THE COPTS. 



843 



knowledge of Arabic literature, gradually deprived the native Christians of the 

 chief administrative functions. The inferior positions of scribes and notaries are, 



Fig. 100. — Egyptian Type : Bas-Relief ornamenting the Tomb of Sheikh Abd-el-Guunah, 



AT Thebes. 



however, still left in the hands of the Copts, and the Egyptian bureaucracy com- 

 prises altogether more Christians than Mohammedans. 



The Coptic clerk, we are told by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, is even " practically 

 the judge of first instance, for it depends upon his favour whether the peasant's 



