Among all the improvements which have pervaded every department of life, the art of agriculture has, perhaps, made the least general progress. At any rate, there is much to be done even in the most enlightened countries in Europe. And if there be such deficiencies, where nature needs so much aid, and where knowledge has made so much progress, how lamentable must be the defects in more favoured climates, where nature does so much of her own accord, and where the human mind remains in a state of inferior activity ! In Egypt, as well as in other countries of this description, the state of agriculture is low; and yet, from its natural fertility, it has often been found to give ample supplies to other countries. The government of Egypt, and the condition of its people, are unfriendly to great exer tions either of body or mind, and, consequently, the manufactures of Egypt are few and inconsiderable. The country of itself produces an abundance of salt from the different mines, and though not pure, it ob tains a ready and extensive sale. Much of it is tinged with a red colour, mixed with a portion of calcareous earth, and by the inhabitants of the country it is called netron.
This becomes an article of commerce, with little la bour to the people. But they have considerable manu factures of sal-ammoniac at Giza and Rosetta. But their chief manufactures consist of linens, woollen, and silk goods. They spin their yarn with the distaff, and arc altogether unacquainted with machinery, which is so valuable and effectual in Europe. The fine linens of Egypt were formerly in the highest estimation, and far excelled every other manufacture of the kind; but now the linens of that country are chiefly of a coarser texture, and fit only for the more common purposes of life. The fine linens have yielded to the manufacture of muslin, which is generally worn by the higher classes of the people, being not only more fine and showy, but bet ter fitted for the nature of the climate. Among their woollen goods, they form beautiful carpets, upon which they sit in the divan, or in the halls and houses of the great. Their silk is chiefly brought from Syria, and is manufactured into goods after various patterns, such as taffetas and satins ; but all their goods of this sort are inferior to those which arc brought from India. The Egyptian dress is a shirt, bound about the middle with a kind of girdle, with an upper loose garment, more or less warm, according to the season.
The polishing of flints and precious stones is a con siderable business in Egypt, but is chiefly performed by Jews ; and the Copts are excellent merchants, clerks, and accountants. Formerly the Egyptians excelled in the art of dyeing, and they imparted colours to glass and crystal of such exquisite hues, that it was difficult to distinguish them from valuable stones. Glass is at present manu
factured in Egypt, but it is chiefly of an inferior kind. Their mirrors are small, and glass windows are seldom jased in the country. Glass beads of diversified colours form an article of traffic, but they are made at Venice, and are transported to India and the interior of Africa, where the women adorn themselves with these bawbles, as the ladies in Europe and Constantinople do with jewels and diamonds. The Egyptians might excel in the making of glass, because their country affords the best materials which that manufacture requires : but they are deficient in the knowledge of that art ; and the fuel which they employ being only straw or other feeble combustibles, is not of sufficient strength to melt with propriety the articles which are necessary for forming elegant glass. With the exception of a few trifling articles, they have no manufacture of iron-ware, and every thing valuable in the art of cutlery comes from the markets of Britain, France, or Germany.
Few situations are more convenient for commerce than Egypt ; and it was this conviction which induced Alexander the Great to found the city which he called after his own name, and which he intended to be the capital of his conquests. His quick discernment ena bled him to see the means which it possessed of being a commercial centre for Asia, Europe, and Africa. His unexpected death prevented the execution of his schemes, both civil and warlike ; but under the govern ment of the Ptolemies, Egypt acquired the commercial ascendency which Alexander foresaw, and which its si tuation was calculated to bestow.
The princes of this new dynasty encouraged a spirit of enterprise, and from the ports of the Red Sea vessels launched out in pursuit of new countries and new com merce. Being small, and the sailors unacquainted with the principles of general navigation, they were obliged to sail along the coasts, and move cautiously from one point to another, seldom or never losing sight of land. But with all these disadvantages, they made consider able advances in trade and riches. Moving along the coast of Africa, they darted over to Madagascar ; and some of them entering the Persian Gulf, conveyed their goods by the Euphrates to the Persians and other peo ple of these regions. Some penetrated to the mouths of the Indus, visited the coast of Malabar, and reached the Island of Ceylon. There were a few who passed over the coast of Coromandel, and reached the Gan ges.