CORN IN EGYPT. 351 



steppes, adjacent to the Black Sea, and Asopli, are thinly peo- 

 pled, so that in years when crops are abundant they are seen 

 suffering on the ground for want of reapers. 3. Because on 

 these steppes crops are exceedingly precarious by reason of 

 drought, the common calamity of this climate; of the high 

 winds, which carry off the seed from the dusty soil ; of the 

 early thaws and subsequent frosts without snow. 4. Because 

 tillage is defective and improvement difficult under the present 

 circumstances of the country. 5. Because distances are great 

 and communication unaided by art, there being no roads, and 

 the rivers being unnavigable. 6. Because tlie landholders are 

 impoverished, and the most of them indebted to the crown, 

 and the working classes are degraded by their condition of 

 slavery.* 



Looking beyond Europe, we find that exportations to a con- 

 siderable amount are sometimes made from Egypt, a country 

 greatly enriched by the annual deposits of mud from the river 

 Nile, and bearing, with very little assistance from the husband- 

 man, three or four crops every year. In Lower Egypt, sowing 

 begins as soon as the waters subside, the seed being merely 

 scattered over the land, and left to sink into the soft earth by 

 its own weight, or trodden in by cattle driven over it for that 

 purpose. This generally takes place in November ; in Feb- 

 ruary the fields are green, and in May the harvest takes place. 

 The quantity reaped is very variable, but the Pacha informed 

 Dr. Bowring that he had exported in one year 630,000 

 quarters, producing on an average about sixteen shillings per 

 quarter. 



Thus in the present day, as in the time of the Pharaohs, the 

 neighbouring nations may go down to Egypt to buy bread. 

 Stores of corn are still laid up, and a singular method is 

 adopted to secure them from theft. It seldom happens in 

 Upper Egypt that there is any roof to cover the grain ; nor 

 is a covering necessary, as rain is scarcely ever known to fall ; 

 but the corn being collected into a heap, is stamped all round 

 the foot of the heap with the impression of a large wooden 

 seal, so that nobody can touch the pile without deranging the 

 impression. 



It might have been expected, from the fertility of the soil 

 and the beauty of the climate, that Syria would have had an 

 overplus of corn, and be able to export it to other lands ; but 

 so great is the want of agriculturists and labourers, that the 

 fields lie comparatively waste. " Regions of the highest fcr- 



* Report to Lord Palmerston, from the British Consul at Odessa. 



