At the close of last centuary Egypt was in a great measure
rediscovered by the French savants attached to Bonaparte’s Egyptian expedition.
Since that period it has attracted the ever-increasing attention fo the
scientific; its historical and archæological marvels have been gradually
unveiled to the world; it is the most ancient, and was yet at one time the most
civilised country of antiquity; and it therefore cannot fail to awaken the
profoundest interest in all students of the history and development of human
culture.
Like other countries of the far East, Egypt possesses for the ‘Frank’
traveller the twofold attraction of scenery and history. To the first category
belong the peculiar charms of its Oriental climate, the singularly clear
atmosphere, the wonderful colouring and effects of light and shade, such as are
unknown in more northern climates, the exuberant fertility of the cultivated
districts contrasted with the solemn, awe-inspiring desert, and the manners,
customs, and appearance of a most interesting, though not always pleasing,
population. At the same time Egypt is pre-eminent among the countries of the
East, and indeed among those of the whole world, as the cradle of history and of
human culture. At every step we encounter venerable monuments which have
survived the destructive influences of thousands of years and the vandalism of
invaders and conquerors, and which are executed on so grand a scale, with so
much artistic skill, and with such historical consistency, as at once to excite
our highest admiration and command our most profound respect.
Owing to its distance from the homes of most travellers, and to the
expense involved in exploring it, Egypt will never be overrun by tourists to the
same extent as Switzerland or Italy; but it is now reached without difficulty by
one of the numerous Mediterranean steamboat lines, and increased facilities are
afforded to travellers by the recent construction of railways (p. 11) within the
country itself, while its unrivalled attractions abundantly reward the
enterprising traveller and supply him with a subject of life-long interest.
II. Geographical and Political Notice.
By Dr. Schweinfurth of Cairo.
Boundaries and Area (comp. Map, p. 30).
The countries subject to the supremacy of the Khedive embrace by far the
greater part of N.E. Africa, or nearly the whole of the territory adjacent
to the Nile. The natural boundaries of the vassal kingdom founded by
Moḥammed‘ Ali and bequeathed by him to his successor in 1848 are formed by
the Mediterranean Sea on the N., the
Libyan
Desert on the W., the
Red
Sea on the E., and Abyssinia, which may be called the Quito of
Africa, on the S.E. These boundaries include EGYPT PROPER, with the five
oases of the
Libyan desert and part
of the peninsula of Sinai, the NUBIAN VALLEY OF THE NILE, with the Nubian
desert regions, and lastly the so-called EGYPTIAN SÛDÂN, which consists of
the districts of
Tâka, Sennâr, and
Kordofân. The Khedive Isma‘îl, whose
dominions were secured to him as a fief hereditary in the male line,
extended his boundaries still farther to the S., S.E., and S.W. Thus he
purchased
Sauâkin and
Masau’a on the
Red
Sea, and
Zêla’ and
Berbera on the Gulf of ‘Aden, four
important seaports and commercial places, together with the coast districts
adjoining them, which formerly belonged directly to the Turkish government;
and in the same way he acquired part of the coast of the
Somâli, extending to the equator, a district replete
with still untouched natural treasures. The districts of the
Bogos and
Galabat on the frontiers of Abyssinia have been occupied with a
view to protect important commercial routes, and together with the Somâli
territory of
Harar have been annexed to
the Egyptian empire.
Dâr-Fûr, once an
entirely independent principality in the Mohammedan Sûdân, and the terror of
its neighbours, has lately been conquered by the Egyptians, and the empire
of the Khedive has thus been increased by four very populous provinces,
while Moḥammed ‘Ali, who was less fortunate in his designs on that region,
succeeded in gaining possession of Kordofàn only, the E. part of it. Bogos,
Galabat, and the other provinces adjoining the N. frontier of Abyssinia are,
however, constantly exposed to the inroads of their warlike neighbours, and
it will probably be impossible in the long run to resist the importunate
demand of the Abyssinian monarch for their restitution. The rebellion which
broke out in most of the Mahommedan provinces of the Egyptian Sûdân in 1883
threatens to entail the entire loss of Isma‘îl’s acquisitions to the S. of
Egypt proper.
The boundaries of Egypt in a due S. direction were still more
boldly extended by Isma‘îl. They now comprise the whole course of the
White Nile and the greater part of the
river region of the
Baḥr el-Ghazâl,
where merchants from Kharṭûm had already for many years possessed
settlements and by force of arms had subdued the negro tribes. At the time
of Moḥammed ‘Ali’s death the S. boundary of the Egyptian dominions on the
White Nile was formed by the corn-magazines of
El-‘Esh and the wharves near it, situated about 13°
N. latitude, while it now extends to the military station of
Fauîra (on the river
connecting the Victoria and the Albert Nyanza), situated about 2° N.
latitude, so that the whole length of the empire is now about 2000 English
miles. The S. frontier, from Dâr-Fûr to Berbera, a distance of 1560 M., now
almost entirely surrounds the kingdom of Abyssinia.
Down to 1883 the whole of the vast territory within these
boundaries was, nominally at least, immediately subject to the Khedive,
though but sparsely occupied by his comparatively small army, and it
contained no tributary peoples mediately subject to him. These enormous
tracts, on the other hand, are utterly disproportionate to the population,
the desert regions are immeasurably more extensive than the fertile
districts, and the barbarous and unprofitable inhabitants far more numerous
than the civilised and wealth-producing. The geographer and the political
economist therefore would vary widely in their description of the real
boundaries of the country. The country which (until the most recent events)
owned no other master than the Khedive or his representatives is of immense
extent, but the cultivable part of Egypt, which forms the sole source of its
wealth, is of very limited area. The extensive dominions of the Khedive
which lie to the S. of Egypt proper are still entirely profitless, and hence
it was that Isma‘il did his utmost to extend the commerce in this direction,
and to improve the means of communication.
Thus while Egypt is nominally as extensive as two-thirds of
Russia in Europe, it shrinks to the size of Belgium when the Valley of the
Nile, its only productive part, inhabited by a tax-paying population, is
alone taken into consideration. The total area of the empire is fully one
and a quarter million square miles, including that part of the
Libyan Desert which falls within the
western boundary drawn from the oasis of Sîwa to the west end of Dâr-Fûr,
and which alone measures 525,000 sq. M. in extent. On the other hand Egypt
proper, extending towards the desert so far only as it is irrigated by the
fertilising Nile, the ‘BILÂD MAṢR’ (the
Miṣraim of the Bible), though 550 M. in length, is the narrowest
country in the world. The area of this cultivable tract, which has remained
unaltered since the remotest antiquity, is about 11,342 sq. M. only (or 21
sq. M. less than Belgium), excluding Wâdi Ḥalfa and the other districts
above Assuân. In 1882 Amici Bey calculated the entire inhabited

Sketch Map of Nile Districts showing the Surface
Characteristics and the extent of the Egyptian Empire

area of Egypt, excluding the deserts, as 12,830 sq. M. and the
area actually under cultivation as 9460 sq. M. The alluvial soil of the Nile
Valley, in contradistinction to the desert, known among the natives by the
Arabic word ‘
Er-Rîf’, begins at Kharṭûm,
at the confluence of the White and the Blue Nile. Following the wide curve
described by the Nile through
Nubia,
the length of the valley as far as the first cataracts is 989 M., but as the
space between the river and its rocky banks is very limited, and the
irrigation system is imperfectly developed, the cultivable area in this part
of the valley is only about 1050 sq. M. The Nubian portion of the alluvial
soil of the Nile is thus very insignificant; and when the ancient oracle
described Egypt as the country watered by the Nile, and the Egyptians as the
people who quenched their thirst with its water, the river below the
first cataract must obviously have been
meant.
Divisions and Administration. The ancient
prehistoric Egyptians were at first subdivided into numerous tribes, who
formed a number of distinct small and independent states, with their own
laws and their peculiar tutelary gods. These states were afterwards
gradually united into the two large principalities of
Lower Egypt of the Northern Country (
To Mera, or
To Meh), and
Upper
Egypt or the Southern Country (
To
Res, or
To Kemâ). At a later
period these two larger states, united under one sceptre, formed the empire
of the Pharaohs, or the land of
Kemi.
The smaller states then constituted provinces or nomes (Egyptian
hesoph; Greek
nomoi). The ancient Egyptians divided each nome into
four principal parts:–(1) The capital
(Nut), the religious and administrative centre of the province; (2)
The cultivated land
(Un), subject to the
annual inundation; (3) The marshy land which remained in a moist condition
after the inundation; (4) The district traversed by canals conducted out of
the Nile. The civil and military administration of the nome was presided
over either by hereditary governors
(hiḳ), or by nomarchs
(mer-nat-t’ât-to) appointed by the king. Under the Ptolemies these
governors were called
strategoi(nomu) or
nomarchoi, and over a group of these
presided an
epistrategos. The chief
authority in religious matters was the high priest of the temple, whose
appointment was sometimes hereditary and sometimes elective; and his staff
consisted of a prophet, a templescribe, a stolistes or custodian of the
vestments, and an astrologer.
The number of the nomes varied at different periods. Most of the
classical authors (thus Diodorus, liv. 3; Strabo, xxviii. 1, 3) enumerate
thirty-six. The Egyptian lists, such as that of
Edfu, mention forty-four, half of them being in
Upper and half in
Lower Egypt (but
two of those in
Upper Egypt and three
in
Lower Egypt are counted twice).
The Greeks and Romans sometimes divided Egypt into three parts—Upper,
Central, and
Lower Egypt, or the
Thebaïs, Heptanomis, and Delta.
The following is a list of the ancient Egyptian nomes:–

|
UPPER EGYPT.
|
NOMES |
CAPITALS |
|
Egyptian |
Greek |
Egyptian |
Greek |
Arab |
1 |
TO KENS |
OMBITES |
ABU
(ELEPHANTINE-GEZÎRET-ASSUÂN) |
OMBUS (Egypt.
NUBI) |
KÔM O |
2 |
TES ḤOR |
APOLLINOPOLITES |
ṬEB (Copt. ATBO) |
APOLLINOPOLIS MAGNA
|
EDFU
|
3 |
TEN |
LATOPOLITES |
NEKHEB (SNI) |
EILEITHYIA (LATOPOLIS) |
ESNEH
|
4 |
UAS |
DIOSPOLITES
PHATYRITES HERMONTHITES |
NI AMON,
afterwards ḤER MONT (AN RES AN MUNT) |
THEBAI Diospolis
magna HERMONTHIS
|
EL UḲKARN
MEDÎNABU ERMEN |
5 |
ḤORUI |
KOPTITES |
QEFTI (Copt.
KEBTO) |
KOPTUS |
ḲUFṬ |
6 |
?EMSUḤ? |
TENTYRITES |
TA RER, TAN TA
RER (TA NUTRI; Copt. PI TENTORE) |
TENTYRIS (TENTYRA) |
DENDE |
7 |
ḤA SEKHEKH |
DIOSPOLITES |
ḤA, ḤU |
DIOSPOLIS PARVA
|
HÛ |
8 |
TENAI(?) |
TINITES |
TIN (TENI),
afterwards AB-ṬU |
TIS (TINIS),
ABYDUS |
KHARÂEL
MADFÛ |
9 |
KHEM |
PANOPOLITES |
APU, KHEM (Copt.
KHMIN, SHMIN) |
CHEMMIS (PANOPOLIS) |
AKHMIM
|
10 |
ṬUF |
ANTÆOPOLITES |
NI ENT BAK |
ANTÆOPOLIS |
ḲAU EL
KEBÎR |
11 |
BÂAR |
HYPSELITES |
SHAS ḤOTEP (Copt.
SHÔTP) |
HYPSELE (IS) |
SAṬB |
12 |
ATEF KHENT |
LYKOPOLITES |
SIAUT (Copt.
SIUT) |
LYKOPOLIS |
ASYÛṬ |
13 |
ATEF PEḤU |
|
QUS
|
CHUSAI |
ḲÛSÎYE |
14 |
UAZ |
|
TEBTI |
|
|
|
15 |
UNNU |
HERMOPOLITES |
SESUNNU (Copt.
SHMUN) |
HERMOPOLIS
|
ASHMUNÊN |
16 |
MEḤ |
Northern part of
HERMOPOLITES |
ḤEBENNU (Copt.
TUHO) |
THEODOSIOPOLIS |
?ṬAḤA
MEDÎN |
17 |
ANUP |
KYNOPOLITES |
KO, HA SUTEN |
KYNOPOLIS |
EL ḲÊS |
18 |
UAB |
OXYRRHYNCHITES |
PA MÂZA (Copt.
PEMKE) |
OXYRRHYNCHUS |
BEHNES |

19 |
NEḤT KHENT |
HERACLEOPOLITES |
ḤA KHNEN SU
(Copt. HNÈS) |
HERACLEOPOLIS MAGNA
|
AHNÂS EL
MEDÎNEH |
20 |
PA |
|
ḤA BENNU |
HIPPONON |
|
|
21 |
NEḤT PEḤT… |
…. ARSINOITES |
MERI TUM (MEÏTUM)
SHED |
KROKODILOPOLIS |
MÊDÛM MEDỊNET EL
FAYÛM |
22 |
MATENNU |
APHRODITOPOLITES |
TEP AḤE |
APHRODITOPOLIS
|
AṬFIḤ |
|
LOWER EGYPT.
|
NOMES |
CAPITALS |
|
Egyptian |
Greek |
Egyptian |
Greek |
Arabic |
1 |
ANEB ḤAT |
MEMPHITES |
MEN NOFER (HA KA
PTAḤ) |
MEMPHIS
|
|
2 |
ÂÂ |
LETOPOLITES |
SOKHEM |
LETOPOLIS
|
|
3 |
AMENT |
NOMOS LIBYA |
NI ENT ḤA PI |
APIS |
|
4 |
SEPI RES |
SAÏTES |
ZOQA |
CANOPUS
|
|
5 |
SEPI EMḤIT |
SAÏTES |
SAÏ |
SAÏS |
ṢÂ EL
ḤAGER |
6 |
KA-SIT |
XOITES |
KHESAUU |
XOÏS |
|
7 |
AMENT |
? |
SONTINOFER |
METELIS |
? |
8 |
… ABOT |
SETHROÏTES |
PI-TUM (SUKOT) |
(SETHROË) |
? |
9 |
AT PI |
BUSIRITES |
P-USIR-NEB-ṬAṬ |
BUSIRIS |
|
|
10 |
KA KEM |
ATHRIBITES |
HA TA ḤIR AB |
ATHRIBIS
|
TELL ATRÎB |
11 |
KA ḤEBES |
CABASITES |
KA ḤEBES |
CABASUS |
|
|
12 |
KA THEB |
SEBENNYTES
SUPERIOR |
THEB EN NUTER |
SEBENNYTUS |
SEMENNÛD |
13 |
ḤAQ-AṬ |
HELIOPOLITES |
ANU |
HELIOPOLIS
|
|
|
14 |
KHENT ABOT |
TANITES |
ZOÂN PIRAMSES
(ZOAN-RAMSES) |
TANIS
|
ṢÂN |
15 |
TḤUT |
HERMOPOLITES |
PI TḤUT |
HERMOPOLIS
|
|
16 |
KHAR |
MENDESIUS |
PIBI NEB ṬAṬ |
MENDES
|
?TMEY EL
AMDÎD? |
17 |
ṢAM ḤUṬ |
DIOSPOLITES |
PI KHUN EN AMEN |
TACHNAMUNIS or
DIOSPOLIS |
|
18 |
AM KHENT |
BUBASTITES |
PI BAST |
BUBASTIS
|
TELL BASṬA |
19 |
AM PEḤU |
BUTICUS, or
PTHENOTES |
PI UZO |
BUTO |
|
20 |
LAPT |
PHARBÆTHITES |
SHETEN |
PHARBÆTHUS |
HORBÊT |
Lower and
Upper Egypt (the
latter known as
Sa‘îd) are now each
divided into seven PROVINCES or
Mudîrîyeh. Those of
Upper Egypt
are: (1)
Ḳalyûb, at the head of the
Delta; (2)
Sharḳîyeh, i.e. ‘the
eastern’, with Zaḳâzîḳ as its capital; (3)
Daḳahlîyeh, with Manṣûra as its capital; (4)
Menûf; (5)
Gharbîyeh,
i.e. ‘the western’, with Ṭanṭa as its capital; (6)
Beḥêreh, i.e. ‘of the lake’, with
Damanhûr as its capital; (7)
Gîzeh, opposite to
Cairo. The seven Upper Egyptian provinces are those of
Beni-Suêf, Minyeh, Siûṭ, Girgeh, Ḳeneh,
Esneh, and Wâdi Ḥalfa. The seat of the mudîr or governor of
Girgeh has recently been transferred to the not far distant Ṣûhâg. The Fayûm
forms a mudîrîyeh by itself. The following capitals and commercial towns are
presided over by governors of their own, and are independent of the
provincial administration:
Cairo,
Alexandria,
Suez, Port Sa‘îd,
Damietta,
Rosetta,
Isma‘îlîya, and lastly the small seaport of Ḳoṣêr on the
Red Sea.
The administration of the Upper Egyptian provinces, and still
more those of the Sûdân, is liable to frequent change, several of them being
sometimes united under a governor-general, and at other times again
disjoined, or managed by a commission appointed by the minister of the
interior. The recently acquired seaports on the
Red Sea have governors
(mudîrs) of their own, and they in their turn are
under the supervision of a governor-general
(ḥokmdâr) resident at Kassala. These last districts are (or were)
known as the East Sûdân, while the government of the West Sûdân was
centralised at Kharṭûm. Before the outbreak of the revolution the West Sûdân
consisted of the provinces of Kharṭûm, Sennâr, Baḥr el-Abyaḍ, Kordofân, four
of Dâr-Fûr, and the provinces of Bahr-el-
Ghazal and the Equator. The last two provinces include almost
the whole region of the Upper White Nile and are inhabited solely by negro
tribes. Kharṭûm was the seat of a governor-general whose jurisdiction
extended over the whole of the provinces beyond the limits of Egypt in the
narrower sense. Lastly, the Nubian part of the Valley of the Nile is divided
into the provinces of Donḳola and Berber, which are administered
independently of each other, the capital of the former being El-‘Ordeh, that
of the latter El-Mekhêrif (or Berber).
The chief official in every province is the Mudîr, or governor, who is assisted by a council, or
‘dîwân’, of other officers. This council consists of a Wekîl, or vice-governor; a chief clerk, tax-gatherer,
and accountant, who is always a Copt; a Ḳâḍi, or supreme judge, and the chief authority in spiritual matters;
sometimes the president of a chamber of commerce and chief authority in
civil affairs; a superintendent of police; an architect for the supervision
of canals and other public works; and lastly the chief physician of the
province. The sub-governors in the smaller towns, who are under the
jurisdiction of the Mudîr, are sometimes called Kâshif, or Nâẓir
el-Kism. Subordinate to the nâẓir again
is the Shêkh el-Beled, or chief
magistrate or mayor of the village, usually known simply as shêkh (plur. shiûkh).
In the larger towns there is a magistrate of this kind in each
quarter (at
Cairo fifty-three), over
whom are placed prefects of larger sections
(shêkh et-tumn). Over the whole of these presides the Mudîr, and
lastly over the latter in some eases a Ḥokmdâr with very extensive powers.
Other provinces again are governed by specially appointed inspectors, who
occupy the highest rank in their respective jurisdictions.
If the administrative reforms proposed by England actually come
into effect, the duties of the provincial governors will be very materially
circumscribed. The police administration has been made a separate
department, and Egypt has been divided into the three police districts of
Cairo,
Alexandria, and
Upper Egypt, each under an inspector general. The administration
of justice is to be committed entirely to the native courts, while a special
minister is to have the charge of canal-making and other public works. In
order, however, to afford some idea of the importance of the Mudîr in the
public life of the provinces, we give here a short account of the functions
he has hitherto had to perform.
The DUTIES OF THE MUDÎR were very multifarious. He presided over
the administration, the finances, and the police of his province. He was
required to watch over the public safety, to superintend public works, to
regulate all sanitary matters, to register all transfers of property,
contracts of sale, title-deeds, and mortgages, to pronounce judgment in all
law-suits which do not fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the
spiritual court (the Meḥkemeh), and lastly to collect the taxes. The four
chief taxes are as follows: (1)
Land-tax
(kharâg), levied from the
Arâḍi
el-Mîrîyeh (see below; the
Ab‘âdîyeh pay ten per cent only, while the
Shiflik is entirely exempt). It is levied monthly by
the ṣarrâf. A feddân of the best land in
Lower Egypt pays about 25
s.
per annum, but medium and inferior land is taxed at a lower rate. A
valuation is made annually, and the different estates and farms registered
under one of these three classes. (2).
Income-tax, paid by merchants, bazaar-keepers, and artizans (
werko, i.e. the Turkish
wergi,
firdeh, or ‘tax’), and varying from 4 to
20 per cent. (3).
Market-tax (ḥiml),
levied according to a certain tariff on all produce brought to the markets,
at a rate varying from 2 to 9 per cent. This tax is now confined to the four
largest towns. (4).
Palmtax, levied at
the rate of 20 piastres per tree.
Distribution of Land. Down to 1879 the
Khedive and his family possessed one million and a half feddâns of landed
property, or about one-fourth of cultivable Egypt; valued at forty million
pounds sterling, and practically forming his private property. This land is
officially called Shiflik (or properly
tshiftlik, the Turkish for ‘estate’,
or ‘farm’). Part of these vast estates came into the hands of the reigning
monarch by the confiscation of the fiefs (iḳṭâ‘a) held by the Mamelukes, who were exterminated by Moḥammed
‘Ali on 11th March, 1811, and by the appropriation of all family foundations
(irṣâd), estates belonging to
mosques (waḳf), and land which in
consequence of the depopulation caused by the Mameluke régime had ceased to
have any owner. The great bulk of the crown estates was, however, amassed
during the 15 years’ rule of Khedive Isma‘îl, who was not over-scrupulous as
to the methods he employed in doing so. Shortly before his abdication he was
forced to resign almost the entire estates of himself and his family to the
board of domains appointed by the international financial commission.

Another kind of landed property is called Ab‘âdîyeh, by which is meant the uncultivated land
presented by the Khedive to suitable persons with full right of property on
condition of its being reclaimed or cultivated. Estates of this kind pay no
taxes for the first three years, after which 10 per cent on the value of the
produce is levied (‘ushr). The rest of
the land is officially known as El-Arâḍi
el-Mịrîyeh, i.e. government estates. Nearly the whole of the soil
of Egypt is thus in the hands of government. The fellâḥîn or peasants are
merely tenants for life, or so long as they continue to pay their
ground-rent (kharâg). According to the
Ḳorân, an estate on the death of the life-tenant reverts to the bêt el-mâl, or government treasury, as
the common property of all Muslims; but a humane law of 1857 provides that
it may be claimed by the next of kin of both sexes on payment of 24 tariff
piastres per feddân for registration of the title. The trees planted by the
life-tenant, and the buildings and irrigating apparatus erected by him, are
hiṣ property, and pass to his heirs. The right of occupation, or usufruct,
of these lands may also be sold, let, or mortgaged; but the contract must be
ratified by government in each case; and where mortgaged lands are not
redeemed within fifteen years, they continue in possession of the mortgagee
and become his property. A piece of land may at any time be taken possession
of by government for public purposes (railways, canals, embankments), in
which case the occupant receives another piece of land elsewhere as
compensation.
The ground-tax
(kharâg) is in
some cases as high as 20 per cent. Instead of a certain tax being imposed on
each village as formerly, the tax payable by each estate is now fixed by the
Mudîrîyeh or chief authorities of the province. To facilitate the collection
of taxes, all landed estates are formed into groups, generally consisting of
properties taxed at the same rate, and known in
Lower Egypt as
ḥôḍ, and in
Upper Egypt as
ḳabâleh.
In certain poor districts where there was a difficulty in
collecting the taxes in the reign of Moḥammed ‘Ali, payment was undertaken
by a number of capitalists, who were empowered to recover them from the
fellâḥîn. This right, however, was not transferable, and it could be resumed
by the government at any time. Groups of estates where this system still
prevails are called ‘uhdeh.
Since 1822 several attempts have been made at a comprehensive
scheme of land valuation, but none has been carried out for more than a few
limited districts. In 1879, however, a land valuation office was established
at
Cairo in connection with the
projected reforms in the land-tax.
Population. The population of Egypt has
been ascertained to have been greater in ancient than in modern times; for,
disregarding the exaggerated calculation of Theocritus, based on a mere
assumption, it appears to have numbered at least 7½ million souls in the
time of Josephus and the Emperor Nero. This number is quite reasonable in
itself, as it is estimated that the country could support 8-9 million
inhabitants.
According to the enumeration made by Amici Bey and 1882 the
present population of Egypt proper is 6,811,448, or about 600 per square
mile, and is therefore denser than that of most European states. The
thickest population is found in the province of
Esneh, the thinnest in the Fayûm and in Beḥêreh. The
sexes occur in almost equal proportions. The number of houses enumerated in
the same census is 1,090,000, distributed among 12,876 towns, villages, and
hamlets. The population of the provinces beyond the limits of Egypt proper,
on the other hand, has never been ascertained by any regular census, and can
therefore only be estimated in a conjectural way. The densest population is
that of the province
of Baḥr el-Abyaḍ, where in the case of the Shilluk tribe,
numbering about one million souls, the proportion of inhabitants to the
square mile is the same as in Egypt proper. The total population of the
empire, including Dâr-Fûr and Harar, is now estimated at between 16 and 17
millions.
Origin and Descent of the Egyptians. For
thousands of years the banks of the Nile have been occupied by the
Egyptians, the oldest nation known to history, and still exhibiting many of
their ancient personal characteristics unaltered. 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 presents 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. These considerations tend to
throw serious doubts on all the current theories as to the origin of the
Egyptians. According to the Bible, Mizraim (Miṣraîm) was the son of Ham and
brother of Canaan and the Ethiopian Cush; and, as his name was applied by
the Hebrews to Egypt, it is probable that he migrated with his sons from
Asia to the banks of the Nile. The name, moreover, of Ludim, his eldest son,
corresponds to the word Rotu, or Lotu, the hieroglyphic name for the
Egyptians. Philologists, who have discovered points of resemblance in the
roots and inflections of the ancient Egyptian and the Semitic languages,
likewise come to the conclusion that the Egyptians originally came from
Asia, either by way of
Suez, or
across the
Red Sea from Arabia. The
ethnographer
†, on the other hand, who observes
that many of the
† No inference can legitimately
be drawn from the fact that the skulls of the ancient and modern
Egyptians, which are very similar in form, have no affinity with those
which are usually described as of the negro type, as our craniological
collections are very incomplete, and our knowledge of the negro races
imperfect. The fact is, that several negro races, such as the Nubians
and the Shilluk, might be named, whose characteristics undoubtedly
belong to the negro type, while their skulls are just as little
prognathous as those of the Egyptians.

domestic utensils employed by the ancient Egyptians, as well as
many of their customs, are similar to those of the dwellers on the banks of
the Zambezi and Niger, but totally different from those seen on the banks of
the Indus or Euphrates, will always maintain an opposite view. The
considerations already mentioned, however, tend to show that the truth lies
between these extremes. Even those who most strongly maintain the Asiatic
origin of the Egyptians will probably admit that the immigrants found an
aboriginal race already settled on the banks of the Nile, which in its
persistent opposition to all foreign influences was doubtless similar to the
race usually known as the Egyptian. We start with the cardinal fact, that,
although the country has been at various periods overrun by Hyksos,
Ethiopians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks, and
although the people were tyrannised 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 find
that the Arabian element has entirely disappeared, and we 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 where their
existence is only maintained 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
(which, however, are gradually being replaced by the buffalo), 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,
invariably after a few generations assume the well-known Egyptian type with
which the representations on the ancient temples render us so familiar.
The Modern Egyptians. The population of
Egypt is composed of the following ten different elements.
(1). The FELLÂḤÎN (sing. fellâḥ), the ‘tillers’ or ‘peasants’, 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 fellâḥîn, as well as
their domestic animals, contrast strongly with the inhabitants of the
desert, the fellâḥ and the Beduin differing from each other precisely in the
same points as their respective camels. Notwithstanding this largeness of
frame, however, the fellâḥ never grows fat. The woman and girls are
particularly remarkable for their slender build, and they often speak of
each other as ‘zei el-ḥabl’, or slender as a rope. The men generally keep
their heads shaved, but the hair of the soldiers and the long tresses of the
girls, though always black and often curly, is by no means of the short,
woolly negro type.
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 to 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
cheekbones, the receding forehead, the lowness of the bridge of the nose,
which is always distinctly separated form 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 also 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.
The dwelling of the fellâḥ 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 dura straw, rush, rags, or old straw-mats. In
the interior are a few mats, a sheep’s skin, several baskets made of
matting, a copper kettle, and a few earthenware pots and wooden dishes.
Instead of using the crude bricks, the fellâḥîn in
Upper Egypt often form the walls of their huts of a
mixture of mud and straw. The dark, windowless interior is entered by a
small opening, in front of which the proprietor usually forms an enclosure
of circular shape, with a wall of mud about 5 ft. in height. This is the
court-yard of the establishment, and the

usual resort of the family and their domestic animals in summer.
The walls of the yard generally contain round hollows, used as receptacles
for the grain which forms the food of the family. Within the yard are
usually placed a square pillar, about 5 ft. in height, with openings in its
sides as receptacles for objects of value, and a thick column of the same
height, terminating in a platform shaped like a plate, with the edges bent
upwards, which is used by the proprietor as a sleeping-place in hot weather.
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 poorer peasant’s mode of life is frugal in the extreme. 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 bean-flour
(Fœnum Græcum). 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 bâmia (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’, sheeps, 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 the month of Ramaḍân
alone, when a rigorous fast is observed during the day, and on the three
days of the great Beirâm festival (Ḳorbân 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. 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 (za‘bûṭ, ‘abâyeh), or (‘aba), 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 (zerbûn), or broad yellow shoes (balgha). The shêkhs and wealthier peasants, when
they go to market, wear wide, black woollen cloaks and the thick red
‘Tunisian’ fez (tarbûsh) with a blue
silk tassel, round which they coil a white or red turban (‘immech). In their hands they usually carry a long
and thick stick (nabbût), made from the
central stalk of the palm leaf.

The agricultural population of Egypt does not exceed two million
souls, an unnaturally low proportion when we consider the nature of the
country. The sole wealth of Egypt is derived from its agriculture, and to
the fellâḥîn 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 modern Egyptians, moreover,
resemble the ancient in the lot to which they are condemned. In ancient
times the fellâḥ, 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 is
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, as in the time of Ammianus Marcellinus, the
fellâḥ will often suffer the most cruel blows in dogged silence rather than
pay the taxes demanded of him.
In his own fields the fellâḥ 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 Allâh will do the remainder of his work for him.
The fellâḥ is a believer in the religion of Moḥammed, although he
knows but little of the prophet’s doctrines and history. Followers of all
other religions he believes to be doomed to eternal perdition; but
travellers are not on that account disliked by him. We serve rather to
confirm his belief in eternal justice, for he is convinced that all the
comforts and luxuries we now enjoy will be counterbalanced by torments
hereafter. At the same time he admires and overrates our knowledge, which is
so superior to his own. Every well-dressed European is in the estimation of
the natives a prodigy
of wisdom; and, as their ideas of a scholar and a physician are
identical, they place implicit reliance on our ability to heal the sick and
to save the dying. The traveller who comes in contact with the fellâḥîn will
often be applied to for medicine, and will often find drugs more effective
than money in securing their good will.
(2). COPTS(
ḳübṭ, übṭ). While
we have regarded the fellâḥîn 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. The Coptic population is officially stated as 250,000,
but these figures are obviously too low, and the number is more probably
about 400,000,
i.e. about a fifth of the
purely indigenous population of the valley of the Nile.
†
They are most numerous in the towns of Northern Egypt, around the ancient
Coptos, at Negâda, Luḳṣor,
Esneh, Dendera, Girgeh, Ṭahṭa, and
particularly at Siûṭ and Akhmîm. A large proportion of the population of all
these places is Coptic.
† The total number of
Christians in Egypt, including Europeans, Armenians, and Syrians, is
about 600,000, or one tenth of the entire population.
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
western
desert, the two in the valley of the Natron Lakes, and the large
convent of Marrag, near Monfalût.
Most of the Copts are dwellers in towns, and are chiefly engaged
in the more refined handicrafts (as watchmakers, goldsmiths, jewellers,
embroiderers, tailors, weavers, manufacturers of spurious antiquities,
etc.), or in trade, or as clerks, accountants, and notaries. Their physique
is accordingly materially different from that of the fellâḥîn. They are
generally somewhat below the middle height, and of delicate frame, with
small hands and feet; their skulls are higher and narrower than those of the
peasantry, and with less protruding cheek-bones; 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 fellâḥîn, we find that the two
races are not distinguishable from each other. The two distinct types have
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 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 Maḳrîzî was termed El-Berâdi‘i, 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 to 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 ‘Amr 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. 242). Accustomed for many ages to regard themselves as the most
civilised of nations, and the Greeks as their inferiors, they perhaps
imagined, that, if they succeeded in throwing off the yoke of the barbarous
children of the desert, they could prevent the revival of the hated
Byzantine supremacy. Their hopes, however, 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, the grave disposition of the subjects of the Pharaohs has
degenerated into sullen gloom, and their industry into cupidity. The rancour
which they have so long cherished has embittered their character, while the
persecutions they have suffered have taught them to be at one time cringing,
and at another arrogant and overbearing. They are in very few respects
superior to their Mohammedan countrymen. They generally possess an
hereditary aptitude for mathematical science, and are therefore in great
request as book-keepers and accountants, but on the other hand they are
entirely destitute of the generous and dignified disposition of the Arabs.
They obey their law which forbids polygamy, but constantly abuse that which
permits them to indulge in spirituous liquors, drunkards being frequently
met with, even among their priests. Their divine worship will strike the
traveller as strange, and anything but edifying or elevating.
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, and
there now exist a few small Roman Catholic communities in
Upper Egypt only (at Girgeh, Akhmîm, and Negâda). To
the Romanists, however, is partly due the preservation of the old Coptic
language, into which they caused the gospels to be translated by the most
learned scholars of the day (accompanied by a preface asserting the
supremacy of

the pope) for
circulation in Egypt. Notwithstanding the serious defects to which we have
alluded, the Coptic community boasts of a number of highly respectable
members, and in spite of the frequent heavy contributions levied from the
sect by previous governments, it contains several wealthy landowners and
merchants, some of whom we shall hereafter have occasion to name.
3. BEDUINS.
Bedu (sing.
bedawi) is the name applied to the
nomadic Arabs, and
‘Arab 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 fellâḥîn, who
usually call themselves ‘Sons of the Arabs’ (
Ibn el-‘Arab). The subdivisions of the Beduin tribes are called
Ḳabîleh (whence the name Kabyles,
applied to some of the Algerian Beduins). 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
or 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. 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, or who are to be found in
different regions of Southern
Nubia
as a pastoral people; (2) ‘Bega’, 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 (their territory being known as ‘Edbai’). To
these last the name of Ethiopians may as accurately be applied as that of
Arabs to the first group; and they are believed by Dr. Lepsius to be the
descendants of the Blemmyes, who occupied the Nubian part of the valley of
the Nile down to the 4th cent. after Christ, when they were expelled by
‘Nubian’ invaders from the south. The second group consists of three
different races, the
Hadendoa, the
Bisharîn, and the
Ababdeh. The last-named, who are widely scattered in
the valleys of the desert between the tropics and the latitude of Ḳeneh and
Ḳoṣêr, and who lead a poverty-stricken life with their very scanty stock of
camels and goats, are those with whom alone we have to deal as inhabitants
of Egypt. Though closely resembling the other Bega tribes in appearance, the
Ababdeh (sing. Abâdi, the
Gebadei of
Pliny) possess an original language of their own (‘to-bedyawîyeh’), which,
however, they have long since exchanged for bad Arabic. Besides the girdle
round their loins they wear a kind of long white

shirt, and in
winter a light-coloured striped woollen mantle, while the Bisharîn and
Hadendoa 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
Dolichocephali, with
orthognathous skulls, and are remarkable for their fine and almost Caucasian
cast of features, their very dark, bronze-coloured complexion, and their
luxuriant growth of hair, shading their heads like a cloud, or hanging down
in numberless plaits over their necks and shoulders, while in front it is
short and curly. 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
Bisharîn, the Ababdeh, who are armed with a dagger worn in a sheath attached
to the upper part of the left arm, or with a long, straight sword, but never
with a gun, are exceedingly gentle and inoffensive. The Egyptian government
has put an end to the old feuds between the Bisharîn and the Ababdeh by
entrusting to the latter the superintendence of the great commercial route
through the Nubian desert (from Ḳorusko to Abu Ḥammed), and by placing the
nine tribes of the Bisharîn under the jurisdiction of the chief shêkh of the
Ababdeh, who is personally responsible for the safety of the routes through
the desert, and is therefore obliged to reside in the valley of the Nile.
(His present headquarters are at the small village of Beḥêreh, at the foot
of the hill of Redesîyeh, opposite to
Edfu.) The total number of the Ababdeh amounts to about 30,000. The
chief shêkh whose dignity is hereditary, appoints over the principal
villages a number of sub-chiefs, who are appealed to as judges in family
quarrels which the head of the family has been unable to settle.
The dwellings of the Ababdeh consist of low and miserable hovels
constructed of stakes covered with ragged straw-mats, and placed in groups
of not more than 4-8 together. They also sometimes live in caves, like
genuine Troglodytes, although exposed to danger from snakes. Like the other
Bega tribes, they are chiefly occupied as shepherds and camel-drivers. The
wealthier purchase a little sorghum grain, which they eat either raw, or
roasted, or in the form of unleavened cakes, but the poorer seem to have a
marvellous power of sustaining life on homœopathically minute quantities of
goats’ milk and the game which they occasionally capture. The Bisharîn also
live exclusively on milk and a little meat, while the Arabian Beduins of the
North till the soil to some extent when an opportunity offers. A
considerable number of the Ababdeh and Bisharîn who live near the coast and
possess no cattle or other property, subsist precariously on the produce of
the sea. They are not fishermen, as

they possess no
boats or other appliances, with the exception of spears and landing-nets,
but merely ‘Ichthyophagi’, who pick up shell-fish, octopoda, or small fish
thrown up on the beach. Occasionally they make a prize of turtle’s eggs, and
sometimes succeed in reaching the sandy islands of the
Red Sea where the sea-swallow (sterna) lays its
eggs. This poor mode of life of course has an influence on their mental
capacity, which is not of a very high order; but they are intelligent in
their own affairs, and remarkably skilful trackers, so much so that they are
often employed by the government in pursuing criminals. They are nominally
Mohammedans, but they do not pray, or keep the fast of Ramaḍân, or make
pilgrimages, except on rare occasions. Nor do they, like orthodox
Mohammedans, fear ‘ginn’ and ‘ghûls’, but they permit polygamy, observe the
rite of circumcision, and worship saints.
Besides the Bega, 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. Among the Arabian Beduins of the North, there
are three important tribes in the peninsula of
Mount Sinai: the
Terâbiyîn, who carry on a brisk caravan traffic between
Suez and
Cairo, and claim territorial rights as far as the
banks of the Nile near Basâtîn above
Cairo; the
Tîhâya, who occupy
the heart of the peninsula, between
Suez and ‘Aḳaba; and the
Sawârkeh or
El-‘Arayîsh, to the north of the latter. In
Upper Egypt, besides the Ababdeh, the
only Beduins who occupy the eastern bank of the Nile are the
Beni Waṣel and the
Atûni, or
Hawâdât, who, however, have now settled on both banks of the Theban
Nile valley and are gradually blending with the fellâḥîn, and the
Mâ‘azeh (about 3000 in number), who
dwell in groups among the limestone mountains between
Suez and Ḳeneh, 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 Abydus near Girgeh, and it
is mainly with their aid that communication is maintained with the western
oases, peopled by a totally different race (p. 65), 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 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
loiterers who assist travellers in the ascent of the pyramids and pester
them to buy antiquities, which are generally spurious, call themselves
Beduins, but, even if originally

of that race, they
have entirely lost all its nobler characteristics in consequence of their
intercourse with strangers and their debasing occupations. 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.
In consequence of the frequent wars waged between the different tribes,
every Beduin is a warrior. Most of them, too, as might be expected, are
extremely poor. Thus 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 fellâḥîn 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 Ḳorân. Relics of their old star-worship can still be traced among
their customes.
The traveller will occasionally observe Beduins 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, but they have
frequently attacked travellers in Turkish Tripolitania and in the eastern
part of Arabia Petræa.
(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, or perhaps these last only, as
most of the best shops are kept by Europeans, while in official and legal
matters his intercourse with the natives is carried on through the medium of
his consul. The indolence and duplicity of these Arabs, which proceed to
some extent from the character of their religion, have often been justly
condemned, while their intelligence, patience, and amiability are too often
ignored. They are generally of a much more mixed origin than the fellâḥîn,
as the various conquerors of Egypt usually made the towns their
headquarters.
Alexandria, for
example, was cheifly favoured by the Greeks and Arabs, and
Cairo by the Arabs and Turks. 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 fellâḥ 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 fellâḥîn. 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. A glance at the
offices of the ministers, the bazaars of the merchants, the schools of the
Arabs, and the buildingyards and workshops constructed by natives will
enable the traveller to observe with what deliberation and with what
numerous intervals of repose they perform their tasks. From such workers it
is in vain to expect rapidity, punctuality, or work of a highly finished
character, and the caustic remark of Prince Napoleon that the Egyptians are
‘capable of making a pair of pantaloons, but never of sewing on the last
button’, was doubtless founded on experience. The townspeople profess
Islamism, but, in their youth particularly, they are becoming more and more
lax in their obedience to the Ḳorân. 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 fellâḥîn 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 most sacred ceremonies in their mosques.
† About the year 1865 a kind of
uniform called the ‘Stambulina’ was prescribed by the government for all
the officials of the higher classes (black coat with a row of buttons
and low upright collar), but they are allowed to wear ordinary European
clothing in their offices. All the officials, however, in the pay of the
Egyptian government, including Europeans, and even the members of the
mixed court of justice, must wear the red fez (ṭarbûsh).
(5). BERBERS. The name
Berberi (plur.
barâbra) is
believed by many authorities to be identical with ‘barbarians’, a word which
is said to have been adopted by the Greeks from the Egyptians, who used it
to denote all ‘non-Egyptians’, and to be derived from
brr, i. e. ‘to be unable to speak’, or ‘to speak
imperfectly’. The ‘Berbers’ of N. Africa and the town of ‘Berber’ in S.
Nubia also doubtless have the
same origin. In Egypt the name is applied in a half contemptuous way to the
numerous immigrants from the Nubian

part of the valley
of the Nile, who form the largest foreign element of the community, and who
never entirely assimilate with it, as the Nubians make it a rule never to
marry Egyptian wives. The Nubians, on the other hand, speak slightingly of
the Egyptians as ‘Woder-Rîf’, or sons of the Nile valley (comp. p. 31). The
two races entertain a great dislike to each other, and their dispositions
are fundamentally different. The Nubians are inferior to the Egyptians in
industry and energy, especially in tilling the soil, and also in physical
strength; 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
Nubian doorkeepers who are to be found in all the mercantile houses of
Alexandria and elsewhere are noted for
their honesty. The traveller must not expect to find them very sincerely
attached or grateful, any more than the native Egyptians (comp. pp. 12, 25),
but as servants they are certainly preferable. The inhabitants of the Nubian
part of the valley of the Nile are not all strictly Nubians; for in the
southern parts of that region a colony of
Shêgîyeh and other Arabian tribes has settled in comparatively
recent times. The genuine Nubians (a name unknown to themselves, and of
ancient origin) occupy the valley of the Nile from Gebel Barkal near the
fourth cataract down to the
first
cataract, and are divided in accordance with the principal idioms of
their language into
Mahâs, Kenûs, and
Donḳolas. Their language belongs to
the Libyan group of the N. African tongues, and Dr. Brugsch is of opinion
that it may afford a clue to the interpretation of the still undeciphered
Ethiopian (Meroïtic) inscriptions of the Nubian part of the Nile valley. Dr.
Lepsius, on the other hand, who has published an admirable work on the
subject, maintains that the ‘to-bedyawîyeh’ language of the Bega (p. 45) is
more likely to be cognate with that of the inscriptions, as he believes that
the Blemmyes, the ancestors of the Bega, were the original inhabitants of
the region in question, and were expelled by the nandsome and intelligent
‘
Nuba’ negroes from the district
to the S. of Kordofân. Friedrich Müller places the
Nuba tongue in a separate category along with the
dialects of a few other tribes in different parts of Africa, and there is
certainly much to be said in favour of this distinction of it from the
languages of the Hamitic races on the one side and the typical negro races
on the other.
Those Berbers 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 they 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 lowlands,
chiefly to the large towns, and particularly to
Alexandria, in quest of employment; and they find no
difficulty in attaining their object, for they are generally active,
intelligent, and honest, while the older immigrants, who are strongly
attached to their country, are always zealous in procuring them work and
rendering them assistance. When the Berber 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, and to which he
frequently remits his hardly earned savings for the benefit of his
relations. The cold winter nights in Egypt are very trying to the poor
Berbers, who often have to sleep in the open air outside the doors, and many
of them are attacked by consumption. They are most commonly employed as
doorkeepers
(bawwâb), as house-servants
(khaddâm), as grooms and runners
(sâis), for which their swiftness
renders them unrivalled, as coachmen
(‘arbagi), and as cooks
(ṭabbâkh). Each of these five classes is admirably organised as a kind
of guild, with a shêkh 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 shêkh
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.) NEGROES. Like the Berbers, 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, but are rapidly becoming rarer, 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. The slave-trade is now very rapidly approaching complete
extinction in Egypt, not so much owing to the penalties imposed (which the
rapacious officials take every opportunity of enforcing), as from changes in
the mode of living, and the growing preference of the wealthy for paid
servants. Down to 1870 the trade was still carried on in secret with some
success, but since then it has been at a standstill. Since 1878 the
government has kept a complete register of domestic

slaves, and
special officials are appointed to watch over their interests.
The negroes, who voluntarily settle in Egypt in considerable
numbers, 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.
Ethnographers, linguists, or other scientific men who desire
to see specimens of as many different races as possible should obtain an
introduction to an Arabian merchant in the Gamelîyeh, who will conduct
them to merchants from every part of the interior and of the African
coast, each attended by his staff of negro servants. The latter,
however, especially if long resident in Egypt, cannot give trustworthy
information about their country and their origin. Some of them have
forgotten their mother tongue and even the name of their native country.
Foreigners are prohibited from taking negro servants out of
the country, but if through the intervention of their consul they obtain
permission they must find security for their subsequent restoration.
(7). TURKS. Although the dynasty of the viceroys of Egypt is of
Turkish origin (see p. 106), a comparatively small section of the community
belongs to that nation, and their numbers appear to be diminishing. The
Turks of Egypt are chiefly to be found in the towns, where most of them are
government officials, soldiers, and merchants. The Turkish officials are
much to blame for the maladministration which so long paralysed the rich
productiveness of the valley of the Nile, having always with few exceptions
been actuated in their proceedings by motives of reckless cupidity without
regard to ulterior consequences. Now, however, that the government of the
Khedive has adopted more enlightened principles, it has admitted other
nationalities also to its highest civil appointments, some of which are held
by able Europeans, and under their auspices a brighter future is probably in
store for Egypt. The Turkish merchants are generally a prosperous class,
and, although fully alive to their pecuniary interests, they are dignified
and courteous in their bearing, and are often remarkable for the
handsomeness of their features.
(8). LEVANTINES. 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, known 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 they
still speak their old national dialects. 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 servicds have also become indispensable at the consulates as
translators of eocuments destined for the native authorities, and as bearers
of communications between the respective offices. A large proportion of them
are wealthy. Being Christians, the Levantines all lives under the protection
of the different consuls, and thus unfairly escape

payment of taxes,
although they derive the whole of their wealth from the country.
(9). ARMENIANS AND JEWS. This section of the community is about
as numerous as the last, and in some respects contrasts favourably with it.
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. Many of them are wealthy goldsmiths and
jewellers, and they often hold important government offices.
The Jews are often distinguishable by their red hair from the
native Egyptians, as well as by other characteristics. Most of them are from
Palestine, but many have recently immigrated from Wallachia. All 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, owing as is alleged to their
disregard of cleanliness, they now form, thanks to the impartiality of the
present government, one of the most highly respected sections of the
community.
(10). EUROPEANS. The number of European residents and visitors in
Egypt at the census of 1882 was 82,000, exclusive of the British army of
occupation. The Greeks are most numerously represented, then the Italians,
French, English (including Maltese), 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). Beside 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 victual-dealers
(baḳḳâl) in all the
other towns are mostly Greeks. They are the proprietors 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; and they are the only Europeans
who have established themselves permanently as merchants beyond the confines
of Egypt proper. 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
(35,000 from Greece alone, besides many Turkish subjects), and that some
30,000 of them belong to the lowest class of emigrants from an unhappy and
ill-conditioned country. Many of these crimes must, moreover, be regarded as
the outcome of the sadly misdirected daring and ability which characterise
their nation. The superiority of the Greeks to the

Orientals is
nowhere so strikingly manifested as in Egypt, where it affords a modern
reflex of their ancient, world-renowned supremacy. Most of them are
immigrants from the various Greek islands, and the purity of their type is
specially noteworthy.
The Italian residents, 16,000 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 (15,000) are
all the artizans 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, are French. The English settlers number
about 5000, exclusive of the troops, of which there were about 7000 at the
beginning of 1885. Until recently their specialities were the manufacture of
machinery and the construction of railways and harbours; but of late they
have also almost monopolised the chief posts in those branches of the
administration (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, 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 artizans, such as shoemakers and joiners. To the
Austrian (3000) and German (1000) community belong a number of merchants of
the best class, all the directors of the principal banks, many physicians
and teachers, innkeepers, musicians, and lastly handicraftsmen of humble
pretensions.
With regard to the capability of Europeans of becoming
acclimatised 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. The climate of Egypt is less
enervating than that of most other hot countries, an advantage attributed to
the dryness of the air and the saline particles contained in it; while the
range of temperature between the different seasons is greater than in
Ireland or Portugal.
The Nile (comp. Map, p. 30). The Nile
ranks with the Amazon and the Congo as one of the three longest rivers in
the world (about 4000 M.), since its headstream is probably to be found in
the Shimiju, which rises five degrees to the S. of the Equator. Throughout
nearly the whole of its course the river is navigable, with two great
interruptions only (at Abû Ḥammed-Barkal and Donḳola-Wâdi Ḥalfa). Though it
is greatly surpassed by the Amazon and Congo in volume, neither these nor
any other river in the world can vie in historical and ethnographical
interest with the ‘father of rivers’.
The discovery of the true sources of the Nile and the cause of
its annual overflow are two scientific problems which for upwards of 2000
years European scholars laboured to solve, while the Egyptians themselves
regarded the river as a deity, and its origin and properties as the most
sacred of mysteries, to be revealed to the curious spirit of man only when
he should have quitted this earthly scene. As it is the Egyptian Nile only with which we have at present to
deal, we shall advert but briefly to the subject of the sources of the
river, and mention the principal affluents only which affect Egypt.
The Nile is formed by the confluence of the
White and the
Blue Nile at the town of Kharṭûm, from which point to its principal
mouths at
Damietta and
Rosetta, a distance of upwards of 1800
miles, it traverses an absolutely barren country, and receives one tributary
only, the
Atbara, on the east side,
about 180 miles below Kharṭûm. Throughout the whole of this distance, in the
course of which it falls 1240 ft., the river has to contend against numerous
absorbing influences, for which it receives no compensation beyond the rare
showers attracted in winter by the mountains between its right bank and the
Red Sea. Nothwithstanding the
immense length of the river, it very rarely presents the picturesque
appearance of some of the great European and other rivers, as its banks are
generally flat and monotonous, and it contains hardly a single island worthy
of mention. The broadest parts of this portion of the Nile are a little
below Kharṭûm, a little above its bifurcation near
Cairo, and also near Minyeh, at each of which places
it attains a width of about 1100 yds., while the White Nile is of greater
breadth throughout a long part of its lower course. As the river pursues its
tortuous course through thirsty land, for a distance of 15 degrees of
latitude, much of its water is consumed by evaporation and infiltration (a
process by which it is probable that Libyan oases are supplied with water
from the Nubian Nile), and still more so by the extensive system of
artificial canals requisite for the irrigation of a whole kingdom. M. Linant
estimates this loss at the time of the inundation within Egypt proper,
i.e. between Gebel Selseleh and
Cairo, as one-third of the total
volume; he found that 1,093,340,222 cubic mètres of water passed Gebel
Selseleh in 24 hrs., while on the

same day only
705,588,389 cubic mètres passed
Cairo. At the confluence of the White and Blue Nile their average
volumes are in the proportion of three to one, but the latter assumes far
greater importance when swollen by the Abyssinian rains. The Blue Nile is in
fact a species of mountain-torrent, being liable to rise suddenly and sweep
away everything it encounters on its rapidly descending course. It is
therefore called the
Baḥr el-Azraḳ, i.e.
the blue, ‘dark’, or ‘turbid’, in contradistinction to the
Baḥr el-Abyaḍ, i.e. the white, or rather the ‘clear’
river, whose water descends from clear lakes and is farther filtered by the
vast grassy plains and occasional floating plants through which it passes.
The Blue Nile (together with its coadjutor the Atbara) may therefore be
regarded as the sole origin of the fertility of Egypt, and also as the cause
of the inundation, while on the other hand the regular and steady supply of
water afforded by the White Nile performs the very important office of
preventing the lower part of the river from drying up altogether in summer.
The White Nile is not only much larger than the Blue in average volume, but
is, with its tributaries, more than double the length. It does not, however,
remain very long undivided. Higher up, in 9° N. latitude, it receives on the
east side the waters of the
Sobât, a
stream descending from the mountains to the south of Abyssinia, and
resembling the Blue Nile in character, though much smaller. A little farther
up, on the opposite side, the White Nile is joined by the
Baḥr el-Ghazâl, or Gazelle River, a very sluggish
stream, fed by numerous springs rising in the Nyamnyam and Kredy regions,
between 4° and 5°N. latitude. Higher up the river takes the name of
Baḥr el-Gebel, and is considerably
smaller in volume, and beyond 5°N. latitude it ceases to be navigable, as it
descends in a series of rapids from the
Albert Nyanza or
Mwutan Lake.
This sheet of water is connected by another river, the ‘
Somerset’, which may be regarded as the continuation
of the White Nile, with the
Victoria
Nyanza or
Ukerewe Lake; while the
Shimiju and other S. feeders of the
latter may be called the ultimate sources of the Nile.
The Valley of the Nile from Kharṭûm to the Delta, although from
its great length (15° of latitude) necessarily possessing great varieties of
climate, forms one long unbroken tract of country, the fertilising soil of
which is brought down by the Blue Nile from the Abyssinian mountains.
The breadth of the Valley of the Nile, including the barren land
immediately flanking it, varies from 4½ to 10 miles in
Nubia, and from 14 to 32 miles in Egypt. The banks,
of which the eastern is called the ‘Arabian’, and the western the ‘Libyan’,
rise at places to upwards of 1000 ft., resembling two large canal
embankments, between which the river has forced its passage through the
plateau of ‘Nubian sandstone’ (which extends to the Gebel Selseleh above
Edfu), and through the nummulite
limestone of Upper and Central

Egypt. The breadth
of the cultivable alluvial soil corresponds with the above varying width,
but nowhere exceeds 9 miles. The soil deposited by the Nile averages 33–38
ft. deep in Egypt, but near Ḳalyûb at the head of the Delta it increases to
about 50 ft., the bottom of it being at places below the level of the sea.
The bed of the river is also of considerable depth, and at low water the
mudbanks
(gef) rise above its surface to
a height of 25 ft. in
Upper Egypt,
and 14 ft. at
Cairo. These are also
the depths of the various irrigation wells.
‘Throughout the whole (?) of Egypt the Nile
mud rests on a bed of sea-sand. The whole country between the first cataract
and the Mediterranean was formerly a narrow estuary, which was probably
filled by degrees during the pleiocene period with lagoon deposits, washed
down from the crystalline Habesh. At a later period, when Egypt had risen
from the sea (and after the isthmus had been formed), the river forced its
passage through these deposits of mud, sweeping away many of the loose
particles at one place and depositing them again farther down’.
(Fraas.) The Nile soil is unlike any
other in the world in its composition. According to Regnault it contains 63
per cent of water and sand, 18 per cent of carbonate of lime, 9 per cent of
quartz, silica, felspar, hornblende, and epidote, 6 per cent of oxide of
iron, and 4 per cent of carbonate of magnesia.
Nothing certain is known regarding the average increase of the
alluvial land, all the calculations regarding it having hitherto been based
on erroneous or insufficient data. Thus the Nilometer of antiquity furishes
the depth relatively to the level of the sea, but not absolutely. The
thickness of earth accumulated around buildings of known age has also been
found a fallacious guide; and lastly local measurements lead to no result,
as the river often capriciously washes away what it has deposited in
previous years. An approximate calculation might possibly be made if the
proportion of solid matter annually brought down by the river could be
ascertained, but no investigation of this kind has ever been made. It has
sometimes been asserted that the desert has begun to encroach upon the
cultivated part of the valley, but Sir G. Wilkinson has shown, that, while
the sand of the desert may be advancing at places, the cultivable bed of the
valley is steadily increasing in thickness and width.
The INUNDATION, as is obvious from what has already been said, is
more or less favourable according to the greater or less amount of rain that
falls among the Abyssinian mountains, for that which falls in Central Africa
is a more constant quantity, being regulated by the influence of the
trade-winds. Like the waterspouts which descend on equatorial Africa, the
overflow always recurs at the same season of the year, varying in its advent
by a few days only, and in its depth by several yards. At the beginning of
June the river slowly begins to swell, and between the 15th and 20th of July
the increase becomes very rapid. Towards the end of September the water
ceases to rise, remaining at the same height for a fortnight or more, but
during the first half of October it rises again and attains its highest
level (comp. p. 239). After

having begun to
subside, it generally rises again for a short time, sometimes regaining and
even passing its first culminating point. At length it begins to subside
steadily, and after a time the decrease becomes more and more rapid. In
January, February, and March the fields from which the water has receded
gradually dry up, and in April, May, and the first few days of June the
river is at its lowest. The height of the inundation most favourable for
agriculture at the present day has been ascertained by long observation to
be 23 cubits 2 inches (i.e. about 41 ft. 2 in., the cubit being 21.
386inches), while in the time of
Herodotus 16 cubits sufficed, and the god of the Nile in the Vatican is
therefore represented as surrounded by sixteen children. A single cubit more
is apt to cause terrible devastation in the Delta, and elsewhere to cover
many fields destined for the autumn crop (
nabâri, p. 74), while a deficiency of two cubits causes drought
and famine in
Upper Egypt. As health
depends to a great extent on the regularity of the pulsations of the heart,
so the welfare of the whole of this singular country is jeopardised by a too
powerful or a too scanty flow of the great artery on which its very
existence depends. An excessive overflow, especially if it does not give
notice of its approach in due time, is far more disastrous now than
formerly, as the extensive cotton-fields in the Delta will not bear
flooding, and have to be protected by embankments.
Egypt is now no longer a vast lake during the inundation as it
formerly was, nor does the overflow of the fields take place in a direct
manner as is commonly supposed. The water is conducted into a vast network
of reservoirs and canals, and distributed as required (comp. p. 71), and
special engineers are appointed for their supervision. The whole of the
cultivable land is divided into huge basins, in which the water introduced
by the canals is maintained at a certain height until it has sufficiently
saturated the soil and deposited the requisite quantity of mud. After the
water in the river has subsided, that in the basins may either be discharged
into the river or into the canals, or it may be used for filling other
basins lying at a lower level. During these operations many of the villages
are connected by means of embankments only, while others can only be reached
by boat, and the whole country presents a very peculiar and picturesque
appearance.
If the river and the system of canals connected with it are in
any way neglected, the consequences are very disastrous, as was notably the
case during the latter part of the Byzantine supremacy and under the
disgraceful sway of the Mamelukes, when the fertile soil of Egypt yielded
less than one-half of its average produce. The mean difference between the
highest and the lowest state of the river is about 25 ft. at
Cairo. 38 ft. at
Thebes, and 49 ft. at Assuân. Even in March and
April the traveller will have an opportunity of observing how powerful and
rapid the flow of the river still is,

although its fall
from Assuân (by the
first cataract)
to
Cairo is 299 ft. only, or about
seven inches per mile. The rapidity of the stream, however, which averages 3
miles an hour, is not so serious an impediment to the navigation as the
frequent changes which take place in the formation of its channel, sometimes
occasioning difficulties which the most careful of captains is unable to
foresee.
If we now enquire what influence this remarkable river has
exercised on the history of civilisation, we can hardly avoid the conclusion
that it was the Nile, with its unique character, that stimulated the ancient
Egyptians to those great physical and intellectual exertions which rendered
them the most famous and the most civilised among the nations of antiquity.
The necessity of controlling its course and utilising its water taught them
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. 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, and it is also natural that the mighty and
mysterious river on which the welfare of the entire population depended
should have awakened their religious sentiment at a very early period.
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, on 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 north of Cairo (the ancient Kerkasoros,
i.e. the mutilation of Osiris), 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 (Reshîd)
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 east and west ends of the coast respectively. The
water was afterwards gradually compelled to seek other outlets. The Pelusiac
arm found a convenient exit through the Phatnitic near Damietta, while the
Canopic was artificially conducted into the Bolbitinic. All the principal
arms of ancient times at length entirely disappeared, combining to form the
modern outlets. These last will in their turn be abandoned, as the river
will doubtless again force for itself a more direct passage with a greater
fall.
Geological Notice (
by Prof. Zittel). (1) EGYPT PROPER. There is no
exaggeration in the often repeated saying that Egypt is ‘the gift of the
Nile’. But for the bounties dispensed by the river, what is now the most
fertile country in N. Africa would be a wilderness of bare rock or sand.
With the greatest height attained by the inundation and the extreme length
of the irrigation canals corresponds precisely the line which divides the
Sahara from the cultivated land.
The whole of the alluvial soil deposited by the Nile is an entirely foreign
element in the geological structure of N. Africa, and its geological
character is uniform and easily determined.
The origin, composition, and thickness of the alluvium has
already been stated. The perpendicular, black, and furrowed mud-banks, which
often rise to a height of 25–35 ft., are composed of distinct parallel
strata of somewhat different colours, with thin layers of sand occasionally
intervening. In
Lower Egypt the mud
is rather more thinly spread over the whole Delta, in the form of a blackish
or reddish-brown laminated mass, a few isolated spots only remaining
uncovered.
Wherever the ground is denuded of its alluvium, apart from which
there is no permanent soil in Egypt, it is absolutely sterile; for in this
hot and dry country there is no winter, with its protecting mantle of snow,
to retard the decomposition of vegetable matter, and to promote its
admixture with disintegrated rock, so as to form fertile soil. Owing to the
want of vegetation and moisture, without which the progress of
disintegration is reduced to a minimum, the surface of the naked rock in
Egypt and the neighbouring deserts retains its character almost unaltered.
The huge masses of debris observed at the foot of the rocks in the valley of
the Nile, and particularly at the mouths of the wâdies, and the curious
isolated hills with which every traveller through the desert is struck,
could not possibly have been formed during the present state of the Egyptian
climate. They prove that at some pre-historic period the now parched and
sterile ground must have been overflowed by copious volumes of water which
produced these and various other effects on the appearance of the earth’s
surface.
The geologist will find little to attract his attention in the
alluvial soil of Egypt; but on the sea-coast, and in that part of the
isthmus which is intersected by the canal, there are several points of
interest.
On entering the harbour of
Alexandria the traveller will observe the massive blocks of
stone from the quarries of Meks of which the quays are constructed. They
consist of recent tertiary, light-coloured, sandy limestone, composed
chiefly of innumerable broken fragments of conchylia, a kind of rock which
extends far to the W. of
Alexandria,
and probably constitutes the greater part of the lofty Cyrenæan plain. This
rock forms the building-stone generally used at
Alexandria, and is also employed in the
harbour-structures of Port Sa‘îd.
Amidst the desert sand of the isthmus, which even in
Lower Egypt forms a substratum
underlying the Nile mud, and which in the E. part of the desert is nearly
covered with a solid gypseous and saline crust, the rock occasionally crops
up, or has been uncovered in the course of the excavation of the canal. Near
the Shalûf station (p. 432) a greenish-grey, gypseous marl overlies the
solid limestone, which contains the tertiary marine conchylia, sharks’
teeth, and remains of crocodiles and amphibious mammalia. The same formation
occurs in other places also, and ridges of the early tertiary nummulite
limestone likewise occasionally

rise from the
plain. At several points on the coast of the
Red Sea, particularly near Ḳoṣêr, at a height of 600-950 ft.
above the sea-level, we find rock of the late tertiary or diluvial era
containing coral, which shows how much the land must have risen since that
period. With these coral-reefs the petroleum wells of Gebel ez-Zêt and the
sulphur which occurs on the Râs el-Gimsâḥ appear to be closely connected.
To the miocene, or middle tertiary period, belong several
isolated deposits of sandstone near
Cairo, in which are found the beautiful fossil sea-urchins
(Clypeaster Aegyptiacus) frequently
offered for sale near the Pyramids. The place where they occur, on the
margin of the desert, about 2 M. to the S. of the
Sphinx, has been visited and described by Prof.
Fraas.
One of the principal geological curiosities near
Cairo is the
Petrified Forest (comp. p. 339). About 5 M. to the E.
of the town begins the Khashab (‘wood’) desert, the surface of which for
many miles is sprinkled with whole trunks and fragments of silicified wood.
Few travellers go beyond the ‘small’ petrified wood; the ‘great’ lies about
20 M. to the E. of
Cairo. ‘The desert
here is so completely covered with trunks, that, except the fine sand
itself, no other kind of stone is visible than the flint into which the
Nicoliae have been converted’. (Fraas.)
Trunks of 60-90 ft. in length and 3 ft. in thickness have sometimes been
found. These have been described by Unger as
Nicolia Aegyptiaca (of the family of the
Sterculiaceae), but, according to more recent
investigations, it would seem that the forest contained various other trees
also (palms and dicotyledonous plants). Whether the trunks have grown and
been silicified on the spot, or were brought here by inundations from the
south, is still an open question. At all events these remarkable deposits
date from the late tertiary period.
Above
Cairo, to the S.,
the Nile is flanked by ranges of hills, the valley between which is
generally 4-9 M. in width. On the east side of the Nile begins the Arabian,
and on the west side the
Libyan
desert, both of which are very inhospitable, being ill provided with
water, and covered at places only with scanty vegetation. From the
northernmost spur of the
Arabian
desert (the Moḳaṭṭam near
Cairo) to a point above
Edfu,
both banks of the Nile consist of early tertiary nummulite limestone. The
strata dip gradually from south to north, so that the farther we ascend the
Nile the older are the strata that we meet with. The limestone of the
Moḳaṭṭam, with its millions of nummulites, is the material of which the new
buildings of the European suburbs of
Cairo are constructed, and it was from the venerable quarries of
Ṭura and Ma‘ṣara that the ancient Egyptians obtained the stone for their
pyramids. The blocks for these stupendous structures were conveyed to them
by means of a huge stone dyke, of which all trace has now disappeared. On
the Moḳaṭṭam, near Minyeh,
Beni
Ḥasan, Siût,
Thebes,
Esneh, and at other places the
limestone is rich in fossils, and in the vicinity of
Cairo geologists can easily form a considerable
collection of them. The quarrymen on the Moḳaṭṭam offer visitors fossil
crabs
(Xanthopsis
Paulino-Würtembergicus) and sharks’ teeth for a moderate baḳhshîsh.
To the south of
Edfu the
nummulite limestone disappears, being replaced by marl and rocks of
calcareous and sandy character, which, according to Figari-Bey, contain
chalk fossils. After these we come to quartzose sandstone, belonging to the
middle chalk formation, and forming considerable cliffs at the Gebel
Selseleh, which confine the river within a narrow bed.
This last formation, known as ‘Nubian sandstone’, which covers
many thousands of square miles of
Nubia and the Sûdân, was the material almost exclusively used for
the construction of the ancient temples of
Upper Egypt; and near Selseleh, and in the
Arabian desert between Ḳeneh and Ḳoṣêr, are still to
be seen the extensive quarries which yielded the material for the colossal
structures of
Thebes.
From Assuân to Selseleh the Nile flows through Nubian sandstone,
but near the ancient
Syene a
transverse barrier of granite and ‘syenite’ advances from the east, forming
the boundary between Egypt and
Nubia.

This barrier
extends eastwards for about 180 miles, forming a very irregular chain of
barren hills 900-1300 ft. in height.
The Nile has forced a passage for itself through this hard rock,
exposing to view at places the beautiful red felspar crystals which it
contains, and forms a wild cataract at Assuân. Near the cataracts are the
deserted quarries of the ancient Egyptians, where to this day we still
observe a number of unfinished gigantic obelisks, and columns half hewn out
of the solid rock.
(2) THE
ARABIAN DESERT.
Parallel with the coast of the
Red
Sea, a broad and massive range of mountains, consisting of
crystalline rocks (granite, syenite, diorite, porphyry, hornblende slate,
gneiss, mica-slate, etc.), runs through the
Arabian Desert, sending forth numerous ramifications into the
interior of the country. At Ḥammâmât, on the caravanroute from Ḳoṣêr to
Thebes, we pass the quarries
whence the dark-coloured stone (aphanite, diorite, and verde antico) used
for the ancient sarcophagi and sphinxes was obtained by the Egyptian
sculptors. Near the
Red Sea, almost
opposite the southern extremity of the peninsula of Sinai, rises the Gebel
Dukhân, which yielded the beautiful red porphyry (porfido rosso) so highly
prized by the Greeks and Romans at a later period, and used by them for
vases, columns, sarcophagi, busts, and mosaics. The granite quarries of the
Gebel Fatîreh yielded both building stone and copper. Most celebrated of
all, however, were the emerald mines of the Gebel Zebâra, situated on the
Red Sea in the latitude of
Selseleh.
This extensive range of mountains of crystalline formation,
rising to a height of 6600 ft., of which those of the peninsula of Sinai
form a counterpart, terminates towards the east in roof-shaped, stratified
formations. At first there occurs a considerable stratum of Nubian
sandstone, next to which we find a series of clayey and calcareous strata,
identified by Figari-Bey with the Triassic and Jura formations, probably
erroneously, as the collection of specimens of the rock at lorence shows
that apparently the chalk alone is completely developed. These strata are
succeeded by extensive masses of limestone, belonging to the nummulite
formation, and stretching to the Nile. Among these last formations is found
the pale yellow, brownish, and snow-white alabaster, a kind of limestone
composed of nodulous masses, which was formerly quarried at the ancient
Alabastron near Siûṭ, and still occurs on the Gebel Urakam near Beni-Suêf.
In the reign of Moḥammed ‘Ali this alabaster was largely used in the
construction of his alabaster mosque (p. 263), and it was extensively
exported in ancient times for the embellishment of buildings and for
sculptural purposes. Blocks of it are even found among the ruins of the
Oasis of Ammon.
These extensive mountains, with their numerous profound ravines
and boldly shaped masses of rock, impart a most imposing character to the
Arabian Desert. This region is by
no means so destitute of vegetation as is usually supposed; for, although
without oases, it contains, particularly in the N. part, a number of springs
and natural cisterns, which are filled by the rare, but often copious, rains
of winter.
(3). THE
LIBYAN DESERT.
This region again presents an entirely different character. It consists of
an immense, monotonous, and stony tableland, 650-1000 ft. above the level of
the Nile, extending between the Nile and the oases of Khârgeh, Dâkhel,
Farâfra, and Baḥrîyeh. Throughout this vast area there occur neither
mountains, nor valleys, nor even isolated hills of any considerable height;
and there is no trace of crystalline or volcanic formations. The surface of
the desert rises in gradations, each preceded by a broad girdle of isolated
mounds, which have been obviously formed by erosion, the materials having
been washed down from the adjoining plateau. The whole of this stony and
absolutely unwatered plain, the monotony of which is only varied by a few
solitary ranges of sand-hills, consists of nummulite limestone. In the
direction of the oases it descends in precipitous slopes, furrowed with
numerous ravines, and occasionally nearly 1000 ft. in height. The different
strata of the earlier nummulite formation, as well as those of the upper
chalk, are here exposed to view, and generally contain numerous fossils.
The

oases,
particularly those of Dâkhel and Khârgeh, are remarkable for their fossil
wealth. The soil of the deep depressions in which these oases lie, partly
below the level of the Nile, consists of the variegated clayey or sandy
strata of the upper chalk. The ground is so strongly impregnated with alum
at places that it was thought worth while about thirty years ago to erect
manufactories for its preparation, but the undertaking was afterwards
abandoned owing to the difficulties of transport. Numerous thermal springs
well up from the upper strata of the chalk, and the soil thus irrigated is
luxuriantly clothed with vegetation (see p. 64).
The barrier of Nubian sandstone which abuts on the valley of the
Nile at Selseleh extends far into the
Libyan
desert. It forms the south-western boundary of the oases of
Khârgeh and Dâkhel, beyond which it stretches for an unknown distance into
the heart of the desert. This formation contains silicified wood and iron
and manganese ores in abundance.
About six days’ journey to the W. of the oases begins a complete
ocean of sand. As far as the eye can reach we discover nothing but a vast
expanse of loose yellow sand, which generally forms itself into ranges of
sand-hills, many miles in length, and occasionally rising to a height of 300
ft. or upwards above the level of the plain.
The oasis of Farâfra lies in a recess eroded in the nummulite
limestone, and enclosed by precipitous slopes, except on the S. side where
there is an opening. To the N. and W. of Farâfra extends the eocene
limestone plateau as far as the neighbourhood of Sîwa, between which oasis
and Baḥrîyeh it is remarkable for its numerous basin-shaped and sharply
defined depressions. These basins, especially those which are filled with
salt-lakes, impart a peculiarly attractive character to the scenery. The
whole of the desert around the Oasis of Ammon consists of recent tertiary
deposits, the fossil wealth of which was once extolled by Herodotus and
Eratosthenes.
Approximately speaking, the
Libyan Desert consists of Nubian sandstone, the upper chalk, the
nummulite limestone, and the more recent tertiary formations, arranged in
this sequence, and extending in broad successive strips from S.S.E. to
N.N.W.
The Oases
(by Prof. P. Ascherson). In the midst of
the
Libyan Desert, the most bleak and
desolate part of the whole of the African
Sahara, at a distance of several days’ journey to the W. of the
Nile, there have existed since hoar antiquity a number of highly favoured
spots, which are abundantly irrigated by subterranean supplies of water, and
richly covered with vegetation almost vying in luxuriance with that of the
valley of the Nile. The Coptic word ‘Wâḥ’, according to Brugsch, is of
ancient Egyptian origin, and signifies an inhabited station; in its Greek
form ‘oasis’ (properly Οὔασις or Αὔασις), the word is used as the
geographical term for irrigated and cultivable spots, or islands of
vegetation, in the midst of the stony and sandy ocean of the desert.
Four of the five Egyptian oases lie in a somewhat curved line
drawn from S.E. to N.W., and converging at the S. end to the valley of the
Nile: – (1)
Wâḥ el-Khârgeh, i.e. ‘the
outer oasis’ (already so named by Olympiodorus in the 5th cent. A.D.), or
Oasis Major of antiquity, situated 3-4 days journey from
Thebes or from Girgeh on the Nile. (2)
Wâḥ ed-Dâkhelîyeh, or more commonly
Dâkhel, i.e. the ‘inner oasis’ (also so
named by Olympiodorus), 3 days’ journey to the W. of Khârgeh, and about 6
days’ journey from the valley of the Nile near Siûṭ. (3)
Farâfra (i.e. the bubbling springs), about 5 days’
journey to the N.N.W. of Dâkhel, and 8-10 days’ journey from the valley of
the Nile near Siûṭ. (4)
Siwa, anciently the
celebrated oasis of Jupiter Ammon, 16 days’ journey to the W.S.W. of
Alexandria and about 14 from
Cairo. The direct route from Sîwa to
Farâfra (traversed by Rohlfs and Zittel in 1874 in 10½ days) is little known
as yet, as most European travellers make the long circuit towards the E. viâ
– (5)
Wâḥ el-Bahrîyeh, i.e. ‘the northern oasis’, or Oasis Minor
of antiquity, situated 5½ days’ journey to the S.W. of Medînet el-Fayûm,
about 4 days’ journey from Behneseh in the valley of the Nile, 9 days from
Sîwa, and 5 days from Farâfra.

The oases always lie at a considerably lower level than the stony
plateau of the desert, which rises above them in picturesque rocky
precipices, and the oasis of Sîwa is about 78 ft. below the sea-level. The
flat surfaces of these depressions do not always form a single cultivated
area, but consist, even in the case of the smallest oases like Farâfra, of a
number of comparatively small parcels of cultivable soil, separated by belts
of sterile ground. One of the large oases, like that of Khârgeh, when
surveyed from the neighbouring heights, presents the appearance of a large
expanse of desert, flecked with isolated spots of light and dark green, the
former being fields of corn and other crops, and the latter palm-groves.
These islands of vegetation, the extent of which depends on the copiousness
of the springs in their midst and the amount of care used in the
distribution of the water, have often since the time of Strabo been not
inaptly compared to the spots on a panther’s skin, but the simile applies to
the oases individually, and not to those of the
Libyan desert as a whole, as they are but few in
number and very far apart.
As already observed, these Libyan oases owe their fertility to
the copiousness of their water supply. Inexhaustible subterranean channels,
or an immense reservoir, perhaps common to all the oases, are believed to
connect them with the Nubian Nile, or possibly with the Sûdân; and of this
supply it is probable that a very limited portion only comes to the surface
in the form of springs. Within the last thirty years Ḥasan-Effendi, a
well-digger from the valley of the Nile, and formerly servant to a French
engineer, has sunk about sixty new wells in the oasis of Dâkhel, some of
which, though close to older wells, do not seem to diminish the copiousness
of the latter. With the aid of this additional supply a large area of
sterile soil has been brought under cultivation, and it is therefore
probable that by means of Artesian wells, such as those sunk by the French
in the Algerian oases, the extent of the cultivable soil might still be
largely increased. The high temperature of the water, both in the natural
springs and in the wells, shows that it comes from a great depth; and it is
strongly impregnated with mineral ingredients, as in the case of the
bath-springs of Ḳaṣr Dâkhel and Baḥrîyeh (97° Fahr.), and the beautiful
sun-spring (‘Ain Ḥammâm) at Sîwa (85°), the curative properties of which,
owing to their remote situation, are seldom utilised. At Baḥrîyeh the
stratum from which the water more immediately bursts forth seems to lie at
no great depth below the surface of the soil. The thermal waters of Dâkhel
contain iron, and, like those of Farâfra and Khârgeh, are not unpleasant to
drink when cooled; but the water of Sîwa is brackish and nauseous to the
taste. The wells are generally very deep (90-320 ft. and upwards), and in
ancient times the inhabitants of the oases, as we are informed by
Olympiodorus, were celebrated for their skill in sinking them. The invasion
of the Arabs, however, was succeeded by several centuries of barbarism,
during which the art of boring wells was well nigh forgotten; many wells
were filled up, and extensive tracts of cultivated land, still traceable by
the old divisions of the fields, were abandoned; but, as above mentioned,
the practice is beginning to be revived. The considerable force with which
the water comes up from its profound reservoirs enables the inhabitants to
construct wells or artificial dams on the highest parts of the oases. The
fields are always arranged in terraces of picturesque appearance, over which
the fertilising element is conducted downwards in succession, so that the
laborious system of sâḳiyehs and shâdûfs used in the valley of the Nile is
dispensed with. Among the southern oases, on the other hand, we frequently
observe extensive water-conduits, carried by artificial embankments to long
distances for the purpose of conveying the precious liquid over sterile salt
ground to good soil, or necessitated by the requirements of the curiously
involved rights of property. These conduits not unfrequently cross each
other at different levels. The springs are generally the property of the
communities, rarely that of wealthy individuals; and it is in proportion to
their number, and that of the date-palms, that the inhabitants have to pay
taxes, while the soil itself is nominally free.

Where the springs
are common property, the periodical distribution of the water has from time
immemorial formed the subject of statutory regulations. The cultivable land
consists of open fields and of gardens, which are carefully enclosed with
earthen walls about 6 ft. high, crowned with twisted palm-leaves, for the
purpose of keeping out intruders, or are more rarely hedged in with branches
of the ṣunṭ or other thorny plant.
In the oases, as in the valley of the Nile, a regular rotation of
winter and summer crops is observed (comp. p. 72), although, with their
uniform supply of water, there is not the same necessity for it. The winter
crops are wheat and barley; those of summer are rice, dura (Sorghum vulgare), and a small proportion of dukhn
(Penicillaria spicata), while in
Dâkhel and Khârgeh indigo is grown in considerable quantities. Cotton is
also cultivated to a small extent, but the yield is hardly adequate for even
the local requirements. By far the most important fruit yielded by the
gardens is that of the date-palm. The delicious dates are very superior to
those of the Nile valley, and they form, particularly at Dâkhel and Sîwa,
the only important article of export. Olive-trees also occur in all the
oases, especially in Farâfra, Baḥrîyeh, and Sîwa, where they yield a
considerable quantity of oil, besides which there are apricots, oranges,
lemons, and melons, but very few other fruit trees. The ordinary vegetables
grown in the valley of the Nile, such as lettuces, cabbages, and ḳulḳâṣ, are
never met with; nor have the recently introduced sugar-cane and the
beautiful lebbek acacia (p. 76) yet found their way to the oases. The
venerable ṣunṭ-trees (p. 77) form a very characteristic feature of the
southern oases. They generally shade the wells, or the sites of old wells
now filled up owing to neglect, and they indicate the course of the
water-conduits to the still distant traveller.
The most prominent of the indigenous plants of the oases is the
‘oshr
(Calotropis procera), which is
also common on the banks of the Nile in
Upper Egypt. It is a broad-leaved shrub or small tree, attaining
a height of 6 ft. or more, with a copious milky and very poisonous sap, and
round fruit of the size of a large apple containing woolly seeds, and known
on the banks of the Dead Sea as the ‘apple of Sodom’.
The indigenous animals of the oases are much fewer in number than
those of the valley of the Nile. The only large mammal that occurs is the
gazelle, which is also found in the sterile parts of the
Libyan desert. The only beasts of prey are several
varieties of jackals (Arab.
dîb) and
foxes (Arab.
ta’leb). Among the latter
is the pretty fenek, which is only half the size of the European fox,
yellowish-grey in colour, and with ears longer than the breadth of the head.
Hyenas seem to be unknown, except in Baḥrîyeh. The timid ostrich rarely
visits the Libyan oases.
The domestic animals kept by the inhabitants of the oases consist
of a few horses, numerous donkeys of a small and weakly type, which will not
bear comparison with their strong and active congeners of
Alexandria and
Cairo, and a few oxen, sheep, and goats. Buffaloes are also kept in
Khârgeh and a few in Baḥrîyeh. It is surprising how few camels are to be
found in the oases, but it is said that the bite of a certain fly endangers
their lives in summer. Turkeys and fowls are plentiful.
The population of the oases is not of a uniform character.
According to Brugsch, the original inhabitants were Libyan (or Berber)
tribes, but after the oases were annexed to Egypt many new settlers were
introduced from the valley of the Nile and from
Nubia. The Berber nationality of the inhabitants of
the oasis of Ammon, notwithstanding its having been connected with Egypt for
several thousand years and its reception of immigrants from the west in the
middle ages, is still very marked, while the population of the other oases,
like that of the Nile valley, has adopted the Arabic language. In Baḥrîyeh
(where, besides the natives of the place, there is a colony of Sîwanese who
still speak the Berber dialect) and Farâfra the physiognomic type of the
Berber race still predominates; in Dâkhel the features of most of the
population are not materially different from the fellâḥ type; while in Sîwa,
through which the great caravan route from
Alexandria and
Cairo viâ
Murzuk to the Sûdân leads, and in Khârgeh, which lies on the route to
Dâr-Fûr, the

admixture of negro
blood imparts its unmistakable stamp to the features of the inhabitants.
There are no Coptic settlers in the oases, but they are sometimes
temporarily met with there in the capacity of merchants or government
clerks; and Europeans are still more rarely encountered. The population of
the oases is comparatively small (Khârgeh, according to Schweinfurth,
possessing 6340 souls; according to Rohlfs, Dâkhel 17,000, Farâfra 320,
Bahrîyeh about 6000, and Sîwa 5600), and the narrow limits of the cultivable
soil prevents it from increasing; but a more auspicious era may now be in
store for these isolated communities if they follow the example set by the
inhabitants of Dâkhel by sinking fresh wells and thus extending their
territory. As a rule, even in the most favourably circumstanced oasis of
Dâkhel, the physique of the population is poor and stunted, owing partly to
their almost exclusive vegetable diet (of which Prof. Virchow has found
evidence in the condition of the teeth of skulls from the ancient tombs of
Dâkhel), and partly to the unhealthiness of the climate, which has been
notorious from the remotest antiquity. In the early Egyptian period, and
also during the domination of the Roman emperors, the oases were generally
used as places of banishment, partly because their isolation rendered escape
well nigh impossible, and partly perhaps because the climate was expected to
aggravate the misery of the exiles. The overplus of the water used for
agricultural purposes forms a series of marshes, ponds, and lakes on the
saline soil, and these last contribute greatly to the picturesqueness of the
landscape in Sîwa, which is farther enhanced by a number of isolated rocky
heights; but the exhalations of these watery tracts in summer are very
unhealthy. Within the last few centuries this evil has been aggravated by
neglect, and the artificial swamps required for the rice cultivation are
fraught with additional danger. Some measure for utilising the superfluous
water, or at least rendering it harmless, is perhaps more urgently needed
for the well-being of the oases than an increase of the water supply. Under
present circumstances Europeans had better abstain from visiting the oases
from the beginning of April till the end of November, but in the winter
months they may visit them safely. With regard to the construction of the
dwellings in the oases it may be remarked that they all have more or less
the character of townhouses, as, even at the present day, the unsafe state
of the country requires them to be strongly built in close proximity to each
other. Instead of the low hovels of the Nile valley, we therefore find in
all the oases houses of several stories in height, somewhat rudely built of
mud (and sometimes of stone, as at Baḥrîyeh) and palm logs. A curious
feature of these towns (recurring in the other oases of the
Sahara also, as, for example, in the
famous commercial town of Ghadames, to the S.W. of Tripoli) is the covered
streets running under the upper stories of the houses, and sometimes of such
length as to be perfectly dark. As, moreover, like most Oriental streets,
they are generally crooked, it is hardly prudent for a stranger to venture
into them without a guide. The main street of the town of Sîwa winds in this
manner up the rocky eminence on which the houses are built, and the place is
indeed in this respect one of the most curious in the East.
As is usually the case with places lying at a distance from the
outer world, the government of these communities is in the hands of the most
respectable and wealthy members; and at Farâfra this paternal oligarchy is
under the control of no government. Even at Sîwa the Mudir appointed by the
Egyptian government finds it difficult to assert his authority, and it is
only the interminable and sometimes bloody quarrels of the leading parties
of the Lifâyeh and the Gharbîn (of whom the latter, as the name indicates,
are immigrants from the west) that afford him an opportunity of interposing
in his judicial capacity. In the other oases also, down to the middle of the
present century, the power of the government officials was always to a great
extent paralysed by that of the obstinate shêkhs; but after the repression
of the Beduin revolt Sa‘îd Pasha succeeded in firmly establishing the
viceregal authority in the oases also. Since that period peace has reigned
throughout the oases, and as the pressure

of taxation is not
nearly so heavily felt here as in the valley of the Nile the inhabitants are
comparatively wealthy. Of late years, however, they have occasionally
suffered from the predatory attacks of nomadic marauders from the Cyrenaica,
and even by the Arabs of the Nile valley. A new disturbing element, too, has
unfortunately sprung up within the last ten years in Sîwa, Baḥrîyeh, and
Farâfra, in the establishment and rapid spread of the Senûsi order of
Mohammedans, by whom the introduction of all Christian culture is bitterly
opposed. This religious order was founded about the middle of the present
century by Sîdi Snûsi (or Senûsi, as the name is pronounced in Eastern
Africa, where the vowels are more distinctly pronounced than by the
Moghrebbins of Algeria and Morocco), a ṭâlib (or scripture scholar) of
Tlemsen in Algeria, for the purpose of restoring the observance of Islâm to
its original purity, and, above all, of warring against Christianity.
Although the members of the order are regarded by other Mohammedan sects as
Khoms, or heretics, they have rapidly acquired great power in the districts
surrounding the eastern
Sahara, and,
like the Jesuits in Christian countries, have amassed considerable wealth,
their principal treasury being at Sarabûb, the chief seat of the order, two
days’ journey to the W. of Sîwa. Sarabûb is also the residence of
Sîdi-Maḥdi, the general of the order and son of its founder, who has
succeeded in obtaining certain privileges from the Sultan of Turkey. At Sîwa
he has established a richly endowed Zâwiyeh, or school of religion; at
Farâfra the Zâwiyeh is all-powerful, having within the ten years of its
existence bought up a considerable part of the landed property there; and at
Baḥrîyeh the order has succeeded in monopolising the schools, so that the
rising generation may be expected to succumb to their influence. The
hostility of this new sect to all modern culture is obviously a serious
obstacle to the progress which the Egyptian government is now anxious to
promote.
Climate. The climate of Egypt is to some
extent influenced by the great artery on which the country’s life depends,
but the desert may be regarded as its chief regulator. But for the immense
absorbing power of the desert the winter rains of the Mediterranean regions
would extend far up the Nile valley; and; but for its proximity, the great
expanse of nearly stagnant water at the mouths of the Nile, covering an area
of upwards of 2500 sq. M., would render the Delta one of the most unhealthy
and uninhabitable regions in the world. The air of the desert is pleasantly
cool, and possesses the most refreshing and health-giving qualities; indeed,
to borrow Bayard Taylor’s expression, it is a true ‘elixir of life’. To the
delicious purity of the air(
† of the desert a
kind of parallel is afforded by the excellence of the water of the
life-giving Nile.
† It may be noticed here that
the air is largely impregnated with saline particles from the limestone
rocks of the desert, and it is chiefly to their presence that the
beneficial effect of the air on the respiratory organs is supposed to be
due.
RAIN, throughout a great part of Egypt proper, is a very rare
phenomenon. At
Cairo the fogs of
winter are rarely condensed into showers of any duration, and the rain
occasionally blown inland from the sea seldom lasts long. Observations
carried on at
Cairo for five years
show a mean annual rainfall of only 1½ inch, while the mean at
Alexandria for a period of fourteen
years was 8 inches. The unusual frequency of rain during the last few years
has been absurdly attributed to the great increase of the area planted
with

trees, a boon
which the country owes to the government of the Khedive Isma‘îl. The winters
of these same years were also unusually wet in Greece and other regions
adjoining the Mediterranean where but little rain generally falls, so that
the weather of these exceptional seasons was doubtless affected by unknown
elimatic influences extending far beyond the limits of Egypt. The recent
formation of the extensive
Bitter
Lakes in the
Isthmus of Suez
has also no influence on the climate except in their own immediate
neighbourhood. If the banks of the
Red
Sea still remain desert in spite of the huge evaporating surface
beside them, what change of importance could be expected from the artificial
creation of a few square miles of water? The whole of the base of the Delta
lies within the region of the winter rains, which from January to April are
blown inland by the then prevailing sea-breezes to a distance of 30-50
English miles. In
Upper Egypt, on the
other hand, rain is almost unknown, and it is not uncommon to meet with
adult natives who have never seen a single shower. In that part of the
country a thunder-shower, or perhaps the extreme fringe of the tropical
rains, falls at rare intervals in April or May to the no small wonder of the
natives. These showers are more frequent above the
first cataract, and they recur regularly a little to
the N. of New Donḳola or ‘Ordeh (19° N. lat.), while to the S. of Shendi
there is annually a short wet season, with its concomitants of malaria and
fever. The rainfall in the deserts on each side of the Nile is very
unequally distributed, but of these regions also it is approximately true
that rain is of very partial and sporadic occurrence. Thus there are vast
tracts of the
Libyan desert which for
years together derive their sole moisture from the damp north and
north-westerly winds, and when the wind is in any other quarter they are
even deprived of their nightly refreshment of dew. On the Arabian side the
case is materially different. There, along the coast of the
Red Sea, runs a range of mountains
4800-10,000 ft. in height, where occasional, but very violent showers fall
between October and December, hollowing out the deep valleys which descend
to the Nile. Although these desert rains are of too short duration
permanently to affect the character of the country, their fertilising effect
on the light and loose soil is far greater than if they had to penetrate a
heavier soil covered with thick vegetation.
As the year is divided in the valley of the Nile by the rise and
fall of the river into two well-defined seasons, one when the soil is moist
and easily cultivated, and the other when nothing will grow without
artificial irrigation, so also it may be divided in accordance with the
prevalent WINDS into two different periods of eight and of four months.
North winds prevail as a rule from the middle of June to the middle of
February, and south (S. E. and S. W.) during the rest of the year (while in
the
Red Sea the prevalent winds at
these seasons are almost exactly in the reverse

directions). Early
in the afternoon of a day during the second of these seasons the wind, as is
the case in all tropical regions, sometimes rises to a hurricane, in which
case it is called a ‘Samûm’. Of this wind there are two or three different
varieties: (1) It is called a ‘Shôbeh’ when it blows chiefly from the east,
and (2) a ‘Merîsi’ when it comes directly from the south. In the latter case
it is also sometimes called a ‘Khamsîn’, but this name more properly applies
to the very hot, dry, and dust-laden winds which frequently blow
unremittingly for one or two whole days together, and render the climate
peculiarly trying in March and April (comp. p. 2).
The name Khamasin, as it is
more correctly written, is the plural of Khamsîn, signifying ‘fifty’, and is applied to these winds in
consequence of the fact that they prevail only during a period of fifty days
before the summer solstice, after which they invariably cease. The Arabs
confine this name to the period, and name the winds themselves shard. The wind to which the name is
applied in winter affords but a feeble idea of the Khamsîn of the hotter
season, which forms the only disagreeable feature of the Egyptian climate,
and one from which there is no escape. The impalpable sand finds its way
into the most carefully closed rooms, boxes, and even watches, and the
parching heat is most destructive to the blossoms of fruit-trees.
In accordance with the TEMPERATURE the Egyptian year may also be
divided into two seasons, a period of hot weather, lasting eight months
(April to November), and a cool season of four months (December to March).
Throughout the whole country the heat gradually increases from April till
the middle or end of June, and many of the superstitious natives believe
that a perceptible freshening of the air takes place on the night of the
‘dropping’ (17th June; see p. 239). In
Alexandria the blowing of the N. N. W. wind sometimes interrupts
the regular increase of the heat, so that the maximum may be reached as
early as May or June or may be postponed to September or October. The
maximum heat in the Delta is about 95° Fahr. in the shade, in
Upper Egypt about 109°. At
Cairo the thermometer sometimes rises
as high as 114° during the prevalence of the Khamsîn. In December, January,
and February the temperature is at its lowest, falling in the Delta to 35°,
in
Alexandria to 40°, and in
Upper Egypt to 41°. The quicksilver
rarely sinks to the freezing-point, except in the desert and at night. On
16th Feb. 1874, during Rohlfs’ expedition in the
Libyan desert, the thermometer fell to 23°. About
sunrise the traveller will sometimes find a thin coating of ice in his
basin, or on neighbouring pools of water, where, owing to the rapid
evaporation, the temperature falls several degrees lower than in the
surrounding air. As a rule, throughout the whole country, and at every
season, the temperature is highest from 1 to 5 p.m., and lowest during the
two hours before sunrise. The result of the observations of ten years has
been that the mean temperature in the Delta and at
Cairo is 58° Fahr. in winter, 78° in spring, 83° in
summer, and 66° in autumn. M. Pirona’s observations, carried on for fourteen
years, fix the mean temperature on the coast near
Alexandria at 60° in winter, 66° in

spring, 77° in
summer, and 74° in autumn. At
Alexandria the summer days are much cooler and the winter nights
much warmer than at
Cairo, but the
moisture of the air makes the heat much more oppressive. In the drier air
the constant absorption of moisture from the skin keeps the body at a much
lower temperature than that of the surrounding air, and thus renders the
great heat of the desert much more bearable than one would expect. The
strong sea-breezes at
Alexandria also
make the heat of summer less oppressive than it is at many places on the
Mediterranean situated much farther to the N.
As three different thermometers are used in Europe, — those of
Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Réaumur (1° F. = 5/9° C. = 4/9° R.), — the
traveller may find the following table convenient for reference.
Fahrenheit |
Réaumur |
Celsius |
Fahrenheit |
Réaumur |
Celsius |
Fahrenheit |
Réaumur |
Celsius |
Fahrenheit |
Réaumur |
Celsius |
+124 |
+40,89 |
+51.11 |
+99 |
+29,78 |
+37,22 |
+74 |
+18,67 |
+23,33 |
+49 |
+7,56 |
+9,44 |
123 |
40,44 |
50,56 |
98 |
29,33 |
36,67 |
73 |
18,22 |
22,78 |
48 |
7,11 |
9,89 |
122 |
40,00 |
50,00 |
97 |
28,89 |
36,11 |
72 |
17,78 |
22,22 |
47 |
6,67 |
8,33 |
121 |
39,56 |
49,44 |
96 |
28,44 |
35,56 |
71 |
17,33 |
21,67 |
46 |
6,22 |
7,78 |
120 |
39,11 |
48,89 |
95 |
28,00 |
35,00 |
70 |
16,89 |
21,11 |
45 |
5,78 |
7,22 |
119 |
38,67 |
48,33 |
94 |
27,56 |
34,44 |
69 |
16,44 |
20,56 |
44 |
5,33 |
6,67 |
118 |
38,22 |
47,78 |
93 |
27,11 |
33,89 |
68 |
16,00 |
20,00 |
43 |
4,89 |
6,11 |
117 |
37,78 |
47,22 |
92 |
26,67 |
33,33 |
67 |
15,56 |
19,44 |
42 |
4,44 |
6,56 |
116 |
37,33 |
46,67 |
91 |
26,22 |
32,78 |
66 |
15,11 |
18,89 |
41 |
4,00 |
5,00 |
115 |
36,89 |
46,11 |
90 |
25,78 |
32,22 |
65 |
14,67 |
18,33 |
40 |
3,56 |
4,44 |
114 |
36,44 |
45,56 |
89 |
25,33 |
31,67 |
64 |
14,22 |
17,78 |
39 |
3,11 |
3,89 |
113 |
36,00 |
45,00 |
88 |
24,89 |
31,11 |
63 |
13,78 |
17,22 |
38 |
2,67 |
3,33 |
112 |
35,56 |
44,44 |
87 |
24,44 |
30,56 |
62 |
13,33 |
16,67 |
37 |
2,22 |
2,78 |
111 |
35,11 |
43,89 |
86 |
24,00 |
30,00 |
61 |
12,89 |
16,11 |
36 |
1,78 |
2,22 |
110 |
34,67 |
43,33 |
85 |
23,56 |
29,44 |
60 |
12,44 |
15,56 |
35 |
1,33 |
1,67 |
109 |
34,22 |
42,78 |
84 |
23,11 |
28,89 |
59 |
12,00 |
15,00 |
34 |
0,89 |
1,11 |
108 |
33,78 |
42,22 |
83 |
22,67 |
28,33 |
58 |
11,56 |
14,44 |
33 |
0,44 |
0,56 |
107 |
33,33 |
41,67 |
82 |
22,22 |
27,78 |
57 |
11,11 |
13,89 |
32 |
0,00 |
0,00 |
106 |
32,89 |
41,11 |
81 |
21,78 |
27,22 |
56 |
10,67 |
13,33 |
31 |
−0,44 |
−0,56 |
105 |
32,44 |
40,56 |
80 |
21,33 |
26,67 |
55 |
10,22 |
12,78 |
30 |
0,89 |
1,11 |
104 |
32,00 |
40,00 |
79 |
20,89 |
26,11 |
54 |
9,78 |
12,22 |
29 |
1,33 |
1,67 |
103 |
31,56 |
39,44 |
78 |
20,44 |
25,56 |
53 |
9,33 |
11,67 |
28 |
1,78 |
2,22 |
102 |
31,11 |
38,89 |
77 |
20,00 |
25,00 |
52 |
8,89 |
11,11 |
27 |
2,22 |
2,78 |
101 |
30,67 |
38,33 |
76 |
19,56 |
24,44 |
51 |
8,44 |
10,56 |
26 |
2,67 |
3,33 |
100 |
30,22 |
37,78 |
75 |
19,11 |
23,89 |
50 |
8,00 |
10,00 |
25 |
3,11 |
3,89 |
Agriculture. 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 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 recent great
extension of the cultivation of the sugar-cane, which requires a great deal
of moisture, and of the cotton-plant, which requires extremely little, 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, and no imported agricultural
labourers could ever hope to compete with them, as has sometimes been
thought possible. Although the homogeneous soil of the valley of the Nile
breaks up of its own accord after its irrigation, and requires less careful
tilling and ploughing than ours, it exacts more uniform attention throughout
the whole year, while its irrigation involves a great additional amount of
labour to which the European farmer is quite unaccustomed. The increasing
use of artificial manures, which were formerly but little known, is another
source of great labour. As the country is thickly peopled and supports
numerous cattle, there ought to be no lack of natural manure; but, as the
dung of the domestic animals is used as fuel throughout Egypt, where wood is
very scarce, that of pigeons (p. 79) is almost the only kind available for
agricultural purposes. An abundant 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, recognisable 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 sometimes containing as much as
12 per cent of saltpetre, soda, ammonia, and other salts. This manure
possesses extremely fertilising properties, but if used at the wrong time or
place is very injurious to the soil.
II. IRRIGATION. The whole of the cultivable soil of Egypt is
divided into two classes in accordance with its relative height above the
surface of the Nile: (1) The ‘
Rai’, or
fields which retain their moisture after the subsidence of the overflow long
enough (or nearly long enough) to admit of the ripening of the crop without
additional irrigation; (2) The ‘
Sharâḳi’, or those which always require artificial irrigation. The
irrigation is effected by means of: (1) The ‘
Sâḳiyeh’, or large wheels (rarely exceeding 30 ft. in diameter),
turned by domestic animals of various kinds, and fitted with scoops of wood
or clay, resembling a dredging-machine. (In the

Fayûm a peculiar
kind of water-wheel is in use, so contrived as to be turned by the weight of
the water.) According to Figari-Bey, the number of sâḳiyehs used in Central
and
Lower Egypt in 1864 was about
50,000, which were turned and superintended by 200,000 oxen and 100,000
persons, and which irrigated 4,500,000 acres of land. (2) The ‘
Shâdûf’, an apparatus resembling that of
an ordinary well, set in motion by one person only, and drawing the water in
buckets resembling baskets in appearance; as a substitute for the sâḳiyeh
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 ‘Gefs’ of the Nile in Northern Egypt, where they
are seen in great numbers. (5) Lastly the ‘
Tâbût’, a peculiar, very light, and easily moved wooden wheel,
which raises the water by means of numerous fans, is used in the Lower Delta
only and in places where the level of the water in the canals remains nearly
the same. 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, 1 ft. 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.
Before describing the different Egyptian agricultural seasons, we
must first observe that they are no longer so sharply defined as they
probably were in ancient times. Besides the old crops, there are now several
others of recent introduction, and so extensively grown as in some measure
to revolutionise the modes of cultivation. These are maize, rice, the
sugar-cane, cotton, ramieh, and indigo. (This last plant was known to Pliny,
but it was probably grown in his time only to a very limited extent.) The
agrarian measures of the Egyptian government are all directed towards the
emancipation of farming from its dependence upon the inundations, in order
that every crop may be cultivated at the season in which it thrives best.
The embankments and various apparatus for the regulation of the water
supply, recently constructed or founded by the government, vie in importance
with the greatest ancient works of the kind.
III. AGRICULTURAL, SEASONS. (1) The
Winter Crop, or ‘
Esh-Shitâwi’, grown exclusively on the ‘Rai’ land (p. 71), is sown
immediately after the subsidence of the inundation, which takes place
progressively from S. to N. In
Upper
Egypt seed-time accordingly begins as early as the middle of October,
in Central Egypt (from Siûṭ to
Cairo)
at the beginning of November, and in the Delta about the end of December.
The ground is seldom prepared

for sowing by the
use of the plough. The seed is scattered over the still soft and moist soil,
and is then either pressed into it by means of a wooden roller, beaten into
it with pieces of wood, or trodden in by oxen†.
†
Throughout the whole country a period of four months elapses between
seed-time and the completion of the harvest. The winter harvest is,
therefore, over in
Upper Egypt about
the middle of February, in Central Egypt about the middle of March, and in
the Delta towards the end of April. In Upper and Central Egypt this is the
most important harvest of the whole year. The principal crop everywhere is
wheat (occupying 50% of the fields in
Upper
Egypt and 30% in the Delta), next to which are barley (in the
proportion of 10% and 14% in these regions respectively), clover (10% and
24% respectively), and broad beans (20% and 12% respectively).
† 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 recognise 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 fellâḥ. These rude and light ploughs
penetrate but slightly into the ground. (On the estates of the Khedive,
Fowler’s steam-plough is now frequently employed.) The harrow is
replaced in Egypt by a roller provided with iron spikes (kumfud, 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 (migrafeh). The process of reaping consists of cutting the grain
with a sickle, 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 ears and sets free the grain or seeds. The corn is separated
from the fragments of straw by the careful removal of the latter, and by
tossing it to and fro in a draughty place. The grain is afterwards
passed through a sieve.
(2) The
Summer Crops
(‘Eṣ-Ṣêfi‘ or
‘El-Ḳêḍi’) are much
more varied than those of winter, but they are comparatively unimportant in
Upper and Central Egypt, as the cultivable land in these regions is very
narrow, and belongs chiefly to the ‘Rai’ category, two-thirds of it being
under water during summer. In the Delta, on the other hand, summer is the
farmer’s most important season. The vegetation with which its whole surface
is densely clothed in June and July is marvellously rich and beautiful,
thousands of magnificent trees clustered in groups afford delightful shelter
from the fierce rays of the sun, and the eye ranges over an immense expanse
teeming with luxuriant crops. Another charm of the country in summer
consists in its abundantly stocked gardens and orchards: but of all these
attractions the traveller who, like a bird of passage, merely seeks refuge
in Egypt from the cold and rains of a northern winter cannot possibly form
any adequate idea. At this season every district

of Egypt has its
favourite crop; in
Upper Egypt,
between Assuân and
Esneh, the
penicillaria, and in the Delta rice are chiefly cultivated; while the
peculiar looking indigo-plant, a rich profusion of grapes, and a plentiful
growth of cucumbers and melons are seen in every part of the country. The
summer cultivation, of which the ‘Sharâḳi’ land alone is capable, is carried
on from April to August; but many of the plants grown at this season require
a longer period of development, extending throughout the whole of the autumn
and even part of the winter. This is particularly the case with the rice
crop, which is sown in May, but does not attain maturity till the middle of
November, and with the cotton-plant, sown in April, and harvested in
November or December. A large quantity of cotton is also yielded by a second
harvest from the pruned plant in the month of August, in the second year of
its growth. Summer is also the principal season for the tobacco crop.
(3) The
Autumn Season
(‘En-Nabâri’ or ‘
Ed-Denûri’), as
already observed, is of very subordinate importance, being sometimes
occupied, as in the case of rice and cotton, in bringing the summer crops of
maturity. It is also the shortest season, extending to little more than
seventy days; and yet within this brief space the rich soil of the Delta
yields its harvest of maize, which, next to wheat, is the most important of
the Egyptian cereals. (The annual yield of these two grains is said to
amount to 24 million bushels.) The autumn cultivation lasts from August to
October, and sometimes till November. At the beginning of October,
throughout the whole Delta from
Suez
to
Alexandria, the traveller will
observe an almost unbroken ocean of maize-fields, seldom varied except by
the low villages, resembling mounds of earth, with their neighbouring palm
groves. The picture of teeming fertility which the country then presents far
surpasses that presented by the rich maize-fields of south-eastern Europe.
In Central Egypt maize is also an important summer crop. Along with it is
sometimes cultivated the less common Sorghum, or Dura, or Indian millet,
which is eaten by the poorest fellâḥîn only. It is, however, largely
consumed by the Beduins on the Arabian side of the Nile, and in the Sûdân
and
Nubia forms the chief food of the
inhabitants. Another plant cultivated in autumn, rarely seen in Egypt, but
common in the Sûdân and
Nubia, is the
tropical Sesame, from which oil is largely prepared.
4. 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 Egyptian
names given below. The various products are enumerated in the order of their
importance.
a. CEREALS. 1. Wheat (
ḳamḥ; that from the Delta,
ḳamḥ
baḥri; from
Upper Egypt,
ḳamḥ ṣa‘îdi). 2. Maize (
dura shâmi, i. e. Syrian; called in
Syria
dura only). 3. Barley
(sha‘îr). 4. Rice
(ruzz), cultivated only in the lower part of the
Delta of
Alexandria and
Raḥmânîyeh, as far as Manṣûra, Zaḳâzîḳ, Sâliḥîyeh, and in the Wâdi
Ṭumîlât, and also in the Fayûm and in the oases of the
Libyan desert. 5. Sorghum vulgare
(dura beledi, i. e. dura of the
country; simply called
dura in the
Sûdân; Ital.

sorgho, Engl.
caffercorn, and the Tyrolese
sirch). 6. Penicillaria
(dukhn). 7. Sorghum saccharatum.
b. PODDED FRUITS. 1. Broad beans (fûl). 2. Lentils (‘adas). 3. Chickpeas (ḥummuṣ). 4. Lupins (tirmis).
5. Peas (bisilla). 6. Dolichos Lubia
(lûbiya). 7. Dolichos Lablab (lablab), which is very frequently
seen festooning walls and pinnacles, but is also grown in fields in
separate plants. 8. Vigna Sinensis. 9. White beans (lûbiya frengi). 10. Phaseolus Mungo. 11. Horse
beans (Canavalia gladiata).
c. GREEN CROPS. 1. White Egyptian clover (bersîm). 2. Fœnum Græcum (ḥelbeh, frequently ground into flour and used in
making bread; also generally eaten raw by the natives in winter; not to
be confounded with clover). 3. Medicago sativa, or lucerne (bersîm ḥegâzi). 4. Lathyrus
sativus, or flat pea (gulbân). 5.
Sorghum halepense (gerau).
d. STIMULANTS. 1. Virginian tobacco, or Nicotiana Tabacum (dukhân aḥmar). 2. Peasant’s
tobacco, or Nicotiana rustica (dukhân
akhḍar). 3. Poppies, for the manufacture of opium (abu-num, or ‘father of sleep’). 4.
Indian hemp (ḥashîsh; comp. p. 18).
e. TEXTILE MATERIALS. 1. Cotton (ḳoṭn), introduced from India in 1821, but
extensively cultivated since 1863 only. 2. Flax (kettân). 3. Hemp (tîl). 4. Hibiscus cannabinus.
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, which has recently been prohibited); properly a tree, but, like
the tea-plant, cultivated in fields in the form of a dwarfed bush. 3.
Saffron. (ḳarṭam or ‘oṣfur). 4.
Madder (fûa), cultivated in small
quantities. 5. Reseda Luteola (blîya), used as a yellow dye.
g. OIL PLANTS. 1. Castor-oil plant (khirwa). 2. Sesame (sim-sim). 3. Lettuce (khaṣṣ), very largely cultivated. 4. Rape (selgam). 5. Chicory (hendebeh). 6. Mustard (khardal, or kabar). 7. Arachides, or earth-nuts (fûl sennri, or simply fûl). 8. Saffron (as an oil-yielding
plant). 9. Poppy (as an oil-plant). 10. Garden cress, or Lepidium
sativum (rishâd).
h. SPICES. 1. Capsicum annuum, the Italian peperone (fil fil aḥmar). 2. Capsicum
frutescens, or Cayenne pepper (shitêta). 3. Aniseed (yansûn,
or ânîsûn). 4. Coriander (kusbara). 5. Caraway (kemmûn). 6. Nigella (kemmûn aswad). 7. Dill (shamâr). 8. Mustard.
i. The SUGAR CANE
(ḳaṣab
es-sukhar) has of late been largely cultivated in the N. part
of
Upper Egypt for the purpose of
being manufactured into sugar. An inferior variety, which is eaten raw,
introduced from India in the time of the khalifs, is cultivated in every
part of the country.
k. VEGETABLES. 1. Bamyas, or Hibiscus esculentus (bâmîya). 2. Onions (baṣal). 3. Pumpkins (ḳar’a). 4. Cucumbers (khiyâr). 5. Egyptian cucumbers (frequently
trumpet-shaped and ribbed; different varieties called ‘abdelâwi, ‘agûr, etc.). 6. Melons (ḳâwûn; the best, shammâm). 7. Water-melons (baṭṭîkh). 8. Melonzanes (bâdingân). 9. Tomatoes (tomâtin). 10. Corchorus olitorius (melûkhîyeh). 11. Colocasia (ḳulḳâṣ). 12. Garlic (tûm). 13. Mallows (Khobbêzeh). 14. Cabbage (korumb). 15. Celery (kerafs). 16. Radishes, a peculiar kind, with
fleshy leaves, which form a favourite article of food (figl). 17. Lettuces (khasṣ). 18. Sorrel (ḥommêḍ). 19. Spinach (es-sibânikh). 20. Parsley (baḳdûnis). 21. Purslane (rigl). 22. Turnips (lift). 23. Carrots (gezer, a peculiar kind, with red juice). 24.
Beetroot (bangâr). A variety of
other vegetables are cultivated in small quantities in gardens,
exclusively for the use of European residents.
5. Trees and Plantations. During recent
years new avenues and parks have been so extensively planted that Egypt will
soon present a far greener and 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. The best proof
of the scarcity of good timber in Egypt is afforded by the fact that
sycamore-wood, one of the worst possible kinds owing to the knottiness and
irregularity of its grain, has been laboriously manufactured into coffins
and statues. Moḥammed ‘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 understood in Egypt. His successors 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 Isma‘îl, 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. This enterprising and able man unfortunately
died (1874) before all his plans had been carried out, but the eye of every
new-comer will rest with pleasure on the parks and gardens for which Egypt
is indebted to him. While, for example, the traveller had formerly to ride
all the way to the Pyramids over sterile soil, exposed to the scorching rays
of the sun, he now drives comfortably thither in a carriage on a well-shaded
road. M. Barillet’s most important works are the Ezbekîyeh Garden at
Cairo, the extensive pleasure-grounds
at Gezîreh, and the plantation of trees which shades the roads on the left
bank of the Nile, opposite the city. Hundreds of thousands of trees were
planted within a few years, and their annually increasing shade has
converted many of the dusty and stifling roads in and around
Cairo into pleasant promenades. The
finest of all these trees, both on account of its umbrageousness and the
excellence of its wood, and one which thrives admirably, is the
lebbek (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 lebbek attains a height of 80 ft. and a great thickness,
while the branches project to a long distance over the roads, densely
covering them with a dense leafy canopy within a remarkably short time.
Thus, an avenue planted in 1866 near the German Protestant church already
forms a complete arcade over the road. Another very valuable and interesting
property of the tree is, that cuttings consisting of branches more than a
foot thick, and even portions of the trunk, will strike root and thrive,
while in the case of most other trees the cuttings must consist of mere
twigs. In the course of a single summer the shady avenues leading to the
Pyramids were thus formed. About two hundred different kinds of trees,
chiefly of E. Indian origin, are now planted in the parks of the Khedive
(about twenty in number), and they are constantly multiplied in nurseries
laid out for the purpose. Among the most important of these are the
magnificent ‘Flamboyer

des Indes’
(Poinciana pulcherrima) and the rapidly-growing 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 of which, resembling rosaries
(gârrat), yield an excellent material for tanning
purposes. Next to the palm, this is the tree most frequently seen by the
way-side and in the villages. The Acacia Farnesiana
(fatneh), with blossoms of delicious perfume. The
sycamore
(gimmêz), anciently
considered sacred. The zizyphus, or Christ’s thorn-tree
(nebḳ). Tamarisks
(ṭarfai not to be confounded with tamarinds). The Parkinsonia
(sêsebân, a name also applied to
the wild Sesbania shrub). Mulberry-trees
(tût), in
Lower Egypt
only. Carob-trees, or bread of St. John
(kharrûb). The cypress, olive, poplar, plane, myrtle, Aleppo
pine, Shinus, Melia, and various fig-trees of Indian origin are of less
frequent occurrence.
Among the FRUIT TREES the most important is the date-palm
(
nakhleh; the date,
balaḥ; the rib of the leaf,
gerd; the leaf,
lêf; the points of the leaf,
sa‘af; the crown,
gummâr.) 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
ibrîmi, or
sukkôti, as they come from N.
Nubia. The most delicately
flavoured are the small dark brown ones known as
amhât, which are eaten fresh. The Beduins offer
for sale at the hotels a kind of date-preserve packed in what professes
to be gazelle-skins, but is usually goats‘ leather
(‘agweh). Palm-wine
(lagbi), obtained by boring the heart of the
crown of the palm, whereby the tree is killed, is met with in the oases
only. Excellent brandy, however, is distilled from the fruit. The value
of the dates exported annually amounts to about one million francs only,
as they realise too high a price in the country itself to remunerate the
exporter. 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.
The vine thrives admirably in Egypt, and grapes
(‘oenab) 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 are abundant and cheap (the
harvest beginning in September), and so also are mandarins and 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 is specially cultivated for the benefit of the Turks, who are very
partial to them, and which yields a handsome return. Apricots are
common, but quite destitute of flavour, and the same remark applies to
the peaches
(khôkh); almonds
(lôz) are also frequently seen.
Throughout the whole of
Lower
Egypt figs
(tîn) abound in
summer, and the cactus-fig
(tîn-shôk) is also a favourite fruit. Apples, quinces, pears, and
plums abound, particularly in the region of Girgeh and in the Fayûm, but
these last are perfectly tasteless; these fruits, moreover, are so
abundantly brought to the market from the Mediterranean regions that no
attempt is made to extend their cultivation in Egypt. Within the last
ten years the banana
(môz) has
gradually become naturalised in Egypt, but it is still a somewhat
expensive fruit (1-1½ fr. per pound). A delicacy imported from the W.
Indies for the benefit of strangers is the Anona squamosa
(ḳishṭa, i. e. ‘cream’). Pine-apples
are very rarely seen. Fine tropical fruits of this kind (including also
the mango) are only to be found in the gardens of the Khedive, where,
however, their capability of acclimatisation has been abundantly proved.
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 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. On the embankments and
on the brink of the rivers we occasionally find wild tamarisks and
willows
(ṣafsâf), but always in the
form of mere bushes. In the desert-valleys of
Upper Egypt, however, grow five different kinds
of acacia and several other shrubs of inferior interest. Another tree of
considerable importance is the beautiful
dûm palm, which grows wild in the valleys of S.
Nubia and even in the oases, but
those which occur in N. Egypt are always planted. Even in
Lower Egypt it is not met with
beyond 27° N. latitude (indeed hardly beyond Ḳeneh), and attempts to
acclimatise it at
Cairo have
never been successful. Lastly we may mention two circumstances which
throw some light on the botanical position of Egypt. One of these is,
that the commonest weeds associated with the industrial crops of Egypt,
and which occur nowhere else, are of E. Indian origin; and the other,
that numerous plants cultivated by the Egyptians are only now to be
found in their wild condition in the central regions of Africa.
The Animal Kingdom in Egypt. (By Dr. M. Th. v. Heuglin.)
I. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. The Horse
(ḥoṣân; horse, khêl; mare,
faras; foal, muhr; the rider, khayyâl) was probably unknown to the most ancient Egyptians,
and was first introduced by the Hyksos (p. 88). It is now to be met with
throughout the whole of the valley of the Nile, and even in the oases.
Owing to want of proper care and insufficiency of food, the Egyptian
horses are generally of insignificant appearance.
The Egyptian Donkey
(Arab. ḥomâr; comp. p. 11) is noted
for its power of endurance, its spirited temper, and its moderate
requirements.
The
Mule (Arab.
baghl, or
baghleh), although admirably adapted for carrying
heavy burdens, is less frequently bred in Egypt, but is sometimes
imported from Abyssinia, Spain, and other parts of southern Europe,
Syria, and Asia Minor.
The Camel (Arab. gemel, fem. nâḳa; the camel for riding, hegîn), was not unknown to the ancient Egyptians,
as it is mentioned in several papyri, but it was probably rarely used,
particularly during the early monarchy. During the hottest weather the
camel can dispense with water for three days or more, while its scanty
provender consists of a few handfuls of maize or beans, of the dry and
wiry desert grass, of straw, or of prickly acacia leaves.
The Buffalo (Arab. gâmûs) seems to have been long
domesticated in Egypt. Its flesh is not esteemed, but the cows yield
milk and butter. The buffalo requires little food and attention, but
does not thrive except in swampy ground or in the vicinity of flowing
water. The hide forms strong and valuable leather.
The Ox (Arab. tôr; cow, baḳara; calf, ‘igl; milk, leben; sweet
milk, ḥalîb; sour milk, ḥâmeḍ or rôb) thrives in Egypt on the dry soil of the
arable land, and is also reared in the oases. Down to the year 1863
Egypt possessed a long-horned race of oxen which is often represented on
the monuments; but the breed was entirely swept away by a cattle-plague
during that year. The fellâḥîn make both butter and cheese from the
milk. Instead of a churn they use a leathern bag suspended from a rope
(ḳirbeh).
The
Goat (Arab.
me‘za or
‘anzeh; he-goat,
tês; kid,
gidi
) is to be found in every cottage on the banks of the Nile, and in
every tent in the desert. Its milk is palatable and wholesome. The hide
makes durable and waterproof water-bags.
Sheep (Arab.
kharûf, na‘geh, ghanam, ramis; ram,
kebsh) are almost as generally kept
by the Egyptian peasantry as goats, the most esteemed

being the
fat-tailed varieties
(ovis pachycera
recurvicanda and
ovis
platyura). The wool of the Egyptian sheep is harsh and wiry, while
many of those in the desert have stiff, straight hair, and are
altogether destitute of wool.
The Pig (Arab. khanzîr), which was regarded by the
ancient Egyptians as the emblem of Typhon, and is considered unclean by
the Arabs, can hardly be called one of the domestic animals of Egypt,
but it is kept by the Greek tavern-keepers.
The Dog (Arab. kelb) throughout the whole of the
East is a masterless and half-wild animal. The usual breed resembles the
jackal type, its colour being of a light rusty tint. Every canine family
has its regular beat, from which intruders are rigorously excluded. Most
of the Egyptian dogs feed on street refuse.
The Cat (Arab. koṭṭ, koṭṭeh), which was one of the
sacred animals of the ancient Egyptians (comp. p. 136), is now
domesticated in almost every Egyptian and Beduin family.
The
Weasel (mustela
semipalmata; Arab.
‘ersa,
or
abu ‘arûs), is occasionally kept,
like the cat, for the purpose of keeping in check the mice of numerous
kinds with which the country is infested. It is chiefly met with in a
half-wild condition in Central and
Lower
Egypt, in the towns, farm-buildings, warehouses, and deserted
dwellings.
Foremost among the various kinds of poultry kept by the
Egyptians is the domestic Hen (Arab.
farkha; cock, dîk), the usual breeds of which are of small
size. The artificial hatching establishments in Egypt are of very
ancient origin.
The Turkey (Arab. farkha rûmi) is imported.
The domestic Goose (Arab.
wuzzeh) is chiefly met with in
Lower and Central Egypt, but nowhere in large numbers. The Egyptian Domestic Pigeon (Arab. ḥamâm) is very common throughout the
Nile Valley. The peasants erect large dovecots for these pigeons, which
they keep solely for the sake of the manure they yield.
II. WILD ANIMALS. As there are no game-laws in Egypt, any one
provided with a license from the police to carry fire-arms is at liberty
to shoot anywhere and at any season, provided enclosed gardens be not
entered, and growing crops respected. Permission to shoot on
Lake Menzaleh, however, must be
obtained from the farmer of the fishings, an introduction to whom may
easily be procured from the traveller’s consul at
Cairo.
Tolerable guns and other requirements for the
chasse may be purchased at
Cairo (p. 235), but gunpowder is
bad and dear. Sportsmen who bring their own guns will find it very
troublesome to clear them at the custom-house.
One of the favourite objects of the chase is the Arabian
Mountain Goat (Ibex beden; Arab.
beden or
wa‘al), which still frequents the mountains
between the Nile and the
Red Sea.
Another inhabitant of the mountains is the ‘Maned Sheep’ (Ovis tragelaphus; Arab. kebsh el-mâ, or kebsh el-gebel), which is occasionally met with
among the rocky hills near Minyeh and in the neighbourhood of the Fayûm.
A denizen of the plains between
Cairo and
Suez, and of the sandhills and heights which bound the valley of
the Nile and the oases, is the
Dorcas
Gazelle (Antilope dorcas; Arab.
ghazâl), particularly during the dry and hot season.
On the Libyan side of the Nile, in the region of the Natron
Lakes and the Fayûm, and the tract extending thence to the oases, occur
also the ‘Spear Antelope’ (Antilope
leptoceros;) Arab. (abu-’l
ḥarâb) and the Addax Antelope
(Antilope addax; Arab. a‘ḳaṣ, or baḳar el-waḥsh),
besides which the Arabs mention a kind of ‘Cow Antelope’ (perhaps the Antilope bubalis).
The Wild Boar (Arab. ḥallûf) now occurs in a few
districts only in the Delta and the Fayûm.
In similar localities the sportsman will also meet with the
Marsh Lynx (Felis chaus;) Arab.
(tifah), the small-footed
Wild Cat (Felis maniculata;

Arab.
(ḳoṭṭ), the Egyptian
Wolf (Canis variegatus;) Arab.
(dîb), and the
Ichneumon (Herpestes ichneumon;) Arab.
nims), which last, however, prefers
gardens and the neighbourhood of farms and villages.
The Genet (Viverra
genetta; Arab. ḳoṭṭ zebâd) is
said to be met with occasionally in Egypt. Among the beasts of prey
common in the lower part of the Nile Valley we may also mention the
various species of Foxes and Jackals (Canis vulpes, C. mesomelas, C.
niloticus, C. aureus, C. famelicus, and Megalotis zerda; Arab. abu-’l-ḥuṣn, âleb or ta’leb, abu shôm or bashôm, and abu
sûf) and the Skunk (Rhabdogale
mustelina; Arab. abu
‘afen). The fox and the jackal haunt cliffs, quarries, ruins, and
heaps of rubbish. The long-eared Fennec (Arab. Fenek, Zerdo), a
kind of fox which subsists partly on vegetable food, lives gregariously
in extensive burrows which it excavates in the sand of the desert.
Another beast of prey of frequent occurrence is the striped
Hyena (Hyaena striata;) Arab.
(ḍab‘a), which usually secretes
itself among ruins, quarries, or rocks during the day, and scours the
country at night in search of dead or disabled domestic animals. The
professional Egyptian hyena hunters (Arab. ḍabbâ‘a), who are to be met with in many parts of
the country, will generally undertake to catch any wild animal of which
the traveller desires a specimen, and their services as guides to the
sportsman will often be found useful.
An animal of rare occurrence in Egypt, being confined to the
side of the Egyptian coast-hills next to the
Red Sea, is the
Porcupine (Hystrix cristata; Arab.
(abu shû‘a, or
hanhan, or
en-nîs), which
lives in deep hollows excavated by itself.
On the banks of the Nile, and particularly in
Upper Egypt, the Egyptian
Hare (Lepus aegyptiacus; Arab.
(arnab) is frequently met with. It
usually haunts those tracts which are overgrown with tamarinds.
Among the mountains of Sinai we frequently observe the Daman, or Cony (Hyrax syriacus; Arab. wabr), which lives in troops on the cliffs and
stony slopes, and often lies basking in the sun on overhanging rocks,
especially in the forenoon.
Wild fowl abound in Egypt, and frequently come within range
of the sportsman’s gun. Among these are the
Ganga or
Sand
Grouse (Pterocles exustus, Pt. guttatus, and in
Upper Egypt the
Pt. coronatus also; Arab.
(ḳaṭa), and the
Red Partridge (Ammoperdix Heyi; Arab.
ḥagel), which frequents the hills around the
cataracts at Assuân, the E. slopes of the Arabian mountains in the
direction of the
Red Sea, and Mt.
Sinai and its environs, extending as far as the Dead Sea. A kind of
Red-legged Partridge (Arab.
abu zerâd, or
sena) is also found in the Sinai range.
The Quail (Coturnix
communis; Arab. summân, or (selû) usually visits the Nile
valley during its spring and autumn migrations only.
On the N. coast of Egypt the Little Bustard (Otis tetrax) is frequently seen in winter, and
farther to the W. occurs the ‘Collared
Bustard’ (Otis hubara; Arab. ḥubâra).
We may also mention the
Nile
Goose and the
Turtle Dove
(Turtur senegalensis and
T.
isabellinus; Arab.
ḳimri
) as natives of Egypt. The Nile Valley and the lagoons of the Delta
are also largely visited by BIRDS OF PASSAGE. Many of these proceed
still farther to the S., but by far the greater number remain for three
or four months among the swamps of
Lower
Egypt, and in the region of the Natron Lakes and the Birket
el-Ḳurûn in the Fayûm.
Among the numerous water-fowl, including ducks and
flamingoes, several species of heron, and perhaps swans also, which
breed in the Delta and partly in the Fayûm, are the superb ‘Sultan Bird’ (Porphyrio
smaragdonotus; Arab. dikmeh)
and the beautiful Golden Snipe (Rhynchaea
capensis).
Lastly we must mention the
Crocodile (Arab.
timsâḥ),
the largest and most famous of Egyptian reptiles, which sometimes
attains a length of thirty feet. Although gradually disappearing before
the march of modern civilisation, it is still sometimes to be found in
the valley of the Nile above Girgeh, and more frequently between the
cataracts of Assuân and the Wâdi Ḥalfa, while occasionally, having lost
its way during the inundation,

it descends to
the vicinity of the Delta. Crocodiles are sometimes seen fast asleep,
often with widely opened jaws, basking in the sun on flat sandbanks or
on the ends of low islands, to which they most frequently resort after
cool nights. In Egypt, however, where it is oftener hunted than in more
southern regions, the crocodile is generally too wary to be caught
napping, though it sometimes becomes entangled in the nets and falls a
prey to the fishermen. The Arabs of the Sûdân, who eat the flesh of the
reptile and prepare a kind of musk from its glands, frequently angle for
it with large hooks baited with meat.
It is seldom worth while to fire at crocodiles when swimming,
as they usually disappear in the turbid water, even when mortally
wounded. The sportsman should therefore endeavour to get within range of
one of these monster saurians when on shore. As they always keep within
easy reach of the water, they are occasionally observed on the banks of
the river by the traveller navigating the Nile, in which case they
should be approached in a small boat as noiselessly as possible. Success
is most likely to be achieved in cases where the haunt of the reptile is
known, so that the sportsman may lie in ambush at some convenient spot
in the vicinity. Unless, as rarely happens, the first bullet kills the
animal on the spot, it generally contrives to find its way back to the
water, and thus effects its escape.
Another saurian of great power, and extremely rapid in its
movements, is the Monitor (Arab. waran), which attains a length of
4-5 ft., and derives its name from its supposed habit of giving warning
of the approach of a crocodile.
III. OTHER MAMMALIA AND BIRDS. Although not indigenous to
Egypt, several varieties of Apes,
which are imported from the S. and W. provinces, are seen in the larger
towns. Among these are the Cynocephalus
hamadryas and C. anubis
(both called ḳird by the Arabs), the
Inuus ecaudatus (Arab. nisnâs), the Cercopithecus ruber, C. griseo-viridis, and, more
rarely, the C. pyrrhonotus.
The Nile Valley and the neighbouring desert hills are largely
infested by Bats (Arab. waṭwâṭ), The commonest kinds are the
Kalong (Pleropus), the Long-eared Bat (Plecotus, Vespertilio,
Taphozous, Nyctinomus), and the Spectre Bat (Rhinolaphus, Nycteris, Rhinopoma).
Besides the beasts of prey already enumerated (p. 79), we may
also mention the Mustela Africana,
several kinds of Hedgehog
(Erinaceus; Arab. ḳonfud), and
the Shrew (Arab. umm ṣîṣi).
Egypt contains numerous species of the RODENTIA. The fields,
dwelling-houses, and sailing-vessels are often infested with
Mice and
Rats (Mus, Acomys), and in the
Sinai Peninsula is found the
Dormouse (Eliomys melanurus), all of which are
called
fâr by the Arabs. The
Jumping Mouse (Dipus; Arab.
yerbû’a) and the sand Mouse
(Meriones; Arab.
gebeli) live in the
desert, and the
‘Fat Rat’ (Psammomys
obesus) in the sand-hills around
Alexandria.
Besides the BIRDS indigenous to Egypt, there are, as already
mentioned, a great number which winter there, while others merely pass
through the country when on their way to other regions. About 360
different species have been ascertained to occur in Egypt, but we shall
merely enumerate a few of the most important of those which remain
permanently in the country.
The commonest
Birds of
Prey are the
Golden Vulture
(Gypaëtus meridionalis; Arab.
big), the
White-headed Vulture
(Vultur fulvus; Arab.
nisr), the
Eared Vulture (V.
auricularis), the
Goose Vulture
(V. cinereus), which, however, is a bird of passage only, the
Carrion Vulture (Neophron
percnopterus; Arab.
rakhameh), the
Harrier (Milvus
aegyptiacus; Arab.
ḥedâyeh), and the
Elanet (Elanus
melanopterus). The white-tailed
Sea Eagle (Haliaëtus albicilla; Arab.
‘oḳâb, or
shomêṭa) breeds in the Delta, the
River Eagle (Pandion haliaëtus; Arab.
mansûr or
(ketâf) on the cliffs of the
Red
Sea, the
Dwarf Eagle (Aquila
pennata) among the palm-groves of
Lower Egypt, and the
Lanner Falcon (Falco lanarius variet.; Arab.
shâhîn) and
Falco barbarus on the pyramids and rocky heights.
Great numbers of
‘Screaming Eagles’
pass the winter in Egypt. Of rarer occcurrance

are the
Imperial Eagle, the
Hawk Eagle, the
Migratory Falcon, the
Stone and
Red-footed Falcons,
the white-tailed
Buzzard, the
Hawk, and the
Sparrow-hawk (Arab.
bâz). Several species of the European
Harrier are more common than these
last. The
Tower Falcon breeds in
every part of Egypt, and probably the
Castrel Hawk (Falco cenchris) also. The
Gabar (Nisus gabar) is said to be sometimes met
with in
Upper Egypt.
The commonest Owls are
the sub-tropical Church Owl (Athene
noctua var.; Arab. umm ḳêḳ)
and the Eagle Owl (Bubo ascalaphus;
Arab. bûm, or bâfa).
The family of Goatsuckers
is represented in Egypt by the peculiar Caprimulgus aegyptiacus. A small Swift (Cypselus parvus), the chief representative
of its family, frequents the regions planted with the dûm palm. The Swallows (khoṭṭâf, or ‘asfûr el-yenneh) most frequently
seen are the red-breasted Hirundo
cahirica, which remains permanently in the country, and a kind
of Rock Swallow (Cotile obsoleta).
Of the Fishing Birds the
most common is the Kingfisher (Ceryle
rudis), which frequents the banks of every part of the Nile.
The
Bee Eaters are
represented by the
Merops apiaster,
the
M. aegyptiacus, and the
M. viridissimus, all of which breed
in Egypt; but the last only, which is called
sheḥagh by the natives, and chiefly occurs in
Central and
Upper Egypt, remains
throughout the year.
The most numerous of the
Thin-billed Birds are the
Hoopoes (Arab.
hudhud),
and to the
Promeropides belongs the
pretty, lustrous
Honeysucker (Nectarina
metallica), which frequents the frontiers of
Upper Egypt.
Singing Birds (‘asfûr) are not
numerous in Egypt, with the exception of numerous species of
Larks and
Stonechats. We many next mention the
Drymoeca, or
Drymoecus gracilis, the
Cisticola cursitans, the
Tree Nightingale (Aëdon galactodes), the
Acrocephalus stentoreus, the African
Waterwagtail (Motacilla vidua),
the
Wedgetail (Argia acaciae), and
the
Bulbul (Pycnonotus Arsinoë,
found in the Fayûm and N.
Nubia,
while a second species, the
P.
xanthopygius occurs in Arabia Petræa and the valley of the
Jordan).
There are no
Flycatchers
peculiar to Egypt. Among the
Butcher-birds we may mention the
‘Masked Shrike’ (Lanius nubicus), and among the
Ravens (ghurâb), the
Short-tailed Raven (Corvus affinis)
and the
Desert Raven (C. umbrinus).
The lofty mountains of the
Sinai
Peninsula are the haunt of the
Red-legged Crow (Fregilus graculus); and among the tamarisk
bushes and on the rocky margins of the valleys of Arabia Petræa occurs
the
Starling (Amydrus Tristramii).
Among the Finches
peculiar to Africa is the ‘Desert
Trumpeter’ (Bucanetes githagineus). On the upper part of the
Nile, beyond the Wâdi Ḥalfa, occur several species of a more tropical
character, such as the Fire-finch
(Euplectes franciscana), the Steel-finch (Hypochera nitens), the ‘Lancetail’ (Uroloncha cantans), and the Dwarf Bloodfinch (Lagonosticta
minima).
Woodpeckers are not met with on the
Lower Nile. The Wryneck and grey Cuckoo occur as birds of passage,
and the Spurred Cuckoo (Centropus
aegyptiacus; Arab. abu
burbur) as a denizen of the Delta. The Jay (Coccystes glandarius) is more widely
diffused throughout the country.
Among the native Running
Birds we may mention the Desert
Runner (Cursorius isabellinus), the Stone Curlew (Oedicnemus crepitans; Arab. kerwân), the Crocodile-Watcher (Pluvianus aegyptiacus; Arab.
ṭêr et-timsâḥ), and the
sprightly Spurred Plover (Hoplopterus
spinosus; Arab. (ṣikṣak).
The commonest of the Herons are the
‘Cow Heron’ (Ardea Ibis; Arab.
abukerdân) and the white ‘Great Heron’ (Ardea alba and (Ardea garzetta). Near the Wâdi
Ḥalfa occurs the Abdim Stork (Ciconia
Abdimii; Arab. ṣinbileh).
To the family of the Ardeidae belong
the rare Ibis Tantalus and the Sacred Ibis (Ibis aethiopica; Arab.
na‘ayeh ḥerêz, or abu mingal).
Besides the European aquatic and other birds already
enumerated, which frequent the lagoons, lakes, and marshes (p. 81), we
may also mention the
Rose-backed Pelican
(Pelecanus rufescens) of N.
Nubia; the curious
Scissor-beak (Rhynchops flavirostris; Arab.
abu moḳâs) and the
Fox Goose (Chenalopex aegyptiacus; Arab.
wuz), which are found throughout the whole of the
Nile Valley, the former especially in summer; and the

Brown Booby (Sula fiber; Arab.
(shomet), several peculiar species
of
Gulls and
Sea Swallows (Larus leucophthalmus, Larus gelastes,
Larus Hemprichii, Sterna media, Sterna Bergii, Sterna albigena,
Sterna infuscata, and
(Anous
stolidus), and the singular-looking
Dromas Arab.
(hankôr), on the shores of the
Red Sea. The
Flamingo
(Phœnicopterus antiquorum; Arab.
(bâsha rosh) haunts the
Red
Sea and the lagoons of the Delta throughout the whole year,
usually congregating in enormous flights, and breeds in the region to
the E. of Lake Menzâleh.
IV. REPTILES. Of this class of animals there are but few
species peculiar to Egypt. The Salamanders and Batrachians (Arab. (dufda‘a)
are but scantily represented. There are about twenty species of Snakes (Arab. (ta‘bân), including the Horned Viper (Cerastes; Arab. (mokâreneh) which appears in the ancient
inscriptions as a hieroglyphic, the Echis (Arab. gharibeh or (dashshâsha), the Cobra da Capello, Hooded), or Spectacle Snake (Naja Haje; Arab. nâsher), the Telescopus) (Arab. (abu ‘ayûn), the Psammophis (Arab. abu siyûr),
the Tropidonotus), the Periops (Arab. arkam), the Zamenis (Arab. gidari),
and the Eryx (Arab. (dassâs). The horned viper, the echis, and the
hooded snake are highly venomous, and their bite is often fatal; the
other snakes are not venomous, but their bite is sometimes dangerous.
The Egyptian snake-charmers (Arab. hâwi), all of whom belong to a gipsy tribe (ghagar), usually exhibit a number of cobras, the
teeth in which the venom is secreted having been extracted (comp. p.
81).
To the order of the
Saurians belong the
Crocodile
(Crocodilus vulgaris; Arab.
timsâh), of which there are several varieties, and the
Monitor (Varanus niloticus; Arab.
waran), both of which have been
already mentioned (pp. 80, 81). Other species occurring in Egypt are the
Ablepharus, the
Gongylus, the
plestiodon, the
Euprepes
the
Scincus (Arab.
sakankûr), the
Ophiops, the
Eremias and
Acanthodactylus (Arab.
sehliyeh), the
Psammosaurus griseus (Arab.
waran, a name also applied to the monitor), the
Uromastix spinipes (Arab.
dab), the
Uromastix viridis, the
Stellio vulgaris (Arab.
hardûn), several kinds of
Agama, the
Chameleon (Arab.
herbâyeh), and numerous
Ascalabotes (Arab.
abu burs.)
To the
Turtle Family belong the
Nile Turtle (Trionyx aegyptiaca;
Arab.
tirsa) and a small
Tortoise (Testudo marginata; Arab.
zelhâfeh), while in the
Red Sea occur six varieties of
Chelonia (Arab.
bisa or
sakar), several of which yield excellent tortoise-shell (Arab.
bagha).
V. FISH OF THE NILE (by
Dr. C.
B. Klunzinger.) The finny inhabitants of the Nile are in
keeping with the palms growing on its banks, being of a tropical and
African type. They are generally the same as those found in the Senegal
and other African rivers, while European species are very rare. There
are in all about 70-80 varieties. The following sketch is merely
designed to afford an idea of the commonest species, particularly of
those brought to market. Many of them are represented and described in
the ‘Description de l’
Egypte’ (p.
200).
The fish of the Nile are most abundant during the time of the
inundation, when a number of varieties, not found at other seasons, are
brought down from the higher regions to
Lower Egypt. At these seasons the canals yield abundant
spoil, especially after the subsidence of the water. The flesh is
generally soft, watery, and insipid, but the mode of cooking it is
perhaps partly in fault. The colours are wanting in variety, white with
a dark-coloured back predominating.
To the
Perch Family
(scaly fish with serrated head-bones) belongs the
Keshr, and to the
Carp Family (scaly fish without teeth) belong the
Lebîs, or
Debs, and the
Binni, with a thorn in its dorsal fin. The various kinds of
Siluridæ are very abundant (fish
without scales, with barbels, and generally with an adipose fin). Among
these are the
Shilbeh (a fish with a
high neck, a short dorsal fin near the head, and without the adipose
fin), which is of three kinds, the
shilbeh ‘arabi, the
shilbeh
sherifiyeh, and the
shilbeh
wudni (the first two with, the last without a spinous ray in
its dorsal fin). The
Shâl, called
kurkâr in
Upper Egypt owing to the sound which they emit,
is easily recognised by the bony armour covering its head and its
fringed barbels. The varieties are the
shâl beledi, the
shâl
senîn or
sheilân, and the
Shâl kamari or
batn sôda, the last of

which has a
blackish stomach. The
shâl
karafsheh, or
samr, has a layer
of bone over its neck. The
shâl abu
riyâl more nearly resembles the following varieties. The
Bayâd and the
Dokmâk, provided with very long barbels, and
generally of large size, are abundant. Another important member of the
Siluridae is the long and large
Karmût, with its long dorsal and posterior fins. The
karmût hâleh has an adipose fin,
while the
ḳarmût ‘arabi has none. To
the same family belongs also the famous
Ra’âd, or electric eel (with one adipose fin on its back, and
black spots on its skin).
The following families are peculiar to the tropics. The Characini (salmon of the Nile) are
scaly and provided with an adipose fin. Among these are the high-backed
and almost rhombic Kamr el-Baḥr; the
oblong Ray, with its small and
somewhat flat teeth; the Roshâl, or
Kelb el-Baḥr (river-dog), with
strong, conical teeth protruding from its mouth; and the Nefâsh, with its small, narrow, and
closely-set teeth with double points, and somewhat high shoulders. To
the family of the Chromides (scaly
fish with spinous fins and sides of irregular shape) belongs the Bolti.
A family occurring in Africa only is that of the Mormyrides, or scaly fish with
remarkably small mouths, and heads covered with a thick and bare skin.
Among the members of this family is the well-known Mormyrus oxyrrhynchus (Kanûma, or Khashm el-Banât), with its long
snout turned downwards, which was so frequently represented by the
ancient Egyptians; then the blunt-mouthed Banes, including the Kashua and Kashua kamûra, or
‘Ersat el-Baḥr, the last of
which has an almost square muzzle.
An interesting, but not common, fish is the
Finny Pike (Polypterus; Arab.
abu bishîr), with its numerous dorsal fins and
rhomboidal scales covered with enamel, forming one of the few surviving
members of the abundant antediluvian Ganoids. The
Ball Fish (Tetrodon; Arab.
fakâka), which is not an edible variety, is
frequently offered for sale, either fresh or stuffed (p. 236), on
account of its curious shape and its singular faculty of puffing itself
out like a bladder. It differs from the common ball-fish of the
Red Sea in having seven brown or
blackish oblique stripes on its sides. The
Red Sea contains many fish of a similar kind,
but they are not known to exist in the Mediterranean. From the latter
sea the
Harder (Mugil),
Bûri, or
Gharâna, frequently ascend the Nile, where they
form the herrings of the Arabs (
fesîkh). The same remark applies to the
‘Finte’ (sabûgha), a fish resembling the herring,
which occurs in many of the seas, rivers, and lakes of Europe. The
Eel of the Nile
(ta’bân el-bahr) does not differ from that of European waters.
VI. INSECTS. Butterflies
are very rare in Egypt, but Moths
are much more numerous. Among the not very numerous Beetles we may mention the Ateuchus sacer, the celebrated Scarabaeus (p.
125) of the ancient Egyptians. This sacred beettle was believed to be of
the male sex only, and its act of rolling the clayballs containing its
eggs was supposed to be its manner of propagating its species (Plutarch
de Iside, 1. x. 74). The Egyptians accordingly consecrated the scarabæus
to Ptah, the god of origin and creation, who is often represented on the
monuments with a scarabæus in place of a human head. Among other
varieties occur the Buprestis, the
Cicindela or sand-beetle, the
Hister, the Dermestes, and numerous Water Beetles.
The various kinds of Wasps in Egypt attain a very large size. Bees are not often kept by the natives. The
so-called black honey eaten by the lower classes is sugar-cane treacle.
The white honey, which is the genuine produce of bees, is imported from
Arabia.
The commonest of the Orthoptera are Grasshoppers and Cockroaches;
and of the Neuroptera we may mention
the Ephemera or day-flies, the
beautiful and often reddish-coloured Dragon-fly, and the White
Ant (rare). Among the Diptera
are the troublesome House-fly, and
the Mosquito. Vermin of all kinds
abound, such as Fleas, Bugs, Lice,
Scorpions, Tarantulas, and Centipedes.