172 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



watered by it, which, according to historians, protluccd abundance of corn, wine, and 

 various fruits, arc changed into deserts, in which are found neither shrub, nor plant, nor 

 verdure. Tlie canal itself, the work of Alexander, necessary to the subsistence of the 

 iniiabitants of the city, which he built, is nearly choked up, and preserves the waters only 

 when the inundation is at its greatest height, and for a short time. About half a century 

 ago, part of tlie mud deposited by the river was cleared out of it, and it retained the 

 water three months longer. Schemes have lately been adopted for opening and per- 

 fecting this canal. The Pelusiac branch, which discharges itself into the eastern part of 

 the lake of Tanais, or Menzal6, is utterly destroyed. With it perished the beautiful 

 province which it fertilized, and the famous canal begun by Necos, and finished by 

 Ptolemy Philadelphus. The famous works executed by kings, who sought their glory 

 and happiness in the prosperity of the people, have not been able to resist the ravages of 

 conquerors, and that despotism, which destroys every thing, till it buries itself under the 

 wreck of the kingdoms whose foundation it has sapped. The canal of Amrou, the last 

 of the great works of Egypt, and which formed a communication between Fostat and 

 Colzoum, readies at present no farther than about four leagues beyond Cairo, and loses 

 itself in the lake of Pilgrims. Upon the whole, it may be confidently aflSrmed that 

 upwards of one-third of the lands formerly in cultivation is metamorphosed into dreary 

 deserts. 



1049. Landed property in Egypt is for the most part to be considered as divided between 

 the government and the religious bodies, who perform the service of the mosques, and 

 have obtained possession of what they hold by the munificence of princes and rich men, or 

 by the measures taken by individuals for the benefit of their posterity. Hence, a large 

 proportion of the tenants and cultivators hold either of the government, or the procurators 

 of the mosques. But there is one circumstance common to both, viz. that their lands, 

 becoming unoccupied, are never let but upon terms ruinous to the tenants. Besides the 

 property and influence of the beys, the mamelukes and the professors of the law are so 

 extensive, and so absolute, as to engross into their own hands a very considerable part : 

 the number of the other proprietors is extremely small, and their property liable to a 

 thousand impositions. Every moment some contribution is to be paid, or some damage 

 repaired ; there is no right of succession or inheritance for real property, except for 

 that called *' wakf," which is the property of the mosques ; every thing returns to 

 government, from which every thing must be repurchased. According to Volney, the 

 peasants are hired laborers, to whom no more is left than what is barely suflficient to 

 sustain life ; but Browne says, that tliese terms can be properly applied to very few of 

 them. 



1050. The occupier of the land, assisted by his family, is the cultivator; and in the 

 operations of husbandry scarcely requires any other aid. And the tenant of land com- 

 monly holds no more than he and his family can cultivate, and gather the produce of. 

 When, indeed, the Nile rises, those who are employed to water the fields are commonly 

 hired laborers. The rice and corn they gather are carried to their masters, and nothing 

 is reserved for them but dourra, or Indian millet, of which they make a coarse and taste- 

 less bread without leaven ; this, with water and raw onions, is their only food through- 

 out the year ; and they think themselves happy if they can sometimes procure a little 

 honey, cheese, sour milk, and dates. Their whole clothing consists in a shirt of coarse 

 blue linen, and in a black cloak. Their head-dress is a sort of cloth bonnet, over which 

 they roll a long handkerchief of red wOollen. Their lgg 

 arms, legs, and breasts are naked, and some of them do 

 not even wear drawers. Their habitations {fig. 168.) 

 are mud-walled huts, in which they are suffocated with 

 heat and smoke, and in which, besides the experience 

 of other inconveniences, they are perpetually distressed 

 with the dread of the robberies of the Arabs, and thc^^ 

 extortions of the mamelukes, family feuds, and all the' 

 calamities of a perpetual civil war. 



1051. The agricultural products of Egypt arc grain of most sorts, and particularly rice. 

 Barley is grown for the horses, but no oats are seen. In the Delta a crop of rice and a 

 crop of barley are obtained within the year on the same ground. Sometimes instead of 

 barley a fine variety of the soil {Trifolium Alexandrinum of Forskal) is sown without 

 ploughing or harrowing. The seed sinks to a sufficient depth in the moist soil, and pro- 

 duces three cuttings before the time for again sowing the rice. 



105'2. Rice is sown from the month of March to that of May ; and is generally six months in coming to 

 maturity. In reaping, it is most commonly pulled up by the roots ; and as the use of the flail is unknown 

 in Egypt, the rice plants are spread in thick layers on floors, formed of earth and pigeon's dung, which are 

 well beaten, and very clean ; and then, in order to separate the grain from the straw, they make use of a 

 sort of carts, constructed like our sledges, with two pieces of wood joined together by two cross bars; 

 between the longer sides of this sledge are fixed transversely three rows of small wheels, made of solid 

 iron, and narrowed off towards their circumference. On the fore jjart is fixed a high seat, on which a 

 man sits, fpr the purpose of driving two oxen that are harnessed to the machine, and thus moving it in a 



