The climate of Egypt is remarkably dry and salubrious, and, although the
mortality amongst the inhabitants is great, it can easily be accounted for apart
from the climate. Through the ignorance, superstition, and filthiness of the
natives, there is an excessive infant mortality, and the death -rate amongst the
young and adult Egyptians is greatly increased by the privations, hard work,
and exposure they have to endure. Besides this, a great number of the poor
die for want of medical care and advice, which the Government does not
supply them with, unless in the hospitals, of which the natives have a deepseated
dread. They prefer to die at their homes, surrounded by their friends,
rather than enter a hospital. Much, however, is being done to remedy this
state things, especially since the English occupation of Egypt; and the
sanitary service, which is under an English doctor, is greatly improved.

Except the Delta and sea-coast towns, the country is quite exempt from Iow
severs and disease of the chest. Ophthalmia, diarrhœa, dysentery, and affections
of the liver are the principal endemic complaints. Only two or three months of

the year can be called unhealthy, and that not to any great degree; but a
severe epidemic often sweeps over the country and depopulates whole districts.
Formerly it used to be “the plague,” but in later years it has taken the type
of cholera, which finds a favourable nidus for propagation in the pestiferous
houses of the towns and in the personal dirtiness of the fellaheen. When an
epidemic breaks out, it generally rages for three or four months; all business
is suspended, and Europeans and others flee the country, to return
again after the danger is past. Occasionally, also, murrain is prevalent as
an epidemio among the cattle, and vast numbers of them are destroyed by it.
An extremely low Nile is apt to produce disease both in man and beast: thus,
Cholera and murrain may both exist together, as in 1865 and 1883. In the
latter year the cholera was preceded by a bad type of cattle disease. The
mortality was considerable.

The Egyptian climate is more uniform than that of any other place on the
globe. Still it varies considerably through the different parts of the country.
The whole of Middle and Upper Egypt is characterised by great dryness and
clearness of the atmosphere, while the Delta enjoys a much cooler and damper
climate. Certain localities are having their climates noticeably modified by
new and extensive irrigation, by the cultivation of large tracts of previously
sterile land, and by the growth of trees. The immense surface of water now
exposed by the to the influence of a tropical sun must produce
local disturbances of the atmosphere, while the northerly winds, that blow for
about eight months in the year, as they pass over the Canal district, will carry
along with them a considerable amount of moisture, which, combined with that
arising from the annual overflow of the Nile, would lead us to expect still
milder summers but damper winters in Middle and Lower Egypt.

The mean annual temperature at Cairo is about 71° F. From the peculiar
dryness of the atmosphere it is rendered more susceptible of sudden changes of
temperature; but the fact of its dryness prevents the injurious effects that
often result from such sudden changes. The thermometer often indicates a
variation of 20°F. between morning and mid-day, and as much between midday
and evening. The early morning is invariably cool, but after two or three
hours the sun's warmth is speedily communicated to the atmosphere, which
continues warm till near sunset, when it rapidly cools; and if there be any
moisture in the air, it now appears as dew which has fallen on the ground, half
an hour after sunset. Although the thermometer falls suddenly about sunset,
it soon rises again from the radiation of the heat absorbed by the earth during
the day. Towards morning it falls again, to rise with the return of the sun.

The thermometer seldom falls to 40° F. at Cairo, but it is frequently lower
on the Nile. The coldest months in the year are December and January, and
the hottest are August and September, but even then it is cool in the shade.
The humidity of the atmosphere is principally controlled by the rise and fall
of the Nile. Fogs prevail during the first two months of the receding of the
waters. Evening fogs descend very quickly as the sun goes down, and are as
quickly deposited after the sun has set, leaving the sky clear and the air as
fresh as after a good shower. Morning fogs are soon dispelled by the heat of
the sun, and then follows the clear beautiful day.

On the desert the air is always dry and bracing, and much cooler than that
over cultivated land. Dews at night are common in the early and later parts
of the year, but exposure to them is not attended with any risk. During
winter the nights are piercingly cold on the desert. The moonlight nights
are singularly brilliant, but when there is no moon the darkness that envelopes
the earth seems so thick that you can almost feel it, while the sky above is
quite clear.

In Egypt there may be said to be only two seasons in the year—Summer
and Winter.

The Summer extends from April to the end of September. It is ushered in
by strong equinoctial winds, which are at first cool; but they soon give place to
the hot south wind, or khamseen, so called from blowing at intervals during a
period of 50 days. This wind is very peculiar, and may be thus described. It
is preceded by an unusual stillness of the atmosphere, and, as it approaches, the
air assumes a dusky yellow hue from being laden with impalpable dust, through
which the sun shines obscurely, and gradually becomes quite concealed. Electric
influences accompany this wind, so that, notwithstanding the excessive heat,
one feels excited rather than depressed by it. The respiration is quickened, and
the skin becomes quite dry and shrunk; and sometimes a prickly sensation is
felt all over the body. This wind blows generally for three days in succession,
with intervals of four or five days. It sometimes lasts from ten to twelve days
continuously, and if blowing from the south-east is not only very destructive
to vegetation, but exhausting to the animal organism. The khamseens are
not so severe as formerly, and they always cease about the middle of May;
northerly winds then set in and blow almost constantly till November, when
for two or three weeks easterly winds prevail.

A north wind blowing constantly during the summer months modifies the
heat considerably. After the harvest in June, the country becomes an aridlooking
waste; everything appears burned up, and the ground is dry and
cracked in every direction. During May and June the Nile remains at its
lowest, but by the end of June it begins to rise, and continues to increase till
the middle of September. Before it has reached its height all the canals are
filled, and the water is admitted into the fields. Such a surface of water
materially alters the temperature, and light dews now occur about sunset, all
through the lower country. As the river falls, leaving the land wet and
exposed to the action of the sun, exhalations arise, which render the Delta
somewhat unhealthy; the prevailing diseases then being ophthalmia, dysentery,
diarrhœa, and ague. By the middle of November the river has retired within
its banks; and, except at this particular time, the atmosphere is remarkably
free from humidity. The average summer temperature is about 85° F.: the
mornings and nights throughout the whole summer being always pleasantly
cool.

The Winter begins in October and ends in March. It is so genial and
uniform as to prove a great attraction to invalids, who find here a winter
climate unsurpassed by that of any other country in the world. “Boat life on
the Nile is the most enjoyable of all restoratives for the sick; and for lovers of
all that is luxurious in travel, of all that is glorious in memory, of the grand,
the beautiful, the picturesque, and the strange, Egyptian travel is the perfection
of life.” The atmosphere continues to be comparatively dry till the
middle of November, when there is an appreciable amount of humidity arising
from the land left wet by the Nile. The dews at night and in the morning
are now sometimes quite heavy, but they are of short duration, and by the end
of December they more or less disappear, and the air regains its former dryness,
though there are occasional showers.

Rain seldom falls in Upper Egypt; but on the Delta and along the Mediterranean
coast it is not at all uncommon at this season. About Alexandria
there would be on an average 13 rainy days during the winter. At Cairo,
five or six showers would be the average, and these not at all heavy. In
winter, as in summer, “great changes of temperature take place in the 24
hours, owing to the general dryness and clearness of the atmosphere, which
favour rapid evaporation during the day and radiation of heat during the

night.” At Cairo the thermometer seldom falls under freezing-point, and
natural ice is seen but rarely. ‘Snow is unknown: but in Upper Egypt and on
the Delta, hail and thunder storms sometimes oecur with great violence, and
do much injury; the hailstones being frequently as large as a pigeon's egg.

North winds prevail in December, January, and February, and they are often
piercingly cold. As you ascend the Nile the weather becomes warmer and
the atmosphere drier, so that Upper add Middle Egypt are more healthy than
the lower country or Delta.

The mean winter temperature at Cairo is about 58° F. The season ends
with boisterous southerly winds and dust storms, which begin to blow about
the latter part of March, and continue for one, two, or three days at a time
till the proper khamseen sets in.

The following very trustworthy and judicious remarks are from Dr. Patterson's
book, called Egypt and the Nile, a little work which every invalid would
do well to procure, in the absence of any exhaustive medical treatise on the
climate of Egypt, a thing much needed:—

“Phthisical and bronchial affections, chronic diseases of the mucous membranes,
congestive diseases of the abdominal viscera, nervous exhaustion,
debilitated circulation from progressive disease of the heart, and especially
that form attending advancing years, scrofulous diseases of every kind, and
struma in its various manifestations, are the diseases in which a most marked
improvement has been observed from a residence in Egypt. In the early stage
of phthisis, hereditary or acquired, indicated by general delicacy of constitution,
a prolonged residence in Egypt is generally attended with the best
results; but the patient should spend two or three winters at least. In that
form of early phthisis where much bronchial irritation exists, the stimulating
effect of the dry air on the irritable mucous membranes of the trachea and
bronchi is sometimes great for the first few days after arrival, but it soon
wears off. Cases of this kind should not come straight on to Cairo, but spend
a few days in Alexandria; they may then safely proceed on their Nile journey.
Under such favourable conditions of atmosphere, the effect of a comparatively
high temperature, and a peculiar, not to be described—stimulating, yet balmy
—influence in the general functions of the body, this climate may be, and often
is, of great service in the advanced stages of pulmonary phthisis. It may
succeed for a time, and I believe does, in arresting the progress of suppurative
tubercle; yet the effects of a long journey, the frequent changes of diet, and
the want of many of the personal comforts and attentions to which such
patients have been accustomed, cause me strongly to impress a careful consideration
before advising them to come to Egypt, and especially to go up the
Nile. If it be desirable that such cases should come, let them be advised to
remain in Cairo for a time, where they can lead a quiet, regular, and vegetative
sort of life; then, should they improve, they can try the Nile. As a
rule, the Nile-boat life is not adapted to such cases, unless they proceed under
very favourable conditions of attendance and companionship; otherwise the
fatigue and excitement attending the preparations and details of the Nile
voyage irritates and weakens them. They are far away from medical advice
and, from debility, are seldom in a condition to take the amount of exercise
requisite to keep their functions in order. … The invalid in an incipient
state of consumption can, by regulating his movements, command an almost
uniform condition of daily climate for several months: first, by a short stay in
Cairo; then, by following the seasons, he may proceed up the Nile until he
reaches a climate where the heat is just sufficient to allow him to spend much of
the day in the open air, and have regular exercise without being much fatigued.

He can then drop gradually down the Nile towards Cairo, keeping nearly the
same temperature all the way. If he reaches Cairo late in March, or even a
little earlier, he will then find a condition of climate such as is, probably,
found in no other place, in which he can remain a few weeks. About the
middle of April the mid-day temperature begins to be felt a little too warm
for a debilitated system, and the chance of being surprised by the hot winds
renders it advisable to depart. A short stay in Alexandria will then be found
beneficial, as the air is several degrees cooler than that of Cairo, the
humidity not too great, and the early hot winds are little felt. … Chronic
bronchitis, with or without much secretion of bronchial mucus, chronic
affections of the larynx and trachea, nearly all derive benefit. … Pure
asthmatic affections follow their usual vagaries here, as elsewhere. Some are
benefited, others not at all. Patients of this class however, when residing in
Egypt, are favourably situated as regards the facility for change. They are
within access of four modifications of climate—Alexandria, Cairo, Suez, and
Ismailia—so that when one does not give relief, another may be tried. There
are also the Nile and the desert. The latter, however, is seldom available,
except under circumstances unfavourable to debilitated states of system. …
The Egyptian climate, by allowing such great freedom for open-air exercise,
and exposure to the tonic action of sun-light, has a marked influence in
modifying the ill-effects arising from a scrofulous state of system. Few of the
sufferers from this disease, from colder latitudes, go away unbenefited. …
Diseases of rheumatic and gouty origin are often benefited, when the patient
will lead the life he ought to do; but this class of invalid seldom does so. …
To the overworked teacher and student, the care-burdened merchant and man
of business, and those subjected to a hard daily routine, which has broken down
their stamina, and induced a highly-excited state of nervous system; the confirmed
dyspeptic and hypochondriacal invalid; the depressed and anxiousminded;
the nervous and hysterical female;—to all these the Egyptian
climate may be beneficial. In a country where the manners and habits of
life are so different from what obtains in European countries, pleasant and
varied objects of attention, which strike the imagination and keep the mind
employed, tend much to improve the depressed morale and morbidly anxious
mind of the invalid. The bright and sunny sky is in itself an incentive to
cheerfulness and pleasure, which, combined with the amount of healthy
open-air exercise necessary to attain the enjoyment of sight-seeing, cannot
fail to produce favourable results whenever that is possible. Indeed, in all
cases where a dry and bracing air, bright sunshine, freedom from rain and
atmospheric impurities, are the desiderata, the Egyptian winter climate claims
an important, if not the most important, place.”

To these last remarks may well be added those of a recent writer on
Nile life, himself an invalid. Mr. Frederic Eden, in his Nile without a
Dragoman, says:—” I cannot make an end without saying once more that the
climate of Upper Egypt, in the winter, is as enjoyable as I believe any on
earth can be; that of the monotony experienced by some travellers we found
none; and that, to a sick man, the life led on the Nile is as agreeable as it is
health-giving. To be absolutely free from any care, but that perversely
carried with you; to be absent from the hurry, bustle, and activity of home
daily life, with enough to occupy and distract, and nothing to fatigue the
brain; with air as balmy as it is soft, appetite-giving and sleep-compelling;
with sun to warm by day, and freshness by night to string and brace the
nerves; with all temptation to live in the open air, and cabins to retire to,
literally under the foot, whenever rest or quiet be desired;—every aid is
given to weary nature striving to recover her lost powers. And of all the
many places to which, seeking for health, I have been sent by doctors, by
friends recommended, or by fancy prompted, I know of none to be compared to

the Nile, either for the enjoyment it affords, or the chances of recovery it
offers.”

Invalids coming to Egypt for the winter should be well provided with warm
Clothing, and should always wear flannel next the skin. Two tweed suits, one
of lighter texture than the other, form the best outfit for the ordinary traveller:
and on the Nile voyage he will find flannel shirts the best both for health and
convenience of washing. Should he, however, intend to make a long stay in
Alexandria or Cairo, and become acquainted with the European residents, he
will require a black coat, dress clothes, and white shirts. A broad belt round
the waist is thought to be a useful precaution; perhaps the best thing of its
kind is the Syrian silk scarf so much used by the natives. The head should
be well protected: for this purpose the best head-dress is a common felt
helmet or wide-awake, with a turban of white muslin (puggaree) wound
round it. Some prefer a pith helmet. The red tarboosh with which
travellers so often delight to adorn themselves, even when worn, as it should
be, with the linen cap or takeeyeh underneath, affords little or no protection
to those unaccustomed to an Egyptian sun, and as it is the mark of a Government
official, it is hardly a suitable headdress for the ordinary traveller.
Brown leather boots and shoes will be found the most useful up the Nile.
Ladies would find Wellington boots of brown leather a great convenience.
Coloured-glass spectacles with gauze sides afford great relief to the eye from
the glare of the sun, and a blue or green veil is often useful for the same
purpose.

In winter it is unnecessary to make any change in the Mode of Living from
that usually adopted in Europe; and most persons may eat whatever they
are accustomed to in other countries. It is, however, better to avoid much
wine or spirits, as they tend to heat the blood, and cause the hot weather to be
more sensibly felt; and some will find that fish (chiefly those without scales),
eggs, and unboiled milk, do not always agree with them. Bathing in the
Nile is by no means prejudicial in the morning and evening; and, except in
the neighbourhood of sandbanks past the First Cataract, there is no fear of
crocodiles. Fruit and vegetables when the former are not eaten to excess,
and the latter are properly cooked, are wholesome and cooling, and mutton is
better than beef. The fish of the Nile are not very good. Light Bordeaux
and Rhine wines are the most wholesome; beer requires strong exercise.
“The Nile water, when well filtered, is soft and pure, and may be safely
used. With some it may at first disagree, and have a tendency to induce
diarrhœa, and until this is overcome it should be tempered with a little good
brandy.” Care should be taken never to sleep in a draught: and invalids
should avoid bedrooms on the ground-floor. A warm great-coat and rugs will
often be found needful in Egypt during the winter, as the evenings, especially
on the Nile, are often very cold.

There are very good European doctors and chemists at Alexandria and
Cairo, and in cases of serious illness resort should at once be had to a doctor.

The only medicines with which a traveller need provide himself are quinine
pills (three grains to each pill), chlorodyne, and sticking plaster.

The following directions, chiefly from Dr. Patterson's book, for the treatment of ailments incident to the climate, will be found of service.

Headache and biliary disturbance is often brought on by exposure to the
sun. It is best treated by a smart purgative, and by bathing the head
copiously with cold water, while the feet are kept in hot water, to which a
tea-spoonful of common mustard may be added. If very severe, 8 or 10 leeches
should be applied to the temples.

In simple diarrhœa take a blue pill, and after three hours 5 grains of
Dover's powder, which may be repeated, if need be, at the same interval;
or a small table-spoonful of castor-oil, with 10 drops of laudanum, or 3 grains
of Dover's powder. In severer cases of diarrhœa, take 15 drops of diluted
sulphuric acid in a small wine-glass of water every half-hour, till four doses
have been given; and if then no effect is produced, take Dover's powder as
above.

For dysentery, the best treatment is first a blue pill, and after three hours a
table-spoonful of the following mixture, to be repeated every hour, or two hours,
according to the severity of the symptoms:—Castor-oil, 2 table-spoonfuls;
whites of 4 eggs; 2 wine-glassfuls of water to be added gradually, and beaten
up with the above; a little powdered gum-arabic may be usefully added to
this mixture.

In all cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, a rice diet is the best; and the
drink should be rice-water, or toast-and-water, or the whites of a few eggs
beaten up with water. A grain of quinine a day is a very convenient tonic
after the attack is over.

Ophthalmia begins by a slight redness and itching of the eyelids, and
feeling of grittiness in the eyes, as though sand had got into them, accompanied
after a time by a viscid matter causing the eyelids to adhere together.
The best simple remedies are constant sponging of the eyes with tepid water
and milk, or simple tepid (never cold) water, taking care to wipe them quite dry
afterwards, avoidance of light, wearing a shade, and dropping between the eyelids
three times a day a few drops of a wash containing from 5 to 6 grains of
sulphate of zinc in a large table-spoonful of water, or, still better, rose-water.
A slight purgative and low diet is also necessary. In very severe forms of
this complaint, it may be necessary to have recourse to more severe measures,
such as leeches, and the use of a strong collyrium containing from 5 to 8
grains of nitrate of silver in 1 oz. of water, or rose-water. Simply bathing the
eye with warm water will often remove an irritation which, if neglected, might
end in ophthalmia.

Any premonitory symptoms of fever should be at once met with a quinine
pill, to be repeated if necessary.

In all cases of sickness, one piece of advice should be borne in mind alike
by the physician and the patient. Use all medicines sparingly, especially the
stronger purgatives. “Many invalids partly nullify the good effect of change
of climate, by continually dosing themselves with physic, and keeping their
organs in a constant state of irritation.”

In the ancient Egyptian language, as well as in Coptic, Egypt is called
Khemi, or the land of Khem, the “Ham” of the Bible, meaning “the black
land,” a name derived from the blackness, of the soil. By the Hebrews it
was called Misraim, a name still preserved in the modern Arabic appellation
Misr , the meaning of which is doubtful. Its Greek name was .

From the old inscriptions we learn that the country was divided into two

large districts, styled the “land of the North” and the “land of the South,”
or the Upper country and the Lower country. The land of the North extended
from the neighbourhood of Memphis to the sea, and corresponded with what
was afterwards termed by the Greeks, from its resemblance to the fourth
letter of their alphabet, the Delta, the name by which it is known to us;
the Arabs styled it Beheyreh. The land of the South included the remainder
of the country as far as the island of Elephantine, opposite Syene (the modern
Assooán); this the Arabs called Saeed. One of the titles of the old kings
was “Lord of the two countries,” and on the day of their coronation they
received two crowns, a white upper one and a red lower one, in token of sovereignty
over the South and North respectively.

These two large divisions were further subdivided into districts, called by
the Greeks Nomes (Nó ). The number of these nomes seems to have
varied. The old Egyptian lists generally give 44; Pliny the same number;
Strabo and Diodorus 36; the usually received number is 42. Of these, 20
were in the Lower country, or Delta, and 22 in the Upper country. Each
nome had its own capital, the residence of the hereditary governor. “The
capital formed likewise the central point of the particular divine worship of
the district which belonged to it. The sacred lists of the nomes have handed
down to us the names of the temple of the chief deity, of the priests and
priestesses, of the holy trees, and also the names of the town-harbour of the
holy canal, the cultivated land, and the land which was only fruitful during
the inundation, and much more information, in such completeness, that we are
in a position, from the indications contained in these lists, to form the most
exact picture of each Egyptian nome in all its details, almost without any
gaps.”—Brugsch, ‘Egypt under the Pharaohs.'

The following is a list of the nomes, with their Greek names, and the
names of their capital towns, both in Egyptian and Greek, with the corresponding
modern Arabic town or village.

THE SOUTH COUNTRY OR UPPER EGYPT.

NOMES.	CAPTTALS.
	Egyptian.	Greek.	Modern Arabic.
1. Ombites	Abu	Ombos	Kom Ombo.
2. Apollinopolites	Teb	Apollinopolis Magna	Edfoo.
3. Latopolites	Nekheb	Latopolis	Esneh.
		Eileithyia	El Kab.
4. Hermonthites	Her-mont	Hermonthis	Erment.
5. Pathyrites			Koorneh.
6. Diospolites	No-amen	Diospolis Magna	Karnak and Luxor.
7. Coptites	Kobti	Coptos	Kaft.
8. Tentyrites	Tan-te-rer	Tentyra	Denderah.
9. Diospolites	Ha	Diospolis Parva	How.
10. Thinites	Abdu	This, Abydus	Beerbeh, Arábat el. Matfoon.
11. Panopolites	Apu	Panopolis	Ekhmeem.
12. Aphroditopolites	Tebu	Aphroditopolis	Atfeh.
13. Antæopolites	Ni-ent-bak	Antæopolis	Gow el-Kebeer.
14. Hypselites	Shas-hotep	Hypselis	Shodb.
15. Lycopolites	Siaut	Lycopolis	Asyoot.
16. Antinotes		Antinoöpolis	Sheikh Abádch.
17. Hermopolites	Khimunu	Hermopolis Magna	Oshmoonáyn.
18. Cynopolites	Ku-sa	Cynopolis	El Kays.
19. Oxyrhinchites	Pi-masa	Oxyrhinchus	Béhnesa.
20. Heracleopolites	Khinensn	Heracleopolis	Ahnas el-Medeeneh.
21. Arsinoites		Crocodilopolis, or Arsinoë	Medeenet el-Fayoo.
22. Aphroditopolites	Tep-ah	Aphroditopolis	Atfeeyeh.

THE NORTH COUNTRY OR LOWER EGYPT.

NOMES.	CAPITALS.
	Egyptian.	Greek.	Modern Arabic.
1. Memphites	Men-nofer	Memphis	Mitrahenny.
2. Letopelites	Sokhem	Letopolis
3. Libya	Ni-ent-hapi	Apis
4. Saïtes	Zoka	Canopus
5. Saïtes	Sa	Saïs	Sa el-Hagar.
6. Xoïtes	Khesun	Xoïs
7. Metelites	Sonti-nefer	Metelis	Fooah.
8. Sethroïtes	Thukot (Succoth?)	Sethroë
9. Busirites	Pi-usir	Busiris	Abooseer (?).
10. Athribites	Ha-ta-hirab	Athribis	Tel Atreeb, Benha el-Assal.
11. Cabasites	Ka-hebes	Cabasa	Kom Shabas.
12. Sebennytes	Theb-nuter	Sebennytus	Semenhood.
13. Heliopolites	Anu	On, Heliopolis	Matareeyeh.
14. Tanites	Zoan	Tanis	San.
15. Hermopolites	Pi-thnt	Hermopolis Parva	Damanhoor.
16. Mendesius	Pi-bi-neb-dad	Mendes	Ashmoon, or Tel-et-Tmel.
17. Diospolites	Pi-khun-en-Amen	Diospolis
18. Bubastites	Pi-bast	Bubastis	Tel Basta (Zagazig).
19. Pthenestes	Pi-uto	Buto
20. Pharbæthites	Kosem	Pharbæthus	Herbit.

It may be remarked that at a later period there were three divisions,
portions of Upper and Lower Egypt being taken to form a Middle Egypt,
called by the Greeks, from its containing 7 nomes, Heptanomis. Upper
Egypt, or the Thebaïd, then reached to the Thebaïca Phylace (), now
Daroot esh-Shereéf; Heptanomis thence to the fork of the Delta; and the
rest was comprehended in Lower Egypt. In the time of the later Roman
emperors, the Delta, or Lower Egypt, was divided into 4 provinces or districts
—Augustamnica Prima and Secunda, and Ægyptus Prima and Secunda;
being still subdivided into the same nomes: and in the name of Arcadius, the
son of Theodosius the Great, Heptanomis received the name of Arcadia. The
Thebaïd, too, was made into two parts, under the name of Upper and Lower,
the line of separation passing between Panopolis and Ptolemaïs Hermii. The
nomes also increased in number, and amounted to 57, of which the Delta
contained 34, nearly equal to those of all Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs.

Although many of the old Egyptian kings extended their dominions from
time to time beyond the southern border of Elephantine, as is proved by the
various temples above the First Cataract, and one dynasty, the XXVth, was
actually composed of Ethiopian kings, who conquered the whole of Upper
Egypt, and reigned from Thebes to Napata, or Gebel Barkal, there is no
record of any geographical division of this more southern country. Under
the Ptolemies, the more northern portion of what is now called Nubia had
the name of Dodeca-Schænus, or “12 schænes,” and comprehended the district
from Syene to Hierasycaminon, now Maharraka.

If in the term Egypt we include all the countries over which the Khedive
claimed supremacy prior to the recent events in the Soodan, it is rather difficult
to determine its boundaries with the exception of the northern, which is
of course the Mediterranean. On the south its furthest limit nearly reached

the Equator, though it narrowed there almost to a point. Within its eastern
borders, which commenced on the Mediterranean at El-Areesh were included
the Peninsula of Sinai, the Gulf of Akaba , and a narrow strip of the east coast
of the Red Sea, as far as opposite Ras-Benar, from which point the boundary-line
continued down the west coast of that sea to Massowah, and on into the
Gulf of Aden to Berbera, though the Khedive's authority in this extreme
southern portion did not extend far from the coast; inland, Abyssinia and
some native tribes were independent. On the west, it was bounded by an
imaginary line from Ras-el-Kanaïs on the coast, through the Libyan Desert
to Darfoor, and thence trending in a westerly direction to the Blue Mountains.

The geographical limits of Egypt Proper, which, with the exception of
Suakin, is all that is now left to the Khedive, are the same as in the days
of the Pharaohs, and comprise the Delta and the Valley of the Nile as far as
the First Cataract, together with the Peninsula of Sinai and the Oases' of
the Libyan Desert. As of old, it is divided into two parts, Lower Egypt
and Upper Egypt; and each of these is subdivided into Provinces, with their
chief towns, as under.

LOWER EGYPT.

Province.	Chief Town.
Beheyreh.	Damanhoor.
Menoofeeyeh.	Shibeen el-Kom.
Sharkeeyeh.	Zagazig.
Dakaleeyeh.	Mansoorah.
Gharbeeyeh.	Tantah.
Kalioobeeyeh.	Benha.

UPPER EGYPT.

Province.	Chief Town.
Geezeh.	Geezeh.
Benisooéf.	Benisooéf.
Fayoom.	Medeenet el-Fay-oom.
Minieh.	Minieh.
Asyoot.	Asyoot.
Girgeh.	Soohág.
Keneh.	Keneh.
Esneh.	Esneh.

Each of these provinces has a governor called a Mudeer; and they are
subdivided again into districts, each under a Názir, or deputy-governor.
The towns of Alexandria, Cairo, Suez, Port Said, Ismailia, Rosetta. and
Damietta form separate special governments, called Mohafzas, independent of
the provinces in which they are situated.

The Soodán included a very wide area, embracing nearly all the more
recent acquisitions of territory made by the Khedive. It was divided into
the provinces of Khartoom, Kordofán, Senaar, Darfoor, Bahr el-Abiad (which
included all the region of the White Nile in the extreme south), Taka, and
Gedáref.

The total area of the vast territory included in these three parts is estimated
at one million and a half square miles, and measures 2000 miles from
N. to S., and about 1500 from E. to W., drawing a line from Berbera to
Darfoor. The whole of this territory has now ceased to belong to Egypt.
The greater part of the Soudan is in a state of anarchy. Massowah has been
taken possession of by Italy; Zeila and Berbera by England. Of all the
country south of Wady Halfa, Suakin alone remains in the possession of
Egypt, which is again what it was of old, nothing more than the Valley of
the Nile, from the Mediterranean to Assooán, a tract of country containing
about 10,000 square miles of cultivable land (of which about 8500 square
miles are actually under tillage), just about half the size of Ireland.
More than half this land is in the Delta, which is 160 miles broad at its
Mediterranean base, but narrows to about 10 miles at its head below Cairo.

From this point to Assooán the alluvial soil, called by the Arabs Er-Reef,
nowhere extends to a greater width, and is indeed generally much narrower,
except at the quasi-oasis of the Fayoom, on the left bank of the river,
which measures about thirty miles from N. to S., and forty from E. to W.
The total length from the sea to the First Cataract is, in a straight line, 550
miles.

Of geographical features Egypt may be said to possess but one, its river:
for the hills which border the Nile's course on either side from Cairo to
Wady Halfa, branching out on the E. from Keneh to Kosseir, and on the W.
from Wady Halfa to the Great Oasis, never reach any great height; and the
lakes, with the exception of the Bitter Lakes, which must be considered as
artificial, and the Birket el-Korn, in the Fayoom, are nothing but lagoons, of
which the most considerable are Mareotis, Etko, Bourlos, and Menzaleh.

At the same time no geographical notice of Egypt, however slight, would
be complete without a mention of the Oases. These are five in number, and
are situated in the Libyan Desert several days' journey W. of the Nile. The
most northern is Seewah, the famed oasis of Jupiter Ammon; next comes the
Little Oasis, the Oasis Parva of antiquity, now called Wahat el-Bahreeyeh;
then the oases of Faráfreh and Dakhleh; and further to the S., the Great Oasis,
the Oasis Major of the Romans, now called the Wahat el-Khárgeh. There are
besides one or two smaller ones. The title given by the ancients to these
oases, of “islands of the blest” (), is somewhat misleading, as
they do not spring up from the surrounding desolation, but are depressions in
the lofty desert table-land, which rises above them in steep limestone cliffs.
Nor is the whole of their area cultivable soil, all being intersected by passes
of desert. They owe their existence and their fertility to the copiousness of
the springs with which they abound, and which are supposed to be connected
by subterranean channels with the Nile.

The following are some of the common Arab appellations of towns, &c.:—
The large, or market, towns have the title of Bender. Medeeneh is a
“capital,” and is applied to Cairo, and the capital of the Fayoom. Markaz is
an administrative division of a Province. Beled is the usual appellation of a
“town;” whence Ibn beled, “son of a town,” or “townsman.” Nahieh corresponds to a French “commune;” it may contain two or three villages.
Kafr is a village independent of the Nahieh; Nezleh, a village founded by the
people of another place, as Nezlet el-Fent. Minieh (corrupted into Mit,
particularly in the Delta) is also applied to villages colonised from other
places. Beni, “the sons,” is given to those founded by a tribe, or family, as
Beni Amrán, “the sons of Amran,” and then many villages in the district are
often included under the same name. Zówyeh is a hamlet having a mosque.
Kasr is a “palace,” or any large building. Boorg is a “tower” (like the
Greek ); and it is even applied to the pigeon-houses built in that
form. Sáhil, a level spot, or opening in the bank, where the river is accessible
from the plain. Merseh, an anchoring-place, or harbour. Dayr is a “convent,”
and frequently points out a Christian village. Kom is a “mound,”
and indicates the site of an ancient town; and Tel is commonly used in the
Delta in the same sense. Kharáb and Kooffree are applied to “ruins.”
Beerbek (which is taken from the Coptic) signifies a “temple.” Wády is
“a valley;” Gebel, “a mountain;” and Birkeh, “a lake,” or “a reach” in
the Nile. The W. bank of the river is called ghárbee and the E. bank
shúrgee, and the common expressions for N. and S. are báhree, “seawards,”
and gúblee, “mountainwards.”

The Nile (Greek , Latin Nilus. Arabic Neel) is supposed to derive its
name from the Semitic word Nahar or Nahal, “river;” and it certainly is

emphatically the river of the Old World. The Amazon of the New World
alone surpasses it in length, so far as that length is as yet known; but no
river, in either hemisphere, can in any degree equal it in historical and
geographical interest. By the ancient Egyptians it was honoured as a
divinity to whom their land was indebted for its very existence, Egypt being
most truly, as Herodotus puts it, “the gift of the Nile.” Its connection with
the most important events of ancient history, and the stupendous monuments
which still bear witness to its former wealth and civilization, render it an
object of the greatest interest to the antiquary and the student of history;
while the discovery of its source has been a problem which down to the
present day has never ceased to excite the curiosity and stimulate the zeal of
geographers and travellers. The words of Tibullus:
have not received a complete answer even now, though the proverb “caput
Nili quærere” does not quite convey the idea of a hopeless enterprise that it
once did.

The latest discoverers place the Sources of the Nile in the Victoria Nyanza,
but it still remains to be proved that it does not flow into that lake
from some yet more distant source S. of the equator. From the Victoria
Nyanza it flows into the Albert Nyanza, and issues thence in a series of
rapids under the name of the Bahr el-Gebel. Passing Gondokoro near 5° N.
lat., it is joined near 9° N. lat. by the waters of the Bahr el-Ghazál (Gazelle
River) and the Sobát; from which points to Khartoom it is known as the Bahr
el-Abiad (White River) or White Nile, a name which may be derived either
from the whitish clay which it holds in solution, or from its contrast with
the Bahr el-Azrek (Blue River) or Blue Nile, which unites with it at Khartoom.
The length of its course to this point of junction is about 1500 miles.

The Bahr el-Azrek or Blue Nile, so called from the dark colour of
its waters, rises in the mountains of Abyssinia, and is joined by many
important tributaries before reaching Khartoom. At its point of confluence
with the White Nile it constitutes, under ordinary circumstances, but one-third
of the volume of water which henceforth flows on under the name
of the Babr en-Neel, but in the spring and summer this amount is
considerably increased. It is then swollen with the rains that have fallen in
the Abyssinian mountains, and sweeps along in an overflowing turbid stream,
thick with the fertilising mud from which it derives its name, and the
deposits of which have formed and still continue to maintain the land of
Egypt.

From Khartoom the Nile flows in one undivided stream, and fed only by
one affluent, the Atbara, to the sea, a distance of more than 1800 miles.
Nowhere is the cultivable land (except in the Fayoom and the Delta) more
than 10 miles broad, and in many places there is nothing but a strip of sand
between it and the hills which on either side flank the whole length of its
course as far as Cairo. Through these hills it has occasionally to force its way
in a series of falls, to which the name of cataract has been given, though
they bear no analogy with such cataracts as Niagara, being in fact merely
rapids. There are six of these cataracts, besides some smaller falls, between
Khartoom and Assooán. That at Assooán is known as the First Cataract.

The Nile now enters Egypt Proper and continues, at an average rate of
about 3 miles an hour, increased to 4 1/2 at the height of the inundation, a
quiet winding course varying in breadth from 350 yards at Silsilis to 3/4 mile
just above Cairo. So far its course is the same as in old times, but a considerable
change now takes place; for whereas formerly it discharged itself
into the sea by seven Mouths, at the present day these are reduced to
two. The point of separation, which constitutes the apex of the Delta, has

remained about the same. Its ancient name appears to have been Cercasorus,
the modern representative of which may be placed at a point opposite Shoobra.
Here the river anciently divided into three branches, the Pelusiac running E.,
the Canopic running W., and the Sebennytic which flowed between these two,
continuing indeed the general northward direction hitherto taken by the Nile,
and piercing the Delta through the centre. From this Sebennytic branch two
others were derived, the Tanitic and the Mendesian, both of which emptied
themselves between it and the Pelusian branch. The lower parts of the
remaining two branches, the Bolbitime and the Phatmetic, were artificial, and
were constructed probably when the other outlets began to dry up. It is by
these two mouths that the river at the present day finds its outlet. At the
point of bifurcation the general direction of the two streams is probably that of
the old Pelusian and Canopic branches, but they gradually quit the extreme
E. and W. course, and continue more in the centre of the Delta, the one to
Damietta, and the other to Rosetta, from which places they derive their
modern appellations.

The annual Inundations, which not only water the country, but supply it
with the fertilising deposit on which its very existence depends, are the result
of the rains falling in the mountains amongst which the Blue Nile has its
source, and in Central Africa along the course of the White Nile. Although
the rise of the river in the S. begins in April, its effects are not felt in Egypt
until June. The inundation continues about 3 months, and reaches its highest
point at the end of September, though very often there is a sudden final rise
in October. It then steadily subsides, and by the end of January the country
it has covered begins to dry up. From that time the river flows within its
natural limits, sinking gradually lower and lower, till the period of the next
rise. On the height of the inundations depends the prosperity of the country
for the ensuing year. Too great a rise involves a destruction of dykes and a
loss of life and property. A deficiency leaves large tracts unmoistened and
unfertilised, and the canals not sufficiently filled to supply water for irrigation
during the dry season. Great improvements have been introduced in the
system of irrigation in Egypt during the last few years, by Colonel Sir
Colin Scott Moncrieff, K.C.M.G., R.E., and his able staff of assistants, who
have been able to add considerably to the cultivable area of Egypt.

The importance, therefore, of watching the rise of the river and regulating
it by means of dykes, sluices and canals, has always been recognised. At the
present day the progress of the inundation is telegraphed from Wady Halfa,
just as in old times messages were sent from Assooán, and afterwards from
Semneh, the southernmost point of the kingdom in the days of Amenemhat
III. Several inscriptions at Semneh record the height of the Nile at different
times during the reign of this king, to whom Egypt was indebted for the Lake
Mœris, and many other important irrigation works. From them it would
appear that the highest recorded rise was 27 ft. 3 in. above any inundation of
the present day (see p. 546), The height of the inundation varies in different
parts of Egypt. At Cairo a good average is about 26 feet.

The mode of irrigation is essentially different in Upper and Lower Egypt.
In the former, the country on each side of the river is divided into basins
varying in area from 10,000 to 50,000 acres. These basins are filled by the
Nile in the time of the inundation, which is afterwards allowed to flow off,
leaving a deposit of Nile mud on the surface of the land. In Lower Egypt,
on the contrary, the water is distributed by an elaborate system of canals.

The Egyptian Flora consist of about 1300 specimens, of which indigenous
plants constitute the largest proportion, few countries having so small a number
of introduced plants as Egypt. The desert species alone, all of which are
indigenous, number nearly 250. Almost all the ordinary productions of the
present day appear to have been known to and cultivated by the ancient
Egyptians.

Among the principal Crops are:

Wheat(kumh), barley (shayeer), maize(doora shámee, i.e. Syrian), the ordinary
Holchus Sorghum in two or three varieties (doora beledee, doora seyfeh), millet
(dokhn), rice (rooz, grown only in the Delta, and probably not known to the
ancients), sugar-cane (kasab es-sukkar), beans (fool), lentils (ads, or addus),
vetches or chick-peas (hummus), lupins (termus), peas (bisilleh), a kind of
French bean (loobieh), haricot bean (labláb), onion (bussal), leek (korrát), garlic
(tóm), the Hibiscus esculentus (bámia), mallows (khobbeyzeh), lettuces (khuss),
cabbage (curumb), egg-plant (bedingán), cress (rishad), radishes (figl, a
peculiar kind), cucumbers of various kinds (abdalawee, aggoor), water-melons
(batéekh), carrots (gazar), turnips (lift), clover (berseem), the Trigonella fœnum
Græcum (helbeh), the Lathyrus sativus, a kind of flat pea (gilbán), lucerne
(berseem hedjázee), cotton (koton), hemp (teel), Indian hemp (hasheesh), flax
(keltán), saffron (kortum), sesame (simsim), indigo (neeleh), the Lausonia
spinosa et inermis (henna), madder (fooah), tobacco (dokkán), poppies
(aboonoom, “father of sleep”), castor oil plant (kkirwa), rape (selgám), mustard
(khardal), cummin (kammim), coriander (koosbera).

Besides the vegetables included in the above list, there are others grown in
small quantities in gardens specially for the use of European residents.

The rose (werd), violet (benefsig), jasmine (yasmeen), and oleander are the
principal flowers, though many other kinds are now to be found in gardens.
The lotus (beshneen) is found in the Delta during the inundation in ponds
which are dry at other times, but never in the Nile itself; it is a water-lily of
two varieties, white and blue-tinged. The papyrus is no longer a native of
Egypt, being now only found in the Anapus, near Syracuse; there are, however,
other Cyperi still growing in the Delta. A very good paper is now made from
a wild grass (hilfeh) that grows in sandy, uncultivated spots.

The principal Trees of Egypt are: —

The date-palm ( nakhl, dates, balah), orange (naig heloo, oranges,
bortugán), lemon (leymoon), fig (teen), sycamore fig (gimmayz, the fruit
small and insipid), prickly pear (teen shók), bananas (mooz), apricot (mishmish),
peach (khookh), pomegranate (roommán), mulberry (toot), vine (enéb),

olive (zaytóon), almond (loz), acacia or mimosa Nilotica (sont, a thorny, small
leaved tree, with a small yellow flower), tamarisk (tarfa), carob or locust-tree
(kharóob), zizyphus, or rhamnus spina Christi (nebek), dom-palm (dóm),
acacia, or mimosa lebbekh (lebbekh, a thick-foliaged tree, with broad pods).

Most of these trees were known to the ancients, but some are of comparatively
recent introduction; among them the lebbekh acacia, which has proved
a most valuable acquisition, on account of the ease with which it takes root
and the rapidity of its growth. Nearly all the avenues round Cairo are
planted with this tree, which can be grown from cuttings of large branches,
and even from portions of the trunk, and will form a thick shady covering in
four or five years.

During the reign of Ismail Pasha great attention was paid to the
cultivation of plants and trees. The gardens of the Esbekeeyeh, and
the palaces of Gezeereh and Geezeh, were formed, and many new plants and
trees introduced.

The wealth and prosperity of Egypt have always depended on the cultivation
of the soil. Agriculture has consequently been one of the principal cares
of its inhabitants from the earliest times. It was no doubt the necessity for
accurately knowing the time of the rise of the Nile and when to sow, reap,
and carry on the other operations of husbandry, that caused the ancient
Egyptians to take such trouble to arrive at a fixed year. Originally the year
in all probability consisted of 12 lunar months; it was then changed to 12
solar months, of 30 days each, and 5 days added at the end of the last month
to ensure the return of the seasons at fixed periods. As, however, it soon
became apparent that some deficiency still existed, a quarter of a day was
added to each year, or rather one day to every four years, as in our leap year.
When, however, these changes were introduced is not clear, though it is
doubtful if a fixed year came into use before 27 B.C., when the calendar, was
finally reformed by Augustus.

The year was divided by the ancient Egyptians into 3 seasons of 4 months
each:—the Inundation, corresponding with the months of July, August,
September, and October; the Winter, with the months of November, December,
January, and February; and the Summer, with the months of March, April,
May, and June. These divisions are still retained. The Inundation, or, as it
may be called, the Autumn Season (ed'Demeereh), begins with the rise of the
Nile; and though less varied in its agricultural operations than the other
seasons, owing to the land being to a great extent under water, is of considerable
importance, as during it the maize (doora shámee) and millet (doorabeledee) crops are sown and harvested.

The Winter Season (es Shitáwee) is the most important of all, especially in
Upper Egypt, the principal crops raised being wheat, barley, clover, lentils,
beans, peas, vetches, &c. As soon as everithe inundation retires, these crops
are sown, and the harvest takes place from four to seven months after,
according to the nature of the crop; wheat and barley being seven months in
the ground, and the other crops four.

The Summer Season (es Seyfee) produces little of any great value in Upper
Egypt, with the exception of millet, chiefly in Nubia, and cucumbers and
melons, Sugar-cane, however, is sown in March and April, though it is not
cut till October for eating, and not till January and February for making into
sugar. But in the Delta this is an important time, rice, cotton, and indigo
being sown in March, April, and May. These crops require rather longer to
come to maturity than the winter ones, and are not harvested, as a rule, till
October, November, and even December. Tobacco is also grown in the
summer. Speaking generally, three crops are gathered on good land in Lower
Egypt, and two crops in Upper Egypt.

The cultivable land in Upper Egypt is divided into the “rei,” lands, which
are naturally watered by the inundation, and require no irrigation to ripen
the crops, and the “sharákee” lands, which are too high for the inundation to
reach, and must consequently be artificially irrigated. On some of the
sharákee lands as many as three crops are sometimes raised in the course of
the year. The rei lands, as a rule, only yield one crop—that of the winter
season; but in some parts they also can be irrigated, and made to yield a
a second or even third corp.

Irrigation has always been an important factor in the system of Egyptian
agriculture. Canals, dykes, and artificial lakes were constructed and kept up
with the greatest care in the old days of power and prosperity; but under the
Byzantine emperors and during the supremacy of the Memlooks they were
neglected, and as a result the productiveness of the country suffered considerably.
A great change for the better was effected by Mohamed Ali; Ismail
Pasha carried on the good work, and considerably increased the resources of
the country, by the various irrigation works constructed during his reign, for
the purpose of storing the waters of the inundation, and gradually distributing
them over the land. Since the English occupation, further great improvements
have been made, and others are now in progress, a sum of 1,000,000l.
supplied out of the guranteed loan of 1885 having been appropriated for the
Public Works Department.

The direct process of irrigating the land from the river and the canals is
carried on in the same way as of old, with the one addition of steam pumps,
which have been introduced in some parts of Upper Egypt where the banks of
the river are very high and a large quantity of water is required, as, for
instance, for the sugar-cane plantations. The most common machine in use is
the shadoóf, which consists of two posts, about 5 ft. in height and 3 apart,
joined at the top by a horizontal bar, across which is slung a branch of a tree,
having at one end a weight composed of mud, and at the other, suspended to
it by two palm-sticks, a bucket made of basket-work or matting, or of a
hoop with woollen stuff or leather. This is worked by one man, who is able
with it to throw up water to a height of about 8 ft. In the southern parts of
Upper Egypt, when the river is very low, four or five shadoófs, one above
another, are required to raise the water to the level of the land. There are
some shadoófs with two levers, worked of course by two men. This method of
raising water is a very laborious one. The other machine in constant use is
the sakeeyeh, a large vertical wheel, sometimes as much as 30 ft. in diameter,
with earthen pots attached to its circumference by cords, another small vertical
wheel with cogs fixed to the same axis, and a large horizontal cogged wheel,
which, turned by one or two buffaloes, cows, or other animals, sets the other
two wheels in motion, and raises the water in the pots. This machine is very
much employed in the irrigation of gardens. In Nubia they are very numerous,
and are often placed two or three deep. Being seldom or never greased,
the noise made by them is most disagreeable, varying from a dull groan to a
shrill shriek, as the wood is new or old. In the Delta, where it is only necessary
to raise the water a few feet, a modification of the sakeeyeh is used, called
a tabóot, which is a very light, easily-moved wheel, with hollow fellies
instead of pots. The water-wheels in the Fayoom are often so contrived as to
admit of being turned by the weight of the water.

The water, when raised, is distributed by dividing the land into small
squares, separated from each other by ridges of earth a foot or even less
in height, and by furrows. The water then flows from the machine along
a gutter, whence it is admitted into one furrow after another; these, owing to
the softness and plasticity of the river mud, being easily opened or closed with
the foot.

The fertilising properties of the Nile mud, renewed every year, answer, as a
rule, all the purposes of manure; but the exhausting nature of some of the

crops, the cultivation of which has considerably increased, such as sugar-cane
and cotton, renders some artificial dressing necessary. The manures most
usually employed are pigeons' dung, these birds being kept in enormous numbers
for this purpose, and the nitrous soil to be obtained from the mounds that
cover the sites of ancient towns.

The Agricultural Implements of the Egyptians are of a very rude and simple
kind, and differ very little, if at all, from those which, as we know from the
Scriptures, have been in use from the earliest times. The plough (mihrát)
consists of a pole, a share, and a handle, all of wood, the share being generally
tipped with iron. It is drawn by one or two animals—buffalo, ox, camel, or
donkey, as the case may be, attached to the pole by a yoke. Being very light,
it does little more than scratch the surface of the soil. In some parts, especially
where the sugar-cane is cultivated, steam-ploughs are now used. The
functions of a harrow are discharged by a machine called khon fud, “hedgehog,”
a roller studded with iron spikes. All digging and weeding is done with a
wooden hoe (migrafeh). Sowing is done by the hand, the seed being placed in
a basket slung from the left shoulder of the sower, who scatters it broadcast
with his right hand; it is then sometimes pressed in with a roller, or trodden
in by oxen. Wheat is cut down close to the ground with a sickle, but barley
and doora are plucked up by the roots. The threshing-floor is a level area
near the harvested field, in the centre of which the sheaves are heaped; they
are then scattered over the surrounding space, and the threshing process is
performed by a machine called a noreg, a wooden frame with three cross-bars
or axletrees, to which are attached small iron wheels or thin circular plates,
four each to the foremost and hindmost axle, and three to the centre one. On
the framework is fixed a chair, in which sits the driver, whose weight gives
additional effect to the machine, which is drawn by two oxen or some other
animals, round and round the central heap, the sharp wheels not only bruising
out the corn, but at the same time breaking up the straw. The winnowing is
done, first by throwing the mixed grain and straw about in the wind, and then
passing the grain through a sieve.

The materials for a knowledge of the history and the manners and customs
of the old Egyptians, have been almost entirely derived from two sources.
Their public annals are written on the walls of the temples—their private
history on the walls of the tombs. And from temple or tomb have also come
most of the objects in the different museums, which help to throw such light
on this subject.

The Table of Abydus, of which there are two copies —a mutilated one in
the British Museum, found in the Temple of Rameses Il. at Abydus, and a
perfectly complete one, found in 1865 on a wall of the Temple of Sethi I.
At that place, and still remaining there—serves as an excellent guide towards
the chronological arrangement of a œrtain number of the kings of Egypt.
It contains the names of 76 kings, a comparison of whose names with the lists
of Manetho has much helped towards the work of reconstructing portions of
Egyptian history.

Of the same character are the Table of Sakkárah, containing the names of
55 kings; the Hall of Ancestors, a small chamber at Karnak, on whose walls
was a tablet, now in Paris, containing the names of 60 kings; and the Papyrus
of Turin, containing also what was once by far the most complete list of kings,
but so mutilated that it has not yet been fully deciphered.

The Ritual, or Book of the Dead, is a papyrus found buried with the mummies. It consists of chapters describing the adventures of the soul after
death, and the prayers offered to the gods. The largest and most complete
specimen is in the Turin Museum. From this book is learnt the ideas held
by the ancient Egyptians as to a future state.

It would be impossible to enumerate all the other almost equally important
objects, existing either in museums or in situ, which help to a knowledge of

thre public and private life of the old Egyptians. There is hardly any one of
them indeed which does not contribute its share.

The first who attempted to write a history of Egypt was Manetho, an
Egyptian priest who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, circ. 263 B.O.
His history was written in Greek, and contained a list of the kings who had
reigned in Egypt from the earliest times to the conquest of Alexander. The
history is lost; but the lists are preserved in the Chronology of George
Syncellus, a Byzantine monk who lived at the beginning of the 9th century.
He had collected them, not from the original work, which had long been lost,
but from copies made by Julius Africanus in the 3rd century, and Eusebius
in the 4th. To what extent credence can be given to these lists, which, supposing
them originally correct, had probably been altered and manipulated by
the Christian writers above mentioned, is a point much disputed by modern
Egyptologists. Many are now disposed to consider that recent discoveries
have rather confirmed their title to be looked upon as to a certain extent
trustworthy guides.

What the classic historians have to say about Egypt may be read in the
2nd book of Herodotus, the 1st book of Diodorus, the 17th book of Strabo,
and the treatise de Iside et Osiride of Plutarch. Their accounts are, however,
at the best secondhand traditions, which have served rather to confuse and
falsify the history of Egypt, and to mix up with it a number of tales and
fables.

The only certain sources of Egyptian history are the monuments, which are
now rapidly yielding up the wealth of their written records to the learned
and indefatigable scholars of Germany, France, and England, who have made
Egyptology their special study.

Although historians have differed as much as 3000 years in the date they
have assigned to the beginning of the Egyptian monarchy, it is not difficult
to obtain a clear view of those successive periods of prosperity in which
history was written. From the beginning until now we have a constant
repetition of the same class of events. The cycle commences with a native
monarchy, ruling despotically but peacefully: wealth and power, perhaps
attack from without, lead to foreign wars: a strange race, encouraged by
internal discord, conquers the country, and a long period of decadence ensues.
Then comes a revival, which lasts perhaps during the reign of only one
family, perhaps for three or four; followed by foreign wars, conquest,
decline, and subjection as before. During these periods of misfortune the
arts have been neglected, history has remained unwritten, and it is often
impossible even to approximate to the time which elapsed before the next
revival took place.

The successive periods of prosperity were as follows: (1) The early
monarchy—Mena to Neferkara. (2) A revival under the later kings of
the XIth Dynasty, and under the XIIth, seems to have ended with
Amenemhat IV, (3) A second revival under Aahmes, about the year 1700
B.C., lasted during the reigns of the XVIIIth and two following dynasties,
and was followed, about 1000 B.C., by a long succession of foreign invasions,
culminating in the conquest by the Persians. (4) The prosperous reigns of
the early Ptolemies (322—165 B.C.) brought wealth back to Egypt; but after
about 150 years the power of the dynasty declined, and in 30 B.C. Egypt
became a Roman province. (5) A period of comparative prosperity returned
under the Roman emperors from Nero (54 A.D.) to Theodosius (379 A.D.), after
which, misgovernment reduced the country once more to insignificance.
(6) The early Mohammedan conquerors brought in a flourishing state, and,

in spite of constant contests for power among the rulers, Egypt became once
more a centre of the arts and sciences. This era closed with the conquest of
the country by the Turks (A.D. 1517), since which time Egypt has been a
Turkish Pashalic. Mohammed Ali, who was appointed Pasha in 1805, after the
temporary occupation by the French, endeavoured to assert his independence
of the Porte, and so far succeeded that the government was made hereditary
in his family, though the Sultan still retained a nominal suzerainty over
the country.

First Period.—The Early Monarchy. Mena, though no contemporary monuments
remain, is universally regarded as the first king of a united Egypt. His
name occurs at the head of the Tables of Kings which have been found in
various places (Abydus, Karnak, Turin papyrus, &c.). He is believed to have
sprung from an ancient line of local monarchs seated at This or Thinis, a
town adjoining Abydus, the place of the burial of the mythical Osiris.
Seven kings of the same dynasty followed him on the throne of Memphis,
a city near the S. point of the Delta, which he founded. The fourth,
Ouenephes or Ata, is said to have been the first to build pyramids.
The IInd Dynasty consisted of nine kings, of whom no monuments
have been recognised. The second, Kakaoo, is said to have appointed the
worship of the bull Apis at Memphis, the bull Mnevis at Heliopolis, and
the goat Mendes. With the IIIrd Dynasty the series of extant monuments
commences. The second king, Zasor (Tosorthros) or Nebka, is recorded to
have built a palace of stone; but the oldest buildings identified are some
tombs of the time of Seneferoo, the eighth and last king, at Maydoom. Seneferoo
is also named on the rocks at Wady Maghárah on the Peninsula of
Sinai. The first king of the eight whose names are mentioned under the IVth
Dynasty was Shoofoo or Khufu (Suphis or Cheops), who in his long reign
erected the Great Pyramid. He also is mentioned in the rock sculptures of
Maghárah. The next king but one was Rakhaf or Khafra (Chephren), who
built the second Pyramid, and is supposed also to have built the granite
and alabaster tomb, or temple, near the Sphinx. He is the first Pharaoh
whose statues are extant. The fourth king was Ramenkaoo or Menkaoora
Mycerinus or Mencheres), who built the third Pyramid. Of the remaining
kings of this family little or nothing but the names are known. The Vth
Dynasty came, according to Manetho, from Elephantine, or the island of
Aboo, near the First Cataract and the modern Assooán. The second king,
Saoora, built the first pyramid of Abooseer, and his name occurs among
the inscriptions at Wady Maghárah, where he is represented-as smiting his
enemies. Records also exist there of several of his successors, of whom
Raenooser built the middle pyramid of Abooseer; Hormenkaoo or Menkauhor,
probably one of the pyramids of Sakkárah; and Oonas or Unas (Obnos), the
flat-topped tomb known as the Mastábat el-Pharaoon. Thy, or Tih, whose
tomb at Sakkárah is well known, lived at this time. Oonas was the last of
this dynasty. The VIth commenees with Teta, who is sometimes looked
upon as the last king of the previous family, and as having reigned at
Memphis; while Ate, his successor, was already king of Upper Egypt. Be
this as it may, the monuments show that whether on account of civil wars
or from natural decay, the early monarchy was declining. Ate's successor,
Pepi, or Rameri—who, according to Greek accounts was a giant, and
reigned a century—made some attempts to revive the glories of his predecessore. His name occurs in many places, and his minister, Oona, has left, in
a monument found at Memphis and now in the Boolak Museum, many interesting
notices of his reign. Pepi married Meri-ra-ankhnes, the daughter
of Khooa, the member of a priestly family. Her tomb has been found at
Abydus. She had two sons, Merenra and Raneferka or Neferkara, who
each in turn succeeded his father. The kingdom seems now to have rapidly

declined, and, if we may believe Herodotus, Nitocris, a queen, whose Egyptian
name is Nitaker, precipitated the downfall of the dynasty.

Meanwhile the Asiatic tribes on the N.E. had commenced to invade Egypt;
and whether the VIIth and VIIIth Dynasties were of foreign blood or not, we
know that the IXth and Xth were aliens, reigning in the Delta. The visit
of Abraham may have been made to one of them. Meanwhile it would
seem that, in a time of great confusion and obscurity, the old succession was
kept up among a number of kinglets, of whom we only know a few names,
and that their circumscribed dominions were in Upper Egypt. They form the
XIth Dynasty, and appear to have made Coptos or Kupt and Thebes their headquarters.
Among them were several kings who bore the name of Enentef and of
Mentuhotep, and these last left some remains of importance. One of these
Enentefs is styled in an inscription on a coffin in the Louvre “the Great,”
and a Mentuhotep is commemorated on the rocks of the island of Konosso,
near Philæ, as the conqueror of thirteen nations, and the servant of Khem,
the god of Coptos. The name of Mentuhotep also occurs on the rocks in
the valley of Hammamat, leading from Coptos to the Red Sea. Under
Sankhkara, whose name occurs as the 58th on the Table of Abydus,
lived a functionary named Hannu, who records on a rock-inscription,
in this same valley of Hammamat, some particulars of his reign, from
which it appears that the kings of this dynasty had dealings with Arabia;
and the trade thus introduced directly by the valley route from Coptos to
the Red Sea, seems to have revived the fallen fortunes of the old monarchy.
We now begin to meet with the names of some Asiatic deities, of whom
Amen eventually became to a great extent supreme in the minds of religious
Egyptians.

Second Period.—Amenemhat, the first king of the XIIth Dynasty, seems to
have been the representative, perhaps in the female line, of the older kings.
By this time almost everything of the ancient monarchy, except what was
imperishable, must have disappeared. But the new kings were men of
sagacity as well as action, and there can be no doubt that foreign trade added
to their wealth. The provinces of Lower Egypt were slowly won back from
the invader, and the obscure kings of the rival dynasty expelled with their
people. The second king, Osirtasen I., has left many memorials of his power
all over the country. The restoration of the old temple of the Sun, Ra, at On
(Heliopolis); the foundation of the temple of Knum at Karnak, with both of
which divinities Amen was associated; the commencement of the gigantic
enterprise which created the Fayoom—all these must be attributed to him.
The renaissance of art, especially architecture, at this period is remarkable.
In the ruined “proto-Doric” colonnade of Karnak, and in the tombs of Beni
Hassan sculptured for a family of local magnates, we have examples
worthy of the best ages. There are many inscriptions, both public and
private, of this reign, for the art of writing had not been lost; and though the
primitive simplicity of the early period both in grammar and form is gone,
we are compensated by the first indications of verse composition. But the
greatest work of the dynasty was accomplished by Amenemhat III. By
noting the height of the Nile at different places, and by observations on the
level of the surrounding country, a series of works of irrigation to which the
world offers no parallel was completed. The great opening and dam, Hoont,
the great temple of the canal mouth, Lapero, are still preserved for us in
the names of Illahoon and the Labyrinth. Lake Mœris, with its sacred
crocodiles, has disappeared; but the Fayoom is still, after a lapse of forty
centuries, the most fertile part of Egypt. The worship of the crocodileheaded
god, Sebek, is indicated in the later names of this dynasty, and the
early names of the XIIIth, which appears to have succeeded through an heiress,
the queen Sebek-neferoo-ra, on the death of the seventh king, Amenemhat IV.;

but the vigour of the older race did not descend with the crown. Once more
there is obscurity and confusion; and though the blood of the early Pharaohs
was transmitted eventually to a more powerful family, it was not until many
hundred years of foreign oppression had elapsed. Sebekhotep IV., and
perhaps some of the other kings, appear to have descended successfully upon
the rich plains of the Delta, and their memorials have been found at Tunis, one
of the strongholds of the rival dynasties (the XIVth, XVth, and XVIth). But
the foreigners, who have been generally recognised in history as the Hyksos
or Shepherd Kings, and who have sometimes been in part identified with the
Phœnicians, gradually seem to have conquered the whole country, and, if they
allowed the princes of the legitimate line to live, exacted obedience from
them. The capital of the XVIIth Dynasty was at Karba (Avaris), perhaps the
biblical Zoan, the Greek Tanis, and the modern Sân, a place built upon the
alluvial soil of the Delta, but now a barren waste covered with the ruins of
vast edifices of marble and granite. It was, almost without doubt, under one
of the kings of this foreign race that Joseph came into Egypt; and there is
sufficient evidence, were any wanting, to show that the Hyksos had adopted
the style, religion, arts, language, and above all the writing, of the conquered
country. They were served by the descendants of the ancient Egyptians,
just as the Turks are now served by the Copts, on account of their intellectual
superiority. One precious document, in a fragmentary state (Sallier Papyrus, I.
Brit. Mus.), relates to the commencement of the resistance of the princes of
the south against the tyrants of Avaris; and we have the name of Ra-sekenen,
a king of Thebes, or, as he is called in the Papyrus, “Hak of the town of the
South,” in whose family the old line continued. There were several Ra-sekeuens
among the members recorded of the XIIIth Dynasty; and during the
time of one of them, whose dominions included the town of El Kab, where a
great fortress of crude brick still exists, a terrible famine devastated the land.
This may well have been the famine described in the Bible, and Joseph
may have been in the service of the rival of Ra-sekenen, whose name was
Apap or Apopi.

Third Period (circ. B.C. 1700-1000).—Aahmes, or Amosis, the first king of
the XVIIIth Dynasty, appears to have been the son of Kames, the successor of
Ra-sekenen, and Aah-hotep, the queen whose jewels form so remarkable a
feature of the Boolak Museum. Amosis took the capital of the Hyksos, and
drove them out of Egypt. The arts immediately revived, and the dynasty of
the Deliverers, as they are sometimes called, raised many of the finest monuments
which will be visited by the traveller: Dayr el-Bahree, the tomb or
temple of Hatasoo, whose obelisk in the Temple of Karnak to the memory of her
father, Thothmes I., is the highest in the world; the quarry works at Silsilis;
the first rock tombs in the Theban mountain; a portion of the Temple
of Karnak; the mighty figures of Amenhotep or Amunoph (Amenophis) III.,
in the plain of Thebes: innumerable temples, statues, and inscriptions commemorate
the reigns of this family; and poetry flourished as well as the other
arts, a hymn to Amen Ra, inscribed on granite, and now in the Boolak
Museum, anticipating in its lofty tone the triumphal Song of Moses, 300 years
later. Egypt may be said to have reached its highest point of prosperity, the
foreign conquests of Thothmes III. comprising almost all the countries which
border the Mediterranean, and the interior wealth of the country being
marked by magnificent buildings, and such works of art as obelisks, of which
one specimen of this period is now in London. Thothmes III. continued for
centuries in the grateful memory of his country, and his title, Ramenkheper,
is found inscribed on innumerable amulets of all periods as of the luckiest
omen. There was a temporary interruption to this prosperity under Amenhotep
IV., who, as Khoo-en-aten, adopted, perhaps from his mother, a
foreign form of solar worship, and, defacing the older temples, built a new

capital at Tel-el-Amarna, about half-way between Memphis and Thebes.
The history of this period, however, is very obscure, and it may be that
Amenhotep IV. and Khoo-en-aten were different persons. Horus, or
Hor-em-heb, seems to have restored the ancient city and the ancient gods,
and the XIXth Dynasty succeeded peacefully. The reigns of Rameses I. and
Sethi I. were much taken up with the repression of a new Asiatic invasion,
which threatened at one time to bring back the oppressions of the Hyksos
Rameses II. carried his arms far among the people of Asia, and, probably
dreading the resistance of the kindred tribes settled in the northern and,
eastern portion of his dominions, pressed them in to forced labour. This was
the “night of bondage” for the Israelites, whose champion Moses was educated
at the court of Rameses. Most of the finest buildings now remaining
are of this period. The reign of his successor, Meneptah, is remarkable,
first, for the Exodus, which probably took place early in it, and secondly for
the celebration of a “Sothic period,” or commencement of a cycle of 1460
years, by which we are enabled to assign the year B.C. 1325 as an approximately
certain date in his annals. He did not perish in the passage of the
Red Sea, though, according to the song of Moses, he must have had a narrow
escape, as his horse was lost (Exod. xv. 19). His death at a good old age is
lamented in an elegy (Records of the Past, iv. 49), and his beautiful tomb in the
Báb el-Molook is well known. There seems to have been some decline among
the succeeding kings, but Rameses III., the first of the XXth Dynasty, revived
the fading glories of the throne; and his annals, which are written in the
famous Harris papyrus, prove him to: have rivalled Thothmes III. and
Rameses II. in his foreign conquests and the erection of great buildings. Of
these the temple of Medeenet Haboo on the plain of Thebes is perhaps the most
remarkable. Among the inscriptions there, is one which mentions, for the first
time in history, several of the nations of Europe. A long line of kings of
the same name, of whom the last was Rameses XVI., followed, and ended in
a series of revolutions. A priest of Tanis seated himself on the throne as
founder of the XXIst Dynasty, but his son Piankh, though vigorous and
capable, was uuable without submission to his neighbours to transmit
the crown to his posterity, and even the little kingdom of Israel was able
to demand for Solomon the hand of a daughter of Pharaoh. The names
of Sheshonk and Osorkon, Bokenranef and Taharaka, Sabatak and Psametik,
of the XXIInd and four following dynasties, sufficiently indicate their
alien origin. The power of Babylon, and subsequently of the Persians,
kept them constantly occupied in Asiatic wars. Sheshonk interfered between
Judah and Israel; Taharaka was defeated by Esarhaddon, the son of
Sennacherib; and Neco slew Josiah at Megiddo. A partial revival of the
arts took place under the XXVIth Dynasty, and some fine works bear the
names of Psametik, Queen Ameniritis, and Uahbra or Hophra; and Amasis II.
was worthy to sit on the throne of the Pharaohs. His son, Psametik III.,
was defeated and put to death by Cambyses, who made Egypt a province of
the Persian Empire.

Fourth Period (B.C. 525-30).—The Persians are reckoned as the XXVIIth
Dynasty, and during their occupation attempts more or less successful were
made by native insurgents to drive them out. Amyrtæus, who is said to
have been a scion of the ancient royal family, made the best stand, and is
reckoned the sole king of the XXVIIIth Dynasty. In his reign Herodotus came
to Egypt. There were several sovereigns of the XXIXth Dynasty; among
whom we need only mention Neferites I., Aehoris, and Neferites II., all of whom
were for a time independent. The struggle went on under Nectanebo, whose
name remains on the magnificent granite shrine of the temple at Edfoo. In
his time Plato visited Egypt as an oil merchant. Two weak kings succeeded
Nectanebo, and form the XXXth Dynasty; but the overwhelming power of

Alexander the Great soon annihilated finally the independendence of Egypt, and
it fell on his death to the share of Ptolemy, who, putting an end to the disorder
which had prevailed for two centuries, was hailed as the founder of a
new dynasty and the saviour (soter) of the country. Under his wise administration
Egypt once more prospered. His capital was the new city of Alexandria,
where the body of the great Macedonian was preserved for ages, and
under him and the second and third kings of his family learning and the arts
flourished. The Ptolemies conformed to the customs and religion of their
new country; they built new temples and restored the old sanctuaries. Some
of the most remarkable of the gigantic edifices of the old Pharaohs were emulated
in Denderah, Edfoo, Esneh, and Philæ: while the inner shrines of
Karnak and Luxor attest their devotion to the Egyptian gods. Their names,
translated but awkwardly into the hieroglyphic character, occur in many
places, but their coins are Greek. Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus) employed
Manetho to make his History, of which the List of Kings alone has been
preserved. The schools of Alexandria now became the best in the civilized
world, and the wisdom which so largely enters into the teaching of Moses
and of Plato was rather illustrated than altogether superseded. Diodorus
visited Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy XIII. (Auletes). Family strife eventually
reduced the Ptolemaic kingdom to a state of subjection to Rome,
and, before the dawn of the Christian era, Augustus put the last of the
family, Cæsarion, the son of Cleopatra and Julius Cæsar, to death, and
annexed Egypt to the Roman Empire.