190 



EGYPT. 



original republic of Colombia when it split up in 

 1830. This debt, originally 1,824,000 in amount, 

 has been at different times repudiated and recog- 

 nized, and various compromises have been made 

 with the bondholders. The arrangement of 1892, 

 reducing the capital to 750.000, was revised in 

 1895, and in the following year payments were 

 again suspended and negotiations were begun for 

 one more advantageous. The bonds outstanding 

 in 1899 amounted to 693,160. Arrangements 

 were completed in 1900 for the redemption of these 

 bonds by the Guayaquil and Quito Railroad Com- 

 pany. \\ liicli assumes the debt and agrees to re- 

 deem at par the outstanding bonds, reduced to 

 500,000, issuing $1,014,000 of its own bonds to be 

 given in exchange for part and applying to the 

 payment of others in half -yearly drawings an 

 extraordinary sinking fund of 12,500 per annum, 

 while for the amortization of another part is pro- 

 vided the ordinary sinking fund of $5,070 per an- 

 num. 



The internal debt in 1897 amounted to 7,500,000 

 sucres. The notes of the two banks of issue, 

 5,660,000 sucres on Jan. 1, 1899, are protected by 



gold and silver reserves considerably above the 

 :gal requirement of one third. A law of 1897 pro- 

 vides that half the^ reserve shall be in gold, and 

 in 1898 a law was passed for the establishment of 

 the gold standard in 1901 and the redemption of 

 2,000.000 sucres at their nominal value. This is 

 about two thirds of the silver coin in circulation, 

 about the proportion that is held by the banks in 

 their metallic reserves. The gold condor, the unit 

 of the new coinage, will contain the same quantity 

 of gold as the English sovereign and will ex- 

 change for 10 silver sucres. 



Commerce and Production. The chief ex- 

 portable product is cacao, which is grown in the 

 coast districts, where there are 47,200,000 trees. 

 The export of cacao from Guayaquil in 1898 was 

 425,883 quintals, against 331,045 quintals in 1897. 

 The export of coffee was 26,126 quintals in 1897 

 and 28,157 quintals in 1898. Of sugar 15,300 quin- 

 tals were exported in 1898. The export of ivory 

 nuts was 115,400 quintals. Other commercial prod- 

 ucts are rubber, cotton, hides, Panama hats, cin- 

 chona, orchilla, and sarsaparilla. Gold is obtained 

 by crushing at Oro and by hydraulic machinery 

 from the gravel at Esmeraldas. Indians wash gold 

 from the beds of many streams. Silver is mined in 

 Cafian province, and in other parts of the country 

 copper, lead, iron, and coal are present in quanti- 

 ties, and also petroleum. The total value of the 

 imports in 1897 was 18,004,048 sucres, and the 

 value of the exports was stated by the President 

 to have been 31,025,382 sucres. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered at 

 the port of Guayaquil during 1898 was 206, of 

 298,805 tons; cleared, 200, of 290,855 tons. About 

 45 per cent, of the vessels and of the tonnage is 

 British. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. An American 

 company acquired the railroad from Duran, oppo- 

 site Guayaquil, to Chimbo, 58 miles, and signed 

 a contract on June 14, 1897, to rebuild this section, 

 changing* it to the standard gauge, and to continue 

 it 292 miles to Quito. The route passes through a 

 productive region where coffee, cacao, and sugar 

 cane are grown. Work was begun in May. l.v.i!). 

 There are 1,242 miles of telegraph connecting 

 Quito with Guayaquil and with Colombian ports 

 and the ocean cable. 



EGYPT, a principality in northern Africa, 

 tributary to Turkey, and under the military oc- 

 cupation and political and financial control of 

 <;ivat Britain. The Government is an absolute 

 monarchy of the Mohammedan type, though the 



throne passes by the European law of primogeni- 

 ture, and the Khedive, or Viceroy, is advised by 

 a Council of Ministers. The reigning Khedive is 

 Abbas Hilmi. born July 14, 1874, who succeeded 

 his father. Mehemet Tewfik, on Jan. 7, 1892. The 

 British occupation has lasted since the suppres- 

 sion of the military revolt led by Arabi Pasha in 

 1882, and since Jan. 18, 1883, an English financial 

 adviser has possessed the right of veto over finan- 

 cial measures, and has generally exercised a de- 

 cisive voice in all important measures, imposing 

 such as he and his Government consider expedient 

 and desirable, and preventing the enactment of 

 others that they disapprove. A conference of 

 representatives of the powers that was held at 

 Constantinople to consider the situation caused by 

 the bankruptcy of the Egyptian treasury dissolved 

 when England, after the signature of a self-deny- 

 ing protocol, intervened single-handed in Egypt, 

 and France, having refused to join in the interven- 

 tion, was excluded from the dual control, leaving 

 England alone in control of the finances. The as- 

 surance was given at that time that Great Britain 

 would evacuate Egypt as soon as Egypt should be 

 able to maintain a firm and orderly government, 

 and this pledge was afterward reiterated by suc- 

 cessive governments in England. 



The Cabinet of the Khedive, constituted on 

 April 16, 1894, consisted in the beginning of 1900 

 of the following members : President of the Coun- 

 cil and Minister of the Interior. Mustapha Fehmi 

 Pasha; Minister of War and Marine, Mohammed 

 Abani Pasha; Minister of Public Works and of 

 Education, Hussein Fakhry Pasha; Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, Butros Ghali Pasha; Minister of 

 Finance, Ahmet Mazlum Pasha ; Minister of Jus- 

 tice, Ibrahim Fuad Pasha. The British diplomatic 

 agent is Viscount Cromer; financial adviser, J. 

 L. Gorst; commander in chief of the army of oc- 

 cupation, Major-Gen. R. A. J. Talbot. 



Area and Population. Egypt proper has a 

 total area of about 400,000 square miles, of which 

 only 12,976 square miles, comprising the narrow 

 valley of the Nile and the delta, are fertile and in- 

 habited by a settled population. The census of 

 June 1, 1897, makes the total population 9,734,405, 

 of whom 9,047,905 are sedentary Egyptians, 573,- 

 974 nomads, and 112,574 foreigners. Of the Egyp- 

 tian population 3,198,524, including 1,585.826 fe- 

 males, were under ten years of age, and 6.423,307, 

 including 3,152,404 females, were above that age. 

 Of the total number above that age 142,089 male* 

 and 3,088.673 females had no declared occupation ; 

 2,049.258 males were employed in agriculture: 

 532,322 males and 21.496 females were engaged ii 

 industries and trades; 184,096 males were laborer 

 and 61,577 clerks, and 4,801 females followed one 

 or the other of these occupations; 4,072 males a IK 

 2,553 females depended on the liberal professions; 

 156,623 males and 2.218 females were engaged in 

 religion and instruction, including 2.171 Christian 

 ecclesiastics and Jewish rabbis, 113.438 reader- of 

 the Koran, 4,934 school-teachers, and 40,441 pupils 

 above ten years of age; 29,201 males were in t In- 

 public force: and 111.665 males and 32.6<;3 fenialc- 

 were domestics. Of the foreign population 21,632. 

 comprising 10,976 males and 10.656 females, were 

 under and 90.942. comprising 53.273 males and 

 37,669 females, were over ten year-- of aLi'e. Of the 

 latter total 385 males were agriculturists. 25.494 

 males and 2.371 females in industrial pursuits and 

 trades, 1,172 males laborers and 6,031 clerks, and 

 also 14S females. 1.959 males and Is!) females in 

 liberal professions, 4,361 males and 2.0-49 females 

 in religious or educational calling. 6.S50 males in 

 (lie public force, and 1,712 males and 2.68.'-! females 

 domestics, while 5.309 males and 30,229 females 



