Over a large extent of E., these rocks are covered with moving desert sands, and in the flat lands bordering the Nile, with the alluvium brought down by its waters, and which has formed the delta at its mouth. This alluvium consists of an argillaceous earth or loam, more or less mixed with sand and a quartzose sand, probably derived from the adjacent deserts by violent winds. It is remarkable that this sedimentary deposit has no traces of stratification, and also that within short distances, great varieties are observed in what are apparently synchronous deposits. Mr. Horner's recent exam ination of the Nile deposits, and the conclusions he deduces from his observa tions, have caused considerable attention to be paid to these deposits lately. See MEM PHIS.
Natural History and fertile valley of the Nile and the desert regions which inclose it, are very different, not only in their botany, but in their zoology. One of the most notable of Egyptian quadrupeds is the hippopotamus, which formerly reached the Delta, but is now to be seen only in the more southern parts of the Nile. The giraffe is occasionally found within the southern borders of Egypt. The jackal and hyena are common; also the ichneumon (q.v.), so much celebrated among the ancients; and the jerboa. The one-humped camel was originally introduced by the Ptolemies for the transit of the Indian trade. The other usual domestic quadrupeds have existed from the most ancient times. Of domestic birds, water-fowl were anciently the most numerous; the gall inaceous poultry now common not being probably of older date than the Persian invasion. Pigeons have always been abundant. The Egyptian vulture (q.v.) is a common and notable bird, as is also the ibis (q.v.), held sacred by the ancient Egyptians, and of which many fables have been related. The ostrich sometimes occurs in the desert. Of reptiles the most famous is the crocodile of the Nile; monitors (q.v.) are also abundant, saurian reptiles of considerable size. Smaller lizards abound. The trionyx, or soft tortoise, is plentiful in the Nile. Serpents are numerous; amongst the most venomous and dreaded of which are the asp (q.v.), or haje, and the cerastes (q v.). E. abounds in fish, the most remarkable being the binny (see .BARBEL), the latus (one of the perch family), the bayad or the chromis mlotica , and the mormyrus ary rhynchus. The sacred beetle (scarabceus weer) is one of the most remarkable insects. Locusts are a dreaded pest. E. is still notable also for the abundance of the other crea tures mentioned by Moses as its plagues.—Many of the European trees and plants are
found in E.; the date-palm, the doom-palm, the sycamore, acacias, tamarisks, etc., are among its more peculiar botanical productions; also the papyrus which anciently supplied material for paper, and the lotus (shnin) or water-lily of the Nile. The exten sive culture of the papyrus has been, in modern times, replaced by that of the sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and tobacco; and the plant has almost disappeared. Gourds and melons have always abounded. To the wheat and barley of antiquity have been added maize and durra. E. is very deficient in timber trees; the Pharaohs obtained cedar from Lebanon and ebony from Ethiopia. The rocks of E. afforded the stones used in its edifices and sculptures; granite, syeuite, basalt (at Assouan), breccia (in the Cosseir Rood), porphyry (from the quarries of Gebel Doshan, opened in the reign of the emperor Claudius), sandstone, and limestone. Alabaster (found at Tel-el-amarna) has been used from the earliest periods to the present day. Emeralds are produced by the mines of Gebel Zabara; salt, natron, and—since 1850—sulphur, are among the other mineral produc tions of Egypt.
country was anciently divided into 44 nomes-22 in Upper, and as many in Lower Egypt. Each nome or department had a separate local municipal government of a monarch or lieutenant-governor, ha, besides 5overnors of the cities, of the temples, scribes, judges, and other functionaries. Their limits were measured and defined by landmarks. This division, as old as the 4th dynasty, varied in number at different times. Under Sethos I. or Sesostris, there were 36 nomes-10 in the Thebaid, 10 in the Delta, and 16 in Middle Egypt. At the time of the geographer Ptolemy, there were 47—the Antinoites having been added. The country beyond the cataracts to Hierosycaminos was named at the Roman period Dodekaskoinos. In 400 A.D., E. was divided into Augusta Prima and Secunda on the e., and ./Egyptiaca on the w., the Heptanomis as far as Oxyrhynchus was named Arabia, then Thebais Proxima as far as Panopolis, and Thebais Supra to Philie. Under the Arabs, E. has been divided into Masr-el-13ithri or the Delta; the Faioum, El Bostani, or Middle Egypt; and Es Said or Upper Egypt. In addition to E. proper, Nubia, Darfur, and extensive territories on the upper Nile are now subject to the ruler of E., whose dominions thus embrace 1,400,000 sq. miles.