EGYPT. (Greek, tarnrros,eliguptos • Hebrew, CIMD, Mizraim or 'fl Mawr ; also called =nip, Pathros (Is. xi, it) and On int/ Ham, "The land of Ham" (Ps. cvi, 22). Assyrian le44 411, Magri; Arabic tal , Misr or Mon In Hieroglyphics, do MC' Kona). Its present same is derived from the Greek, Aigsptos (meaning obscure). The Hebrew name Mizl raim, is the dual form of Mazor (a fortified or walled-in place or country), viz., two Manors, •Upper and Lower Egypt." But its principal name upon the monuments and in the papyri is Kami or A a nit °Black land", an appropriate name, owing to the black alluvial soil in the Nile Valley, in contradistinction to the reddish soil of the neighboring land on both sides of the Nile.
Modern Egypt is a vast country extending from the Mediterranean Sea, lat. 31° 35' to parallel 22° N. 1., called Egypt Proper, thence southward to the British possessions in equato rial Africa, which latter region (known as the Egyptian Soudan) isjointly governed by Great Britain and Egypt. The eastern boundary is the Red Sea, and on the extreme northeast, Wady el-Arish, Syria. The western boundary runs northwest to Tripoli, and thence southeast through the Libyan desert, to a point 200 miles west of Wady-Halfa. The area of Egypt (ex clusive of the Soudan) is about 363,181 square miles, the country extending 675 miles north and south, and 500 miles east and west.
In modern as in ancient times Egypt was always divided into the Upper and the Lower, or the Southern and Northern countries. At a very early period it was fur ther subdivided into a number of departments, called nomes, varying in different ages; 42 was probably the usual number. A third great di vision, the Heptanomis, *seven nomes,) pre served in the modern (Wustani) °Middle Egypt," was introduced at the time of the geographer Ptolemy (first half of the 2d century A.D.). Each 'tome had a separate local government. In the 5th century A.D., Egypt was divided into six eparchies. Augusta Prima and Seam& on the east, .Egyptiaca on the west, (the former Heptanomis), The bais Proxima as far as Panapolis, and Thebais Supra to Philm. Under the Mohammedans, •the triple division, Misr-el-Bahri (Lower Egypt) ; el-Wustani .(Middle); and es-Said (Upper) has prevailed, but the number of subdivisions has. varied. At present there are altogether five governments of principal towns, and i provinces subdivided into districts.
Egypt is connected with Asia by the Isthmus of Suez, across which runs the great canal, about 100 miles long. The inhabited portion of Egypt is mainly confined to the valley and delta of the the widest part of which does not exceed 120 miles, while in many parts of the valley it is only from 3 to 15 miles wide, and at the southern frontier of Egypt proper, only two miles. West of the Nile are several oases. Two ranges of lofty mountains, the Arabian Hills on the east and the Libyan on the west, enclose this valley. The delta of the Nile is traversed by a network of primary and secondary channels and is also intersected by numerous canals.
Seven principal channels or mouths were usually recognized in ancient times, the names of which, going from east to west, were the Pe lusiac mouth, the Tanitic, the Mendesian, the Pathmitic, the Sebennytic, the Bolbitine and the Canopic. Now only the Bolbitine (called Ro setta) and the Pathmitic (Damietta), are in ex istence. The Nile has a current running sea ward at the rate of 2/2 or 3 miles an hour and the stream is always deep enough for naviga tion. The water becomes a reddish-brown dur ing the annual overflow; it is esteemed highly salubrious. Near the sea are the lakes Men zaleh, Birket-el-Mariut and other extensive but shallow lagoons.
The openings or lateral valleys of the hills confining the valley of the Nile are compara tively few, or, being little frequented, are not well known. Those on the east side with which we are best acquainted are the Wady-el Till, Walley of the Wanderings" (of the children of Israel), leading from the neighborhood of Cairo to the head of the Gulf of Suez, and that through which passes the road from Koptos to Kosseir on the Red Sea. A short distance west of the Nile and above the Delta is the fertile valley of Farm, in the northwest and lowest part of which is the Birket-el-Kerun Lake, fed by a canal or branch from the Nile. The level of the lake is now 130 feet below that of the Mediterranean. This lake, formerly known as Lake Moeris, covered a far larger area, and by means of sluices and other works was utilized for irrigation purposes. The deserts on the west bank of the Nile generally present to view plains of gravel or of fine drifting sand' on the east, the scene is varied by rocks and moun tainA.