Technical Training.— In 1907 the authori ties introduced a new system of technical edu cation in Egypt under the direction of Mr. Sidney Wells, which has made remarkable progress despite peculiar difficulties in a coun try yvhere a technical or an industrial career earned with it a social stigma. It was divided into three branches —industrial, agricultural, commercial. In the first two branches, obvi ously the most important three sections have been organized, corresponding with the social grades of the people and the needs of the various classes of either branches. In the gen eral educational scheme are the Kittabs or vil lage schools, the primary and the secondary schools. The new plan provides for manual workmen, foremen and managers and skilled professional workers. Under industrial educa tion are comprised trade schools, a technical school and a school of engineering; under agri cultural are included farm schools, intermediate schools and a school for agriculture. The trade schools— some called model workshops—pro vide a system of apprenticeship in trades that are in demand and of local interest; the ap prentices, all of the poorer classes and from the age of 12 and with but a very rudimentary knowledge, are taught a four years' course in carpentry, furniture-making, plumbing, shoe making, tailoring, saddlery, etc. They accept outside work, and in 1914 17 such workshops executed orders valued at $150,000. The 11 farm schools. afford practical training in ele mentary agricultural matters to the poorer class.
Dernanding primary certificates the Boulac technical and the intermediate agricultural schools deal with the middle classes. The first has three sections in a four-year course— me chanical and electrical engineering, building trades and scavenging, artistic crafts. The second, in a three-year course, creates in the first case draftsmen, architects, assistant engi neers, builders, clerics and lecturers on techni cal topics; and also to improve the lcnowledge of landed proprietors and to train pupils to fill managers' positions. The highest schools — those of engineering and agriculture—form, with the schools of medicine and law, the nucleus for the future university. The course is four years and conditioned on the secondary certificate. Irrigation, engineering and archi tecture, with very advanced agricultural educa tion, are taught Graduates are fitted to fill vacancies in the ministries of public works and agriculture, to become expert lecturers and oc cupy higher technical posts outside government service. Besides mere instruction the depart ment encourages local industries and introduces modern methods in carpet making or weaving and will provide new industnes after the pres ent war. A specialty has been made in Upper Egypt of the manufacture out of natural col ored wools of carpets of much beauty and unique design.
Commercial education, the third branch of technical training, is more recent. Eve.n.ing classes for shorthand and then in typewriting, commercial arithmetic and bookkeeping- (in English, French and Arabic) were established in Cairo, Alexandria and Mansura. Later two schools of commerce were opened, to include specializing in accountancy, secretarial work and general commerce. The authorities, too,
co-operate with the training of girls at the Cairo Trade School where dressmaking, em broidery and stocicing-malcing are taught, the articles being sold at an adjacent shop. Fur ther five economic schools are operated. In the 51 schools imparting various kinds of in struction are over 5,500 pupils; nine years ago there were 1,029 pupils in eight such schools. Efforts will be made not to neglect the many native industries in the encouragement of cer tain European trades. Consult London Times Educational Supplement, 7 Sept. 1915.
Religion.--At the present day about 91.84 per cent of the people in Egypt profess the Sunnite (Mohammedan) faith, and 7.81 per cent Christian. The Armenians also have a church and a bisho.p at Alexandria and Cairo. There is an Amencan mission in both cities, but the natives are conservative and not inclined toward religious beliefs other than their awn.
Commerce and the one branch of industry for which Egypt is pecu liarly adapted by nature is agnculture and large quantities of cereals, cotton and other agricultural produce are raised; yet, generally speaking, agriculture is still in a very low state, the necessary consequence of the wretched con dition and extreme poverty of those engaged in it The Egyptians still adhere to their ancient custom of uniting the followers of each busi ness or profession into a guild, governed by their sheilch, who acts, if need be, as their rep resentative. These guilds are exceedingly nu merous, as might be expected among a people whose social organization dates from a remote antiquity.
Among the crops which the Egyptians grow with success, cotton is the most popular and profitable. (See CorroN). The cotton plant of Egypt differs materially, in one respect at least, from that of other countries. In America it has been found unprofitable to allow the plants to continue in the ground longer than one year. In Egypt, however, the case is different, for the cotton plant yields five, and sometimes six, con secutive crops before replanting is found to be necessary. This being the case, a cotton field once planted is a secure investment for at least five years, and as peasants of the Nile do not love labor, more cotton is grown in Egypt in proportion to the population engaged in agricul ture than in any other part of the world. In both Upper and Lower t cotton is there fore the standard crop, anEraPs it is not troubled with worms as in America, and by the method of irrigation the farmer can give it exactly the right portion of moisture and no more, the crop is tolerably reliable. Boats transport the prod uct to Cairo or to Alexandria, the leading cotton markets. The exchange in the former city is located on one of the principal streets, while the market proper is in a public square opposite the great mosque of Hassan. The time of the river journey to Alexandria is frotn six days to siic months, but, as the Mohammedans say, "God is great, and there is no hurry." The business of tanning is also one of the in dustries in which the Egyptians perfectly suc ceed, by a process peculiar to themselves. They rnake excellent morocco leather, which is goat skin dressed and dyed in a particular manner.