172 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



SuBSECT. 2. Of the jiresent State of Agriculture in Egypt. 



1071 . The climate of Egypt has a peculiar character from the circumstance of rain being 

 very uncommon. The heat is also extreme, particularly from March to November; 

 while the cool season, or a kind of spring, extends through the other months. 



1072. The surface of the country is varied in some regions, but is otherwise flat and 

 uniform. Far the greater part presents a narrow fertile vale, pervaded by the Nile, and 

 bounded on either side by barren rocks and mountains. The soil of Egypt has been 

 variously described by different travellers, some representing it as barren sand, only 

 rendered fertile by watering, and others as " a pure black mould, free from stones, of a 

 very tenacious and unctuous nature, and so rich as to require no manure." The latter 

 appears to prevail only in the Delta. 



1073. The fertility of Egypt has been generally ascribed to the inundations of the Nile, 

 but this is applicable in a strict sense only to parts of the Delta ; whereas, in other dis- 

 tricts there are canals, and the adjacent lands are generally watered by machines. Gray's 

 description of Egypt, as immersed under the influx of the Nile, though exquisitely 

 poetical, is far from being just. In Upper Egypt the river is confined by high banks, 

 which prevent any inundation into the adjacent country. This is also the case in Lower 

 Egypt, except at the extremities of the Delta, where the Nile is never more than a few 

 feet below the surface of the ground, and where of course inundation takes place. But 

 the country, as we may imagine, is without habitations. The fertility of Egypt, ac- 

 cording to Browne, an intelligent traveller, arises from human art. The lands near the 

 river are watered by machines ; and if they extend to any width, canals have been cut. 

 The soil in general is so rich as to require no manure ; it is a pure black mould, free 

 from stones, and of a very tenacious unctuous nature. When left uncultivated, fissures 

 have been observed, arising from extreme heat, of such depth that a spear of six feet 

 could not reach the bottom. 



1074. The limits of cultivated Egypt are encroached upon annually, and barren sand is 

 accumulating from all parts. In 1517, the era of the Turkish conquest. Lake Mareotis 

 was at no distance from the walls of Alexandria, and the canal which conveyed the waters 

 into the city was still navigable. At this day, the lake has disappeared, and the lands 

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

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

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

 inhabitants 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 the 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 Menzale, is utterly destroyed. With it perished the beautiful 

 province which it fertilised, 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 foundations it has sapped. The last of the great works 

 of Egypt, the canal of Amrou, which formed a communication between Fostat and 

 Colzoum, reaches 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 affirmed that 

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

 deserts. 



1075. 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, when 

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

 property and influence of the beys, of the Mamelukes, and of the professors of the law, are 

 so extensive, and so absolute, as to enable them to engross into their own hands a very consi- 

 derable part : the number of the other proprietors is extremely small, and their property 

 liable to a thousand impositions. Eveiy 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 labourers, to whom no more is left than what is barely sufficient to 



