THE STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1882

EGYPT.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE

SEAT OIF WAE

AN ACCOUNT OF

Tho Country: Its Resources, Climate, Inhabitants, Trade, and History.

IN issuing a detailed Map of the Seal of War in Egypt, wo think it an appropriate time to give some account of the charac teristics of the country, its people, their trades and ciwtoms, and history. The following facts have, therefore, been taken from three recent standard Uhoritios - Keith Johnston's "Uazeteer,' "The Statesman's Year Book," and Chambers* "Encyclopedia":— EGYPT. Egypt, Latin Egypt-its, the Mitzmim of Scripture, and Massr of the Arabs, is a country of N.E. Africa, forming a chief portion of the Egyptian territory, situated between ' 31-37 and 24-1 cleg. North lat. 27-13 and 34-12 East lon. ; bounded on the North by the Mediterranean, East by the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea, South by Nubia, and West by Barbary and the Sahara. Length north to south, 520 miles. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. The territory of Egypt proper is composed of a long narrow valley, enclosed by a double ran«e of hills which extend from Assouan to Cairo, and traversed by the Nile. North of Cairo, where the mountains terminate, the Nile separates into numerous branches, of which the two principal flow, the one to the north east and the other north-west, to the Mediter ranean, enclosing a triangular space, having the sea for its base, and called the Delta from its resembling to the Greek letter 'D. These mountain chains, which defend the valley of the Nile from the sands of the surrounding desert, rise to the height of about 2000 feet in the vicinity of Thebes; in many places they are merely low hills stretching into the desert. On the east of the Nile, in Middle Egypt, the highest point is Jebel Gharib, 6000 feet above the sea. The range, which is seldom more than feet high, terminates abruptly in Jebel Mokattam, near Cairo. The desert of Libyia contains many oases, which owe their fertility to the lowness of their situation, enabling them to retain moisture. In the north of the Libyan desert are two contiguous valleys, inclosed by branches of the west mountains, in one or which, called the"Valley of; the Natron Lakes, are found small pools, which in winter dis charge a liquid of a violet-red colour to the heir-lit of six or eight feet. This, when evavo rated by the sun's heat, leaves the substance called natron, a mixture of marine salt and sulphate of soda. The principal lakes are Eirket-el-Keroun or Lake Mccris, in Middle Egypt, and Maerotis, Bourlos, and Menzaleh, in Lower Egypt, which last are shallow lagoons, separated from the Mediterranean by numerous peninsulas of sand. The lithological formation of Egypt comprises granite in the district of the cataracts, from Philae to Syene, sandstone from Syene to Esneh, and limestone from Esneh to the Delta. THE CLIMATE of Egypt is extremely dry, equable, and healthy. There are but two seasons—the temperate, ■which lasts from October to March, and the hot, from March to September. Theheatduring the day, is excessive in summer, owing to the confined position of the country and the low ness of its surface ; but the nights are cool. In winter the weather is mild. At Cairo, in 30*3 deg. north lat., the mean temperature of the year is 72.2 dcg.; winter, 58 -4 deg.; summer, 85-1 deg. Fahr.; and at Kenneh, in 26'io deg. north lat., mean temperature of year, 72-9 deg.; winter, 63-6 deg.; summer, 92 deg. Fahr. Upper and Middle Egypt are more healthy ■than the Delta. On the subsiding of the inun dation of the Nile, fevers, dysentery, and ophthalmia prevail. North and north-west winds blow during the progress of the sun to wards the tropic of Cancer; but, on its return to the tropic of Capricorn, they vary between south-east and west. During the spring equi nox the country is visited by the pestilential wind called the Simoon ar Kamsin, a hot south-south-west wind of fifty days' duration, when the diseases peculiar to the country assumo their greatest virulence. The mirage occurs on the plains after the surface has been heated by the sun, on which occasion the country appears like a vast lake studded with islands. Rain is unknown in Upper Egypt; in the Delta if falls frequently from November to March. Showers are slight and infrequent at Cairo ; yet in 1824 rain fell continuously for eight days, and caused the destruction of seve ral bowses. During the French scientific ex pedition, the number of rainy days was fifteen, and the latest observations give ten to twelve in a year in Lower Egypt Frogs are rare, but very dense when they do occur. Snow seldom falls, except in the vicinity of the coast, and then in very small quantity, In 1833 snow fell at Alexandria, RoEetta, arid Atfeh, to the amazement of the inhabitants, to whom the phenomenon was totally unknown ; and m the Winter of 1863-4 frost lasted for Borne hours at Cain?. With the exception of the oases, the fertility of Egypt Proper is confined to the valley inundated by the Nile, in the Delta, and a space from fin co twenty-nve miles on the banks of the river, in Middle and Upper Eeypt. The soil >'« composed of successive de posits of earth brought down by the river, en veloping the sands of tbe desert; and vegeta tion is sharply denned by tha water mark. The Nile regularly inundate* its wltar fpr several months in the year. This period* Ration commences in June, and obtains Us maximum height in September. After having remained stationary for several days, the waters subside into their channels at the end of November. The distribution of the water is favoured by the slightly convex form of the central valley of the Nile, and is assisted by lateral PMials. On the left or west side of the river, the chief of these is the canal of Joseph, which feeds the ancient Lake Mffiris, at the bottom of the fertile valley of Fayoum. As a potable water, that of Ihe Nile is reckoned the best in the world, MINERAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. jvypt has no metals, and the only minerals ire natron, saltpetre, salt, marble, and the cele brated! red granite, called " Syene marble," employed in the construction of the pyramids, and in many of the monuments of Italy ; the principal quarts are situated in Upper Egypt. Emeralds are found in the mountains on the shores of the Red Sea, but the mines are aban doned. The cultivation of the sod is divided into that of the low grounds, pr those watered naturally, and the high grounds, which depend for their productiveness on artificial Inundation; the greater part of Upper Egypt fa thus watered, and many means have been employe.4 to facilitate the process. In ancient times1 Lake Eceris was formed for a reservoir; and a complete barrage of the Nile, lately effected, pretty augments the fertility of the soil. The ulants Peculiar to Egypt comprise the tolas, thecarV™ 3 (frOm which the first su¥f ce used for writing upon was made), the ziziphus, nnd many aiomatic plants. The date palm SSJfrom ihe Delta to "itude °f Thebes, and on ,'ts fruit many of the inhabi tants of Upper EfcT-pt depend &r sustenance. Ecvpt has from the remotest ages been con sidered one of the most fertile countries m the world The plants chiefly cultivated are cotton, lint, hemp, indigo, sugar, tobacco, opium; the principal grains are millet, maize, wheat, and rice. Since the civil war in the United Stoles the cultivation of cotton has been greatly extended. The export of raw cotton from or through Egypt to the United Kingdom in 1874 amounted to 172,317,488 lbs., of the value rt &^W- Dumb t(Sorghum vulgarej fqffl» A chief article oi food,' The cereals of Egypt |hwe always been •celebrated ; and onions, melons, : ?w4 cucumbers are extensively used. The vine ,w^ widely ■cultivated in ancient times, and the MfftSOHC 'wine was famed by the Romans. ,Its,gfl>ws -was extirpated by the Mussulmans, but again ■ actively promoted since the accession of ,the ipresent dynasty. The date palm is the mpst 'valuable fruit "tree,; the other fruits are the fig, pomegranate, banana, olive, and melon. Vegetables are very abundant, and comprise peas, beans, lentils, leeks, Jonions, garlic, and

cucumbers. Maize, rice, sugar-cane, tobacco, and hemp are cultivated. Numerous planta tions of mulberries have recently been made. There are no forests, but groves of sycamores and palms, and a few orange and lemon trees. Wild animals of the antelope kind abound, in the deserts, but the hippopotamus is not now found in Egypt, and rarely in Lower Nubia. Domestic animals comprise the ox, buffalo, sheep, goat, horse, ass, mule, camel, and dromedary. The birds are not of rich plumage ; they comprise the ibis, celebrated in antiquity, the vulture, pelican, plover, bittern, and quail, which arrive in great nights from the interior of Africa. The rearing of fowls, pigeons, and bees is an important branch of industry among the peasantry, who hatch eggs by means of artificial heat. Fish are abundant in the lakes of the Delta anil in the Nile, and form a considerable article of food. Reptiles, especially the crocodile, serpents, and snakes are common; and sponges, coral, the polyps, and madrepores are found on the shores of the Red Sea.

The manufactures of Egypt are almost entirely monopolised by the Government. Carpets are made at Benisouef, red caps at Foulah, and fire-arms and military accoutre ments at Cairo. The principal manufactures of the natives are of woollen cloths, pottery ware, and carpets. The trade with Europe is carried on through Alexandria. The traffic with the interior of Africa is carried on by means of caravans, which bring, in exchange for European and Egyptian products, ivory,

goli-dust, skins, wool, gum, ostrich feathers, and metals. The slave market of Cairo was abolished in 1846. The chief commercial relations with Arabia, and India are carried on by Kossier and Suez. HJSTORV. Egypt was one of the earliest civilised coun tries in the world ( and it is believed that a colony of Ethiopians first introduced a form of relieion, and the art of cultivating the soil. The" empire was greatly extended under Sac* tris and Rameses. It was subjugated by Cambyses, King of Persia, 5?5 B.C. At that time it was occupied by an industrious popula tion, had numerous cities and monuments of astonishing grandeur, of which the pyramids still exist; the obelisks, many of which were carried to Rome and Paris, and numerous temples and palaces. For twenty-four centu ries it has been subjected to foreign, domina tion, and it fell successively into misery and ignorance. It was taken by Alexander the Great, B.C. 332. After his death it formed a separate kingdom under the Ptolemies till the year 30 B.C. Augustus then reduced it to a Roman province. The Mohammedan Arabians aeiwd it in the seventh century. The Caliphs \soMe«e4 it for two conturies. In 1250 it 'cam^wtpifte power of the Mamelukes, who were subjected'to tha Turks at the commence ment of the sixteenth (Century. The French ovtr.r»n it in 1798; in 1802 the? jyere driven from it by the British; and in 1811 Mefeemet AH rendered himself master of the country by

the massacre of the Mamelukes. Hy judicious government and great reforms Egypt, under Mehemet Ali, made rapid progress in civilisa tion ; he added to his territory Nubia, Kor dofiw, and part of Abyssinia ; and extended his dominion over Syria, Crete, and part of Arabia, but in IS4O he was deprived of all his Asiatic possessions.

of "Vali," or Viceroy; but this was changed by an Imperial firman of May 21, 1866, into the Persian-Arabic of " Khidlv ol-Misr,'1 or King of Kgypt, and the present ruler has since been known as the KUidiv, or, as more commonly called, Khedive. By the same firman of May 27, 1866, obtained on the condition of the oivereian of jrsgypt raising his annual tribute to tbe Sultan's civil list from £376 000 to £720,000, the succession to the throne of Egypt was made direct, from father to son. instead Of descending after the Turkish law, to the eldest heir. By a last lirmaa, issued June 8, 1873, tho Sultan granted to Ismail I. the hitherto withheld rights of concluding treaties with foreign powers, and of maintaining arrjaie3. Tho presont Khedive of Egypt has an anncul allowance of £150,000; his father of £50,000, with £70,000 more for other members of the family. GOVEKNMENT, REVENUE, AND ARMY, The administration of Egypt was carried on, until the recent insurrection, under the supervision of tbe Governments of France and Great Britain, represented by a " Con troller-Geoeral," invested with great powers, indicated as follows in a decree of tbe Khedive in seven articles, issued Nov. lft 1870 *■« "Art. 1. The Controllers-General have fall powers of investigation into every

prepare a budget; and monthly statements of all salaries and all resources shall be rendered to them." The Controllers-General for France and Oreat Britain are :— n-rarioß .... .. M. ae Bllgnl6rea. _ _ Great Britain .. .. Major K. baring, K.M.C.G Hy the decree accepting, under the order* of the Government of France and Great Britain/ the two Controllers-General, the finances of Egypt were specially placed under the supervision of the two Powers. At present, the finances are in great dis-1 order. The revenue is variously estimated at from eight to cloven millions sterling per annum. The Kight Hori. {Stephen Cave sent ttf Koypt by tho British Govern ment iv 1875 to assist the Khedive in re forming the finances of his country, re ported the annual income at £10,689,070, but stated that shis revenue was insufficient to meet both the co«t of the general ad ministration of the country, estimated at from 5 to 6 millions sterling, and the charges of a debt variously reported to amount to from 86 to 91 millions sterling S The actual revenue aud expenditure for the year 1878 is as follows :— Total ravenne foe 1878 .< '.. - 8,«3.000 Total expenditure for 1878 , - ; , -. 10.^6 000 ,•'.,;■ Deflolt .. 1,953,000 i Of tbe expenditure of 1878, the sum of £6,203,000 was for interest on the public debt.

number of men contained in the regiments and batteries varies continually, with the exigencies of the service and the state of the finances. At the close of the Rubso- Turkish war, in wich Egypt participated, the army was reduced to 15,000 men. The Egyptian navy comprised, at the ond'of June, 1877, two frigates, two cor vettes, three lar^c yachts for the use of the Khedive—one ot them, the " Mah roussa,"of 4,000 tons, with SOO horse power -and four gun-boats, the whole of a burthen of 16,476 tons. I AREA. AND POPULATION. ■ The territories under the rule of the sovereign of Egypt, including th'ise of the Upper Nile and Central Africa, conquered in 1874—75, are vaguely estimated to em brace an area of 1,406,250 English square miles, and to be inhabited by a population of 16,952,000, of whom about one-tbird are in Egypt p-oper. 'Ihe native population (if Egypt proper, according to an official estimate of M. Arnica, chief ol the statisti cal department in the Ministry of the In terior, on the 31st December, 1878, is 5,517,627. The area of Egypt proper is estimated to comprise 175,130 English square miles, the annexed and conquered districts, including Nubia, the former kindom of Ethiopia, and Darfur, being estimated at 1,231,120 Eng lish square miles, with 11,434,373 in

contributes about 70 per cent., and the rest is divided between France, Austria, Italy, and Russia, ia descending propor tions. The total value of the exports from Kgypt to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the imports of British, aad Irish pro duce and manufactures into iSgypt, iv 1878 were :.—Kxports from Egypt to Great Britain, £6,145,421 ; imports of British horac produce into Kgypt, £2,194,030. The considerable amount of the exports from Egj'pt to the United Kingdom is ow ing, partly to large shipments of raw cotton, and partly to tho transit trade (low ins: from India and other parts of Asia through Kgypt, which latter, however, has greatly declined in recent yearß, owing to the opening of the Suez Canal. Next to cotton the largest article of ex port from Egypt to the United Kingdom in the years 1869 to 1875 was raw silk ; but this being entirely a transit trade, it has become extinct.

The imports from the United Kingdom into Egypt comprise the chief article» of British produce and manufacture, foremost among them cotton gooda, of the value of £4,290,952 ia 1572, of £3,666,942 in 1873, of £1,922,505 in 1874, of £1,558,839 in 1875, of £1,436,235 in 1876, of £1,473,660 in 1877, and of £1,255,938 in 1878. A considerable part of these imports from tha TlnitnA

water, have passed safely, through the canal, The Company possess a vast do main, which it is gradually selling and leasing, on the banks of tho canal and about Ismailia. The actual cost of the canal, according to a report of the year 1879, was £17,518,729, exclusive of £1,360,000 bonds issued to pny for coupons or shares in arrear during part of the period of construction. Of the 400,000 shares, 176,602 belonged formerly to tlie Khedive of Kgypt, and were purchased from him by ihe British Government ia November 1575 for the sum of £3,976,582. But the Khedive, by a convention passed in 1869 between himself and the Suez Caual Company, for the set'lenient of disputed claims and accounts, had alienated all dividends on his 176,602 shares up to 1894, aud placed them at the disposal of the compny. Against these dividends the company issued 120,000 " Delegations," which are entitled to all sums accruing on the above 176,602 shares up to 1594; the dividends which the " Delegations " receive are, however, less ened by au annual sum laid aside to pro. vide a sinking fund, sufficient to extinguish them all by the end of the year 1894. The total receipts from all sources, of the Suez Canal Company, amounted to 31,294,347 franc?, or £1,251,744, and the total expenditure to 29,238,721 francs, or -PI IRQ fuiO Jn IO>TQ Tl._ n L •

was in 1572, when tin- surplus amounted to 2,071.270 francs, or £82.849. RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS. ■Egypt bad, nn thn Ist January, IS7S, a rni'way system of a loml length of 1,703 kilometres, or 1,182 Enslifh miles, opca fur traiiic, with 800 kilometres, or 500 Eagll'li mile* in course of construction. The wholr; of thn ralways are ■■ tatc pro ncrty, with the exception of n short line of S kilometres, or 5 English lnilrcs. The poat-ollico cirricd 2.503,520 letter", comprising 1,918,651 inland, and 584,^3 foreign, in the year IS77,.besides 421,<50 inland anil 30f>,363 foreign newsp.-ipc.rs. The number of posL-ofiicrs was 210 oi January I, 1878. The telegraphs of Egypt v/cro, at the commencement of IS7S, of a tola' lorpth o 0,550 kilometres, or 4,003 English in:l s, the lonnth of wires being 13,900 ki'm i: r>«, or 8,600 English mile!'. The whole il lha telegraphs are State property, CIVILISATION". There now only remains to consider t'n old civilisation of tha Egyptians, w'ii.;li had ma'ie such sttides at un early period of their liislory. In the science, as early res (he 4th dynasty, the notation of time, the decimal system of numbers, weights urn), measures adjusted to a pound of 1400 grains, the geographical division of the country, and the division of the year (of 3G5 days) into three periods (of four months <f 30 days) and twelve mouths, were already known, while the form ot the buildnr s implies a knowledge of geometry and i's sister sciences. An empirical knowledge of astronomy was probably possessed ; nor coald the arts have reached such a hi^h development without some acquaintance with chemistry; and tradition assigns a knowledge of. medicine and anatomy to a still earlier age. The arc of literary com position also existed in the 11th dynasty, for fragments of the religious or co-called Hermetic books of that age have reached us, and Uheops ° bumelf was an author of renown. The language of the period, although concise and obscure, was nevertheless lixed; and a code of manners and morals, under the 6th dynasty, lias been handed down. Architecture had attained great refine ment at an early period ; not only were the chambers and temples, and other edifices, squared and directed to face the cardinal points, but the use of a kind of false arch, or stones disposed so as to form an angle overhead to relieve superincumbent pressure, 'en dfceharge,' was practised ag early as the 4th, and the vault or arch yms in existence in the 11th and 18th dynasties, eight centuries before that of tne Cloaca Maxima of Home. Columns were in use na early as the 4th dynasty ; and in the 12th the so-called proto-lJoric ones or Benibassan, with their cornices and lri glyphs, show that the Greeks derived this order of architecture fiom Egypt. The symmetric arrangement of the temples, consisting of rectangular courtyards and hypietbral halls of many columns, built be. fore the original shrine, with their gate ways, slightly converging to the apex, and their bold and severe lines, and the obelisk and the pyramid, forms admirably adapted to resist the inroad of time, not to mcfi tion the remarkably fine masonry, prove the high development this art had acquired at the remotest age. Nor was sculpture less advanced, for lorjg before Dasdalus,' tin statues ot the 4th dynasty, at least 2,000 8.C., had been moulded with great accuracy to a fixed canon; and althongh their archi tectural employment had rendered tbeir action rectilinear—bucu as the arms pen dant, the lelt foot advanced, and the feet not detached, but when in stone, with the part between them reserved—and the ears were placed too high in the head, and a kind of pillar was hxed behind in standing figures, yet in portraiture they had attained to great perfection. Sculpture, indeed, in the human form was always restricted to a few conventional attitudes ; but some of the lions and sphinxes are executed with a spirit surpassing the power of Greek artists. A peculiar kind of bas-relief pre vailed in Kgypt.the figures being sunk below the surface like the intaglio figures of a gem, but in slightly convex relief, not con cave. This style, called cavo-relievo, or intaglio, has been most successful in pre serving the hieroglyphs and anaglyphs of the monuments. Bronze statues cast from moulds, and having a leaden or other core, were first made in Kgypt, and subsequently introduced into Greece by Rheecus. This art flourished best under the earljest dynas tec?, and had much degenerated in the 19th and 20th, although subsequently revived in the 26th. Printing appeared at the same ago, chiefly in tempers, or white washed surfaces, althongh fresco was occasionaly used, and encaustic appears only under the Greeks and lloinans. Ibis art, of course, was freer than sculptnrei but yet had a rigid architectural character, and followed the same canon as sculpture, the colours used being generally the pure or primitive, and the background uniformly white. The architectural details ot Egyp« . tian temples and the hieroglyphs appear to have been always coloured, and added additional charm to the sculptures. The religious papyri or rituals were also oftan embellished with elaborately coloured vignettes, resembling the illuminations of modern manuscripts. Nor had the Hgyp tians attained less eminence in the att o£ music, the harp and flute appearing in use as early as the 4th, and heptachord and. pentachord lyres as early as the 12th. dynasty ; besides which, drums, tambour ines, flutes, cymbals, trumpets, and pultars are seen in the 18th, and the na ional .in., strnnient, the jingling sistrurn, iv the 4tbv Many of the instruments are of great size, and must have produced considornblo effect. Nor was the art of song wonting,; and measured recitations or songs occur on.: monumonts of the 12th dynasty, while the lays of Maneros traditionally dated to a still earlier period. Poetry, indeed, was at all times in use, and the antithetic genius of the language suggested the application of the strophe and antistrophe, although it; is not possible to define the metre. In. thn mechanical arts, maDy inventions had been made: the blow-pipe, used as a bellows,; appears in the sth dynasty; bellows .and siphons in the JStb. The saw, the adzo,: the chisel, press, balance, and lever appear! in the sth, the harpoon in the 12th, razors iv the 12th, the plough and other agricul-; tural implements in the sth, Glass of an. opaque kind is seen in the 4th, and dated specimens in the reign of Thothmes 111. (445 8.C.), give the priority to Kpypt;t'iP oldest transparent glass, the A^yriau, not dating older than Sargina (711 B.O.). A.i glazed pottery or porcelain, the potter's wheel, and the kiln, appear in the 4th; and the art of metallurgy, with tbe use ot'J tin, at the same period, In the military art, the Egyptians used at an early age: defensive armour of shields, cuirasses of; quilted leather, and helmets ; while spears, . clubs, maces, swords, daggers, bow?, and hatchets formed their oflonsive weapons,,. For sieges, they employed the testudo, ladders, torches and lanterns, and mines. Theiarmy was composed of infantry till the beginning of the 18th dynasty, when,, war-chariots were introduced ; /or, prior to that period, the bes was only known and used for transport ; and carriages not hay-,, ing keen invented, persons and goods were j transported, on the panniers of asses, or on.. a kind of saddle slung between two of these/ useful animals. War-boats no doubt ex- , isted at an early period, and are mentioned as early as the 12th dynasty ; but sea-going, vessels not till the ISth, and no fleet till tho : 19th. The Nile, however, was constantly, \ navigated by row-galleys with sail-, , extensive commerce was carried ou with . neighbouring nations, and their triuutt en-,, riched the country with slaves, cait'e, ., gems, valuable metals, and objects of , curiosity. Kare animals wero collected for ■ ostentation. Under the earlier dynasties. „ the chief occupation of the natiou appears to have been rearing cattle, cultivating:,| grain, indulging in baocpets, fishing, fowl ing, and the chase, and the establishment., of each noble contained in itself allthaj) organisation of artificers Decessary for its ... maintenance. How transactions .were".', carried on without tbe use of money is not,',' very clear, unless gold circulated moulded , iv the shape of rings adjusted to a given, h weight, but coin plate ia mentioned by its . pounds, inna, and its ounce?, hat. The,;, Persians first introduced money. .Thi.,; wealth of families was, however, spent 0n., ---the tombs and furniture of the dead, and-, the preparations for embalming, which. ,

REIGNING KHEDIVE.

MohamedTowfik, born Nov. 19, 1552 ; the sou ot Ismail 1.; succeeded to the throne, on tho abdication of his futher, Aue;. 8, 1879. Married, Jan.. 10, 1873, to Princess Kminoh, daughter of Bl llnmy Pasha. Offspring of the union nre two sons, Abbas, born July 14, 187-t, and Mehemet Ali, born in 187(5. The present severeign of Rfiypt is the Gth ruler of the dynasty of Melipmot Ali, appointed Governor of E«ypt in ISOS, who made himself, inlSll, nbsoluto master of the country by force of crms. The posi tioa of liis father anil predecessor, Ismail I.—forced to abdicate, under pressure of this British and Foreign Governments, in 1879 - was recognised by the Imperial Ilutti-Suerifi; of February 13, 1841, issued under the guaran.ee of the live great Euroneon Powers, which established tbe hereditary succession to the throne of Egypt, under the sumo rules und regula tion* as those to the throne of Tti.kt'y. Tho title given to Mehemot Ali anil his immediate successors was the TurkUh one

public Rervier; of the Sl;ife, including that of the Public Debt. Ministers aud all public officials of every rank are bound to furnish the Controllers, or their agents, with all documents they may think lit to require. The Minister of Fiuancc ia bound to furnish them weekly with a statement of receipts and expenditure. Other administrations must furnish the pamcevery month. "Art. 2 The Controllers-General can only bo removed from their posits by their own (lovernnteuts. "Alt. 3. The Governments of England and Fiance having agreed that, for tbe moment, tho Coatrolltiifl-General will not tuku the actual direction of the public ser vice, their duties are limited, at present, to iuquiry, control, and surveillance, " Art. 4. The Controllers-General take the rank of Ministers, und will always have the ritrht to assist und spcuk at the meet ings of tho Council of Ministers, but with out tli« power to vote. "Art. 5. When they deem it necessary, the Controller* mny unite with the Com missioners c>£ Public Dobt to take such measures ns they may deem lit. "Art. 6. Whenever they may deem it useful, and at least one« a yc.ir, tho Con trollers wilt draw' up a report on all questions for the Khedive and his Minister*. "Art, 7. The Controllers have tho power of namiii{,' ami dismissing all officials wboHO assistance is of no use to them. Thoy shall

There were plans tor the conversion nf the enormous debt of Egypt submitted by Messrs (Joscheu and Joubsrt in 1876, and adopted by the Khedive, who decree! that the " Unified Debt of Egypt " should be ruduced to £59,000,000 by conversion, and ba separated entirely from the " Privileged Debt" and other loans.. The interest on the "Unified Debt,was fixed at 7 per cent, of which 1 per cent, was to bo retained as a sinking fund during 9 years, to provide for the extinction of revenue from the Moukabala tax, ceasing at the cud of this term. Not included in the above statement of the liabilities of Egypt, placed under Euro pean control, was the personal dobt of tho Khodivo, called that of Dairn Sanieh. It was returned at £8,815,430, iv an ollicinl report issued in August, IS7S. To provide for the interest of tbi« debt, tho Khedive made over at the aamo date, his private estates, estimated to embrace 432,000 acres, of tha annual value of £425,01)0, to the Commission of the Public Debt, Not secured by any stipulations on the part of thu Goverumnnt is the floating dubt of Egypt, the exact amount of which is not known, but which is estimated to be over £5,000,000. The army of E<.jYpt is raised by con- PCriptiou, It couuists, nominally, of 18 infantry rogioienU or three biittiilions each, with four battalions of rillea, four regi ments of cavalry, aud 144 guvs. Hut tlie

Egypt proper is divided from of old into! three great districts, namely, " Manr-el-l Bahri," or Lower Egypt; "iSMVustoni,", or Middle Egypt; and "JEI-said," or Upper Bgypt—designations drawn from tho course of the liver Nile, on which depends the ex istence of the country. These three geo graphical districts are subdivided into eleven administrative provinces, and had, as shown io tbe preceding table, a rural population of 4,948,512, and an urban pomi- Inticin, of 369,115, at tho end of IS7S. The population of tho principal towns of Egypt whs as follows :— Towns Ponn'ation Cairo :il9 BS'i AloxiiDarla 215J.H51 namlntta 23,3*! Tanta 28.500 Roseltu 15.(10-2 duiz 13.1U3 At the euumoration ot 187S, there were in Kgypt proper 79,690 foreigners Tha Foreign populatioa consisted of 3-1.000 Greeks ; 17,000 Frenchmen ; 13,900 Itali ans ; G,.'JOO Austrians ; 6,000 Englishmen ; 1,100 Germans; aud 1,390 natives of other countries. TKADE AND COMMERCE. The commerce of Egypt is very largo, but consists to a great extent cf goods carried in transit. In the year 187S, the total value of the imports amounted to I .C'1,8'15,000, and the exports to £8,099,000. ITo the entire foreign trade Great Britain

I THE'SUEZ CANAL. • The commerce of the world has derived great advantages from the construction of the Suez Caual of Egypt, connectiug the Mediterranean with the VpA Sea, opened for navigation November 17, 1869, The number and tonmge of vessels which passed through the Ca.nji.l in 1878 was as follows : —Vessels, 1,593 ; tonnage, 3,291,535. Rather morn than three-fourths of the shipping that passed through tho Suez Canal in the nine years 1870-80 belonged to Great Britain, In the year 1878, there passed through tho Canal 1,227 British vc-sftls, 89 of France, 71 of tho Netherlands, 44 ot Italy, 3S of Austria, 22 of Germany, and 21 oc Spain, the remainder being dis tributed araoug seven other nationalities. 'flic Suez Canal, connecting the Mediter ranean i.vith the Ked Sea, starts from Port Said, 40 miles ea«t of the Damictta mouth of thn Nile, and runs acro.-fi the isthmus and tliroutrh Lakes Mezalen, VA Ballah, nnd Timsah, on the shoves of which latter stands the now town of Isinailia, und through the Bitter Lakes, to Suez. Its total length is 92 miles. Its actual width, over tbe greater part nf its length, doee not permit of two vessels passing or cross ing each other In the canal itself, but there are numerous sidings by which vessels are enable 1 to cross one another, and the passaeo is quickened. Vessels measuring 4.30 feet in length.and drawing 25ft 9in ol

MAP OF THE SEAT OF WAR.

