower Nubia (comp. p. 374). Politically, Egypt is now divided into fourteen

PROVINCES or Mudîrîyeh. The provinces of Lower Egypt are: (1) Ḳalyûbîyeh, at the head of the Delta, with Benha as its capital; (2) Sharḳîyeh, i.e. ‘the eastern’, with Zaḳâzîḳ as its capital; (3) Daḳahlîyeh, with Manṣûra as its capital; (4) Menûfîyeh, with Shibîn el-Kôm as its capital; (5) Gharbîyeh, i.e. ‘the western’, with Ṭanṭa as its capital; (6) Beḥeireh, i.e. ‘of the lake’, with Damanhûr as its capital. The last includes the oasis of Sîweh. The following capitals and commercial towns are presided over by governors (Muḥâfiz) of their own, and are independent of the provincial administration: Cairo, Alexandria, Port Sa‘id, Ismâ‘ilîya, Suez, El-‘Arîsh, and Damietta. The eight Upper Egyptian provinces are those of Gîzeh, Benisueif, Fayûm, Minia (with the oases of Baḥrîyeh and Farâfreh), Assiûṭ (with the oases of Dâkhleh and Khârgeh), Girga (capital, Sohâg), Ḳena, and Assuân.

The chief official in every province is the Mudîr or Governor. Each mudir is assisted by a Sub-Mudir, a Commandant of Police, a Sanitary Inspector, and an Engineer (for irrigation and buildings). The interior economy and the financial procedure are subject to investigation by European Inspectors from the Ministries of the Interior and Finance, while others from the Ministry of Public Works and the Health Department control the technical work. The provinces are subdivided into districts, called Markaz, the chief officials of which (Ma’mûr) are directly subordinate to the mudir and have their official residence in the more important towns. The markaz, in their turn, are divided into Nâḥiyeh, or communes, which include, besides the chief village, hamlets, settlements of agricultural labourers (ʽEzbeh), and landed estates (Abʽadîyeh). The ʽOmdeh, or chief magistrate of the commune, is directly responsible to the ma’mûr. In the larger communes the ‘omdeh is assisted by the Sheikh el-Beled, or mayor. The larger towns are divided into quarters (Ḳism), each of which has its ma'mûr, who controls the responsible heads of smaller sections (Sheikh el-Ḥâreh).

According to the census of 1897 the POPULATION of Egypt proper was 9,734,405, of whom 9,020,404 were settled (as compared with 6,533,261 in 1882), 601,427 were Beduins, and 112,574 were foreigners. The numbers of males and females were approximately equal. The settled population was distributed in 3692 towns and villages and 14,449 hamlets, farms, etc. Taking the cultivable area of the country into account (see p. xxvii), the above figures show a population of 750 per square mile, a density unequalled by any country in Europe (England 406 per sq. M.; Belgium 589 per sq. M.). The preliminary returns of the census of 1907 indicate an approximate population of 12,000,000.

b. Origin and Present Condition of the Egyptians. By Dr. G. Schweinfurth.

For thousands of years the banks of the Nile have been occupied by the Egyptians. Notwithstanding the interminable series of immigrations and other changes affecting the character of the inhabitants, the Egyptian type has always predominated with marvellous uniformity. As Egypt is said to be the ‘gift of the Nile’, so has the character of its inhabitants been apparently moulded by the influences of that river. No country in the world is so dependent on a river which traverses it as Egypt, and no river present physical characteristics so exceptional as the Nile; so, too, there exists no race of people which possesses so marked and unchanging an individuality as the Egyptians. It is therefore most probable that this unvarying type is the product of the soil itself, and that the character of the peoples who settled at different periods on the bank of the Nile, whatever it may originally have been, has in due course of time been moulded to the same constant form by the mysterious influences of the river. In all countries, indeed, national characteristics are justly regarded as the natural outcome of soil and climate, and of this connection no country affords so strong an illustration as Egypt, with its sharply defined boundaries of sea and desert, and in its complete isolation from the rest of the world. This fidelity to type, which doubtless many other Oriental races share with the Egyptians, is by no means in accordance with common theories as to the decline and degeneration of the Orient. These races seem to possess an innate capacity that is absent from Western nations — the capacity, namely, of permanently preserving the original type. In Egypt this tendency may be partly assisted by the universal practice of early marriages, by which the succession of generations is accelerated, while many children are born of parents still unaffected by any physical deterioration. Although the country has been at various periods overrun by Hyksos, Ethiopians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks, and although the people were tyrannized over, ill-treated, and in most cases compelled to intermarry with these foreigners, the Egyptians have for thousands of years retained the same unvarying physical types, while their character has been but slightly modified by the introduction of Christianity and Mohammedanism. If it now be borne in mind that these foreigners generally invaded the country in the form of an army, that they formed but a small body compared with the bulk of the population, and that they either married native women or sought wives in other countries, it is obvious that they would either continue to exist for a time as a foreign caste, a condition apparently repugnant to nature and necessarily transient, or that they would gradually succumb to the never-failing influences of the soil and be absorbed in the great mass of the aboriginal inhabitants. An excellent illustration of this process is afforded by the Arabian invasion, with

the circumstances and results of which we are better acquainted than with the history of the other foreign immigrations; for, disregarding the Beduin tribes, who are entirely distinct from the Egyptian population, we now meet with genuine Arabs in the towns only, where the merchants, pilgrims, and other members of that people form a class entirely distinct from the natives, and one that is maintained only by means of reinforcements from abroad. Another proof of the transforming influences of the Egyptian climate is afforded by the uniform character of the domestic animals. The oxen, in particular, though they have often been repeatedly exterminated in a single century by murrain, and have been succeeded by foreign races from every quarter of the globe, almost invariably after a few generations assumes the well-known Egyptian type with which the representations on the ancient temples render us so familiar.

There have been many hypotheses as to the origin of the Egyptians. In all probability the rise and development of that people followed essentially the same course as those of other great races, whose geographical positions exposed them to a similar variety of external influences. In the course of its history this people attained a characteristic development of its own; but we have to inquire as to the nature of the original prehistoric stock. In classical antiquity the Egyptians were considered to be of African origin, and Diodorus has given expression to this view by quoting a tradition of the Ethiopians, according to which the Egyptians were originally an Ethiopian colony, just as their country itself is a product of the Nile. But the Greeks and Romans knew little of Central Africa, and, more especially, they were acquainted with none of the peoples of the Nile district except those whom we now distinguish as Hamitic (proto-Semitic). Since the days of Lepsius (1810–84) the term Hamites or Hamitic races has been used to distinguish that great ethnographic group of peoples which has, in the course of ages, altered the population of half Africa, ever pressing from E. to W., in a course as determined as that of the heavenly bodies, and driving out the primæval population before them. The final stage of this migration, which, like those of the horse and camel, falls partly within the historic period, was reached when the Hamites came in contact with the later Semitic races. When these Hamitic peoples began to find their way from Asia across the Red Sea into Africa, they no doubt pushed down the Nile, after subduing the primæval inhabitants of the river-valley. The Ethiopian tradition thus agrees with the Biblical, which describes Ham as the father of Mizraim and Cush — names under which the ancient Hebrews used to personify Egypt and Ethiopia.

The civilization and culture of the Egyptians have been successively affected by every race that has played a prominent part in W. Asia, from the ancient Babylonians to the modern Arabs and Turks. Maspero argues for a gradual infiltration from Libya also

in the earlier epochs. But the Libyans were themselves Hamitic, no less than the Ethiopians who overtook them in their advance westwards. Recent philologists (such as Reinisch) classify the Hamites from their linguistic characteristics as the prototype of the Semitic family, distinguished by more elementary, more primitive forms. It is universally assumed that both Hamites and Semites had their original home in Asia. At what period each hived off from the original common stock is veiled in prehistoric darkness. But it is clear that Asiatic influences must have affected the dwellers on the Nile even before the introduction of the art of tillage, while the valley of the Nile in Egypt was still populated by pastoral races — a conclusion based mainly on the origin of the domesticated ox and of several other domestic animals. On the other hand the original ancestor of the Egyptian domesticated ass was peculiar to Africa, dwelling among the mountains and steppes to the S. of Egypt. In this fact we find an indication of the route followed by the Hamitic invaders of Egypt.

The beginning of anything like a regular political development in Egypt cannot be dated before the introduction of agriculture; most probably it began with the cultivation of wheat and barley, grains of which have been found among the remains in the most ancient Egyptian tombs, dating from before the earliest dynasty. The origin of both these cereals is indisputably Asiatic; their first home was in the valley of the Euphrates or in some more central region of the continent. Besides these grains the funeral offerings under the earliest dynasties included also linen, wine, and the produce of other cultivated plants, originally indigenous to W. Asia.

Some of the earliest ideal conceptions of the proto-Egyptians must also have been drawn from Asiatic sources, which, however, in this case are to be looked for farther to the S. in that continent. Not only the use of incense but also the sycamore and the persea, the two sacred trees in the Egyptian Pantheon, were known in Egypt from the very earliest period. But all these plants are exclusively indigenous to the mountainous regions of S. Arabia and the adjoining coasts of the Red Sea; they could have been derived from no other source. The use of incense is as ancient as the most ancient known religion. The tree called by the Greeks persea, and known to modern botanists as mimusops, flourished in the gardens of ancient Egypt; and the sycamore, which is now nowhere found in a wild state outside the regions mentioned above, is to be seen all over Egypt at the present day.

To sum up. The condition of the prehistoric dwellers in the Egyptian Nile valley may be described as the result of a union between the autochthonous inhabitants and the Hamitic tribes which, advancing from the Red Sea, entered the country from regions to the S. and S.E. of Upper Egypt. After a long interval of time the ancient dwellers on the Nile were subjected to new modifications,

arising from the predatory attacks of a race that had attained a higher level of civilization. This latter race must have started from the valley of the Euphrates, otherwise it would not have been able to introduce into Egypt, as it did, the knowledge of wheat and barley and the art of cultivating them with the plough, the knowledge of copper, bronze, and various metallurgical processes, and perhaps also a religious system of its own and even the art of writing. The net result of the whole historical process was Egyptian civilization as it existed under the Pharaohs.

THE MODERN EGYPTIANS. The population of Egypt is composed of the following ten different elements.

(1). The FELLAHIN (fellâḥîn, sing. fellâḥ), the ‘tillers’ or ‘peasants’, with whom must be reckoned the Coptic peasants of Upper Egypt, form the bulk of the population and may be regarded as the sinews of the national strength. They are generally slightly above the middle height; their bones, and particularly their skulls, are strong and massive; and their wrists and ankles are powerful and somewhat clumsy. In all these respects the fellahin, like their domestic animals, contrast strongly with the inhabitants of the desert. Notwithstanding this largeness of frame, however, the fellah never grows fat. The women and girls are particularly remarkable for their slender build. The men generally keep their heads shaved, but the hair of the soldiers and the long tresses of the girls, though always black and thick, is smooth and wavy, seldom curly. The hair on the faces of the men is scantier and more curly.

The chief peculiarity of the Egyptians is the remarkable closeness of their eyelashes on both lids, forming a dense, double, black fringe, which gives so animated an expression of their almond-shaped eyes. The very ancient and still existing custom of blackening the edges of the eyelids with antimony (‘koḥl’), which is said to serve a sanitary purpose, contributes to enhance this natural expression. The eyebrows are always straight and smooth, never bushy. The mouth is wide and thick-lipped, and very different from that of the Beduin or inhabitant of the oases. The high cheek-bones, the receding forehead, the lowness of the bridge of the nose, which is always distinctly separated from the forehead, and the flatness of the nose itself, are the chief characteristics of the Egyptian skull; but, as the jaws project less than those of most of the other African coloured races, it has been assumed that the skull is Asiatic, and not African in shape. The Egyptian peasantry have a much darker complexion than their compatriots in the towns, and their colour deepens as we proceed southwards, from the pale brown of the inhabitant of the Delta to the dark bronze hue of the Upper Egyptians. There is, however, a difference between the tint of the Nubians and that of the Upper Egyptians, even where they live in close contiguity, the former being more of a reddish-brown. In the ancient representations women are painted yellow and men

red, merely because the former were paler owing to their indoor life, while the men were browned by labouring in the open air (Virchow).

The dwelling of the fellah is of a miserably poor description, consisting generally of four low walls formed of crude bricks of Nile mud, and thatched with a roof of durra straw, on which the poultry roost. In the interior are a few mats, a sheepskin, several baskets made of matting, a copper kettle, and a few earthenware pots and wooden dishes. But the railway-traveller, passing through the Delta for the first time, must not suppose that the miserable, ruinous huts that meet his eye are typical of all peasants' dwellings in Egypt. In Central and Upper Egypt he will obtain a much more favourable impression. The fact is, that beneath an Egyptian sky, houses are not of the same paramount importance as in more northern regions, all that is wanted being shelter for the night. The day is spent in the open air, on the court in front of the hut, shaded by acacia trees, among whose branches the pigeons coo. Here the fellah spends his ‘keif’ or leisure (p. xxvi), chatting with his neighbours and spinning wool from a spindle that he turns in his hand.

The poorer peasant's mode of life is frugal in the extreme. His meals may be summarily characterized as ‘short, scant, and bad’. The staple of his food consists of a peculiar kind of bread made of sorghum flour in Upper Egypt, or of maize in the Delta, wheaten bread being eaten by the wealthier only. This poor kind of bread often has a greenish colour, owing to an admixture of flour made from the kernels of Fœnum Græcum (see below). Next in importance in the bill of fare are broad beans (fûl). For supper, however, even the poorest cause a hot repast to be prepared. This usually consists of a highly salted sauce made of onions and butter, or in the poorer houses of onions and linseed or sesame oil. Into this sauce, which in summer acquires a gelatinous consistency by the addition of the universal bamyas (the capsular fruit of the Hibiscus) and various herbs, each member of the family dips pieces of bread held in the fingers. Both in town and country, goats’, sheep's, or buffaloes' milk also forms a daily article of food, but always in a sour condition or half converted into cheese, and in very moderate quantities only. In the height of summer the consumption of fruit of the cucumber and pumpkin species, which the land yields in abundance, is enormous. In spring large quantities of lettuce, radish-leaves, and similar green vegetables are eaten; and the lower classes consume, for medical purposes during January and February, considerable amounts of Fœnum Græcum, a clover-like plant with a somewhat disagreeable odour (p. lv). In the month of Ramaḍân alone (p. lxxiv), when a rigorous fast is observed during the day, and on the three days of the great Bairam festival (Ḳurbân Beirâm), even the poorest members of the community indulge in meat, and it is customary to distribute that rare luxury to beggars at these seasons.

The dress of the Egyptian peasant calls for little remark, especially as he usually works in the fields divested of everything except a scanty apron. The chief articles of his wardrobe at other times are an indigo-dyed cotton shirt (ḳamîṣ), a pair of short and wide cotton breeches, a kind of cloak of brown, home-spun goats' wool (ʽabâyeh), or simply a blanket of sheep's wool (ḥirâm), and lastly a close-fitting felt skull-cap (libdeh). He is generally barefooted, but occasionally wears pointed red (markûb), or broad yellow shoes (balgheh). The sheikhs and wealthier peasants wear wide, black woollen cloaks and the thick red ‘Tunisian’ fez (ṭarbûsh) with a blue silk tassel, round which they coil a turban (ʽimmeh; usually white). In their hands they usually carry a long and thick stick (nâbûṭ), made of ash imported from Caramania. All watchmen carry similar sticks as a badge of office.

The sole wealth of Egypt is derived from its agriculture, and to the fellahin alone is committed the important task of tilling the soil. They are, indeed, neither fitted nor inclined for other work, a circumstance which proves how completely the stationary character of the ancient Egyptians has predominated over the restless Arabian blood, which has been largely infused into the native population ever since the valley of the Nile was conquered by the armies of El-Islâm. The ancient Egyptian racial type has been preserved in extraordinary purity in many fellah families, especially in Upper Egypt. This is particularly evident in the case of the children and women, whose features are not concealed and distorted by veils (which the ancient Egyptians despised). Even among the Nubians (p. xli), between the first and second cataracts, faces occur that might almost lead us to think that some of the pictures of the period of the old Pharaohs had come to life, and stood before us in flesh and blood. [In Lower Egypt, and especially in the Delta, the Semitic type has sometimes prevailed over the African in consequence of the steady stream of Arab immigration that has now been flowing for more than a thousand years.] The modern Egyptians, moreover, resemble the ancient in character and in the lot to which they are condemned. In ancient times the fellah, pressed into the service of the priests and the princes, was compelled to yield up to them the fruits of his toil, and his position is nearly the same at the present day, save that the names of his masters are changed, and he has obtained some relief owing to the almost entire abolition of compulsory work.

In early life the Egyptian peasant is remarkably docile, active, and intelligent, but at a later period this freshness and buoyancy are crushed out of him by care and poverty and his never-ceasing task of filling the pitcher of the Danaïdes. He ploughs and reaps, toils and amasses, but he cannot with certainty regard his crops as his own, and the hardly earned piastre is too frequently wrested from him. His character, therefore, becomes like that of a gifted child, who has been harshly used and brought up to domestic slavery, but

at length perceives that he has been treated with injustice, and whose amiability and intelligence are then superseded by sullenness and obstinacy. Thus down to a few years ago, as in the time of Ammianus Marcellinus, the fellah would often suffer the most cruel blows in dogged silence rather than pay the taxes demanded of him.

In his own fields the fellah is an industrious labourer, and his work is more continuous than that of the peasant of more northern countries. He enjoys no period of repose during the winter, and the whole of his spare time is occupied in drawing water for the irrigation of the land. Notwithstanding his hard lot, however, he is an entire stranger to any endeavour to better his condition or to improve his system of farming. As soon as he has accomplished the most necessary tasks he rests and smokes, and trusts that Allah will do the remainder of his work for him. The fellah is generally of a peaceful disposition, kindly and helpful to his neighbour. Foreigners can see his best side only by observing his dealings with his fellows; for he regards strangers as merely so many convenient sources of profit (comp. p. xxiii).

(2). COPTS (ḳibṭ, ʽibṭ). While we have regarded the fellahin as genuine Egyptians in consequence of their uninterrupted occupation of the soil, the religion of the Copts affords us an additional guarantee for the purity of their descent. The Copts are undoubtedly the most direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians, there being no ground for the assumption that their ancestors were foreign immigrants who embraced Christianity after the conquest of the country by the Mohammedans, while on the other hand the obstinacy with which they defended their monophysite Christianity for several centuries against the inroads of the creed of Byzantium affords another indication of their Egyptian character. At the last census (1897) the number of Copts in Egypt was 609,511.† They are most numerous in the towns of Upper Egypt (484, 770), around the ancient Koptos, at Naḳâdeh, Luxor, Esna, Dendera, Girga, Ṭahṭa, and particularly at Assiûṭ and Akhmîm. A large proportion of the population of all these places is Coptic. † The total number of Christians in Egypt in 1897 was 731,235, including 645,755 Orthodox, 61,051 Roman Catholics, and 24,129 Protestants.

The Coptic Patriarch is elected from their own number by the monks of the five chief monasteries of Egypt. These are the monasteries of St. Anthony and St. Paul in the eastern desert (p. 206), the two in the valley of the Natron Lakes, and the convent of Muharaḳ (p. 203), near Manfalût.

Most of the Copts that dwell in towns are engaged in the more refined handicrafts (as watchmakers, goldsmiths, jewellers, embroiderers, tailors, weavers, cabinet-makers, turners, etc.), or in trade, or as clerks, accountants, and notaries. Their physique is accordingly materially different from that of the fellahin and even from that of Coptic peasants. They are generally of more delicate frame, with small hands and feet; their necks are longer and their

skulls are higher and narrower than those of the peasantry; and, lastly, their complexion is fairer. These differences are sufficiently accounted for by their mode of life; for, when we compare those Copts who are engaged in rustic pursuits, or the Coptic camel drivers of Upper Egypt, with the fellahin, we find that the two races are not distinguishable from each other. This dualism of type in bodily structure, which is common to all civilized lands of the South, has also been recognized in the skeletons of the ancient mummies.

Few nations in the East embraced the Gospel more zealously than the dwellers on the Nile. Accustomed as they had long been to regard life as a pilgrimage to death, as a school of preparation for another world, and weary of their motley and confused Pantheon of divinities, whose self-seeking priesthood designedly disguised the truth, they eagerly welcomed the simple doctrines of Christianity, which appeared so well adapted to their condition and promised them succour and redemption. Like Eutyches, they revered the divine nature of the Saviour only, in which they held that every human element was absorbed; and when the Council of Chalcedon in 451 sanctioned the doctrine that Christ combined a human with a divine nature, the Egyptians, with their characteristic tenacity adhered to their old views, and formed a sect termed Eutychians, or Monophysites, to which the Copts of the present day, and also the Abyssinians, still belong.

The name of the Copts is an ethnical one, being simply an Arabic corruption of the Greek name of Egyptians. The theory is now exploded that they derive their name from a certain itinerant preacher named Jacobus, who according to Maḳrîzi was termed El-Berâdiʽi, or ‘blanket-bearer’, from the old horse-cloth worn by him when he went about preaching. This Jacobus promulgated the monophysite doctrine of Eutyches, which had found its most zealous supporter in Dioscurus, a bishop of Alexandria, who was declared a heretic and banished after the Council of Chalcedon; and his disciples were sometimes called Jacobites. If this name had ever been abbreviated in Cobit or Cobt, it would probably have occurred frequently in the writings of Monophysites; but there we find no trace of it. It is, on the other hand, quite intelligible that the word Copt, though originally synonymous with Egyptian, should gradually have come to denote a particular religious sect; for, at the period when the valley of the Nile was conquered by Amr, the native Egyptians, who almost exclusively held the monophysite creed, were chiefly distinguished by their religion from their invaders, who brought a new religious system from the East.

These Egyptian Christians strenuously opposed the resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, and thousands of them sacrificed their lives or their welfare in the fierce and sanguinary conflicts of the 6th century, the causes of which were imperfectly understood by the great majority of the belligerents. The subtle dogmatic differences which gave rise to these wars aroused such hatred among these professors of the religion of love, that the defeated Monophysites readily welcomed the invading armies of El-Islâm, or perhaps even invited them to their country.

After the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs (p. 39) the Copts were at first treated with lenity, and were even appointed to the highest government offices; but they were soon doomed to suffer persecutions and privations of every description. These persecutions were mainly due to their unbounded arrogance and their perpetual conspiracies against their new masters, and their Mohammedan contemporaries even attributed to them the disastrous conflagrations from which the new capital of the country so frequently suffered (p. 40). Their hopes were doomed to bitter disappointment, and their national pride to utter humiliation. Their conquerors succeeded in maintaining their position, and though apparently at first inclined to moderation, were at length driven by the conduct and the previous example of the Copts themselves to persecute and oppress them to the uttermost.

In spite, however, of all these disasters, a numerous community of Copts has always existed in Egypt, a fact which is mainly to be accounted for by the remarkable tenacity and constancy of the Egyptian character. Owing, however, to the continual oppression and contempt to which they have been subjected, they have degenerated in every respect, while their character has been correspondingly altered. Their divine worship will strike the traveller as strange, and anything but edifying or elevating (comp. p. 102). It is true that the Copt is a regular attendant at church (‘kenîseh’), but his conduct while there and the amount of benefit he receives are somewhat questionable. In the service the Coptic language, i.e. the language of the Egyptians of the 3rd cent. A.D., is used for praying and chanting. The priests themselves, as a rule, though able to read this ancient speech, rarely understand it. Since the 6th cent. the doctrine of the Jacobites has been in a state of deathlike lethargy which has made even the slightest attempt at further development impossible. In no other religious community is fasting so common as among the Christians of Egypt and Abyssinia. They still found their creéd upon Old Testament institutions, and so show pretty clearly that had Christianity been confined to the East it would never have become the chief religion of the world. The Coptic church has not even training-colleges for its ministers.

The traveller may distinguish the Copts from the Arabs by their dark turbans, which are generally blue or black, and their dark-coloured clothes. This costume was originally prescribed by their oppressors, and they still take a pride in it as a mark of their origin, though now permitted to dress as they please. A practised eye will also frequently detect among them the ancient Egyptian cast of features. Towards strangers the Copt is externally obliging, and when anxious to secure their favour he not unfrequently appeals to his Christian creed as a bond of union. Many Copts have recently been converted to Protestantism by American missionaries, particularly in Upper Egypt, chiefly through the foundation of good schools and the distribution of cheap Arabic Bibles. Even the

orthodox Copts have a great reverence for the sacred volume, and it is not uncommon to meet with members of their sect who know the whole of the Gospels by heart. The Roman propaganda, which was begun by Franciscans at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th cent., has been less successful among the Copts. There are, however, a few small Roman Catholic communities in Upper Egypt (at Girga, Akhmîm, and Naḳâdeh), forming the ‘Church of the Catholic Copts’, whose patriarch at Alexandria, Cyrillos II., consecrated in 1899, is a native Copt. The patriarch of the old Copts is also named Cyrillos.

3. BEDUINS. Bidu (sing. badawy) is the name applied to the nomadic Arabs, and ʽArab (sing. ʽArabi) to those who immigrated at a later period and settled in the valley of the Nile. They both differ materially from the dwellers in towns and from the fellahin. The subdivisions of the Beduin tribes are called Ḳabîleh. Though differing greatly in origin and language, the wandering tribes of Egypt all profess Mohammedanism. Again, while some of them have immigrated from Arabia or Syria, partly in very ancient, and partly in modern times, and while others are supposed to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the territories claimed by them (as the Berbers of N. Africa and the Ethiopians and Blemmyes of Nubia), or former dwellers on the Nile expelled from their homes by foreign invaders, they all differ greatly from the stationary Egyptian population; and this contrast is accounted for by the radical difference between the influences of the desert and those of the Nile valley.

According to the census of 1897 there were 601,427 Beduins within the limits of Egypt, of whom 530,955 were settled to towns and villages.

The Beduins may be divided into two leading groups: (1) Beduins in the narrower sense, i.e. Arabic-speaking tribes, most of whom have probably immigrated from Arabia or Syria, and who occupy the deserts adjoining Central and Northern Egypt; (2) Beja, who range over the regions of Upper Egypt and Nubia situated between the Nile and the Red Sea, and extending to the frontiers of the Abyssinian mountains. These are the descendants of the ancient Blemmyes (p. 376; their territory being known as ‘Edbai’). The two principal races of the second group, with whom alone we have to deal as inhabitants of Egypt, are the Bishârîn and the ʽAbâbdeh. They are widely scattered in the valleys of the desert (pp. 367 et seq.), between the tropics and the latitude of Ḳena and Ḳoṣeir, and lead a poverty-stricken life with their very scanty stock of camels and goats. Though closely resembling the other Beja tribes in appearance, the ‘Abâbdeh (sing. ‘Abâdi, probably the Gebadaei of Pliny) possess an original language of their own (‘to-bedjawîych’), which, however, they have long since exchanged for bad Arabic. They have also adopted the costume of the fellahin, while the Bishârîn tend their large flocks of sheep and herds of camels in a half-naked

condition, girded with a leathern apron and wrapped in a kind of blanket (melâyeh). All these ‘Ethiopians’ are remarkable for their fine and almost Caucasian cast of features, their very dark, bronze-coloured complexion, and their luxuriant growth of hair, which they wear loose, or hanging down in numberless plaits over their necks and shoulders. Their figures are beautifully symmetrical, and more or less slender in accordance with their means of subsistence, and their limbs are gracefully and delicately formed. In other respects they resemble all the other children of the desert, as in the purity of their complexion, the peculiar thinness of their necks, and the premature wrinkling of the skin of their faces. Compared with their bold and quarrelsome neighbours the Bishârîn, the ‘Abâbdeh are exceedingly gentle and inoffensive.

Besides the Beja, there are numerous Beduins who inhabit the steppes and deserts belonging to the region of the Nile, but beyond the limits of Egypt, and range as far as the confines of the heathen negro-races on the left bank of the Nile, nearly to 9° N. latitude; but with these we have not at present to deal. As regards the Beduins proper of the N., their common home, the desert, seems to have exerted a unifying effect upon races that were originally different, and the peculiar characteristics of each have gradually disappeared before the uniform environment of all.

There are three important Beduin tribes in the peninsula of Mount Sinai: the Terâbiyîn; the Tîyâha, who occupy the heart of the peninsula, between Suez and ʽAḳaba; and the Sawârkeh or El-‘Arayîsh, to the north of the latter. In Upper Egypt, besides the ‘Abâbdeh, the only Beduins who occupy the eastern bank of the Nile are the Beni Waṣel and the Atwâni, who, however, have now settled on both banks of the Theban Nile valley and are gradually blending with the fellahin, and the Ma’âzeh, who dwell in groups among the limestone mountains between Suez and Ḳena, where there are good pastures at places. Most of the Arabian Beduins, on the other hand, who belong to Egypt, confine themselves to the western bank of the Nile. They occupy the whole of this side of the river from the Fayûm as far as Abydos near Girga, and it is mainly with their aid that communication is maintained with the western oases, peopled by a totally different race, who till the ground and possess no camels, being probably allied to the Berbers of Northern Africa (one of the numerous Libyan tribes mentioned in ancient inscriptions).

The Beduins of the North, and especially the tribe of the Ulâd ʽAli, have inherited with comparative purity the fiery blood of the desert-tribes, who achieved such marvellous exploits under the banner of the prophet, but the traveller will rarely come in contact with them unless he undertakes a journey across the desert. The Beduins who assist travellers in the ascent of the pyramids belong to the Nagâma tribe. Genuine Beduins are to be found nowhere

except in their desert home, where to a great extent they still retain the spirit of independence, the courage, and the restlessness of their ancestors. As in the time of Herodotus, the tent of the Beduin is still his home. Where it is pitched is a matter of indifference to him, if only the pegs which secure it be firmly driven into the earth, if it shelter his wife and child from the burning sunshine and the chilly night-air, and if pasturage-ground and a spring be within reach. At Ramleh on the coast, near Alexandria, the traveller will have an opportunity of seeing a whole colony of the poorest class encamped in their tents, where they live in the most frugal possible manner, with a few miserable goats and the fowls which subsist on the rubbish in their neighbourhood. Though professors of El-Islâm, they are considerably less strict in their observances than the fellahin of the valley of the Nile, who are themselves sufficiently lax, and above all they sadly neglect the religious duty of cleanliness. They do not observe the practice of praying five times a day, and they are as a rule but slightly acquainted with the Koran. Relics of their old star-worship can still be traced among their customs.

The traveller will occasionally observe Beduins in the streets and in the bazaars of the armourers and leather-merchants, and will be struck with the proud and manly bearing of these bronzed children of the desert, whose sharp, bearded features and steady gaze betoken firmness and resolution. In Egypt the traveller need not fear their predatory propensities.

(4). ARABIAN DWELLERS IN TOWNS. Those Arabs with whom the traveller usually comes in contact in towns are shopkeepers, officials, servants, coachmen, and donkey-attendants. These are generally of a much more mixed origin than the fellahin. It thus happens that the citizens of the Egyptian towns consist of persons of every complexion from dark-brown to white, with the features of the worshippers of Osiris or the sharp profile of the Beduins, and with the slender figure of the fellah or the corpulence of the Turk. Among the lower classes frequent intermarriage with negro-women has darkened the complexion and thickened the features of their offspring; while the higher ranks, being descended from white slaves or Turkish mothers, more nearly resemble the European type. As the inhabitants of the towns could not be so much oppressed by their rulers as the peasantry, we find that they exhibit a more independent spirit, greater enterprise, and a more cheerful disposition than the fellahin. At the same time they are not free from the dreamy character peculiar to Orientals, nor from a tinge of the apathy of fatalism; and their indolence contrasts strongly with the industry of their European rivals in political, scientific, artistic, and all business pursuits. The townspeople profess Islamism, but, in their youth particularly, they are becoming more and more lax in their obedience to the Koran. Thus the custom of praying in public, outside the house-doors and shops, is gradually falling into disuse. The

European dress, moreover, is gradually superseding the Oriental, though the latter is far more picturesque, and better suited to the climate. On the whole, however, they are bigoted Mohammedans, and share the contempt with which the fellahin regard all other religions. Their daily intercourse with unbelievers and their dread of the power of the Christian nations tend, however, to keep their fanaticism, which otherwise would be unbounded, in check, and has even induced them to admit strangers to witness the sacred ceremonies in their mosques.

(5). NUBIANS. The name Barâbra (sing. Berberi) is applied to the Nubian inhabitants of the Nile valley between the neighbourhood of Assuân and the Fourth Cataract. The Egyptians and Nubians are radically different, and the dislike between the two races is carried to such an extent that Nubians never marry Egyptian wives. The Nubians are inferior to the Egyptians in industry and energy, especially in tilling the soil, and in physical (and perhaps also in intellectual) vigour; and they are more superstitious and fanatical, as is indicated by the numerous amulets they wear round their necks and arms. They are, however, superior to the Egyptians in cleanliness, honesty, and subordination, and possess a more highly developed sense of honour. The traveller must not expect to find them very sincerely attached or grateful, any more than the native Egyptians, but as servants they are certainly preferable. The Nubian language, which is divided into the three dialects of Kenûs, Mahâs, and Dongola, belongs to a special group of the African tongues; and Dr. Brugsch is of opinion that it may afford a clue to the interpretation of the still undeciphered Meroitic inscriptions of the Nubian part of the Nile valley.

Those Nubians who do not learn Arabic grammatically never speak it thoroughly well; but it is generally, though imperfectly, understood in Nubia. The traveller must therefore not expect to learn good Arabic from his Nubian servants. In their native country the Nubians till the banks of the Nile, but their land is of very limited extent and poorly cultivated; and as their harvests are scanty they are rarely able to support large families. They accordingly often emigrate at an early age to the richer lands of Egypt, chiefly to the large towns, in quest of employment. When the Nubian has succeeded in amassing a moderate fortune, he returns to settle in his native country, of which throughout his whole career he never entirely loses sight. They are most commonly employed as doorkeepers (bauwâb), as house-servants (khaddâm), as grooms and runners (sâis), for which their swiftness renders them unrivalled, as coachmen (ʽarbagi), and as cooks (ṭabbâkh). Each of these five classes is admirably organized as a kind of guild, with a sheikh of its own, who levies a tax from each member, and guarantees the character and abilities of members when hired. Thefts are very rarely committed by the Nubians, but in cases of the kind the sheikh compels the whole of his subjects to contribute to repair the

loss, and cases have been known in which several hundred pounds have been recovered in this way. The result is that there is a strict mutual system of supervision, and suspected characters are unceremoniously excluded from the fraternity. Nubian women are seldom seen in Egypt.

(6.) SUDÂN NEGROES. Like the Nubians, most of the negroes in Egypt are professors of El-Islâm, to the easily intelligible doctrines of which they readily and zealously attach themselves. Most of the older negroes and negresses with whom the traveller meets have originally been brought to Egypt as slaves, and belong to natives, by whom they are treated more like members of the family than like servants. Although every slave who desires to be emancipated may now with the aid of government sever the ties which bind him to his master, most of the negroes prefer to remain on the old footing with the family which supports them and relieves them of the anxiety of providing for themselves. The eunuchs, who also belong almost exclusively to the negro races, very seldom avail themselves of this opportunity of regaining their liberty, as their emancipation would necessarily terminate the life of ease and luxury in which they delight. Under the present government slavery is very rapidly approaching complete extinction in Egypt, chiefly in consequence of the growing preference of the wealthy for paid servants. — The negroes who voluntarily settle in Egypt, constituting a body of considerable size, form the dregs of the people and are employed in the most menial offices.

Most of the negro-races of Central Africa to the N. of the equator are represented at Cairo, particularly in the rank and file of the negro regiments.

(7). TURKS. Although the dynasty of the viceroys of Egypt is of Turkish origin (see p. xcvi), a comparatively small section of the community belongs to that nation. According to the census of 1897 there are 40,126 Turks in Egypt, but among these are reckoned Turkish subjects from every part of the Ottoman empire. Only a few are genuine Osmanlis. The Turks of Egypt are chiefly to be found in the towns, where most of them are government-officials, soldiers, and merchants. The Turkish language is little understood in Egypt.

(8) LEVANTINES, SYRIANS, etc. A link between the various classes of dwellers in Egypt and the visitors to the banks of the Nile is formed by the members of the various Mediterranean races, especially the Christian Syrians, known when of partly European origin as Levantines, who have been settled here for several generations, and form no inconsiderable element in the population of the larger towns. Most of them profess the Latin form of Christianity, and Arabic has now become their mother tongue, although those of European descent generally also speak French, Italian, or English. They are apt linguists, learning the European languages with great rapidity, and good men of business, and owing to these qualities.

they are often employed as shopmen and clerks. Their services have also become indispensable at the consulates and in several of the government-offices. A large proportion of them are wealthy. The Egyptian press is almost exclusively in the hands of Syrian Levantines.

(9). ARMENIANS AND JEWS. This section of the community is somewhat less numerous than the last. The Armenians generally possess excellent abilities, and a singular aptitude for learning both Oriental and European languages, which they often acquire with great grammatical accuracy. They often hold high positions in the service of government, and many of them are wealthy goldsmiths and jewellers.

The Jews are met with almost exclusively in Cairo and Alexandria, and can hardly be reckoned as among the natives of the country. Most of them are from Palestine, though of Spanish origin, but many have recently immigrated from Roumania. The latter are popularly called ‘Shilikht’, in reference to the barbarous German idiom they speak. Most of the money-changers in the streets (ṣarrâf), and many of the wealthiest merchants of Egypt, are Jews, and notwithstanding the popular prejudice entertained against them, they now form one of the most highly respected sections of the community.

(10). EUROPEANS. The number of European residents and visitors in Egypt was 112,574 in 1897, inclusive of the British army of occupation. The Greeks are most numerously represented, then the Italian, British (including Indians and Maltese), French, Austrians (including many Dalmatians), and Germans. The numerous Swiss residents in Egypt, who are not represented by a consul of their own, are distributed among the above leading classes (French, Italian, German). Besides these nationalities, there are also a few representatives of Russia, America, Belgium, Scandinavia, and other countries. Each of the above leading nationalities shows a preference for one or more particular occupations, in which they sometimes enjoy a complete monopoly. The Greeks of all classes are generally traders. They constitute the aristocracy of Alexandria, and the small inn-keepers and victual-dealers (baḳḳâl) in all the other towns are mostly Greeks. They are the proprietors of the small steam-mills that abound in the villages, and of the numerous small banks which lend money on good security, both to the peasantry and the government-officials, at a rate of interest sometimes amounting to 6 per cent monthly, the maximum permitted by law. The Greeks are the only Europeans who have established themselves permanently as merchants beyond the confines of Egypt proper. Almost the entire trade with the Egyptian Sudân is now in their hands. Of recent years many Greeks have been active as physicians, lawyers, engineers, architects, and land-owners, but they are conspicuous by their absence from the government-service. The Greeks also have the unenviable notoriety of committing numerous murders, thefts, and other crimes, but it must be borne in

mind that they are by far the most numerous section of the European community (about 150,000 in Egypt and the Sudân), and that most of them belong to the lowest class of immigrants. The commercial superiority of the Greeks to the Orientals is nowhere so strikingly manifested as in Egypt, where it affords a modern reflex of their ancient success in colonization.

The Italian residents, 24,457 in number, consist chiefly of traders of a humble class, advocates, and musicians, from the operatic singer down to the Calabrian itinerant. Of French nationality (14,172) are all the artisans of the higher class, who are generally noted for their skill, trustworthiness, and sobriety, and indeed form the most respectable stratum of the European community. Most of the better shops are kept by Frenchmen, and the chief European officials of the government, including several architects and engineers, were until recently French. The British settlers numbered 6118 in 1882 and in 1897 about 14,650 (exclusive of the troops). Until recently their specialities were the manufacture of machinery and the construction of railways and harbours; but of late they have also almost monopolized the chief posts in those branches of the administration (army, post and telegraph office, railways, custom-house) that have been remodelled after the European pattern. A large majority of the residents who enjoy the protection of the British consulate are Maltese (6481) and to them apply even more forcibly most of the remarks already made regarding the Greeks. It has been ascertained that the Maltese settlers in foreign countries are more numerous than those resident in their two small native islands, and of these a considerable proportion belongs to Egypt. At home, under the discipline of British institutions, they form a pattern little nation of their own, but in Egypt, where they are freed from the restraint of these influences, they are very apt to degenerate and to swell unduly the ranks of the criminal class. Many of the Maltese, however, are enterprising tradesmen and industrious artisans, such as shoemakers and joiners. To the Austrian (7115) and German (1281) community belong a number of merchants of the best class, many physicians and teachers, inn-keepers, musicians, and lastly humble handicraftsmen.

With regard to the capability of Europeans of becoming acclimatized in Egypt, there are a number of widely divergent opinions. Much, of course, must depend on the nature of the climate of their own respective countries. It has been asserted that European families settled in Egypt die out in the second or third generation, but of this there is no sufficient proof, as the European community is of very recent origin, and many examples to the contrary might be cited. Moreover as the Europeans in Egypt dwell exclusively in the large cities, they do not afford very conclusive evidence on the general question; for city life, as opposed to country life, is even less propitious to human health and vigour in warm countries than

it is in northern climes. Thus the Mamelukes have left no descendants in Egypt. The climate of Egypt (comp. p. lviii) is less enervating than that of most other hot countries, an advantage attributed to the dryness of the air.

c. The Nile. By Captain H. G. Lyons.

From the sources of the Nyavarongo, a tributary of the Kagera River, to the sea the Kagera-Nile is the second longest continuous waterway in the world (4037 M.), being surpassed only by the Mississippi-Missouri, which is probably about 100 M. longer. From the Ripon Falls in Lake Victoria to the sea the distance is 3473 M., so that the Nile proper is the longest single river in the world, the Yang-tse-kiang probably coming next.

Rising to the N. E. of Lake Tanganyika, the waters of the Nyavarongo-Kagera flow into the great Victoria Lake, on the N. shore of which, at the Ripon Falls, begins the true Nile. After a course of 242 M. this enters the Albert Lake. From the point, under the name of the Baḥr et-Gebel, it traverses a rocky channel as far as Gondokoro, and it then flows for 470 M. through the swamps which fill the valley and provide the reeds and grasses of the ‘sudd’, or mass of vegetation which from time to time blocks the channel. In latitude 9° 30° N. the main stream receives two tributaries, the Baḥr el-Ghazâl and the Baḥr ez-Zarâfeh, and a little farther on it is joined by the important Sobat River, to which the annual flood of the White Nile is due. From this point to Kharṭûm the Baḥr el-Abyaḍ or ‘White Nile’, as it is here called, flows through a shallow valley of considerable width, until it is joined by the Baḥr el-Azraḳ, i. e. the ‘blue’, ‘dark’, or ‘turbid’ Nile, so called, in contradistinction to the White Nile, the ‘clear’ water of which has been filtered in its passage through the marshes of the Baḥr el-Gebel or has deposited its silt in the upper reaches of the Sobat. Between Kharṭûm and the Mediterranean, a distance of 1900 M., the Nile receives no further addition to its supply except from the river Atbara, while it is being continually diminished by evaporation, by percolation into the sandstone of the desert through which it flows, and by the irrigation of its flood-plains in Egypt.

As practically no rain falls within its limits, Egypt would cease to exist as a fertile country and would become a desert valley, similar to those of the Sahara, were it not for its constant supply of water from the Nile. Thus the all-important annual INUNDATION of that river merits special notice as the great event of the Egyptian year.

The heavy rains which fall from June to September on the Abyssinian tableland cause the Blue Nile and the Atbara to rise rapidly, and their waters carry down in suspension vast quantities of the mud which has during many centuries formed the fertile valley and

delta of Egypt, and of which a layer is still deposited annually on all the inundated area. The volume of the Blue Nile flood, which may reach and even exceed 350,000 cubic feet per second, holds back the waters of the White Nile above the junction of the two streams, so that in August and September the waters of the Baḥr el-Gebel and the Sobat are penned up in the White Nile valley and contribute only a very small share to the inundation of the Nile proper. The rains of Abyssinia may therefore be regarded as practically regulating the height of the inundation of the Nile, and it is their variations which occasion the fluctuation from year to year. The region of the equatorial lakes has no effect whatever on the flood.

The Nile begins to rise at Kharṭûm about the middle of May, and at Assuân by the beginning of June, reaching its maximum height at both places about the end of the first week in September. The mean difference between the highest and lowest stages of the river is 21 ft. at Kharṭûm, 20 ft. at Ḥalfa, 23 ft. at Assuân, 22 ft. at Assiûṭ, and 22 ft. at Minia. Below the last - named point controlling works prevent the normal rise of the river from being experienced; at Cairo to-day the average rise is 16 ft. After the flood has reached its maximum height the Blue Nile falls rapidly, but the water of the White Nile, which is now liberated, prevents too rapid a fall of the river below Kharṭûm. By January the Blue Nile supply has diminished to a small amount, while that of the White Nile is several times as great, and this state of affairs continues until June, when the Blue Nile again rises. Thus, for these five months the mainstay of the Nile supply is the constant quantity furnished by the White Nile, amounting to some 14,000 cubic ft. per second, supplemented by a quantity from the Sobat River and the Blue Nile, which varies from year to year according to the amount of the summer and autumn rains of Abyssinia in the preceding year. But this amount is insufficient to meet the needs of agriculture in Egypt during the months of May, June, and July, so that in recent years several large works have been constructed in order to store up the surplus water in November, December, and January for distribution in the later months before the arrival of the flood. The dam at Assuân stores in the Nile valley above it such surplus water, which is supplied when the river at its low stage is insufficient; at Assiûṭ a barrage across the river renders it possible to raise the upstream water-level so that the water can at all times flow into the great distributing channel, the Ibrâhîmîyeh Canal, while below Cairo the Delta Barrage does the same for the three main delta-canals, the Taufîḳîyeh, the Menûfîyeh, and the Beḥeireh.

In the most ancient times the Nile flooded its valley annually, and crops were sown on the mud flats left by the water as it subsided. A system of irrigation was, however, soon developed by which the flood-water, with its load of rich earth, was led by canals into basins enclosed by earthen banks, in which it deposited its

sediment, and this water was allowed to escape again when the river had fallen sufficiently.

On the soil to which this rich mud was annually added, crops grew luxuriantly. These were harvested in April and May, after which time land in the neighbourhood of the river or where there were wells could alone be cultivated until November after the next flood. Of recent years, however, especially since Mohammed Ali introduced cotton cultivation into the Delta, a great change has taken place. It is no longer in the flood-season alone that water is supplied to the land, but canals have been excavated and numerous regulating works constructed by means of which water is supplied to the Delta at such a level as to flow on to the cultivated land at all seasons, thus allowing a series of crops to be raised throughout the year. By the construction of the Assuân Dam and the Assiûṭ Barrage this system of perennial irrigation has been extended to the provinces of Assiûṭ, Minia, and Benisueif in Middle Egypt, and Gizeh will also be included shortly. The effect of this modification is to diminish to some extent the importance of the high floods, except for the southern provinces which still have basin-irrigation, but to enhance enormously the value of a favourable low-stage supply, since in April, May, June, and July, when the supply of water is lowest, a very large proportion of the country from Assiûṭ to the sea is bearing crops, principally cotton, the most valuable crop of the year. Good Abyssinian rains, especially if continuing strongly into September and October, are the most favourable conditions for the agriculture of to - day, as the Sobat and the Blue Nile then furnish an increased amount in the spring-months to supplement the White Nile supply until the new flood arrives. In the inundation season the sluice-gates of the Assuân dam are fully open, and the red-brown flood rushes through them towards the plains of Egypt, over which its waters are carried by main canals, such as the Sohâgîyeh and the Ibrâhîmîyeh, as well as by numerous smaller ones. When the basins are filled up to a sufficient level, the water is left in them for about 40 days, to deposit its suspended mud and to soak the ground thoroughly. The perennially irrigated lands of the provinces of Middle Egypt and the Delta receive only so much water as the standing crops require, since these districts cannot be inundated. They, therefore, under the present intensive cultivation receive a very much smaller amount of mud from the flood-water than the land which has basin-irrigation, and this has to be compensated by extensive manuring. Another effect of increased perennial irrigation is that exceptionally high floods become increasingly difficult to deal with, since so large a volume of water as that which formerly filled the basins is no longer required for that purpose in districts where the land is cultivated throughout the year, and therefore a larger volume has to be carried to the sea, increasing the risk of damage in the Delta through the failure of any part of the banks

which control the flood in the Rosetta and Damietta branches. The former of these arms is now being remodelled to increase its capacity as a flood-escape.

The breadth of the Nile valley is nowhere great, and only a portion of it is occupied by the cultivated alluvial plain, the rest consisting of desert-sands at too high a level to be reached by the inundation. In Nubia the cultivable land is restricted to isolated patches, while the valley is rarely as much as 2–3 M. wide; in Egypt it is wider, varying from 15 M. at Benisueif to 5 M. at Edfu, of which 13 M. and 4 M. respectively are cultivated.

The alluvial deposit which is annually brought down by the Nile in flood has accumulated in the course of centuries to an average depth of 35–40 ft., occasionally even more. In composition it varies slightly from place to place. As a rule it forms a good light soil, being rather above the average in potash, but deficient in nitrates. The view formerly held that it had a high manurial value was an exaggerated one, and it should be considered rather as a virgin soil which, added annually to the surface of the land, enables it to bear luxuriant crops year after year.

Every year during the flood a considerable deposit of silt takes place in the river-bed, part of which is carried away as the river falls, but the general result is that the bed of the Nile has been slowly rising by deposit at an average rate of about 4 inches per century for at least 5000 years and for a long period before this at some undeterminable rate. One consequence of this is that temples, which were built on the banks of the river, well above the annual inundation, are now below it, and foundations which were originally dry are now below the infiltration-level and in consequence have deteriorated.

This remarkable river has exercised a unique influence on the history of civilization. The necessity of controlling its course and utilizing its water taught the ancient Egyptians the art of river engineering and the kindred science of land-surveying, while in the starry heavens they beheld the eternal calendar which regulated the approach and the departure of the inundation, so that the river may perhaps have given the first impulse to the study of astronomy. As the annual overflow of the water obliterated all landmarks, it was necessary annually to measure the land anew, and to keep a register of the area belonging to each proprietor; and above all it became an important duty of the rulers of the people to impress them with a strong sense of the sacredness of property. Similar causes produced a like result in Babylonia. Every succeeding year, however, there arose new disputes, and these showed the necessity of establishing settled laws and enforcing judicial decisions. The Nile thus led to the foundation of social, legal, and political order.

Subsequently, when the engineers and architects, in the service of the state or in the cause of religion, erected those colossal structures with which we are about to become acquainted, it was the

Nile which materially facilitated the transport of their materials, and enabled the builders of the pyramids and the other ancient Egyptians to employ the granite of Assuân for the structures of Memphis, and even for those of Tanis, near the coast of the Mediterranean. As the river, moreover, not only afforded a convenient route for the transport of these building-materials, but also an admirable commercial highway, we find that the Egyptians had acquired considerable skill at a very early period in constructing vessels with oars, masts, sails, and even cabins and other appliances.

From the earliest historical period down to the present time the course of the Nile, from the cataracts down to its bifurcation to the N. of Cairo, has undergone very little change. This, however, is not the case with its EMBOUCHURES; for, while ancient writers mention seven (the Pelusiac, the Tanitic, the Mendesian, the Bucolic or Phatnitic, the Sebennytic, the Bolbitinic, and the Canopic), there are now practically two channels only through which the river is discharged into the sea. These are the mouths at Rosetta (Rashid) and Damietta (Dumyâṭ), situated near the middle of the Delta, while the Pelusiac and Canopic mouths, the most important in ancient times, lay at the extreme E. and W. ends of the coast respectively.

d. Geology of Egypt.

a. THE NILE VALLEY AND THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ . The building stone generally used at Alexandria is obtained from the quarries of Meks and on the coast to the E. of Alexandria. This is a calcareous light-coloured stone of the quaternary period, formed of fragments of shells and foraminifera, intermixed with oölitic granules and grains of quartz sand, or even with fine gravel. This rock forms low hills to the W. of Alexandria and the coast-strip from Alexandria to Abuḳir. In many places it is covered by sand-dunes and other recent formations.

The cultivated plains of the Delta and the Nile Valley consist of recent alluvial deposits, ranging from fine sand to the finest silt, laid down by the water of the annual inundation. Under these lie coarser yellowish sands and gravels of pleistocene age, which here and there reach the surface in the Delta as islands of sandy waste among the rich cultivation of the surrounding country. These are related to the later sand and gravel deposits on the neighbouring deserts, and to the traces of marine cliffs and beaches of the same period which may be seen on both sides of the valley at Cairo and at other places. At Abu Za’bal, on the Isma‘îlîyeh Canal, 20 M. from Cairo and to the N.E. of Nawa, occurs a low hill of basalt which supplies excellent road-metal for Cairo and Alexandria.

The N. portion of the Isthmus of Suez consist of the recent marine deposits of the Mediterranean, while in the central portion, near the low hill of El-Gisr and round Lake Timsâḥ, are deposits of the Nile

mud with fresh-water shells. To the S. of the Bitter Lakes are found marine quaternary deposits of the Red Sea.

Reefs of fossil coral of quaternary age occur over a large part of the coasts of the Gulf of Suez , and the highest of these are now 1000 ft. above the present sea-level, while five or six others occur at lower levels. The land here, or at least the coast line, must therefore have risen considerably in comparatively recent times, and the salines which are now forming appear to show that the movement has not yet ceased. The shores and islands of the Red Sea are today fringed with coral reefs which are most dangerous to shipping.

Sands and loams occur to the S. of the pyramids of Gizeh , and at numerous places on the E. side of the Nile valley between Cairo and Feshn, belonging, as is shown by the numerous fossils which they contain, to the pliocene age. The small valley immediately to the S. of the pyramids of Zâwyet el-‘Aryân has been cut out in these beds, and a rich collection of pliocene fossils may be made here. These deposits are intimately connected with the formation of the present valley in pliocene times, when it was at first a flord into which the waters of the Mediterranean flowed at least as far as Ḳena and perhaps even as far as Esna. In the time of the older miocene sea the Nile valley did not exist, but instead a large river flowed from a S.W. direction towards the region that is now Lower Egypt.

Te fluvio-marine deposits of Moghara (to the W. of the Wâdi Naṭrûn) and the silicified wood of the same district also belong to these miocene times, as do also the marine limestones of the plateau of Cyrenaica, to the N. of the Sîweh Oasis and on the E. edge of the Arabian Desert (at the foot of Gebel Geneifeh and Gebel ʽAtâḳa), and on the shore of the Gulf of Suez near Gebel Zeit.

The ‘Petrified Forest’ near Cairo consists of scattered fragments of the silicified stems of trees; and these, together with the red sandstone of Gebel el-Aḥmar and conical hills of the same material in the N. parts of the Arabian and Libyan deserts, are connected with the silicons thermal springs which bubbled forth amid the network of lagoons which existed in these parts in oligocene times. To the N. of the Birket Ḳarûn, in the Fayûm, these fossil trees are even more numerous, while in the sands of oligocene age innumerable bones of former terrestrial and marine mammals and reptiles have been found, which were carried down by the river and buried in its estuarine deposits. A fine collection of these fossil animals may be seen in the Geological Museum at Cairo.

The cliffs of the Nile valley above Cairo consist of middle and lower eocene limestone, containing numerous nummulites and other fossils. The strata are gently inclined to the N.N.W., so that the strata increase in age as we go towards the S.

To the S. of Edfu begins the upper cretaceous formation, here represented by the sandstone which at Gebel Silsileh forms steep walls of rock and confines the river in a narrow channel. This ‘Nubian

Sandstone’ covers an area of many thousand square miles, extending from the oases to the Sudân. At certain points, such as Assuân, Kalâbsheh, Ḥalfa, and the third and fourth cataracts, ridges of crystalline rocks (granite, gueiss, diorite, etc.) rise through it, and form black or reddish hills in sharp contrast to the low tabular masses of the sandstone.

b. In the ARABIAN or EASTERN DESERT (pp. 367 et seq.) a line of hills, some peaks of which are 7000 ft. in height, runs parallel to the Red Sea and at a short distance from it. This is wholly formed of crystalline rocks (granite, gneiss, diorite, hornblende-schist, micaschist, tale-schist, and the a’desites and allied rocks which form a great series of very ancient volcanic rocks, the Imperial porphyry of Gebel Dukhkhân being a well-known representative). The E. and W. slopes of this range are overlaid by sedimentary rocks, usually the Nubian sandstone, but also (in the N. part) by limestones and marls. These stretch away towards the W., forming a great plateau of limestone in the N. and of sandstone in the S., in which the Nile Valley forms a narrow trough. Numerous deeply eroded valleys give a characteristic appearance to the Eastern Desert. The open plains are almost bare of vegetation, but numerous plants may be seen in the valleys, especially after rain, while in the sheltered ravines among the hills where springs occur they grow luxuriantly.

c. the WESTERN or LIBYAN DESERT is totally different. The level limestone plateau, about 1000 ft. above the sea, extends to the W., its S. escarpment overlooking the lower plain of the Nubian sandstone to the S. In deep bays in this escarpment lie the oases of Khârgeh, Dâkhleh, and Farâfreh, while that of Baḥrîyeh is situated in a depression surrounded by the higher plateau. The plateau is waterless and practically devoid of vegetation, while isolated knolls show how rapidly the erosion of the desert-surface by wind is proceeding. In certain parts lines of sand-dunes 100–200 ft. high stretch across the desert plateau in a N.N.W. and S.S.E. direction, sometimes for several hundred miles with hardly a break. They are most developed to the W. of the oasis of Dakhleh. The floor of the oases of Khârgeh and Dâkhleh consists mostly of dark-coloured sands and clays of the upper cretaceous formation. Some beds contain alum and others are phosphatic. Springs well up at many points from a depth of about 400 ft. and furnish an abundant water-supply to the cultivated lands. Some of these rise through natural fissures and others through holes bored for the purpose.

To the S. of the oases lies the lower plain of the Nubian sandstone. This plain contains no hills of any importance, but presents a low rolling surface covered with blackened flint pebbles and concretions of iron and manganese oxide, while the silicified trunks of fossil trees are frequently met with. Yellow drift-sand is seen everywhere, but it is only occasionally that it forms du’es of any size.

The oasis of Farâfreh lies farther to the W., and to the N. and W. of it extends the plateau of eocene limestone as far as the oasis of Sîweh. The strata here are mostly of miocene age, and they contain numerous fossils, a fact recorded by Herodotus and Eratosthenes.

e. Agriculture and Vegetation.

I. CAPABILITIES OF THE SOIL. In the time of the Pharaohs the Egyptian agricultural year was divided into three equal parts, the period of the inundation (from the end of June to the end of October), that of the growing of the crops (from the end of October to the end of February), and that of the harvest (from the end of February to the end of June). At the present day there are two principal seasons, corresponding approximately to our summer and winter, besides which there is a short additional season, corresponding with the late summer or early autumn of the European year.

The land is extremely fertile, but it is not so incapable of exhaustion as it is sometimes represented to be. Many of the crops, as elsewhere, must occasionally be followed by a fallow period; others thrive only when a certain rotation is observed (such as wheat, followed by clover and beans); and some fields require to be artificially manured. Occasionally two crops are yielded by the same field in the same season (wheat and saffron, wheat and clover, etc.). The great extension within the last thirty or forty years of the cultivation of the sugar-cane, which requires a great deal of moisture, and of the cotton-plant, which requires much less, has necessitated considerable modifications in the modes of irrigation and cultivation hitherto in use. As both of these crops are of a very exhausting character, the land must either be more frequently left fallow, or must be artificially manured. The industry and powers of endurance of the Egyptian peasantry are thus most severely tried, although the homogeneous soil of the valley of the Nile requires less careful tilling and ploughing than ours. As the dung of the domestic animals is used as fuel throughout Egypt, where wood is very scarce, that of pigeons is almost the only kind available for agricultural purposes. One source of manure is afforded by the ruins of ancient towns, which were once built of unbaked clay, but now consist of mounds of earth, recognizable only as masses of ruins by the fragments of pottery they contain. Out of these mounds, which conceal the rubbish of thousands of years, is dug a kind of earth, known as Sabakh, sometimes containing as much as 12 per cent of nitrate of soda, potash, and chloride of soda. The valuable nitrates, however, usually form a very small proportion. So largely have these ancient sites been worked of late years, since intensive cultivation began, that they will be exhausted at no very distant date. When the inundation deposited a thick deposit of fresh mud on the basin-lands every year, and a single crop was raised off the greater part of the area, the land

could go on producing crops indefinitely, but now that most of the land is irrigated throughout the year a very small amount of the mud is deposited, while 2 or 2 ½ crops are raised annually. To meet this, manuring in a much more systematic manner than hitherto has now become necessary, but as yet few cultivators have fully realized this.

II. IRRIGATION. When Mohammed Ali introduced perennial irrigation into the Delta to enable cotton to be grown he made the first step of a change which has since advanced rapidly. He deepened canals and constructed the Delta Barrage , so that the cultivator might be able with moderate labour to obtain water for his crops throughout the year, instead of during and after the flood only. In 1890 the Barrage was repaired and the area of the Delta which was efficiently supplied was increased. In 1902 were completed the Assuân Reservoir and the Assiûṭ Barrage. The first of these works allows a reserve - supply of water to be kept to increase the insufficient supply of the river in May, June, and July, while the second enabled the water-level of the river at Assiûṭ to be raised until it flowed down the great Ibrâhîmîyeh Canal which supplied the provinces of Assiûṭ, Minia, Benisueif, and (through the Baḥr Yûsuf) the Fayûm. To-day, therefore, the whole of Egypt from Assiûṭ to the Mediterranean, with the exception of a strip of land along the edge of the Western Desert, the right bank of the Nile above Cairo, and the province of Gîzeh (which last, however, is on the point of being converted), has had its old system of flood-irrigation, i. e. a single watering by the annual inundation, replaced by a perennial supply furnished by innumerable canals and watercourses. But with this bountiful supply, means must be provided for carrying off the surplus, and of late years very large sums have been expended in providing an efficient system of drainage to prevent low-lying lands from becoming water-logged.

Briefly stated, the annual routine is as follows. In November, when the Nile is falling and the whole country is amply supplied, the sluice-gates of the Assuân Dam are gradually lowered, so as to fill the reservoir slowly. This is usually accomplished about the end of January. The gates of the Assiûṭ and Delta barrages are similarly manipulated so as to maintain the necessary depth of water in the supply-canals. In April the supply falls below the requirements of the country, and, besides drawing upon the supply of the reservoir, it then often becomes necessary to restrict land-owners on different parts of a canal to drawing water from it in rotation. Periods of watering alternate with periods when the water is employed elsewhere. The intervals become longer as the river falls, and the supply steadily diminishes until the rising flood about the beginning of August puts an end to the scarcity of water. — Above Assiûṭ flood irrigation still continues: About Aug. 20th the river has risen high enough to flow into the supply canals and basins; in these, when full, the water (as already stated at p. xlvii) stands for 40 days, so

as to deposit all matter held in suspension and to soak the land thoroughly. At the end of this period the clear water is allowed to flow back into the river, or, in the case of years when the flood is exceptionally low, into other basins at a lower level. On the mud thus left the seed is sown and a crop is grown without further watering. In years of insufficient flood the higher portions of the land are not watered; these lands are termed ‘sharâḳi and pay no tax when unwatered. There is much of this land in the province of Ḳena, and a new barrage is being built at Esna to raise the water-level sufficiently to supply it in years of low rise.

The irrigation is effected by means of: (1) The ‘Sâḳyeh’, or large wheels (rarely exceeding 30 ft. in diameter), turned by cattle or buffaloes, and sometimes by camels or asses, and fitted with scoops or buckets (ḳâdûs) of wood or clay, resembling a dredging-machine. (2) The ‘Shâdûf’, an apparatus resembling an ordinary ‘well-sweep’ (with bucket and counter-weight), set in motion by one person only, and drawing the water in buckets resembling baskets in appearance; as a substitute for the sâḳyeh several shâdûfs are sometimes arranged one above the other. (3) When it is possible to store the water in reservoirs above the level of the land to be watered, it is allowed to overflow the fields whenever required. This is the only method available in the oases, where fortunately the water rises from the springs with such force as to admit of its being easily dammed up at a sufficiently high level. (4) Pumps driven by steam are also used, particularly when a large supply of water is required, as in the case of the sugar-plantations on the banks (geifs) of the Nile in Northern Egypt, where they are seen in great numbers. (5). The ‘Tâbûl’, a peculiar, very light, and easily moved wooden wheel, which raises the water by means of numerous compartments in the hollow felloes, is used in the Lower Delta only and in places where the level of the water in the canals remains nearly the same. — Archimedean screws also are found in the Delta, and in the Fayûm there are water-wheels of peculiar construction, so contrived as to be turned by the flowing water. Occasionally irrigation is effected by means of a basket (naṭṭâl) slung on a rope between two labourers. In order to distribute the water equally over flat fields, they are sometimes divided into a number of small squares by means of embankments of earth, a few inches in height, which, owing to the great plasticity of the Nile mud, are easily opened or closed so as to regulate the height of the water within them.

III. AGRICULTURAL SEASONS. (1) The Winter Cultivation, or ‘Esh-Shitwi’, lasts on the flooded lands of Upper Egypt from November till April; on perennially irrigated land the winter-sowing takes place from October onwards, while the grain-harvest is reaped in April in Middle Egypt and in May in the Delta. In this season the principal crops are wheat, barley, beans, and barsim (clover).

(2) The Summer Crops (Eṣ-Ṣeifi) may be considered as growing

from April to August in the basin-lands and to October wherever there is perennial irrigation. The principal ones are rice, which is sown in May and harvested in October, and cotton, sown in March and picked in September and October. Most of the latter is grown from seed, but a limited amount is grown from two-year-old plants which have been cut back. On basin-lands of Upper Egypt where sufficient water from wells is available a crop of durra (millet) is grown and harvested before the flood-water arrives.

(3) The Autumn Season (‘En - Nîl’, or flood) is the shortest, lasting barely seventy days. On the rich land of the Delta maize is grown. A large crop of durra is raised on the perennially irrigated lands of Upper Egypt, and a considerable amount also grown on those which are not inundated. This crop is cut about November.

The AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS of the Egyptians are exceedingly primitive and defective. The chief of these is the plough (miḥrât), the form of which is precisely the same as it was 5000 years ago; and the traveller will recognize it on many of the monuments and in the system of hieroglyphics. It consists of a pole about 6 ft. long, drawn by an ox, buffalo, or other beast of burden, attached to it by means of a yoke, while to the other end is fastened a piece of wood bent inwards at an acute angle, and shod with a three-pronged piece of iron (lisân). Connected with the pole is the handle which is held by the fellah. These rude and light ploughs penetrate but slightly into the ground. The harrow is replaced in Egypt by a roller provided with iron spikes (ḳumfûd, literally ‘hedgehog’). The only tool used by the natives on their fields, or in making embankments of earth, is a kind of hoe or shovel (magrafeh, fâs, torîyeh). The process of reaping consists of cutting the grain with a sickle (mingal), or simply uprooting it by hand. The nôrag, or ‘threshing-sledge’, consists of a kind of sledge resting on a roller provided with sharp semicircular pieces of iron, and drawn by oxen or buffaloes. This primitive machine, being driven over the wheat, peas, or lentils to be threshed, crushes the stalks and cars and sets free the grain or seeds.

IV. FARM PRODUCE OF EGYPT. The following is an enumeration of all the most important industrial crops cultivated within the boundaries of Egypt. On hearing the names of those with which he is unacquainted, the traveller may identify them with the aid of the Arabic names given below. The various products are enumerated in the order of their importance.

a. CEREALS. 1. Wheat (ḳamḥ). 2. Maize (dura shami, i.e. Syrian; called in Syria dura only). 3. Barley (shiʽir). 4. Rice (ruzz), cultivated only in the lower part of the Delta of Alexandria and Raḥmânîyeh, as far as Manṣûra, Zaḳâzîḳ, Sâliḥîyeh, and the Wâdi Ṭûmîlât, and also in the Fayûm and in the oases of the Libyan desert. 5. Sorghum vulgare (dura beledi, i.e. durra of the country: simply called dura in the Sudân; Ital. sorghe. Engl. Kaffir-corn, and the Tyrolese sirch). 6. Pennisetum typhoideum (dukha).

b. LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 1. Broad beans (fûl). 2. Lentils (‘ads). 3. Chick-peas (ḥummuṣ). 4. Lupins (tirmis). 5. Peas (bisilla). 6 Vigna Sinensis (lûbiyeh). 7. Dolichos Lablab (lablab), which is very frequently seen festooning walls and hedges, but is also grown in fields in separate plants (lûbiyeh afin).

c. GREEN CROPS. 1. White Egyptian clover (barsîm). 2. Fœnum Græcum (ḥelbeh) frequently ground into flour and used in making bread; also generally eaten raw by the native in spring; not to be confounded with clover). 3. Medicago sativa, or lucerne (barsîm ḥegâzi). 4. Lathyrus sativus, or flat pea (gilban). 5. Sorghum halpense (geran).

d. STIMULANTS. Poppies, for the manufacture of opium (abu'n-nôm, or ‘father of sleep’). — The cultivation of tobacco is forbidden.

e. TEXTILE MATERIALS. 1. Cotton (ḳuṭu), introduced from India in 1821, but extensively cultivated since 1863 only. 2. Flax (kittân). 3. Hibiscus cannabinus (til). 4. Hemp (ḳinnib). 5. Sisal hemp (Agave rigida).

f. DYES. 1. Indigo argentea, a peculiar kind (nîleh). 2. Lawsonia inermis (ḥenna), used for dyeing the nails, the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet yellowish red (a very ancient custom); properly a tree, but, like the tea-plant, cultivated in fields in the form of a dwarfed bush. 3. Saffron (ḳarṭam or ʽoṣfur). 4. Reseda Luteola (blîya), used as a yellow dye.

g. OIL PLANTS. 1. Castor-oil plant (kharwaʽ). 2. Sesame (simsim). 3. Rape (selgam). 4. Mustard (khardal, or kabar). 5. Arachides, or earth-nuts (fûl sennâri, or simply fûl). 6. Saffron (as an oil-yielding plant). 7. Poppy (as an oil-plant).

h. SPICES. 1. Capsicum annum, the Italian peperone (filfil aḥmar). 2. Capsicum frutescens, or Cayenne pepper (shaṭṭa). 3. Aniseed (yansûn). 4. Coriander (kusbareh). 5. Cummin (kammûn). 6. Nigella (kammûn aswad). 7. Dill (shabat). 8. Mustard. 9. Fennel (shamar).

i. The SUGAR CANE (ḳaṣab) is largely cultivated in the N. part of Upper Egypt (comp. p. lii). An inferior variety, which is eaten raw, introduced from India in the time of the caliphs, is cultivated in every part of the country.

k. VEGETABLES. 1. Bamyas, or Hibiscus esculentus (bâmyeh). 2. Onions (baṣal), one of the chief exports of Egypt. 3. Pumpkins (ḳarʽa). 4. Cucumbers (khiyâr). 5. Egyptian encumbers (frequently trumpet-shaped and ribbed; different varieties called ʽabdelâwi, ʽaggûr, etc.). 6. Melons (ḳâwûa; musk-melons, shammâm). 7. Water-melons (baṭṭîkh). 8. Aubergines (bitingân). 9. Tomatoes (ṭamâṭim). 10. Corchorus olitorius (melûkhîyeh). 11. Colocasia (ḳulḳâṣ). 12. Garlic (lôm). 13. Mallows (khubbeizeh). 14. Cabbage (korumb). 15. Celery (karafs). 16. Radishes, a peculiar kind, with fleshy leaves, which form a favourite article of food (figl). 17. Lettuces (khass). 18. Sorrel (ḥommeiḍ). 19. Spinach (isbânikh). 20. Parsley (baḳdûnis). 21. Purslane (rigla). 22. Turnips (lift). 23. Carrots (gezer, a peculiar kind, with red juice). 24. Beetroot (bangar). 25. Cress (Eruca sativa; gargir). A variety of other vegetables are cultivated in small quantities in gardens, exclusively for the use of European residents.

V. TREES AND PLANTATIONS. During the last forty or fifty years trees have been so extensively planted that Egypt now presents a more richly wooded appearance than formerly. In ancient times every square foot of arable land seems to have been exclusively devoted to the cultivation of industrial crops, the natives preferring to import from foreign countries the timber they required for ship-building purposes, and probably also the small quantity employed in the construction of their temples. Mohammed Ali, a great patron of horticulture, at one time offered prizes for the planting of trees, but his efforts were unattended with success, as the climatic and other difficulties attending the task were then but imperfectly understand in Egypt. Ibrâhîm followed the example of his predecessor, but Abbâs I. and Sa‘id were sworn enemies to trees of every kind, and they were content that their palaces should be exposed to the full glare of the sun. The Khedive Ismâʽîl, however, at length revived the plans of his celebrated ancestor, and by the engagement of M. Barillet (1869), superintendent of the gardens of Paris, one of the most skilful landscape-gardeners of the day, introduced an entirely new feature into Egyptian scenery. The finest

of the shade-trees, both on account of its umbrageousness and the excellence of its wood, and one which thrives admirably, is the ‘lebbakh’ (Albizzia Lebbek), which has long been erroneously called by travellers the acacia of the Nile (the latter being properly the ṣunṭ tree). Within forty years the lebbakh attains a height of 80 ft. and a great thickness, while the branches project to a long distance over the roads, covering them with a dense leafy canopy within a remarkably short time. Among the most important of the other kinds of trees thus planted are the magnificent ‘Flamboyer des Indes’ (Poinciana pulcherrima), the rapidly-growing Jacaranda, Casuarina, and Eucalyptus, tropical fig-trees, and several rare varieties of palms.

The commonest TREES OF AN EARLIER PERIOD which the traveller will encounter in every town in Egypt are the following: — The Acacia Nilotica (ṣunṭ), the thorn-tree of antiquity, the pods (ḳaraḍ) of which, resembling the beads of a rosary, yield an excellent material for tanning purposes. Next to the palm, this is the tree most frequently seen by the wayside and in the villages. The Acacia Farnesiana (fuṭneh), with blossoms of delicious perfume. The sycamore (gemmeiz), anciently considered sacred. The zizyphus, or Christ's thorn-tree (nebḳ). Tamarisks (all; not to be confounded with tamarinds). The Parkinsonia (seisebân, a name also applied to the wild Sesbania shrub). Mulberry-trees (tût), in Lower Egypt only. Carob-trees, or bread of St. John (kharrûb).

Among the FRUIT TREES the most important is the date-palm (Phoenix dactylifera, nakhleh; the date, balaḥ; the leaves, khûṣ; the ribs of the leaf, gerîd; the points of the leaf, saʽaf; the terminal bud, gummâr; the bast, lîf). The date-palms blossom in March and April, and the fruit ripens in August and September. Fresh dates are rough in appearance, blood-red or pale yellow in colour, and harsh and astringent in taste. Like the medlar, they become more palatable after fermentation has set in. There are no fewer than twenty-seven kinds of date commonly offered for sale. The largest attain a length of three inches, and are called ibrâmi, or sukkôti, as they come from N. Nubia. The most delicately flavoured are the dark-brown ones from Alexandria, known as amhâl, which are eaten fresh. The value of the dates exported annually amounts to about one million francs only, as they realize too high a price in the country itself to remunerate the exporter. — The dûm-palm (Hyphaena Thebaica) occurs principally in Upper Egypt and Nubia. It may be seen on the Nile above Beliâna (p. 238). It is a broad-leafed palm of medium height, and its timber and bast are of considerable value. Various objects are made out of the hard kernel of the fruit, while the soft and fibrous rind is edible and has a sweetish taste, not unlike that of gingerbread.

The vine thrives admirably in Egypt, and grapes (‘inab) abound from July to September. Wine was extensively made from them in ancient times, and this might still easily be done, were it not

that Egypt is already amply supplied with cheap and excellent wines from every part of the Mediterranean. The vine blossoms in March and April, like the palm, and the grapes ripen in June and July. Oranges (burtuḳân) are abundant and cheap (the harvest beginning in September), and so also are mandarins (‘Yûsuf Effendi’) and small lemons (the small and juicy fruit of the Citrus limonium); citrons and cedros are of less frequent occurrence. Among other fruit-trees we may also mention the pomegranate (rummân), which yields a handsome return. The common European fruits also abound, but their flavour is generally very inferior. Figs (tîn) are very common in summer, but caprification is not practised in Egypt.

The principal DECORATIVE PLANTS are roses (ward; of which the Rosa Damascena moschata and the sempervirens are specially cultivated for the manufacture of otto of roses), oleanders of astonishing height, carnations, and geraniums, all of which have been grown in Egypt from a very early period. A bushy tree, which in its half-leafless condition attracts the attention of every traveller on landing at Alexandria in winter, is the Euphorbia (Poinsettia) pulcherrima. The insignificant blossom is surrounded by leaves of the most brilliant red, presenting a very picturesque and striking appearance. Natural forests, or even solitary wild trees, are never met with in the valley of the Nile or in the valleys of the northern deserts.

f. Climate of Egypt. By Captain H. G. Lyons.

The blue cloudless sky, the powerful sunlight, and the dry warm air are among the first facts that strike the traveller on his arrival in Egypt; and his surprise increases when he observes that the conditions remain uniform day after day, and are, in short, so entirely the rule that ‘the weather’ ceases to be a topic of conversation. If from the top of the hills or cliffs bordering the Nile valley to the S. of Cairo he looks out on the boundless deserts on either side, the visitor will realize at once that Egypt is practically a part of the Sahara, a verdant strip of fertile soil, 8–12 M. wide, dependent for its existence upon the Nile; and that the refreshing purity of the atmosphere is essentially due to the proximity of the desert.

Strictly speaking, there are but two seasons: the hot season lasting from May to September and a cooler one from November to March, while October and April are intermediate months; but the effect which the annual Nile flood has upon the agriculture of the country rather than upon the climate has caused the period from July to October to be considered as a third season.

During the summer-months the whole of Egypt experiences dry and hot weather, tempered by steady northerly winds, but in the other half of the year, and especially in December, January, and

February, the storms of the Mediterranean exercise so much effect on the Delta that comparatively cold weather, with cloudy days, is experienced as far as Cairo and even up to Benisueif. The temperature is sometimes high even in winter, but the dryness of the air prevents it from being trying, while as soon as the sun gets low the temperature falls so rapidly as to necessitate precautions against a chill.

The mean maximum and minimum temperatures at some of the more important points are given in the following table: January April July October Max. Min. Max. Min. Max. Min. Max. Min. °F. °F. °F. °F. °F. °F. °F. °F Alexandria 64 51 75 59 86 73 82 69 Cairo 64 44 84 55 97 70 86 63 Assiûṭ 68 41 91 57 100 73 88 64 Luxor 74 46 90 61 105 74 94 66 Assuân 73 48 97 65 107 76 102 69

In spite of the essential dryness of the climate, the rapid fall of temperature at night causes morning-fog to be common in the Nile Valley in winter. It is, however, rapidly dissipated when the sun rises, and the rapid drying of the air as the day advances is shown in the following table.

Percentage of Relative Humidity. January March May 8 a.m. 2 p.m. 8 a.m. 2 p.m. 8 a.m. 2 p.m. Alexandria 64 54 61 51 60 56 Cairo 72 48 61 34 50 24 Assiûṭ 76 34 59 24 36 16 Assuân 58 30 38 17 29 15

Rain is rare in Upper Egypt, a slight shower in winter being the most that is usually recorded. Heavier rain-bursts take place not infrequently in the desert, and on rare occasions extend to the Nile Valley.

At Cairo rain usually falls on 4–6 days in the year, the average amount being about one inch. In some years, however, as much as two inches are recorded, while in others hardly any rain falls.

At Alexandria the regular winter-rains of the Mediterranean occur, and the average annual rainfall is 8 ½ inches, most of which falls in November-February.

From Assiûṭ southwards the prevalent winds blow from the N. throughout the year, being slightly to the E. of N. in the spring-months and more to the W. in the late summer. In winter and spring dry S. winds occur occasionally. In the N. portion of the country the winds are more variable, for although N. winds prevail, S. and

S.W. winds may continue for several days in the winter and are a great hindrance to the sailing craft on the Nile at this season. These S. winds are due to the Mediterranean winter-storms, which sweep by from W. to E., and if they follow a track between Crete and Egypt produce S. winds blowing from the Egyptian deserts towards the storm-centre. The winds blowing from the open desert are cold and by their dryness seem to be even colder than they really are, so that visitors to Cairo in the winter-months may experience the sensation of a somewhat greater degree of cold than would be expected from the temperatures quoted above.

The spring-storms of the Mediterranean are also primarily the cause of the Khamâsîn or hot S. wind which occasionally blows for two or three days at a time in March, April, and May. This wind blows from the heated deserts and often attains considerable strength, carrying with it sand and dust until a thick yellow fog may prevail, sufficiently dense to hide the sun. The shade temperature under these conditions frequently exceeds 100° Fahr.

On the desert-plateau the range of temperature is at all times of the year considerably greater than in the valley, while the dryness is much greater. In the valley the temperature varies comparatively little and sinks to freezing point only for very brief periods. On the desert-plateau, however, the thermometer often stands at the freezing point and may even fall several degrees below it.

III. Doctrines of El-Islâm. Manners and Customs and Religious and Popular Festivals of the Mohammedans. By Professor Socin.

El-Islâm is the most widely spread religion in the world, and has not yet ceased to spread.

Mohammed†, as a religious teacher, took up a position hostile to the ‘age of ignorance and folly’, as he called heathenism. The †

Mohammed (‘the praised’, or ‘to be praised’) was a scion on the paternal side of the family of Hashim, a less important branch of the noble family of Ḳureish, who were settled at Mecca, and were custodians of the Kaaba. His father Abdallah died shortly before his birth (about 570). In his sixth year his mother Âmina took him on a journey to Medina, but died on her way home. The boy was then educated by his grandfather ʽAbd el-Muṭṭalib, and, after the death of the latter two years later, by his uncle Abu Ṭâlib. For several years Mohammed tended sheep. He afterwards undertook commercial journeys, at first in company with his uncle, and then, when about twenty-five years of age, in the service of the widow Khadîja, who became his first wife. On one of these journeys he is said to have become acquainted with the Christian monk Baḥîra at Boṣrâ.

About that period a reaction in the religious life of the Arabs had set in, and when Mohammed was about forty years of age he too was struck with the vanity of idolatry. He suffered from epilepsy, and during his attacks imagined he received revelations from heaven. He can scarcely, therefore, be called an impostor in the ordinary sense. A dream which he had on Mt. Ḥirâ, near Mecca, gave him the first impulse, and he soon began with ardent enthusiasm to promulgate monotheism, and to warn his hearers against incurring the pains of hell. It is uncertain whether Mohammed himself could read and write. His new doctrine was called Islâm, or subjection to God. At first he made converts in his own family only, and the ‘Moslems’ were persecuted by the Meccans. Many of them, and at length Mohammed himself (622), accordingly emigrated to Medina, where the new religion made great progress. After the death of Khadîja, Mohammed took several other wives, partly from political motives.

He now endeavoured to stir up the Meccans, and war broke out in consequence. He was victorious at Bedr (625), but lost the battle of the Uḥud (625). His military campaigns were thenceforth incessant. He obtained great influence over the Beduins, and succeeded in uniting them politically. In 630 the Moslems at length captured the town of Mecca, and the idols in it were destroyed. Mohammed's health, however, had been completely undermined by his unremitting exertions for about twenty-four years; he died on June 8th, 632, at Medina and was interred there.

revelation which he believed it was his mission to impart was, as he declared, nothing new. His religion was of the most remote antiquity, all men being supposed by him to be born Moslems, though surrounding circumstances might subsequently cause them to fall away from the true religion. So far as Mohammed was acquainted with Judaism and Christianity, he disapproved of the rigour of their ethics, which were apt to degenerate into a body of mere empty forms, while he also rejected their dogmatic teaching as utterly false. Above all he repudiated whatever seemed to him to savour of polytheism, including the doctrine of the Trinity. The Moslem creed is embodied in the words: ‘There is no God but God (Allah†), and Mohammed is the prophet of God' (lâ ilâha itta'llâh, wa Muḥammedur-rasûlu'llâh). Everyone is bound to promulgate this faith. Practically, however, this stringency was afterwards relaxed, as the Moslems found themselves obliged to enter into pacific treaties with nations beyond the confines of Arabia. A distinction was also drawn between peoples who were already in possession of a revelation, such as Jews, Christians, and Sabians, and idolaters, the last of whom are to be rigorously persecuted. † Allah is also the name of God used by the Jews and Christians who speak Arabic.

The foregoing formula, however, contains the most important doctrine only; for the Moslem is bound to believe in three cardinal points: (1) God and the angels, (2) written revelation and the prophets, and (3) the resurrection, judgment, eternal life, and predestination.

(1). GOD AND THE ANGELS. God is a Spirit, embracing all perfection within Himself. Ninety-nine of his different attributes were afterwards gathered from the Koran, each of which is represented by a bead of the Moslem rosary. Great importance is also attached to the fact that the creation of the world was effected by a simple

effort of the divine will. (God said ‘Let there be’, and there was.) The story of the creation in the Koran is taken from the Bible, with variations from Rabbinical, Persian, and other sources. God first created his throne; beneath the throne was water; then the earth was formed. In order to keep the earth steady, God created an angel and placed him on a huge rock, which in its turn rests on the back and horns of the bull of the world. And thus the earth is kept in its proper position.

In connection with the creation of the firmament was that of the Jinn (demons), beings occupying a middle rank between men and angels, some of them believing, others unbelieving. When the jinn became arrogant, an angel was ordered to banish them, and he accordingly drove them to the mountains of Ḳâf by which the earth is surrounded, whence they occasionally make incursions. Adam was then created, on the evening of the sixth day, and the Moslems on that account observe Friday as their Sabbath. As the angel who conquered the jinn refused to bow down before Adam, he was exiled and thenceforward called Iblîs, or the devil. After this, Adam himself fell, and became a solitary wanderer, but was afterwards re-united to Eve at Mecca, where the sacred stone in the Kaaba derives its black colour from Adam's tears. Adam is regarded as the first orthodox Moslem.

The Angels are the bearers of God's throne, and execute his commands. They also act as mediators between God and men. When a Moslem prays it will be observed that he turns his face at the conclusion first over his right and then over his left shoulder. He thereby greets the recording angels who stand on each side of every believer, one on the right to record his good, and one on the left to record his evil deeds. The traveller will also observe the two stones placed over every grave in a Moslem burial-ground. By these sit the two angels who examine the deceased (p. lxxii), and in order that the creed may not escape his memory it is incessantly chanted by the conductor of the funeral.

While there are legions of good angels, who differ in form, but are purely ethereal in substance, there are also innumerable satellites of Satan, who seduce men to error and teach them sorcery. They endeavour to pry into the secrets of heaven, to prevent which they are pelted with falling stars by the good angels. (This last is a notion of very great antiquity.)

(2). WRITTEN REVELATION AND THE PROPHETS. The earliest men were all believers, but they afterwards fell away from the true faith. A revelation therefore became necessary. The prophets are very numerous, amounting in all, it is said, to 124,000; but their ranks are very different. They are free from all gross sins and endowed by God with power to work miracles, which power forms their credentials; nevertheless they are generally derided and disbelieved.

The greater prophets are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed.

The position which Mohammed occupies in his own religious system is also of interest. Moses and Christ prophesied his advent, but the passages concerning him in the Torah and Gospels have been suppressed. He is the promised Paraclete, the Comforter (St. John xiv. 16), the last and greatest of the prophets; but he does not profess to be entirely free from minor sins. He confirms previous revelations, but his appearance has superseded them. His whole doctrine is a miracle, and it, therefore, does not require to be confirmed by special miracles. After his death, however, a number of miracles were attributed to him, and although he was not exactly deified, the position assigned to him is that of the principal mediator between God and man. The apotheosis of human beings is, moreover, an idea foreign to the Semitic mind, and it was the Persians who first elevated Ali and the Imams (literally reciters of prayers) who succeeded him to the rank of supernatural beings (p. lxx).

The KORAN (Ḳorân) itself was early regarded as a revelation of entirely supernatural origin. The name signifies ‘rehearsal’, or ‘reading’, and the book is divided into parts called Sûrehs. The first revelation vouchsafed to the Prophet took place in the ‘blessed night’ in the year 609. With many interruptions the ‘sending down’ of the Koran extended over twenty-three years, until the whole book, which had already existed on the ‘well-preserved table’ in heaven, was in the prophet's possession. During the time of the Abbaside caliphs it was a matter of the keenest controversy whether the Koran was created or uncreated. (The Oriental Christians have likewise always manifested a great taste for subtle dogmatic questions, such as the Procession of the Holy Ghost.) The earlier or Meccan Sûrehs, placed at the end of the book on account of their brevity, are characterized by great freshness and vigour of style. They are in rhyme, but only partially poetic in form. In the longer Sûrehs of a later period the style is more studied and the narrative often tedious. The Koran is nevertheless regarded as the masterpiece of Arabic literature. The prayers of the Moslems consist almost exclusively of passages from this work, although they are entirely ignorant of its real meaning. Even by the early commentators much of the Koran was imperfectly understood, for Mohammed, although extremely proud of his ‘Arabic Book’, was very partial to the use of all kinds of foreign words. The translation of the Koran being prohibited, Persian, Turkish, and Indian children learn it entirely by rote.

The best English translations of the Koran are those of E. Sale (1734; with a preliminary discourse and copious notes, ed. by Rev. E. M. Wherry, 1882–86, 4 vols., and also obtainable in a cheap form); Rodwell (London, 1861; 2nd ed., 1878); and Palmer (London, 1880). See also Sir William Muir, ‘The Côran, its Composition and Teaching’ (1878); T. W. Arnold, ‘The Preaching of Islam’ (London, 1896).

(3). FUTURE STATE AND PREDESTINATION. The doctrine of the resurrection has been grossly corrupted by the Koran and by subsequent tradition; but its main features have doubtless been borrowed from the Christians, as has also the appearance of Antichrist, and the part to be played by Christ at the Last Day. On that day Christ will establish El-Islâm as the religion of the world. With him will re-appear the Mahdi, the twelfth Imam (p. lxx). The end of all things will be ushered in by the trumpet-blasts of the angel Asrâfîl; the first of these blasts will kill every living being; a second will awaken the dead. Then follows the Judgment; the righteous cross to Paradise by a bridge of a hair's breadth, while the wicked fall from the bridge into the abyss of hell. Some Moslems believe in a kind of limbo, like that of the Hebrews and Greeks, while others maintain that the souls of the dead proceed directly to the gates of Paradise. At the Judgment every man is judged according to the books of the recording angels (p. lxii). The book is placed in the right hand of the good, but is bound in the left hand of the wicked behind their backs. The scales in which good and evil deeds are weighed play an important part in deciding the soul's fate, and the doctrine of the efficacy of works is carried so far that it is believed works of supererogation may be placed to the credit of other believers. The demons and animals, too, must be judged. Hell, as well as heaven, has different regions; and El-Islâm also assumes the existence of a purgatory, from which release is possible. Paradise is depicted by Mohammed, in consonance with his thoroughly sensual character, as a place of entirely material delights.

The course of all events, including the salvation or perdition of every individual, is, according to the strict interpretation of the Koran, absolutely predestined, although several later sects have endeavoured to modify this terrible doctrine. It is these views, however, which give rise to the pride of the Moslems. By virtue of their faith they regard themselves as certainly elect.

In the second place the Koran is considered to contain, not only a standard of ethics, but also a code of civil law.

The MORALITY of El-Islâm is specially adapted to the character of the Arabs. Of duties to one's neighbour, charity is the most highly praised, and instances of its practice are not unfrequent. Hospitality is much practised by the Beduins, and by the peasantry also in those districts which are not overrun with travellers. Frugality is another virtue of the Arabs, though too apt with them to degenerate into avarice and cupidity. The prohibition against eating unclean animals, such as swine, is based on ancient customary law. Whether Mohammed prohibited the use of intoxicating drinks merely because, as we learn from pre-islamic poets, drunken carouses were by no means infrequent, cannot now be ascertained.

Wine, however, and even brandy, are largely consumed by the upper classes.

Although POLYGAMY is sanctioned, every Moslem being permitted to have four wives at a time, yet among the bulk of the population monogamy is far more frequent, owing to the difficulty of providing for several wives and families at once. The wives, moreover, are very apt to quarrel. The treatment of women as mere chattels, which is of very remote Oriental origin, constitutes the greatest defect of the system of El-Islâm, although the position of the female sex among the Oriental Christians and Jews is little better than among the Moslems. It is probably owing to this low estimate of women that the Moslems generally dislike to see them praying or occupying themselves with religion. The practice of wearing veils dates from remotest antiquity (Genesis xxiv, 65; Isaiah iii, 23) though it was not followed by the ancient Egyptians. A Moslem is not permitted to see any women unveiled except his own wife, female slaves, and his blood-relations. Even in the Christian churches (except the Protestant) the place for women is often separated from the men's seats by a railing. The peasant and Beduin women, on the other hand, are usually seen unveiled. The ease with which El-Islâm permits divorce is due to Mohammed's personal proclivities. A single word from the husband suffices to banish the wife from his house, but she retains the marriage - portion which she has received from her husband. The children are brought up in great subjection to their parents.

The repetition of PRAYERS (ṣalâh) five times daily is one of the chief duties of faithful Moslems. The hours of prayer are proclaimed (adân) by the muezzins (muaddins) from the minarets of the mosques: (1) Maghrib, a little after sunset; (2) ‘Ashâ, nightfall, about 1 ½ hour after sunset; (3) Ṣubḥ, daybreak; (4) Ḍuhr, midday; (5) ‘Aṣr, afternoon, about 3 hours after midday. These periods of prayer also serve to mark the divisions of the day. The day is also divided into two periods of 12 hours each, beginning from sunset, so that reckoning of time must be altered according to the length of the day. Most people however content themselves with the sonorous call of the muezzin: Allâhu akbar (four times); ashhadu an lâ ilâha illa'llâh (twice); ashhadu anna Muḥammedar-rasûlu'llâh (twice); ḥeiya’ala'ṣ-ṣalâh (twice); ḥeiya ʽala'l-felâḥ (twice), Allâhu akbar (twice), lâ ilâha illa'llâh; i.e. ‘Allah is greatest; I testify that there is no God but Allah, I testify that Mohammed is the apostle of Allah; come to prayer; come to salvation; Allah is greatest; there is no God but Allah’. This call to prayer sometimes also reverberates thrillingly through the stillness of night, to incite to devotion the faithful who are still awake. — The duty of washing before prayer is a sanitary institution, and tanks are provided for the purpose in the court of every mosque. In the desert the faithful are permitted to use sand for this religious ablution.

The person praying must remove his shoes or sandals and turn his face towards Mecca, as the Jews and some of the Christian sects turn towards Jerusalem or towards the East. The worshipper begins by holding his hands to the lobes of his ears, then a little below his girdle, and he interrupts his recitations from the Koran with

certain prostrations in a given order. On Fridays the midday recital of prayer takes place three quarters of an hour earlier than usual, and is followed by a sermon. Friday is not, however, regarded as a day of rest, business being transacted. It has, however, of late become customary to close the courts of justice, the museums, and the government - offices in imitation of the Christian practice of keeping Sunday. — The Moslems frequently recite as a prayer the first Sûreh of the Koran, one of the shortest, which is used as we employ the Lord's prayer. It is called el-fâtiḥa (‘the commencing’), and is to the following effect: — ‘In the name of God, the merciful and gracious. Praise be to God, the Lord of creatures, the merciful and gracious, the Prince of the day of judgment; Thee we serve, and to Thee we pray for help; lead us in the right way of those to whom thou hast shown mercy, upon whom no wrath resteth, and who go not astray. Amen’.

Another important duty of the believer is to observe the FAST of the month Ramaḍân (p. lxxiv). From daybreak to sunset eating and drinking are absolutely prohibited, and the devout even scrupulously avoid swallowing their saliva. The fast is for the most part rigorously observed, but prolonged nocturnal repasts afford some

compensation. Many shops and offices are entirely closed during this month. As the Arabic year is lunar, and therefore eleven days shorter than ours, the fast of Ramaḍân runs through all the seasons in the course of thirty-three years, and its observance is most severely felt in summer, when much suffering is caused by thirst.

The PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA, which every Moslem must undertake once in his life, is also deserving of mention. On approaching Mecca the pilgrims undress, laying aside even their headgear, and put on aprons and a piece of cloth over the left shoulder. They then perform the circuit of the Kaaba, kiss the black stone, hear the sermon on Mt. ‘Arafât near Mecca, pelt Satan with stones in the valley of Mina, and conclude their pilgrimage with a great sacrificial feast. On the day when this takes place at Mecca, sheep are slaughtered and a festival called the Great Bairam (El-‘Îd el-Kebîr) is observed throughout all the Mohammedan countries. (The ‘Lesser Bairam’, Arab. El-‘Îd eṣ-Ṣughaiyar, follows Ramaḍân.) The month of the pilgrimage is called Dhu'l-Ḥiggeh (that ‘of the pilgrimage’), and forms the close of the Moslem year.† The conduct of the caravan, with the gifts presented to the town of Mecca, the escort, and other items, costs the Egyptian government more than 50,000l. annually. For an account of the feast in connection with the pilgrimage, see p. lxxiii. †

MOHAMMEDAN CALENDAR. The Mohammedan era begins with July 16th (1st Moḥarrem) of the year 622 A. D., being the day of Mohammed's flight (Hegira) from Mecca to Medina (p. lxi). The Mohammedan year is purely lunar and has no reference or relation to the sun; it contains 354 days, or 355 in leap-years, eleven of which occur in each cycle of 30 years. There are 12 months, the first, third, etc., of which have 29 days each, the second, fourth, etc., 30 days. Their names are given at p. clxxv.

In order approximately to convert a year of our era into one of the Moslem era, subtract 622, divide the remainder by 33, and add the quotient to the dividend. Conversely, a year of the Mohammedan era is converted into one of the Christian era by dividing it by 33, subtracting the quotient from it, and adding 622 to the remainder. On Feb. 14th, 1907, began the Moslem year 1325.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced into Egypt in 1875, but is observed by government in the finance department only.

Most of the Arabic LITERATURE is connected with the Koran. Commentaries were written at an early period to explain the obscure passages in it, and there gradually sprang up a series of exegetical writings dwelling with elaborate minuteness upon every possible shade of interpretation. Grammar, too, was at first studied solely in connection with the Koran, and a prodigious mass of legal literature was founded exclusively upon the sacred volume (p. lxiii). Of late years, however, some attempts have been made to supersede the ancient law, and to introduce a modern European system (p. xix).

With regard to theological, to legal, and still more to ritualistic questions, El-Islâm has not always been free from dissension. Even

the orthodox believers or SUNNITES (from sunna, ‘tradition’) are divided into four schools or sects, the Ḥanefites, the Shâfeʽites, the Mâlekites, and the Ḥambalites, named after their founders. In addition to these must be mentioned the schools of Free Thinkers, who sprang up at an early period, partly owing to the influence of Greek philosophy. The orthodox party, however, triumphed, not only over these heretics, but also in its struggle against the voluptuousness and luxury of the most glorious period of the caliphs.

Asceticism and fanaticism were also largely developed among professors of El-Islâm, and another phase of religious thought was pure MYSTICISM, which arose chiefly in Persia. The mystics (ṣûfi) interpret many texts of the Koran allegorically, and their system therefore frequently degenerated into Pantheism. It was by mystics who still remained within the pale of El-Islâm (such as the famous Ibn el-‘Arabi, born in 1164) that the Orders of Dervishes were founded.

Dervishes (darwish, plur. darâwîsh). That earthly life is worthless, that it is a delusion, and at best a period of probation, are sentiments of frequent recurrence in the Koran. This pessimist view of life has been confirmed by Mohammed's conception of the Supreme Being, on whose awe-inspiring attributes he has chiefly dwelt, thus filling his adherents with a profound dread of their Creator. The result of this doctrine was to induce devout persons to retire altogether from the wicked world, the scene of vanity and disappointment, and to devote themselves to the practice of ascetic exercises, with a view to ensure their happiness in a future state. The fundamental aim of this asceticism was to strive after a knowledge of God by cultivating a kind of half-conscious and ecstatic exaltation of mind. A mystic love of God was deemed the great passport which enabled the worshipper to fall into this ecstatic trance, and to lose himself so completely in contemplation as to destroy his own individuality (fanâ) and blend it with that of the Deity (ittiḥad). As in Europe the monastic system and the mendicant orders sprang from the example of penitents and hermits who had renounced the world, so in the Mohammedan world asceticism was rapidly developed into an organized system of mendicancy. At an early period many noble thinkers and talented poets (such as the Persians Saʽdi and Ḥafiz) enrolled themselves in the ranks of the ascetics, but the dervishes of the present day have entirely lost the spirit of their prototypes, and have retained nothing but the mere physical capacity for throwing themselves into a mechanical state of ecstasy and rendering themselves proof against external sensations.

The following are the principal orders of dervishes (ṭarîḳat ed-darâwîsh) in Egypt: —

(1) The Rifaʽiyeh (sing, rifâʽi), an order founded by Seiyid Ahmed Rifâa el-Kebîr, possess a monastery near the mosque of Sultan Ḥasan (see p. 62), and are recognizable by their black flags and black or dark blue turbans. The best-known sects of this order are the Ûlad ʽIlwân, or ‘Ilwânîyeh Dervishes, and the Sa‘dîyeh Dervishes. The former are noted for their extraordinary performances at festivals, such as thrusting iron nails into their eyes and arms, breaking large stones against their chests, as they lie on their backs on the ground, and swallowing burning charcoal and fragments of glass. The Saʽdîyeh, who usually carry green flags, are snake-charmers (p. xxvi), and on the Friday on which the birthday of the prophet is celebrated used to allow their sheikh to ride over them on horseback (the dôseh; p. lxxiii).

(2) The Ḳâdiriyeh (sing. ḳâdiri), an order founded by the celebrated Seiyid ‘Abd el-Ḳâdir el-Gîlâni, have white banners and white turbans. Most of them spend their time in fishing, and in their processions they

carry nets of different colours, fishing-rods, and other insignia of their chief pursuit.

(3). The Senûsîyeh, founded by the Algerian Moḥammed ben-ʽAli es-Senûsî (d. 1859), have spread over Arabia and the entire N. part of Africa, especially in the Egyptian oases of the Libyan desert. The residence of the chief of the order, which was formerly in the oasis of Gaghabûb and then in the oasis of Kufra, was recently removed to Karn, situated between Kufra and Abeshr, the capital of Wadaï. The teaching of Senûsî was directed towards a return to the original strictness of El-Islâm and to its emancipation from the dominion of Europeans and other heretics. The members of the order abstain from music, singing, dancing, tobacco, and coffee.

(4). The Sammânîyeh, established at the end of the 18th cent. by Sheikh Sammân, practise extreme asceticism, seeking seclusion for the purpose in cells, caves, deserts, and even in the sea. Moḥammed Aḥmed, the mahdi of Kharṭûm (p. c), who appeared at El-Obeïd (p. 417) in 1880 as the ‘Summoned of God’, joined this order.

(5) The Aḥmediyeh (sing, aḥmedi), the order of Seiyid Aḥmed el-Bedawi, are recognized by their red banners and red turbans. This order is very numerous and is much respected. It is divided into many sects, but of these the two most important only need be mentioned. One of these is the Shinnâwîyeh, who play an important part in the ceremonies at the tomb of Seiyid Aḥmed at Ṭanṭa (p. 29). The other sect is that of the Ûlâd Nûḥ, who are generally young men, wearing high pointed caps with a plume of strips of coloured cloth, and a number of small balls strung across their breasts, and carrying wooden swords and a kind of whip made of a thick plait of rope.

The ceremony of the admission of members to all these orders is a very simple matter. The candidate (el-murîd) performs the customary ablutions, sits down on the ground beside the superior (el-murshîd, or spiritual, leader), gives him his hand, and repeats after him a set form of words, in which he expresses penitence for his sins and his determination to reform, and calls Allah to witness that he will never quit the order. The ceremony terminates with three recitals of the confession of faith by the murîd, the joint repetition of the fâtiḥa (p. lxvi), and a kissing of hands.

The religious exercises of all the dervishes consist chiefly in the performance of Zikrs (i. e. pious devotions, or invocations of Allah; see below). Almost all the dervishes in Egypt are small tradesmen, artisans, or peasants. Most of them are married men, and they take part in the ceremonies peculiar to their order at stated seasons only. Some of them, however, make it their business to attend festivals and funerals for the purpose of exhibiting their zikrs. These last are called fuḳara (sing, faḳîr), i. e. ‘poor men’. Others again support themselves by drawing water (ḥemali; see p. 44). Those who lead a vagrant life and subsist on alms are comparatively few in number. The dervishes of this class usually wear a kind of gown (dilḳ) composed of shreds of rags of various colours sewn together, or a shaggy coat of skins, and carry a stick with strips of cloth of various colours attached to the upper end. A considerable number of them are insane, in which case they are highly revered by the people, and are regarded as specially favoured by God, who has taken their spirits to heaven, while he has left their earthly tabernacle behind.

The Zikrs of the Dancing and the Howling Dervishes are the best known. These dervishes perform the zikrs by violent movements of the upper part of the body, incessantly shouting the Moslem confession of faith — ‘lâ ilâha’, etc., until they at length attain the ecstatic condition, and finish by repeating the word hû, i.e. ‘he’ (God) alone. They sometimes fall into a kind of epileptic convulsion, and foam at the mouth; but no notice is taken of them, and they are left to recover without assistance.

The WORSHIP OF SAINTS AND MARTYRS was inculcated in connection with El-Islâm at an early period. Thus the tomb of Mohammed

at Medina, and that of his grandson Ḥosein at Kerbela, became particularly famous, and every little town soon boasted of the tomb of its particular saint. In many of the villages the traveller will observe small dome-covered buildings with grated windows. These are saints' tombs and are called ‘Sheikhs’ (comp. p. clv). ‘Sheikh’ also means a chief or old man. Shreds of cloth are often seen suspended from the gratings of these tombs, or on certain trees which are considered sacred, having been placed there by devout persons. About the end of the 18th century a reaction against the abuses of El-Islâm sprang up in Central Arabia. The WAHABIS, named after their founder ‘Abd el-Wahhâb, endeavoured to restore the religion to its original purity; they destroyed all tombs of saints, including even those of Mohammed and Ḥosein, as objects of superstitious reverence, and sought to restore the primitive simplicity of the prophet's code of morals. As a political power, however, they were suppressed by Mohammed Ali (p. xcvii).

We have hitherto spoken of the doctrines of the Sunnites (p. lxviii) who form one great sect of El-Islâm. At an early period the SHIITES (from shîʽa, ‘sect’) seceded from the Sunnites. They assigned to Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, a rank equal or even superior to that of the prophet himself; they regarded him as an incarnation of the Deity, and believed in the divine mission of the Imams descended from him. El-Mahdi, the last of these, is believed by them not to have died, but to be awaiting in concealment the coming of the last day. Most of the Persians are Shiites. Towards the West also Shiitism was widely disseminated at an early period, particularly in Egypt under the régime of the Fatimite sovereigns. The Shiites are extremely fanatical, refusing even to eat in the society of persons of a different creed. As to the other sects, chiefly confined to Syria (Metâwileh, Ismaïlians, Nosairîyeh, Druses, etc.), see Baedeker's Palestine and Syria.

Remarks on Mohammedan Customs.

The rite of circumcision is performed on boys up to the age of six or seven, or even later, the ceremony being attended with great pomp. The child is previously conducted through the streets in holiday attire, the procession being frequently united with some bridal party, in order to diminish the expense of the proceedings. The boy generally wears a turban of red cashmere, girls' clothes of the richest possible description, and conspicuous female ornaments, which are designed to attract attention, and thus avert the evil eye from his person. He half covers his face with an embroidered handkerchief; and the barber who performs the operation and a noisy troop of musicians head the procession. The first personage in the procession

is usually the barber's boy, carrying the ‘ḥeml’, or barber's sign, a kind of cupboard made of wood, in the form of a half-cylinder, with four short legs. The flat front of the ḥeml is adorned with pieces of looking-glass and embossed brass, while the back is covered with a curtain. Two or more boys are often thus paraded together, being usually driven in a carriage and attended by music.

Girls are generally married in their 12th or 13th, and sometimes as early as their 10th year. A man in search of a bride employs the services of a relative, or of a professional female match-maker, and he never has an opportunity of seeing his bride until the wedding-day, except when the parties belong to the lowest classes. When everything is arranged, the affianced bridegroom has to pay a bridal-portion (mahr) amounting to about 25l., more being paid when the bride is a spinster than if she is a widow. Generally speaking, about two-thirds of the sum, the amount of which always forms a subject of lively discussion, is paid down, while one-third is settled upon the wife, being payable on the death of the husband, or on his divorcing her against her will. The marriage-contract is now complete. Before the wedding the bride is conducted in gala attire and with great ceremony to the bath. This procession is called ‘Zeffet el-Ḥammâm’. It is headed by several musicians with hautbois and drums; these are followed by several married female friends and relatives of the bride in pairs, and after these come a number of young girls. The bride follows, under a silken canopy, open in front and carried on four long poles by four men. At the end of each pole is tied an embroidered cloth. In Cairo, however, this canopy is generally replaced by a carriage of some kind. The bride is usually enveloped from head to foot in a cashmere shawl, and wears on her head a small cap, or crown, of pasteboard. The procession moves very slowly, and another body of musicians brings up the rear. The shrieks of joy which women of the lower classes utter on the occurrence of any sensational event are called zaghârîṭ (sing, zaghrûṭa). The bride is afterwards conducted with the same formalities to the house of her husband.

The ceremonies observed at funerals are not less remarkable than house which attend weddings. If the death occurs in the morning, the funeral takes place the same day; but if in the evening, it is postponed till next day. The body is washed and mourned over by the family and the professional mourning women (neddâbeh); the fiḳîs, or schoolmasters, read several Sûrehs of the Koran by its side; after this, it is wrapped in its white or green winding sheet, placed on the bier, and then carried forth in solemn procession. The foremost persons in the cortēge are usually six or more poor, and generally blind, men, who walk in twos or threes at a slow pace, chanting the creed — ‘There is no God but God; Mohammed is the ambassador of God; God be gracious to him and preserve him.’ These are followed by several male relatives of the deceased,

and sometimes by a number of dervishes with the flags of their order, and then by three or more schoolboys, one of whom carries a copy of the Koran, or of parts of it, on a stand made of palm branches, covered with a cloth. The boys usually chant in a loud and shrill voice several passages from the ‘Ḥashrîyeh’, a poem describing the last judgment. The bier, with the head of the deceased foremost, comes next, being borne by three or four of his friends, who are relieved from time to time by others. After the bier come the female relatives, with dishevelled hair, sobbing aloud, and frequently accompanied by professional mourning women, whose business it is to extol the merits of the deceased. If the deceased was the husband or father of the family, one of the cries is: ‘O thou camel of my house’, the camel being the emblem of the bread-winner of the household.

The body is first carried into that mosque for whose patron saints the relatives entertain the greatest veneration, and prayers are there offered on its behalf. After the bier has been placed in front of the tomb of the saint, and prayers and chants have again been recited, the procession is formed anew and moves towards the cemetery, where the body is laid in the tomb in such a position that its face is turned towards Mecca. Among the women are the relatives and friends of the deceased, distinguished by a strip (usually blue) of linen, cotton, or muslin bound round the head, with the end hanging down behind. They usually also carry a blue cloth, which they sometimes hold aloft and sometimes wrap round their head or face with both hands. Men wear no mourning clothes. The women, especially in the country, frequently put dust on their brows and breasts, or stain their hands and forearms blue. These practices, though forbidden by the Prophet, are survivals from antiquity, as may be seen on comparing the representations of ancient funerals at Thebes and elsewhere. The mourning women occasionally interrupt their lamentations to rest on the ground and smoke. Rich men, or pious sheikhs and ulamas are buried with greater pomp, to which religious fraternities and dervishes with their flags contribute; water is distributed; and the riding-horse and a buffalo are led in the procession. The buffalo is slaughtered at the tomb and its flesh distributed among the poor.

Another custom peculiar to the Moslems is the separation of the sexes even after death. In family-vaults one side is set apart for the men, the other for the women (comp. p. clv). Between these vaults is the entrance to the tomb, usually covered with a single large slab. The vaults are high enough to admit of the deceased sitting upright in them when he is being examined by the angels Munkar and Nekîr on the first night after his interment (see p. lxii).

Religious and Popular Festivals of the Mohammedans.

The dates of these festivals, which may all be seen to the best advantage at Cairo, cannot easily be given according to the European computation of time, owing to the variable character of the Arabian lunar year (comp. p. lxvii). Calendars reducing the Mohammedan and Coptic reckoning of time to the European system may, however, be obtained at any bookseller's. The Almanac issued yearly by the Survey Department of the Ministry of Public Works may be recommended (price 25 mill.); it contains a number of other useful details.

The first month of the Arabian year is the Moḥarrem, the first ten days of which (ʽashar), and particularly the 10th (yôm ʽashûra), are considered holy. On these days alms are distributed, and amulets purchased. Mothers, even of the upper classes, carry their children on their shoulders, or cause them to be carried, through the streets, and sew into the children's caps the copper coins presented to them by passers-by. On the 10th Moḥarrem, the highly revered ‘Ashûra day, on which Adam and Eve are said first to have met after their expulsion from Paradise, on which Noah is said to have left the ark, and on which Ḥosein, the grandson of the Prophet, fell as a martyr to his religion at the battle of Kerbela, the Gâmiaʽ Seiyidna Ḥosein (p. 50) is visited by a vast concourse of noisy religious devotees. Troops of Persians in long white robes parade the streets, cutting themselves with swords in the forehead until the blood streams down and stains their snowy garments. Two boys, representing hasan and Ḥosein, are also led through the streets on horseback, with blood-stained clothes.

At the end of Ṣafar, the second month, or at the beginning of Rabi‘ Auwil, the third, the MECCA CARAVAN (p. lxvii) returns home. Detached groups of pilgrims occasionally return before the rest of the cavalcade, and their arrival is always signalized by the blowing of trumpets and beating of drums. A pyramidal wooden erection, called the Maḥmal, hung with beautifully embroidered stuffs, and carried by a camel, accompanies the procession as a symbol of royalty. The interior of the Maḥmal is empty, and to the outside of it are attached two copies of the Koran. The procession usually enters the city by the Bâb en-Naṣr (p. 72). In 1 ½-2 hrs. it reaches the Rumeileh (p. 63), the large open space in front of the citadel, from which last twelve cannon-shots are fired as a salute. The cortēge then sweeps round the Rumeileh, and finally enters the citadel. The departure of the pilgrims (p. lxvii) is attended with similar ceremonies.

The great festival of the MÛLID EN-NEBI, the birthday of the prophet, is celebrated at the beginning of Rabi‘ Auwil, the third month. The preparations for it begin on the second day of the month, and the most important ceremonies take place on the evening of the eleventh. The city, and particularly the scene of the festival, in the ‘Abbâsîyeh (p. 73), is then illuminated by means of lamps hung on wooden stands (ḳâim) made for the purpose. Processions of dervishes (p. lxviii) parade the streets with flags by day, and with lamps by night. On this evening the sellers of sweetmeats frequently exclaim — ‘A grain of salt for the eye of him who will not bless the Prophet!’ The Dôseh, or ceremony of riding over the dervishes, also took place on the twelfth of this month. Some fifty dervishes or more lay close together on the ground, and allowed the sheikh of the Saʽdîyeh dervishes on horseback to ride over them. Accidents rarely happened, although the horse trod on every one of the prostrate figures. During this ceremony the spectators shouted incessantly, ‘Allâhlá-lá-lá-láh-láh!’ This barbarous custom was suppressed by the Khedive Tanfiḳ, and the ceremonies are confined to the procession of the sheikh and the reading of the Koran in the Khedive's tent. At night a great zikr is performed by the dervishes (p. lxix). On this festival, as on all the other ‘mûlids’, the jugglers, buffoons, and other ministers of amusement, ply their calling with great success.

In the fourth month, that of Rabi‘ Tâni, occurs the peculiarly solemn festival of the birthday or Mûlid of Ḥosein, the prophet's grandson, the principal scene of which is the mosque of Ḥosein (p. 50), where the head of

Ḥosein is said to be interred. This festival lasts fifteen days and fourteen nights, the most important day being always a Tuesday (yôm et-talât ). On this occasion the ʽIlwânîyeh Dervishes (p. lxviii) sometimes go through their hideous performance of chewing and swallowing burning charcoal and broken glass, and their wild dances. On the chief days, and on their eves, great crowds congregate in and around the mosque. On these occasions the Koran is read aloud to the people, the streets adjoining the mosque are illuminated, the shops are kept open, and story-tellers, jugglers, and others of the same class attract numerous patrons.

In the middle of Regeb, the seventh month, is the Mûlid of Seiyideh Zeinab (‘Our Lady Zeina’), the granddaughter of the prophet. The festival, which lasts fourteen days, the most important being a Tuesday, is celebrated at the mosque of the Seiyideh Zeinab (p. 69), where she is said to be buried. — On the 27th of this month is the Leilet el-Mîʽrâg, or night of the ascension of the prophet, the celebration of which takes place outside the Bâb el-‘Adawi, in the N. suburb of Cairo.

On the first, or sometimes on the second, Wednesday of Shaʽbân, the eighth month, the Mûlid of Imâm esh-Shâfeʽi is commemorated, the centre of attraction being the mosque mentioned at p. 111. This festival is numerously attended, as most of the Cairenes belong to the sect of Imam Shâfeʽi (p. lxviii).

The month of Ramaḍân (p. lxvi), the ninth, is the month of fasting, which begins as soon as a Moslem declares that he has seen the new moon. The fast is strictly observed during the day, but the faithful indemnify themselves by eating, drinking, and smoking throughout the greater part of the night. At dusk the streets begin to be thronged, the câfés attract numbers of visitors, and many devotees assemble at the mosques. The eve of the 27th of the month is considered peculiarly holy. It is called the Leilet el-Ḳadr, or ‘night of honour’, owing to the tradition that the Koran was sent down to Mohammed on this night. During this sacred night the angels descend to mortals with blessings, and the portals of heaven stand open, affording certain admission to the prayers of the devout.

The month Ramaḍân is succeeded by that of Shauwâl, on the first three days of which is celebrated the first and minor festival of rejoicing, called by the Arabs El-‘Îd eṣ-Ṣnghaigar (the lesser feast), but better known by its Turkish name of Beirâm (Bairam). The object of the festival is to give expression to the general rejoicing at the termination of the fast; and as at our Christmas, parents give presents to their children, and masters to their servants at this festive season. Friends embrace each other on meeting; and visits of ceremony are exchanged. During this festival the Khedive also receives his principal officials, ambassadors, etc.

At this season the traveller may also pay a visit to the cemetery by the Bâb en-Naṣr, or to one of the others, where numerous Cairenes assemble to place palm-branches or basilicum (rihân) on the graves of their deceased relatives, and to distribute dates, bread, and other gifts among the poor.

A few days after the Bairam, the pieces of the Kisweh, or covering manufactured at Constantinople, at the cost of the Sultan, for the Kaaba (the most sacred sanctuary in the interior of the temple at Mecca), whither it is annually carried by the pilgrims, are conveyed in procession to the citadel, where they are sewn together and lined. The ceremonies which take place on this occasion are repeated on a grander scale towards the end of the month of Shauwâl (generally the 23rd), when there is a gay procession of the escort which accompanies the pilgrimage caravan to Mecca, and also takes charge of the Maḥmal (p. lxxiii). On this occasion every true believer in the prophet, if he possibly can, spends the whole day in the streets. The women don their smartest attire. Many of the harem windows are opened, and the veiled inmates gaze into the streets. The chief scene of the ceremonies is the Rumeileh (p. 63), where a sumptuous tent of red velvet and gold is pitched for the reception of the dignitaries. The procession is headed by soldiers, who are followed by camels adorned with gaily coloured trappings, and bearing on their humps bunches of palm - branches with oranges attached. Each section of the cavalcade is

preceded by an Arabian band of music, the largest section being that which accompanies the Takhttara, or litter of the Emir el-Ḥagg, and the next in order that of the Delîl el-Ḥagg, or leader of the pilgrims, with his attendants. Next follow various detachments of pilgrims and dervishes with banners, and lastly the Mahmal (see p. lxxiii).

On the 10th of Dhu’l-Ḥiggeh, the twelfth month, begins the great festival of El-‘Îd el-Kebîr (Ḳurbân Beirâm), which resembles the lesser feast (el-‘îd eṣ-ṣughaiyar) already mentioned. On this day, if on no other throughout the year, every faithful Moslem eats a piece of meat in memory of the sacrifice of Abraham, and the poor are presented with meat by the rich.

With the RISING OF THE NILE also there are connected several interesting festivals, closely resembling those of the ancient period of the Pharaohs, which even the Christian epoch was unable entirely to obliterate. As, however, they take place in summer, few travellers will have an opportunity of witnessing them. As these festivals have reference to a regularly recurring phenomenon of nature, their dates are necessarily fixed in accordance with the Coptic solar reckoning of time, instead of the variable Arabian lunar year. — The night of the 11th of the Coptic month Baûnch (June 17–18th) is called Leilet en-Nuḳṭeh, i.e. the ‘night of the drop’, as it is believed that a drop from heaven (or a tear of Isis, according to the ancient Egyptian myth) falls into the Nile on this night and causes its rise. The astrologers profess to calculate precisely the hour of the fall of the sacred drop. The Cairenes spend this night on the banks of the Nile, either in the open air, or in the houses of friends near the river, and practise all kinds of superstitious customs. One of these consists in the placing of a piece of dough by each member of a family on the roof of the house; if the dough rises, happiness is in store for the person who placed it there, while its failure to rise is regarded as a bad omen. In the second half of June the river at Cairo begins slowly to rise. On the 27th of the Coptic month Baûneh (July 4th) the Munâdi en-Nil, or Nile-crier, is frequently heard in the morning, announcing to the citizens the number of inches that the river has risen. The munâdi is accompanied by a boy, with whom he enters on a long religious dialogue by way of preface to his statements, which, however, are generally inaccurate. The next important day is that of the Cutting of the Dam (yôm gebr el-baḥr, or yôm wefa el-baḥr), about the 17th of the Coptic month of Misra (i.e. about Aug. 24th), when the principal ceremonies are performed to the N. of the former Fumm el-Khalîg (p. 100). The Nile-crier, attended by boys carrying flags, announces the Wefa en-Nil (i.e. superfluity of the Nile), or period when the water has reached its normal height of sixteen ells (p. 101). The actual cutting through of the dam can no longer take place, but the festivities go on as before.

IV. Outline of the History of Egypt.

I. ANCIENT HISTORY. By Professor G. Steindorff. a. From the Earliest Times to the Macedonian Conquest in 332 B.C.

Exact systems of chronology were as little known to the ancient Egyptians as to the other peoples of antiquity. The events they desired to record were dated according to the years of the king reigning at the time. In order to determine at what period a particular king had reigned, the priests drew up long lists of monarchs, fragments of which have survived to the present day (pp. 81, 236). The chronological epitomes, moreover, which are all that has been transmitted to us of the ‘Egyptian History’ written in Greek by the priest Manetho†, were founded on these native registers. Manetho arranged all the rulers of Egypt, from Menes, the first king, to Alexander the Great, in 31 Dynasties, which correspond, generally speaking, to the various royal houses that held sway in Egypt successively or (at certain periods) contemporaneously. This arrangement has been generally adopted by writers on the subject; but at the same time, for the sake of convenience, several dynasties are frequently grouped together under the name of a ‘period’, ‘empire’, or ‘kingdom’. The lack of any settled chronology renders it, of course, impossible to assign anything like exact dates for the kings before Psammetikh I. The dates, therefore, in the following outline are given as approximate merely, and in the earliest period may sometimes be even centuries out. † Manetho of Sebennytos (p. 170) flourished in the reigns of Ptolemy I. and Ptolemy II. He was probably a priest at Heliopolis and wrote his three books of Αιγυπτιακα ʽΡπομνηματα in the reign of Philadelphus.

1. Prehistoric Period (before 3300 B.C.).

The dark prehistoric period, which later traditions fill up with dynasties of gods and demigods, is illumined by a few scattered rays of light only. It may be taken as certain that the country did not originally form one single kingdom, but was divided into two states — the ‘Northern’, corresponding to the Delta, and the ‘Southern’, stretching from the neighbourhood of Memphis (Cairo) to the Gebel Silsileh, and afterwards to the First Cataract. Each of these states was subdivided into a number of small principalities, originally independent but afterwards dependent, which still existed in historic times as ‘nomes’ or provinces. The two Egyptian kingdoms were for a time hostile to each other. Their final union seems

to have been operated from Upper Egypt by King Menes, just how is unknown. The memory of the division subsisted beyond the dawn of the historic period; the arms of the united empire were formed by the union of the lily and the papyrus, the symbolical plants of Upper and Lower Egypt; the king styled himself ‘King of Upper and Lower Egypt’ or ‘Lord of both Lands’, and wore the double tiara (

) consisting of the white crown (

) of the S. and the red crown (

) of the N.; and at the base of the temple-walls were represented on one side the provinces of the S., and on the other the provinces of the N. Even in matters of administration respect was paid to this distinction, which was further emphasized by the physical differences of the two regions. The introduction of the Egyptian calendar also belongs to the primæval period and begins with July 14th, 4241.

2. Earliest Period of the Kings (ca. 3300–2900 B.C.).

I. and II. DYNASTIES†, said to have originated at This (p. 231) in Upper Egypt. † Only the most important kings of each dynasty are mentioned, Dynasties given in full are prefixed by an asterisk. — The names of the kings are here usually given in the Greek form, with the Egyptian form in brackets. When, however, only one form is shown, the Egyptian is preferred.

Menes (Menē) united Egypt about 3300 B.C. and founded the so-called ‘White Walls’, a fortified city on the site afterward occupied by Memphis (p. 140). The tombs of Menes and his successors have been discovered at Abydos (p. 238).

3. The Ancient Empire (ca. 2900–2350 B.C.). III. DYNASTY (2900–2850 B.C.).

This dynasty originated at Memphis, where their tombs also were situated. The most ancient maṣṭabas date from this period.

Zoser, builder of the Step Pyramid at Saḳḳâra (p. 142).

IV. DYNASTY (ca. 2850–2700 B.C.).

An epoch of powerful monarchs, who built the great pyramids. Snofru, builder of the Pyramid of Meidûm (p. 205) and probably also of the great pyramid at Dahshûr (p. 163).

Kheops or Cheops (Khufu) Builders of the three great Pyramids of Gizeh (pp. 124–130). Khephren (Khefrē) Mencheres or Mykerinos (Menkewrē)

V. DYNASTY (2700–2550 B.C.).

Egypt now reached the zenith of her civilization; art, in particular, attained a perfection never again reached. The pyramids of the kings are mostly near Abuṣîr (p. 137), where also special sanctuaries were built for the sun-god Rē (p. 138).

Nuserrē built the sanctuary of Abu Gurâb (p. 137) and the pyramid and funeral temple at Abusîr (p. 138).

Onnos (Unis), the last king of the 5th Dyn., built his pyramid near Saḳḳâra (p. 161). After his death internal dissensions seem to have broken out, resulting in the accession of a new dynasty.

VI. DYNASTY (ca. 2550–2350 B.C.).

Under this dynasty the power of the kings was more limited, and the small principalities recovered some of their independence. In foreign affairs far-reaching commercial relations were entered into with the Upper Nile, Punt (the S. coast of the Red Sea), Syria, etc.

Othoes (Teti) Builders of pyramids at Saḳḳâra (pp. 159, 162). Phiops I. (Pepi I.) Methusuphis (Merenrē Ment-em-sof) Phiops II. (Neferkerē Peip II.)

Towards the end of the 6th Dyn. the monarchy fell and civil strife broke out. While the successors of the 6th Dyn. (VIII. Dynasty) may have maintained themselves at Memphis, a new race of independent kings established themselves at Heracleopolis (IX. & X. Dynasties) and for a time ruled the whole of Egypt. On the other hand the chief power in the S. was seized by Theban princes (XI. Dynasty), most of whom were named Mentuhotep. The funeral temple of one of these has been found at Deir el-Baḥri (p. 300). Dependent on these sovereigns were the Theban sub-kings named Entef, whose small tombs lie near Drah Abu'l Negga (p. 279). The Mentuhoteps finally overthrew the kings of Heracleopolis and gradually succeeded in reuniting the whole country. The first ruler over reunited Egypt was Amenemhēt I., with whom begins —

4. The Middle Empire (about 2000–1580 B.C.). *XII. DYNASTY (2000–1788 B.C.).

This was Egypt's most prosperous period, and an epoch of great buildings. There is hardly a considerable town in Egypt without some traces of the building activity of the kings of this dynasty. Literature and art also flourished. The kingdom was organized as a feudal state.

Amenemhēt I. (Amenemēs) restored peace; his tomb is the northern pyramid at Lisht (p. 204).

Sesostris I. (Senwosret I.) conquered Nubia; his tomb is the southern pyramid at Lisht (p. 204).

Amenemhēt II.; his tomb is the smaller stone pyramid at Dahshûr (p. 163).

Sesostris II., builder of the pyramid of Illahûn (p. 190).

Sesostris III. (the famous Sesostris of the Greeks) consolidates the sovereignty over Nubia. Pyramid at Dahshûr (p. 163).

Amenemhēt III., builder of the pyramid and great temple (so-called Labyrinth) at Ḥawâra (p. 191).

Amenemhēt IV.

Sebek-nofru, a queen.

XIII.-XVI. DYNASTIES (1788–1580 B.C.).

The monarchs of the 13th Dynasty, most of whom were named Sebekhotep, maintained Egypt at the height of her power for some time, but a period of decline afterwards set in. There is no period of Egyptian history at which kings were more numerous, most of them reigning but a short time. The South was probably ruled by the descendants of the ancient Theban kings, while in the town of Noïs, in the W. Delta, another family raised themselves to power, forming the 14th Dynasty.

About this time (ca. 1680 B.C.) Egypt was conquered by a Semitic people, known as Hyksos, i.e. ‘Shepherd Kings’ (15th & 16th Dynasties), who were doubtless Syrian Beduins. Few of their monuments have been preserved; but it is evident that they conformed to the ancient culture of Egypt.

5. The New Empire (1580–1090 B.C.).

Egypt became a great power during this period. At first the culture of the New Empire differed little from that of the Middle Empire, but under Thutmosis III. political and social life as well as the art of Egypt underwent a radical change, owing to the new relations with W. Asia. The tribute paid by foreign states caused an enormous flood of wealth to poor into Egypt, and especially into Thebes, the capital. The earlier buildings, that had fallen into disrepair, were now replaced by imposing monuments, such as the temples at Karnak, Luxor, etc.

XVII. DYNASTY (ca. 1580–1545).

While the Hyksos were established in the N. part of the land, the S. was ruled by Theban princes, who were at first vassals of the foreign intruders. The tombs of these princes lie near Drah Abu'l Negga (p. 279). Among them were —

Sekenyen-Rē I., II., III. The mummy of one of these was found at Deir el-Baḥri (p. 95).

Kemosē. His queen was perhaps Ahhotep, whose jewels are now in the Cairo Museum (p. 93).

Amosis (Ahmosē, 1580–1557 B.C.), perhaps the son of Kemosē, conquered Auaris, the chief fortress of the Hyksos, and expelled the intruders from Egypt, which was reunited under one sceptre. The Biblical story of the Exodus may possibly relate to the expulsion of the Hyksos.

Amenophis I. (Amenhotep, 1557–1545 B.C.). This king and his mother Nefret-erē were afterwards regarded as the patron-gods of the Necropolis of Thebes .

*XVII. DYNASTY (1545–1350 B.C.).

Thutmosis I. (Thutmosē, 1545–1501 B.C.). His tomb at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 293) was the first royal rock-tomb of the Pharaohs. During his lifetime his children fought for the succession.

Makerē-Hatshepsowet, queen and builder of the temple of Deir el-Baḥri (p. 295). Her tomb is at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 291).

reigned alternately.

Thutmosis II.

Thutmosis III. (1501–1447 B.C.).

After the death of his sister and brother —

Thutmosis III. reigned alone. He was one of the most notable Egyptian kings, conquered Syria, and established the influence of Egypt in W. Asia. His rock-tomb is at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 292).

Amenophis II. (Amenhotep; 1447–1420 B.C.); rock-tomb at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 292).

Thutmosis IV. (1420–1411 B.C.) excavated the Sphinx at Gîzeh (p. 132). Tomb at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 294).

Amenophis III. (1411–1375 B.C.; called Memnon by the Greeks), whose wife was named Teyē, maintained intercourse with the kings of Babylon, Assyria, Mitâni (on the upper Euphrates), etc. (see cuneiform tablets from Tell el-‘Amarna, p. 89), and built temples in Nubia, Luxor, Medînet Habu (Colossi of Memnon, p. 325), and elsewhere. His tomb and that of his wife are both at Bîbân el-Mulûk (pp. 294, 282).

Amenophis IV. (1375–1358 B.C.) endeavoured to replace the old religion by the worship of a single deity, viz. the sun, an endeavour perhaps to provide a god that should be worshipped in common by all the peoples of the extensive empire (p. cxx). The movement was probably instigated by the priests of Heliopolis and was directed at first only against the gods of Thebes, who, during the New Empire, had thrown all others into the shade. Many of the ancient deities, especially those of Thebes, were fanatically ‘persecuted’, their images and names being removed from all monuments. For his own original name, in which the name of Ammon occurs, the king substituted that of Ekh-en-aton or Spirit of the Sun. Tell el-‘Amarna (p. 216), near which is the supposed tomb of the king (p. 222), was made the capital instead of Thebes. After the death of Amenophis internal commotions broke out and the new religion was again abolished.

Among his successors (1358–1350 B.C.) were Eyē (tomb at Bîbân el-Mulûk, p. 294) and Tut-enkh-Amun, who transferred the royal residence back to Thebes.

*XIX. DYNASTY (1350–1200 B.C.).

Harmaïs (Haremheb, 1350–1315 B.C.) restored peace.

Ramses I. (Ramessē), a short reign. His tomb is at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 287).

Sethos I. (Sethi I.) fought against the Libyans, the Syrians, and the Hittites (Kheta), a powerful people that under the 18th Dyn. had penetrated from Asia Minor into N. Syria and threatened the Egyptian possessions in Syria and Palestine. Sethos built large temples at Karnak, Ḳurna, and Abydos. His tomb is at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 287); his mummy at Cairo (p. 95).

Ramses II. (Ramessē, ca. 1292–1225 B.C.), the most celebrated of all Egyptian kings. He waged tedious wars against the Hittites (battle of Kadesh, p. 303), finally making a peace with them in the 21st year of his reign (p. 268), which left Palestine proper in the possession of the Egyptians, while N. Syria was acknowledged to be tributary to the Hittites. Ramses developed an extraordinary building activity in the course of his reign of 67 years. Perhaps one-half of all the extant temples date from this reign; and the name of Ramses is found in nearly every group of ruins in Egypt. His largest temples were those of Abu Simbel (p. 394), Karnak (p. 261), Luxor (p. 253), the Ramesseum (p. 301), Abydos (p. 237), Memphis (p. 141), and Bubastis (p. 167). His tomb is at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 283); his mummy at Cairo (p. 95). Ramses II. is frequently identified, but probably erroneously, with the ‘Pharaoh of the Oppression’ (Exod. i, 11). Of his numerous sons only one survived him, viz. —

Merenptah, who carried on campaigns against the Libyans and their allies, the peoples of the Mediterranean. His mortuary temple is at Thebes (p. 304); his grave is at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 283), his mummy at Cairo (p. 95).

Sethos II. was buried at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 287). His short reign was followed by a period of anarchy, in which various claimants (Si-Ptah, Amen-meses) fought for the throne. Decline of the kingdom.

*XX. DYNASTY (1200–1090 B.C.).

Seth-nakht succeeded in restoring peace.

Ramses III. (Ramessē, 1200–1179 B.C.) conquered the Libyans and in two great battles repelled an invasion of barbarians who approached from Asia Minor by land and by water, threatening Egypt. His reign of 21 years was thereafter an epoch of peace and quiet, in which several large buildings (e.g. the temple at Medînet Habu, p. 319) were erected. The king presented great gifts to the gods, especially to the Theban Ammon, who had been richly endowed by former kings also. The high-priest of Ammon gradually became the greatest power in the state. The king's tomb is at Bîbân el-Mulûk (p. 285); his mummy at Cairo. His successors —

Ramses IV.-Ramses XII. gradually fell more and more under the control of the priests of Ammon. Their tombs are at Bîbân el-Mulûk (pp. 281 et seq.). After the death of Ramses XII. —

Herihor, high0-priest of Ammon, occupied the throne for a short time.

6. Period of Foreign Domination (1090–663 B.C.). XXI. DYNASTY (TANITES; 1090–945 B.C.).

The empire now fell to pieces. At Tanis a new dynasty arose (Psusennes, Amenemopet), which contested the rule of the high-priests at Thebes. Pinotem I., a Theban priest-king, through marriage alliances with the Tanite dynasty, became king of all Egypt, while his sons obtained the influential and lucrative dignity of high-priests of Thebes. Nubia recovered its independence; and the Egyptian dominion in Palestine terminated.

XXII. DYNASTY (945–745 B.C.).

The kings of this dynasty were of Libyan origin. Their ancestors, like the Mamelukes of later days, had come to Egypt as the leaders of mercenary troops. Settling in the E. Delta, their power grew as that of the monarchy declined. The royal residence under this dynasty was Bubastis (p. 167); Thebes steadily declined in importance. Royal princes assumed the office of high-priests of Ammon.

Shesonchis (Sheshonk I.; the Shishak of the Bible) overthrew the Tanites. In the 5th year of Rehoboam of Judah he captured Jerusalem and plundered the Temple of Solomon (ca. 930 B.C.). For his monument of victory, see p. 264.

Under his successors (Osorkon, Takelothis, Sheshonk, etc.) the throne once more lost power, and the country was subdivided into small independent principalities. Among these are reckoned the members of the —

XXIII. DYNASTY (745–718 B.C.), who reigned in Tanis, but of whom we know little. The kings of Ethiopia, whose capital was Napata (p. 108), made themselves masters of Upper Egypt. B.C. 730. Tefnakhte, Prince of Sais and Memphis, attempted to seize the sovereignty of Lower Egypt, but was detected by Piankhi, King of Ethiopia, who captured Memphis. (For Piankhi's monument of victory, see p. 83.)

*XXIV. DYNASTY. Bochchoris (Bekenranf), son and successor of Tefnakhtē, secured the sovereignty of Lower Egypt, while Upper Egypt remained subject to the Ethiopians. Sabakon of Ethiopia, son of Koshta, overthrew Bochchoris and burned him to death. All Egypt fell into the hands of the Ethiopians.

*XXV. DYNASTY (ETHIOPIANS; 712–663 B.C.).

712–700 Sabakon (Shabako) assisted the smaller Syrian states (Hezekiah of Judah) against the Assyrians. 700 Sebichos (Shabataka). 688 Taharka (the Tirbakah of the Bible) also assisted the princes of Syria and Palestine against the Assyrians, but was defeated in 670 by Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, and after the capture of Memphis compelled to take refuge in Ethiopia. Both Upper and Lower Egypt became subject to the Assyrians, the various local princes (such as Necho of Saïs, etc.) becoming vassals of the invaders. Various attempts to expel the latter failed. 663. Tanutamun, son of Shabako, succeeded in recovering Egypt for a brief period, but was finally defeated by the Assyrians and driven back into Upper Egypt. The Assyrian rule in Egypt was, however, approaching its end. The absence of the main Assyrian forces, which were engaged in distant wars in Babylon and Elam, afforded an opportunity of shaking off the yoke, which was seized by Psammetikh of Saïs, son of Necho (see above), with the help of Gyges, King of Lydia. The foreign garrisons were expelled; the authority of the small native princes was gradually curbed; and Egypt was again united. Since then Ethiopia has been separate from Egypt.

7. Late-Egyptian Period (663–332 B.C.). *XXVI. DYNASTY (663–525 B.C.).

Egypt now enjoyed another period of prosperity. Trade began to flourish owing to the new relations with Greece. Art also received a fresh impetus; even under the Ethiopian kings artists had imitated the models of the classic period of Egyptian art under the Ancient and Middle Empires. This reversion to an earlier era appeared also in other departments, such as literature, the spelling of inscriptions, and even the titles of officials, so that the period of the 26th Dyn. may be styled the Egyptian Renaissance.

663-609. Psammetikh I. (Psametik), see above. 609-593. Necho (Nekaw). While the Assyrians were engrossed in a deadly contest with the Babylonians and Medes, Necho invaded Syria, defeating and slaying Josiah. King of Indah, at the battle of Megiddo. The Egyptians were, however, defeated at Carehemish by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and thus lost their possessions in Syria and Palestine. — Necho began to construct a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but was stopped by an oracle (p. 177).

593-588. Psammetikh II. warred against Ethiopia. 588-569. Apries or Uaphris (Weh-eb-rē; the Hophrah of the Bible) made another attempt to recover Syria, but was unable to prevent the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586. A military rebellion in Libya dethroned Apries, and his general Amasis was proclaimed king. 569-526. Amasis (Ahmosē) secured his supremacy by marriage with a daughter of Psammetikh II. A campaign undertaken by Nebuchadnezzar against Egypt led to the final abandonment of the Egyptian claims upon Syria. Amasis assigned the city of Naucratis (p. 28) to Greek colonists, who speedily made it the most important commercial town in the empire. A friendly alliance was made with Polycrates, tyrant of Samos. 525. Psammetikh III. was defeated at Pelusium by the Persian king Cambyses, and Egypt became a Persian province.

*XXVII. DYNASTY. PERSIAN DOMINATION. The Persian monarchs appeared as successors to the native rulers and by their moderation found favour with the greater part of the population. The old religion was unmolested. 525-521. Cambyses led an unsuccessful expedition, viâ Khârgeh, against the oases of the Libyan Desert and a campaign against Ethiopia. 521-486. 487. Darius I. endeavoured to promote the prosperity of Egypt in every possible way. The canal from the Nile to the Red Sea was completed (p. 177). A strong garrison was sent to the oasis of Khârgeh and a temple was built there to Ammon. After the battle of Marathon the Egyptians, headed by Khabbash, revolted and expelled the Persians. The insurrection, however, was quelled by — 486-465. Xerxes I., who appointed his brother Achæmenes satrap. 465-425. 463. Artaxerxes I. During his reign the Egyptians again revolted. Inaros (Ert - Har - erow), prince of Marea, aided by the Athenians, defeated Achæmenes, the Persian satrap, but the allied Egyptians and Greeks were in turn defeated by the Persian general Megabyzos near Prosopitis, an island in the Nile, and Inaros was crucified. ca. 450. Herodotus visited Egypt. 424-404. Darius II. The Persian power gradually declined. Under — 404-362. Artaxerxes II. and his successor — 362-338. Artaxerxes III. the Egyptians once more revolted and succeeded in regaining their independence for a brief period under native rulers, whom Manetho assigns to the 28–30th Dynasties.

*XXVIII. DYNASTY.

404. Amyrtæos of Saïs maintained his authority for a short time only. In Lower Egypt several dynasties contended for sovereignty.

*XXIX. DYNASTY (398-379 B.C.). This dynasty came from Mendes and relied for support chiefly upon Greek mercenaries. Nepherites (Nefarēt). Achoris (Hakor). Psammuthis (Pshe-Mut).

*XXX. DYNASTY (378-341 B.C.). 378-361. Nektanebēs (Nekht-Har-ehbēt), of Sebennytos, built a temple of Isis at Behbît (p. 170) and a gate at Karnak (p. 273). 360-359. Tachos (Tehor) was dethroned, and died at the Persian court. 358-341. 341. Nektanebos (Nekhtē - nebof) was a powerful monarch, in whose reign large temples (e.g. at Philæ, p. 358) were once more built. Egypt, however, was reconquered by the Persians; the king fled to Ethiopia and the temples were plundered. 332. Alexander the Great took possession of Egypt.

b. Graeco-Roman Period (332 B.C.-640 A.D.). 1. Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Period. 332-30. ‘Under the Ptolemies the lower valley of the Nile became once more for three centuries the seat of a brilliant kingdom, at first under gifted rulers of the most prosperous, richest, and most powerful state in the world, but afterwards condemned to shameful impotence under their vicious and degenerate posterity, torn by fratricidal wars, and existing only by the favour of Rome, until it was involved in the domestic struggles of Rome and finally perished’. The customs and religious views of the Egyptians were respected by the Ptolemies, who represented themselves to the native population as the descendants of the ancient Pharaohs. Large temples were built during this period. 332-323 Alexander the Great tolerated the native religion and visited the oasis of Ammon in 331, where he was hailed by the priests as a son of Ammon. He founded Alexandria (p. 10), which soon became the centre of Greek culture and of the commerce of the whole world. After his death in 323 the Macedonian empire fell to pieces. Egypt became the satrapy of — 323-285. Ptolemy I. Soter I., son of Lagus, who carried on the government at first for Philippus Arrhidæus and Alexander II., son of Alexander the Great, and then for the latter alone. Alexander II. died in 311, and Ptolemy assumed the title of king in 305. The Museum at Alexandria (p. 11) and Ptolemaïs Hermiu (p. 230), in Upper Egypt, were founded in this reign.

285-247. Ptolemy II. Philadelphus married first Arsinoë I., daughter of Lysimachus, then his sister Arsinoë II. Arsinoë II. was named patron-goddess of the Fayûm, which was entitled the ‘Arsinoite nome’ in her honour. Under Philadelphus and his successors great elephant-hunts took place on the Somali coast. The elephants were brought to Egypt and trained for military purposes. 247-222. 238. Ptolemy III. Euergetes I. married Berenice of Cyrene. He temporarily conquered the empire of the Seleucides in Asia Minor. An unsuccessful attempt was made by the Egyptian priests to reform the calendar by intercalating a day in every fourth year. The power of Egypt abroad was now at its zenith. 222-205. Ptolemy IV. Philopator. Under the misgovernment of this king and his successors the empire of the Ptolemies began to totter. Ptolemy IV. defeated Antiochus the Great of Syria, who had threatened the Egyptian frontier, at the battle of Raphia, but concluded a dishonourable peace with him. The king married his sister Arsinoë III. For nineteen years a series of native Pharaohs ruled at Thebes. 205-181. 193. Ptolemy V. Epiphanes (p. cii) ascended the throne, when five years of age, under the guardianship of Agathocles and œnanthe, the mother of the latter. In consequence of a revolt at Alexandria his guardians were obliged to resign their office. Advantage of these dissensions was taken by Antiochus the Great of Syria and Philip V. of Macedonia to invade the foreign possessions of Egypt. Egypt offered the guardianship of Ptolemy V. to the Roman Senate, which ceded Cœlesyria and Palestine to Antiochus, while Egypt continued to be independent, Ptolemy married Cleopatra I., daughter of Antiochus. The internal affairs of the country fell into deplorable confusion; rebellion succeeded rebellion, and anarchy prevailed everywhere. 181. Ptolemy V. was poisoned. 181-146. Ptolemy VI. Philometor, his son, ascended the throne under the guardianship of his mother Cleopatra. Onias was permitted by the king to build a Jewish temple at Leontonpolis (p. 166). 171. Battle of Pelusium. Philometor was taken prisoner, and Memphis captured, by Antiochus IV. of Syria. The king's younger brother — Ptolemy IX. (Physkon), at first also surnamed Philometor, was summoned to the throne by the Alexandrians. 170-163. Ptolemy VI, and Ptolemy IX. reigned jointly, having become reconciled, and with them also their sister Cleopatra, wife of Philometor. 163. 163-116. The brothers again quarrelled. Philometor, banished by his brother, fled to Rome, was reinstated by the Roman Senate, and thenceforth reigned alone, while the younger brother became King of Cyrene.

146. After the death of Philometor he was succeeded by his son, Ptolemy VII. Eupator, who, after a very short reign, gave place to — Ptolemy IX., who now assumed the title of Euergetes (II.). He married his brother's widow and afterwards also his niece Cleopatra. 130. Expelled by a revolution, Ptolemy IX. sought refuge in Cyprus, while Cleopatra reigned in Egypt as Philometer Soteira. Memphites, a son of Euergetes, became, under the name Ptolemy VIII. Neos Philopator, a rival to his father, who succeeded in murdering him. 127. 117. Euergetes II. regained possession of the throne. After his death the government was shared by his widow — Cleopatra Cocce and her son Ptolemy X. Soter II. (Lathyrus). 106. Soter II. was banished, and his brother Ptolemy XI. Alexander I. became co-regent in his stead. 88. Alexander, expelled by a rebellion, perished in a naval battle. Soter II. was recalled. Thebes rebelled and was destroyed. 81. After the death of Soter II. Ptolemy XII. Alexander II. married Cleopatra Berenice, with whom he reigned jointly. 80. He assassinated his wife and was himself slain. 80-52. Ptolemy XIII. Neos Dionysos (popularly called-Auletes, i.e. ‘the flute-player’) next ascended the throne and was formally recognized by Rome. He was banished by his daughter Berenice, who married Archetaus, a supposed son of Mithridates VI., King of Pontus, but was restored by the Romans after six months. The temple at Edfu (p. 335) was completed, and that at Dendera was begun (p. 241). Ptolemy XIII. was succeeded by his children — 51-54 Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV., under the guardianship of the Roman Senate. Pompey was appointed guardian. 48. 47. Ptolemy XIV. banished his sister Cleopatra. Pompey, having been defeated at the battle of Pharsalia, sought refuge in Egypt, but on landing was slain at the instigation of Ptolemy, his ward. Cæsar landed at Alexandria (p. 10), took the part of the banished Cleopatra, and defeated the rebellious Ptolemy, who was drowned in the Nile. — Cæsar, having meanwhile become dictator of Rome, appointed — 47. Ptolemy XV., the brother of Cleopatra, a boy of eleven, coregent. 45. Ptolemy XV. was assassinated at the instigation of Cleopatra, and — Ptolemy XVI. Cæsar (also called Cæsarion), her son by Cæsar, was appointed co-regent.

44. Cæsar was murdered. 41. 30. Antony, having summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus to answer for the conduct of her general Allienus, who contrary to her wishes had aided the army of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, was captivated by her beauty and talent. After having spent years of debauchery with the Egyptian queen, he was at length declared by the Roman Senate to be an enemy of his country. Octavianus marched against him, defeated him at Actium, and captured Alexandria. Antony committed suicide, and Cleopatra also is said to have caused her own death by the bite of an asp. Egypt now became a Roman province subject only to the emperor and was governed by viceroys or prefects nominated by the emperor.

2. Roman Period. B.C. 30. A. D. 395. The Roman emperors followed the example of the Ptolemies in representing themselves to the Egyptian people as successors of the old Pharaohs and in maintaining the appearance of a national Egyptian state. — Christianity was early introduced into Egypt, where it spread rapidly. B.C. 30-29. Cornelius Gallus, the first prefect, repressed an insurrection in Upper Egypt and fought against the Ethiopians. Having afterwards fallen into disgrace with the emperor, he committed suicide. — The reformed calendar was finally introduced by Augustus. 27. Caesar Octavianus, under the title of Augustus, became sole ruler of the vast Roman empire (p. 10). 21. The Ethiopians, under their queen Candace, invaded Egypt. Strabo travelled in Egypt. A.D. 14-37. Tiberius erected the Sebasteum at Alexandria. 16. Germanicus visited Egypt. 37-41. Caligula. In Alexandria civic disturbances took place between the Hellenes and the Jews. 41-51. Claudius. The building of the Pronaos at Esna (p. 330) was begun. 51-68. Nero. Egypt acquired a new source of wealth as a commercial station between India and Rome. 68-69. Galba. Otho. Vitellius. 69-79. Vespasian (p. 12) was first proclaimed emperor at Alexandria. From this city his son Titus (79–81) started on his expedition against Palestine, which terminated with the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. The temple of Onias (p. lxxxvi) was closed. 81-96. Domitian encouraged the worship of Isis and Serapis at Rome.

96-98. Nerva. 98-117. Trajan (pp. 12, 178). The canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea was re-opened (Amnis Trajanus). 117-138. Hadrian (p. 12) visited Egypt (twice according to some accounts). His favourite Antinous was drowned in the Nile, and was commemorated by the founding of the town of Antinoupolis (p. 214). 138-161. Antonius Pius. 161-180. Marcus Aurelius (p. 12). 172. Rebellion of the Bucolians, or cow-herds, who had long been settled among the marshes to the E. of Alexandria, quelled by Avidius Cassius. 175. Avidius Cassius was proclaimed emperor by the Egyptian legions, but was assassinated in Syria. 176. Marcus Aurelius visited Alexandria (p. 12). 180-192. Commodus. ca. 190. et seq. School of the Cathechists flourished at Alexandria under Pantaenus (the first head on record), Clement, and Origen. 193-211. Septimius Severus (p. 12). 201. Edict prohibiting Roman subjects from embracing Christianity. The Delta at this period was thickly studded with Christian communities. 211-217. Caracalla (p. 12) visited Egypt. Massacre at Alexandria. 212. The Constitutio Antonina admitted provincials to the Roman citizenship. Caracalla was assassinated by the prefect of his guards — 217-218. Macrinus, who was recognized as emperor by the Egyptians. After his death a series of contests for the possession of the throne took place at Alexandria. 249-251. Decius (p. 12). Persecution of the Christians in 250 A.D. under Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria. 253-260. Valerian. Persecution of the Christians (p. 12). 260-268. Gallienus accorded a certain measure of religious toleration to the Christians. Plague in Egypt. 260. Rebellion of Macrianus, who was recognized as emperor by the Egyptians. He marched into Illyria against Domitian, the general of Gallienus. 265. Aemilianus (Alexander) was proclaimed emperor by the army at Alexandria and recognized by the people, but was defeated and put to death by the Roman legions. 268. Lower Egypt occupied by an army of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, and part of Upper Egypt by the Blemmyes. 268-270. Claudius II. 270-275. Aurelian. 270. Probus reconquered Egypt for the empire. ca. 271. Anthony of Coma, a Copt, became the first hermit. 276-282. Probus obtained the purple at Alexandria.

278. His successful campaign against the Blemmyes. 284-305. Diocletian. 292. Rebellion in Upper Egypt. 294. Insurrection of the Alexandrians. 295. Diocletian took Alexandria. 303. Persecution of the Christians. 305-313. Maximinus. Beginning of the Arian controversies. ca. 320. Pachomius founded the first convent in Tabennesi (p. 239). 324-337 Constantine the Great. the first emperor who was really a friend of the Christians. The government of Egypt was reorganized; the country was made into a diocese and subdivided into six provinces, viz. Egypt, Augustamnica, Heptanomis (afterwards called Arcadia), Thebaïs, Upper Egypt, and Lower Egypt. 325. Council of Nice. The doctrine of the presbyter Arius of Alexandria that Christ was begotten by God before all time, for the purpose of creating the world, and was godlike, but not very God, was condemned; while the doctrine that Father and Son are homousioi or of the same nature, was sanctioned. 325. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria. 328. Constantine founded Constantinople as a new metropolis of Greek art and science. ca. 330. Beginning of the communities of anchorites in the Sketian and Nitrian deserts (Macarius, Amun). 337-361. Constantius favoured Arianisin. Athanasius was banished from Alexandria more than once. ca. 350. The earliest Coptic translations of the Bible date from about this period. 361-363. Julian, surnamed the Apostate from his renunciation of Christianity (p. 12). 373. Athanasius died, after witnessing the success of his cause in the last years of his life. 379-395. Theodosius I. the Great. He formally declared Christianity to be the religion of the empire. Persecution of the Arians and heathens (p. 12). Destruction of the Serapeum (p. 14). 395. Partition of the Roman empire, Arcadius being emperor of the East, and Honorius of the West.

3. Byzantine Period. 395-638. 395-408. Arcadius. Theophilus, the bigoted Patriarch of Alexandria (p. 12), carried fire and sword against the opponents of anthropomorphism, the doctrine that God must be considered to have a human form. 408-450. Theodosius II. 413. Theophilus died and was succeeded by Cyril (p. 13). 415. Hypatia, the female pagan philosopher (p. 13), died a martyr's death at Alexandria.

431. The Patriarch Cyril defended his view, that the Virgin was η Θεοτοκος, against the Patriarch of Constantinople at the Third œcumenical Council, held at Ephesus. 444. Death of Cyril. 449. In the so-called ‘Robber Council’ at Ephesus, the Patriarch Dioscurus of Alexandria obtained a victory as representative of the monophysite view. 450-457. Marcian. 451. At the Fourth œcumenical Council, that of Chalcedon, the monophysite doctrine, to the effect that Christ possessed a double nature before his incarnation, but that this human nature was afterwards absorbed by his divine, was condemned, chiefly through the influence of Pope Leo the Great. At the same time the doctrine that Christ possesses two natures, ασνγξντως and ασνγξντως, but at the same time ασνγξντως and ασνγξντως, i.e. unmixed and unchangeable, but also indistinguishable and inseparable, was formally accepted by the Church. The Egyptians, to this day, adhere to the monophysite doctrine. Establishment of the national Egyptian or Coptic Church. 474-491. Zeno. 491-518. Anastasius. 502. Famine in Egypt. 527-565. Justinian (p. 13). New administration. 610-640. Heraclius. 616. The Persians under Chosroes invaded Egypt (p. 13). Alexandria was taken. Chosroes ruled with moderation. 622. The Hegïra, the beginning of the Mohammedan calendar. 626. The Persians expelled by Heraclius.

II. THE MIDDLE AGES. Egypt as a Province of the Empire of the Caliphs. 640. ‘Amr ibn el-‘Âṣ (pp. 13, 39, 105), general of Caliph Omar, conquered Egypt and founded Fosṭâṭ (‘Old Cairo’). Egypt became a province of the Empire of the Caliphs, and was administered by governors of its own. 644-656. ʽOthmân. A number of Arabian tribes settled in the valley of the Nile, and many Copts embraced El-Islâm. Fosṭâṭ became the capital of the new government.

Omaiyades. 658-750. 756. Merwân II., the last of this dynasty, fled to Egypt, and was put to death there. His tomb is at Abuṣîr el-Melek (p. 201). The Omaiyades were then exterminated, with the exception of ‘Abd er-Raḥmân, who fled to Spain, and founded an independent caliphate at Cordova.

Abbasides. 750-868. 813-833. Mâmûn, the son of Hârûn er-Rashîd, visited Egypt and promoted scientific pursuits of all kinds.

Tulunides. 868-905.

Egypt became again for a short time independent. 868-883. Aḥmed ibn Ṭulûn, governor of Egypt, declared himself an independent sultan, and extended the boundaries of Egypt beyond Syria and as far as Mesopotamia. Numerous buildings were erected during his reign (pp. 39, 66, et seq.). 883-895. Khumârweih (p. 39), son of Ṭulûn.

Abbasides. 905-969. 905. The Tulunides were exterminated by the Abbaside caliph Muktafi, and the dominion of the Abbaside sultans was restored. 925. The Shiite Fatimites, commanded by Obeidallah, attacked Egypt, but were defeated. 935. Moḥammed el-Ikhshîd, a Turk and governor of Egypt, took possession of the throne. 965-968. Kâfûr, a black slave, usurped the throne, and recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasides.

Egypt under Independent Rulers. Fatimites. 969–1171. The Fatimites, the rulers of a kingdom which had arisen in the W. part of N. Africa in 909, as the result of a religious Shiite movement, attributed their origin to Fâṭimeh (Fatima), the daughter of Mohammed. 969. Gôhar conquered Egypt for his master, the Fatimite Muʽizz, and founded the new capital Cairo (p. 39). 973. Muʽizz came himself to Cairo and resided there until his death (975). He also conquered Syria. 975-996. El-‘Azîz, son of Muʽizz, distinguished himself by his tolerance and his love of science (p. 51). 996-1021. El-Ḥâkim (p. 72), his son by a Christian mother, was a fanatic. Subsequently, at the instigation of Ed-Darâzi, a cunning Persian sectary, he declared himself to be an incarnation of Ali (son-in-law of Mohammed), and exacted the veneration due to a god. Ed-Darâzi became the founder of the sect of the Druses (see Baedeker's Palestine and Syria). Ḥâkim disappeared, having probably been assassinated while taking one of his nightly walks on the Moḳaṭṭam hills. The Druses believe that he voluntarily withdrew from the world in consequence of its sinfulness and that he will one day re-appear as a divine prophet. 1021-1036. Eẓ-Ẓâhir, Ḥâkim's son, succeeded at the age of sixteen. 1036-1094. El-Mustanṣir, a weak and incapable prince. 1047-1077. Under Christodolus, the Coptic Patriarch, the seat of the Patriarch was removed from Alexandria to Cairo. 1074. The country was ravaged by a pestilence. Palestine and Syria were overrun by the Seljuks, who attacked them from the E. The Empire of the Fatimites gradually fell to pieces and was finally restricted to Egypt.

1094-1101. El-Mustaʽli, son of Mustanṣir, conquered — 1096-1098. Jerusalem and the towns on the Syrian coast, but was deprived of his conquests by the army of the First Crusade. 1099. King Baldwin of Jerusalem attacked Egypt unsuccessfully. 1160-1171. 1164. 1168. El-‘Âḍid, the last Fatimite caliph. Contests for the office of vizier took place during this reign between Shawer and Ḍargham. The former, being exiled, obtained an asylum with Nûr ed-Dîn, the ruler of Aleppo, who assisted him to regain his office with Kurd mercenary troops, under the brave generals Shirkuh and Ṣalâḥ ed-Dîn (see below). Shawer, quarrelling with the Kurds, invoked the aid of Amalarich I., King of Jerusalem (1162-73), who came to Egypt and expelled the Kurds. A second army of Kurds, which was about to invade Egypt, was driven back in the same way, whereupon Amalarich himself endeavoured to obtain possession of Egypt. Shawer next invoked the aid of his enemy Nâr ed-Dîn, whose Kurdish troops expelled Amalarich. Egypt thus fell into the hands of the Kurds Shirkuh and Ṣalaḥ ed-Dîn. Shawer was executed. Shirkuh became chief vizier, and on his death — 1169-1193. 1171. Ṣalâḥ ed-Dîn (Ṣalâḥ ed-Dîn Yûsuf ibn Aiyûb, p. 40), the Saladin of European historians, ruled in the name of the incapable caliph. On the death of the latter Saladin became sole ruler of Egypt, and founded the dynasty of the —

Aiyubides. 1171-1250. Saladin's reign was the most brilliant in the mediæval history of Cairo, though he resided only eight years in the city and spent the rest of the time in campaigns in Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia. He began the citadel (p. 64) and built the old aqueduct of Cairo (pp. 65, 66). The Shiite doctrines and forms of worship, introduced into Egypt by the Fatimites, were abolished. Syria was conquered. 1200-1218. Melik el-‘Âdil, his brother, for a short time preserved the dominions intact; but the empire was dismembered at his death, and Egypt fell to the share of his son — 1218-1238. Melik el-Kâmil (pp. 168, 171), a prudent and vigorous ruler. 1219. Damietta (Dumyâṭ) was captured by the army of the Fifth Crusade, but was surrendered again in 1221 (p. 171). 1229. Kâmil concluded a treaty with the Emperor Frederick II., who led an army into Palestine. By this compact Jerusalem and the coast-towns were surrendered to the emperor for ten years. El-Kâmil was succeeded by his sons — 1238-1240. El-‘Âdil II., and

1240-1250. Eṣ-Ṣâliḥ Aiyûb. 1249. 1250. Louis IX., the Saint, of France undertook the Sixth Crusade, marched against Egypt, and took Damietta, but was captured along with his army at Manṣûra by Tûrânshâh, who had succeeded his father Eṣ-Ṣâliḥ. During the negotiations for Louisʽ release Tûrânshâh was murdered by his bodyguards, the Mamelukes, and one of their leaders named Aibek was raised to the throne and founded the —

Dynasty of the Baḥrite Mamelukes. 1250-1382.† † The MAMELUKĒS were slaves (as the word mamlâk imports), purchased by the sultans and trained as soldiers, for the purpose of forming their body-guard and the nucleus of their army. They became known as the Baḥrite Mamelukes from the fact that their barracks lay on the island of Rôda in the river (Baḥr). 1260-1277. Beybars, one of the ablest of this dynasty, annihilated the last remnants of the kingdom of Jerusalem in the course of four campaigns. He brought to Cairo the last representative of the Abbaside caliphs, who had been overthrown by the Mongols and expelled from Bagdad, and permitted him and his successors nominally to occupy the throne. 1279-1290. Ḳalâûn, el-Manṣûr Ḳalâûn (p. 70), succeeded to the exclusion of a youthful son of Beyhars (1277–1279), successfully opposed the Mongols, and entered into treaties with the Emperor Rudolph and other princes. 1290-1293. El-Ashraf Khalîl captured Acre, the last place in the Holy Land held by the Christians. 1293-1340. En-Nâṣir, Nâṣir ed-Dîn Moḥammed (p. 40), succeeded his brother Khalil at the age of nine years, but owing to internal dissensions was compelled to retire to Syria. With the aid of the Syrian emirs, however, he regained his throne in 1298. Once more expelled in the same year, he regained his throne in 1309 and retained possession of it till his death in 1340. Distrust, vindictiveness, and cupidity soon showed themselves to be prominent characteristics of Nâṣir, who treated his emirs with the utmost capriciousness, loading them with rich gifts or ordering them to execution as the humour seized him. The emir Ismâʽîl Abûlfidâ, known also as a historian, succeeded, however, in retaining his master's favour until his death (1331). Towards the mass of the population Nâṣir was liberal and condescending, and towards the clergy indulgent. In order to provide the enormous sums required for the expenses of his court and his love of building, he appointed Christian officials in the custom-house and finance departments. 1347-1361. Ḥasan en-Nâṣir (p. 62) the sixth son of En-Nâṣir, was still a minor when he ascended the throne. The lawless independence of the Mamelukes and emirs was aggravated by a plague in 1348–49 which exterminated whole families, whose property was immediately seized by the government. After having been dethroned in 1351, Ḥasan regained his sceptre three years later, but in 1364 he was assassinated. The following sultans became more and more dependent on the emirs.

Dynasty of the Circassian Mamelukes. 1382–1517.

1382-1399. Barḳûḳ (pp. 40,71, 107), a Circassian slave, treacherously succeeded in usurping the throne by setting aside Ḥaggi, a boy of six years, and great-grandson of En-Nâṣir. The exasperated emirs dethroned him in 1389; but he triumphantly reentered Cairo (1390). He fought successfully against the Mongols under Timur and the Osmans under Bayazid. 1399-1412. Farag (pp. 40, 107), his son, had scarcely ascended the throne, as a boy of thirteen years of age, before the Osmans, and a little later the Mongols, again began to threaten the Egyptian dominions. Farag proceeded victoriously as far as Damascus; but owing to dissensions among his emirs he was obliged to return to Cairo. After the defeat of the Turks by the Mongols under Timur at the battle of Angora, Farag had to enter into negotiations with Timur. The latter years of Farag's reign were constantly disturbed by the rebellions of his emirs, particularly Sheikh. He was at length compelled by the insurgents to capitulate at Damascus, and was executed (May, 1412). 1412-1421. Sheikh el-Muaiyad (p. 55) succeeded Farag. His reign was chiefly occupied with victorious campaigns against his unruly Syrian vassals, in which he was greatly aided by the military talents of his son Ibrâhîm. He exacted heavy contributions from Christians and Jews, and he re-enacted and rigorously enforced the sumptuary laws of Omar, Mutawakkil. Ḥâkim, and En-Nâṣir. Not only were the colours to be worn by the Christians and Jews prescribed (the costume of the former being dark-blue, with black turbans, and a wooden cross weighing 5lbs. hung round their necks; that of the latter, yellow, with black turbans, and a black ball hung from their necks); but the fashion of their dress and length of their turbans, and even the costume of their women, were so regulated as entirely to distinguish them from the followers of the prophet. 1422-1438. El-Ashraf Bars Bey (Burshey: p. 108), who had for a time been the vicegerent of an infant sultan, ascended the throne on April 1st, 1422. He waged successful campaigns against Cyprus and the Mongols. 1468-1496. Ḳâït Bey (pp. 68, 109) was one of the last independent Mameluke sultans of Egypt. Both as a general and a diplomatist he successfully maintained his position against the Turks (Sultans Mohammed and Bayazid), and even inflicted serious losses on them; but the refractory Mamelukes obstructed his undertakings and in 1496 compelled him to abdicate in favour of his son Mohammed, a boy of fourteen.

1501-1516. El-Ghûri, Ḳânṣûh el-Ghûri (p. 55), once a slave of Ḳâït Bey, was upwards of sixty years of age when he ascended the throne, but he still possessed sufficient vigour to keep the unruly emirs in check. Already seriously injured by the discovery of the Cape route to India by the Portuguese, the trade of Egypt was terribly depressed by high taxes, and by the accompanying debasement of the coinage. At the instigation of the Venetians, El-Ghûri equipped a fleet against the Portuguese in India, and in 1508 he gained a naval victory over Lorenzo, son of the viceroy Francisco d'Almeida, near Shawl in Beluchistan; but in 1509 his fleet was compelled to retreat to Arabia. El-Ghûri fell, while fighting against the army of the Osman sultan Selîm I. on the plain of Marj Dâbiḳ (N. of Aleppo). 1517. Ṭûmân Bey (p. 57) was dethroned by the Osman Sultan Selîm I. of Constantinople (pp. 41, 115). Cairo was taken by storm. Egypt thenceforth became a Turkish Pashalic. Selîm compelled Mutawakkil, the last scion of the family of the Abbaside caliphs, who had resided at Cairo in obscurity since the time of Beybars, to convey to him his nominal supremacy, and thus claimed a legal title to the office of Khalîf (Caliph), the spiritual and temporal sovereign of all the professors of El-Islâm.† † The Turkish Caliphs, however, have never been recognized by the Shiites, as not being descended from Ali. Most of the Sunnites also, especially among the learned Arabs, regard them merely as temporal monarchs. Relying on an ancient tradition, they maintain that none but descendants of the Ḳureishites, the family to which Mohammed belonged, can attain the office of Imam, or spiritual superior. They accordingly regard the great Sherîf of Mecca as their true Imam.

III. MODERN HISTORY. Turkish Domination after 1517. The authority of the Osman sultans soon declined, and with it that of their governors. The Egyptian pashas were now obliged, before passing any new measure, to obtain the consent of the 24 Mameluke Beys (or princes) who governed the different provinces. These beys collected the taxes, commanded the militia, and merely paid tribute to the pasha. 1771. Ali Bey, originally a slave, raised himself to the dignity of an independent sultan of Egypt. He conquered Syria, but died on the point of returning to Egypt, where his son-in-law Abu Ḍabad had seized the throne. After Ḍabad's death the beys — 1773. Mûrâd and Ibrâhîm shared the supremacy, and rendered themselves almost independent of Turkey.

The French Occupation.

1798, July 1st. Napoleon Bonaparte (pp. 26, 41, 178) arrived at Alexandria, hoping to destroy the British trade in the Mediterranean, and, by occupying Egypt, to neutralize the power of England in India. July 2nd. Storming of Alexandria. July 13th. The Mameluke Bey Mûrâd defeated. July 21st. Battle of the Pyramids (p. 75). Aug. 1st. Destruction of the French fleet at Abuḳîr by the British fleet commanded by Nelson (p. 26). Sept. 13–25th. Insurrection at Cairo quelled. 1799, Jan.-May. Central and Upper Egypt conquered. July 25th. Defeat of the Turks at Abuḳîr. Aug. 24th. Napoleon returned from Alexandria to France, leaving General Kléber in Egypt. 1800, March 21st. Kléber defeated the Turks at Maṭarîyeh (p. 116). June 14th. Kléber was assassinated at Cairo (p. 41). 1801, Sept. The French were compelled by a British army to capitulate in Cairo and Alexandria, and to evacuate Egypt.

Mohammed Ali and his Successors. 1803. In the year 1803 the French consul Matthieu de Lesseps was commissioned by his government to seek for some suitable man to counteract the influence of the British and the Mamelukes in Egypt, and he accordingly recommended for the purpose Mohammed Ali, who was born at Cavalla in Roumelia in 1769, and who was at that period colonel (bimbashi) of an Albanian corps of 1000 men in Egypt. 1805-1848. 1811. 1824–1827. 1831. 1832. 1833. 1839. 1841. Mohammed Ali, having succeeded in removing most of his enemies, was appointed Pasha of Egypt. In 1807 he frustrated an attempt of the British to take possession of Egypt, and on March 1st. 1811, caused the Mameluke beys, who prevented the progress of the country, to be treacherously assassinated, together with their followers (480 in number). His son. Ṭusûn Pasha, waged a successful war against the Wahabis in Arabia, and deprived them of Mecca and Medina. Mohammed improved the agriculture of Egypt by introducing the cotton-plant, and by restoring the canals and embankments, appointed Frenchmen and other Europeans to various public offices, and sent young Egyptians to Paris to be educated. He also instituted various military reforms, employing his lawless Albanians in Nubia and the Suḍân (comp. p. 410) and creating a home army of fellahin, which showed its prowess, under his eldest son Ibrâhîm, in helping the sultan in the Greek war of independence. In 1831, aiming at complete independence, he made war against the Porte. Ibrâhîm invaded Syria, and captured Acre, Damascus, and Aleppo, destroyed the Turkish fleet at Konia (Iconium), and threatened Constantinople itself. His victorious career, however, was terminated by the intervention of Russia and France. Syria was secured to Mohammed by the peace of Kutahia, but he was obliged to recognize the suzerainty of the Porte. At the instigation of the British, Sultan Maḥmûd renewed hostilities with Egypt, but he was decisively defeated by Ibrâhîm at Nisib on June 24th, 1839. In consequence of the armed intervention of England and Austria, however, Ibrâhîm was compelled to quit Syria entirely, and Mohammed was obliged to yield to the Porte a second time. By the so-called firman of investiture in 1841 Sultan Abdu'l - Mejîd secured the hereditary sovereignty of Egypt to the family of Mohammed Ali, the pasha renouncing his provinces of Syria, Candia, and the Ḥijâz. He was also required to pay an annual tribute of 80,000 purses (about 412,000l.) to the Porte and to reduce his army to 18,000 men. During the last years of his life Mohammed fell into a state of imbecility. He died on Aug. 2nd, 1849, in his palace at Shubra.

1848. Ibrâhîm, Mohammed Ali's eldest son, had already taken the reins of government, in consequence of Mohammed's incapacity, in Jan., 1848, but he died in November of the same year, and before his adoptive father. 1849-1854. ʽAbbâs I., a son of Ṭusûn (p. xcvii), had all the dislike of a true son of the desert for European innovations. he, however, maintained the strictest discipline among his officials, and the public security in Egypt was never greater than during his reign. His death is attributed to assassination. 1854-1863. Sa‘îd, his successor, was Mohammed Ali's fourth son. He equalized the incidence of taxation, abolished monopolies, improved the canals, completed the railways from Cairo to Alexandria and to Suez, and, above all, zealously supported the scheme of M. Ferdinand de Lesseps for constructing a canal through the Isthmus of Suez, which was opened in 1869 under his successor. During the Crimean war he was obliged to send an auxiliary army and considerable sums of money to the aid of the Porte. He died on Jan. 18th, 1863, and was succeeded by — 1863-1879. 1866. 1867. 1873. 1879. Ismâʽîl, the second son of Ibrâhîm Pasha (b. Dec. 31st, 1830). He had received the greater part of his education in France and had there acquired the strong preference for European institutions which characterized him throughout his reign. Most of his innovations, however, such as the foundation of manufactories and the construction of canals, railways, bridges, and telegraphs, were planned mainly in his own interest, though of course the country shared in the advantage, while even in the establishment of schools, the reorganisation of the system of justice (p. xix), and the like, he acted rather with an eye to produce an impression in Europe than from real concern for the needs of his subjects. As time went on he succeeded in appropriating for his own use about one-fifth of the cultivable land of Egypt. In 1866, in consideration of a large sum of money, he obtained the sanction of the Porte to a new order of succession based on the law of primogeniture, and in 1867 he was raised to the rank of Khedive, or viceroy, having previously borne the title of wâli, or governor of a province only. In 1873 the Khedive obtained a new firman confirming and extending his privileges (independence of administration and judiciaries; right of concluding treaties with foreign countries; right of coining money; right of borrowing money; permission to increase his army to 30,000 men). The annual tribute payable to the Porte was fixed at 150,000 purses (about 772,500l.). The warlike successes of the Khedive resulted in the extension of his dominions to the borders of Abyssinia and, on the S., to the 2nd parallel of N. latitude. — The burden of the public debt had now increased to upwards of 76,000,000l., one loan after another having been negotiated. The Powers brought such a pressure to bear on the Khedive that he was compelled to resign his private and family estates to the state and to accept a ministry under the presidency of Nûbar Pasha, with the portfolio of public works entrusted to M. Blignières and that of finance to Mr. Rivers Wilson. This coalition, however, soon proved unworkable; and early in 1879 the whole cabinet was replaced by a native ministry under Sherîf Pasha. The patience of the Great Powers was now at an end; and on the initiative of Germany they demanded from the Porte the deposition of Ismâʽîl, which accordingly took place on June 26th. He died at Constantinople in 1895.

1879-1892. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1887. Ismâʽîl was succeeded by his son Taufîḳ, under whom the government was carried on in a more rational spirit. The debts were regulated, an international commission of liquidation was appointed, and an extensive scheme of reform was undertaken. In Sept., 1881, however, a military revolution broke out in Cairo, which had for its objects the dismissal of the ministry, the grant of a constitution, and above all the emancipation of Egypt from European influences. The Khedive was besieged in his palace and had to yield; he appointed Sherîf president of a new ministry and arranged for an election of Notables, or representatives. As the latter espoused the ‘national’ cause, Sherîf resigned in Feb., 1882, and Maḥmûd Pasha formed a new ministry, the soul of which was Arabi Bey, the energetic minister of war. This cabinet at once proceeded, without receiving the consent of the Khedive, to pass several measures intended to diminish the European influence in the political and financial administration of the country. The Khedive, to whom both France and England had promised protection, declared that he would offer a determined resistance to the measures of the cabinet. At the end of May the British and French fleets made their appearance before Alexandria. In the middle of June serious disturbances broke out in that town, in the course of which many Europeans were killed, while the others found refuge on board the ships. On July 11th and 12th Alexandria was bombarded by the British fleet, and on Sept. 13th the fortified camp of Arabi at Tell el-Kebîr was stormed by a British force under Sir Garnet Wolseley. Arabi and his associates were captured and sent as exiles to Ceylon. Since then British influence has been paramount in Egypt. In the autumn of 1883 a widespread rebellion broke out among the Nubian tribes of the Sudân under the leadership of Moḥammed Aḥmed, the so-called ‘Mahdi’ (pp. lxix, lxx), which proved fatal to the Egyptian supremacy in the Sudân. An Egyptian army of 10,000 men under an Englishman named Hicks Pasha was annihilated in Nov., 1883, by the Mahdi's forces, and a second expedition of 3500 regular troops of the Egyptian army, led by Baker Pasha, was also vanquished at Tokar in February, 1884. On the 18th of the same month General Gordon, who had been Governor General of the Sudân in 1877–79, after a perilous ride across the desert. entered Kharṭûm, which he had undertaken to save from the Mahdi; while on Jan. 29th and March 13th the rebels under the Mahdi's lieutenant Osman Digna were defeated at Et-Teb and Tamâï by the British under Graham. The Mahdi himself, however, still maintained his position near Kharṭûm, and towards the close of the year a second British expedition (of 7000 men) was sent out under Wolseley to rescue Gordon. Wolseley selected the tedious and laborious Nile route for this expedition in preference to the shorter but more dangerous desert route from Suâkin to Berber. An advanced brigade under General Stewart was, however, sent on from Korti at the beginning of 1885, which accomplished its march across the Bayûda Desert (see Map, p. xxvii) with complete success, gaining severely contested victories over large bodies of the Mahdi's followers at Abu Klea (Jan. 17th) and at Abu Khrûg, near Metemmeh (Jan. 19th). Stewart, however, was mortally wounded at the latter engagement. The British reached the Nile at Gubat, just above Metemmeh, on the evening of Jan. 19th, and on Jan. 24th a small body of men under Sir Chas. Wilson set out for Kharṭûm in two steamboats which Gordon had sent to meet them. Sir Charles reached Kharṭûm on the 28th, but found that it had already fallen on the 26th, apparently through treachery, and that Gordon had perished. The project of reconquering the Egyptian Sudân from the Mahdists was temporarily abandoned, and Ḥalfa remained the S. limit of the Khedive's dominions (p. xxvii). Though Suâkin became the basis of more or less desultory operations against Osman Digna, the British devoted their chief attention to developing and improving the administration of Egypt proper. Negotiations on the part of the Porte, instigated by France and Russia, to bring the British occupation of Egypt to a close, proved fruitless. A loan of 9,000,000l. was raised by the British for the purpose of regulating the Egyptian finances. In 1887 a convention with France established the unconditional neutrality of the Suez Canal.

1892. The Khedive Taufiḳ died on January 7th, 1892, and was succeeded by his eldest son ʽAbbâs II. Ḥilmi (b.July 14th, 1874), whose accession was confirmed by a firman of the Porte (March 27th, 1892). His independence of action is controlled by the British plenipotentiary (see below). 1896. 1898. 1899. In the spring of 1896 a British-Egyptian military force under Sir Herbert Kitchener (now Lord Kitchener of Kharṭûm) commenced operations against the Mahdists to the S. of Ḥalfa. On Sept. 2nd, 1898, the army of the Khalîfa Abdallah was defeated in a decisive engagement at Kerreri, and Omdurmân, the Mahdist capital, on the left bank of the Nile, opposite Kharṭûm, was taken. Since then the Egyptian Sudân, reunited to Egypt, has been under a special Anglo-Egyptian administration (see p. 405), at the head of which is a British Governor-General, or Sirdâr. In Egypt itself numerous reforms were accomplished by the British administration, and in especial, much was done to further agriculture by the building of light railways and the extension of the irrigation system. 1902. The Great Nile Dam of Assuân was opened. 1904. Anglo-French understanding by which England promised not to alter the existing conditions in Egypt, while France gave up all claim to set any period for the evacuation of Egypt. 1907. Lord Cromer, the British plenipotentiary (1883–1907), resigned office and was replaced by Sir Eldon Gorst.

V. Hieroglyphics. By Professor G. Steindorff of Leipzig.

Repeated attempts were made during the 17th and 18th centuries to decipher the peculiar picture-writing of the ancient Egyptians, the learned Jesuit father Athanasius Kircher (1601–80) being among the earliest to take up the subject. It was not, however, until the beginning of the 19th century that the key was found, though Sacy, a Frenchman, Akerblad, a Swede, and Young, an Englishman, had previously attained a certain amount of success in their efforts to find the clue. François Champollion, a Frenchman, succeeded in 1822 in discovering the long-sought alphabet from a careful comparison of royal cartouches, and so found the clue to the principles of the Egyptian style of writing. Champollion afterwards followed up his initial discovery with such success that he may fairly rank as the real interpreter of the Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The first clue was afforded by the famous ‘Rosetta Stone’ (now in the British Museum), discovered in 1799 in the Fort St. Julien at Rosetta (p. 27). This tablet of basalt bears three inscriptions: one in the ancient Egyptian language, written in hieroglyphics, one in the popular language of a later period inscribed in demotic characters, and a third in Greek; but the two last are merely translations of the first. The subject of the triple inscription is a decree of the Egyptian priests issued in 196 B.C. in honour of Ptolemy V. Epiphanes. The first step towards deciphering the hieroglyphics was made when it was ascertained that the frequently occurring groups of signs each enclosed in an oval (so-called cartouche; comp. p. cvi) were the names of kings and that the name of Ptolemy must be found among them.

Champollion and his successors established the phonetic signification of a large number of hieroglyphic characters, and it then became possible, from a knowledge of Coptic, the latest form of the ancient Egyptian language, not only to read but also to interpret the inscriptions. H. Brugsch, who led the way to the complete interpretation of demotic texts, was also the first to point out that in hieroglyphic writing, as in the Semitic systems of writing, only the consonants were inscribed, while the vowels were omitted as not essential.

The Egyptian hieroglyphics form a system of picture-writing, in which concrete objects were originally expressed by pictures representing them; e.g.

‘Face’ ḥr
‘Eye’ yrt
‘Moon’ yʽḥ
‘Plough’ hb'
‘Pigeon’ wr
‘Sun’ rʽ

Abstract ideas and verbs were represented on the same principle by the use of pictures of objects suggesting in some sort the idea to be expressed. Thus the idea ‘to rule’ ḥḳ' was expressed by the picture of a sceptre

, ‘south’ smʽ by a lily

the botanical emblem of Upper Egypt, ‘to write’ sš, by a set of writing apparatus

, etc.

A great advance was made when words, for which there was no special sign, began to be expressed by the pictures of other and different objects, the phonetic significance of which, however, happened to be the same. Thus, e.g., pr ‘to go out’ was expressed by the picture of a house

, because a ‘house’ also was called pr; s’ ‘son’ by a ‘goose’

s'; tp ‘first’ by the sign

tp ‘dagger’.

Many of these characters gradually came to be used for so many different words that their original word-signification was lost, and they thenceforth were used as of purely syllabic value. Thus, the sign

p' originally ‘to fly’ was afterwards used for the syllable p' in any signification; wr, originally ‘pigeon’ and afterwards also wr ‘great’, was used for any syllable wr. In this way word-signs also came to be used as letters; e.g.

r' ‘mouth’ was used for r;

š’, ‘lake’ for š;

ẓ-t ‘serpent’ (t is the feminine termination) for ẓ; etc.

These syllabic and literal signs were probably used at first for grammatical purposes only (as suffixes), but afterwards, owing to frequent ambiguities in the significance of the verbal signs, they were used to indicate the pronunciation in each particular case and thus to render the reading easier. Thus to the sign

wr ‘great’ a

r was frequently added, written thus

wr, in order to indicate the pronunciation; or

ʽnkh ‘to live’ was followed by the two explanatory consonants

n and

kh, thus

ʽnkh; or

nb ‘lord’ was preceded by

n, thus

nb. Frequently all the consonants in a word were written instead of merely the verbal sign, thus

śkht ‘field’ instead of

śkht.

In addition to these there was another class of hieroglyphics, known as Determinatives, which were placed after the word in order to give some hint as to its meaning. Thus, e.g., ś(o)wr ‘to drink’ is written

, with the determinative

(a man with his finger in his mouth) in order to indicate that the idea expressed by ś(o)wr has something to do with the mouth. These determinatives, which greatly facilitate the reading of inscriptions, were freely used, especially in later hieroglyphic periods.

The hieroglyphic system, as we find it in the earlier Egyptian inscriptions, is already complete; its development, briefly sketched above, had already come to a close. The following different classes of hieroglyphic characters were used simultaneously.

1. PHONETIC SYMBOLS.

a. Alphabetic Signs or Letters, of which there were 24 in the earliest Egyptian alphabet. 1.

' (corresponds to the Arabic Elif, p. clxii). 2.

y (in many cases in later inscriptions this sound disappears and is replaced by a simple breathing like’). 3.

ʽ(a peculiar guttural breathing, corresponding to the Arabic ʽAin, p. clxii). 4.

w (as in ‘well’) u. 5.

b. 6.

p. 7.

f. 8.

m. 9.

n. 10.

r. 11.

h. 12.

h (an emphasized h-sound, like the Arabic Ḥâ, p. clxii). 13.

kh (ch, as in the Scottish ‘loch’). 14.

ʽh (ch, resembling the preceding). 15.

s. 16.

ś or s. 17.

sS (sh). 18.

ḳ (a sharp k-sound, pronounced at the back of the throat, corresponding to the Arabic Ḳâf). 19.

k. 20.

g. 21.

t. 22.

th and sometimes t (in consequence of an ancient change of pronunciation). 23.

ṭ (a clear, sharp t-sound, like the Arabic Ṭâ). 24.

ẓ (an emphasized s or z) and sometimes ṭ (in consequence of an ancient change in pronunciation).

Several other alphabetic signs were afterwards added; e.g.

n, etc.

b. Syllabic Signs, of which some of the most important should be noted.† † The selection of syllabic and verbal symbols here given has been made with a view to assist the traveller in deciphering the names of the kings in the list given in Section VI of this Introduction. 1.

mn. 2.

khʽ. 3.

kʽ. 4.

nb. 5.

mś. 6.

‘ ’. 7.

mr. 8.

św. 9.

mr. 10.

tʽ. 11.

sʽ. 12.

bʽ. 13.

śn. 14.

mʽ. 15.

ḥm. 16.

rw.

Many of these continued to be used also as word-symbols; e.g.

mś, ‘to bear’.

2. WORD SIGNS.

a. In their original signification. 1.

rʽ, Sun, the sun-god Rē. 2.

ḥʽt, fore-part; front. 3.

yʽḥ, moon. 4.

Mʽt, the goddess Mʽt (Maat). 5.

Stkh, the god Seth. 6.

Rʽ, the sun-god Rē. 7.

Ymn (ʽmn), the god Ammon. 8.

Ptḥ, the god Ptah. 9.

Ḥr, the god Horus. 10.

Ṭḥwty, the god Thout. 11.

ʽSbk, the god Sobek. 12.

ḥḳʽ, to rule; prince. 13.

yb, heart. 14.

kʽ, bull. 15.

nkht, to be strong. 16.

khw, to reign. 17.

sbʽ, star. b. In their derived signification. 1.

wsr (originally ‘sceptre’), strong. 2.

ẓṭ (ṭṭ) (originally ‘sacred pillar’), to remain. 3.

yny, to bring. 4.

pḥ-t (originally ‘chessman’), strength. 5.

ḥb (originally ‘basket’), festival. 6.

ẓsr, splendid. 7.

sʽ (orig. ‘goose’), son. 8.

sʽ, son. 9.