256 



EGYPT. 



E. 35,000, service of guaranteed loan E. 30/,- 

 125, preference debt E. 1,003,050, unified debt 

 E 2 182,900, suppression of corree E. 250,000, 

 unforeseen expenses E. 32,000, economy from 

 conversion of the privileged debt E. 205,037, 

 Government share of receipts in excess of ex- 

 penditures E. 415,887, and Soudan deficit 



The revenue for 1897 was E. 11,092,564 and 

 expenditure E. 10,059,257, leaving a surplus 

 of K. 433.307. For 1898 the revenue was esti- 

 mated at E. 10,440,000, and expenditures at 

 the same amount. The extraordinary expendi- 

 ture occasioned by the reconquest of the Soudan 

 was charged against the special reserve fund, ab- 

 sorbing that and leaving a deficit of E. bbb,000 

 at the end of the calendar year 1898. The gen- 

 eral reserve fund at the beginning of 1898 

 amounted to E. 3,831,749; the fund derived 

 from economies from conversions, E. 2,767,262. 

 The charges on account of debts of all kinds, 

 including Turkish tribute and the Moukabala, 

 the internal debt extinguishable by an annual 

 payment of 154,000 sterling till 1930, amounted 

 for 1899 to E. 4,723,031, or 4,845,800 sterling. 

 The charges on the debts managed by the Caisse 

 de la Dette were 3,930,280 sterling for 1898. 

 The amount of these debts on Jan. 1, 1898, was 

 103,863,940 sterling, of which 55,971,960 rep- 

 resent the 4-per-cent. unified debt, 29,393,580 

 the 3J-per-cent. privileged debt, 8,558,100 the 

 3-per-cent. guaranteed loans, 6,431,500 the 4-per- 

 cent. Daira Sanieh loan, and 3,508,800 the 4J- 

 per-cent. domains loan. 



The Army. After the disbandment of the 

 Egyptian army in 1882 a new army was organ- 

 ized, to be commanded by a British general with 

 the rank and title of sirdar. Major-Gen. Kitch- 

 ener, who after the defeat of the Khalifa at Om- 

 durman in 1898 was elevated to the peerage as 

 Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, is the present 

 sirdar. Under the military law of Dec. 22, 1882, 

 supplementing the law of Aug. 5, 1880, all Egyp- 

 tians, with the exception of priests, professors, 

 and students, are liable to serve from the age 

 of twenty-one six years in the active army, pass- 

 ing then into the redif for five years, and lastly 

 for five years into the territorial reserve. Ex- 

 emption can be obtained by paying E. 20. The 

 peace effective of the army must not exceed 

 18,000 men. The effective authorized in 1898 was 

 664 officers, 7 12 employees, and 13,685 men, formed 

 in 13 battalions, 9 squadrons, and 7 batteries of 

 6 guns, with 1,300 horses, 1,700 camels, and 310 

 mules. 



The Egyptian police in 1898 numbered 23 Eu- 

 ropean and (57 native officers, 240 employees, and 

 6,106 men. It is composed of soldiers of the redif 

 and in part of foreigners. The coast guard num- 

 bered about 50 officers and 1,000 men. 



The British army of occupation, for the ex- 

 penses of which the Egyptian treasury provides 

 87,000 a year, had in the beginning of 1899 a 

 strength of 5,553 men. 



Commerce and Production. The cotton crop 

 in 1896 was 5,879,479 kantars of 99 pounds. The 

 sugar crop in 1897 amounted to 72,918,250 kan- 

 tars. There are 3,779 villages, cultivating 4,961,- 

 462 feddans, the feddan being equal to 1.03 acre. 

 In 2,444 of the villages cotton is grown. The 

 number of date trees is 3,452,674. The cattle and 

 farm animals, including camels, number 1,668,860. 

 Of the total cultivated area nearly three fourths 

 are Kharriji lands, subject to an average tax of 

 22s. a feddan. The rest of the lands are mostly 

 r*fcwri, subject to tithes averaging 7s. a feddan. 

 The Wakf lands, belonging to the mosques, are 



leased at a moderate rent, and the tenants may 

 sell their leases or transmit them to their heirs. 

 All cultivators must pay about 4s. per feddan 

 annually for materials necessary to keep the 

 irrigation system in order, and may be required 

 to give their labor to keep the Nile embankments 

 in repair or to watch them in flood time, although 

 for other purposes the corvee has been abolished. 

 Of a total area of 4,721,300 feddans cultivated in 

 1894, holders of less than 5 feddans, 513,080 in 

 number, possessed 933,700 feddans; 75,130 hold- 

 ers had 552,700 feddans, divided into farms of 

 between 5 and 10 feddans; 61,740 holders had be- 

 tween 10 and 50 feddans each, the total area 

 being 1,234,200 feddans; and 11,430 larger pro- 

 prietors possessed 2,000,700 feddans. Of the last 

 many were British corporations and investors. 

 ,The lands of the fellahin are mortgaged to a 

 great extent, and many former proprietors have 

 lost their properties and fallen into the condition 

 of laborers. Next to cotton and sugar, the most 

 important crops are wheat, maize and durrah, 

 clover, beans, barley, lentils, rice, fenugreek, 

 onions, potatoes, melons, lupin, peas, flax, henna, 

 indigo, castor oil, and sesame. 



The total value of the imports in 1897 was 

 E. 10,603,672, and of exports E. 12,321,220. 

 The imports of specie, not included in the above, 

 were E. 2,921,722; exports, E. 2,369,479. 

 The imports of cotton cloth were E. 1,798,600 

 out of the total value of E. 3,526,666 for textile 

 manufactures and materials; imports of cereals 

 and vegetables, E. 1,196,409; of coal, wood, 

 etc., E. 1,178,954; of metals and metal manu- 

 factures, E. 1,128,897; of spirits, oils, etc., 

 E. 636,303; of tobacco, E. 521,518; of pro- 

 visions and drugs, E. 389,673; of animals and 

 animal food products, E. 374,848 ; of dyes, etc., 

 E. 253,872; of chemicals, E. 252,212; of 

 glass, stone, lime, etc., E. 235,238; of leather 

 goods, leather, and skins, E. 174,132; of books, 

 paper, and rags, E. 145,573; of various animal 

 products, E. 64,611; of miscellaneous goods, 

 E. 524,766. The exports of textiles were of 

 the value of E. 8,989,445, raw cotton amount- 

 ing to E. 8,915,640; exports of cereals, vege- 

 tables, etc., E. 2,389,630; of provisions and 

 drugs, E. 645,928 ; of skins, leather, and leather 

 goods, E. 89,244; of animals and animal food 

 products, E. 49,081; of other animal products, 

 E. 35,014; of metals and metal goods, E. 26,- 

 172; of wood, coal, cane work, etc., E. 18,700; 

 of rags, paper, etc., E. 14,592; of spirits, oils, 

 etc., E. 14,308; of chemical products, E. 8,- 

 715; of stone, lime, glass, etc., E. 1,463; of mis- 

 cellaneous goods, E. 25,177. 



The commerce in 1897 was distributed among 

 various countries as follows: 



