RELIGION— THE MOHAMMEDANS. 353 



appeared from Egypt. The species of gastric fever known in the East by the 

 name of deng is also very prevalent, while the elephantiasis of the Arabs frequently 

 attacks the natives, especially in the delta. Another skin disease, the so-called 

 '* button " of the Nile, analogous to the " date " of Bagdad and the " button " of 

 Aleppo and Biskra, is endemic in the country. Most of the inhabitants as well as 

 strangers suffer from this sore once during life or during their residence in Egypt, 

 although for the most part under a somewhat mild form of the malady. 



Religion. — The Mohammedans. 



Upwards of nine- tenths of the Egyptians are Mohammedans. But in a land 

 where religions have succeeded each other like the alluvial deposits of the Nile, 

 the people have not had time thoroughly to conform themselves to the oflBcial cult. 

 Hence more than one observer has discovered in the legends and ceremonies of 

 the fellahîn traces of the religion which formerly attracted multitudes of wor- 

 shippers to the vestibules of the great temples at Thebes and Memphis. Thus the 

 nocturnal feast attended by the peasantry in the expectation of a visit from the 

 golden cow in the ruined sanctuary of Denderah, recalls the solemn processions 

 made in honour of the divine heifer Hathor.* In truth the Egyptians are 

 Mussulmans only on the surface, and compared with the indifferent masses, very 

 few are those who scrupulously observe the prescriptions of the Prophet. The 

 mosques are little frequented ; the fellah does not always perform his ablutions in 

 the canal flowing by his dwelling, nor does the Bedouin stop in the wilderness to 

 carry out the prescribed formality with sand in the absence of water. 



During the last fifty years the spirit of religious tolerance has made rapid 

 strides in Egypt. However intense the zeal of the most ardent hajis, none of 

 them came forward to oppose the English imtil the " holy war " was proclaimed, 

 and even then none of the few volunteers who entered the ranks were natives of 

 Lower Egypt.t However proud of belonging to the chosen people, the Egyptian 

 Muslims have forfeited the right any longer to despise aliens to their faith, with 

 whom they have not dared to try issues, and who confront them with all the 

 marks of intellectual superiority and all the resources of material strength. 

 Nevertheless within the limits of Egyptian territory is found the very centre of 

 the hostile movement against the Christians. The formidable Mussulman brother- 

 hood of the Mahdi, or " Guide," Sidi Mahommed Ben Ali-es-Senûsi, has its metro- 

 politan convent at Serhub, or Jarahûb, in the oasis of Faredgha. But the Guide 

 himself, allied apparently with the Mahdi who raised the Arab tribes of Kordofân 

 and the Upper Nile, is a native of Algeria, and from Mauritania come nearly all 

 the faithful that have rallied round him. The choice of this place was due to two 

 distinct advantages which it presented — an almost central position for the pro- 

 paganda in the Mussulman world, and its remoteness from all military and trading 

 stations in the hands of Europeans. Here he has been able almost secretly to 



* G. Maspeio, " Manuscript Notes." 



t Mackenzie "Wallace, " Kgypt and the T^]gryptian Question." 



23— AF. 



