1874.] 



239 



[Dclmk-r. 



The Almanac de Gotha for 1873 gives the population, at a recent date, 

 at 8,000,000, and appears to quote Mr. E. de Regny, the offlcial statistician 

 of Egypt, for authority. 



Population of Egypt Proper. 



1812 



1820 

 1833 

 1844 

 1847 

 1859 

 1863 

 1866 

 1867 

 1872 

 1873 



population. 



3,000,000 

 2,500,000 

 2,000,000 

 3,350,000 



4,542,620 

 5,125,000 

 4,709,116 

 4,848,528 

 4,888,925 

 5,203,405 

 5,250,000 



authority. 



Estimate. 



Morse's Gazetteer. 



MacGreggor. 



Aim. de Gotha. 



Census. 



Census. 



Com. Rel., 1873. 



Br. Con. Ret., 6-1867. 



Com. Rel., 1873. 



This table exhibits a decrease of population from the time of Mehemet 

 Ali's accession, to the close of the Syrian war, similar to that shown with 

 regard to acres of cultivated area. It likewise shows the same sudden 

 growth immediately afterward, and even a slower growth since. These 

 coincidences are undoubtedly due to the same causes — the wars of Me • 

 bemet Ali, particularly those in Syria ; the abandonment of the country 

 for the desert, in preference to participation in those wars ; and the sub- 

 sequent return of the people from the battle-fields and the wilderness. 

 Says MacGreggor, "Almost without exception the laborers mutilated 

 themselves by cutting off the first finger of the i-ight hand, destroying the 

 right eye, or pulling out the front teeth, in order to avoid the cjnscrip- 

 tion," p. 231. 



Comparison of Population and Cultivated Area. 



If the large estates worked by the Khedive and his relatives, or the 

 nobles of his court, be deducted, there will not remain in Eo-ypt over 

 one-half an acre of arable land to each person ; and even if the land cul- 

 tivated at present were divided equally among all, there would still be 

 not over nine-tenths of an acre per capita. To show how comparatively 

 small an area this is, I give the statistics on this point x-elative to the 

 countries with which we are most familiar. 



