The population is generally divisible into--

1. The fellahin or peasantry and the native townsmen.

2. The Bedouins or nomad Arabs of the desert.

3. The Nuba, Nubians or Berberin, inhabitants of the Nile valley

between Assuan and Dongola.

4. Foreigners.

The first of these divisions includes both the Moslem and Coptic

inhabitants. The Bedouins, or the Arabs of the desert, are of two

different classes: first, Arabic-speaking tribes who range the deserts

as far south as 26 deg. N.; secondly, the tribes inhabiting the desert

from Kosseir to Suakin, namely the Hadendoa, Bisharin and the Ababda

tribes. This group speak a language of their own, and are probably

descendants of the Blemmyes, who occupied these parts in ancient times

(see ARABS; BEDOUINS; HADENDOA; BISHARIN; &c.). The Nubas are of mixed

negro and Arab blood. They are mainly agriculturists, though some are

keen traders (see NUBIA).

Foreigners number over 150,000 and form 1-1/2% of the total population.

They are chiefly Greeks--of whom the majority live in

Alexandria--Italians, British and French. Syrians and Levantines are

numerous, and there is a colony of Persians. The Turkish element is not

numerically strong--a few thousands only--but holds a high social

position.

Of the total population, about 20% is urban. In addition to the 97,000

pure nomads, there are half a million Bedouins described as

"semi-sedentaries," i.e. tent-dwelling Arabs, usually encamped in those

parts of the desert adjoining the cultivated land. The rural classes are

mainly engaged in agriculture, which occupies over 62% of the adults.

The professional and trading classes form about 10% of the whole

population, but 50% of the foreigners are engaged in trade. Of the total

population the males exceed the females by some 46,000.

Physical characteristics of the Egyptians.

The Coptic inhabitants are described in the article COPTS, and the

rural population under FELLAH. It remains here to describe

characteristics and customs common to the Moslem Egyptians and

particularly to those of the cities. In some respects the manner of

life of the natives has been modified by contact with Europeans, and

what follows depicts in general the habits of the people where little

affected by western culture. With regard to physical characteristics

the Egyptians are of full average height (the men are mostly 5 ft. 8

in. or 5 ft. 9 in), and both sexes are remarkably well proportioned

and of strong physique. The Cairenes and the inhabitants of Lower

Egypt generally have a clear complexion and soft skin of a light

yellowish colour; those of Middle Egypt have a tawny skin, and the

dwellers in Upper Egypt a deep bronze or brown complexion. The face of

the men is of a fine oval, forehead prominent but seldom high,

straight nose, eyes deep set, black and brilliant, mouth well formed,

but with rather full lips, regular teeth beautifully made, and beard

usually black and curly but scanty. Moustaches are worn, while the

head is shaved save for a small tuft (called _shusheh_) upon the

crown. As to the women, "from the age of about fourteen to that of

eighteen or twenty, they are generally models of beauty in body and

limbs; and in countenance most of them are pleasing, and many

exceedingly lovely; but soon after they have attained their perfect

growth, they rapidly decline." There are few Egyptian women over forty

who retain either good looks or good figures. "The forms of womanhood

begin to develop themselves about the ninth and tenth year: at the

age of fifteen or sixteen they generally attain their highest degree

of perfection. With regard to their complexions, the same remarks

apply to them as to the men, with only this difference, that their

faces, being generally veiled when they go abroad, are not quite so

much tanned as those of the men. They are characterized, like the men,

by a fine oval countenance, though in some instances it is rather

broad. The eyes, with very few exceptions, are black, large and of a

long almond-form, with long and beautiful lashes, and an exquisitely

soft, bewitching expression--eyes more beautiful can hardly be

conceived: their charming effect is much heightened by the concealment

of the other features (however pleasing the latter may be), and is

rendered still more striking by a practice universal among the females

of the higher and middle classes, and very common among those of the

lower orders, which is that of blackening the edge of the eyelids both

above and below the eye, with a black powder called 'kohl'" (Lane,

_Modern Egyptians_). Both sexes, but especially the women, tattoo

several parts of the person, and the women stain their hands and feet

with the red dye of the henna.

Dress and social life.

The dress of the men of the upper and middle classes who have not

adopted European clothing--a practice increasingly common--consists of

cotton drawers, and a cotton or silk shirt with very wide sleeves.

Above these are generally worn a waistcoat without sleeves, and a long

vest of silk, called kaftan, which has hanging sleeves, and reaches

nearly to the ankles. The kaftan is confined by the girdle, which is a

silk scarf, or cashmere or other woollen shawl. Over all is worn a

long cloth robe, the gibbeh (or jibbeh) somewhat resembling the kaftan

in shape, but having shorter sleeves, and being open in front. The

dress of the lower orders is the shirt and drawers, and waistcoat,

with an outer shirt of blue cotton or brown woollen stuff; some wear a

kaftan. The head-dress is the red cloth fez or tarbush round which a

turban is usually worn. Men who have otherwise adopted European

costume retain the tarbush. Many professions and religions, &c., are

distinguished by the shape and colour of the turban, and various

classes, and particularly servants, are marked by the form and colour

of their shoes; but the poor go usually barefoot. Many ladies of the

upper classes now dress in European style, with certain modifications,

such as the head-veil. Those who retain native costume wear a very

full pair of silk trousers, bright coloured stockings (usually pink),

and a close-fitting vest with hanging sleeves and skirts, open down

the front and at the sides, and long enough to turn up and fasten into

the girdle, which is generally a cashmere shawl; a cloth jacket,

richly embroidered with gold, and having short sleeves, is commonly

worn over the vest. The hair in front is combed down over the forehead

and cut across in a straight line; behind it is divided into very many

small plaits, which hang down the back, and are lengthened by silken

cords, and often adorned with gold coins and ornaments. A small

tarbush is worn on the back of the head, sometimes having a plate of

gold fixed on the crown, and a handkerchief is tastefully bound round

the temples. The women of the lower orders have trousers of printed or

dyed cotton, and a close waistcoat. All wear the long and elegant

head-veil. This is a simple "breadth" of muslin, which passes over the

head and hangs down behind, one side, being drawn forward over the

face in the presence of a man. A lady's veil is of white muslin,

embroidered at the ends in gold and colours; that of a person of the

lower class is simply dyed blue. In going abroad the ladies wear above

their indoor dress a loose robe of coloured silk without sleeves, and

nearly open at the sides, and above it a large enveloping piece of

black silk, which is brought over the head, and gathered round the

person by the arms and hands on each side. A face-veil entirely

conceals the features, except the eyes; it is a long and narrow piece

of thick white muslin, reaching to a little below the knees. The women

of the lower orders have the same out-door dress of different

materials and colour. Ladies use slippers of yellow morocco, and

abroad, inner boots of the same material, above which they wear, in

either case, thick shoes, having only toes. The poor wear red shoes,

very like those of the men. The women, especially in Upper Egypt, not

infrequently wear nose-rings.

Children, though often neglected, are not unkindly treated, and

reverence for their parents and the aged is early inculcated. They are

also well grounded in the leading doctrines of Islam. Boys are

circumcised at the age of five or six years, when the boy is paraded,

generally with a bridal procession, on a gaily caparisoned horse and

dressed in woman's clothes. Most parents send their boys to school

where a knowledge of reading and writing Arabic--the common tongue of

the Egyptians--is obtainable, and from the closing years of the 19th

century a great desire for the education of girls has arisen (see S

_Education_).

It is deemed disreputable for a young man not to marry when he has

attained a sufficient age; there are, therefore, few unmarried men.

Girls, in like manner, marry very young, some at ten years of age, and

few remain single beyond the age of sixteen; they are generally very

prolific. The bridegroom never sees his future wife before the wedding

night, a custom rendered more tolerable than it otherwise might be by

the facility of divorce. A dowry is always given, and a simple

marriage ceremony performed by a _fiki_ (a schoolmaster, or one who

recites the Koran, properly one learned in _fiqh_, Mahommedan law) in

the presence of two witnesses. The bridal of a virgin is attended with

great festivity and rejoicing, a grandee's wedding sometimes

continuing eleven days and nights. On the last day, which should be

that terminating with the eve of Friday, or of Monday, the bride is

taken in procession to the bridegroom's house, accompanied by her

female friends, and a band of musicians, jugglers, wrestlers, &c. As

before stated, a boy about to be circumcised joins in such a

procession, or, frequently, a succession of such boys. Though allowed

by his religion four wives, most Egyptians are monogamists. A man may,

however, possess any number of concubines, who, though objects of

jealousy to the legal wife, are tolerated by her in consideration of

her superior position and power over them, a power which she often

uses with great tyranny; but certain privileges are possessed by

concubines, especially if they have borne sons to their master. A

divorce is rendered obligatory by the simple words "Thou art

divorced." Repudiation may take place twice without being final, but

if the husband repeats thrice "Thou art divorced" the separation is

absolute. In that case the dowry must be returned to the wife.

Elaborate ceremonies are observed at funerals. Immediately on death

the corpse is turned towards Mecca, and the women of the household,

assisted by hired mourners, commence their peculiar wailing, while

fikis recite portions of the Koran. The funeral takes place on the day

of the death, if that happen in the morning; otherwise on the next

day. The corpse, having been washed and shrouded, is placed in an open

bier, covered with a cashmere shawl, in the case of a man; or in a

closed bier, having a post in front, on which are placed feminine

ornaments, in that of a woman or child. The funeral procession is

headed by a number of poor, and generally blind, men, chanting the

profession of the faith, followed by male friends of the deceased, and

a party of schoolboys, also chanting, generally from a poem

descriptive of the state of the soul after death. Then follows the

bier, borne on the shoulders of friends, who are relieved by the

passers-by, such an act being deemed highly meritorious. Behind come

the women relatives and the hired wailers. On the way to the cemetery

the corpse is generally carried to some revered mosque. Here the

funeral service is performed by the imam, and the procession then

proceeds to the tomb. In the burials of the rich, water and bread are

distributed to the poor at the grave; and sometimes a buffalo or

several buffaloes are slaughtered there, and the flesh given away. The

tomb is a vault, surmounted by an oblong stone monument, with a stele

at the head and feet; and a cupola, supported by four walls, covers

the whole in the case of sheikhs' tombs and those of the wealthy.

During the night following the interment, called the Night of

Desolation, or that of Solitude, the soul being believed to remain

with the body that one night, fikis are engaged at the house of the

deceased to recite various portions of the Koran, and, commonly, to

repeat the first clause of the profession of the faith, "There is no

God but God," three thousand times. The women alone put on mourning

attire, by dyeing their veils, shirts, &c., dark blue, with indigo;

and they stain their hands, and smear the walls, with the same colour.

Everything in the house is also turned upside down. The latter customs

are not, however, observed on the death of an old man. At certain

periods after the burial, a khatmeh, or recitation of the whole of the

Koran, is performed, and the tomb is visited by the women relations

and friends of the deceased. The women of the peasants of Upper Egypt

perform strange dances, &c., at funerals, which are regarded partly as

relics of ancient Egyptian customs.

The harem system of appointing separate apartments to the women, and

secluding them from the gaze of men, is observed in Egypt as in other

Moslem countries, but less strictly. The women of an Egyptian

household in which old customs are maintained never sit in the

presence of the master, but attend him at his meals, and are treated

in every respect as inferiors. The mother, however, forms a remarkable

exception to this rule; in rare instances, also, a wife becomes a

companion to her husband. On the other hand, if a pair of women's

shoes are placed outside the door of the harem apartments, they are

understood to signify that female visitors are within, and a man is

sometimes thus excluded from the upper portion of his own house for

many days. Ladies of the upper or middle classes lead a life of

extreme inactivity, spending their time at the bath, which is the

general place of gossip, or in receiving visits, embroidering, and the

like, and in absolute _dolce far niente_. Both sexes are given to

licentiousness.

The principal meals are breakfast, about an hour after sunrise;

dinner, or the mid-day meal, at noon; and supper, which is the chief

meal of the day, a little after sunset. Pastry, sweetmeats and fruit

are highly esteemed. Coffee is taken at all hours, and is, with a

pipe, presented at least once to each guest. Tobacco is the great

luxury of the men of all classes in Egypt, who begin and end the day

with it, and generally smoke all day with little intermission. Many

women, also, especially among the rich, adopt the habit. The smoking

of hashish, though illegal, is indulged in by considerable numbers of

people. Men who can afford to keep a horse, mule or ass are very

seldom seen to walk. Ladies ride asses and sit astride. The poorer

classes cannot fully observe the harem system, but the women are in

general carefully veiled. Some of them keep small shops, and all fetch

water, make fuel, and cook for their households. Domestic slavery

lingers but is moribund. The majority of the slaves are negresses

employed in household duties.

In social intercourse the Egyptians observe many forms of salutation

and much etiquette; they are very affable, and readily enter into

conversation with strangers. Their courtesy and dignity of manner are

very striking, and are combined with ease and a fluency of discourse.

They have a remarkable quickness of apprehension, a ready wit, a

retentive memory, combined, however, with religious pride and

hypocrisy, and a disregard for the truth. Their common discourse is

full of asseverations and expressions respecting sacred things. They

entertain reverence for their Prophet; and the Koran is treated with

the utmost respect--never, for example, being placed in a low

situation--and this is the case with everything they esteem holy. They

are fatalists, and bear calamities with surprising resignation. Their

filial piety and respect for the aged have been mentioned, and

benevolence and charity are conspicuous in their character. Humanity

to animals is another virtue, and cruelty is openly discountenanced in

the streets. Their affability, cheerfulness and hospitality are

remarkable, as well as frugality and temperance in food and drink, and

honesty in the payment of debt. Their cupidity is mitigated by

generosity; their natural indolence by the necessity, especially among

the peasantry, to work hard to gain a livelihood. Egyptians, however,

are as a rule suspicious of all not of their own creed and country.

Murders and other grave crimes are rare, but petty larcenies are very

common.

The amusements of the people are generally not of a violent kind,

being in keeping with their sedentary habits and the heat of the

climate. The bath is a favourite resort of both sexes and all classes.

They are acquainted with chess, draughts, backgammon, and other games,

among which is one peculiar to themselves, called Mankalah, and played

with cowries. Notwithstanding its condemnation by Mahomet, music is

the most favourite recreation of the people; the songs of the boatmen,

the religious chants, and the cries in the streets are all musical.

There are male and female musical performers; the former are both

instrumental and vocal, the latter (called _'Almeh_, pl. _'Awalim_)

generally vocal. The 'Awalim are, as their name ("learned") implies,

generally accomplished women, and should not be confounded with the

Ghawazi, or dancing-girls. There are many kinds of musical

instruments. The music, vocal and instrumental, is generally of little

compass, and in the minor key; it is therefore plaintive, and strikes

a European ear as somewhat monotonous, though often possessing a

simple beauty, and the charm of antiquity, for there is little doubt

that the favourite airs have been handed down from remote ages. The

Ghawazi (sing. Ghazia) form a separate class, very similar to the

gipsies. They intermarry among themselves only, and their women are

professional dancers. Their performances are often objectionable and

are so regarded by many Egyptians. They dance in public, at fairs and

religious festivals, and at private festivities, but, it is said, not

in respectable houses. Mehemet Ali banished them to Esna, in Upper

Egypt; and the few that remained in Cairo called themselves 'Awalim,

to avoid punishment. Many of the dancing-girls of Cairo to-day are

neither 'Awalim nor Ghawazi, but women of the very lowest class whose

performances are both ungraceful and indecent. A most objectionable

class of male dancers also exists, who imitate the dances of the

Ghawazi, and dress in a kind of nondescript female attire. Not the

least curious of the public performances are those of the

serpent-charmers, who are generally Rifa'ia (Saadia) dervishes. Their

power over serpents has been doubted, yet their performances remain

unexplained; they, however, always extract the fangs of venomous

serpents. Jugglers, rope-dancers and farce-players must also be

mentioned. In the principal coffee-shops of Cairo are to be found

reciters of romances, surrounded by interested audiences.

Public festivals.

The periodical public festivals are exceedingly interesting, but many

of the remarkable observances connected with them are passing away.

The first ten days of the Mahommedan year are held to be blessed, and

especially the tenth; and many curious practices are observed on these

days, particularly by the women. The tenth day, being the anniversary

of the martyrdom of Hosain, the son of Ali and grandson of the

Prophet, the mosque of the Hasanen at Cairo is thronged to excess,

mostly by women. In the evening a procession goes to the mosque, the

principal figure being a white horse with white trappings, upon which

is seated a small boy, the horse and the lad, who represents Hosain,

being smeared with blood. From the mosque the procession goes to a

private house, where a mullah recites the story of the martyrdom.

Following the order of the lunar year, the next festival is that of

the Return of the Pilgrims, which is the occasion of great rejoicing,

many having friends or relatives in the caravan. The Mahmal, a kind of

covered litter, first originated by Queen Sheger-ed-Dur, is brought

into the city in procession, though not with as much pomp as when it

leaves with the pilgrims. These and other processions have lost much

of their effect since the extinction of the Mamelukes, and the gradual

disuse of gorgeous dress for the retainers of the officers of state. A

regiment of regular infantry makes but a sorry substitute for the

splendid cavalcade of former times. The Birth of the Prophet (Molid

en-Nebi), which is celebrated in the beginning of the third month, is

the greatest festival of the whole year. For nine days and nights

Cairo has more the aspect of a fair than of a city keeping a religious

festival. The chief ceremonies take place in some large open spot

round which are erected the tents of the khedive, of great state

officials, and of the dervishes. Next in time, and also in importance,

is the Molid El-Hasanen, commemorative of the birth of Hosain, and

lasting fifteen days and nights; and at the same time is kept the

Molid of al-Salih Ayyub, the last sovereign but two of the Ayyubite

dynasty. In the seventh month occur the Molid of the sayyida Zenab,

and the commemoration of the Miarag, or the Prophet's miraculous

journey to heaven. Early in the eighth month (Sha'ban), the Molid of

the imam Shafi'i is observed; and the night of the middle of that

month has its peculiar customs, being held by the Moslems to be that

on which the fate of all living is decided for the ensuing year. Then

follows Ramadan, the month of abstinence, a severe trial to the

faithful; and the Lesser Festival (Al-'id as-saghir), which commences

Shawwal, is hailed by them with delight. A few days after, the Kiswa,

or new covering for the Ka'ba at Mecca, is taken in procession from

the citadel, where it is always manufactured, to the mosque of the

Hasanen to be completed; and, later, the caravan of pilgrims departs,

when the grand procession of the Mahmal takes place. On the tenth day

of the last month of the year the Great Festival (Al-'id al-kabir), or

that of the Sacrifice (commemorating the willingness of Ibrahim to

slay his son Ismail--according to the Arab legend), closes the

calendar. The Lesser and Great Festivals are those known in Turkish as

the Bairam (q.v.).

The rise of the Nile is naturally the occasion of annual customs, some

of which are doubtless relics of antiquity; these are observed

according to the Coptic calendar. The commencement of the rise is

commemorated on the night of the 11th of Bauna, the 17th of June,

called that of the Drop (Lelet-en-Nukta), because a miraculous drop is

then supposed to fall and cause the swelling of the river. The real

rise begins at Cairo about the summer solstice, or a few days later,

and early in July a crier in each district of the city begins to go

his daily rounds, announcing, in a quaint chant, the increase of water

in the nilometer of the island of Roda. When the river has risen 20 or

21 ft., he proclaims the Wefa en-Nil, "Completion" or "Abundance of

the Nile." On the following day the dam which closed the canal of

Cairo was cut with much ceremony. The canal having been filled up in

1897 the ceremony has been much modified, but a brief description of

what used to take place may be given. A pillar of earth before the dam

is called the "Bride of the Nile," and Arab historians relate that

this was substituted, at the Moslem conquest, for a virgin whom it was

the custom annually to sacrifice, to ensure a plentiful inundation. A

large boat, gaily decked out, representing that in which the victim

used to be conveyed, was anchored near, and a gun on board fired every

quarter of an hour during the night. Rockets and other fireworks were

also let off, but the best, strangely, after daybreak. The governor of

Cairo attended the ceremony, with the cadi and others, and gave the

signal for the cutting of the dam. As soon as sufficient water had

entered, boats ascended the canal to the city. The crier continues his

daily rounds, with his former chant, excepting on the Coptic New

Year's Day, when the cry of the Wefa is repeated, until the Salib, or

Discovery of the Cross, the 26th or 27th of September, at which

period, the river having attained its greatest height, he concludes

his annual employment with another chant, and presents to each house

some limes and other fruit, and dry lumps of Nile mud.

The period of the hot winds, called the khamsin, that is, "the

fifties," is calculated from the day after the Coptic Easter, and

terminates on the day of Pentecost, and the Moslems observe the

Wednesday preceding this period, called "Job's Wednesday," as well as

its first day, when many go into the country from Cairo, "to smell the

air." This day is hence called Shem en-Nesim, or "the smelling of the

zephyr." The Ulema observe the same custom on the first three days of

the spring quarter.

Tombs of saints abound, one or more being found in every town and

village; and no traveller up the Nile can fail to remark how every

prominent hill has the sepulchre of its patron saint. The great saints

of Egypt are the imam Ash-Shafi'i, founder of the persuasion called

after him, the sayyid Ahmad al-Baidawi, and the sayyid Ibrahim

Ed-Desuki, both of whom were founders of orders of dervishes.

Al-Baidawi, who lived in the 13th century A.D., is buried at the town

of Tanta, in the Delta, and his tomb attracts many thousands of

visitors at each of the three festivals held yearly in his honour;

Ed-Desuki is also much revered, and his festivals draw together, in

like manner, great crowds to his birthplace, the town of Desuk. But,

besides the graves of her native saints, Egypt boasts of those of

several members of the Prophet's family, the tomb of the sayyida

Zeyneb, daughter of 'Ali, that of the sayyida Sekeina, daughter of

Hosain, and that of the sayyida Nefisa, great-granddaughter of Hasan,

all of which are held in high veneration. The mosque of the Hasanen

(or that of the "two Hasans") is the most reverenced shrine in the

country, and is believed to contain the head of Hosain. Many orders of

Dervishes live in Egypt, the following being the most celebrated:--(1)

the Rifa'ia, and their sects the 'Ilwania and Saadia; (2) the Qadiria

(Kahiria), or howling dervishes; (3) the Ahmedia, or followers of the

sayyid Ahmad al-Baidawi, and their sects the Beyumia (known by their

long hair), Shinnawia, Sharawia and many others; and (4) the Baramia,

or followers of the sayyid Ibrahim Ed-Desuki. These are all presided

over by a direct descendant of the caliph Abu Bekr, called the Sheikh

El-Bekri. The Saadia are famous for charming and eating live serpents,

&c., and the 'Ilwania for eating fire, glass, &c. The Egyptians firmly

believe in the efficacy of charms, a belief associated with that in

an omnipresent and over-ruling providence. Thus the doors of houses

are inscribed with sentences from the Koran, or the like, to preserve

from the evil eye, or avert the dangers of an unlucky threshold;

similar inscriptions may be observed over most shops, while almost

every one carries some charm about his person. The so-called sciences

of magic, astrology and alchemy still flourish.

AUTHORITIES.--The standard authority for the Moslem Egyptians is E. W.

Lane's _Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_, first published

in 1836. The best edition is that of 1860, edited, with additions, by

E. S. Poole. See also B. Saint-John, _Village Life in Egypt_ (2 vols.,

1852); S. Lane Poole, _Social Life in Egypt_ (1884); P. Arminjon,

_L'Enseignement, la doctrine, el la vie dans les universites

musulmanes d'Egypte_ (Paris, 1907). For the language see J. S.

Willmore, _The Spoken Arabic of Egypt_ (2nd ed., London, 1905); Spitta

Bey, _Grammatik des arabischen Vulgardialektes von Agypten, Contes

arabes modernes_ (Leiden, 1883). For statistical information consult

the reports on the censuses of 1897 and 1907, published by the

Ministry of the Interior, Cairo, in 1898 and 1909.

(E. S. P.; S. L.-P.; F. R. C.)

_Finance._

The important part which the financial arrangements have played in the

political and social history of Egypt since the accession of Ismail

Pasha in 1863 is shown in the section _History_ of this article. Here it

is proposed to trace the steps by which Egypt, after having been brought

to a state of bankruptcy, passed through a period of great stress, and

finally attained prosperity and a large measure of financial autonomy.

In 1862 the foreign debt of Egypt stood at L3,292,000. With the

accession of Ismail (q.v.) there followed a period of wild extravagance

and reckless borrowing accompanied by the extortion of every piastre

possible from the fellahin. The real state of affairs was disclosed in

the report of Mr Stephen Cave, a well-known banker, who was sent by the

British government in December 1875 to inquire into the situation. The

Cave report showed that Egypt suffered from "the ignorance, dishonesty,

waste and extravagance of the East" and from "the vast expense caused by

hasty and inconsiderate endeavours to adopt the civilization of the

West." The debtor and creditor account of the state from 1864 to 1875

showed receipts amounting to L148,215,000. Of this sum over L94,000,000

had been obtained from revenue and nearly L4,000,000 by the sale of the

khedive's shares in the Suez Canal to Great Britain. The rest was

credited to: loans L31,713,000, floating debt L18,243,000. The cash

which reached the Egyptian treasury from the loans and floating debt was

far less than the nominal amount of such loans, none of which cost the

Egyptian government less than 12% per annum. When the expenditure during

the same period was examined the extraordinary fact was disclosed that

the sum raised by revenue was only three millions less than that spent

on administration, tribute and public works, including a sum of

L10,500,000, described as "expenses of questionable utility or policy."

The whole proceeds of the loans and floating debt had been absorbed in

payment of interest and sinking funds, with the exception of L16,000,000

debited to the Suez Canal. In other words, Egypt was burdened with a

debt of L91,000,000--funded or floating--for which she had no return,

for even from the Suez Canal she derived no revenue, owing to the sale

of the khedive's shares.

Soon after Mr Cave's report appeared (March 1876), default took place on

several of the loans. Nearly the whole of the debt, it should be stated,

was held in England or France, and at the instance of French financiers

the stoppage of payment was followed by a scheme to unify the debt. This

scheme included the distribution of a bonus of 25% to holders of

treasury bonds. These bonds had then reached a sum exceeding L20,000,000

and were held chiefly by French firms. The unification scheme was

elaborated in a khedivial decree of the 7th of May 1876, but was

rendered abortive by the opposition of the British bondholders. Its

place was taken by another scheme drawn up by Mr (afterwards Lord)

Goschen and M. Joubert, who represented the British and French

bondholders respectively. The details of this settlement, promulgated by

decree of the 17th of November 1876, need not be given, as it was

superseded in 1880. One of the securities devised for the benefit of the

bondholders in the abortive scheme of May 1876 was retained in the

Goschen-Joubert settlement, and being continued in later settlements

grew to be one of the most important institutions in Egypt. This

security was the establishment of a Treasury of the Public Debt, known

by its French title of _Caisse de la Dette_, and commonly spoken of

simply as "the Caisse." The duty of this body was to act as receivers of

the revenues assigned to the service of the debt. To render their powers

effective they were given the right to sue the Egyptian government in

the Mixed Tribunals for any breach of engagement to the bondholders.

The Law of Liquidation.

The Goschen-Joubert settlement was accompanied by guarantees against

maladministration by the appointment of an Englishman and a Frenchman to

superintend the revenue and expenditure--the "Dual Control"; while a

commission was appointed in 1878 to investigate the condition of the

country. The settlement of 1880 was effected on the basis of the

proposals made by this commission, and was embodied in the Law of

Liquidation of July 1880--after the deposition of Ismail. For the

purposes of the new settlement the loans raised by Ismail on his private

estates, those known as the Daira (i.e. "administrations") and Domains

loans, were brought into account. By the Law of Liquidation the floating

debt was paid off, the whole debt being consolidated into four large

loans, upon which the rate of interest was reduced to a figure which it

was considered Egypt was able to bear. The Egyptian debt under this

composition was:

Privileged debt L22,609,000

Unified debt 58,018,000

Daira Sanieh loan 9,513,000

Domains loan 8,500,000

-----------

L98,640,000

The rate of interest was, on the Privileged debt and Domains loan, 5%;

on the Unified debt and Daira loan, 4%. Under this settlement the total

annual charges on the country amounted to L4,500,000, about half the

then revenue of Egypt. These charges included the services of the

Privileged and Unified debts, the tribute to Turkey and the interest on

the Suez Canal shares held by Great Britain, but excluded the interest

on the Daira and Domains loans, expected to be defrayed by the revenues

from the estates on which those loans were secured. The general revenue

of Egypt was divided between the bondholders and the government, any

surplus on the bondholders' share being devoted to the redemption of the

capital.

The 1880 settlement proved little more lasting than that of 1876. After

a brief period of prosperity, the Arabi rising, the riots at Alexandria,

and the events generally which led to the British occupation of Egypt in

1882, followed by the losses incurred in the Sudan in the effort to

prevent it falling into the hands of the Mahdi, brought Egypt once more

to the verge of financial disaster. The situation was an anomalous one.

While the revenue assigned to the service of the debt was more than

sufficient for the payment of interest and the sinking fund was in full

operation, the government found that their share of the revenue was

altogether inadequate for the expenses of administration, and they were

compelled to borrow on short loans at high rate of interest. Moreover,

to make good the losses incurred at Alexandria, and to get money to pay

the charges arising out of the Sudan War and the Arabi rebellion, a new

loan was essential. On the initiative of Great Britain a conference

between the representatives of the great powers and Turkey was held in

London, and resulted in the signing of a convention in March 1885. The

terms agreed upon in this instrument, known as the London Convention,

were embodied in a khedivial decree, which, with some modification in

detail, remained for twenty years the organic law under which the

finances of Egypt were administered.

Provisions of the London Convention.

The principle of dividing the revenue of the country between the Caisse,

as representing the bondholders, and the government was maintained by

the London Convention. The revenue assigned to the service of the debt,

namely, that derived from the railway, telegraphs, port of Alexandria,

customs (including tobacco) and from four of the provinces, remained as

before. It was recognized, however, that the non-assigned revenue was

insufficient to meet the necessary expenses of government, and a scale

of administrative expenditure was drawn up. This was originally fixed at

LE.5,237,000,[6] but subsequently other items were allowed, and in 1904,

the last year in which the system described existed, it was

LE.6,300,600. The Caisse was authorized, after payment of the coupons on

the debt, to make good out of their balance in hand the difference

between the authorized expenditure and the non-assigned revenue. If a

surplus remained to the Caisse after making good such deficit the

surplus was to be divided equally between the Caisse and the government;

the government to be free to spend its share as it pleased, while the

Caisse had to devote its share to the reduction of the debt. This

limitation of administrative expenditure was the cardinal feature and

the leading defect of the convention. Those responsible for this

arrangement--the most favourable for Egypt that Great Britain could

secure--failed to recognize the complete change likely to result from

the British occupation of Egypt, and probably regarded that occupation

as temporary. The system devised might have been justifiable as a check

on a retrograde government, but was wholly inapplicable to a reforming

government and a serious obstacle to the attainment of national

prosperity. In practice administrative expenditure always exceeded the

amount fixed by the convention. Any excess could, however, only be met

out of the half-share of the eventual surplus reached in the manner

described. Consequently, in order to meet new expenditure necessitated

by the growing wants of a country in process of development, just double

the amount of revenue had to be raised.

To return to the provisions of the London Convention. The convention

left the permanent rate of interest on the debt, as fixed by the Law of

Liquidation, unchanged, but to afford temporary relief to the Egyptian

exchequer a reduction of 5% on the interest of the debt was granted for

two years, on condition that if at the end of that period payment,

including the arrears of the two years, was not resumed in full, another

international commission was to be appointed to examine into the whole

financial situation. Lastly, the convention empowered Egypt to raise a

loan of nine millions, guaranteed by all the powers, at a rate of

interest of 3%. For the service of this loan--known as the Guaranteed

loan--an annuity of L315,000 was provided in the Egyptian budget for

interest and sinking fund. The L9,000,000 was sufficient to pay the

Alexandria indemnities, to wipe out the deficits of the preceding years,

to give the Egyptian treasury a working balance of LE.500,000 and

thereby avoid the creation of a fresh floating debt, and to provide a

million for new irrigation works. To the wise foresight which, at a

moment when the country was sinking beneath a weight of debt, did not

hesitate to add this million for expenditure on productive works, the

present prosperity of Egypt is largely due.

The provisions of the London Convention did not exhaust the restrictions

placed upon the Egyptian government in respect of financial autonomy.

These restrictions were of two categories, (1) those independent of the

London Convention, (2) those dependent upon that instrument. In the

first category came (a) the prohibition to raise a loan without the

consent of the Porte. The right to raise loans had been granted to the

khedive Ismail in 1873, but was taken away in 1879 by the firman

appointing Tewfik khedive. (b) Next came the inability to levy taxes on

foreigners without the consent of their respective governments. This

last obligation was, in virtue of the Capitulations, applicable to Egypt

as part of the Ottoman empire. The only exception, resulting from the

Ottoman law under which foreigners are allowed to acquire and hold real

property, is the land tax. (All taxes formerly paid by natives and not

by foreigners have been abolished in Egypt, but the immunity described

constitutes a most serious obstacle to the redistribution of the burden

of taxation in a more equitable manner.)

From the purely Egyptian point of view the most powerful restriction in

this first category remains to be named. In 1883 the supervision

exercised over the finances by French and British controllers was

replaced by that of a British official called the financial adviser. The

British government has declared that "no financial decision shall be

taken without his consent," a declaration never questioned by the

Egyptian government. This restriction, therefore, is at the same time

the chief safeguard for the purity of Egypt's finances.

In the second category of restrictions, namely, those dependent on the

London Convention, were the various commissions or boards known as Mixed

Administrations and having relations of a quasi-independent character

with the ministry of finance. Of these boards by far the most important

was the Caisse. As first constituted it consisted of a French, an

Austrian, and an Italian member; a British member was added in 1877 and

a German and a Russian member in 1885. The revenue assigned to the debt

charges was paid direct to the Caisse without passing through the

ministry of finance. The assent of the Caisse (as well as that of the

sultan) was necessary before any new loan could be issued, and in the

course of a few years from its creation this body acquired very

extensive powers. Besides the Caisse there was the Railway Board, which

administered the railways, telegraphs and port of Alexandria for the

benefit of the bondholders, and the Daira and Domains commissions, which

administered the estates mortgaged to the holders of those loans. Each

of the three boards last named consisted of an Englishman, a Frenchman

and an Egyptian.

The race against bankruptcy.

During the two years that followed the signing of the London Convention,

the financial policy of the Egyptian government was directed to placing

the country in a position to resume full payment of the interest on the

debt in 1887, and thereby to avoid the appointment of an international

commission. By the exercise of the most rigid economy in all branches

this end was attained, though budgetary equilibrium was only secured by

a variety of financial expedients, justified by the vital importance of

saving Egypt from further international interference. By such means this

additional complication was averted, but the struggle to put Egypt in a

genuinely solvent position was by no means over. It was not until his

report on the financial results of 1888 that Sir Evelyn Baring

(afterwards Lord Cromer) was able to inform the British government that

the situation was such that "it would take a series of untoward events

seriously to endanger the stability of Egyptian finance and the solvency

of the Egyptian government." From this moment the corner was turned, and

the era of financial prosperity commenced. The results of the labours of

the preceding six years began to manifest themselves with a rapidity

which surprised the most sanguine observers. The principal feature of

the successive Egyptian budgets of 1890-1894 was the fiscal relief

afforded to the population. From 1894 onward more attention was paid

than had hitherto been possible to the legitimate demands of the

spending departments and to the prosecution of public works. Of these

the most notable was the construction (1898-1902) of the Assuan dam,

which by bringing more land under cultivation permanently increased the

resources of the country and widened the area of taxation.

Reserve funds.

With the accumulating proofs of the financial stability of the country

various changes were made in connexion with the debt charges. With the

consent of the powers a General Reserve Fund was created by decree of

the 12th of July 1888, into which was paid the Caisse's half-share in

the eventual surplus of revenue. This fund, primarily intended as a

security for the bondholders, might be drawn upon for extraordinary

expenditure with the consent of the commissioners of the Caisse. Large

sums were so advanced for the purposes of drainage and irrigation and

other public works, and in relief of taxation. The defect of this

arrangement consisted in the necessity of obtaining the consent of the

commissioners--a consent sometimes withheld on purely political grounds.

At the same time it is believed that but for the faculty given by the

decree of 1888 to spend the General Reserve Fund on public works, the

financial system elaborated by the London Convention would have broken

down altogether. Between 1888 and 1904 about L10,000,000 was devoted

from this fund to public works.

In June 1890 the assent of the powers was obtained to the conversion of

the Preference (Privileged), Domains and Daira loans on the following

conditions, imposed at the initiative of the French government:--

1. The employment of the economies resulting from the conversion was

to be the subject of future agreement with the powers.

2. The Daira loan was to be reimbursed at 85%, instead of 80%, as

provided by the Law of Liquidation.

3. The sales of Domains and Daira lands were to be restricted to

LE.300,000 a year each, thus prolonging the period of liquidation of

those estates.

The interest on the Preference stock was reduced from 5 to 3-1/2%, and on

the Domains from 5 to 4-1/4%. As regards the Daira loan, there was no

apparent reduction in the rate of interest, which remained at 4%, but

the bondholders received L85 of the new stock for every L100 of the old.

The capital of the debt was increased by L1,945,000 by these

conversions, while the annual economy to the Egyptian government

amounted at the time of the conversion to LE.348,000. Further, an

engagement was entered into that there should be no reimbursement of the

loans till 1905 for the Preference and Daira, and 1908 for the Domains.

By an arrangement concluded in June 1898, between the Egyptian

government and a syndicate, the unsold balance of the Daira estates was

taken over by the syndicate in October 1905, for the amount of the debt

remaining, when the Daira loan ceased to exist. The fund formed by the

accumulation of the economies resulting from the conversion of the

Privileged, Daira and Domains loan was known as the Conversion Economies

Fund. The fund could not be used for any purpose without the consent of

the powers, and the money paid into it was invested by the Caisse in

Egyptian stock. The fund therefore acted as a very expensive sinking

fund, the market price of the stock purchased being above par. Up to

1904 the consent of the powers to the employment of this fund for any

purpose of public utility was withheld. On the 31st of December of that

year the fund amounted to LE.6,031,000. It may be added that besides the

General Reserve Fund and the Conversion Economies Fund, there existed

another fund called the Special Reserve Fund. This was constituted in

1886 and was chiefly made up of the net savings of the Egyptian

government on its share of the annual surpluses from revenue. Of the

three funds this last-named was the only one at the absolute disposal of

the government. The whole of the extraordinary expenditure of the Sudan

campaigns of 1896-1898, with the exception of L800,000 granted by the

British government, was paid out of this fund--a sum amounting in round

figures to L1,500,000.

An era of prosperity.

Notwithstanding all the hampering conditions stated, the prosperity of

the country became more manifest each succeeding year. During the four

years 1883-1886, both inclusive, the aggregate deficit amounted to

LE.2,606,000. In 1887 there was practical equilibrium in the budget, in

1888 there was a deficit of LE.53,000. In 1889 there was a surplus of

LE.218,000, and from that date onward every year has shown a surplus. In

1895 the surplus exceeded, for the first time, LE.1,000,000. The growth

of revenue was no less marked. "In 1883--the first complete year after

the British occupation--the revenue was slightly under 9 millions. This

sum was collected with difficulty. The revenue steadily rose until, in

1890, the figure of 10 millions was exceeded. In 1897 a figure of over

11 millions was attained. Continuing to rise with ever-increasing

rapidity, a revenue of close on 12 millions was collected in 1901 and

1902, in spite of the fact that during the latter of these two years the

Nile flood was one of the lowest on record. In 1903 the revenue amounted

to 12-1/2 millions, and in 1904 the unprecedented figure of LE.13,906,000

was reached."[7] Yet during this period the amount of direct taxation

remitted reached LE.1,900,000 a year. Arrears of land tax to the extent

of LE.1,245,000 were cancelled. In indirect taxation the salt tax had

been reduced by 40%, the postal, railway and telegraph rates lowered,

octroi duties and bridge and lock dues abolished. The only increase of

taxation had been on tobacco, on which the duty was raised from P.T. 14

to P.T. 20 per kilogramme. At the same time the house duty, with the

consent of the powers, had been imposed on European residents. The fact

that during the period under review Egypt suffered very severely from

the general fall in the price of commodities makes the prosperity of the

country the more remarkable. Had it not been for the great increase of

production as the result of improved irrigation and the fiscal relief

afforded to landowners, the agricultural depression would have impaired

the financial situation. In this connexion it should be stated that

during 1899 the reassessment of the land tax, a much-needed reform, was

seriously taken in hand. The existing assessment, made before the

British occupation, had long been condemned by all competent

authorities, but the inherent intricacies and difficulties of the

problem had hitherto postponed a solution. After careful study and a

preliminary examination of the land, a scheme was passed which has given

satisfaction to the landowning community, and which distributes the tax

equitably in proportion to the fertility of the soil. The reassessment

was completed in 1907.

The cost of internationalism.

While the country thus prospered it also suffered greatly from the

restrictions imposed by the system of international control. This system

produced a great disproportion between the sums available for capital

and those available for administrative expenditure. Although the money

for public works could be obtained out of grants from the General

Reserve Fund, there was no fund from which to provide a sufficient sum

to keep those works in order. Moreover, to avoid having to pay half the

amount received into the General Reserve Fund the government was

compelled to keep certain items of revenue and expenditure out of the

accounts altogether--a violation of the principles of sound finance.

Then there was the glaring anomaly of allowing the Conversion Economies

to accumulate at compound interest in the hands of the commissioners of

the Caisse, instead of using the money for remunerative purposes. The

net result of internationalism was to impose an extra charge of about

L1,750,000 a year on the Egyptian treasury.

Egypt gains financial liberty.

All these cumbersome restrictions were swept away by the khedivial

decree of the 28th of November 1904, a decree which received the assent

of the powers and was the result of the Anglo-French agreement of April

1904 (see S HISTORY). The decree did not affect the inability of Egypt

to tax foreigners without their consent nor remove the right of Turkey

to veto the issue of new loans, but in other respects the financial

changes made by it were of a radical character. The main effect was to

give to the Egyptian government a free hand in the disposal of its own

resources so long as the punctual payment of interest on the debt was

assured. The plan devised by the London Convention of fixing a limit to

administrative expenditure was abolished. The consent of the Caisse to

the raising of a new loan was no longer required. The Caisse itself

remained, but shorn of all political and administrative powers, its

functions being strictly limited to receiving the assigned revenues and

to ensuring the due payment of the coupon. The nature of the assigned

revenue was altered, the land tax being substituted for those previously

assigned, that tax being chosen as it had a greater character of

stability than any other source of revenue. By this means Egypt gained

complete control of its railways, telegraphs, the port of Alexandria and

the customs, and as a consequence the mixed administration known as the

Railway Board ceased to exist. Moreover, it was provided that when the

Caisse had received from the land tax the amount needed for the service

of the debt, the balance of the tax was to be paid direct to the

Egyptian treasury. The Conversion Economies Fund was also placed at the

free disposal of the Egyptian government. The General Reserve Fund

ceased to exist, but for the better security of the bondholders a

reserve fund of L1,800,000 was constituted and left in the hands of the

Caisse to be used in the highly improbable event of the land tax being

insufficient to meet the debt charges. Moreover, the Caisse started

under the new arrangement with a cash balance of L1,250,000. The

interest of the money lying in the hands of the Caisse goes towards

meeting the debt charges and thus reduces the amount needed from the

land tax. The bondholders gained a further material advantage by the

consent of the Egyptian government to delay the conversion of the loans,

which under previous arrangements they would have been free to do in

1905. It was agreed that there should be no conversion of the Guaranteed

or Privileged debts before 1910 and no conversion of the Unified debt

until 1912. Such were the chief provisions of the khedivial decree, and

in 1905, for the first time, it was possible to draw up the Egyptian

budget in accordance with the needs of the country and on perfectly

sound principles.

In the system adopted in 1905 and since maintained, recurring and

non-recurring expenditure were shown separately, the non-recurring

expenditure being termed "special." At the same time a new General

Reserve Fund was created, made up chiefly of the surpluses of the old

General Reserve, Special Reserve, and Conversion Economies funds. This

new fund started with a capital of L13,376,000 and was replenished by

the surpluses of subsequent years, by the interest earned by its

temporary investment, and by the sums accruing by the liquidation of

the Daira and Domains loans. During 1905 and 1906 about L3,000,000 was

paid into the fund through the liquidation of the Daira loan. From

this fund, which had a balance of over L12,000,000 in 1906, is taken

capital expenditure on remunerative public works in Egypt and the

Sudan, and while the fund lasts the necessity for any new loan is

avoided. The greater freedom of action attained as the result of the

Anglo-French declaration of 1904 enabled the Egyptian government to

advance simultaneously along the lines of fiscal reform and increased

administrative expenditure. Thus in 1906 the salt monopoly was

abolished at a cost to the revenue of L175,000, while the reduction of

import duties on coal and other fuels, live-stock, &c., involved a

further loss of L118,000, and an increase of over L1,000,000 in

expenditure was budgeted for. The accounts for 1907 showed a total

revenue of LE.16,368,000 and a total expenditure of LE.14,280,000, a

surplus of LE.2,088,000. The annual growth of revenue for the previous

five years averaged over LE.500,000. About one-third of the annual

revenue is derived from the land tax; customs and tobacco duties yield

about L3,000,000, and an equal or larger amount is received from

railways and other revenue-earning departments. The chief items of

ordinary expenditure are tribute and debt charges, the expenses of the

civil administration, of the Egyptian army (between L500,000 and

L600,000 yearly), of the revenue-earning departments and of pensions.

It will be convenient here to summarize the position of the Egyptian

debt at the close of 1905, that is at the period immediately following

the liquidation of the Daira loan. In a previous table it has been

shown that under the Law of Liquidation of 1880 the total debt was

L98,640,000. In 1883, the first complete year after the British

occupation, the capital of the debt--then exclusively held by the

public--was L96,457,000. In 1885 the Guaranteed loan, the nominal

capital of which was L9,424,000, was issued, and in 1891 the debt

reached its maximum figure of L106,802,000. At that period the charge

for interest and sinking fund was L4,127,000. On the 31st of December

1905 the total capital of the debt was as follows:--

Guaranteed 3% L7,849,000

Preference 3-1/2% 31,128,000

Unified 4% 55,972,000

Domains 4-1/4% 1,535,000

----------

Total L96,484,000

The charge on account of interest and sinking fund was L3,709,000.

Thus the capital of the debt in 1905 stood at almost the exact figure

it did in 1883, although by borrowing and conversion operations nearly

L17,000,000 had in the meantime been added to the capital. This

reduction was brought about by surplus revenue, and by the operation

of the sinking fund in the case of the Guaranteed loan, while

L15,729,000 had been wiped out by the sale of Daira and Domains

property. These figures do not, however, indicate fully the prosperity

of the country, for although the nominal amount of the capital was

practically identical in 1883 and 1905, in the latter year the

Egyptian government or the Caisse held stock (bought with surplus

revenue) to the value of L8,770,000. The amount of debt in the hands

of the public was therefore only L87,714,000, that is to say

L8,743,000 less than in 1883, while the interest charge to be borne by

the taxpayer of Egypt was L3,378,000, being L890,000 less than in

1883. The charge amounts to about 40% of the national expenditure. On

the other hand, Egypt is not now weighed down with a huge warlike

expenditure. There is no navy to support, and the army costs but 7% of

the total expenditure.

AUTHORITIES.--A concise view of the financial situation in 1877 will

be found in J. C. McCoan's _Egypt as it is_ (London n.d.). Mr Cave's

report is printed in an appendix. The subsequent history of Egyptian

finance is told in the following blue-books, &c.:--_Correspondence

respecting the State Domains of Egypt_ (1883); _Statement of the

Revenue and Expenditure of Egypt, together with a List of the Egyptian

Bonds and the Charges for their Services_ (1885); _Reports on the

Finances of Egypt_, by the British agent, yearly from 1888;

_Convention ... relative to the Finance of Egypt, signed at London,

March 18, 1885; Khedivial decree of the 28th November 1904; Compte

general de l'administration des finances_, issued yearly at Cairo.

Consult also the works of Lord Cromer, Lord Milner, and Sir A. Colvin

cited under S History, last section. (E. Go.; F. R. C.)

_The Egyptian Army._

Early history.

The fellah soldier has been aptly likened to a bicycle, which although

incapable of standing up alone, is very useful while under the control

of a skilful master. It is generally believed that the successes gained

in the time of the Pharaohs were due to foreign legions; and from

Cambyses to Alexander, from the Ptolemies to Antony (Cleopatra), from

Augustus to the 7th century, throughout the Arab period, and from

Saladin's dynasty down to the middle of the 13th century, the military

power of Egypt was dependent on mercenaries. The Mamelukes (slaves),

imported from the eastern borders of the Black Sea and then trained as

soldiers, usurped the government of Egypt, and held it till 1517, when

the Ottomans began to rule. This form of government, speaking generally,

endured till the French invasion at the end of the 18th century. British

and Turkish troops drove the French out after an occupation of two

years, the British troops remaining till 1803. Then Mehemet Ali, a small

tobacconist of Kavala, Macedonia, coming with Albanian mercenaries, made

himself governor, and later (1811), by massacring the Mamelukes, became

the actual master of the country, and after seven years' war brought

Arabia under Egypt's rule. He subdued Nubia and Sennar in 1820-22; and

then, requiring a larger army, he obtained instructors from France. To

them were handed over 1000 Turks and Circassians to be trained as

officers, who later took command of 30,000 Sudanese. These died so

rapidly in Egypt from pneumonia[8] that Mehemet Ali conscripted over

250,000 fellahin, and in so arbitrary a fashion that many peasants

mutilated themselves to avoid the much-dreaded service. The common

practice was to place a small piece of nitrate of silver into the eye,

which was then kept tightly bandaged till the sight was destroyed.

Battalions were then formed of one-eyed men, and of soldiers who, having

cut off their right-hand fingers, were made to shoot from the left

shoulder. Every man who could not purchase exemption, with the exception

of those living in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, on becoming 19 years old

was liable nominally to 12 years' service; but many men were kept for 30

or 40 years, in spite of constant appeals. Nevertheless the experiment

succeeded. The docile, yet robust and hardy peasants, under their

foreign leaders, gained an unbroken series of successes in the first

Syrian War; and after the bloody battle of Konia (1832), where the raw

Turkish army was routed and the grand vizier taken prisoner, it was only

European intervention which prevented the Egyptian general, Ibrahim

Pasha, from marching unopposed to the Bosphorus. The defeat of the

Turkish army at Nizib (Nezeeb or Nisib), in the second Syrian War

(1839), showed that it was possible to obtain favourable military

results with Egyptians when stiffened by foreigners and well commanded.

Ibrahim, the hero of Konia, declared, however, that no native Egyptian

ought to rise higher than the rank of sergeant; and in the Syrian

campaigns nearly all the officers were Turks or Circassians, as were

several non-commissioned officers. In the cavalry and artillery many of

the privates were foreigners, numbers of the janissaries who escaped the

massacre at Stamboul (1832) having joined Mehemet Ali's army.

In the reign of Abbas, who succeeded Mehemet Ali, the Egyptian troops

were driven from Nejd, and the Wahhabi state recovered its independence.

The next viceroy, Said, began as an ardent soldier, but took to

agriculture, and at his death (1863) 3000 men only were retained under

arms. Ismail, on succeeding, immediately added 27,000 men, and in seven

years was able to put 100,000 men, well equipped, in the field. He sent

10,000 men to help to suppress a rebellion in Crete, and conquered the

greater part of the (Nile) Sudan; but an expedition of 11,000 men, sent

to Abyssinia under Prince Hasan and Rateb Pasha, well equipped with guns

and all essentials, was, in two successive disasters (1875 and 1876),

practically destroyed. The education of Egyptians in continental cities

had not produced the class of leaders who led the fellahin to victory at

Konia.

Ismail's exactions from the Egyptian peasantry reacted on the army,

causing discontent; and when he was tottering on the throne he

instigated military demonstrations against his own government, and, by

thus sapping the foundations of discipline, assisted Arabi's revolution;

the result was the battle of Tell el-Kebir, the British occupation, and

the disbandment of the army, which at that time in Egypt proper

consisted of 18,000 men. Ismail had collected 500 field-guns, 200

Armstrong cannon, and had created factories of warlike and other stores.

These latter were conducted extravagantly, and badly administered.

Reorganization.

In January 1883, Major-General Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C., was given

L200,000, and directed to spend it in raising a fellahin force of 6000

men for the defence of Egypt. He was assisted at first by 26 officers,

amongst whom were two who later became successively sirdars--Colonel F.

Grenfell, commanding a brigade, and Lieutenant H. Kitchener, R.E.,

second in command of the cavalry regiment. There were four batteries,

eight battalions, and a camel company. Each battalion of the 1st

infantry brigade had three British mounted officers, Turks and Egyptians

holding the corresponding positions in the battalions of the 2nd

Brigade. The sirdar selected these native officers from those of Arabi's

followers who had been the least prominent in the recent mutiny;

non-commissioned officers who had been drill-instructors in the old army

were recalled temporarily, but all the privates were conscripted from

their villages. The earlier merciless practice had been in theory

abolished by a decree based on the German system, published in 1880; but

owing to defective organization, and internal disturbances induced by

Khedive Ismail's follies, the law had not been applied, and the 6000

recruits collected at Cairo in January 1883 represented the biggest and

strongest peasants who could not purchase exemption by bribing the

officials concerned. The difficulties experienced in applying the 1880

decree were great, but the perseverance of British officers gave the

oppressed peasants, in 1885, an equitable law, which has been since

improved by the decree of 1900. General considerations later caused the

sirdar to allow exemption by payment of (Badalia) L20 before ballot.

This tax, which is popular amongst the peasantry, produced in 1906

LE.150,000, and over L250,000 in 1908. This is a marked indication of

the increasing prosperity of the fellahin. A portion of the badalia is

expended in the betterment of the soldier's position. He is no longer

drafted into the police on completing his army service, but goes free at

the end of five years with a gift of LE.20. The sirdar is allowed,

moreover, to use L20,000 per annum of the badalia for the improvement of

the education of the rank and file. As an experiment the police is now a

voluntary service, except in Alexandria and Cairo, for which cities

peasants are conscripted for the police under army conditions. The

recruiting superintending committee, travelling through districts,

supervise every ballot, and work under stringent rules which render

systematic bribery difficult. The recruits who draw unlucky numbers at

19 years of age are seldom called up till they are 23, when they are

summoned by name and escorted by a policeman to Cairo. To prevent

substitution on the journey each recruit wears a string girdle sealed in

lead. The periods of service are: with the colours, 5 years; in the

reserve, 5 years, during which time they may be called up for police

service, manoeuvres, &c. The pay is LE.3, 14s. per annum for all

services, and the liberal scale of rations of meat, bread and rice

remains as before in theory, but in practice the value of pay and food

received is greatly enhanced. So also with the pension and promotion

regulations. They were in 1882 sufficiently liberal on paper, but had

never been carried into effect.

The efforts of 48 American officers, who under Gen. C. P. Stone

zealously served Ismail, had entirely failed to overcome Egyptian

venality and intrigue; and in spite of the military schools, with a

comprehensive syllabus, the only perceptible difference between the

Egyptian officer and private in 1879 consisted, according to one of the

Americans, in the fact that the first was the product of the harem, and

the second of the field. Marshal Marmont, writing in 1839, mentions the

capacity of the Egyptians for endurance; and it was tested in 1883,

especially in the 2nd Brigade, since its officers (Turks and Egyptians),

anxious to excel as drill-masters, worked their men not only from morn

till eve, but also by lamplight in the corridors of the barracks. On the

31st March 1883, ten weeks after the arrival of the first draft of

recruits, about 5600 men went through the ceremonial parade movements as

practised by the British guards in Hyde Park, with unusual precision.

The British officers had acquired the words of command in Turkish, as

used in the old army, an attempt to substitute Egyptian words having

failed owing to lack of crisp, sharp-sounding words. As the Egyptian

brigadier, who had spent some years in Berlin, spoke German fluently,

and it was also understood by the senior British officers, that language

was used for all commands given by the sirdar on that special parade.

The British drill-book, minus about one-third of the least serviceable

movements, was translated by an English officer, and by 1900 every

necessary British official book had been published in English and

Arabic, except the new Recruiting Law (1885) and a manufacturing manual,

for which French and Arabic editions are in use. The discipline of the

old army had been regulated by a translation of part of the Code

Napoleon, which was inadequate for an Eastern army, and the sirdar

replaced it by the British Army Act of 1881, slightly modified, and

printed in Arabic.

The task undertaken by the small body of British officers was difficult.

There was not one point in the former administration of the army

acceptable to English gentlemen. That there had been no adequate

auxiliary departments, without which an army cannot move or be

efficient, was comparatively a minor difficulty. To succeed, it was

essential that the fellah should be taught that discipline might be

strict without being oppressive, that pay and rations would be fairly

distributed, that brutal usage by superiors would be checked, that

complaints would be thoroughly investigated, and impartial justice meted

out to soldiers of all ranks. An epidemic of cholera in the summer of

1883 gave the British officers their first chance of acquiring the

esteem and confidence of their men, and the opportunity was nobly

utilized. While the patient fellah, resigned to the decrees of the

Almighty, saw the ruling Egyptian class hurry away from Cairo, he saw

also those of his comrades who were stricken tenderly nursed, soothed in

death's struggles, and in many cases actually washed, laid out and

interred by their new self-sacrificing and determined masters. The

regeneration of the fellahin army dates from that epidemic.

When the Egyptian Army of the Delta was dispersed at Tell el-Kebir, the

khedive had 40,000 troops in the Sudan, scattered from Massawa on the

Red Sea to 1200 m. towards the west, and from Wadi Halfa, 1500 m.

southward to Wadelai, near Albert Nyanza. These were composed of Turks,

Albanians, Circassians and some Sudanese. Ten thousand fellahin,

collected in March 1883, mainly from Arabi's former forces, set out from

Duem, 100 m. south of Khartum, in September 1883, under Hicks Pasha, a

dauntless retired Indian Army officer, to vanquish the Mahdi. They

disappeared in the deserts of Kordofan, where they were destroyed by the

Mahdists about 50 m. south of El Obeid. In the wave of successful

rebellion, except at Khartum, few of the Egyptian garrisons were killed

when the posts fell, long residence and local family ties rendering easy

their assimilation in the ranks of the Mahdists.

Baker Pasha, with about 4000 constabulary, who were old soldiers,

attempted to relieve Tokar in February 1884. He was attacked by 1200

tribesmen and utterly routed, losing 4 Krupp guns, 2 machine guns and

3000 rifles. Only 1400 Egyptians escaped the slaughter.

The sirdar made an attempt to raise a battalion of Albanians, but the

few men obtained mutinied when ordered to proceed to the Sudan, and it

was deemed advisable, after the ringleaders had been executed, to

abandon the idea, and rely on blacks to stiffen the fellahin. Then the

9th (Sudanese) Battalion was created for service at Suakin, and four

others having been successively added, these (with one exception--at

Gedaref) have since borne the brunt of all the fighting which has been

done by the khedivial troops. The Egyptian troops in the operations near

Suakin behaved well; and there were many instances of personal gallantry

by individual soldiers. In the autumn of 1884, when a British expedition

went up the Nile to endeavour to relieve the heroic Gordon, besieged in

Khartum, the Egyptians did remarkably good work on the line of

communication from Assiut to Korti, a distance of 800 m., and the

training and experience thus gained were of great value in all

subsequent operations. The honesty and discipline of the fellah were

shown to be undoubtedly of a high order. When the crews of the

whale-boats were conveying stores, the forwarding officers tried to keep

brandy and such like medical comforts from the European crews, coffee

and tea from Canadian voyageurs and sugar from Kroo boys. The only

immaculate carrier was the Egyptian. A large sum of specie having failed

under British escort to reach Dongola, an equivalent sum was handed to

an Egyptian lieutenant of six months' service, with 10 men, and duly

reached its destination.

Twelve years later the standard of honesty was unimpaired, and the

British officers had imparted energy and activity into Egyptians of all

ranks. The intelligent professional knowledge of the native officers,

taught under British gentlemen, and the constant hard work cheerfully

rendered by the fellah soldiers, were the main factors of the success

achieved at Omdurman on the 2nd of September 1898. The large depots of

stores at Assuan, Halfa and Dongola could only be cursorily supervised

by British officers, and yet when the stores were received at the

advance depot the losses were infinitesimal.

Character of Egyptian soldier.

By nature the fellah is unwarlike. Born in the valley of a great river,

he resembles in many respects the Bengali, who exists under similar

conditions; but the Egyptian has proved capable of greater improvement.

He is stronger in frame, and can undergo greater exertion. Singularly

unemotional, he stood steady at Tell el-Kebir after Arabi Pasha and all

his officers, from general to subaltern, had fled, and gave way only

when decimated by the British field artillery firing case shot. At El

Teb, however, in 1884 he allowed himself to be slaughtered by tribesmen

formerly despised, and only about one-fourth of the force under General

Valentine Baker escaped. Baker Pasha's force was termed constabulary,

yet his men were all old soldiers, though new to their gallant leader

and to the small band of their brave but strange British officers. Since

that fatal day, however, many of the fellahin have shown they are

capable of devoted conduct, and much has been done to raise in the

soldiers a sense of self-respect, and, in spite of centuries of

oppression, of veracity. The barrack-square drill was smart under the

old system, but there was no fire discipline, and all individuality was

crushed. Now both are encouraged, and the men, receiving their full

rations, are unsurpassable in endurance at work and in marching. All the

troops present in the surprise fight when the Dervish force was

destroyed at Firket in June 1896 had covered long distances, and one

battalion (the 10th Sudanese) accomplished 90 m. within 72 hours,

including the march back to railhead immediately after the action. The

troops under Colonel Parsons, Royal Artillery, who beat the Dervishes at

Gedaref, were so short of British officers that all orders were

necessarily given in Arabic and carried to commanders of units by Arabs.

While an Egyptian battalion was attacking in line, it was halted to

repel a rush from the rear, and front and rear ranks were simultaneously

engaged, firing in opposite directions--yet the fellahin were absolutely

steady; they shot well and showed no signs of trepidation. On the other

hand, neither was there any exultation after their victory. It has been

aptly said "the fellah would make an admirable soldier if he only

wished to kill some one!" The fellahin furnish three squadrons, five

batteries, three garrison artillery companies and nine battalions.

The well-educated Egyptian officer, with his natural aptitude for

figures, does subordinate regimental routine carefully, and works well

when supervised by men of stronger character. The ordinary Egyptian is

not self-reliant or energetic by nature, and, like most Eastern people,

finds it difficult to be impartial where duty and family or other

personal relations are in the balance. The black soldier has, on the

other hand, many of the finest fighting qualities. This was observed by

British officers, from the time of the preliminary operations about

Kosha and at the action near Ginnis in December 1885 down to the

brilliant operations in the pursuit of the Mahdists on the Blue Nile

after the action of Gedaref (subsequent to the battle of Omdurman), and

the fighting in Kordofan in 1899, which resulted in the death of the

khalifa and his amirs.

Black soldiers served in the army of Mehemet Ali, but their fighting

value was not then duly appreciated. Prior to the death of the khalifa,

many of his soldiers deserted to join their brethren who had been

captured by the sirdar's troops, during the gradual advance up the Nile.

After 1899 many more enlisted: the greater number were Shilluks and

Dinkas coming from the country between Fashoda and the equatorial

provinces, but a proportion came from the western borders of the Sudan,

and some from Wadai and Bornu. Many were absolute savages, difficult to

control, wayward and thoughtless like children. Sudanese are very

excitable and apt to get out of hand; unlike the fellahs they are not

fond of drill, and are slow to acquire it; but their dash, pugnacious

instincts and desire to close with an enemy, are valuable military

qualities. The Sudanese, moreover, shoot better than the fellahin, whose

eyesight is often defective. The Sudanese captain can seldom read or

write, and is therefore in the hands of the Egyptian-born company

quartermaster-sergeant as regards pay and clothing accounts. He is slow,

and as a rule has little knowledge of drill. Nevertheless he is

self-reliant, much respected by his men, and can be trusted in the field

to carry out any orders received from his British officer. The most

efficient companies in the Sudanese battalions are apparently those in

which the captain is a black and the lieutenants are Egyptians.

In 1908 the Egyptian army, with a total establishment of 18,000,

consisted of three squadrons of cavalry (one composed of Sudanese)

each numbering 116 men; four batteries of field artillery and a Maxim

battery, horses and mules being used, with a total strength of 1257 of

all ranks; the camel corps, 626 of all ranks (fellahin and Sudanese);

and nine fellahin and six Sudanese infantry battalions, 10,631 of all

ranks. Every battalion receives two additional companies on

mobilization and takes the field with six companies.

The armament of the infantry is Martini-Henry rifle and bayonet; of

the cavalry, lance, sword and carbine.

There are seven gunboats on the Nile.

The medical department (reorganized in 1883 by Surgeon-Major J. G.

Rogers at the time of the cholera epidemic) controls in peace fourteen

station hospitals, and in war furnishes a mobile field hospital to

each brigade. There are also veterinary station hospitals. The supply

department controls mills at Tura, Halfa and Khartum.

The stringent system of selecting British officers, originated by the

first sirdar in 1883, is shown by the fact that of the 24 employed in

creating the army, 14 rose to be generals. The competition for

employment in the army is still severe. In 1908 there were 140 British

warrant and non-commissioned officers. Four of the fellahin battalions

were officered by Orientals; in the other five, British officers

commanded. Seven officers were employed with the artillery, six with

the camel corps. Each of the Sudanese battalions had four British

officers, and each squadron of cavalry one. Twelve medical and two

veterinary officers are also employed departmentally, as well as

officers acting as directors of supply, &c. Since the assumption of

command by the third sirdar, Colonel (afterwards Lord) Kitchener, the

ordnance, supply and engineer services have been separately

administered, and a financial secretary is charged with the duty of

preparing the budget, making contracts, &c. The total annual

expenditure is L500,000.

The reorganized military school system under British control, for

supplying officers, dates from 1887. The course lasts for about two

years, and two hundred students can be accommodated. After the

reconquest of the Sudan one-fourth of the cadets in the military

school of Cairo were Sudanese. Later, however, the Sudanese cadets

were transferred to a branch school at Khartum.

The army raised by the first sirdar in January 1883 was highly

commended for its work on the line of communication in 1884-1885, and

its artillery and camelry distinguished themselves in the action at

Kirbekan in February 1885. Colonel Sir Francis Grenfell succeeded

General Sir Evelyn Wood in March 1885, and while under his command the

army continued to improve, and fought successful actions at Gemaiza,

Argin, Toski and Tokar. At Toski the Dervish force was nearly

annihilated. In March 1892 Colonel Kitchener succeeded General Sir

Francis Grenfell, and four years later began his successful reconquest

of the Sudan. In June 1896, owing to the indefatigable exertions of

Major Wingate, a perfected system of secret intelligence enabled the

sirdar to bring an overwhelming force of 6 to 1 against the Dervish

outpost at Firket and destroy it. In September 1896 a skirmish at

Hafir, with similarly successful tactics, gave the British commander

the possession of Dongola. On the 7th of August 1897 Colonel Hunter

surprised and annihilated a weak Dervish garrison at Abu Hamed, to

which place, by the 31st of October 1897, a railway had been laid

across the Nubian desert from Wadi Halfa, a distance of 230 m., the

"record" construction of 5300 yds surveyed, embanked and laid in one

day having been attained. On the 26th of December 1897 the Italian

troops handed over Kassala to Colonel Parsons, R.A. On the 8th of

April 1898 a British division, with the Egyptian army, destroyed the

Dervish force under the amir Mahmud Ahmed, on the Atbara river. On the

2nd of September the khalifa attacked the British-Egyptian troops at

Kerreri (near Omdurman), and being routed, his men dispersed; Khartum

was occupied, and on the 19th of September the Egyptian flag was

rehoisted at Fashoda. On the 22nd of September 1898 Gedaref was taken

from the amir Ahmed Fedil by Colonel Parsons, and on the 26th of

December the army of Ahmed Fedil was finally defeated and dispersed

near Roseires. The khalifa's army, reduced to an insignificant number,

after several unsuccessful engagements withdrew to the west of the

Nile, where it was attacked, on the 24th of November 1899, after a

forced march by Colonel Wingate, and annihilated. The khalifa himself

was killed; while the victor, who had joined the Egyptian army in 1883

as aide-de-camp to the first sirdar, in December 1899 became the

fourth sirdar, as Major-General Sir F. R. Wingate, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.,

D.S.O., &c. (E. Wo.)