CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



ivory, hides, raw cotton. Coffee and maize are 

 grown in considerable quantities. 



The Orange River Free State consists of the 

 territory lying between the two great branches of 

 the Orange River, and separated from the coast 

 by the mountain-chain of the Quathlamba, &c. 

 It is occupied by Dutch Boers, who retired from 

 Natal when declared a British colony, and formed 

 a republic here, along with some coloured inhab- 

 itants. In 1880, the whites numbered 61,000 and 

 the natives 72,500. The country itself is a vast 

 plateau, rising from 3000 to 5000 feet above the 

 sea-level. 



The 7'ransvaal, on which Dutch Boers founded 

 a republic in 1848, became a British colony in 

 1877, but was restored to independence, though 

 under British suzerainty, in 1881. It also consists 

 of an immense plateau, sloping to the north, and 

 having an area of 110,000 square miles. The 

 European population is about 40,000. A con- 

 siderable trade is carried on with Natal, and the 

 Portuguese settlements are occasionally visited 

 by trading parties. Copper, iron ore, and gold 

 are met with in Transvaal. 



EASTERN AFRICA. 



Egypt, properly so called, is a small country 

 occupying the north-east corner of Africa, on both 

 sides of the Nile, as far south as the first cataract, 

 about 24 north lat ; but the territory now under 

 the sway of the ruler of Egypt, embraces in addi- 

 tion, Nubia, Cordufan, Bariah, and undefined 

 tracts of country in the basin of the White Nile.. 

 Previous to the acquisitions recently made by the 

 expedition under Sir Samuel Baker, the area of 

 Kgypt, in this extended sense, was vaguely esti- 

 mated at upwards of 600,000 square miles, with a 

 population of 7,000,000. 



The area of Egypt proper is only about 

 130,000 square miles. It consists of two great 

 natural divisions namely, a cultivated part, 

 or the valley and Delta of the Nile, which are 

 formed by deposits of that river, comprise only a 

 tenth of the above area, and are of amazing fer- 

 tility, due to the annual floods of the Nile, aided by 

 irrigation ; and barren table-lands and hilly tracts, 

 which occupy the rest of the country, and lie on 

 each side of the fertile part 



The valley of the Nile is, in Upper Egypt, six 

 miles, and in Lower, twelve miles broad, on an 

 average ; at a few points, the hills approach the 

 margin of the river, and the extreme breadth of 

 the valley is 25 miles. The Nile, 90 miles from its 

 mouth, divides into two widely diverging branches, 

 called the Rosetta and Damietta branches. 

 The space between is a triangular flat, 90 miles 

 on each side, called the Delta, from its shape 

 resembling the Greek letter A, or Delta. The 

 Delta has an average height above the sea of 50 

 feet, and the highest parts are 100 feet Anciently, 

 the Nile ran in seven great divisions through the 

 Delta into the sea ; but the two extreme ones just 

 mentioned are alone now navigable, the others 

 having been silted up. 



The grand phenomenon connected with the 

 Nile is the annual overflow of the low lands 

 of the valley and Delta along its banks. These 

 inundations, and the fertility they produce, 



294 



are due to periodical rains and melting 

 snow on the mountains of Abyssinia and in 

 the basin of the White Nile. At Khartoum, 

 the Nile begins to increase early in April ; 

 but in Lower Egypt, the inundation usually 

 begins about the 25th of June, and attains its 

 height in three months. It remains stationary 

 about twelve days, and then subsides. The fer- 

 tility of Egypt is entirely dependent on the rise of 

 the Nile, for the country may be said to have no 

 rain. At the end of November, the irrigated land 

 has dried, and is sown, and is covered with green 

 crops, which last till the end of February. In 

 March is the harvest The Delta and valley of 

 the Nile consist of alluvium, or mud and sand 

 brought down by the floods almost entirely from 

 the Atbara, the last tributary received by the Nile. 

 This alluvium contains few or no pebbles, and 

 little detritus of any size. The Nile deposits every 

 year a new layer ; the average depth thus added 

 to the soil is estimated by some at 4^ inches in a 

 century, while others make it as much as six 

 inches. 



The climate of Egypt is very dry and warm. 

 The chief drawbacks are the occasional hot winds 

 of spring and summer, and the moistness of the 

 Mediterranean sea-board. Among the chief pro- 

 ductions of Egypt may be mentioned the date- 

 palm ; the papyrus, anciently used as material for 

 paper, now, however, rare ; and the lotus or water- 

 lily of the Nile. The sugar-cane, cotton, indigo, 

 and tobacco are cultivated, and gourds and melons 

 abound. Wheat, barley, maize, and durra are 

 raised. The country is deficient in trees. 



Egypt, formerly a pashalik of the Turkish em- 

 pire, came, in 1873, to be governed by a semi- 

 independent sovereign, with the title of Khedive, 

 but paying an annual tribute to the sultan. Since 

 the rebellion under Arabi Pasha in 1882, Egypt 

 has, however, been occupied by British troops, 

 and administered under British influence. In 

 1873, the sultan granted the khedive the right 

 of concluding treaties. From remote times, 

 Egypt proper has been divided into three great 

 districts Lower Egypt, Middle Egypt, and Upper 

 Egypt, which are subdivided into eleven adminis- 

 trative provinces. The whole population was stated 

 in 1870 at about 5,000,000. The town population 

 comprises 150,000 Copts, descendants of the 

 ancient Egyptians ; 8000 Jews ; 3000 Armenians ; 

 and 25,000 domiciled Europeans. The total town 

 population is 500,160, of which Cairo, the capital, 

 contains 256,700 ; Alexandria, the chief port, 

 164,400 ; and Suez, 4160. The rural population is in 

 a condition of serfdom. In Cairo and Alexandria, 

 there are many slaves. The total commerce of 

 Egypt averages in value ^35,000,000, the greater 

 proportion of which consists of goods in transit 

 between India and Great Britain, being 70 per cent, 

 of the whole. The opening of the Suez Canal, which 

 was constructed by a French company, at a cost 

 of .16,000,000 sterling, and was opened for navi- 

 gation on November 17, 1869, has had an import- 

 ant influence on Egyptian commerce. In 1870, 

 491 ships, with a total tonnage of 436,618, passed 

 through the canal; in 1871, the number of ships 

 had increased to 3198 (of which 2565 were British), 

 and the tonnage to 7,122,156. The receipts of the 

 Suez Canal Company, in 1882, amounted to 

 .2,500,000. Egypt possesses considerable railway 

 and telegraph systems, which are almost wholly state 



