EGYPT 



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Cosseir is a seaport, on the Red Sea, and has some trade in corn. The country around it, 

 IS a desert. Kenne, on the Nile, west of Cosseir, is a place of considerable trade. Thebes, 

 Luxor, Esne, Syene, Elephantine, Philce, Ghizeh, and many others, are remarkable for their 

 antiquities. 



9. Agriculture. Whoever is in the least acquainted with geography, knows, that the vast 

 fertility of Egypt is not produced by rain (little falling in that country) but by the annual over- 

 flowing of the Nile. It begins to rise when the sun is vertical in Ethiopia, and when the an- 

 nual rains fall there, from the latter end of May to September, and sometimes October. At 

 the height of its flood, in the Lower Egypt, nothing is to be seen in the plains, but the tops of 

 forests and fruit-trees, the towns and villages being, for that reason, built upon eminences, either 

 natural or artificial. When the river is at its proper height, the inhabitants celebrate a kind of 

 jubilee, with great festivity. The banks, or mounds, which confine it, are cut by the Turkish 

 pasha, attended by his grandees ; and, after this ceremony, the water is led into what they call 

 the khalij, or grand canal, which runs through Cairo, whence it is distributed into cuts, for sup- 

 plying the fields and gardens. The irrigation is effected by machinery. This being done, and 

 the waters beginning to retire, such is the fertility of the soil, that the labor of the husbandman 

 is next to nothing. He throws his wheat and barley into the ground in October and May. He 

 turns his cattle out to graze in November ; and, in about 6 weeks, nothing can be more charm- 

 ing, than the prospect which the face of the country presents, in rising corn, vegetables, and 

 verdure of every sort. Oranges and lemons perfume the air ; dates, grapes, and figs, cheer 

 the eye ; and palm-trees, which afford the means of making wine, are blooming and abundant. 

 The culture of pulse, melons, sugar-canes, and other plants, which require moisture, is sup- 

 plied by small, but regular cuts, from cisterns and reservoirs. March and April are the har- 

 vest months, and they produce 3 crops ; one of lettuces and cucumbers (the latter being the 

 ordinary food of the inhabitants), one of corn, and one of melons. The Egyptian pasturage is 

 equally prolific, most of the quadrupeds producing 2 ai a time, and the sheep 4 lambs in a year. 

 Among the vegetable products of Egypt should also be mentioned the papyrus, of which the 

 ancients made their paper, though their mode of preparing it is now unknown ; and the lotus, 

 a kind of water-lily, abounding in the Nile. The pith of the papyrus is said to be a nourishing 

 food. The trees are the sycamore, acacia, willow, &c. 



The Egyptian mode of hatching chickens in ovens is very curious, and has been practised 

 in Europe with success. Not less extraordinary and ingenious is the manner of raising and 

 managing bees in that country. When the verdure and flowers fail in one part of Egypt, the 

 proprietors of bees put their hives on board of large boats, each marking his own hive. The 

 boatman proceeds with them gently up the river, and stops with them wherever he perceives 

 flowery meadows. The bees swarm from their cells at break of day, and collect honey, 

 returning several times loaded with what they have obtained, and in the evening reenter their 

 hives, without ever mistaking their abode. Cotton is raised in great abundance in Egypt. It 

 is sown in April, and the land is irrigated by the Nile. The neighborhood of the river is 

 preferred for its cultivation. The plough is generally used. The cotton is of two distinct 

 kinds, the common Egyptian cotton, and the maho ; both, however, are native. 



10. Commerce. The exportation of cotton promises to constitute in future an important 

 item in the commerce of Egypt. Until 1822, the cotton raised here was of an inferior quality. 

 Since then a better sort has been introduced little inferior to the Sea Island. The crop is 

 now 20,000,000 lbs. Caravans perform the trade with Abyssinia, Darfur, Sennaar, Barbary, 

 and Syria. There is also a trade with the ports on the Red Sea. 



11. Manufactures. The present sovereign of Egypt has made strenuous exertions for the 

 promotion of manufactures. Cotton and woolen cloths are made in Esneh, Boulak, and other 

 places. Linen is manufactured at Siout. There are also some manufactures of silk, salt- 

 petre, and earthen ware. 



12. Population, Military Force, Revenue, &c. The population is about 2,500,000. The 

 military force is 75,000 men, disciphned and armed in the European mode, beside the irregu- 

 lar forces of the country. The troops are chiefly Arabs and Syrians. The navy was nearly 

 annihilated at the batde of Navarino, but still consists of 12 ships of the line, 15 frigates, and 

 40 smaller vessels. The revenue of the government is estimated at 20,000,000 dollars. 



13. Inhabitants. The inhabitants of Egypt are various and distinct. The most numerous 

 are the Fellahs or Arab cultivators, the descendants of the ancient conquerors, who form 

 more than four fifths of the whole population. These are well-formed and active, though lean. 



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