866 



EGYPT. 



Egyptian Women. 



have fine teeth, and sunken sparkling eyes. The Copts are generally considered 



as the descendants of the ancient 

 Egyptians, though it is said, that 

 the ancient sculptures, and the 

 skulls of the mummies, have a 

 greater resemblance to the heads 

 and features of the Nubians than of 

 the Copts. The Copts are nearly 

 of the same color with the mulat- 

 toes. They have small black eyes, 

 high cheek bones, short, elevated 

 noses, large mouths, thick lips, 

 slight beards, and half-woolly hair. 

 Some of the females are fair and 

 handsome, and they are generally 

 distinguished for a graceful car- 

 riage. The Copts reside chiefly 

 in Upper Egypt, and do not ex- 

 ceed 160,000 souls. Besides these, 

 there are in Egypt Arabian Greeks, 

 Jews, Syrians, Armenians, Turks, 

 and Albanians, Franks, Ethiopi- 

 ans, &c. 



The Mamelukes, till lately, were a fourth race of people that inhabited Egypt. This extra- 

 ordinary race consisted of Georgian and Circassian slaves, who, under the Fatimite Khalifs, 

 were brought into the country, and being trained to arms became part of the military power 

 of the state. They were thus enabled to rise against their masters, to massacre or expel 

 them, and to assume the dominion of Egypt. By an unheard of caprice they transmitted their 

 power, not to their children, whom they despised and neglected on account of their being 

 reared in a harem, but to new bands of slaves, brought from the same place, and in the same 

 manner as themselves. They were the rulers, indeed, but might with more propriety be 

 styled the plunderers of Egypt, filling it with scenes of violence, and extorting vast sums, 

 without aflx)rding any of those benefits or that protection which a government owes to its 

 subjecte. They excelled, liowever, in feats of arms, and formed the best cavalry in the 



