266 



EGYPT. 



year 1869 amounted to 153, together of 63,- 

 230 tons. The vessels belonged to the following 

 countries: England, 61 ; Germany, 16 ; France, 

 10; Italy, 11; Peru, 26 ; Ecuador, 25 ; Central 

 America, 3 ; Chili, 1. Minister of the United 

 States in Ecuador, E. Eamsey Wing (1870). 



EGYPT, a dependency of Turkey, in North- 

 ern Africa. The ruler hears the official title 

 of Khedive,* the Arabic equivalent for Viceroy. 

 This dignity is now hereditary in the family of 

 Mehemet Ali. The present Pacha of Egypt is 

 Ismail (born in 1816), who followed, on January 

 18, 1863, his brother Said as the fifth Vice- 

 roy of Egypt. A Council of State (created in 

 1856) is at the head of the administration. 

 The area of Egypt is 659,000 English square 

 miles. It has about 8,000,000 inhabitants, 

 5,215,065 inhabiting Egypt proper. The chief 

 cities are: Cairo, 313,383 inhabitants; Alex- 

 andria, 238,888 ; Damietta, 60,000 ; Tantali, 

 55,000. Egypt proper is divided into three 

 great districts, namely, " Masr-el-Bahri," or 

 Lower Egypt ; " El-Dustani," or Middle Egypt ; 

 and "Es-Said," or Upper Egypt designations 

 drawn from the course of the river Nile, on 

 which depends the existence of the country. 

 These three geographical districts are subdi- 

 vided into eleven administrative provinces, 

 which, according to an enumeration .made by 

 the Government, had the following rural popu- 

 lation in 1862 : 



Provinces. No. of V!11i|*e. Rural Pnmilation. 



LOWER EGYPT Behereh 355 86. 545 



Bodat -el-Bahrein. 843 945,003 



" Dakalljeh 1,266 413,854 



" Kaljubijeh 574 403,418 



" Gheezeh 167 209,234 



Total Lower Egypt 3,205 2,117,945 



MID. EoYPT-Ninieh & Beni-Mezar 281 280,791 



Fayoom 104 143,389 



" Be'ui-Sooef VX) 95.402 



Total Middle Egypt 554 619,582 



UPPER EGYPT Sloot 234 404,064 



Girgeh 191 847,055 



Keneh and Esneh _1? 5 417,876 



Total Upper Egypt . . . * JJ-JO 1,1687995 



Total of Egypt Proper 47379 7806,522 



Almost the entire rural population is in a 

 state approaching serfdom, holding life and 

 property at the good-will of the governing class. 

 The inhabitants of the towns comprise 150,000 

 Copts, reputed descendants of the ancient 

 Egyptians ; 8,000 Jews ; 8,000 Armenians, and 

 about 25,000 domiciled Europeans, one-third 

 of them Greeks. At Cairo and Alexandria 

 there are numerous slaves. 



The total receipts for the year ending April 

 2, 1870, according to the official budget, 

 amounted to 1,469,000 purses, and the total 

 expenditure to 1,177,811 purses (500 piastres= 

 1 purse, 20 piastres = 1 American dollar). Ex- 

 clusive of the floating debt, Egypt has a very 

 large consolidated debt, consisting chiefly of 

 foreign loans. These are divided into two 

 classes, namely, general loans, supposed to be 

 contracted by the country, and loans of the 

 Khedive, as sovereign and greatest of land- 

 owners. The total general loans contracted 

 * See AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1869. 



up to January 1, 1870, amounted to $107,930,- 

 000, on which the interest and sinking fund 

 for 1870 summed up $12,748,115. Tho loans 

 of the Khedive, on January 1, 1870, comprised 

 $24,751,200; interest and sinking fund, $3,- 

 309,150. Not included in the foregoing state- 

 ment is a loan of the Khedive of $35,714,800, 

 contracted in Paris and London, May, 1870, on 

 the mortgage of his private domains, known as 

 the "Daira Sanieh." The loan, bearing in- 

 terest at 7 per cent., was issued at the price of 

 78J per 100, and was announced to be repayable 

 by half-yearly drawings at par, in 20 years. 



The army is raised by conscription. It con- 

 sisted, in January, 1869, of four regiments of 

 infantry, of 3,000 men each ; of a battalion of 

 chasseurs, of 1,000 men; of 3,500 cavalry ; 1,500 

 artillery ; and two battalions of engineers, of 

 1,500 each. There is, besides, a regiment of 

 black troops, of Soudan, numbering 3,000 men. 

 The Egyptian navy comprised, in 1869, 7 ships- 

 of-the-line, 6 frigates, 9 corvettes, 7 brigs, 18 

 gunboats and smaller vessels, and 27 transports. 



The value of the commerce of Alexandria 

 with foreign countries was, in 1869 : imports, 

 517,300,000 piastres (234,700,000 from Great 

 Britain) ; exports, 831,400,000 (612,400,000 to 

 Great Britain and 109,000,000 to France). 

 There entered in Alexandria, in 1869, 2,884 

 vessels, with a tonnage of 1,263,144; 1,061 

 of which vessels were steamers ; passengers, 

 55,719. The length of telegraphs is about 

 2,000 English miles. 



A report, presented in the early part of the 

 year by M. do Lesseps to the meeting of Suez 

 Canal shareholders at Paris, states that, during 

 the year 1870, about 8,000,000 francs would be 

 required to complete and improve the works. 

 The total number of vessels that passed through 

 the canal, from the day of its opening to the 

 15th of March, was 209, representing 146,631 

 tons. Of these, 56,052 tons were English ves- 

 sels ; 84,390 French ; 1 7, 666 Egyptian ; 14,625 

 Austrian; 7,386 Italian ; 4,178 Eussian ; 4,000 

 Norwegian; 3,200 Dutch; 880 German; 528 

 Spanish; 3,015 Prussian : 369 Portuguese, and 

 842 Turkish. Of the 209 vessels, 200 were 

 steamers; the others were sailing-vessels. The 

 tolls collected were from 79 vessels of 54,644 

 tons (130 vessels being exempt, having passed 

 through on the occasion of the opening of tho 

 canal), realizing 593,411 francs, and the amount 

 from small vessels as transit dues was 20,186 

 francs. "With respect to England the report 

 says: "England has from the first day been 

 able to utilize the canal largely. You have 

 seen what an imposing commercial fleet she 

 has sent to it, and that fleet augments every 

 day. Building-yards work literally night and 

 day in the United Kingdom in transforming or 

 building vessels. We could cite to you a single 

 company which, in its calculations, has put 

 down an annual payment of 2,500,000 francs 

 for the canal." The number of vessels passing 

 through the canal continues to increase in some- 

 thing like geometrical ratio month by mouth. 



