EGYPT 



2828 



EGYPT 



were introduced in order to protect 

 foreign merchants and encourage 

 commerce, but involved a multipli- 

 city of judicial systems. Two re- 

 ferred to Egyptians, one to foreign- 

 ers only, and another to foreigners 

 and natives. Moreover, the capitu- 

 lations offered relief to criminals of 

 all shades, since foreigners were 

 free from the jurisdiction of the 

 native courts. The judicial system 

 has been universally denounced, 

 and has undergone constant and 

 considerable modifications. The 

 native courts have both native and 

 foreign judges. The courts of sum- 

 mary jurisdiction are presided over 

 by one judge, and there are central 

 tribunals with three judges. There 

 is a court of appeal at Cairo. Crimi- 

 nal prosecutions are entrusted to a 

 procureur -general, whose represen- 

 tatives are attached to each tribu- 

 nal. There are special children's 

 courts. The police service is under 

 the administration of the ministry 

 of the interior. 



Native Education 



Under the ministry of public 

 instruction, education in Egypt 

 has made strides within recent 

 years. The natives are educated 

 in kuttabs, schools attached to 

 mosques. Some of these native 

 schools are under the ministry. 

 Here, in addition to instruction in 

 the Koran, the pupils are given an 

 elementary secular education. 

 There are over 1,000 of these 

 kuttabs attended by more than 

 25,000 pupils. There is also a 

 grant-in-aid system. Such grant 

 is made to other schools where 

 no other language but Arabic is 

 taught, and where a good standard 

 of education is maintained. The 

 number of scholars in these schools 

 rose from 7,536 in 1898, at which 

 date the grant-in-aid system began, 

 to 218,184 in 1919. There are 

 also secondary schools and colleges 

 where training for the various pro- 

 fessions is given, these including law, 

 medicine, engineering, accountancy, 

 agriculture, etc. 



INDUSTRY. The Egyptian is an 

 agriculturist. Ancient Egypt was 

 the granary of the Roman world, 

 and exported great quantities of 

 corn. With the coming of the 

 Turks a different order of things 

 was created, and a long period of 

 depression and misery followed. 

 The revival of Egyptian industry 

 began with the elimination of the 

 Turk by the British. Vast schemes 

 of irrigation and drainage were 

 being developed when the Great 

 War broke out. With the improve- 

 ment of the Assuan dam in 1913 a 

 further considerable area of the 

 Nile valley came under cultiva- 

 tion, with the result that the total 

 cultivable area of Egypt proper 



was reckoned in 1918 at 7,820,801 

 feddans, or a little over 8,000,000 

 acres. This makes an interesting 

 comparison with the figures given 

 at the time of the French occupa- 

 tion in 1798, when it was found 

 that the cultivable area totalled 

 3,520,000 acres. 



Egypt, as the first sultan of 

 Egypt said, has three assets the 

 Nile, the Egyptian sun, and the 

 fellah. Very full use is made of 

 both the sun and the Nile by the 

 fellah. The sun shines all through 

 the year, and the Nile is stored up 

 so as to be available in any season. 

 In addition, the fellah is extremely 

 hard-working, and it is towards 

 helping him in making the fullest 

 use of the Nile that British brains 

 and science have been directed. 

 In the past the fellah had to wait 

 upon the flood-tides. Nowadays, 

 instead of obtaining water for his 

 land for only a portion of the year, 

 he obtains a regular and sufficient 

 supply all the year round. In other 

 words, the whole system of irriga- 

 tion is being gradually directed 

 towards perennial irrigation thus 

 assuring two and often three crops 

 every year. 



Where perennial irrigation is 

 impossible, the basin system has 

 been adopted, whereby water is 

 stored in August and is kept in 

 reserve till October, when it begins 

 to be used. The basin system is 

 the oldest system of irrigation 

 known to Egypt. Only one crop 

 a year can be grown from it. 



Another system is used on the 

 high lands near the Nile. These 

 lands cannot be reached through 

 canals, so a system of pumping the 

 water is utilised. The British use 

 of steam-pumps has been largely 

 developed, several thousands being 

 in use. The water-wheel, worked 

 by buffaloes, or the water-lift 

 (shaduf), worked by hand, is still 

 in favour with the conservative 

 fellahs. Over 100,000 of these 

 water-wheels and water-lifts are in 

 use. There are three agricultural 

 seasons. Cotton, sugar, rice, and, 

 in a lesser degree, millet and 

 vegetables, are grown in summer ; 

 wheat, barley, flax, and vegetables 

 in winter. Maize, millet, and flood 

 rice are grown between August and 

 November the Nili period. 

 Cotton Production 



Egypt has also a future in other 

 directions. Such industries as oil 

 and tobacco are being developed. 

 There are gold-mines in the 

 eastern desert. 



The present prosperity of the 

 country, however, is due mainly 

 to cotton, which represents over 

 three-quarters of the total value of 

 Egyptian exports. It is estimated 

 that the present total output of 



this commodity is 7,500,000 kan- 

 tars. Considerable trade is done 

 with Manchester, and altogether 

 Great Britain purchases more than 

 half of Egypt's total production. 

 The progress of Egyptian trade 

 can be seen by the increase in 

 her exports from 19,000,000 in 

 1882 to 59,495,417 in 1919. Her 

 raw cotton export in 1918 alone 

 was 38,034,467. Egypt exports 

 chiefly raw cotton, cotton seed, 

 sugar, beans, cigarettes, onions, 

 rice, and gum-arabic which come 

 from the Sudan. Other exports are 

 eggs, hides and skins, wool, quails, 

 lentils, wheat, and dates. Sugar is 

 another highly important com- 

 modity. Egypt's imports are con- 

 fined to such manufactured articles 

 as cotton goods and other textiles, 

 coal, iron and steel, timber, 

 tobacco from Turkey and Greece, 

 machinery, flour, alcoholic liquors, 

 petroleum, fruit, coffee, and live 

 animals. 



Trade Routes 



The lines of commercial com- 

 munication to Egypt are, by virtue 

 of the country's geographical posi- 

 tion, the most important in the 

 world. Besides being a distribut- 

 ing centre for the Levant, it holds 

 a commanding position on the 

 trade routes from Europe to the 

 East. By the completion of the 

 Suez Canal in 1869, a direct sea 

 route was opened up between the 

 Mediterranean and the Red Sea. 

 Considerable use is made of the 

 ports of Alexandria and Port Said 

 by foreign steamship companies 

 among which the Germans were 

 pre-eminent. Passenger traffic is 

 at its height in the winter when 

 there is an influx of tourists seek- 

 ing pleasure or health. The rly. 

 system forms the northern section 

 of the Cape to Cairo scheme ; the 

 main line follows the Nile to 

 Shellal, S. of Assuan. See N V 



Bibliography. England mid 



Egypt, E. Dicey, 1881 ; The Nile 

 Quest, H. H. Johnston, 1903 ; Eng- 

 land in Egypt, Lord Milner, llth ed. 

 1904 ; The Egyptian Sudan : its 

 History and Monuments, E. A. T. 

 W. Budge, 1907 ; Modern Egypt, 

 Lord Cronier, 1908 ; The Making of 

 Modern Egypt, Auckland Colvin, 

 repr. 1909 ; Baedeker's Egypt and 

 the Sudan, 7th ed. 1914 ; Egypt 

 in Transition, Sidney Low, 1914; 

 Egypt of the Egyptians, W. L. 

 Balls, 1915 ; History of Events in 

 Egypt from 1798-1914, A. E. P. B. 

 Weigall, 1915 ; Macmillarx's Guide 

 to Egypt and the Sudan, 7th ed. 

 1916 ; With Kitchener in Cairo, 

 S. A. Moseley, 1917 ; Through 

 Egypt in War Time, M. S. Briggs, 

 1918 ; Modern Sons of Pharaoh : 

 study of the Manners and Customs 

 of the Copts of Egypt, S. H. Leeder, 

 1918 ; The Egyptian Problem, 

 Valentine Chirol, 1920. 



