Egypt

EGYPT, a country forming the north-eastern extremity of Africa. It is bounded north by the Mediterranean, south by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, north-eas-.. by Palestine, east by the Red sea, west by Tripoli and the Sahara. The western frontier starts from the Gulf of Sollum in the Mediterranean, runs in a slightly south-westerly direction, leaving the oasis of Jarabub in Tripoli and the oasis of Siwa in Egypt, until it reaches the 25th meridian, and then follows it south to the 22nd parallel, which forms throughout the boundary between Egypt and the Sudan. The north-east frontier is an almost direct line drawn from Taba, near the head of the Gulf of Akaba, the eastern of the two gulfs into which the Red sea divides, to the Mediterranean at Rafa in 15' E. The peninsula of Sinai, geographically part of Asia, is thus included in the Egyptian dominions. The total area of the country is about 386,00o sq.m., or more than three times the size of the British Isles. Of this area ft is desert. Canals, roads, date plantations, etc., cover 1,900 sq.m. ; 2,85o sq.m. are comprised in the surface of the Nile, marshes, lakes, etc.; and the cultivable area is about 12,000 sq. miles. A line drawn just south of Cairo, divides the country into Lower and Upper Egypt, or the Delta and the Nile valley. By the Arabs Lower Egypt is called Er-Rif, the cultivated or fertile; Upper Egypt Es Said, the happy or fortunate. Another division of the country is into Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt, Middle Egypt in this classification being the district between Cairo and Assiut.

General Character.

The distinguishing features of Egypt are the Nile and the desert. But for the river there would be nothing to differentiate the country from other parts of the Sahara. The Nile, however, piercing the desert, and at its annual overflow depositing rich sediment brought from the Abyssinian highlands, has created the Delta and the fertile strip in Upper Egypt. Beyond the Nile valley east and west stretch great deserts, containing here and there fertile oases. The Delta is a level plain, richly cultivated, and varied alone by the lofty dark-brown mounds of ancient cities, and the villages set in groves of palm trees, standing on mounds often, if not always, ancient. In Upper Egypt the Nile valley is very narrow and is bounded by mountains of no great height. They form the edge of the desert on either side of the valley, of which the bottom is level rock. The bright green of the fields, the reddish-brown or dull green of the great river, contrasting with the bare yellow rocks, seen beneath a brilliant sun and a deep-blue sky, present views of great beauty. In form the landscape varies little and is not remarkable ; in colour its qualities are always splendid, and under a general uni formity show a continual variety.

Egypt has a coast-line which extends to over 600 m. on the Mediterranean and to about 1,200 m. on the Red sea. The Mediterranean coast extends from the Gulf of Sollum on the west to Rafa on the east. From the gulf to the beginning of the Delta the coast possesses no good harbourage, and is fringed by the cliffs of a stony plateau, which southward joins the more arid and uninhabitable wastes of the Libyan desert. The Delta coast-line, composed of sandhills and, occasionally, limestone rocks, is low, with cape-like projections at the Nile mouths formed by the river silt. Beyond the Delta eastward the coast is again barren and without harbours. It rises gradually southward, merg ing into the plateau of the Sinai peninsula. The Red sea coast is everywhere mountainous, in continuation of the Abyssinian table land, and some of the peaks are over 6,000 ft. above the sea.

The Nile Valley (see also NILE). Entering Egypt proper, a little north of the Second Cataract, the Nile flows through a val ley in sandstone beds as far as 25° N., and throughout this part of its course the valley is extremely narrow, rarely exceeding 2 m. in width. At two points, namely, Kalabsha—the valley here being only 170 yd. wide and the river over 10o ft. deep—and Aswan (First Cataract), the course of the river is interrupted by out crops of granites and Other crystalline rocks, forming the mass of islands, with numerous small rapids, which are described not very accurately as cataracts. From 25° N. northwards for 518 m. the valley is of the "rift-valley" type, a level depression in a limestone plateau, enclosed usually by steep cliffs, which rise to 1,800 ft. between Esna and Kena. The average width of the cul tivated land is about 10 m., of which the greater part lies on the left bank of the river; and outside this is a belt, varying from a few hundred yards to 3 or 4 m. of stony and sandy ground, reaching up to the foot of the limestone scarp. This continues as far as 29° N., after which the hills that close in the valley be come lower, and the higher plateaus lie at a distance of io or 15 m. back in the desert. West of the Nile, and separated from it by a narrow strip of desert, between the 29th and 3oth parallels, lies the Fayum. It contains the Sweetwater lake, the Birkat Qaroun, about 14o ft. below sea-level, and is fertilized by an old branch of the Nile, the Bahr-Yusuf, which has been canalized and enters the Fayum through a gap in the desert hills by the I2th dynasty pyramids of Lahun and Hawara.

The Delta.—About 3o° N., where the city of Cairo stands, the hills which have hitherto run parallel with the Nile turn out wards, and the triangular area between them is wholly deltaic. The Delta is a wide alluvial plain sloping gently towards the sea, measuring zoo m. from south to north and resting on 155 m. of sea-front from Alexandria to Port Said. The Nile alluvium, con taining alumina (about 48%) and calcium carbonate (18%) is believed to increase at the rate of 41 in. in a century; so fine are its particles that at places it becomes almost a stiff clay. It ranges in thickness from 55 to 70 ft., and underneath it lies a series of yellow quartz sands, intermixed with pebbles, gravel and clay, the rocky base of which has not yet been disclosed by borings. The surface of the Delta is the most fertile part of Egypt, and is irrigated by the Damietta and Rosetta arms of the Nile, as well as by a network of canals. On the sea face it de generates into a shore of low sand-hills, with a line of lagoons and salt marshes behind them.

The Lakes.—The lagoons or lakes of the Delta, going from west to east, are Mareotis (Mariut), Edku, Burlus and Menzala. The land separating them from the Mediterranean is nowhere more than Io m., and in some places only a few hundred yards, wide. All the lakes are shallow and the water in them salt or brack ish. Mareotis, which bounds Alexandria on the south side, varies considerably in area according to the rise or fall of the Nile ; when the Nile is low there is a wide expanse of marsh, when at its highest the lake covers about i oo sq. miles. In ancient times the lake was the centre of fertile country, famous for its wine. Later, it shrank in area, and villages sprang up on its dry bed. In April 18o' the British army besieging Alexandria cut through the land between Aboukir and the lake, admitting the waters of the sea and laying under water the large area then in cultivation. This precedent was twice imitated, first by the Turks in 1803 and a second time by the British in 1807. Mareotis has no outlet, and the water is kept at a uniform level by means of powerful pumps which neutralize the effect of the Nile flood. A western arm has been cut off from the lake by a dyke, and in this arm a thick crust of salt is formed each year after the evaporation of the flood water. East of Mariut and reaching to within 4 m. of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, lies Edku, 2 2 m. long and in places 16 wide, with an opening, supposed to be the ancient Canopic mouth of the Nile, into Aboukir bay. Burlus begins a little eastward of the Rosetta channel, and stretches bow-shaped for 64 miles. Its greatest width is about 16 m., and through it ran the ancient Sebennytic branch of the Nile. Burlus is noted for its water melons, which are yellow within and come into season after those grown on the banks of the Nile.

Menzala greatly exceeds the other Delta lakes in size, covering over 78o sq. miles. It extends from very near the Damietta branch of the Nile to Port Said, and receives the waters of the canalized channels which were once the Tanitic, Mendesian and Pelusiac branches. The northern shore is separated from the sea by an extremely narrow strip of land, and the Suez canal runs along its eastern edge. It contains a large number of islands, one of which, Tennis (anciently Tennesus), contains ruins of the Roman period. The lake supports a considerable population of fishermen, who dwell in villages on the shore and islands and live upon the fish of the lake. The reeds are cover for waterfowl of various kinds, which the traveller sees in great numbers, and wild boars are found in the marshes to the south. East of Men zala is the site of Serbonis, another dried-up lake, which had the general characteristics of the Delta lagoons. In the Isthmus of Suez are Lake Timsa and the Great and Little Bitter lakes, oc cupying part of the ancient bed of the Red sea. All three were dry or marshy depressions until the cutting of the Suez canal let the waters of the Mediterranean and Red sea into them (see