KfJYI'T. 



247 



ami apparel for E. 889,284, timber for : 1-1. 



:'.. cotfee f-r E. 248,575, wine, beer, and 



spirits fur 6 B. 265,267, tobacco for K. 475,- 



475, petroleum for E. 'Jlti;.:;!)!. machinery for 



:_', indigo for K 191,:!7!l, fruits for 



J I-:. I^::.is8, rico for K. 167.!(ir>, animals for 



<J K. 111. <MM). and refined sii^-ir f..r f K. st.litid. 



Tin chief exports were cotton for E. 8,272,- 



J-.'i;. cotton seed for I' Iv l.:;,s<U'.V>. beans for 



J I-!. T::H.<;I;. -n^.-ir for E. 838,923, wheat 



I :. .'.'::.!()<, hides and skins for K. '.n.- 



nions for E. 72,834. rice for E. 70,- 



i!Hi. wool for E. 52,514, Indian corn for 



I K. ,'::, l.~> 7, ;md lentils for *J E. 19,627. 



Navigation. The vessels that arrived at the 

 port of Alexandria during 1890 numbered 2,019, 

 of l.(i:!'J.--0 tons, and the number cleared was 

 2,020, of 1,613,800 tons. The arrivals and clear- 

 ances at the other ports numbered 3,942, of 2.- 

 307.-.200 tons, of which 930, of 1,342,300 tons, 

 wen- Hritish. Of the vessels entered at Alex- 

 andria, fir,!!, of 756,088 tons, were British; 131, 

 of ^'(i3,658 tons, were French; 937, of 239,743 

 tons, were Turkish: 114. of 157,581 tons, were 

 Austrian; 55, of 82,315 tons, were Russian; 81, 

 of 74,i>25 tons, were Italian; and 17, of 18,838 

 tons, were Norwegian and Swedish ; the Greek, 

 (irnnan, and Danish flags coming next. 



Internal Communications. The length of 

 railroads in operation in 1892 is 1,127 miles, to 

 which 108 miles of new lines under construction 

 were soon to be added. There were 4,696,286 

 passengers and about 1,900,000 tons of freight 

 carried in 1890. The gross earnings were E. 

 1,408,742, and the total expenditure was E. 

 610,124. The Government telegraph lines in 

 1891 had a length of 3,168 miles, with 5.430 

 miles of wire. The number of telegrams sent in 

 1890 was 619,940. The postal traffic in 1890 

 comprised 9,356,700 letters and cards sent, and 

 8,740,000 received, and 3,769,500 papers, samples, 

 etc., carried, and 5,382,940 received. There were 

 1.<;::<|.5<K) foreign letters forwarded, and 1,499,000 

 received. 



The Suez Canal. For the year 1890 the 

 number of vessels that passed through the Suez 

 Canal was 3,389, having a gross tonnage of 9,- 

 749,129 tons. Of the vessels, 2.522, of 7,438,682 

 tons, were British ; 275, of 731,888 tons, were 

 German ; 169, of 555,941 tons, were French ; 

 144, of 341,828 tons, were Dutch ; 87, of 217,480 

 tons, were Italian ; 55, of 177,941 tons, were 

 Austrian ; 34, of 103,111 tons, were Spanish ; 43, 

 of 78,107 tons, were Norwegian ; 20, of 59,613 

 tons, were Russian ; 21, of 28,303 tons, were 

 Turkish ; 4, of 6,300 tons, were Japanese ; 7, of 

 8,814 tons, were Portuguese ; 3, of 2,682 tons, 

 were Greek; and 3, of 2,112 tons, were Ameri- 

 can. The number of passengers who were car- 

 ried through the canal in 1890 was 161,153. 

 The receipts were E. 2,679.340. The canal has 

 a length of 87 miles, including 21 miles of lakes. 

 The share capital amounts to 195,125,000 francs, 

 and the bonds outstanding in 1891 amounted to 

 121,764,179 francs. Besides the 394,677 shares, 

 of 500 francs each, that were issued to the pub- 

 lic, there are 100,000 founders' shares, wnich 

 have the right to a part of the surplus profits, 

 their share for 1890 having been 2,545,732 francs. 

 Of the other shares, 176,602 formerly belonged 

 to the Khedive and were bought by the British 



Government in November, 1875, for 3,976,582. 

 Of the net earnings beyond 5 per cent, interest 

 on the capital stock, the Egyptian Govern m< nt 

 receives 15 per cent.; the founders' .shares, 10 per 

 cent.; the common shares, 71 per cent.; tin- 

 managing directors, 2 per cent.: and the em- 

 ployees of the company. 2 per cent. In 1H!*0 tin- 

 net profits were :js,i:i:i.:!M4 francs. 



The Firman of Investiture. When Mo- 

 hammed Tewfik died, on Jan. 7, 1892, his son, 

 Abbas Pasha, was immediately confirmed as 

 Khedive of Egypt by the Sultan o r Turkey, ac- 

 cording to the existing firman, which gave t In- 

 right of succession by primogeniture. It was 

 expected that the firman of investiture would 

 be issued shortly, and assurances were given to 

 that effect. When, after a lapse of several 

 weeks, the document was drawn up and signed, 

 a further delay occurred in dispatching the 

 firman. The suspicion of the Khedive and his 

 ministers was thereby aroused, and when Ahmed 

 Eyub Pasha, the Sultan's envoy, arrived in 

 Cairo, on April 4, and refused to disclose the im- 

 port of the firman before its public reading, the 

 Khedive was prevailed upon not to submit to an 

 investiture before a full knowledge of its con- 

 tents was obtained. To become a party to any 

 conditions which the Sultan might choose to 

 insert without being made acquainted with 

 them was even considered dangerous to the 

 independence of the Egyptian Government, not 

 to speak of the difficulties it might create with 

 the powers friendly to Egypt. In this the 

 Khedive was strongly supported by Sir Evelyn 

 Baring, the British diplomatic agent. The Sul- 

 tan's envoy finally consented to disclose the con- 

 tents of the firman, and a copy was furnished to 

 the Khedive. It appeared from th'is that the 

 limits of Egypt as described in the new firman 

 were not those set down in the one issued dur- 

 ing the reign of Tewfik, following the firman 

 issued to Ismail Pasha, this new firman being 

 based on that issued to Mehemet AH. This 

 meant a curtailing of the Egyptian eastern 

 frontier, a line being drawn from El Aresh to 

 Suez, at the head of the western branch of the 

 Red Sea, instead of a line drawn from El Aresh 

 to the head of the eastern branch of the Red 

 Sea, the Gulf of El Akaba, whereby Turkey 

 tried to reassert her authority over the Sinai 

 peninsula. Sir Evelyn Baring addressed a note 

 to the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 calling attention to the departure taken in the 

 new firman, and asking whether a satisfactory 

 explanation from Turkey had been received. 

 The Minister of Foreign Affairs attached a tele- 

 gram from the Grand Vizier to his answer, 

 which conceded the administrative rights of 

 Egypt over the Sinai peninsula, and also a tele- 

 gram from the Sultan, stating expressly that the 

 Sinai district was to belong to Egypt. Sir Eve- 

 lyn Baring answered to this that the Govern- 

 ment of Great Britain could not consent to any 

 diminution of Egyptian territory, but that the 

 definition of the boundaries as descriU-d in the 

 firman and supplemented by the telegram were 

 satisfactory, and that the Government of Great 

 Britain regarded the telegram as constituting 

 part of the firman, and requested that the two 

 oe read together. This was consented to, and 

 the public reading of the firman took place on 



