PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, PRODTICTIONs, AND INHABITANTS.

The political advantages of Egypt, in situation, natural strength, and resources, can hardly be overrated. It lies in the very route of the trade between Europe and Asia, and that between Africa and the other two continents. It is the gate of Africa, and the fort which commands the way front Europe to the East Indies. The natural ports on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, selected and improved by the wisdom of Alexander and the Ptolemies, whose enter-prises have been eclipsed by those of M. de Lesseps in our own days, have always been enough for its commerce, which the great inland water-way- of the Nile has greatly lided. The inhabited country, guarded by deserts and intersected in Lower Egypt by branches of the Nile and canals, in Upper Egypt closely hemmed in by the moun-tains on either side, is difficult to reach and to traverse ; at the same time its extreme fertility makes it independent of supplies from other lands, and thus easier to defend. Tile ancient wealth and power of Egypt should occasion us no wonder, nor even that the country still prospers in spite of centuries of Turkish misrule.

"The extent of the cultivated land in Egypt [Mr. Lane calculates] to be equal to rather more than one square degree and a half ; other words, 5500 square geographi-cal miles. This is less than half the extent of the land which is comprised within the confines of the desert ; for many parts within the limits of the cultivable land are too high to be inundated, and consequently are not cultivated ; and other parts, particularly in Lower Egypt, are occupied by lakes, or marshes, or drifted sand. Allowance also must be made for the space which is occupied by towns and villages, the river, canals, Sze. Lower Egypt comprises about the same extent of cultivated land as the whale of Upper Egypt." 8 Since the date when this was written, In the Arabic lexicons 1.aa.os is placed under the root j.s.a.-o - " red mud," the term used meaning both red and reddish brown. Probably the oldest southern boundary ws.s at Silsilis, near Gebel-es-Silsileh.

Divisions. - The ancient like the modern Egyptians followed the natural division of the country iuto two tracts, the valley of Upper Egypt and the plain of Lower Egypt. The names in hieroglyphics are to-res, the " south laud" (compared, with the article prefixed, p-to-res, to Pathros by M. de Rouge), and to-mehit, the " north la,nd." The two were divided by the southern boundaries of the highest nomes of Lower Egypb, the Memphite and Heliopolite, and thus the political boundary was somewhat south of the position where the valley extends into the plain. The most southern nome of Upper Egypt was called that of Nubia, and began at Silsilis. The Greek and Roman division excludes the Memphite Nome from Lower Egypt.

It is not known at what (late Egypt was first divided into the provinces called Nomes. They are noticed in in-scriptions of Dynasty IV. (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr., i. 93), and their symbol occurs in the name of llesp-ti, "the two nomes," fiftb king of Dynasty I., Manetho's Usa-phaidos.1 The hieroglyphic name is hesp. In late in-scriptions the term (p-)tesh occurs, which is aiso the demotic form, and the origin of the Coptic (id. i. 94, 95). The number of notnes is soinewhat different in the various ancient Egyptian lists, all of which, except fragments, are of the Grieco-Roman age. Probably the number varied at different times. Dr Brugsch conjectures the true number to be forty-two, considering the forty-two judges of the dead (Ritual, ch. 125) as called from the chief towns of the kingdom to a great tribunal (Geogr. Inschr., i. 99), which he thinks represents the earthly court described by Diodorus &mins (i. 75.) - (Geogr. Inschr., i. 124.) There was a double system of names far the nomes, - the sacred, usual in hieroglyphics, and the vulgar, taken from the capitals, and preserved in Greek in transcriptions or translations. In consequence of this double system the identification of the hieroglyphic names with those of the Greeks and Romans is not always certain. This is the case in Lower Egypt, where the form of the country makes it hard to determine tbe exact geographical relation in-tended by any order. On account of this difficulty, and because the hieroglyphic names are of inferior importance in the geography of Egypt, they are not here given. (See Brugsch, 0-eogr. Inschr., i. 93, segg.) By the Greeks and Romans Egypt was divided into the Delta or lower country, and the Thebah or upper country. The third division, the so-called Middle Egypt, first occurs in Ptolemy as the Seven Noines, 'E7TTa V0,11,01, or Heptanomis, `E,r-ravoi.d.s. This new 'division, and the transfer of the Memphite Nome from Lower Egypt to the Her,tanornis, are the chief innovations, for the fanciful divisions of Lower Egypt in Ptolemy are no doubt theoretical.

The following list of the nomes is taken from Parthey's Vocabularium Coptico-Latinum, compared with the same author's Erdkunde des alten Aegyptens, Berl. Akad., 1858. The authorities are Herodotus, Agatharchides, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, the coins of the nomes struck under Trajan, Hadrian, and Litoninus Pius, the last indicated by the abbreviation Nu., and other sources. The letters L., II., and T. indicate Lower Egypt, the Heptanornis, and the Thebais, as the divisions to which nomes thus designated are known to belong.

L. Alexandrim, AAc.Zavapi'coy x4pas vo,u4s, Ptol. Nu.

L. Andropolites, 'Apaposroiarns, Ptol., formerly Gynweopolites. H. Antopolites, 'AvrawroxiTns, Plin, Ptol. Nu.

II. Antinoites, 'AvrtpotT7)s, Ptol.

L. Anysius, 'Alit'imos, Her.

H. Aphroditopolites IIept., 'AopoStroTroxirns TCZP ETTii No,ucZr, Stra.b. Ptol. Nu.

T. Aphroditopolites Theb., 'AcpooarTosroAfTsis Tiis Ongaltos, Phu. Ptol.

L. Aphthites, '40(Tns, IIer.

T. Apollopolites, Plin., 'A7roNAcevoroXicls, Nu.

L. Arabicus, Plin., 'Apailfas voihos, Ptol. Nu.

Arsinoitm dno, 'AprrtiotTar brio, Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

L. Arsinoites /Eg. inf., Phu., the same as Heroopolites, Plin.

II. Arsinoites Ilept., 'Apcivotrns, Strut), Nu., the same as CrocoL. Athribites, 'AOpzOiTns, Strab. Ptol. Nu.; Atharrabites, Plin.

L. Bubastites, Beellaa-Tirsis, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu. I,. Busirites, Bouovirsis, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

L. Ca.basites, KaBao-frns, Phu. Ptol. Nu.

T. Chemmites, XEHA11-77S, Her., later Panopolites, Plin. Ptol. Nu. T. Coptites, KorTiTns, Phu. Ptol. Nu.

H. Crocodilopolites, Plin., the same as Arsinoites Hept., Strab. Ntt. H. Cynopolites, KoporraxiTns, Strab. Phu, Ptol. Nu.

T. Diospolites Magnus, AeoroAirns 1116,as, Nu.

T. Diospolites, Plin., ArorroxiTns, Ptol. Nu.

L. Gynmeopolites, PvvaiKu7roXIT7Is, Strab. Plin. Nu. later Andro-polites Irammoniacus, Plitt., the same as Oasites ?

L. Heliopolites, `Iimosrox(Tns, Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

Ileptacometis (?), E7rratcar/A - , NU.

H. Heraelcopolites, Plin., lipalcAeoiroAfrns, Agatharch. Ptol. 'Hpcuch.€6.rns, `HparcActoTtmcis, Strab.

T. Hermouthites, `EpywvOirns, Plin. Ptol. Nu.

H. Hermopolitcs, 'EpacnroAtTns, Plin. Ptol. Nu., 'EAucluroXirns, Agatharch.

Heroopolites, NM., the same as Arsinoites lEg. inf.

T. Hypselites, 'T*nx1; ns, Ptol. Nu.

T. Latopolites, AaToToNtrns, Phu. Nu.

L. Leontopolites, Acorro7roxiTys, Strait. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

L. Letopolites, Avro-srafTns, Strab. Ptol. Nu. L. Libyre, voAdv, l'tol.

T. Lyeopolites, AturosroxiTs/s, Agatharch. Plin. l'tol. Nn.

L. Mareotis, Phn., mapsd,Tou yoaos, Ptol. Nu.

L. Mentlesius, Mevka-tos, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

Menelaites, mErcxatrns, Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

I,. Metelites, Mernidrns, Plin. Ptol. Nu. L. Momemphites, mmucaolTns, Strab. L. Myeephorites, M _ U E KoP Op 11" 7)$, Her.

L. Natho, Na06), Her., the same as Nent, Ptol. Nu.?

L. Naneratites, Plin. Nu.

L. Neut, Nfo6T, Ptol. Nu., the same as Natho, Her.?

Nitriotes, NtTpccirnls, Strab.

Oasitre duo, 'OaciiTar 86o, Plin. Ptol. See Hammoniacus, Pliu. T. Ombites, Plin., 'Op.fifirs, Nu.

votap.Tns, Her. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

II. Oxyrynchites, 'Otuptryxtrns, Agatharch. Strab. PHIL Ptol. Nu. 1'. Panopolites, namroxi-rns, Plin. Ptol. Nu., the same as Chem-mites, Her.

L. Papremites, naarialTns, Fier.

T. Pathyrites, naeapirns Tfir evEtat8os. Papyr. Aunt., the same as Phaturites, ?

L. Pelusiacus ? Nu.

Pemptites, rlepirrfT711, Steph. Byz., the same as Plithemplm T. Perithebm, nep,Kow, the same as Thebarum nomus, or its eastern part (Peyron, Pap. Tauriv. i. 51).

L. Phagroriopolites, +a7pwpanroxiTns, Strab.

L. Pharbmthites, 4,api3a,011-, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. I`Zu. Phaturites, Plin., the same as Pathyrites L. Phtlicmphu, 4.0E/a,pooth, Plin. Ptol. Nu.

L. Phthenen, Nu., Ptenethu, Plin., .9E4rov, Ptol.

I,. Phylace vel Schedia, ScrAalch,Sia, Agatharch. See Ilene-laites.

Prosopites, IlpocrunriTns, Her. Stmb. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

L. Ptenethu, Plin. See Plitheneu. ab, L. Saites, /atrns, laDrucds, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol.

L. Sehedia, Agathareh. See Phylace.

L. Sebennytm duo, ESEY1,15T715 &VW TorCOV,IESEVY61-175 KaTW 747rOJY, Ptol.; Scbennytes, Iler. Strab. Plin. Nu.

L. Sethroites, 2€19/302trvs, Stra.b. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

L. Tauites, Tambrns, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu.

T. Tenthyrites, Tentyrites, TEvOupPrns, Agathareh. Plin. Ptol. Teprvplims, Nu.

L, Thebanus, enflaios, Her.

T. Thcbarum, ®77/3c4 yoydr, Ptol., 07713a7K6s, IIer. See Perithebm. T. Thinites, eivirns, Plin. Ptol. Nu.

L. Thmuites, OiLovir-fr, Her.

L. Xoites, Eotris, Plin. Ptol. Nu.

It is very remarkable that the Arsinoite Nome of the Heptanomis does not appear in the hieroglyphic lists, because Sebek, the ero-eodile-headed divinity there worshipped was, at least in later times, disliked in most parts of Egypt (Brugsch, Hist., 2 ed., 109, 107).

The Notitia Dignitatunz, composed under Theodosius II., A.D. 408-450, gives a new a division of Egypt into four provinces - /Egyptus, Augustamnica, Arcadia, and Thebais. Roughly the first comprised all Lower Egypt except the part east of the Delta, which was assigned to the second, and Arcadia appears to have succeeded the' Heptanomis (Parthey, Erdkunde, 518, taf. vii.) About the time of Justinian I. this division is found to be further developed, according to the statements of Hierocles. Egypt contained six eparchies :-1. Egypt Proper, Alynr.-rtaKti, the west of Lower Egypt to the Sebennytic branch of the Nile ; 2. The First Augusta, AiIreo-Ta a', the north-eastern part of Lower Egypt to the Syrian border ; 3. The Second Augusta, Airy01/17Ta the territory southward of the First Augusta ; 4. Arcadia, 'ApKo8to, the earlier Heptanomis; 5. The Nearer Thebais, GTheals Zyyzo-ra, extending to Panos, or Panopolis, and including the Great Oasis ; 6. The Upper Thebais, Griflais Alm; as far as Philm. The division into nomes had evidently been almost effaced at this time (Icl. 520, taf. ix.).

The Copts preserved the oldest division of the country, and called Lower Egypt, the Northern Region, C.01811(Mem.), 1.11.81'7, (Sah.), Upper Egypt, the Southern Region, pt-IC (Mem.), Ltzync (Sah.) The names of the 'tomes were also known to them, and are given by Champollion in L'Egypte sous les Plzaraons.

Like the Copts, the Arabs generally know of but two divisions, the names of which are such as the people of the desert would naturally give to the country watered by the Nile, Lower Egypt is called Er-Reef, the cultivated, or fertile, and Upper Egypt, Es-Sa'eed, the happy, or for-tunate.

Under the Memlook sultans of the Bahree dynasty, as we Iearn from the list appended to De Sacy's Alul-Allatif, re-ferring to A.n. 715 (Lit. 1315-6), the provinces of Egypt were less numerous than the ancient nomes. They are for Lower Egypt - the territory of Cairo and the provinces of Kalyoob, the Sharkeeyelt, the Dakahleeyeh, Ed-Dimyat, the Gharbeeyeh, Menoof, Abyar and Benee-Nasr, the Boheyreh, Fooweli, Nesterawiyeh, Alexandria, and El-Geezeh ; and for Upper Egr,ypt--the provinces of Atfeeh, the Feiyoom, Behnese, AsInnooneyn, Manfaloot, Asyoot, Akhmeem, and Koos. At the time of the French occupa-tion the provinces had beon reduced in number to sixteen, and the division of the 3iiddle Provinces introduced, thus roviving the Heptanomis, The Northern Provinces, ElAkaleem el-Bahreeyeh, were the Gharbeeyeh, that of Er-Rasheed, the Bolleyreh, that of El-Mansooreh, the Manoo-feeyeh, that of Ed-Dimyit, the Sharkeeyeh, the Kalyoo-beeyeh, and that of El-Geezeh. The Middle Provinces, El-Akaleem el-Wnstaneeyeli, were that of Aged, the Feiyoom, and those of Benee-Suweyf or Behnese, and of Fl-Minyeh or Ashmooneyn.' The Southern Provinces, El-Akaleem el-Kibleeyeh, were those of Asyoot, Wren and Kin& There is no doubt that these provinces sometimes correspond to the ancient nornes, though generally composed of the territories of more than one. (Cf. Jomard in Descr. e.ggypte, 2d ed. ix. 594, 595.) By -Mehemet Ali. a new division was formed into districts governed by a mudeer, of which Lower Egypt, including a small portion of the Middle Provinces, contained four, and the rest of Egypt three. At the present time Egypt is divided into fifteen provinces, each governed by a mudeer.

The general appearance of Egypt is remarkably uniform. The Delta is a level plain richly cultivated, and varied alone by the lofty dark-brown mounds of ancient cities, and the villages in groves of palm-trees, standing on mounds often if not always ancient. -We sometimes see groves of pahn-trees besides those around the villages, but other trees are, except in some parts, rare. In Upper Egypt the valley is in as rich a state of cultivation, but very narrow and bounded by mountains of no great heitild, which hem it in. They form the edge of the desert on either side of the valley, which has been cut through a rocky table-land by the river. They rarely take the form of peaks. Sometimes they approach the river in bold promontories, and at others are divided by valleys with the beds of torrents NS 111C11 flONV only at very long intervals. The bright green of the fields, the reddish-brown or dull green of the great river, and the tender tints of the bare yellow rocks, beneath the deep blue sky, always forin a beautiful view. In form the landscape varies little and is not remarkable ; in colon' its qualities are always splendid, and under a general uniformity show continual variety.

Climote. - The climate of Egypt, being remarkably equa-ble, is healthy to those who cart bear great heat, and who avoid the unwholesome tracts of the country, such as the northern coast, where there are extensive salt-marshes. Upper Egypt is healthier than Lower Egypt. The least healthy time of the ye,ar is the latter part of autumn, when the inundated soil is drying. In the desert, at a very short distance from the cultivable land, the climate is uni-formly dry and unvaryingly healthy. Egypt, however, is unsuitable fiS a permanent residence to Europeans who do not greatly modify their mode of life;i and it is almost impossible to rear European children there ; but if they arrive after the age of ten or a little more they do not usually feel its ill effects.2 As a resort for invalids Egy-pt cannot be recommended without caution. Persons suffering from asthma and bronchitis are likely to gain benefit from a Nile-voyage, unless the season is unusually cold. The climate of the desert does not in all casessuit them, the small particles of sand which are inhaled increasing the irritation. The desert air is undoubtedly good for consumption, and a wise plan is to encamp near Cairo, or still better to find some kind of house within the limits of the desert; and there are ancient sepulchral grottoes at Thebes and other sites which afford excellent quarters for any one who will take the pains to build a court and a few rooms in front of them. A Nile-voyage cannot be so safely recommended. The climate on tlie river itself is more changeable than else-where, and often in winter far colder than is good for delicacy of the lungs. No one should visit Egy-pt in the winter without heavy as well as light clothing.

The atmosphere is remarkably dry and clear, except on the sea-coast ; and even the humidity which is the conse-quence of the spreading of the inundation is scarcely felt but by its rendering the heat more oppressive. Sometimes a white fog, very dense and cold, rises from the river in the morning, but it is of rare occurrence and short duration. The heat is extreme during a great part of the year, but it is chiefly felt when accompanied by the hot winds of spring and the sultry calm of the season of the inundation. The winter is often comparatively severe in its cold, especially as the domestic architecture is intended to protect rather from heat than cold. " The general height of the thermometer in the depth of winter in Lower Egypt, in the afternoon and in the shade is from 50° to 60°; in the hottest season it is from 90° to 100°, and about 10° higher in the southern parts of Upper Egypt" (Hod. Eg., Introd.) On the coast of the Mediterranean rain is frequent, but in other parts of Egy-pt very unusual. At Cairo there generally one heavy storm in the winter, and a shower or two besides, the frequency- of rain having increased since the growth of Ibrahim Pasha's plantations between the city and the river. At Thebes a storm occurs but once in about four years, and light rain almost as rarely.

The wind most frequently blows from the N.W., N., or N.E., but particularly- from the first direction. The propor-tionate prevalence of these winds to those from all the other quarters, in the year, is about 8 to 3 ; but to those from the S., S E., and S.W., about 6 to 1. (Clot-Bey, Apercit General sur l'Egypte, p. 30.) The northerly winds are the famous Etesian winds of Flerodotus (ii. 20), which enable boats constantly to ascend the Nile against its strong and rapid current, whereas in descending the river they depend on the force of the stream, the main-yard being lowered, These winds also cool the temperature during the summer months. The southerly winds are often very violent, and in the spring and summer, especially- in April and May, hot sand-winds sometimes blow from the south, greatly raising the temperature, and causing especial suffering to Europeans. The famous Simoom, properly called Samoom,3 is a much more violent hot sand-wind, which is inore usual in the desert than in the cultivated tracts, but in either occurring only at long intervals. It is a kind of hurricane, most painful to experience, and in-jurious in its effects. (Englishwoman in Egypt, i. 96, 97.) The zoba'ah is a common but remarkable phenomenon. It is a very lofty whirlwind of sand resembling a pillar, which. moves with great velocity. Mr Lane measured some with a sextant, and found them to be between 500 and 700 feet in height, and one to have an altitude of 760 feet. When crossing the Nile a z6bil'ah frequently capsizes any boat which may be in its way, and of which the main-sheet is tied by the carelessness of the boatmen instead of being held. (Id.,loc. cit.; Modern, .Egyptians, chap. x.) It may be mentioned that a sudden gust of wind from a valley in the mountains is equally dangerous when the sheet is tied, and a third danger is the attempt to move during a, southerly gale, when the long shallow Nile-boat is easily caught broadside and capsized.

One of the most interesting phenomena of Egypt is the mirage, which is frequently- seen both in the desert and in the waste tracts of uncultivated land near the Mediterra-nean ; and it is often so truthful in its appearance that one finds it difficult to admit the illusion.

Diseases. - Notwithstanding the fineness of the climate, the stranger who visits Egypt is struck by the signs w-hich he sees everywhere of the prevalence of many serious diseases, and in the first half of this century- he might have witnessed the effects of a great epidemic of the plague or the cholera. Yet he should remember the poverty of the great mass of the inhabitants and the insufficiency of their food (both due to the selfish rapacity of the Government), the insufficient training of the native medical practitioners, the false system of many of the foreigners established in the country, and the reluctance of the natives to take medical advice. Ophthalmia when neglected is frequently followed by blindness, and dysentery in the same circumstances is very often fatal.

The plague has been the greatest scourge of Egypt. We cannot tell whether the pestilenccs mentioned by Manetho as having occurred in the reign of one of the most ancient kings were the same as the modern plague ; it seems, however, to be alluded to in the Bible as peculiarly Egyptian (Zech. xiv. 18). In 1835 there was an epidemic of plague of extreme severity, during which there died in Cairo a number of the inhabitants equal to the whole adult male population (31odern Egyptians, Intro-duction). The last occurrence of the disease WaS in 1843, when the mortality was comparatively insignificant. The immunity which Egypt has enjoyed for more than thirty years, in which interval there would ordinarily have been several plagues, has been attributed to the sanitary measures of the Egyptian Government, and no doubt these may have somewhat contributed to this result. lt should, however, be remembered that the plague is always imported into Egypt, and that there have been no severe epidemics of undoubted plague elsewhere in the period.

This disease has usually- first appeared in the east and south coasts of the Mediterranean, and part of the north coast, aid when epidemic seems to pursue a similar cour,e to the cholera in advancing steadily from place to place. In Egypt it usually- appears first at Alexandria in the winter or spring, and if the earliest cases occur towards the close of the year, one may be sure of a plague of great severity and long continuance. At first the cases are generally few, but they gradually increase, and in the hottest we,ather attain their maximum. The disease is not long in travelling from Alexandria to Cairo, but it rarely ascends much higher up the river, and ha,s seldom been known at Thebes in modern times. Many medical writers have denied the contagious character of the plagne, in particular Clot-Bey, a French physician, who was long chief medical officer of the Egyptian Government, and who published a treatise on the subject (Clot-Bey, De la .Peste); yet the evidence on the other side is too strong to be rebutted. An epidemic of plague is greatly- to be dreaded in the present circumstances of Egypt. Rapid communications would readily bring the disease to Europe, and the interests of conunerce would stand in the way of the reasonable precaution of quarantine. It is stated that the plague is endemic in the marshes of Chaldwa. Surely it would be well if the European Govermnents were to appoint a com-mission for the investigation of the disease and to ascertain what, if any, is the value of the sanitary measures of the Turkish Government.

Dysentery is an extremely common malady, and causes very large mortality. It may usually be traced to a careless course of diet, and especially to eating uncooked vegetables, unripe fruit, or other unwholesome food, and to drinking brackish water. Mr Lane has published a mode of treat-ment which has been attended with extraordinary success (zifodern Egyptians, App. E. of all later editions). Asiatic cholera visited Egypt in its westward course on the first two occasions of its appearance in Europe. According to the Government returns, which were probably below the truth, nearly 200,000 persons perished from the disease in all Egypt during the great cholera of 1848. It is remark-able that after each of these great epidemics the disease appeared a second time, but with far less destructive results. Among the diseases most dreaded by the Euro-pean residents is liver-complaint. These who abstain from alcoholic drinks, or use them with extreme moderation, escape the complaint altogether, or suffer from it in a com-paratively mild form. Hemorrhoids and herniae are among the commonest maladies. Skin diseases have been at all times very prevalent in Egypt. Leprosy is now well known, but not common, unlike elephantiasis, which in more than one form has numerous victims. Small-pox was formerly very severe, but it has been checked in its virulence by vaccination. The so-called guinea-worm occurs, but it is perhaps not indigenous.

Of the diseases of the eye, ophthalmia is the most formidable, from its prevalence and naalignant character ; yet perhaps no malady more readily yields to treatment if promptly used. Where the predisposition exists, a slight cause, such as the irritation occasioned by a grain of dust or sand, is enough to produce an inflammation, which, if not checked, inflicts a lasting injury if it does not produce blindness. For this disease 3fr Lane has published a, very efficacious mode of treatment (2liod. Ey., App. E).

Clot-Bey affirms that pulmonary consumption is ex-tremely ra,re among the native inhabitants (Apercu, 372), yet another physician asserted (but not in print) that he had met with not a few cases in a short practice. Asthma and bronchitis are among the common disorders. The occurrence of coup-de-soleil is not unusual, but it is rarely attended with fatal results, probably on account of the sobriety of the people. Madness is common, generally in the form of idiocy. Maniacs alone are confined; idiots are regarded with much respect as saints, and it is probable that some persons feign idiocy to become objects of popular veneration, supported by alms. ' One of the Memlook sultans, Kai&ion, following the example of Saladin (Abnl fedce Annales, ed. Reiske, iv. 30, 31) founded a madhouse, or maristan, at Cairo, which was still used thirty years ago (Englishwoman in, Emt, i. 166). Its inmates were subse-quently transferred to a modern hospital. Nervous affec-tions are uncommon, probably owing to the calm life which the inhabitants lead. Rheumatism is of more usual occurrence ; but, according to Clot-Bey, gout is unknown (Apercu, ii. 377). It is well worthy of notice Glat, although ownerless dogs are very common in Cairo and the other towns, and watch-dogs are kept by the villagers, canine madness and hydrophobia are unknown ; but Clot-Bey is probably in error when he says that rabies has never been observed in Egypt (id. ii. 78), for the Coptic prayer-books contain a prayer to be used for a person suffering from hydrophobia,' and this is not likely to have been derived from a foreign source. (For an account of the diseases of Egypt, see Clot-Bey's Apercu Gen'eral and De la Peste, and Deser. de l'Egypte, xiii. 29).

Geology. - In considering the geology of Egypt, its deserts claim our first notice. By a desert is generally understood a wide plain of shifting sand ; but this is usually an erroneous description of such a tract, and especially inapplicable to the deserts which border the valley of the Nile. These arc raised mountain regions, the surface of which is often covered with sand, debris, and pebbles, intersected by- valleys, and diversified, in the case of the western desert, by some oases.

On both sides of the Nile the mountains are limestone, until a little a,bove Thebes, where the sandstone commences. At the First Cataract red granite and other primitive rocks burst through the sandstone beneath the bed of the Nile, and for a considerable space on the cast, obstructing the course of the river by numerous small islands and rocks, and thus forming the rapids. In several places, chiefly on the eastern side, the mountains approach the river, and sometimes reach it. They are always utterly devoid of vegetation, and, except the granite, generally of a yellowish or reddish colour, though in some places they are greyish. Near the Cataract the sandstone mountains are partially covered with bright yellow sand in drifts. The mountains on both sides near the river are usually about 300 feet in height, and rarely much loftier. The highest point on the western bank at Thebes is four times that altitude. If one leaves the river and ascends the mountains, he finds a great rocky tract before him, the only easy paths through which are along valleys often very winding. The eastern desert gradually rises until about midway between the Nile ancl the Red Sea, where primitive rocks burst through the later formation, and the loftiest of them, a granite mountain called Gebel-Gluireb (about lat. 28°), attains the height of about 6000 feet. In this portion of the desert are porphyry, breccia, and basalt rocks, which were anciently much prized for purposes of architecture and sculpture. The western desert is of a lower elevation, and is principally remarkable for its oases, which are deep valleys containing alluvial soil, but they are little productive except in dates. Their beauty and fertility have been naturally much exaggerated. Notwithstanding the inequalities of their surface, it is evident that the deserts rise towards the Red Sea, attaining their greatest height in the penin-sula of Sinai, which is but a continuation of the same tract.

The most remarkable geological change which has been observed to have taken place in Egypt is one still in opera-tion, the depression of the northern shore notwithstanding the constant deposit of the Nile, and the corresponding elevation of the southern part of the isthmus of Suez. The consequence of this change of level has been the ruin of places on the shore of the Mediterranean, the extension of the salt-marshes, and the drying up of a considerable ',aft of the northernmost portion of the Gulf of Suez. The bed of the Red Sea may be traced for several miles north of Suez, which now stands at the head of the vt-estern gulf : and places far north of that town were on the coast in historic times.

The form of the plain and valley inclosed by the deserts is remarkably regular. In Lower Egypt the cultivable land little exceeds the limits of the ancient Delta, but greatly- exceeds those of the space between the two remain-ing branches of the Nile. The northern coast is pro-tected by shoals and a low range of sand-hills. To the south of these are extensive salt marshes and lakes, or waste tracts, and beyond, the cultivated land. The deserts on either side are of low elevation. To the east of the ancient Delta, a valley, the Wadee-et-Tumeylat, is in course of being reclaimed by the Sweet-Water Canal.

The form of the valley, or Upper Egypt, may be best seen on the map ; its leading peculiarities may here be noticed. Its course is nearly north and south until just within the border of the Thebals, when it takes a south-easterly direction as far as the town of Girgh, and then turns due east as far as Rine, from which town it resumes ts former direetion. The mountains and desert on the western side throughout Upper Egypt, that is, a.bove Cairo, are generally further from the river than those on the eastern side, which frequently reach to the water's edge. The difference is most remarkable as far as the town of Farshoot, by- the course of the river about 350 miles above Cairo, and about 70 miles below Thebes. Near Farshoot begins a con-tinuous series of canals, which flow parallel to the Nile, and near the Libyan chain, until they terminate in Lower Egypt, not far north of Cairo. Above Farshoot, the eastern mountains recede as far as a little above Thebes, and the western mountains gradually approach the Nile. Halfway between Thebes and the First Cataract, the cultiv-able soil is equally narrow on each bank. The greatest breadth of the eultiva.ble land, all of which is not now cultivated, on the western bank seldom exceeds about 8 or 10 miles, and on the eastern bank, about 3 tulles, but it is usually much narrower.

There is in Upper Egypt one striking deviation from the uniform character of the country. About 70 miles above Cairo, by the course of the Nile, an opening in the Libyan range leads to a kind of oasis, the Feiyoom, a fertile tract, lying in a hollow of the desert, and having at its further extremity a great lake of brackish water.

The NI:ie. - The chief natural feature of Egypt is the Nile, and the great phenomenon of the country the yearly inundation. With the ancient inha.bitants the river had, according to their usage with such. names, its two appellations, sacred and common. The sacred name was Hapi, the same as that of one of the four genii of Amenti (thiles) and of the bull Apis. The probable meaning is " the concealed " (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr., 77). The pro-fane name was Atur, or Aur, usually with the epithet a, the great. The two forms, of which the first appears to be the older, the second the younger, mean " river," as is equally the case with the demotic and Coptic forms of Aur (Id. p. 78). There are at least three names of the Nile in the Bible, - Yeor ItS the same as the F.gyptian name last mentioned, and probably of Egyptian derivation ; Shichor (WIT, "111'4', nn;')), " the black ; " and " the river of Egynt,"12.1P 'Jill?. The "torrent," or "brook of Ee.ypt" (Dr:1'F? 'PM), spoken of as the western limit of Palestine, and so the eastern limit of Egypt, is either a desert stream at Rhinocorura, now EliAreesh, or the Pelusiac or eastern-most branch of the Nile.1 The Greek and Roman name Naos., Nilus, is certainly not traceable to either of the Egyptian names of the river, nor does it seem to be philologically- connected with the Hebrew ones. It may be, like ShichOr, indicative of the colour of the river, for we find in Sanskrit, Nfla, " blue," probably especially " dark blue," also even black, as Nflapanka, " black mud." The two great confluents of the Nile are now called the Bahr-el-Abyad, or " White -River," and the 13ahr-el-Azrak, or " Blue River," and the latter most nearly resembles the Nile in Egypt. As already noticed, Arywrros, in the Odb-ssey, is the name of the Nile (masc.) as well as of the country (fem.).

The Arabs preserved the classical name of the Nile in the proper name En-Neel , or Neel-Misr.,..41.4 the – Nile of Misr (Egypt). The same word signifies indict-1).2 The modern Egyptians commonly call the river EC-Bahr, " the sea," a term also applied to the largest rivers, and the inundation " the .Nile," En-Neel ; and the modern Arabs call the river Bahr-en-Neel, " the river Nile."

The course of the Nile has already been noticed in speak-ine- of the form of tlae Nile valley. In ancient times the De°Ita was watered by seven branches ; now there are but two, the other ancient branches being canals not always navigable. The ancient branches were, beginning at the west, the Canobic, Bolbitine, Sebennytic, Pathmitic, Mendesian, Tanitic, and Pelusiac, of which the modern Rosetta and Damietta branches represent the Bolbitine and Pathmitic.

The mean breadth of the river in Upper Egypt may be put at from half a mile to three-quarters, except where large islands increase the distance. In the Delta the branches are generally narrower.

A remarkable change has been ascertained to Lave occurred in the level of the Nile above Gebel-es-Silsileh, (near the ancient Silsilis; more than 80 miles south of Thebes), and throughout part of Nubia. Indications of this change were first observed by Professor Lepsius, who dis-covered hieroglyphic inscriptions on rocks at the Cataract of Semneh, not far above the Second Cataract, showing that the river attained a much higher level in the time of Dynasties XII. and XIII. before B.C. 2000. He gives the difference of the mean water-level at Semneh as 7.30 metres, or 23.94 feet English. He observes that the whole level of Upper Nubia was anciently greater, and similarly that of Lower Nubia between the First and Second Cataracts, but that in this second tract the present level was attained since the time of Thothmes III. of Dynasty XVIII. (Auszug aus einen Schreiben des Hrn. Lepsius an, Hrn. Ehrenberg, Philx, 10th Sept. 1844.) Sir Gardner Wilkinson pursued the inquiry in a paper in which he arctued that the cause of the change of level which Ile traced in the Upper Thebais was the breaking of a rocky barrier at Gebel-es-Silsileh, where the low mountains on either side confine the river to a narrow channel (Trans. R. Soc. Lit, n.s., iv.).

The water of the Nile differs considerably in appearance and purity at various seasons of the year. A little after midsummer it becomes very turbid, and not long afterwards it assumes a green colour for more than a fortnight, owing to the quantity of vegetable matter which it brings down from its upper course. lt then resumes its turbid character for the period of the rise, and retains it, though in a less degree, for the remaining portion of the year, until the following midsummer. The water is extremely, sweet, particularly in its turbid state. A careful filtration destroys its peculiar flavour, and the best method is to allow it to settle in the porous jars manufactured in the country. It is very wholesome, except during the short period at which it is green. The turbid appearance, great-est during the rise and inundation, is owing to the presence of large qnantities of earthy matter, which are annually deposited. This deposit or mud of the Nile has been analyzed by 11. Regimult. The specimen was dry, and taken from a canal which conducted the waters of the inun-dation. IIe obtained the following results: - Regnault remarks that the quantities of silica and alitinen vary according to the places whence the mud is taken, and that on the banks of the Nile it contains much sand, but when carried by the waters of the inundation to distant tracts it loses a, quantity of sand in propor-tion to the distance, so that, when the distance is very con-siderable, the argillaceous matter is nearly pure ; and thus the soil presents this matter in the diffetent degrees of prity which the arts of pottery and brick-making require (Descr. de g yyte, xx, 162-164).

The Nile shows the first signs of rising in Egypt about the time of the summer solstice. At Khartoom, where the White and Blue Niles join, the beginning of the increase is observed early in April (Clot-Bey, Aperpt, p. 36, 37). The slowness of the rise in the earlier stage cause.s this difference. Usually the regular increase does not begin in Egypt until some days after the summer solstice, and the inundation begins about two months after that solstice. The river attains its greatest height at, or not long after, the autumnal equinox, and then, falling more slowly than it had risen, sinks to its lowest point at the end of nine months, when it remains stationary for a few days, until it begins again to increase. The inundation continues rather lonL,,er than it naturally would do, because the waters are retained for some time upon the lands by ,closing the mouths of the canals (see the table, Descr. de l'Eg ypte,xviii. i. 630, seryg., for the details of the state of the Nile, from July 2, 1799, to April 10, 1800). The river's banks being a little higher than the rest of the cultivable soil, the water is conveyed by canals or cuttings, and does not pour over the banks.

The inundations vary considerably, and, by either failing or rising to too great a height, cause much damage and distress. In the Description de l'Egypte (xviii. i. 626-629) there is a table of 66 inundations, of which 11 were very high, 30 good, 16 feeble, and 9 insufficient. This table was taken from the official records of the Nilorneter on the island of Er-Rodah, near Cairo, and comprehends the in-undations of A.H. 1150-1215 (A.D. 1737-1800).

The Nile rises about 40 feet at the First Cataract, about 36 at Thebes, about 25 at Cairo, and about 4 at the Rosetta and Damietta mouths during a good inundation (Englishwoman in Egypt, i. 89; Descr. de l' Egypte, xviii. i. 576, 577). When it is said, however, that the river has attained to a certain height in feet or cubits, the height at the Nilcaucter of Er-R.Odah above-mentioned is meant; and by ancient writers, that of the river at Memphis, which was situate on the western bank, a little higher than Er-11tidal'. If the river do not attain a greater height than 18 or 20 feet, the rise is scanty ; if only 2 or 4 feet more, insufficient ; if it attain to 21 feet, or a greater height, not exceeding 27 feet, the inundation is good ; but a higher rise must be characterized as a destructive flood (Descr. de ypte, xviii. 61(3). Sometimes the inundation has failed altogether ; as for seven years (A.u. 457-464) in the reign of the Fatimee caliph El-Mustansir when there was a seven-years' famine (see below, page 752); and low inundations always cause clearths. Excessive inundations, on the other hand, produce, or at least foster, the plague and murrain ; so that a variation of a few feet is productive of the most serious consequences.

The current, when the .Nile is low, has been estimated at about '2 miles in the honr, and at about 3 miles an hour when it is high. The volume of water which the Nile pours into the Mediterranean in 24 hours is as follows, according to M. Linant: - Although the water is abundantly charged with alluvium throughont the year, and especially during the inunda-tion, the annual deposit by the river, except under extra-ordinary circumstances, is very much smaller than might be supposed, Various computations have been made as to the exact deposit left ill ft century on the land, but they have not usually differed above an inch. If, however, we com-pare the quantity of deposit on certain very ancient struc-tures, of which we know the date, we shall find that the amount has materially differed in various places. Such dif-ferences are the natural results cif irregularities in the river's course, of the strength or weakness of the current at parti-cular places, of the nature of the country, and many other disturbing causes. The mean ordinary rate of the increase of the soil of Egypt has been calculated by Mr Lane as a,bout 4.! inches in a century. M. Girard, in the Descr.

gypte, makes it " very nearly" 126 millimetres, or 4.960 English inches. (For a remarkable instance of rapid deposit, see the 1,.:nglishwontaii in Egypt, i. 132-134, and plan, p. 126.) The cultivable land of F,gypt must be regarded as wholly the deposit of the Nile, but it is vain to attempt a calcula-tion of the period at which this process began, since WC cannot conclude that, the same rate has always obtained, and we must suppose that the causes at first in operation were very different from those which now regulate the phenomenon.

At the time of the French occupation of Egypt it was found that the cultivable soil occupied only 6921 square miles, or somewhat more than two-thirds of the whole space inclialed between the deserts; but the quantity actually under cultivation did not exceed 5500 square miles, or six-elevenths of the entire surface. This proportion has since not materially changed. It was not always so, and the deficiency of the population is the principal cause that so large a proportion of the soil which might possibly be brought into a state of culture is left uncultivated.

Throughout Egypt the cultivable soil does not present any- very great difference, being always the deposit of the river ; it contains, however, more sand near the river than at a distance front it. Towards the -Mediterranean, its quality is injured by the salt with which the air is im-pregnated, and therefore it is not so favourable tu vegeta-tion. This condition, however, is not usually found far south of the sea, or the salt-marshes and lakes, which in-tervene for the most part between it and the land. In Lower Egypt we find the greater portion of the neglected tracts principally to the east and west of the modern Delta, aud in its northern pertion. In Upper Egypt the narrow-ness of the valley, and the more numerous population, pre-serve the country in a better state of cultivation, and the soil is somewhat richer. The largest uncultivated tracts lie on the western bank, where the valley is broadest, and in places where the great canal running parallel to the Nile has fallen into a state of neglect.

anulition of the Country. - Although some of the accounts of the classics may be deemed exaggerated when they speak of the population and prosperity of Egypt, we cannot accuse them of errors, except in the number of towns and of the inhabitants of the country; for the monuments show us how rich was Egypt under native rulers, and indicate to what causes this condition may reasonably be assigned. From the time at which the Great Pyramid was built to the Persian invasion, a period of between 2000 and 3000 years, the population of Eg,ypt and its extent of cultivated land far exceeded what they are in the present day. The country does not seem to have been over-peopled ; and many causes conduced. to prevent this, particularly the serious wars in which the Pharaohs engaged. The long and desolating struggles taith the Assyrians and Persians inflicted a severe blow on the in-terests of the country. Under the Maeedonians it recovered much of its former prosperity; and when the Romans held Egypt, it was one of their most productive provinces, and a granary of the empire. During the Roman rule various poli-tical causes contributed to the decline of the population. After the Muslim conquest this decay continued alinost uninterruptedly until the time of the Fatimees ; but from that time until the Turkish conquest the rulers of the. successive independent dynasties generally governed the country- with a regard for its interests, and cannot be accused of the systematic tyranny and misrule of the Turkish pashas. There was a temporary recovery under the independent or semi-independent Meinlook rulers before the French inva.sion; and in spite of much of the Turkish sy-stem the country has again made good progress during the government of the family of Mehemet Ali. To over-taxation, forced labour, and needless wars, - in other words, government in a Turkish sense, - must be attributed the present misery of the peasant population, and the want of hands enough to cultivate the soil.

Physical causes have had far less to do with the impover-ishment of Egypt than political ones. The elevation of the tract north of the Gulf of Suez, with the depression of the north coast of Egypt, has much diminished the cultivable soil in the Delta, by iiicreasing the salt lakes and marshes which occupy its northern portion. There is, however, no greater fallacy than to suppose that the sands of the deserts have done injury by encroaching upon the alluvial tracts, and that once fertile regions are buried beneath them. In some places undoubtedly they have encroached upon the cultivable laud, particularly where, as in the ease of the canal of the Red Sea, the negleet of the Government had withdrawn the inundation, but no sooner was the Sweet Water Canal opened than fertility returned. On the other hand the deposit of the Nile has been constantly, in almost every part of the country, encroaching upon the deserts and diminishing their extent. It is ileglect that has permitted the sand to drift over the soil where there have been no labourers to cultivate it. Above Gebel-es-Silsileh, in Upper Egypt, the change in the level of the river has placed cuttivable soil almost wholly beyond. the reach of the inunda-tiou, and thus made agriculture very laborious, but this is only- for the space of about 40 miles in Egypt, where the ex-tent of the cultivable soil must always have been small on account of the narrowness of the valley. The failure of five of the seven branches of the Nile is partly due to the neglect of the Government, as they might all have been re-tained as constantly running canals ; and the decay- of the great canal which runs parallel to the Nile throughout the chief part of -Upper Egypt is traceable to the same cause.

Uuder the government of Mehemet Ali a great engineer-ing work was begun with the view of bettering the condi-tion of Egypt. This was the construction of a barrage across both branches of the Nile at the point of the Delta, in order to regulate the inundation, and thus render the country more fertile and easy of cultivation. After being abandoned this work is now to be completed. Its opera-tion will on the whole be beneficial, although undoubtedly the power to be thus acquired by the khedive, of regulat-ing the inundation for the benefit of his lands without re-ference to small proprietors, will be productive of much injustice. Egypt can never regain her ancient prosperity without a radical reform. The country has been governed under the Turks upon the system of getting the maximum of revenue from a peasantry allowed the minimum of sus-tenance. This is what is meant by the high-flown phrases one bears about the welfare of Egypt. The welfare of the population has never been contemplated. The frugal peasantry are kept at starvation-point, and no one prospers but the tax-gatherers of all grades, who constitute the richer class. Yet Egypt is better governed than the other pro-vinces of the Turkish empire which enjoy a purely Turkish administration, for it is held nct on the uncertain tenure of an ordinary pashalik, but as a copyhold which it is the interest of the tenant to keep in decent repair.

yriculture. - Under the Pharaohs Egypt was an agricultural country, and both commerce and manufactures were comparatively unimportant. The main energies of the people were expended in turning to the best account a soil of unexcelled richness, annually watered and renewed by the river. This natural policy was the true one for the prosperity of the country. From the sculptures and paintings of the tombs, we form a clear idea of the agricul-ture of the ancient Egyptians, while the classical writers give us information respecting the tenure of land, and the laws affecting the cultivators.

In the representations of the tombs which picture the daily life of the great proprietors of land, we learn what especial attention they paid to the processes of agriculture. We see them constantly overseeing the labourers, and thus watching the interests of their lands. They were espe-cially anxious to conduct the water of the Nile over those tracts which were not above its level at different periods of the year, and to raise it by manual labour to the higher portions of the land. In their canal-system they displayed eaechanical skill, as well as in the construction of dams and dikes to retain the water upon the lands; but for raising water they seem to have been contented with the rudest contrivances. Indeed we know of but two methods that were employed in raising water, - the use Gf the simple machine called in the present day the shadoof, and buckets carried by men. The ordinary shicloof still employed is of the same form as that used by the ancient Egyptians. It consists of a pole resting upon a beam placed across two columns of brick or mud. and having at one extremity a weight, and at the other a rude bowl-shaped bucket suspended by a stick. A man stands beneath it, and pull-ing down the bucket to the water raises it again, assiated by the weight. (For the ancient form of the shadoof, see Anc. Eg., ii. 4; for the modern, Mod. Eq., chap. xiv.) Immediately after the water of the inundation had sub-sided, the land was ploughed or broken up by the hoe, and sown, the seed being sometimes trodden in by goats driven over the field for the purpose. Wheat being the most important field-produce, we find the various agricultural processes connected with it frequently represented. Be-sidee the ploughing and sowing, the harvest is depicted, tlte reapers cutting the wheat just below the ear, the ears being carried in nets or baskets by men or on asses to the thrashing-floor, where they were thrashed by kine. Some-times the wheat was bound in sheaves. The same or simi-lar processes with reference to other kinds uf grain are portrayed iu the tombs, in which we also find curious repre-sentations of the vineyards and gardens. The vineyard was not the least valuable part of an estate. Egypt was famous for its wines in the days of the Greeks and Romans; and it is evident that wine must have been prized in earlier times from several kinds being enumerated in the inscrip-tions, and from its always being seen at the feasts. Besides the vine, other fruit-trees were cultivated, and especially the date-paltn. The gardens were often extensive, and were laid out with great formality, partly in consequence of their being watered in the same manner as the fields generally, and contained tanks for fish as well as for purposes of inunda-tion. The Egyptians paid great attention to preserving fish, and the produce of the fisheries of one great artificial lake, that of Meeris, formed an important branch of the revenue. There were also tracts left to reeds, which, if not planted, were at least carefully maintained, on account of their value for manufactures, and as covers fur wild-fowl.

Diodorus Siculus states that anciently the land was the property of the priests, of the king, and of the military class (i. 73), and the monuments leave little room to doubt that such was generally the case; for though there were no castes, the upper classes consisted of priests and military officers, and the son usually followed his father's profession. It is stated in the Bible that Joseph purchased the whole of the land of the Egyptians for food during the famine, and gave them seed to sow it, claiming a fifth of the produce as the king's right. The land of the priests alone was not purchased.

The agriculture of the modern Egyptians differs little from that of the old inhabitants. In one respect it is the converse : the ancients excelled in the management of dikes and dams, and raised water only by the simplest methods; the moderns, while they ha.ve paid less attention to the great canals, and the means by which they were regulated, have etnployed more ingenious methods of artificial irrigation. The deficiency of population has partly caused the decay of many of the canals and dams and. dikes, and has at the same time necessitated the economizing of human labour, for which that of cattle has been in a great measure sub-stituted.

Of the machines the most common is the sh&doof, already described, but there are also two kinds of water-wheels. The more usual of these is that called the salciyeb, which is composed of a horizontal wheel turned by a pair of cows or bulls, or by one, and connected with a vertical wheel which is ou the same axis as another around which are earthen pots in which the water is raised and poured into a trough. The tsiboat is a similar machine, which differs from the sakiyelt princip illy in having a hollow wheel instead of the wheel with puts, in the jaunts or follies of which the water is con-veyed. Sometimes a katweh is employed, which is a bucket like that of the shadoof, having four cords by which two men dip it into the river or canal and raise the water. (Mod. By., ch. xiv.) Stearn-pumps are now largely used.

November, they are sown with wheat, barley, lentils, beans, lupins, ehiek-peas, &c. This is called the shitaivee' (or winter) season. ifilt the sharfikee' lands (or those which are too high to be subject to the natural inundation), and some parts of the rei, by artificial irrigation are made to produce three crops every year ; though not all the shartikee lands are thus cultivated. The lands arti-ficially inigated produce, first, their shitawee crops, being sown at the same period as the rei lands, generally with wheat or barley. Secondly, in what is called the seyfee,' or in the southern part of Egypt the 'keydee' or geydee' (that is, the summei) season, commencing about the vernal erinox, or a little later, they are sown with millet (` durali seyfee ), or with indigo or cotton, &c. Thirdly, in the demeereh' season, or period of the rise of the Nile, commencing about or soon after the summer solstice, they are sown with inillet again, or with maize (‘ &milt shitinee'), &e., and VMS CrOWIled with a third harvest. Sugar is cultivated throughout a large portion of Upper Egypt; and. rise iu the low lands near the Mediterranean." - Mod. Eg., 1.c.

The culture of cotton was introduced by Mehemet Ali with a view to promote his manufacturing schemes, and the Turkish grandees have found it a source of temporary profit. During the American War the profit was at its height, but subsequently it declined. The necessity of con-structing datns to exclude the Nile water from the cotton-growing fields has rendered the inundations destructive, and the speculation seems on the whole to have injured the welfare of Egy-pt.

The agricultural implements of the modern Egyptians are rude in construction, and. similar to those anciently employed in the country. One of these, however, was not known ts) the earlier inhabitants. This is the norag, a machine "in the form of a chair, which tnoves upon small iron wheels or thin circular plates, generally eleven, fixed to three thick axle-trees, four to the foremost, the same number to the hindmost, and three to the intermediate axle-tree. This machine is drawn in a circle by a pair of cows or bulls over the corn." It is employed to separate the grain of wheat, barley, &c., and to cut the straw, which is used for fodder. (Hod. Eg.,1.c.) The ancient Egyptiaus, ai before remarked, generally cut the wheat near the ear.

An Egyptian garden is a miniature Egypt. It is inter-sected by numerous small channels which are filled by one or more water-wheels. By these channels the water is spread over the garden, divided by them into many square comparttnents, edged with ridges of earth. This system of course makes it very difficult to keep a garden in good order, and no great variety of flowers is cultivated.

Though Mehemet Ali was very desirous to encourage manufactures, lie did not endeavour enough to apply modern science to the improvement of agriculture. Ibra-him Pasha, who succeeded him, always maintained that the country should be agricultural rather than manufactur-ing, and introduced important improvements during his father's gevernnient. This system has been steadily pur-sued by the present ruler.

Before the time of Mehemet Ali a kind of feudal system prevailed, and much of the land was held by small pro-prietors under the protection of the great emeers. By- the massacre of the Mentlooks, the pasha destroyed feudalism, and by arbitrarily seizing ahnost all the landed property, rendered private tenure of lo,nd a most rare condition. He allotted to those whom he thus unjustly dispossessed annual pensions for life, as the only compensation for an act of tyranny to which even the history of Egypt scarcely affords a parallel Plod. Eq., ch. iv.). Those whose lands were not confiscated yielded them up through fear, and buried their title-deeds, which are yet so concealed. A system of government in which the supreme authmity overlooks such acts, and subordinate governors perpetrate them, in defiance of the Muslim code and Arab jurispru-dence, demands the most thorough and searching reform, Lakes,--Egypt has always been famous for its lakes, which have either 16,1(111 commerce, or supplied the inhabi-tants of the country with fish and wild fowl, or with valuable vegetable productions, or assisted in regulating the effects of the inundation. All have enriched. the land in some one of these ways, and thus they have been important sources of its natural wealth.

Beginning our examination at the north-western extremity of Egypt, we first observe the lake now called Bolicyret-Maryoot,1 and anciently Lake -S.lareotis. This is an extensive salt marsh rather than a lake, except during the inundation, when its contents are augmented by filtra-tion. Anciently this lake was navigable, and thus con-tributed to the commercial importance of Alexandria. The country around was cultivaterl, and produced the famous Mareotic wine. The relations of various travellers show that it was still a lake during the 15th and 16th, and even towards the close of the 17th century; and Villaniont in 1590 mentions that in his time the fisheries produced a considerable sum (Descr. de l'Egypte, xvi. 201). When, however, the French army conquered and occupied Egypi; (1798-1801) they found its basin to be a sandy plain, of which the lower portion retained the rain-water, which remained there for a great part of winter" (Id. 200,201). On the 4th of April 1801 the English army, which was co-operating with that of the Grand Vizir against the French garrison of Alexandria, cut the dikes of the canal of that city, and admitted the waters of the Lake of Aboo-Keer into the ancient bed of Lake Mareotis, in order to eat off the water supply of the besieged (Id. 201,202). The basin of the lake being partially inhabited, some loss of life and property was the result of this act, which has reasonably been much called in question. The unhealthiness of Alexandria is also traceable to the formation of this marsh. The precedent thus set has been twice imitated, first by the Turks in 1803, and a second time by the English army under General Fraser in 1807. At the present day the lake or marsh is unprofitable, and its shores are uncultivated and uninhabited, the whole wearing the most dreary aspect.

To the nurth of Lake Mareotis is situate that of Aboo-Keer, Boheyret-Aboo-Keer. It is the northernmost portion of the other lake, from which it is separated by the Malt-moodeeyell Canal (which here occupies the line of the older Canal of Alexandria), and the embankments or dikes which form its banks. It is very small, nowhere measur-ing 10 miles across, and extreinely shallow, usually riot exceeding 3 feet in depth. The water is salt, being chiefly derived from the sea, from which the lake is separated by a narrow strip of land on the western side, and on the eastern by a similar strip of far less breadth, the shore of tbe memorable Bay of A.boo-Keer.

To the east of the Lake of Aboo-Neer is that of Atkoo, Boheyret-Atkoo. It spreads when full nearly to the town of Rosetta, and is separated from the sea by a narrow ueck of land on which stands the large village of Atkoo. Its extent varies according to the quantity of water which it receives from the inundation (Descr. de CP,gyple, xvi.

The great Lake of El-Burullus begins a little to the eastward of the Rosetta Branch, and stretches to some-what beyond where the canal which was anciently the Sebennytic Branch enters it, and passing through it reaches the sea. I,ike the other northern lakes, it is separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow strip of land, the coast of Egypt. It is throughout very shallow (Id.

It is chiefly known for its water-melons, which are yellow within instead of being red or pink, and come into season after those grown on the banks of the Nile.

The easternmost of the lakes of Egypt is Boheyret-el-Menzeleh, which greatly exceeds the others in size. It extends froin very near the Damietta Branch of the Nile to the mouth of the old Tanitic Branch, now called the canal of El-Mo'izz, which passes through the lake to the sea. It also receives the waters of the canals which were once the Mendesian and Pelusiac Branches. The northern shore is separated from the sea by an extremely narrow strip of laud. At its south-eastern extreinity is a long marshy creek extending into the desert. Its average length is about 40 miles, and its average breadth about 15. The depth is greater than that of the other lakes, and the water is salt, thouesh mixed with fresh. Upon the surface are numerous islands, and the whole lake abounds in reeds of various kinds. It stipports a considerable population of rude fishermen, who dwell in villages on the shore and islands, and live upon the fish of the la.ke. The reeds are cover for water-fowl of various kinds, which the travel-ler sees in great numbers, and wild boars are found in the marshes to the south. (Mod. Eg. and Thebes, i. 446.) The Lake Serbonis, well known in former times as having swallowed up those passing over its marshes con-cealed by shifting sands, is now dry, and cannot be any longer included in the list of the lakes of Egypt, Besides the lakes above mentioned are those called the Bitter Lakes, which should rather be termed marshes, occupying part of the ancient bed of the Red Sea between Suez and Lake Menzeleh, and also the Natron Lakes. The latter, which are very small, are situate iu a valley of the western desert, not very far from the river : they will be noticed below.

In Upper Egypt there is but one lake of importance. It is the Birket-el-Karn, or Lake of El-Karn, at the ex-tremity of the Feiyoom, which is, a.s already mentioned, an oasis on the western side of the river, to which an opening in the mountains leads. The lake is about 35 miles long, and its widest part a. little exceeds 7 miles, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson, while in several places it is considerably narrower. About the middle is a. single island. The depth is not great, for the same author, who " sounded in several places," " found what is considered the deepest part to be only 28i feet" (Mod. Egypt and Thebes, ii. 344-5). Its level is far below that of the Nile, as the bank of the river at Benee-Suweyf, at the entrance of the valley leading to the Feiyoom, is upwards of a hundred feet higher than the water of the lake (Ibid. 346). The shores are barren or uncultivated; the northern is desert and bounded by sandy mountains ; the southern was in ancient tin3es partly cultivated. The water is brackish and unwholesome, though the fishermen, of whom there are a few, drink it.

The famous Lake Mceris lay between the Feiyoom and the Nile, not far from the river. It was an artificial work executed by Arnenemhat III., of Dynasty XII. The irrigation of neighbouring tracts was regulated by it, and its fisheries formed an important part of the revenue. After the subjugation of Egypt by the Romans its dikes were neglected, and by degrees it became ruined. Da position and extent were considered doubtful, until 11. Linant's excellent memoir, published by the Egyptian Society of Cairo, established these points most satisfactorily from the remains of its basin, which are yet traceable (Memoirs sur le Lac Moeris, Soc. Eg., 1843).

Canals. - The canals of Egypt deserve especial attention from their great importance in extending the beneficial influence of the inundation. In Lower Egypt we find, beginning from the west, first the MaLmoodeeyeh Canal, which connects Alexandria with the Rosetta Branch, takiN; a similar direction that of the ancient canal which it has succeeded. It was dug under :Mehemet Ali ; and although not quite 50 miles in length, and not 100 feet broad, about 12,000 labourers are said to have died in ten mouths while the work was in progress (English-21'0712(112, ill Egypt, i. 47, 48). This is well known to be a tolerably accurate statement of the losses experienced by the unfortunate workmen, and is only one of the many instances which the history of our own times affords of that reckless disregard of human life, which is one of the worst traits of Turkish character.' Between the Rosetta and Damietta Branches are several canals, some of which are of importance, particularly the short canal of Manoof connecting the two branches not far from the point of the Delta. To the east of the Damietta Branch are others, of which the most remarkable occupy the beds of the Tanitic and Pelusiac Branches, which have been cleared to a sufficient extent to form canals. The former of these, which lies to the westward of the other, is called the Canal of El-Mo'izz, the first Fatimee caliph who ruled in Egypt, having been dug by his orders, and the latter bears the name of the Canal of Abu-l-Munegga, a Jew who executed this work, under the caliph EliAinir, in order to water the province called the Sharkeeyeh. The last mentioned canal is connected with the remains of that which anciently joined the Nile and the P,cd Sea. Of this important work the greater part was destroyed through neglect, but it has been restored, as the Sweet Water Canal, in order to supply the establish-ments on the Suez Canal with fresh water. It was of the Pharaonic times, having been begun by P,amses II., or Sesostris, continued by Neku II. and by Darius Hystaspis, and at length finished by Ptolemy Philadelphus.

The extent and character of the great canal called. the Bahr-Yoosuf, or River of Joseph, which runs parallel with the Nile on its western side, from a little below Cairo to near Farshoot, a distance by the river of about 350 miles, render it the most important work of the kind in Egypt. ft is a continuous series of canals rather than one canal. Although the Joseph whence it takes its na,tne is the cele-brated Sala,din, or Salah-ed-cleen, yet it is. related that he merely repaired it, and it is not doubted to be of a much earlier period. Most probably it was executed under the Pharaohs. In the present day it is not navigable except during the season of the inundation, and at other times is dry in various places. Its restoration would not be a work of extreme difficulty, and would greatly benefit the commerce and agriculture of the country, perhaps more than any other undertaking of the kind.

Vegetable Prorlurt.q. - Egypt differs from most other countries in having neither woods nor forests. Besides the palm groves, we rarely see even a grove of trees, except in Lower Egypt. The largest common trees are acacias, sycatnore-fig-trees, and mulberry-trees, all of which are fre-quently planted on each side of the great roads near Cairo ; and the most beautiful trees are the date-palm and the banana. The beauty of the palm is, however, in a great measure owing to art, for its lowest branches are annually cut, which causes it to grow high, and renders its head of elegant form. When wild, this tree has a far inferior appearance, being low, and having long ragg;ed branches reaching to the ground ; and its dr.tes are, small and poor in flavour. The Theban or dom-palm is a very different tree, having two great branches, each of which divides into two other branches, a subdivision which continues still farther. The weeping-will.-fw, nayrtle, elm, and cypress are found in the gardens and plantations, with various trees bearing the fruits t-o be next mentioned; and the tamarisk is to be seen everywhere.

The most CO111111011 of the fruits are dates of various kinds, which are sold half-ripe, ripe, dried, and pressed in their fresh moist state in mats or skins. .Many different sorts are enumerated as known in Egypt. The dependencies, however, and. not Egypt, produce the finest of these dates. The hotter and drier climates of the Oases and. Lower Nubia best suit the date-palm ; and the pressed dates of Seewah, the ancient Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, are among the most esteemed. The grape is a common fruit, but wine is not made from it on account of the prohibi-tion of Mohammad. The, Feiyoom is celebrated for its grapes, and chiefly supplies the market of Cairo. The most common grape is white, of which there is a small kind far superior to the ordinary sort. The black grapes are large, but comparatively tasteless. The vines are trailed on trelliswork, and form agreeable avenues in the gardens of Cairo ; but little attention is paid to their culture, the common fault of Egyptian agriculture and gardening, due to the generosity of nature and the indolence of the inhabitants.

The best known fruits, besides dates and grapes, are figs, sycamore-figs, and pomegranates, apricots and peaches, oranges and citrons, lemons and limes, bananas, which are believed to be of the fruits of Paradise (being always in season), different kinds of melons (including some of aromatic flavour, and the refreshing water-melon), mul-berries, Indian figs or pr ckly pears, the fruit of the lotus, and olives. Many of these are excellent, especially the figs and melons. The trees and plants which produce most of them are chiefly confined to the gardens. The cactus bearing the Indian fig is extremely common, and forms the hedges of gardens and plantations.

The general plan of an Egyptian garden has been already described. Although seldom in good order, such a garden is often picturesque, having a few date-palms and bananas, and. perhaps overlooked by one of those houses of the old style of architecture which are rapidly disappearing. No great variety of flowers is cultivated. Among the more nsual are the rose (which has ever been a favourite among the, Arabs), the jasmine, narcissus, lily, oleander, chrysan-themum, convolvulus, geranium, dahlia, basil, the hinM; plant ( T.awsonia alba, or Egyptian privet, which is said to be a flower of Paradise), the Iteliantlms, and the violet.

The vegetables, &c., are very common and of various kinds, so that we cannot wonder that the Children of Israel longed for them in the desert. The principal are beans, pease, vetches, lentils (of which a pottage is made, which is the common food of the Nile boatmen), lupins, chick-pease, the loobiyeh (Do/iehos tabia), fenugreek, mal-lows, the bamiyelt (Hibiscus eseulentes), spinach, purslain, melookheeyeli (Corchoruz otitorius), leeks, onions, garlic, celery, parsley, chicory, cress, radishes, carrots, turnips, colocasia, lettuce, cabbage, fennel, gourds and cucumbers (both of several kinds), the tomato, the egg-fruit or badingan (black and white), caraway, coriander, cumin, aniseed, and red pepper.

The chief field-produce is wheat (which is more grown than any other kind of corn), barley, several sorts of millet, maize, rice, oats, clover, pease, the sugar-cane, roses, two species of the tobacco-plant, and cotton, now largely cultivated. The sugar-cane is extensively cultivated, and excellent sugar is manufactured. ft-oin it. There are fields of roses in the Feiyoom, which supply the market with rose-water. The tobacco produced in Egypt is coarse and strong compared with that which is used by the middle and upper classes and imported from Syria and Turkey. That of Syria is considered the best. Of textile plants, the principal are hemp, cotton, and flax; and of plants used for dyeing, bastard saffron, madder, woad, and the indigo plant. The intoxicating hasheesh, which sonae smoke in a kind of water-pipe formed of a cocoa-nut, two tubes, and a bowl, seldom used for any other narcotic, is not, as has been erroneously supposed, opium, but hemp. The effect is most baneful. The leaves of the hinne plant are used to impart a bright red colour to the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, and the nails of both hands and feet, of women and children, the hair of old ladies, and the tails of horses. Indigo is very extensively employed to dye the shirts of the natives of the poorer classes, and is, when very dark, the colour of mourning ; therefore, wonaen frinerals, and generally after a death, smear themselves with it. Oil is extracted from the seeds of the cotton plant, hemp, colewort, the poppy, the castor-oil plant, sesame, and flax. The high coarse grass called lialfeli (Poa cynosuroides) grows in great quantity in waste places and among ancient ruins.

Many kinds of reeds are found in Egypt, though, if we compare the representations in the ancient tombs with what we see in the present da.y, it is evident that they were formerly lunch more common. That they should be wasted away was prophesied by Isaiah (xix. 6, 7). The famous byblus, or papyrus, froin which paper was manufactured, appears to be nearly-, if not quite extinct, since Sir Gardner Wilkinson had never seen it (.1Tod. Ey. and Thebes, i. 441). AT. Delile, in his excellent account of the Egyptian flora, merely mentions it by name in his list as the Cyperus Papyr.us, called in Arabic berrly, and found at Damietta,1 but gives no figure of it. The lotus, greatly prized for its flowers by the ancient inhabi-tants, is still found in Egypt, though it is not common. The French naturalist above mentioned enumerates three species which formerly grew in that ccauntry, one with white flowers, another with blue, and a-third with rose-coloured, the last of which is now extinct there. On the botany of Egypt, see Boissier, 1"lora Orientalis, in pro-gress.

Aitherds. - The zoology of Egypt is not of remarkable interest, although it contains some very curious points. The absence of jungle and Elf forest, and the little cover thus afforded to beasts of prey, as well as other wild animals, partly causes this ; and we observe few birds of beautiful plumage for the same reason.

One of the most characteristic of the beasts is the camel, which is more at home in the dry climate of Egypt than elsewhere out of his native deserts. It has been remarked, however, that the camel, like his master the Arab, " Cyperus Papyrus, Linn. - Arab. berdy, Darniatm." Description de l'Egypte, tom. xi'. 71. Other Cyperi are described at pp.