HISTORY OF EGYPT

From 330 B. C. To the Present Time

By S. RAPPOPORT, Doctor of Philosophy, Basel; Member of the EcoleLangues Orientales, Paris; Russian, German, French Orientalist andPhilologist

VOL. XII. 

Containing over Twelve Hundred Colored Plates and Illustrations

THE GROLIER SOCIETY

PUBLISHERS, LONDON

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[Illustration: Frontispiece] COLLECTION OF VASES, MODELLED AND PAINTEDIN THE GRAND TEMPLE PHILAE ISLAND. 

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_MODERN EGYPT_

_EGYPT DURING THE CRUSADES--RISE OF THE OTTOMAN POWER--NAPOLEONIN EGYPT--THE RULE OP THE KHEDIVES--DISCOVERING THE SOURCE OF THENILE--ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY. _

_Spread of Muhammedanism--Spirit of the Crusades--The Fati-miteCaliphs--Saladin's brilliant reign--Capture of Damietta--Conquests ofBeybars--Mamluks in power--Wars with Cyprus--Turkish misrule--Napoleoninvades Egypt--Battle of the Pyramids--Policy of conciliation--Nelsondestroys the French fleet--Napoleon in Syria--Battle at MountCarmel--Napoleon returns to France--Negotiations for surrender--Kléberassassinated--French army surrenders--Rise of Mehemet Ali-Massacre ofthe Mamluks--Egyptian army reorganized--Ibrahim Pasha in Greece--Battleof Navarino-Revolt against Turkey-Character of Mehemet Ali--Reformsunder his Rule--Ismail Pasha made Khedive--Financial difficultiesof Egypt--England and France assume control--Tewfik Pasha becomesKhedive--Revolt of Arabi Pasha--The Mahdist insurrection--Death ofGeneral Gordon--Kitchener's campaign against the Dervishes--Prosperityof Egypt under English control--Abbas Pasha becomes Khedive--Education, courts, and government of modern Egypt--The Nile; its valley, branches, and delta--Ancient irrigation systems--The Suez Canal, its inception andcompletion--The great dam at Aswan--Ancient search for the sources ofthe Nile--Modern discoveries in Central Africa--The Hieroglyphs--Originof the alphabet--Egyptian literature--Mariettas discoveries--TheGerman Egyptologists--Jeremiah verified--Maspero, Naville, andPetrie--Palæolithic man--Egyptian record of Israel--Egypt ExplorationFund--The royal tombs at Abydos--Chronology of the early kings--Steles, pottery, and jewelry-The temples of Abydos--Seals, statuettes, andceramics. _

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CHAPTER I--THE CRUSADERS IN EGYPT

_The Ideal of the Crusader: Saladin's Campaign: Richard I. In Palestine:Siege of Damietta: St. Louis in Egypt: The Mamluks: Beybars' Policy. _

The traditional history of the Christian Church has generally maintainedthat the Crusades were due solely to religious influence and sprang fromideal and moral motives: those hundreds of thousands of warriors whowent out to the East were religious enthusiasts, prompted by the piouslongings of their hearts, and Peter the Hermit, it was claimed, hadreceived a divine message to call Christendom to arms, to preacha Crusade against the unbelievers and take possession of the HolySepulchre. That such ideal reasons should be attributed to a war likethe Crusades, of a wide and far-reaching influence on the political andintellectual development of mediæval Europe, is not at all surprising. In the history of humanity there have been few wars in which thecombatants on both sides were not convinced that they had drawn theirswords for some noble purpose, for the cause of right and justice. Thatthe motives prompting the vast display of arms witnessed during theCrusades, that the wanderings of those crowds to the East during twocenturies, and the cruelties committed by the saintly warriors on theirway to the Holy Sepulchre, should be attributed exclusively to idealand religious sources is therefore quite natural. It is not to bedenied that there was a religious factor in the Crusades; but that thereligious motive was not the sole incentive has now been agreed uponby impartial historians; and in so far as the motives animating theCrusaders were religious motives, we are to look to powerful influenceswhich gradually made themselves felt from without the ecclesiasticalorganisations. It was by no means a movement which the Church alone hadcalled into being. On the contrary, only when the movement had grownripe did Gregory VII. Hasten to take steps to enable the Church tocontrol it. The idea of a Crusade for the glory of religion had notsprung from the tenets of Christianity; it was given to mediaeval Europeby the Muhammedans. 

History can hardly boast of another example of so gigantic a conquestduring so short a period as that gained by the first adherents of Islam. Like the fiery wind of the desert, they had broken from their retreats, animated by the promises of the Prophet, and spread the new doctrine farand wide. In 653 the scimitar of the Saracens enclosed an area as largeas the Roman Empire under the Cæsars. Barely forty years elapsed afterthe death of the Prophet when the armies of Islam reached the Atlantic. Okba, the wild and gallant leader, rode into the sea on the westernshore of Africa, and, whilst the seething waves reached to the saddleof his camel, he exclaimed: "Allah, I call thee as witness that I shouldhave carried the knowledge of Thy name still farther, if these wavesthreatening to swallow me would not have prevented me from doing so. "Not long after this, the flag of the crescent was waving from thePyrenees to the Chinese mountains. In 711 the Saracens under GeneralTarik crossed the straits between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and landed on the rock which has since been called after him, "the hillof Tarik, " Jebel el-Tarik or Gibraltar. Spain was invaded and capturedby the Moslems. For awhile it seemed as if on the other side of theGaronne the crescent would also supplant the cross, and only the victoryof Charles Martel in 732 put a stop to the wave of Muhammedan conquest. 

Thus in a brief period Muhammedanism spread from the Nile Valley to theMediterranean. Muhammed's trenchant argument was the sword. He gave adistinct command to his followers to convince the infidels of thePower of truth on the battle-field. "The sword is a surer argument thanbooks, " he said. Accordingly the Koran ordered war against unbelievers:"The sword is the key to heaven and hell; a drop of blood shed in thecause of Allah, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two monthsof fasting and prayer; whoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven, and at the day of judgment his limbs shall be supplied with the wingsof angels and cherubim. " Before the battle commenced, the commandersreminded the warriors of the beautiful celestial houris who awaited theheroes slain in battle at the gates of Paradise. 

The first efforts having been crowned with success, the Moslems soonbecame convinced of the fulfilment of the prophecy that Allah had giventhem the world and wished them to subdue all unbelievers. Under theCaliph Omar, the Arabs had become a religious-political community ofwarriors, whose mission it was to conquer and plunder all civilised andcultured lands and to unfurl the banner of the crescent. They believedthat "Paradise is under the shadow of the sword. " In this belief thefollowers of Muhammed engaged in battle without fear or anxiety, spurredto great deeds, reckless in the face of danger, happy to die and passto the delights of Paradise. The "holy war" became an armed propagandapleasing to Allah. It was, however, a form of propaganda quite unknownand amazing to Christendom. In the course of two centuries the crescenthad supplanted the cross. Of what avail was the peaceful missionary'spreaching if province after province and country after country weretaken possession of by the new religion that forced its way by means offire and sword?

Was it not natural that Christian Europe should conceive the ideaof doing for their religion what the Moslems did for Islam! and that, following the example of Moslems in their "holy war, " Christians shouldemulate them in the Crusades?

It must not be forgotten also that the Arabs, almost from the firstappearance of Muhammedanism, were under the refining and elevatinginfluences of art and science. While the rest of Europe was in themidnight of the Dark Ages, the Moorish universities of Spain were thebeacon of the revival of learning. The Christian teacher was stillmanipulating the bones of the saints when the Arab physician waspractising surgery. The monachal schools and monasteries in Italy, France, and Germany were still grappling with poor scholastic knowledgewhen Arab scholars were well advanced in the study of Aristotle andPlato. Stimulated by their acquaintance with the works of Ptolemy andEuclid, Galenus and Hippocrates, they extended their researches into thedominions of astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. 

[Illustration: 007. Jpg ARABIC DECORATIVE PAINTING]

The religious orders of the knights, a product of the Crusades, foundtheir antitype in similar organisations of the Moslems, orders that hadexactly the same tendencies and regulations. Such an order establishedfor the spread of Islam and the protection of its followers was that ofthe Raabites or boundary-guards in the Pyrenean peninsula. These knightsmade a vow to carry, throughout their lives, arms in defence of thefaith; they led an austere existence, were not allowed to fly in battle, but were compelled either to conquer or fall. Like the Templars or theHospital Knights their whole endeavour was to gain universal dominionfor their religion. The relation existing between the Moslems andthe Christians before the Crusades was much closer than is generallyimagined. Moslem soldiers often fought in the ranks of the Christianarmies; and it was by no means rare to see a Christian ruler callupon Moslem warriors to assist him against his adversary. Pope Gregoryrescued Rome from the hands of his imperial opponent, Henry of Germany, only with the aid of the Saracen soldiers. 

When, therefore, the influence of Muhammedanism began to assert itselfthroughout the south of Europe, it was natural that in a crude andstirring age, when strife was the dominant passion of the people, theidea of a holy war in the cause of faith was one in which ChristianEurope was ready to take an example from the followers of Islam. Thepolitical, economical, and social state of affairs, the misery andsuffering of the people, and even the hierarchy and the ascetic spiritof the time certainly made the minds of the people accessible to theidea of war; the spirit of unrest was pervasive and the time was ripe, but the influence of Islam was a prominent factor in giving to it anentirely religious aspect. 

But even in the means employed to incite the Christian warriors andthe manner in which the Crusades were carried on, there is a greatsimilarity between the Christian and the Muhammedan procedure. TheChurch, when espousing the cause of the Crusader, did exactly whatMuhammed had done when he preached a holy war. The Church addresseditself to the weaknesses and passions of human nature. Fallen inbattle, the Moslem, so he was told, would be admitted--be he victoror vanquished--to the joys of Paradise. The same prospect animatedthe Crusader and made him brave danger and die joyfully in defence ofChristianity. "Let them kill the enemy or die. To submit to die forChrist, or to cause one of His enemies to die, is naught but glory, "said Saint Bernard. Eloquently, vividly, and in glowing colours werethe riches that awaited the warriors in the far East described: immensespoil would be taken from the unbelievers. Preachers did not even shrinkfrom extolling the beauty of the women in the lands to be conquered. This fact recalls Muhammed's promise to his believers that they wouldmeet the ever-beautiful dark-eyed houris in the life after death. To thematerial, sensual allurements, the Church added spiritual blessings andeternal rewards, guaranteed to those who took the red cross. During theCrusades the Christians did their utmost to copy the cruelties of theMoslems. That contempt for human life, that entire absence of mercy andthe sense of pity which is familiar in all countries where Islam hasgained sway is characteristic also of the Crusades. 

Although the narrative of the Crusades belongs rather to the history ofEurope than of any one country, it is so closely intertwined with thehistory of Egypt at this period that some digression is necessary. Abouttwenty years after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Turks, in 1076, theHoly Sepulchre was visited by a hermit of the name of Peter, a native ofAmiens, in the province of Picardy, France. His resentment and sympathywere excited by his own injuries and the oppression of the Christianname; he mingled his tears with those of the Patriarch, and earnestlyinquired if no hope of relief from the Greek emperors of the East couldbe entertained. The Patriarch exposed the vices and weakness of thesuccessors of Constantine. "I will rouse, " exclaimed the hermit, "themartial nations of Europe in your cause;" and Europe was obedient to thecall of the hermit. The astonished Patriarch dismissed him with epistlesof credit and complaint; and no sooner did he land at Bari than Peterhastened to kiss the feet of the Roman pontiff. Pope Urban II. Receivedhim as a prophet, applauded his glorious design, promised to support itin a general council, and encouraged him to proclaim the deliveranceof the Holy Land. Invigorated by the approbation of the pontiff, thiszealous missionary traversed with speed and success the provinces ofItaly and France. He preached to innumerable crowds in the churches, thestreets, and the highways: the hermit entered with equal confidence thepalace and the cottage; and the people of all classes were impetuouslymoved by his call to repentance and arms. 

The first Crusade was headed by Godefroy de Bouillon, Duke of LowerLorraine; Baldwin, his brother; Hugo the Great, brother of the King ofFrance; Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror; Raymondof St. Gilles, Duke of Toulouse; and Bohemond, Prince of Tarentum. Towards the end of 1097 A. D. The invading force invested Antioch, and, after a siege of nine months, took it by storm. Edessa was also capturedby the Crusaders, and in the middle of the summer of 1098 they reachedJerusalem, then in the hands of the Fatimites. 

El-Mustali b'Illah Abu'l Kasim, son of Mustanssir, was then on thethrone, but he was only a nominal ruler, for El-Afdhal, a son ofEl-Gemali, had the chief voice in the affairs of the kingdom. It was thearmy of Kasim that had captured Jerusalem. The city was besieged by theCrusaders, and it surrendered to them after forty days. Twice did newexpeditions arrive from Egypt and attempt to retake the city, but withdisastrous results, and further expeditions were impossible for sometime, owing to the internal disorders in Egypt. Mustali died aftera reign of about four years; and some historians record, as a trulyremarkable circumstance, that he was a Sunnite by creed, although herepresented a Shiite dynasty. 

The next ruler, El-Amir, was the five-year-old son of Mustali, andEl-Afdhal conducted the government until he became of age to govern. His first act was to put El-Afdhal to death. Under El-Amir the internalcondition of Egypt continued unsatisfactory, and the Crusaders, who hadbeen very successful in capturing the towns of Syria, were only deterredfrom an advance on Egypt by the death of their leader, Baldwin. Ina. H. 524, some of the surviving partisans of El-Afdhal, it is said, put El-Amir to death, and a son of El-Afdhal assumed the direction ofaffairs, and appointed El-Hafiz, a grandson of Mustanssir as caliph. Afdual's son, whose name was Abu Ali Ahmed, perished in a populartumult. The new caliph had great trouble with his next three viziers, and at length abolished the office altogether. After reigning twentyyears, he was succeeded by his licentious son, Dhafir, whose faults ledto his death at the hand of his vizier, El-Abbas. 

For the ensuing six years the supreme power in Egypt was mainly the boneof contention between rival viziers, although El-Faiz, a boy of five, was nominally elected caliph on the death of Dhafir. El-Abbas wasworsted by his rival, Tataë, and fled to Syria with a large sum ofmoney; but he fell into the hands of the Crusaders, was returned toTataë, and crucified. 

[Illustration: 013. Jpg ENAMELLED GLASS CUP FROM ARABIA]

The last of the Fatimite caliphs, El-Adid, in 555 a. H. , was raised tothe throne by Tataë, but his power was merely the shadow of sovereignty. Tataë's tyranny, however, became so odious that the caliph had himassassinated a year after his accession, but he concealed the fact thathe had instigated the murder. The caliph appointed Tataë's son, El-Adil, as vizier in his stead. The governorship of Upper Egypt was at this timein the hands of the celebrated Shawir, whom El-Adil dispossessed, butin a test of battle, El-Adil was defeated and put to death. In his turn, Shawir yielded to the more powerful Ed-Durghan, and fled to Damascus. There he enlisted the aid of the Atabeg Sultan Nur ed-Din, who sent hisarmy against Ed-Durghan, with the result that Shawir was reinstated inpower in Egypt. He thereupon threw off his promised allegiance to Nured-Din, whose general, Shirkuh (who had led the Damascenes to Egypt), took up a strategic position. Shawir appealed for aid to the Crusaders, and with the help of Amaury, King of Jerusalem, Shawir besieged hisfriend Shirkuh. Nur ed-Din was successfully attacking the Crusaderselsewhere, and in the end a peace was negotiated, and the Damascenesleft Egypt. 

Two years later, Nur ed-Din formulated a plan to punish the rebelliousShawir. Persecuted by Shirkuh, Nur ed-Din sent him with his army intoEgypt. The Franks now joined with Shawir to defend the country, hopingthereby to baffle the schemes of Nur ed-Din. The Christian army wasamazed at all the splendour of the caliph's palace at Cairo. Shawirretreated to entice the invaders on, who, advancing beyond their base, were soon reduced to straits. Shirkuh then tried to come to terms withShawir against the Christians as a common foe, but without success. He next thought of retreating, without fighting, with all his Egyptianplunder. Persuaded at length to fight, he defeated the Franks andfinally came to terms with Shawir, whereby the Franco-Egyptian alliancecame to an end, and he then left Egypt on receiving an indemnity, Shawirstill remaining its ruler. 

[Illustration: 015. Jpg GATE OF EL FUTUH AT CAIRO]

The peace, however, did not last long, and Nur ed-Din sent Shirkuh againwith many Frankish free-lancers against the ill-fated country. On theapproach of the army towards Cairo, the vizier set fire to the ancientcity of Fostât, to prevent it from falling into the hands of theinvaders, and it burned continually for fifty days. El-Adid now soughtaid of Nur ed-Din, who, actuated by zeal against the Franks, and bydesire of conquest, once more despatched Shirkuh. In the meantimenegotiations had been opened with Amaury to raise the siege of Cairo onpayment of an enormous sum of money. But, before these conditionshad been fulfilled, the approach of the Syrian army induced Amauryto retreat in haste. Shirkuh and Saladin entered the capital ingreat state, and were received with honour by the caliph, andwith obsequiousness by Shawir, who was contriving a plot which wasfortunately discovered, and for which he paid with his life. Shirkuhwas then appointed vizier by El-Adid, but, dying very shortly, he wassucceeded in that dignity by his nephew Saladin (A. D. 1169). 

Saladin inaugurated his reign with a series of brilliant successes. Egypt once again took an important place among the nations, and by thewars of Saladin it became the nucleus of a great empire. Military glorywas never the sole aim of Saladin and his successors. They continuedto extend to letters and the arts their willing patronage, and thebeneficial effects of this were felt upon the civilisation of thecountry. Though ruler of Egypt, Saladin gained his greatest renownby his campaigns against the Crusaders in Syria. The inability of Nured-Din's son, El-Malik es-Salih Ismail, to govern the Syrian dominionsbecame an excuse for Saladin's occupation of Syria as guardian of theyoung prince, and, once having assumed this function, he remained infact the master of Syria. He continued to consolidate his power in theseparts until the Crusaders, under Philip, Count of Flanders, laid siegeto Antioch. Saladin now went out to meet them with the Egyptian army, and fought the fierce battle of Ascalon, which proved to be disastrousto himself, his army being totally defeated and his life endangered. After this, however, he was fortunate enough to gain certain minoradvantages, and continued to hold his own until a famine broke out inPalestine which compelled him to come to terms with the Crusaders, andtwo years later a truce was concluded with the King of Jerusalem, andSaladin returned to Egypt. 

In the year 576 a. H. , he again entered Syria and made war onKilidj-Arslan, the Seljukide Sultan of Anatolia, and on Leon, King ofArmenia, both of whom he forced to come to terms. Soon after his return, Saladin again left Egypt to prosecute a war with the Crusaders, since itwas plain that neither side was desirous of remaining at peace. Throughan incident which had just occurred, the wrath of the Crusaders had beenkindled. A vessel bearing fifteen hundred pilgrims had been wreckednear Damietta, and its passengers captured. When the King of Jerusalemremonstrated, Saladin replied by complaining of the constant inroadsmade by Renaud de Châtillon. This restless warrior undertook anexpedition against Eyleh, and for this purpose constructed boats atKerak and conveyed them on camels to the sea. But this flotilla wasrepulsed, and the siege was raised by a fleet sent thither by El-Adil, the brother of Saladin, and his viceroy. A second expedition againstEyleh was still more unfortunate to the Franks, who were defeated andtaken prisoners. On this occasion the captives were slain in the valleyof Mina. Saladin then threatened Kerak, encamped at Tiberias, andravaged the territory of the Franks. He next made a futile attempt totake Beirut. He was more successful in a campaign against Mesopotamia, which he reduced to submission, with the exception of Mosul. Whileabsent here, the Crusaders did little except undertake several forays, and Saladin at length returned towards Palestine, winning many victoriesand conquering Aleppo on the way. He next ravaged Samaria, and at lastreceived the fealty of the lord of Mosul, though he did not succeed inactually conquering the city. 

In the year 1186 war broke out again between Saladin and the Christianhosts. The sultan had respected a truce which he had made withBaldwin the Leper, King of Jerusalem, but the restless Renaud, who hadpreviously attacked Eyleh, had broken through its stipulations. Hisplunder of a rich caravan enraged Saladin, who forthwith sent out ordersto all his vassals and lieutenants to prepare for a Holy War. In theyear 1187 he marched from Damascus to Kerak, where he laid close siegeto Renaud. At the same time a large body of cavalry was sent ontowards Nazareth under his son El-Afdhal. They were met by 730 KnightsHospitallers and Templars, aided by a few hundred foot-soldiers. Inspired by the heroic Jacques de Maillé, marshal of the Temple, they defied the large Saracen army. In the conflict which ensued, theCrusaders immortalised themselves by fighting until only three of theirnumber were left alive, who, after the conflict was over, managed toescape. 

Soon after this, Saladin himself approached with a great army of eightythousand men, and the Christians with all their forces hastened to meethim upon the shores of Lake Tiberias. The result of this battle provedto be the most disastrous defeat which the Christians had yet suffered. They were weakened by thirst, and on the second day of the conflict apart of their troops fled. But the knights nevertheless continued tomake a heroic defence until they were overwhelmed by numbers and forcedto flee to the hills of Hittûn. A great number of Crusaders fell inthis conflict, and Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, and his brother, Renaud de Châtillon, were among the prisoners of war. The number ofthose taken was very great, and Saladin left an indelible stain upona reign otherwise renowned for mercy and humanity by allowing theprisoners to be massacred. Tiberias, Acre, Nabulus, Jericho, Ramleh, Cæsarea, Arsûr, Jaffa, Beirut, and many other places now fell into thehands of the conqueror. 

[Illustration: 019. Jpg ARAB DRINKING-VESSELS]

Tyre successfully resisted Saladin's attacks. Ascalon surrendered onfavourable conditions, and, to crown all, Jerusalem itself fell a preyto his irresistible arms. The great clemency of Saladin is chronicledon this occasion by Christian historians, but the same was an offence tomany of the Moslems and is but little referred to by their historians. 

Tyre was now again besieged and was on the point of capture when thebesieged were relieved by the arrival of Conrad, son of the Marquisof Monferrat. The defence was now fought with such vigour that Saladinabandoned it and made an attack upon Tripoli, but with no bettersuccess, although he succeeded in forcing Bohemond, Prince of Antioch, and ruler of Tripoli, to submit on terms favourable to himself. Afterthis, Saladin took part in the defence of the ever-memorable siege ofAcre, which called forth deeds of gallantry and heroism on both sides, and which lasted for two years, during which it roused the interestof the whole of the Christian world. The invading army were in timereinforced by the redoubtable Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England, and Philip II. Of France, and, breaking down all opposition, theycaptured the city, and floated upon its walls the banners of the crossin the year 1191 A. D. Unfortunately for the good name of the Christians, an act of ferocious barbarity marred the lustre of their triumph, for2, 700 Moslems were cut down in cold blood in consequence of the failureof Saladin to fulfil the terms of the capitulation; and the palliativeplea that the massacre was perpetrated in the heat of the assault canscarcely be urged in extenuation of this enormity. While many historianshave laid the blame on King Richard, the historian Michaud believesit rather to have been decided on in a council of the chiefs of theCrusade. 

After a period of rest and debauchery, the army of the Crusaders, led onby King Richard, began to march towards Jerusalem. Saladin harassed hisadvance and rendered the strongholds on the way defenceless and ravagedthe whole country. Richard was nevertheless ever victorious. His greatpersonal bravery struck terror into the Moslems, and he won an importantvictory over them at Arsûr. Dissensions now broke out among chiefs ofthe Crusaders, and Richard himself proved to be a very uncertainleader in regard to the strategy of the campaign. So serious werethese drawbacks that the ultimate aim of the enterprise was therebyfrustrated, and the Crusaders never attained to their great object, which was the re-conquest of Jerusalem. At the time when the Christianarmies were in possession of all the cities along the coast, from Jaffato Tyre, and the hosts of Saladin were seriously disorganised, a treatywas concluded and King Richard sailed back on the return journey toEngland. The glory acquired by Saladin, and the famous campaigns ofRichard Cour de Lion, have rendered the Third Crusade the most memorablein history, and the exploits of the heroes on both sides shed a lustreon the arms of both Moslems and Christians. 

Saladin died about a year after the conclusion of this peace, atDamascus, A. D. 1193, at the age of fifty-seven. With less rashness andbravery than Richard, Saladin possessed a firmer character and one farbetter calculated to carry on a religious war. He paid more attention tothe results of his enterprises; more master of himself, he was morefit to command others. When mounting the throne of the Atabegs, Saladinobeyed rather his destiny than his inclinations; but, when once firmlyseated, he was governed by only two passions, --that of reigning andthat of securing the triumph of the Koran. On all other subjects hewas moderate, and when a kingdom or the glory of the Prophet was notin question, the son of Ayyub was admired as the most just and mild ofMuhammedans. The stern devotion and ardent fanaticism that made him takeup arms against the Christians only rendered him cruel and barbarousin one single instance. He displayed the virtues of peace amidst thehorrors of war. "From the bosom of the camps, " says an Oriental poet, "he covered the nations with the wings of his justice, and poured uponhis cities the plenteous showers of his liberality. " During his reignmany remarkable public works were executed. The Muhammedans, alwaysgoverned by fear, were astonished that a sovereign could inspire themwith so much love, and followed him with joy to battle. His generosity, his clemency, and particularly his respect for an oath, were often thesubjects of admiration to the Christians, whom he rendered so miserableby his victories, and of whose power in Asia he had completed theoverthrow. Previous to his death, Saladm had divided the kingdombetween his three sons; El-Afdhal received Damascus, Southern Syria, and Palestine, with the title of sultan; El-Aziz obtained the kingdom ofEgypt, and Ez Zahir the princedom of Aleppo. 

El-Aziz undertook a campaign against Syria, but was defeated and obligedto retreat to Cairo on account of a mutiny among his troops. El-Afdhalpursued him, and had already pressed forward as far as Bilbeis, whenEl-Adil, who had hitherto espoused his cause, fearing that he mightbecome too powerful, forced him to conclude a peace. The only advantagehe obtained was that he regained possession of Jerusalem and thesouthern part of Syria. Soon after, El-Adil prevailed upon his nephewAziz, with whom he stood on friendly terms, to renew the war and totake Damascus; El-Afdhal was betrayed, and only Sarchod was left to him, whereas El-Adil occupied Damascus and forced Aziz to return to Egyptagain (June, 1196). After Aziz's death, in November, 1198, El-Afdhal wassummoned by some of the emirs to act as regent in Egypt. Others calledupon El-Adil to adopt the same course. El-Afdhal, however, became masterof Egypt, and besieged Damascus, reinforced by his brother Zahir, whofeared his uncle's ambition no less than himself. The agreement betweenthe brothers, however, did not last long; their armies separated, andEl-Afdhal was obliged to raise the siege and retreat to Egypt. He waspursued by his uncle, and forced, after several skirmishes, to surrenderthe capital and content himself once more with Sarchod and one or twotowns on the Euphrates (February, 1200). El-Adil ruled for a short timein the name of El-Aziz's son; he soon came forward as sultan, forcedZahir to recognise him as his suzerain, and appointed his son El-Muzzainas governor of Damascus; the towns which belonged to him in Mesopotamiawere distributed among his other sons, and he thus became, to a certainextent, the overlord of all the lands conquered by Saladin. His son, El-Ashraf, later became lord of Chelat in Armenia, and his descendant, Masud, Kamil's son, obtained possession of happy Arabia; so that thename Malik Adil was pronounced in all the Moslem chancels from theborders of Georgia to the Gulf of Aden. 

[Illustration: 025. Jpg VASE IN THE ABBOTT COLLECTION, NEW YORK]

El-Adil was so much engaged with wars against the Moslem princes, --theprinces of Nissibis and Mardin, --and also with repulsing El-Afdhal, whowished to recover his lost kingdom, that he was unable to proceed withany force against the Crusaders; he took unwilling measures against themwhen they actually broke the peace, and was always ready to concludea new treaty. He took Jaffa by storm when the pilgrims, armed by HenryVI. , came to Palestine and interfered with the Moslem devotions, andwhen the chancellor Conrad thereupon seized Sidon and Beirut, El-Adilcontented himself with laying waste the former town and hinderingthe capture of the fortress Joron; Beirut he allowed to fall intothe enemy's hands. Still later he permitted several attacks of theChristians--such as the devastation of the town Fuah, situated on theRosetta arm of the Nile--to pass unnoticed, and even bought peace atthe expense of the districts of Ramleh and Lydda, which had formerlybelonged to him. It was not until the year 1206 that he acted upon theoffensive against the regent, John of Ibelin, and even then he contentedhimself with slight advantages and concluded a new truce for thirtyyears. 

Shortly before his death, El-Adil, like his brother Saladin, narrowlyescaped losing all his glory and the fruits of so many victories. PopeHonorius III. Had successfully aroused the zeal of the Westernnations for a new Crusade. Numerous well-armed and warlike-mindedpilgrims--among whom were King Andreas of Hungary and Duke Leopold ofAustria--landed at Acre in 1217, and King John of Jerusalem led themagainst the Moslems. El-Adil hastened from Egypt to the scene of action, but was forced to retreat to Damascus and to give up the whole of thesouthern district, with the exception of the well-fortified holy town, to be plundered by the Christians. In the following spring, whilstEl-Adil was in Syria, a Christian fleet sailed to Damietta, and besiegedthe town. The attacking forces were composed of Germans and Hungarians, who had embarked at Spalato on the Adriatic for St. Jean d'Acre, wherethey spent a year in unfortunate expeditions and quarrels with theChristians of Syria. They were joined by a fleet of three hundred boatsfurnished by North Germans and Frisians, who, leaving the banks ofthe Rhine, had journeyed there by way of the Straits of Gibraltar, prolonging the journey by a year's fighting in Portugal. 

The Christians then in Palestine had persuaded the Crusaders to beginwith an attack on Egypt, and they had therefore chosen to land atDamietta. This was a large commercial town to the east of one of thearms of the Nile, which was defended by three walls and a large towerbuilt on an island in the middle of the Nile, from which started thechains that barred the river. 

The Frisian sailors constructed a castle of wood, which was placedbetween the masts of two ships, and from which the Crusaders were ableto leap to the tower, and thus they were able to blockade and starvethe town. The siege was long, and an epidemic breaking out among thebesiegers carried off a sixth of their number. The sultan tried tosuccour the besieged by floating down the stream corpses of camels, which were stuffed with provisions, but the Christians captured them. Hethen offered to give the Crusaders, on condition they would depart, the True Cross and all he possessed of the kingdom of Jerusalem; butPelagius, the papal legate, --a Spanish monk who had himself namedcommander-in-chief, --rejected the offer. 

El-Adil was so stunned by the news of the success of the Christiansthat he died a few days after (August, 1218). El-Kamil, however, was notdiscouraged; he not only defended Damietta, but also harassed the enemyin their own camp by means of hordes of Bedouins. Not until he wasforced, by a conspiracy of his troops in favour of his brother El-Faiz, to fly to Cairo, did the Christians succeed in getting across the Nileand completely surrounding Damietta. Order was soon restored inEgypt, owing to the arrival of Prince Muzzain, who had taken over thegovernment of Damascus on the death of his father. The rebels werechastised, and both brothers proceeded towards Damietta: they could notsucceed, however, in raising the siege, and the garrison diminisheddaily through hunger, sickness, and constant attacks, and the fortresssoon fell into the hands of the Crusaders, almost without a blow(November 5, 1219). The Crusaders pillaged the town, taking from it fourhundred thousand gold pieces. The Italians also settled there, andmade it the seat of their commerce with Egypt. This conquest causedexcitement in Europe, and the Pope called Pelagius "the second Joshua. "

[Illustration: 027. Jpg PUBLIC FOUNTAIN, CAIRO. ]

If the Franks had been more at peace among themselves, they mighteasily have pushed forward to Cairo after the fall of Damietta. But thegreatest discontent prevailed between the papal legate, Pelagius, andKing John of Brienne, so that the latter soon after left Egypt, whilePelagius was forced to wait for reinforcements before he could get awayfrom Damietta. 

El-Kamil, meanwhile, reinforced his army with the help of the friendlySyrian princes, and, by destroying the channels and dams of the Nilecanals, so endangered the Christian camp that they were soon forcedto sue for peace, and offered to quit Damietta on the condition of anunmolested retreat. El-Kamil, equally anxious for peace, accepted theseconditions (August, 1221). Scarcely had the Æyubites thus warded off:the threatening danger when they proceeded to fall out among themselves. 

After the death of El-Kamil, who in the end was generally regarded asoverlord, a new war broke out, in March, 1238, between his son El-AdilII. , who was reigning in Egypt, and his brother Ayyub, who occupiedDamascus. Ayyub conquered Egypt, but, in his absence, his uncle Ismail, Prince of Balbek, seized upon Damascus and made a league with the Franksin Palestine and several of the Syrian princes. Through this unnaturalleague, Ismail, however, estranged not only the Moslem inhabitants ofSyria, but also his own army. Part of the army deserted in consequenceto Ayyub, who was thus enabled easily to subdue the allied army (1240). Another coalition was formed against him a few years later, and thistime Da'ud of Kerak was one of the allies. Ayyub sent a strong army ofEgyptians, negroes, and Mamluks under the future sultan, Beybars, to Syria. The Syrian troops fought unwillingly against theirfellow-believers in the opposite ranks, and the wild Chariz-mites, who had also joined the ranks, inspired them with terror, so that theydeserted the field of battle in the neighbourhood of Gaza (October, 1244). The Christians, left to themselves, were not in a position toresist the enemy's attacks; and the Egyptians made themselves mastersof Jerusalem and Hebron, and in the following year obtained Damascus, Balbek, Ascalon, and Tiberias. In 1248 Ayyub came again into Syria, inorder to chastise El-Malik en-Nasir, Prince of Aleppo, who had seizedupon Hemessa when he heard of the coming Crusaders under Saint Louis. To this end he made peace with the natives of Aleppo, and returned toJerusalem in order to make the necessary preparations for defence. Thepilgrims, however, succeeded in landing, for Emir Fakhr ed-Din, theEgyptian commander, had taken to flight after a short skirmish, and thefortress was allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy (June, 1249). Ayyub now established a firm footing in the town of Cairo--which hisfather had founded--in a district intersected by canals, and harassedthe Christian camp with his light cavalry. Louis was expectingreinforcements, but they did not arrive until the inundations of theNile made any advance into the interior almost impossible. At last, onthe 21st of December, the Christian army arrived at the canal ofAshmum Tanah, which alone separated them from the town of Mansuria. The Egyptians were now commanded by Emir Fakhr ed-Din. Ayyub had dieda month before, but his wife, Shejret ed-Durr, kept his death a secretuntil his son Turan Shah should arrive from Mesopotamia. Fakhr ed-Dindid everything in his power to retrieve his former error. He attackedthe Christians when they were engaged in building a dam acrossthe canal, hindering their work on the southern bank with histhrowing-machines, destroying their towers with Greek fire; and when, inspite of all discouragements, their toilsome work was nearly finished, he rendered it useless by digging out a new basin, into which heconducted the water of the Ashmum canal. 

On the 8th of February, 1250, the French crossed the canal, but, insteadof collecting there, as the king had commanded, so as to attack theenemy _en masse_, several troops pressed forward against the Egyptians, and many, including the Count of Artois, the king's brother, were killedby the valiant enemy under Beybars. The battle remained long undecided, for the Egyptians had barricaded Cairo so well that it could only bestormed at the cost of many lives, and after the capture the army neededrest. The Egyptians took advantage of this delay to bring a fleet upin the rear of the Egyptian ships, which, in combination with the fleetstationed near Mansuria, attacked and completely destroyed them. As soonas they were masters of the Nile, the Egyptians landed troops below theChristian camp, which was thus completely cut off from Damietta, andsoon suffered the greatest hardships from lack of provisions. Underthese circumstances, Louis opened negotiations with Turan Shah, andwhen these proved fruitless, nothing remained for him but to return toDamietta. Although they began their retreat by night, they did not thusescape the vigilance of the Egyptians. The fugitives were overtaken onthe following morning, and so shut in by the enemy that resistance wasimpossible. A large portion of the army was cut to pieces, in spite oftheir surrender; the rest, together with the king and his brother, weretaken prisoners and brought in triumph to Cairo. Turan Shah treated theking with consideration and hastened to conclude peace with the BahriticMamluks, --so called because they had been brought up on the Nile (Bahr), on the island Rhodha, --as soon as the ransom money of his prisonerswas assured. The Bahrites grumbled at this peace because it left theChristians in Palestine in possession of their towns, and they forthwithmurdered Turan Shah, with the help of Shejret ed-Durr, whom he hadmaltreated (May 2, 1250). 

After Turan Shah's death, his mother was proclaimed sultana, and theMamluk Aibek became general of the army. Later, when the caliph ofBaghdad revolted against the rule of a woman, Aibek assumed the titleof sultan and married Shejret ed-Durr. He ruled again after some timein the name of a young descendant of Kamil, so as to be able to fightagainst the Ayyubids in Syria, who, with En-Nasir at their head, hadtaken possession of Damascus, with an appearance of right. A battle tookplace between Aibek and the Syrians (February, 1251), which was decidedin favour of Aibek in consequence of the treachery of the Turks underNasir. Aibek again assumed the title of sultan after the victory, butwas soon after to be murdered by the Mamluks, who were unwilling to besubject to any control. He anticipated their plot, however, and slewtheir leader, the Emir Aktai, putting his followers to flight. He thendemanded the diploma of investiture and the insignia of his officefrom the caliph, and also pressed the Prince of Mosul to grant him hisdaughter in marriage. His own wife, unable to endure such perfidy, hadhim murdered in his bath (April 10, 1257). 

[Illustration: 032b]

When Beybars first ascended the throne, he assumed the name of SultanKahir (the over-ruler), but afterwards, when he was informed that thisname had always brought misfortune to its bearer, he changed it to thatof Sultan Zahir (the Glorious). 

Now that he was absolute master of Syria and Egypt, Beybars tried toobliterate the remembrance of the misdeeds he had formerly been guiltyof by means of undertakings for the general good and for the furtheranceof religion. He had the mosques repaired, founded pious institutions, designed new aqueducts, fortified Alexandria, had all the fortressesrepaired and provisioned which the Mongols had razed to the ground, hada large number of great and small war-ships built, and established aregular post between Cairo and Damascus. In order to obtain a semblanceof legitimacy, since he was but a usurper, Beybars recognised a nominaldescendant of the house of Abbas as caliph, who, in the proper courseof things, ought to invest him with the dominions of Syria and Egypt. Beybars bade his governors receive this descendant of the house of theProphet with all suitable marks of honour, and invited him to come toEgypt. When he approached the capital, the sultan himself went out tomeet him, followed by the vizier, the chief cadi, and the chief emirsand notabilities of the town. Even the Jews and Christians had to takepart in the procession, carrying respectively the Tora and the Gospel. The caliph made his entrance into Cairo with the greatest pomp, rodethrough the town amidst the shouts of the multitude, and proceeded tothe citadel, where Beybars had appointed him a magnificent dwelling. Some days afterwards the caliph had a reception of the chief cadi, themost celebrated theologians and lawyers of Egypt, and many notables ofthe capital. The Arabs who formed his escort and an eunuch from Baghdadtestified to the identity of the caliph's person, the chief cadirecognised their assertion as valid, and was the first to do homage tohim as caliph. Thereupon the sultan arose, took the oath of allegianceto him and swore to uphold both the written laws of the Koran andthose of tradition; to advance the good and hinder the evil, to fightzealously for the protection of the faith only, to impose lawful taxes, and to apply the taxes only to lawful purposes. After the sultan hadfinished, homage was done by the sheiks, the emirs, and the other chiefofficers of the kingdom. The caliph invested the sultan with power overall the kingdoms subject to Islam, as well as over all future conquests, whereupon the people of all classes were admitted to do homage likewise. Then command was sent out to all the distant princes and governors to dohomage to the caliph, who has assumed the name of El-Mustanssir, and toplace his name beside that of the sultan in their prayers and also ontheir coins. 

Beybars' treatment of his viziers, governors, and other important emirs, one or other of whom he either imprisoned or executed on every possibleoccasion, was merciless, but he proceeded even more shamelessly againstMalik Mughith, Prince of Kerak and Shaubek, whom he feared so much asone of the bravest descendants of the house of Ayyub that he stampedhimself publicly as a perjured assassin, in order to get him out ofthe way. Beybars had at first, without any declaration of war, in fact, without any notification of it in Egypt, suddenly sent a detachment oftroops under the leadership of Emir Bedr ed-Din Aidimri, which took thefortress Shaubek by surprise, and placed the Emir Saif ed-Din Bilbanel-Mukhtasi in it as governor. In the next year, in order to win overMughith, he liberated his son Aziz, whom Kotuz had captured at Damascusand imprisoned at Cairo; he also assured Mughith of his friendlyintentions towards him and repeatedly urged him to arrange a meeting. El-Malik el-Mughith did not trust Beybars, and invented all kinds ofreasons not to accept his invitations. Beybars resolved at last to calmthe fears of his intended victim by means of a written oath. The fearsof Mughith, however, were not allayed, and he hesitated to fall in withthe wish of the sultan and to appear at his court. The following year, when the sultan came to Syria and again urged a meeting, he was at aloss for an excuse, and was forced either to acknowledge his mistrustor risk everything. He sent his mother first to Gaza, where she wasreceived with the greatest friendliness by the sultan, and sent backladen with costly presents; on her return to Kerak, corrupted by thehospitality and generosity of the sultan, she persuaded her son to waiton him, as did also his ambassador Alamjad with equal zeal. Finally heset out from Kerak--when he had made his troops do homage to his sonEl-Malik el-Aziz--on a visit to the sultan, who wras then in Tur. Thesultan rode out to meet him as far as Beisan. Malik Mughith wished todismount when he perceived the sultan, but he would not permit this, androde beside Mughith till he reached his own tent. Here he was separatedfrom his followers, thrown into chains, and brought into the citadelof Cairo (a. H. 660). In order to palliate this crime, the sultan madepublic the correspondence of the Prince of Kerak with the Mongols, whichit was thought would stamp the former as a traitor to Islam. The judgeswhom he brought with him, and amongst whom we find the celebratedhistorian Ibn Khallikan, who was then chief judge of Damascus, declaredhim guilty, but we only have historical proof of the sending of his soninto Hulagu's camp to beg that his province might be spared, at a timewhen all the princes of Syria, seized with panic, threw themselves atthe feet of the Mongolian general. Be that as it may, he none the lesscommitted a piece of treachery, since he had sworn not to call him toaccount for his former crimes. Beybars hoped, now that he had disposedof Malik Mughith, that the fortress Kerak would immediately surrender tohis emissary, Emir Bedr ed-Din Beisari, but the governor of the fortressfeared to trust the promises of a perjurer and offered resistance. Beybars therefore set out for Syria with all the necessary siegeapparatus, constructed by the best engineers of Egypt and Syria. Thegarrison saw the impossibility of a long resistance and capitulated. 

The son of Malik Mughith, El-Malik el-Aziz, a boy of twelve, washonoured as prince and taken to Egypt, as also Mughith's family. Hisemirs and officials were treated with consideration, but the prince waslater thrown into prison. Nothing certain is known with regard to thedeath of Mughith. According to some reports, because he offended thewife of Beybars, when as a wandering Mamluk he once was staying withhim, he was delivered over to the sultan's wives and was put to death bythem; another account says that he died of hunger in prison. 

After the conquest of Shekif, the sultan made an attack on the provinceof Tripoli because Prince Bok-mond, Governor of Antioch and Tripoli, was his bitterest enemy and the truest ally of the Mongolians, and had, moreover, at the time of Hulagu's attack on Syria, made himself masterof several places which till then had belonged to the Mussulmans. Thewhole land was wasted, all the houses destroyed, all Christians who fellinto the hands of the troops were murdered, and several strongholds inthe mountains conquered. Laden with rich booty, the Moslem army set outfor Hemessa. From here Beybars proceeded towards Hamah and divided thearmy into three divisions; one division, under the Emir Bedr ed-DinKhaznadar (treasurer), was to take the direction of Suwaidiya, the portof Antioch; the second, under Emir Izz ed-Din Ighan, struck the routetowards Der-besak; the third, which he led himself, proceeded in astraight line over Apamaa and Schoghr towards Antioch, which was themeeting-place for the two other emirs, and would so be shut in from thenorth, the west, and the south. On the 16th May the sultan found himselfin front of the town, which contained a population of over one hundredthousand. Fighting soon ensued between the outposts of the sultan andthe constable who advanced against him at the head of the militia. Thelatter was defeated, and the constable himself taken prisoner. On the 3dof Ramadhan the whole army had united and preparations were made forthe siege. Meanwhile the sultan had already attempted to persuade theimprisoned constable to return to the town and enduce them to surrender, and to leave his own son behind as a hostage. But when several days hadpassed in fruitless discussions, at last the sultan gave the word forthe attack. In spite of the resistance of the Christians, the wallswere scaled on the same day, and the garrison retired thereupon into thecitadel; the inhabitants were massacred or taken prisoner and all thehouses plundered. No one could escape, for Beybars had blocked all theentrances. On the next day the garrison, women and children included, which numbered eight thousand, surrendered on account of lack of waterand meal. The chiefs apparently made their escape during the confusionand fled into the mountains. The garrison only saved their lives bysurrendering. Beybars had them chained and distributed as slaves amongsthis troops; he then had the other prisoners and the rest of the bootybrought together, and proceeded with the lawful distribution. Wheneverything had been settled, the citadel was set on fire, but theconflagration was so great that the whole town was consumed. 

Beybars died soon after his return from Asia Minor (July 1, 1277). According to some reports his death was occasioned by a violent fever;other accounts say that he died in consequence of a poison which he hadprepared for an Ayyubid and which he accidentally took himself. He haddesignated the eldest of his sons as his successor, under the nameof El-Malik es-Said, and in order to give him a strong support he hadmarried him to the daughter of the Emir Kilawun, one of his best andmost influential generals. In spite of all this, however, es-Said wasnot able to maintain himself on the throne for any length of time. 

Kilawun conspired against his master, and was soon able to ascend thethrone under the title of El-Malik el-Mansur. His fame as a warrior wasalready established, and he added to his successes during his tenyears' reign. His first task was to quell disturbances in Syria, and hedespatched an army thither and captured Damascus. In the year 680 ofthe Hegira he took the field in person against a large force of Tatars, defeated them, and raised the siege of Rahabah. Eight years later helaid siege to Tripoli, then rich and flourishing after two centuries ofChristian occupation, and the town was taken and its inhabitants killed. Other expeditions were undertaken against Nubia, but the Nubians, afterthey had been twice defeated, appear to have re-established themselves. 

[Illustration: 038. Jpg COURT IN THE MORISTAN OF THE KILAWUN]

The fortress of Acre was at this time the only important strongholdstill retained by the Christians, and for its conquest Kilawun wasmaking preparations when he died, on the 10th of November, 1290. Kilawun, says the modern historian Weil, has been unduly praised byhistorians, most of whom lived in the reign of his son. He was certainlynot so bloodthirsty as Beybars, and he also oppressed his subjects less. He, too, cared more for the increase and establishment of his kingdomthan for justice and good faith. He held no agreement sacred, if hecould get any advantage by breaking it, as was shown by his behaviourtowards the Crusaders and the descendants of Beybars. The most beautifulmonument which he left behind him was a huge building outside Cairo, which included a hospital, a school, and his own tomb. The hospital wasso large that every disease had a special room allotted to it; therewere also apartments for women, and large storerooms for provisions andmedical requirements, and a large auditorium in which the head doctordelivered his lectures on medicine. The expenses were so great--foreven people of wealth were taken without compensation--that specialadministrators were appointed to oversee and keep an account of thenecessary outlay. Besides these officers, several stewards and overseerswere appointed to control the revenues devoted to the hospital bydifferent institutions. Under the dome of the tomb the Koran andtraditional charters were taught, and both teachers and scholarsreceived their payment from the state. A large adjacent hall containeda library of many works on the Koran, tradition, language, medicine, practical theology, jurisprudence, and literature, and was kept in goodcondition by a special librarian and six officials. The school buildingcontained four audience-halls for the teachers of the Islamite schools, and in addition to these a school for children, into which sixty poororphans were received without any charge and provided with board, lodging, and clothes. 

Khalil, the son of Kilawun, who succeeded him, with the title ofEl-Malik el-Ashraf, was able to begin operations in the spring of 1291against Acre, and on the 18th of May, after an obstinate resistance, thetown was taken by storm. Those who could not escape by water were eithercut down or taken prisoner; the town was plundered, then burnt, and thefortifications razed to the ground. 

[Illustration: 043. Jpg WINDOW IN THE MAUSOLEUM OF KILAWUN]

After the fall of Acre, towns such as Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and others, which were still in the hands of the Christians, offered no resistance, and were either deserted by their inhabitants or given up to the enemy. El-Ashraf, now that he had cleared Syria of the Crusaders, turned hisarms against the Mongols and their vassals. He began with the stormingof Kalat er-rum, a fortress on the Upper Euphrates in the neighbourhoodof Bireh, the possession of which was important both for the defence ofNorthern Syria and for attacks on Armenia and Asia Minor. In spite ofmany pompous declarations that this was only the beginning of greaterconquests in Asia Minor and Irak, he retired as soon as the IlkhanKaikhatu sent a strong detachment of troops against him. Later on hethreatened the Prince of Armenia-Minor with war, and obliged him to handover certain border towns. He also exchanged some threatening letterswith Kaikhatu. But neither reigned long enough to make these threatsgood, for Kaikhatu was soon after dethroned by Baidu, and Baidu inhis turn by Gazan (1295), after many civil wars which had continuallyhindered him from carrying on a foreign war. El-Ashraf was murdered in1294, whilst hunting, by the regent Baidara, whom he had threatend toturn out of his office. Kara Sonkor, Lajin, El-Mansuri, and some of theother emirs had conspired with Baidara in the hope that, when once thedeed was accomplished, all the chiefs in the kingdom would applaud theiraction, since El-Ashraf had slain and imprisoned many influential emirs, and was generally denounced as an irreligious man, who transgressednot only against the laws of Islam, but also against those of nature. Baidara, however, immediately proceeded to mount the throne, and astrong party, with the Emir Ketboga at its head, was formed against him. Ketboga called upon El-Ashraf's Mamluks to take vengeance, pursued therebels, and killed Baidara. He then returned to Cairo, and, after longnegotiations with the governor of the capital, Muhammed, a youngerbrother of El-Ashraf, was proclaimed sultan, with the title of El-Maliken-Nasir. 

Muhammed en-Nasir occupies such an important place in the history ofthese times that the other Moslem princes may easily be grouped aroundhim. He was only nine years old when he was summoned to be ruler of thekingdom of the Mamluks. Naturally he was the sultan only in name, andthe real power lay in the hands of Ketboga and Vizier Shujai. These twolived in perfect harmony so long as they were merely occupied withthe pursuit of their rivals, --not only the friends and followers ofEl-Ashraf's murderer, but also the innocent ex-vizier of El-Ashraf, because he had treated them with contempt and was in possession ofriches for which they were greedy. He shared the fate of the king'sassassins, for, in spite of the intercession of the ladies of the royalharem, he ended his life on the gallows. But as soon as the two rulershad got rid of their enemies and appeased their own avarice, theirpeaceful union was at an end, for each wished to have complete controlover the sultan. Shujai had the Mamluks of the late sultan on his side;while Ketboga, who was a Mongol by birth, had with him all the Mongolsand Kurds who had settled in the kingdom during Beybars' reign. A Mongolwarned Ketboga against Shujai, who had made all necessary preparationsto throw his rival into prison, and he immediately was attacked byKetboga and defeated after several attempts. 

Ketboga's ambition was not yet fulfilled, although he was now supremeruler. He first demanded homage as regent; as he met with no opposition, he conceived the idea of setting the sultan, Nasir, aside; and he hopedto carry out his plan with the assistance of Lajin and Kara Sonkor, El-Ashraf's murderers, and their numerous following. He had the pardonof these two emirs proclaimed, whereupon they left their hiding-placesand joined Ketboga, for it was to their interest also that the sultanshould be put out of the way. This _coup d'état_ was a complete success(December, 1294), but in spite of these plans, Ketboga's reign was bothunfortunate and brief. The old emirs were vexed with him because heraised his own Mamluks to the highest posts of honour, and the clergywere displeased because he received favourably a number of Mongols, although they were heathens. The people blamed him for the severe faminewhich visited Egypt and Syria and which was followed by a terriblepestilence. Several emirs, with Lajin again at their head, conspiredagainst him, and forced their way into his tent while he was on the wayto Syria; overpowering the guard, they attempted to get possession ofhis person. He managed to escape, however, and so saved his life andliberty, but Lajin obtained possession of the throne, with the agreementof the other emirs. In spite of his advantages, both as man and as piousMoslem, and in spite of his brilliant victories over the princes ofArmenia, Lajin was murdered, together with his successor, and Nasir, whowas then living in Kerak, was recalled as sultan (January, 1299). 

Nasir was still too young to reign alone; he had to let himself beruled by the emirs who had already assumed a kind of regency before hisreturn. At the head of these emirs stood Sellar and Beybars Jashingir. Distrust and uneasiness existed between these two, one of whom wasregent and the other prefect of the palace, for each wanted to assumethe chief power; but soon their private intrigues were put into thebackground by a common danger. The Ilkhan Gazan was actively preparingfor war against the Mamluk kingdom because the Governor of Aleppohad fallen upon Mardin, a town belonging to the Mongols, and brutallymaltreated the inhabitants; also because the refugees from Egypt andSyria assured him that the moment was favourable for extending hisdominion over these lands. 

The internal history of Egypt at this period offers nothing but tediousstrifes between different emirs, and specially between the two mostpowerful, Beybars and Sellar, who would have often brought it to openwarfare had not their friends and followers intervened. They agreed, however, on one point, namely, to keep the sultan as long as possiblefrom taking over the reins of government, and to keep him as secludedas possible in order to deprive him of all influence. Whilst Sellarwas wasting immense sums, the sultan was in fact almost starving. WhenSellar went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, he paid the debts of all theMoslems who had retired to this town; he further distributed tenthousand malters of fruit amongst the poor people in the town, and somuch money and provisions that they were able to live on it for a wholeyear. He also treated the inhabitants of Medina and Jiddah in an equallygenerous way. The sultan, who was hunting in Lower Egypt, at thesame time tried in vain to obtain a small loan from the Alexandrianmerchants, to buy a present for his wife. Finally, his vizier, who hadgranted him two thousand dinars ($5, 060), was accused on Sellar's returnof embezzling the public money, was led round the town on a donkey, andbeaten and tortured so long that he succumbed under his torments. 

In the year 1307, when Nasir was twenty-three years old, though stilltreated as a child, he attempted, with the help of the Emir Bektimur, who commanded the Mamluks in the palace, to seize the persons of hisoppressors. The plan failed, for they had their spies everywhere, andthe only result was that the sultan's faithful servants were banished toSyria, and the sultan himself was more oppressed than ever. It was twoyears before he succeeded in deceiving his tyrants. He expressed thewish to make a pilgrimage to Mecca; this was granted, as the emirs sawnothing dangerous in it, and, moreover, as a religious duty, it couldnot be resisted. As soon as he reached the fortress Kerak, with thehelp of those soldiers in his escort who were devoted to his cause, and having deceived the governor by means of false letters, he obtainedpossession of the fortress, and immediately declared his independence ofthe guardianship of Sellar and Beybars. Sellar and Beybars, on hearingthis, immediately summoned the sultan to return to Cairo; but, evenbefore they received his answer, they realised that their rule was over, and that either they must quit the field, or Nasir must be dethroned. After long consideration amongst themselves, they proceeded to thechoice of another sultan, and the choice fell on Beybars (April, 1309). Beybars accepted the proffered throne on the condition that Sellar alsoretained his place. He confirmed the other emirs also in their offices, hoping thereby to gain their support. 

[Illustration: 049. Jpg INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE, KILAWUN]

The change of government met with no resistance in Egypt, where themajority of the emirs had long been dependent on Beybars and Sellar. In Syria, on the other hand, the emirs acting as governors refused toacknowledge Beybars, partly from devotion to Nasir's race, and partlybecause the choice had been made without their consent. Only Akush, Governor of Damascus, who was an old friend of Beybars, and like him aCircassian, took the oath of allegiance. The governors of Aleppo, Hamah, and Tripoli, together with the governors of Safed and Jerusalem, calledupon Nasir to join them, and, with the help of his other followers, to reconquer Egypt. The cunning sultan, who saw that the time for openresistance had not yet arrived, since Egypt was as yet too unanimous, and Damascus also had joined the enemy, advised them to deceive Beybarsand to take the oath of allegiance, which they could break later, ashaving been obtained by force. He himself feigned to submit to the newgovernment, and even had the prayers carried on from the chancel inBeybars' name. Beybars was deceived, although he knew with certaintythat Nasir carried on a lively intercourse with the discontentedemirs. He relied chiefly on Akush, who kept a strict watch over Nasir'smovements. The spies of Akush, however, were open to corruption, andthey failed later to take steps to render Nasir harmless at the rightmoment. Beybars believed Nasir to be still in Kerak, when he was wellon the way to Damascus; and when he finally received news of this, therebellion had already gone so far that some of the troops who had beensent out against the sultan had already deserted to his side. The onlypossible way of allaying the storm was for Beybars to put himself at thehead of his troops, and, joining forces with Akush, to offer battleto Nasir. The necessary courage and resolution failed him. Instead ofhaving recourse to the sword, he applied to the caliph, who declaredNasir an exile, and summoned all believers to listen to the SultanBeybars--whom he had consecrated--and to take part in the war againstthe rebel, Nasir. But the summons of the caliph, which was read in allthe chancels, had not the slightest effect. The belief in the caliph hadlong disappeared, except in so far as he was considered a tool of thesultan on whom he depended. Even Beybars' party mocked the caliph'sdeclaration, and wherever it was read manifestations were made in favourof the exile. Beybars, also, was now deserted by Sellar, and he atlength was obliged to resign. Beybars was then seized and throttled byNasir, and Sellar was starved to death. 

Nasir, who now came to the throne, had grown suspicious and treacherouson account of the many hardships and betrayals endured by him duringhis youth. He was, however, favourable to the Christians, and to such anextent that he received anonymous letters reproaching him for allowingMoslems to be oppressed by Christian officials. He found them to beexperienced in financial matters, for, in spite of all decrees, theyhad never ceased to hold secretaryships in different states: they were, moreover, more unscrupulous than born Muhammedans, who always hadmore respect for law, custom, and public opinion. Certainly the sultanconsidered the ministers in whom he placed great confidence lessdangerous if they were wow-Moslems, since he was their only support, whereas comrades in religion could always find plenty of support andmight easily betray him. 

Nasir died on the 6th of June, 1341, at about fifty-eight years of age, after a reign of forty-three years. His rule, which did not actuallybegin until he mounted the throne for the third time, lasted thirty-twoyears. During this period he was absolute ruler in the strongest senseof the word; every important affair was decided by him alone. The emirshad to refer all matters to him, and were a constant source of suspicionand oversight. They might not speak to each other in his presence, nor visit each other without his consent. The mildest punishment forbreaking such decrees was banishment to Syria. Nasir inspired them withfear rather than with love and respect, and, as soon as it was knownthat his illness was incurable, no one paid any further attention tohim. He died as a pious Moslem and repentant sinner in the presenceof some of his servants. His burial, which took place by night, wasattended by a few emirs, and only one wax candle and one lamp werecarried before the bier. As one of his biographers justly remarks, therich sultan, whose dominion had extended from the borders of Abyssiniato Asia Minor and up the Euphrates as far as Tunis, and the father ofa large family, ended his life like a stranger, was buried like a poorman, and brought to his grave like a man without wife or child. Nasirwas the last sultan who ruled over the Bahritic Mamluk kingdom with afirm hand. After his death we read of one insurrection after another, and the sultans were either deposed or became mere slaves of the emirs. Abu Bekr, whom Nasir had appointed his successor, did not hold his ownfor quite two months, because he maltreated the discontented emirsand put his favourites in their places. An insurrection, with the EmirKausun at its head, was formed against him; he was dethroned and hissix-year-old brother Kujuk was proclaimed sultan in his stead. Thedethroned sultan was banished to Upper Egypt, whither his elder brotherAhmed should have been brought; Ahmed, however, refused to leave hisfortress of Kerak, and, finding support among the Syrian emirs, heconspired against Kausun, who was at this moment threatened also with aninsurrection in Cairo. After several bloody battles, Kausun was forcedto yield, and Ahmed was proclaimed sultan (January, 1342). Ahmed, however, preferred a quiet, peaceful life to the dangerous postof sultan, and not until he had received the most solemn oaths ofallegiance did he proceed to his capital, where he arrived quiteunexpectedly, so that no festivities had been prepared. After some time, he had all the Syrian emirs arrested by his Mam-luks, because they triedto usurp his powers; he then appointed a regent, and himself returned toKerak, taking with him everything he had found in the sultan's palace, and there he remained in spite of the entreaties of the faithful emirs, and lived simply for his own pleasure. 

The natural consequence of all this was Ahmed's deposition in June, 1342. His brother Ismail, a good-hearted youth of seventeen years, senttroops to Kerak to demand an oath of allegiance from Ahmed, butthey could effect nothing, as the fortress was well fortified andprovisioned, and, moreover, many of the emirs, both in Syria and Egypt, were still in league with Ahmed. Not until fresh troops had been sent, and Ahmed himself betrayed, did they succeed in taking the fortress;and Ahmed was put to death in 1344. Ahmed's death made such a deepimpression upon the weak sultan that he fell into a fit of depressionwhich gradually increased until he died in August of the following year. 

[Illustration: 055. Jpg FRIEZE IN MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASAN]

His brother and successor, Shaban, was an utter profligate, cruel, faithless, avaricious, immoral, and pleasure-loving. Gladiatorsplayed an important part at his court, and he often took part in theircontests. Horse-racing, cock-fights, and such like amusements occupiedhim much more than state affairs, and the whole court followed hisexample. As long as Shaban did not offend the emirs, he was at libertyto commit any atrocities he pleased, but, as soon as he seized theirriches and imprisoned and tortured them, his downfall was certain. Ilbogha, Governor of Damascus, supported by the other Syrian emirs, sent him a list of his crimes and summoned him to abdicate. Meanwhile aninsurrection had broken out in Cairo, and, although Shaban expressedhis willingness to abdicate, he was murdered by the rebels in September, 1346. His brother Haji met with a similar fate after a reign of fifteenmonths, though some accounts affirm that he was not murdered but onlyexiled. 

Haji was succeeded by his brother Hasan, who was still a minor; theemirs who ruled in his name competed for the highest posts untilBaibagharus and his brother Menjik carried off the victory. These tworuled supreme for a time. The so-called "black death" was ravagingEgypt; many families were decimated, and their riches fell to the state. The disease, which differed from the ordinary pest in the blood-spittingand internal heat, raged in Europe and Asia, and spread the greatestconsternation even amongst the Moslems, who generally regarded diseasewith a certain amount of indifference, as being a divine decree. According to Arabic sources, the black death had broken out in China andfrom there had spread over the Tatar-land of Kipjak; from here it tookits course towards Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Syria on the onehand, and towards Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany on theother, and was probably brought to Egypt from Syria. Not only men, but beasts and even plants were attacked. The ravages were nowhereso fearful as in Egypt; in the capital alone in a few days as manyas fifteen or twenty thousand people were stricken. As the diseasecontinued to rage for two years, there was soon a lack of men to ploughthe fields and carry on the necessary trades; and to increase thegeneral distress, incursions were made by the tribes of Turcomansand Bedouins, who plundered the towns and villages. Scarcely had thisdesperate state of affairs begun to improve when court intrigues sprangup afresh, and only ended with the deposition of the sultan in August, 1351. He was recalled after three years, during which his brother hadreigned, and he was subsequently deposed and put to death in March, 1361. Finally the descendants of Nasir, instead of his sons, began torule. First came Muhammed Ibn Haji, who, as soon as he began to showsigns of independence, was declared to be of unsound mind by his chiefemir, Ilbogha; then Shaban, the son of Husain (May, 1363), who wasstrangled in March, 1377; and finally Husain's eight-year-old son Ali. After repeated contests, Berkuk and Berekeh, two Circassian slaves, placed themselves at the head of the government. Berkuk, however, wishedto be absolute, and soon put his co-regent out of the way (1389). Hecontented himself at first with being simply regent, and, even when Alidied, he declared his six-year-old brother Haji, sultan. The followingyear, when he discovered a conspiracy of the Mamluks against him, andwhen many of the older emirs were dead, he declared that it was for thegood of the state that no longer a child, but a man capable of directinginternal affairs and leading an army against the enemy, should take overthe government. The assembly, whom he had bribed beforehand, supportedhim, and he was appointed sultan in November, 1382. 

The external history of Egypt during this time is but scanty. Shesuffered several defeats at the hands of the Turcomans in the north ofSyria, lost her supremacy in Mecca through the influence of the princesof South Arabia, and both Alexandria and several other coast towns wereattacked and plundered by European fleets. This last event occurredin Shaban's reign in 1365. Peter of Lusignan, King of Cyprus, had, inleague with the Genoese, the Venetians, and Knights of Rhodes, placedhimself at the head of a new Crusade, and since his expedition was asecret even in Europe, --for he was thought to be advancing against theTurks, --it was easy for him to take the Egyptians by surprise, and allthe more so because the Governor of Alexandria happened to be absent atthe time. The militia tried in vain to prevent their landing, and thesmall garrison held out for but a short time, so that the prosperous andwealthy town was completely sacked and many prisoners were taken beforethe troops arrived from Cairo. 

[Illustration: 059. Jpg INSIDE THE MOSQUE OF HASSAN]

The Christians living in Egypt suffered from this attack of the King ofCyprus. They had to find ransom money for the Moslem prisoners and toprovide means for fitting out a new fleet. All negotiations with Cyprus, Genoa, and Venice were immediately broken off. This event, however, hadthe effect of reconciling the Italian traders again with Egypt, and anembassy came both from Genoa and Venice, expressing regret at what hadhappened, with the assurance that the government had had no hint of theintentions of the King of Cyprus. Genoa also sent back sixty prisonerswho had fallen to them as their share of the Alexandrian booty. AsEgypt's trade would also be at a standstill if they had no furthernegotiations with the Franks, who imported wood, metal, arms, oil, coral, wool, manufacturing and crystal wares in exchange for spices, cotton, and sugar, the former trade relations were re-established. Thewar with Cyprus continued, however; Alexandria was again threatenedand Tripoli was surprised by the Cyprian fleet, whereupon a number ofEuropean merchants in Egypt were arrested. In the year 1370, after thedeath of Peter of Lusignan, peace and an exchange of prisoners werefinally brought about. After this peace the Egyptians were able toconcentrate their whole force against Leo VI. , Prince of SmallerArmenia, who was brought as a prisoner to Cairo; and with him thesupremacy of the Christians in this land was at an end: henceforth Egyptwas ruled by Egyptian governors. 

Faraj, Berkuk's son and successor, had to suffer for his father'spolitical mistakes. He had scarcely ascended the throne when theOttomans seized Derenda, Albustan, and Malatia. Preparations for warwere made, but given up again when it was seen that Bayazid could notadvance any farther south. Faraj was only thirteen years old, and allthe old intrigues amongst the emirs broke out again. In Cairo theyfought in the streets for the post of regent; anarchy and confusionreigned in the Egyptian provinces, and the Syrians wished to revoltagainst the sultan. When at last peace was re-established in Egypt, andSyria was reduced, the latter country was again attacked by the hordesof Tamerlane. 

Tamerlane conquered the two important cities of Aleppo and Hemessa, andFaraj's forces returned to Egypt. When the sultan's ally, Bayazid, wasdefeated, Faraj concluded a peace with Tamerlane, at the price ofthe surrender of certain lands. In 1405 Tamerlane died, and Faraj wascollecting troops for the purpose of recovering Syria when domestictroubles caused him to flee from Egypt, his own brother Abd el-Azizheading the insurrection. In the belief that Faraj was dead, Aziz wasproclaimed his successor, but three months later Faraj was restored, and it was not until 1412 that he was charged with illegal practices andbeheaded, his body being left unburied like that of a common malefactor. The fact that criminal proceedings were brought against the sultan isevidence of a great advance in the spirit of civilisation, but theevent must be regarded more as a proof of its possibility than as ademonstration of its establishment. 

[Illustration: 063. Jpg MOSQUE OF BERKUK]

The Caliph El-Mustain was then proclaimed sultan, but after some monthshe was dethroned and his former prime minister, Sheikh Mahmudi, tookover the reins of government (November, 1412). Although Sheikh hadobtained the throne of Egypt so easily, he experienced great difficultyin obtaining the recognition of the emirs. Newruz, Governor of Damascus, in league with the other governors, made a determined resistance, andhe was obliged to send a strong army into Syria to put down the rebels. Newruz, after suffering one defeat, threw himself into the citadel ofDamascus and capitulated, when Sheikh had sworn to keep the terms ofthe capitulation. Newruz's ambassadors, however, had not a sufficientknowledge of Arabic to perceive that the oath was not binding, andwhen Newruz, trusting to this oath, appeared before Sheikh, he wasimmediately thrown into chains, and afterwards murdered in prisonbecause the cadis declared the oath was not binding. In the next year(1415) Sheikh was obliged to make another expedition against Syria tore-conquer some of the places of which the smaller princes had takenpossession during the civil war. One of these princes was the PrinceMuhammed of Karaman, who had taken the town of Tarsus. Sheikh wassummoned by Muhammed's own brother to overcome him, which he easilysucceeded in doing. Many other princes were forced to submit, andfinally the town of Malatia, which the Turcoman Husain had stormed, wasrecaptured. The war against Husain and the Prince of Karaman was to havebeen continued, but Sheikh was forced to return home, owing to a woundin his foot. As soon as certain misunderstandings between Sheikh andKara Yusuf had been cleared up, another army was despatched into AsiaMinor, for Tarsus had been recaptured by the Prince of Karaman, who haddriven out the Prince of Albustan, whom Sheikh had installed. Ibrahim, the sultan's son, took command of this army, and occupied Caasarea, Nigdeh, and Kara-man. Whilst he was occupied in the interior of AsiaMinor, the Governor of Damascus had defeated Mustapha, son of the Princeof Karaman, and the Prince Ibrahim of Ramadhan, near Adana, which lattertown, as well as Tarsus, he had re-conquered. 

The Prince of Karaman, who now advanced against Caasarea, suffered atotal defeat. Mustapha remained on the field of battle, but his fatherwas taken prisoner and sent to Cairo, where he lingered in confinementuntil after the death of the sultan. 

[Illustration: 065. Jpg THE TOMB OF BERKUK]

Once again was Syria threatened by Kara Yusuf, but he was soon forcedto return to Irak by the conspiracy of his own son, Shah Muhammed, wholived in Baghdad. As soon as this insurrection was put down, KaraYusuf was obliged to give his whole attention to Shah Roch, the son ofTamerlane, who had raised himself to the highest power in Persia, andwas now attempting to re-conquer the province of Aderbaijan. Kara Yusufplaced himself at the head of an army to protect this province, but suddenly died (November, 1420) on the way to Sultania, and hispossessions were divided among his four sons, Shah Muhammed, Iskander, Ispahan, and Jihan Shah, who all, just as the descendants of Tamerlanehad done, immediately began to quarrel among themselves. 

The sultan was already very ill when the news of Kara Yusufs deathreached him. The death of Ibrahim, his son, whom he had caused to bepoisoned, on his return from Asia Minor, weighed heavily upon himand hastened his death, which took place on January 13, 1421. Heleft immense riches behind him, but could not obtain a proper burial;everything was at once seized by the emirs, who did not troublethemselves in the least about his corpse. He had been by no means a goodsultan; he had brought much misery upon the people, and had oppressedthe emirs. But in spite of all he had many admirers who overlooked hismisdeeds and cruelty, because he was a pious Moslem; that is, he didnot openly transgress against the decrees of Islam, favoured thetheologians, and distinguished himself as an orator and poet; he alsofounded a splendid mosque, a hospital, and a school for theology. Hiswhole life abounds in contrasts. After he had broken his oath to Newruz, he spent several days in a cloister to make atonement for this crime, and was present at all the religious ceremonies and dances. Although heshed streams of blood to satisfy his avarice, he wore a woollen garment, and bade the preachers, when they mentioned his name after that ofMuhammed, to descend a step on the staircase of the chancel. Under areligious sultan of this stamp, the position of the non-Muhammedans wasby no means an enviable one. The Jews and Christians had to pay enormoustaxes and the old decrees against them were renewed. Not only were theyforced to wear special colours, but the length of their sleeves andhead-bands was also decreed, and even the women were obliged to wear adistinctive costume. 

[Illustration: 067. Jpg A TITLE-PAGE OF THE KORAN OF THE TIME OF SHABAN]

Sheikh appointed his son Ahmed, one year old, as his successor, andnamed the emirs who were to act as regents until he became of age. Tatar, the most cunning and unscrupulous of these emirs, soon succeededin obtaining the supreme power and demanded homage as sultan (August29, 1421); but he soon fell ill and died after a reign of about threemonths. He, too, appointed a young son as his successor and named theregents, but Bursbai also soon grasped the supreme power and ascendedthe throne in 1422. He had of course many insurrections to quell, butwas not obliged to leave Egypt. As soon as peace was restored in Syria, Bursbai turned his attention to the European pirates, who had long beenharassing the coasts of Syria and Egypt. They were partly Cypriots andpartly Catalonians and Genoese, who started from Cyprus and landed theirbooty on this island. Bursbai resolved first to conquer this island. He despatched several ships with this object in view; they landed atLimasol, and, having burnt the ships in the harbour and plundered thetown, they returned home. The favourable result of this expedition muchencouraged the sultan, and in the following year he sent out a largefleet from Alexandria which landed in Famagosta. This town soonsurrendered and the troops proceeded to plunder the neighbouring places, and defeated all the troops which Prince Henry of Lusignan sent outagainst them. When they had advanced as far as Limasol, the Egyptiancommander, hearing that Janos, the King of Cyprus, was advancing witha large army against him, determined to return to Egypt to bring hisenormous booty into safety. In July, 1426, a strong Egyptian fleet setout for the third time, landed east of Limasol, and took this fortressafter a few days' fighting. The Moslem army was, however, forced toretreat. But the Cypriots scattered instead of pursuing the enemy, andthe Mamluks, seeing this, renewed their attack, slew many Christiansand took the king prisoner. The capital, Nicosia, then capitulated, whereupon the Egyptian troops returned to Egypt with the captive kingand were received with great jubilation. The King of Cyprus, aftersubmitting to the greatest humiliations, was asked what ransom he couldpay. He replied that he possessed nothing but his life, and stuck tothis answer, although threatened with death. Meanwhile, Venetian andother European merchants negotiated for the ransom money, and thesultan finally contented himself with two hundred thousand dinars (about$500, 000). Janos, however, was not set at liberty, but sent to Cyprusas the sultan's vassal. After the death of Janos in 1432, his son, JohnII. , still continued to pay tribute to Egypt, and when he died (1458)and his daughter Charlotte became Queen of Cyprus, James II. , thenatural son of John II. , fled to Egypt and found a friendly reception atthe sultan's court. 

[Illustration: 069. Jpg PRAYER-NICHE IN THE MOSQUE OF THE SULTAN MAHMUDI]

The sultan then ruling was Inal, and he promised to re-install James asKing of Cyprus. Meanwhile messengers arrived from the queen, offering ahigher tribute, and Inal allowed himself to be persuaded by his emirsto acknowledge Charlotte as queen, and to hand James over toher ambassadors. But as soon as the ambassadors had left theaudience-chamber, a tumult arose; the people declared that the sultanhad only the advantage of the Franks--especially of Prince Louis ofSavoy--in view, and they soon took such a threatening attitude thatInal was forced to declare himself for James again and renew his formerpreparations. In August, 1460, an Egyptian fleet bore James to Cyprus, and with the help of the Egyptian troops he soon obtained the island, with the exception of the fortress Cerines, which Queen Charlotte stillhad in her power. The majority of the Egyptian troops now returned toEgypt, and only some hundred men remained with James. Later, when theGenoese declared themselves on the side of Charlotte, fresh troops hadto be sent out from Egypt, but, as soon as James had taken Famagosta andhad no further need of them, he dismissed them (1464). 

Bursbai despised no means by which he might enrich himself; heappropriated the greater part of the inheritance of the Jews andChristians; he even taxed poor pilgrims, in spite of the fact that hewas a pious Moslem, prayed much, fasted, and read the Koran. He turnedMecca into a money-market. At the very moment when pious pilgrimswere praying for the forgiveness of their sins, one of his heralds wasproclaiming: "Whoever buys wares and does not pay toll for them in Egypthas forfeited his life. " That is to say, all wares bought in Mecca orJiddah had to go out of their way to Egypt in order to be laid undertoll in this land. 

[Illustration: 071. Jpg ORNAMENTAL PAGE FROM A KORAN OF THE FOURTEENTHCENTURY]

In appointing his son Yusuf to the consulship, Bursbai counted on thedevotedness of his Mamluks, and the Emir Jakmak, whom he appointed ashis chief adviser, and, in fact, Yusuf's coronation, in June, 1438, metwith no resistance. After three months, however, Jakmak, feelinghimself secure, quietly assumed the sultan's place; at first he had muchresistance to put down, but soon his prudence and resolution establishedhim safely in spite of all opposition. As soon as the rebels in theinterior had been dealt with, Yusuf, as a good Muhammedan, wished toattack the Christians, and chose the island of Rhodes as the scene ofthe Holy War, hoping to obtain this island as easily as Bursbai hadobtained the island of Cyprus. But the Order of St. John, to whom thisisland belonged, had its spies in Egypt, so that the sultan's intentionswere discovered and preparations for defence were made. The onlyresult of the sultan's repeated expeditions was the devastation of someunimportant coast towns; all attempts on the capital failed, so thatthe siege was soon raised and peace concluded with the chief master ofRhodes (1444). 

Jakmak's relations with the foreign chiefs were most friendly. Heconstantly exchanged letters and gifts with both Sultan Murad and ShahRoch. The sons of Kara Yelek and the princes of the houses of Ramadhanand Dudgadir submitted to him; also Jihangir, Kara Yelek's grandson andGovernor of Amid, tried to secure his friendship, as did the latter'sdeadly enemy, Jihan Shah, the son of Kara Yusuf. 

[Illustration: 073. Jpg MOSQUE OF KAIT BEY, CAIRO]

Jakmak's rule was mild compared with that of Bursbai, and we hear lessof extraordinary taxes, extortions, executions, and violence of theMamluks. Although he was beloved by the people and priests on accountof his piety, he could not secure the succession of his son Osman, infavour of whom he abdicated fourteen days before his death (February, 1453). Osman remained only a month and a half on the throne; he madehimself odious to the emirs who did not belong to his Mamluks. TheMamluks of his predecessors conspired against him, and at their headstood his own Atabeg, the Emir Inal, a former Mamluk of Berkuk. Osman was warned, but he only mocked those who recommended him towatchfulness, since he believed his position to be unassailable. Hehad forgotten that his father was a usurper, who, although himself aperjurer, hoped to bind others by means of oaths. His eyes were notopened until he had lost all means of defence. He managed to hold outfor seven days, after which the citadel was captured by the rebels, andhe was forced to abdicate on the 19th of March. Inal became, even morethan his predecessors had been, a slave to those Mamluks to whom he owedhis kingdom. They committed the greatest atrocities and threatenedthe sultan himself when he tried to hold them in check. They plunderedcorpses on their way to the grave, and attacked the mosques during thehours of service in order to rob the pilgrims. 

They were so hated and feared that, when many of them were carried offby the plague, their deaths were recorded by a contemporary historian asa benefit to all classes of society. 

In the hour of his death (26th February, 1461), Inal appointed his sonAhmed as his successor, but the latter was no more able to maintainhimself on the throne than his predecessors had been, in spite of hisnumerous good qualities. He was forced to submit in the strife with hisemirs, and on the 28th of June, 1461, after a reign of four months andthree days, he was dethroned, and the Emir Khosh Kadem, a former slaveof the Sultan Sheikh, of Greek descent, was proclaimed in his stead. Khosh Kadem reigned for seven years with equity and benignity, and underone of his immediate successors, El-Ashraf Kait Bey, a struggle wasbegun with the Ottoman Turks. On the death of Muhammed II. , dissensionshad arisen between Bayazid II. And Jem. Jem, being defeated by Bayazid, retired to Egypt, which led to the invasion and conquest of Syria, hitherto held by the Sultan of Egypt. On surrendering Tarsus and Adanato Bayazid, Kait Bey was suffered to end his days in peace in A. D. 1495. After many dissensions, the brave and learned El-Ghuri ascended thethrone, and Selim I. , the Turkish sultan, soon found a pretext for anattack upon the Mamluk power. A long and sanguinary battle was foughtnear Aleppo, in which El-Ghuri was finally defeated through treachery. He was trampled to death by his own cavalry in their attempt to escapefrom the pursuing Ottomans. With his death, in A. D. 1516, Egypt lost herindependence. Tuman Bey, a nephew of the deceased, fiercely contestedthe advance of the Ottomans, but was defeated and treacherously killedby the Turks. 

[Illustration: 076. Jpg WADI FEIRAN, IN THE SINAI PENINSULA]

A long period of Turkish misrule now opened for the ill-fated country, though some semblance of conciliation was attempted by Selim'sappointment of twenty-four Mamluk beys as subordinate rulers overtwenty-four military provinces of Egypt. These beys were under thecontrol of a Turkish pasha, whose council was formed of seven Turkishchiefs, while one of the Mamluk beys held the post of Sheikh el-Beled orGovernor of the Metropolis. 

[Illustration: 077. Jpg MAUSOLEUM OF EL-GHURI]

For nearly two centuries the Turkish pashas were generally obeyed inEgypt, although there were frequent intrigues and quarrels on the partof competing Mamluk beys to secure possession of the coveted postof Sheikh el-Beled. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century theauthority of the Turkish pashas had become merely nominal, while thatof the beys had increased to such an extent that the government of Egyptbecame a military oligarchy. The weakness of the Turks left the way openfor the rise of any adventurer of ability and ambition who might aspireto lead the Mamluks to overthrow the sovereignty of the Porte. 

In the year 1768 the celebrated Ali Bey headed a revolt against theTurks, which he maintained for several years with complete success. Aperiod of good but vigorous government lasted Curing the years in whichhe successfully resisted the Ottoman power. Ali's generals also gainedfor him considerable influence beyond the borders of Egypt. Muhammed AbuDhahab was sent by him to Arabia and entered the sacred city of Mecca, where the sherif was deposed. Ali also despatched an expedition to theeastern shores of the Red Sea, and Muhammed Bey, after his successes inArabia, invaded Syria and wrested that province from the power of thesultan. The victorious soldier, however, now plotted against his masterand took the lead in a military revolt. As a result of this, Ali Beyfell into an ambuscade set by his own rebellious subjects, and died frompoisoning m 1786. Thus terminated the career of the famous Mamluk, a manwhose energy, talents, and ambition bear a strong resemblance to thoseof the later Mehe-met Ali. 

Muhammed Bey, the Mamluk who had revolted against Ali Bey, now tenderedhis allegiance to the Porte. To the title of Governor of the Metropoliswas also added that of Pasha of Egypt. He subdued Syria, and died duringthe pillage of Acre. 

[Illustration: 080b. Jpg Bonaparte in Egypt]

 From painting by M. Orange

After his death violent dissensions again broke out. The Porte supportedIsmail Bey, who retained the post of Governor of the Metropolis (Sheikhel-Beled) until the terrible plague of 1790, in which he perished. 

His former rivals, Ibrahim and Murad, now returned; and eight yearslater were still in the leadership when the news was brought to Egyptthat a fleet carrying thirty thousand men, under Bonaparte, had arrivedat Alexandria on an expedition of conquest. 

[Illustration: 080. Jpg]

[Illustration: 081. Jpg PAGE IMAGE]

CHAPTER II. --THE FRENCH IN EGYPT

_Napoleon's campaign: Battles of the Pyramids and of Abukir: Siege ofAcre: Kléber's administration: The evacuation of Egypt. _

At the close of the eighteenth century Egypt's destiny passed into thehands of the French. Napoleon's descent upon Egypt was part of hisvast strategic plan for the overthrow of Great Britain. He first of allnotified the Directory of this design in September, 1797, in a lettersent from Italy. Late in the same year and during 1798 vast preparationshad been in progress for the invasion of England. Napoleon then visitedall the seaports in the north of France and Holland, and found that adirect invasion of England was a practical impossibility because theBritish held command over the sea. The suggested invasion of Egypt wasnow seriously considered. By the conquest of Egypt, it was contended, England would be cut off from the possession of India, and France, through Egypt, would dominate the trade to the Orient. From EgyptNapoleon could gather an army of Orientals and conquer the whole of theEast, including India itself. On his return, England would prove to betoo exhausted to withstand the French army at home and would fall aprey to the ambitions of the First Consul. The Directory assented toBonaparte's plans the more readily because they were anxious to keepso popular a leader, the idol of the army, at a great distance from thecentre of government. While the preparations were in process, no onein England knew of this undertaking. The French fleet lay in varioussquadrons in ports of Italy, from which thirty thousand men wereembarked. 

Bonaparte arrived at Toulon on May 9, 1798. His presence rejoiced thearmy, which had begun to murmur and to fear that he would not be at thehead of the expedition. It was the old army of Italy, rich and coveredwith glory, and hence had much less zeal for making war; it required allthe enthusiasm with which the general inspired his soldiers to inducethem to embark and proceed to an unknown destination. On seeing him atToulon, they were inflamed with ardour. Bonaparte, without acquaintingthem with their destination, exhorted the soldiers, telling them thatthey had great destinies to fulfil, and that "the genius of liberty, which had made the republic from her birth the arbitress of Europe, decreed that she should be so to the most remote seas and nations. "

[Illustration: 083 BEDOUINS IN THE DESERT]

The squadron of Admiral Brueys consisted of thirteen sail of the line, and carried about forty thousand men of all arms and ten thousandseamen. It had water for one month and provisions for two. It sailed onthe 19th of May, amid the thunders of the cannons and the cheers of thewhole army. Violent gales did some damage to a frigate on leaving theport, and Nelson, who was cruising with three sail of the line in searchof the French fleet, suffered so severely from the same gales that hewas obliged to bear up for the islands of St. Pierre to refit. He wasthus kept at a distance from the French fleet, and did not see it pass. It steered first towards Genoa to join the convoy collected in thatport, under the command of General Baraguay d'Hilliers. It then sailedfor Corsica, to call for the convoy at Ajaccio commanded by Vaubois, andafterwards proceeded to the sea of Sicily to join the division of CivitaVecchia, under the command of Desaix. 

Bonaparte's intention was to stop at Malta, and there to make by theway a bold attempt, the success of which he had long since prepared bysecret intrigues. He meant to take possession of that island, which, commanding the navigation of the Mediterranean, became important toEgypt and could not fail soon to fall into the hands of the English, unless they were anticipated. 

Bonaparte made great efforts to join the division from Civita Vecchia;but this he could not accomplish until he was off Malta. The fivehundred French sail came in sight of the island on June 9th, twenty-twodays after leaving Toulon. This sight filled the city of Malta withconsternation. The following day (June 10th) the French troops landedon the island, and completely invested Valetta, which contained apopulation of nearly thirty thousand souls, and was even then one ofthe strongest fortresses in Europe. The inhabitants were dismayed andclamoured for surrender, and the grand master, who possessed littleenergy, and recollected the generosity of the conqueror of Rivoli atMantua, hoping to save his interest from shipwreck, released one ofthe French knights, whom he had thrown into prison when they refused tofight against their countrymen, and sent him to Bonaparte to negotiate. A treaty was soon concluded, by which the Knights of Malta gave up toFrance the sovereignty of Malta and the dependent islands. Thus Francegained possession of the best harbour in the Mediterranean, and one ofthe strongest in the world. It required the ascendency of Bonaparte toobtain it without fighting; and it necessitated also the risk of losingsome precious days, with the English in pursuit of him. 

The French fleet weighed anchor on the 19th of June, after a stay often days. The essential point now was not to fall in with the English. Nelson, having refitted at the islands of St. Pierre, had returned onJune 1st to Toulon, but the French squadron had been gone twelve days. He had run from Toulon to the roads of Taglia-mon, and from the roadsof Tagliamon to Naples, where he had arrived on June 20th, at the verymoment when Bonaparte was leaving Malta. Learning that the French hadbeen seen off Malta, he followed, determined to attack them, if hecould overtake them. At one moment, the English squadron was only a fewleagues distant from the immense French convoy, and neither party wasaware of it. Nelson, supposing that the French were bound for Egypt, made sail for Alexandria, and arrived there before them; at not findingthem, he flew to the Dardanelles to seek them there. By a singular fate, it was not till two days afterwards that the French expedition came insight of Alexandria, on the 1st of July, which was very nearly six weekssince it sailed from Toulon. Bonaparte immediately sent on shore for theFrench consul. He learned that the English had made their appearancetwo days before, and, supposing them to be not far off, he resolved thatvery moment to attempt a landing. It was impossible to enter the harbourof Alexandria, for the place appeared disposed to defend itself;it became necessary, therefore, to land at some distance on theneighbouring coast, at an inlet called the Creek of the Marabou. Thewind blew violently and the sea broke with fury over the reefs on theshore. It was near the close of the day, but Bonaparte gave the signaland resolved to go on shore immediately. He was the first to disembark, and, with great difficulty, four or five thousand men were landed inthe course of the evening and the following night. Bonaparte resolvedto march forthwith for Alexandria, in order to surprise the place andto prevent the Turks from making preparations for defence. The troopsinstantly commenced their march. Not a horse was yet landed: the staffof Bonaparte, and Caffarelli himself, notwithstanding his wooden leg, had to walk four or five leagues over the sands, and came at daybreakwithin sight of Alexandria. 

That ancient city no longer possessed its magnificent edifices, itsinnumerable houses, and its immense population. Three-fourths of it wasin ruins. The Turks, the wealthy Egyptians, the European merchants dweltin the modern town, which was the only part preserved. A few Arabs livedamong the ruins of the ancient city: an old wall, flanked by towers, enclosed the new and the old town, and all around extended those sandswhich in Egypt are sure to advance wherever civilisation recedes. Thefour thousand French led by Bonaparte arrived there at daybreak. Uponthis sandy beach they met with Arabs only, who, after firing a fewmusket-shots, fled to the desert. Napoleon divided his men into threecolumns. Bon, with the first column, marched on the right towards theRosetta gate; Kléber, with the second, marched in the centre towards thegate of the Catacombs. 

The Arabs and the Turks, excellent soldiers behind a wall, kept up asteady fire, but the French mounted with ladders and got over the oldwall. Kléber was the first who fell, seriously wounded on the forehead. The Arabs were driven from ruin to ruin, as far as the new town, andthe combat seemed likely to be continued from street to street, andto become sanguinary, when a Turkish captain served as a mediator fornegotiating an arrangement. Bonaparte declared that he had not come toravage the country, or to wrest it from its ruler, but merely to deliverit from the domination of the Mamluks, and to revenge the outrages whichthey had committed against France. He promised that the authorities ofthe country should be upheld; that the ceremonies of religion shouldcontinue to be performed as before; that property should be respected. On these conditions, the resistance ceased, and the French were mastersof Alexandria. Meanwhile, the remainder of the army had landed. Itwas immediately necessary to decide where to place the squadronsafely--whether in the harbour or in one of the neighbouring roads;--toform at Alexandria an administration adapted to the manners of thecountry; and also to devise a plan of invasion in order to gainpossession of Egypt. 

At this period the population of Egypt was, like the towns that coveredit, a mixture of the wrecks of several nations, --Kopts, the survivors ofthe ancient inhabitants of the land; Arabs, who conquered Egypt fromthe Kopts; and Turks, the conquerors of the Arabs. On the arrival ofthe French, the Kopts amounted at most to two hundred thousand:poor, despised, brutalised, they had devoted themselves, like all theproscribed classes, to the most ignoble occupations. The Arabs formedalmost the entire mass of the population. Their condition was infinitelyvaried: some were of high birth, carrying back their pedigree toMuhammed himself; and some were landed proprietors, possessing tracesof Arabian knowledge, and combining with nobility the functions of thepriesthood and the magistracy, who, under the title of sheikhs, were thereal aristocracy of Egypt. 

[Illustration: 091. Jpg THE PROPHET MUHAMMED]

 The original of the illustration (upon the opposite page) is to be seen in a finely illuminated MS. Of the ninth century, A. D. , preserved in the India Office, London. The picture is of peculiar interest, being the only known portrait of Muhammed, who is evidently represented as receiving the divine command to propagate Muhammedanism. 

In the divans, they represented the country, when its tyrants wishedto address themselves to it; in the mosques, they formed a kind ofuniversity, in which they taught the religion and the morality of theKoran, and a little philosophy and jurisprudence. The great mosque ofJemil-Azar constituted the foremost learned and religious body in theEast. Next to these grandees came the smaller landholders, composing thesecond and more numerous class of the Arabs; then the great mass of theinhabitants, who had sunk into the state of absolute helots. These lastwere hired peasants or fellahs who cultivated the land, and lived inabject poverty. There was also a class of Arabs, namely, the Bedouinsor rovers, who would never attach themselves to the soil, but were thechildren of the desert. These wandering Arabs, divided into tribeson both sides of the valley, numbered nearly one hundred and twentythousand, and could furnish from twenty to twenty-five thousand horse. They were brave, but fit only to harass the enemy, not to fight him. Thethird and last race was that of the Turks; but it was not more numerousthan the Kopts, amounting to about two hundred thousand souls at most, and was divided into Turks and Mamluks. The Turks were nearly allenrolled in the list of janizaries; but it is well known that theyfrequently had their names inscribed in those lists, that they mightenjoy the privileges of janizaries, and that a very small number of themwere really in the service. Very few of them composed the military forceof the pasha. This pasha, sent from Constantinople, was the sultan'srepresentative in Egypt; but, escorted by only a few janizaries, hefound his authority invalidated by the very precautions which SultanSelim had formerly taken to preserve it. That sultan, judging thatEgypt was likely from its remoteness to throw off the dominion ofConstantinople, and that a clever and ambitious pasha might create therean independent empire, had, as we have seen, devised a plan to frustratesuch a motive, should it exist, by instituting a Mamluk soldiery; but itwas the Mamluks, and not the pasha, who rendered themselves independentof Constantinople and the masters of Egypt. 

Egypt was at this time an absolute feudality, like that of Europe inthe Middle Ages. It exhibited at once a conquered people, a conqueringsoldiery in rebellion against its sovereign, and, lastly, an ancientdegenerate class, who served and were in the pay of the strongest. 

Two beys, superior to the rest, ruled Egypt: the one, Ibrahim Bey, wealthy, crafty, and powerful; the other, Murad Bey, intrepid, valiant, and full of ardour. They had agreed upon a sort of divisionof authority, by which Ibrahim Bey had the civil, and Murad Bey themilitary, power. It was the business of the latter to fight; he excelledin it, and he possessed the affection of the Mam-luks, who were alleager to follow him. 

Bonaparte immediately perceived the line of policy which he had topursue in Egypt. He must, in the first place, wrest that country fromits real masters, the Mam-luks; it was necessary for him to fight them, and to destroy them by arms and by policy. He had, moreover, strongreasons to urge against them; for they had never ceased to ill-treat theFrench. As for the Porte, it was requisite that he should not appear toattack its sovereignty, but affect, on the contrary, to respect it. In the state to which it was reduced, that sovereignty was not to bedreaded, and he could treat with the Porte, either for the cession ofEgypt, by granting certain advantages elsewhere, or for a partition ofauthority, in which there would be nothing detrimental; for the French, in leaving the pasha at Cairo, and transferring to themselves the powerof the Mamluks, would not occasion much regret. As for the inhabitants, in order to make sure of their attachment, it would be requisite to winover the Arab population. By respecting the sheikhs, by flattering theirold pride, by increasing their power, by encouraging their secret desirefor the re-establishment of their ancient glories, Bonaparte reckonedupon ruling the land, and attaching it entirely to him. By afterwardssparing persons and property, among a people accustomed to considerconquest as conferring a right to murder, pillage, and devastate, hewould create a sentiment that would be most advantageous to the Frencharmy. If, furthermore, the French were to respect women and the Prophet, the conquest of hearts would be as firmly secured as that of the soil. 

Napoleon conducted himself agreeably to these conclusions, whichwere equally just and profound. He immediately made his plans forestablishing the French authority at Alexandria, and for quitting theDelta and gaining possession of Cairo, the capital of Egypt. It wasthe month of July; the Nile was about to inundate the country. He wasanxious to reach Cairo before the inundation, and to employ the timeduring which it should last in establishing himself there. He orderedeverything at Alexandria to be left in the same state as formerly; thatthe religious exercises should be continued; and that justice should beadministered as before by the cadis. His intention was merely to possesshimself of the rights of the Mamluks, and to appoint a commissioner tolevy the accustomed imposts. He caused a divan, or municipal council, composed of the sheikhs and principal persons of Alexandria, to beformed, in order to consult them on all the measures which the Frenchauthority would have to take. He left three thousand men in garrison inAlexandria, and gave the command of it to Kléber, whose wound was liableto keep him in a state of inactivity for a month or two. He directed ayoung Frenchman of extraordinary merit, and who gave promise of becominga great engineer, to put Alexandria in a state of defence, and toconstruct there all the necessary works. This was Colonel Cretin, who, in a short time, and at a small expense, executed superb works atAlexandria. Bonaparte then ordered the fleet to be put in a place ofsecurity. It was a question whether the large ships could enter the portof Alexandria. A commission of naval officers was appointed to sound theharbour and make a report. Meanwhile, the fleet was anchored in the roadof Abukir, and Bonaparte ordered Brueys to see to it that this questionshould be speedily decided, and to proceed to Corfu if it should beascertained that the ships could not enter the harbour of Alexandria. 

After he had attended to all these matters, he made preparations formarching. A considerable flotilla, laden with provisions, artillery, ammunition, and baggage, was to run along the coast to the Rosettamouth, enter the Nile, and ascend the river at the same time as theFrench army. He then set out with the main body of the army, which, after leaving the two garrisons in Malta and Alexandria, was aboutthirty thousand strong. He had ordered his flotilla to proceed as highas Ramanieh, on the banks of the Nile. There he purposed to join it, andto proceed up the Nile parallel with it, in order to quit the Delta andto reach Upper Egypt, or Bahireh. There were two roads from Alexandriato Ramanieh; one through an inhabited country, along the sea-coast andthe Nile, and the other shorter and as the bird flies, but across thedesert of Damanhour. Bonaparte, without hesitation, chose the shorter. It was of consequence that he should reach Cairo as speedily aspossible. De-saix marched with the advanced guard, and the main bodyfollowed at a distance of a few leagues. They started on the 6th ofJuly. When the soldiers found themselves amidst this boundless plain, with a shifting sand beneath their feet, a scorching sun over theirheads, without water, without shade, with nothing for the eye to restupon but rare clumps of palm-trees, seeing no living creatures but smalltroops of Arab horsemen, who appeared and disappeared at the horizon, and sometimes concealed themselves behind sand-hills to murder thelaggards, they were profoundly dejected. They found all the wells, whichat intervals border the road through the desert, destroyed by the Arabs. There were left only a few drops of brackish water, wholly insufficientfor quenching their thirst. 

[Illustration: 097. Jpg STREET DOGS]

They had been informed that they should find refreshments at Damanhour, but they met with nothing there but miserable huts, and could procureneither bread nor wine; only lentils in great abundance, and a littlewater. They were obliged to proceed again into the desert. Bonaparte sawthe brave Lannes and Murat take off their hats, dash them on the sand, and trample them under foot. He, however, overawed all: his presenceimposed silence, and sometimes restored cheerfulness. The soldiers wouldnot impute their sufferings to him, but grew angry with those who tookpleasure in observing the country. On seeing the men of science stop toexamine the slightest ruins, they said they should not have been therebut for them, and revenged themselves with witticisms after theirfashion. Caffarelli, in particular, brave as a grenadier, andinquisitive as a scholar, was considered by them as the man who haddeceived the general and drawn him into this distant country. As he hadlost a leg on the Rhine, they said, "He, for his part, laughs at this:he has one foot in France. " At last, after severe hardships, endured atfirst with impatience, and afterwards with gaiety and fortitude, theyreached the Nile on the 10th of July, after a march of four days. Atthe sight of the Nile and of the water so much longed for, the soldiersflung themselves into it, and, bathing in its waves, forgot theirfatigues. Desaix' division, which from the advance-guard had become therear-guard, saw two or three hundred Mamluks galloping before it, whomthey dispersed by a few volleys of grape. These were the first that hadbeen seen, which warned the French that they would speedily fall in withthe hostile army. The brave Murad Bey, having received the intelligenceof the arrival of Bonaparte, was actually collecting his forces aroundCairo. Until they should have assembled, he was hovering with a thousandhorse about the army, in order to watch its march. 

The army waited at Ramanieh for the arrival of the flotilla. It restedtill July 13th, and set out on the same day for Chebreiss. Murad Bey waswaiting there with his Mamluks. The flotilla, which had set outfirst and preceded the army, found itself engaged before it could besupported. Murad Bey had a flotilla also, and from the shore he joinedhis fire to that of his light Egyptian vessels. The French flotilla hadto sustain a very severe combat. Perrée, a naval officer who commandedit, displayed extraordinary courage; he was supported by the cavalry, who had come dismounted to Egypt, and who, until they could equipthemselves at the expense of the Mamluks, had taken their passageby water. Two gunboats were retaken from the enemy, and Perrée wasrepulsed. 

At that moment the army came up; it was composed of five divisions, andhad not yet been in action with its singular enemies. To swiftness andthe charge of horse, and to sabre-cuts, it would be necessary tooppose the immobility of the foot-soldier, his long bayonet, and massespresenting a front on every side. Bonaparte formed his five divisionsinto five squares, in the centre of which were placed the baggage andthe staff. The artillery was at the angles. The five divisions flankedone another. Murad Bey flung upon these living citadels a thousand ortwelve hundred intrepid horse; who, bearing down with loud shouts andat full gallop, discharging their pistols, and then drawing theirformidable sabres, threw themselves upon the front of the squares. Encountering everywhere a hedge of bayonets and a tremendous fire, theyhovered about the French ranks, Fell before them, or scampered off inthe plain at the utmost speed of their horses. Murad Bey, after losinga few of his bravest men, retired for the purpose of proceeding to thepoint of the Delta, and awaiting them near Cairo at the head of all hisforces. 

This action was sufficient to familiarise the army with this new kind ofenemy, and to suggest to Bonaparte the kind of tactics which he ought toemploy with them. He pursued his march towards Cairo, and the flotillaascended the Nile abreast of the army. It marched without intermissionduring the following days, and, although the soldiers had freshhardships to endure, they kept close to the Nile, and could bathe everynight in its waters. 

The army now approached Cairo, where the decisive battle was to befought. Murad Bey had collected here the greater part of his Mamluks, nearly ten thousand in number, and they were attended by double thenumber of fellahs, to whom arms were given, and who were obliged tofight behind the intrenchments. He had also assembled some thousandsof janizaries, or spahis, dependent on the pasha, who, notwithstandingBonaparte's letter of conciliation, had suffered himself to be persuadedto join his oppressors. Murad Bey had made preparations for defenceon the banks of the Nile. The great capital, Cairo, is situated on theright bank of the river, and on the opposite bank Murad Bey had pitchedhis tent, in a long plain extending from the river to the pyramids ofGizeh. 

On the 21st of July, the French army set itself in motion beforedaybreak. As they approached, they saw the minarets of Cairo shootingup; they saw the pyramids increase in height; they saw the swarmingmultitude which guarded Embabeh; they saw the glistening arms of tenthousand horsemen resplendent with gold and steel, and forming animmense line. 

[Illustration: GATHERING DATES]

The face of Bonaparte beamed with enthusiasm. He began to gallop beforethe ranks of the soldiers, and, pointing to the pyramids, he exclaimed, "Consider, that from the summit of those pyramids forty centuries havetheir eyes fixed upon you. "

In the battle of the Pyramids, as it was called, the enemy's forceof sixty thousand men was almost completely annihilated. The Mamluks, bewildered by European tactics, impaled themselves upon the bayonetsof the French squares. Fifteen thousand men of all arms fell upon thefield. The battle had cost the French scarcely a hundred killed andwounded; for, if defeat is terrible for broken squares, the loss isinsignificant for victorious squares. The Mamluks had lost theirbest horsemen by fire or water: their forces were dispersed, and thepossession of Cairo secured. The capital was in extraordinary agitation. It contained more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, many of whomwere indulging in all sorts of excesses, and intending to profit by thetumult to pillage the rich palaces of the beys. 

The French flotilla, however, had not yet ascended the Nile, and therewas no means of crossing to take possession of Cairo. Some Frenchtraders who happened to be there were sent to Bonaparte by the sheikhsto arrange concerning the occupation of the city. He procured a fewlight boats, or djerms, and sent across the river a detachment oftroops, which at once restored tranquillity, and secured persons andproperty from the fury of the populace. 

Bonaparte established his headquarters at Gizeh, on the banks of theNile, where Murad Bey had an imposing residence. A considerable storeof provisions was found both at Gizeh and at Embabeh, and the soldierscould make amends for their long privations. No sooner had he settledin Cairo than he hastened to pursue the same policy which he had alreadyadopted at Alexandria, and by which he hoped to gain the country. The essential point was to obtain from the sheikhs of the mosque ofJemil-Azar a declaration in favour of the French. It corresponded toa papal bull among Christians. On this occasion Bonaparte exerted hisutmost address, and was completely successful. The great sheikhs issuedthe desired declaration, and exhorted the Egyptians to submit to theenvoy of God, who reverenced the Prophet, and who had come to deliverhis children from the tyranny of the Mamluks. Bonaparte established adivan at Cairo, as he had done at Alexandria, composed of the principalsheikhs, and the most distinguished inhabitants. This divan, ormunicipal council, was intended to serve him in gaining the minds of theEgyptians, by consulting it, and learning from it all the details of theinternal administration. It was agreed that similar assemblies shouldbe established in all the provinces, and that these subordinate divansshould send deputies to the divan of Cairo, which would thus be thegreat national divan. 

Bonaparte resolved to leave the administration of justice to the cadis. In execution of his scheme of succeeding to the rights of the Mamluks, he seized their property, and caused the taxes previously imposed tocontinue to be levied for the benefit of the French army. For thispurpose it was requisite that he should have the Kopts at his disposal. He omitted nothing to attach them to him, holding out hopes to them ofan amelioration of their condition. He sent generals with detachmentsdown the Nile to complete the occupation of the Delta, which the armyhad merely traversed, and sent others towards the Upper Nile, to takepossession of Middle Egypt. Desaix was placed with a division at theentrance of Upper Egypt, which he was to conquer from Murad Bey, assoon as the waters of the Nile should subside in the autumn. Each ofthe generals, furnished with detailed instructions, was to repeat inthe country what had been done at Alexandria and at Cairo. They were tocourt the sheikhs, to win the Kopts, and to establish the levy of thetaxes in order to supply the wants of the army. Bonaparte was alsoattentive to keep up the relations with the neighbouring countries, in order to uphold and to appropriate to himself the rich commerce ofEgypt. He appointed the Emir Hadgi, an officer annually chosen at Cairo, to protect the great caravan from Mecca. He wrote to all the Frenchconsuls on the coast of Barbary to inform the beys that the Emir Hadgiwas appointed, and that the caravans might set out. At his desire thesheikhs wrote to the sherif of Mecca, to acquaint him that the pilgrimswould be protected, and that the caravans would find safety andprotection. The pasha of Cairo had followed Ibraham Bey to Belbeys. Bonaparte wrote to him, as well as to the several pashas of St. Jeand'Acre and Damascus, to assure them of the good disposition of theFrench towards the Sublime Porte. The Arabs were struck by the characterof the young conqueror. They could not comprehend how it was that themortal who wielded the thunderbolt should be so merciful. They calledhim the worthy son of the Prophet, the favourite of the great Allah, andsang in the great mosque a litany in his praise. 

Napoleon, in carrying out his policy of conciliating the natives, waspresent at the Nile festival, which is one of the greatest in Egypt. It was on the 18th of August that this festival was held. Bonapartehad ordered the whole army to be under arms, and had drawn it up on thebanks of the canal. An immense concourse of people had assembled, whobeheld with joy the brave man of the West attending their festivals. 

It was by such means that the young general, as profound a politician ashe was a great captain, contrived to ingratiate himself with the people. While he flattered their prejudices for the moment, he labouredto diffuse among them the light of science by the creation of thecelebrated Institute of Egypt. He collected the men of science and theartists whom he had brought with him, and, associating with them some ofthe best educated of his officers, established the institute, to whichhe appropriated a revenue and one of the most spacious palaces in Cairo. 

The conquest of the provinces of Lower and Middle Egypt had beeneffected without difficulty, and had cost only a few skirmishes with theArabs. A forced march upon Belbeys had been sufficient to drive IbrahimBey into Syria, where Desaix awaited the autumn for wresting Upper Egyptfrom Murad Bey, who had retired thither with the wrecks of his army. 

Fortune was, meanwhile, preparing for Bonaparte the most terrible of allreverses. On leaving Alexandria, he had earnestly recommended to AdmiralBrueys to secure his squadron from the English, either by taking it intothe harbour of Alexandria, or by proceeding with it to Corfu; and he hadparticularly enjoined him not to leave it in the road of Abukir, for itwas much better to fall in with an enemy when under sail than to receivehim at anchor. A warm discussion had arisen on the question whetherthe ships of 80 and 120 guns could be carried into the harbour ofAlexandria. As to the smaller ships, there was no doubt; but the largerwould require lightening so much as to enable them to draw three feetless water. For this purpose it would be necessary to take out theirguns, or to construct floats. On such conditions, Admiral Brueysresolved not to take his squadron into the harbour. The time which hespent, either in sounding the channels to the harbour, or in waiting fornews from Cairo, caused his own destruction. 

Admiral Brueys was moored in the road of Abukir. This road is a veryregular semicircle, and his thirteen ships formed a line parallel tothe shore, and so disposed that he believed no British ship could passbetween him and the shore, if an attack were made. 

Nelson, after visiting the Archipelago, and returning to the Adriatic, Naples, and Sicily, had at length obtained the certain knowledge ofthe landing of the French at Alexandria. He immediately steered in thatdirection in order to seek and put to flight their squadron. He sent afrigate to look out for it, and to reconnoitre its position. The Englishfrigate, having made her observations, rejoined Nelson, who, beinginformed of all the particulars, immediately stood in for Abukir, andarrived there August 1, 1798, at about six o'clock in the evening. Admiral Brueys was at dinner. He immediately ordered the signal forbattle to be given; but so unprepared was the squadron to receive theenemy, that the hammocks were not stowed away on board any of the ships, and part of the crews were on shore. The admiral despatched officers tosend the seamen on board, and to demand part of those who were in thetransports. He had no conception that Nelson would dare to attack himthe same evening, and conceived that he should have time to receive thereinforcements for which he had applied. 

Nelson resolved to attack immediately, and to push in between the Frenchships and the shore at all hazards. "Before this time to-morrow" saidhe, "I shall have gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey. "

The number of vessels was equal on both sides, namely, thirteen shipsof war. The engagement lasted upwards of fifteen hours. All the crewsperformed prodigies of valour. The brave Captain Du Petit-Thouars hadtwo of his limbs shot off. He ordered snuff to be brought him, and remained on his quarter-deck, and, like Brueys, waited till acannon-ball despatched him. The entire French squadron, excepting thetwo ships and two frigates carried off by Villeneuve, was destroyed. Nelson had suffered so severely that he could not pursue the fugitives. Such was the famous battle of Abukir, the most disastrous thatthe French had ever sustained, and involved the most far-reachingconsequences. The fleet which had carried the French to Egypt, whichmight have served to succour or to recruit them, which was tosecond their movements on the coast of Syria, --had there been any toexecute, --which was to overawe the Porte, to force it to put up withfalse reasoning, and to oblige it to wink at the invasion of Egypt, which finally, in case of reverses, was to convey the French back totheir country, --that fleet was destroyed. The French ships were burned. The news of this disaster spread rapidly in Egypt, and for a momentfilled the army with despair. Bonaparte received the tidings withimperturbable composure. "Well, " he said, "we must die in this country, or get out of it as great as the ancients. " He wrote to Kléber: "Thiswill oblige us to do greater things than we intended. We must holdourselves in readiness. " The great soul of Kléber was worthy ofthis language: "Yes, " replied Kléber, "we must do great things. I ampreparing my faculties. " The courage of these men supported the army, and restored its confidence. 

Bonaparte strove to divert the thoughts of the soldiers by variousexpeditions, and soon made them forget this disaster. On the festival ofthe foundation of the republic, he endeavoured to give a new stimulus totheir imagination; he engraved on Pompey's Pillar the names of the firstforty soldiers slain in Egypt. They were the forty who had fallen inthe attack on Alexandria; and the names of these men, sprung from thevillages of France, were thus associated with the immortality of Pompeyand Alexander. 

Bonaparte, after the battle of the Pyramids, found himself master ofEgypt. He began to establish himself there, and sent his generals intothe provinces to complete their conquest. Desaix, placed at the entranceof Upper Egypt with a division of about three thousand men, was directedto reduce the remnants of Murad Bey's force in that province. It was inthe preceding year (October, 1798), at the moment when the inundationwas over, that Desaix had commenced his expedition. The enemy hadretired before him, and did not wait for him till he reached Sediman;there, on October 7th, Desaix fought a sanguinary battle with thedesperate remainder of Murad Bey's forces. Two thousand French had tocombat with four thousand Mamluks and eight thousand fellahs, intrenchedin the village of Sediman. The battle was conducted in the same manneras that of the Pyramids, and like all those fought in Egypt. The fellahswere behind the walls of the village, and the horse in the plain. Thefield of battle was thickly strewn with slain. The French lost threehundred men. Desaix continued his march during the whole winter, and, after a series of actions, reduced Upper Egypt as far as the cataracts. He made himself equally feared for his bravery and beloved for hisclemency. In Cairo, Bonaparte had been named Sultan Kebir, the FireSultan. In Upper Egypt, Desaix was called the "Just Sultan. "

Bonaparte had meanwhile marched to Belbeys, to drive Ibrahim Bey intoSyria, and he had collected by the way the wrecks of the caravan ofMecca, plundered by the Arabs. Returning to Cairo, he continued toestablish there an entirely French administration. Thus passed thewinter between 1798 and 1799 in the expectation of important events. During this interval, Bonaparte received intelligence of the declarationof war by the Porte, and of the preparations which it was making againsthim with the aid of the English. Two armies were being formed, one atRhodes, the other in Syria. These two armies were to act simultaneouslyin the spring of 1799, the one by landing at Abukir near Alexandria, theother by crossing the desert which separates Syria from Egypt. Bonapartewas instantly aware of his position, and determined, as was his custom, to disconcert the enemy and to forestall any offensive movement by asudden attack. He could not cross the desert which parts Egypt fromSyria in summer, and he resolved to avail himself of the winter fordestroying the assemblages of troops forming at Acre, at Damascus, and in the principal towns. Djezzar, the celebrated pasha of Acre, wasappointed seraskier of the army collected in Syria. Abd Allah Pasha ofDamascus commanded its advanced-guard, and had proceeded as far as thefort of El Arish, which is the key to Egypt on the side next to Syria. Bonaparte resolved to act immediately. He was in communication with thetribes of the Lebanon. The Druses, Christian tribes, the Mutualis, andschismatic Muhammedans offered him assistance, and ardently wished forhis coming. By a sudden assault on Jaffa, Acre, and some other badlyfortified places, he might in a short time gain possession of Syria, add this fine conquest to that of Egypt, make himself master ofthe Euphrates, as he was of the Nile, and thus command all thecommunications with India. 

[Illustration: 112. Jpg A FOUNTAIN AT CAIRO]

Bonaparte commenced his march very early in February at the head ofKléber's, Régnier's, Lannes's, Bon's, and Murat's divisions, aboutthirteen thousand strong. He arrived before the fort El Arish onFebruary 15th, and, after a slight resistance, the garrison surrenderedthemselves prisoners, to the number of thirteen hundred men. IbrahimBey, having attempted to relieve it, was put to flight, and, after asevere march across the desert, they reached Gaza. They took that placein the sight of Djezzar Pasha, and found there, as in the fort of ElArish, a great quantity of ammunition and provisions. From Gaza the armyproceeded to Jaffa (the ancient Joppa), where it arrived on March 3rd. This place was surrounded by a massive wall, flanked by towers, and itcontained a garrison of four thousand men. Bonaparte caused a breachto be battered in the wall, and then summoned the commandant, who onlyanswered by cutting off the head of the messenger. The assault was made, and the place stormed with extraordinary intrepidity, and given upfor thirty hours to pillage and massacre. Here, too, was found aconsiderable quantity of artillery and supplies of all kinds. Therewere some thousands of prisoners, whom the general could not despatch toEgypt, because he had not the ordinary means for escorting them, and hewould not send them back to the enemy to swell their ranks. Bonapartedecided on a terrible measure, the most cruel act of his life. Transported into a barbarous country, he had adopted its manners, and heordered all the prisoners to be put to death. The army consummated withobedience, but with a sort of horror, the execution that was commanded. 

Bonaparte then advanced upon St. Jean d'Acre, the ancient Ptolemais, situated at the foot of Mount Carmel. It was the only place that couldnow stop him. If he could make himself master of this fortress, Syriawould be his. But the ferocious Djezzar had shut himself up there, withall his wealth and a strong garrison, and he also reckoned upon supportfrom Sir Sidney Smith, then cruising off that coast, who supplied himwith engineers, artillerymen, and ammunition. It was probable, moreover, that he would be soon relieved by the Turkish army collected in Syria, which was advancing from Damascus to cross the Jordan. Bonapartehastened to attack the place, in hopes of taking it, as he had doneJaffa, before it was reinforced with fresh troops, and before theEnglish had time to improve its defences. The trenches were immediatelyopened. The siege artillery sent by sea from Alexandria had beenintercepted by Sir Sidney Smith, who captured seven vessels out of thenine. A breach was effected, and dispositions were made for the assault, but the men were stopped by a counterscarp and a ditch. They immediatelyset about mining. The operation was carried on under the fire of allthe ramparts, and of the fine artillery which Sir Sidney Smith had takenfrom the French. The mine was exploded on April 17th, and blew up onlya portion of the counterscarp. Unluckily for the French, the place hadreceived a reinforcement of several thousand men, a great number ofgunners trained after the European fashion, and immense supplies. It wasa siege on a large scale to be carried on with thirteen thousand men, almost entirely destitute of artillery. It was necessary to open a newmine to blow up the entire counterscarp, and to commence another coveredway. 

Bonaparte now ordered Kléber's division to oppose the passage of theJordan by the army coming from Damascus. The enemy was commanded by AbdAllah Pasha of Damascus, and numbered about twenty-five thousand menand twelve thousand horse. A desperate battle was fought in the plain ofFouli, and for six hours Kléber, with scarcely three thousand infantryin square, resisted the utmost fury of the Turkish cavalry. Bonaparte, who had been making a rapid march to join Kléber, suddenly made hisappearance on the field of battle. A tremendous fire, dischargedinstantaneously from the three points of this triangle, assailed theMamluks who were in the midst, drove them in confusion upon one another, and made them flee in disorder in all directions. Kléber's division, fired with fresh ardour at this sight, rushed upon the village of Eouli, stormed it at the point of the bayonet, and made a great carnage amongthe enemy. In a moment the whole multitude was gone, and the plain wasleft covered with dead. During this interval the besiegers had neverceased mining and countermining about the walls of St. Jean d'Acre. Thesiege of Acre lasted for sixty-five days. Bonaparte made eight desperatebut ineffectual assaults upon the city, which were repulsed by elevenfurious sallies on the part of the besieged garrison. It was absolutelynecessary to relinquish the enterprise. The strategic point in the Eastwas lost. 

[Illustration: 116b. Jpg Cairo--Eskibieh Quarter]

For two months the army had been before Acre; it had sustainedconsiderable losses, and it would have been imprudent to expose it tomore. The plague was in Acre, and the army had caught the contagion atJaffa. The season for landing troops approached, and the arrival of aTurkish army near the mouths of the Nile was expected. By persistinglonger, Bonaparte was liable to weaken himself to such a degree asnot to be able to repulse new enemies. The main point of his plan waseffected, since he had rendered the enemy in that quarter incapable ofacting. He now commenced his march to recross the desert. 

Bonaparte at length reached Egypt after an expedition of nearlythree months. It was high time for him to return; for the spiritof insurrection had spread throughout the whole Delta. His presenceproduced everywhere submission and tranquillity. He gave orders formagnificent festivities at Cairo to celebrate his triumphs in Syria. Hehad to curb not only the inhabitants, but his own generals and the armyitself. A deep discontent pervaded it. They had been for a whole yearin Egypt. It was now the month of June, and they were still ignorant ofwhat was passing in Europe, and of the disasters of France. Theymerely knew that the Continent was in confusion, and that a new war wasinevitable. Bonaparte impatiently waited for further particulars, thathe might decide what course to pursue, and return, in case of need, tothe first theatre of his exploits. But he hoped first to destroy thesecond Turkish army assembled at Rhodes, the very speedy landing ofwhich was announced. 

This army, put on board numerous transports and escorted by Sir SidneySmith's squadron, appeared on July 11th in sight of Alexandria, andcame to anchor in the road of Abukir, where the French squadron had beendestroyed. The point chosen by the English for landing was the peninsulawhich commands the entrance to the road, and bears the same name. TheTurks landed with great boldness, attacked the intrenchments swordin hand, carried them, and made themselves masters of the village ofAbukir, putting to death the garrison. The village being taken, it wasimpossible for the fort to hold out, and it was obliged to surrender. Marmont, who commanded at Alexandria, left the city at the head oftwelve hundred men to hasten to the assistance of the troops at Abukir. But, learning that the Turks had landed in considerable numbers, he didnot dare to attempt to throw them into the sea by a bold attack, andreturned to Alexandria, leaving them to establish themselves quietly inthe peninsula of Abukir. 

[Illustration: 119. Jpg CAIRO FROM THE LEFT BANK OF THE NILE]

The Turks amounted to nearly eighteen thousand infantry. They had nocavalry, for they had not brought more than three hundred horses, butthey expected the arrival of Murad Bey, who was to leave Upper Egypt, skirt the desert, cross the oases, and throw himself into Abukir withtwo or three thousand Mamluks. 

When Bonaparte was informed of the particulars of the landing, heimmediately left Cairo, and made from that city to Alexandria one ofthose extraordinary marches of which he had given so many examples inItaly. He took with him the divisions of Lannes, Bon, and Murat. He hadordered Desaix to evacuate Upper Egypt, and Kleber and Régnier, who werein the Delta, to approach Abukir. He had chosen the point of Birket, midway between Alexandria and Abukir, at which to concentrate hisforces, and to manouvre according to circumstances. He was afraid thatan English army had landed with the Turks. The next day, the 7th, he wasat the entrance of the peninsula. 

Bonaparte made his dispositions with his usual promptitude and decision. He ordered General D 'Estaing, with some battalions, to march to thehill on the left, where the one thousand Turks were posted; Lannes tomarch to that on the right, where the two thousand others were; andMurat, who was at the centre, to make the cavalry file on the rear ofthe two hills. D'Estaing marched to the hill on the left and boldlyascended it: Murat caused it to be turned by a squadron. The Turks, atsight of this, quitted their post, and fell in with the cavalry, whichcut them to pieces, and drove them into the sea, into which they choserather to throw themselves than to surrender. Precisely the same thingwas done on the right. Lannes attacked the two thousand janizaries;Murat turned them, cut them in pieces, and drove them into the sea. D'Estaing and Lannes then moved towards the centre, formed by a village, and attacked it in front. The Turks there defended themselves bravely, reckoning upon assistance from the second line. A column did in factadvance from the camp of Abukir; but Murat, who had already filed uponthe rear of the village, fell sword in hand upon this column, and droveit back into Abukir. D'Estaing's infantry and that of Lannes entered thevillage at the charge step, driving the Turks out of it, who were pushedin all directions, and who, obstinately refusing to surrender, had noretreat but the sea, in which they were drowned. 

From four to five thousand had already perished in this manner. The first line was carried: Bonaparte's object was accomplished. Heimmediately followed up his success with desperate fighting to completehis victory on the moment. The Turks, affrighted, fled on all sides, anda horrible carnage was made among them. They were pursued at the pointof the bayonet and thrust into the sea. More than twelve thousandcorpses were floating in the bay of Abukir, and two or three thousandmore had perished by the fire or by the sword. The rest, shut up in thefort, had no rescue but the clemency of the conqueror. Such was thatextraordinary battle in which a hostile army was entirely destroyed. Thus, either by the expedition to Syria, or by the battle of Abukir, Egypt was delivered, at least for a time, from the forces of the Porte. 

Having arrived in the summer before the inundation, Bonaparte hademployed the first moments in gaining possession of Alexandria and thecapital, which he had secured by the battle of the Pyramids. In theautumn, after the inundation, he had completed the conquest of theDelta, and consigned that of Upper Egypt to Desaix. In the winter he hadundertaken the expedition to Syria, and destroyed Djezzar's Turkish armyat Mount Tabor. He had now, in the second summer, just destroyed thesecond army of the Porte at Abukir. The time had thus been well spent;and, while Victory was forsaking in Europe the banners of France, sheadhered to them in Africa and Asia. The tricolour waved triumphant overthe Nile and the Jordan, and over the places which were the cradle ofthe Christian religion. 

Bonaparte was as yet ignorant of what was passing in France. None of thedespatches from the Directory or from his brothers had reached him, and he was a prey to the keenest anxiety. With a view to obtaining someintelligence, he ordered brigs to cruise about, to stop all merchantmen, and to gain from them information of the occurrences in Europe. Hesent to the Turkish fleet a flag of truce, which, under the pretext ofnegotiating an exchange of prisoners, was for the purpose of obtainingnews. Sir Sidney Smith stopped this messenger, treated him exceedinglywell, and, perceiving that Bonaparte was ignorant of the disasters ofFrance, took a spiteful pleasure in sending him a packet of newspapers. The messenger returned and delivered the packet to Bonaparte. The latterspent the whole night in devouring the contents of those papers, and informing himself of what was passing in his own country. Hisdetermination was immediately taken, and he resolved to embark secretlyfor Europe, and on August 22nd, taking with him Berthier, Lannes, Murât, Andréossy, Marmont, Berthollet, and Monge, and escorted by some of hisguides, he proceeded to a retired spot on the beach, where boats wereawaiting them. They got into them and went on board the frigates, _LaMuiron_ and _La Carrère_. They set sail immediately, that by daylightthey might be out of sight of the English cruisers. Unfortunatelyit fell calm; fearful of being surprised, some were for returning toAlexandria, but Bonaparte resolved to proceed. "Be quiet, " said he, "weshall pass in safety. " Like Cæsar, he reckoned upon his fortune. Menou, who alone had been initiated into the secret, made known in Alexandriathe departure of General Bonaparte, and the appointment which he hadmade of General Kléber to succeed him. This intelligence caused apainful surprise throughout the army. The most opprobrious epithetswere applied to this departure. They did not consider that irresistibleimpulse of patriotism and ambition, which, on the news of the disastersof the republic, had urged him to return to France. They perceived onlythe forlorn state in which he had left the unfortunate army, which hadfelt sufficient confidence in his genius to follow him. 

Kléber was not fond of General Bonaparte, and endured his ascendencywith a sort of impatience, and now he was sorry that he had quitted thebanks of the Rhine for the banks of the Nile. The chief command didnot counterbalance the necessity of remaining in Egypt, for he took nopleasure in commanding. 

[Illustration: 124. Jpg STATUE OF GENERAL KLEBER AT STRASBURG]

Kléber, however, was the most popular of the generals among thesoldiery. His name was hailed by them with entire confidence, andsomewhat cheered them for the loss of the illustrious commander who hadjust left them. He returned to Cairo, assumed the command with a sort ofostentation, and took possession of the fine Arabian mansion which hispredecessor had occupied in the Ezbekieh Place. But it was not longbefore the solicitudes of the chief command, which were insupportableto him, the new dangers with which the Turks and the English threatenedEgypt, and the grief of exile, which was general, filled his soul withthe most gloomy discouragement. 

Kléber, together with Poussielgue, the administrator of the army, atonce prepared and addressed despatches to the Directory, placing thecondition of the troops, the finances, and the number of the enemy inthe most melancholy light. These despatches fell into the hands of theEnglish, and the duplicate reports found their way into the hands ofBonaparte himself. Bonaparte had left instructions with Kléber to meetevery possible contingency during his absence, even to the necessity ofan evacuation of Egypt. "I am going to France, " said he, "either as aprivate man or as a public man; I will get reinforcement sent to you. But if by next spring (he was writing in August, 1799) you have receivedno supplies, no instructions; if the plague has carried off more thanfifteen hundred men, independently of losses by war; if a considerableforce, which you should be incapable of resisting, presses you hard, negotiate with the vizier: consent even, if it must be so, to anevacuation; subject to one condition, that of referring to the Frenchgovernment; and meanwhile continue to occupy. You will thus have gainedtime, and it is impossible that, during the interval, you should nothave received succour. "

The instructions were very sound; but the case foreseen was far frombeing realised at the time when Kléber determined to negotiate for theevacuation of Egypt. Murad Bey, disheartened, was a fugitive in UpperEgypt with a few Mamluks. Ibrahim Bey, who, under the government ofthe Mamluks, shared the sovereignty with him, was then in Lower Egypttowards the frontier of Syria. . He had four hundred horse. DjezzarPasha was shut up in St. Jean d'Acre, and, so far from preparing areinforcement of men for the army of the grand vizier, he viewed, on thecontrary, with high displeasure, the approach of a fresh Turkish army, now that his pashalik was delivered from the French. As for the grandvizier, he was not yet across the Taurus. The English had their troopsat Mahon, and were not at this moment aggressive. At Kléber's side wasGeneral Menou, who viewed everything under the most favourable colours, and believed the French to be invincible in Egypt, and regarded theexpedition as the commencement of a near and momentous revolution in thecommerce of the world. Kléber and Menou were both honest, upright men;but one wanted to leave Egypt, the other to stay in it; the clearest andmost authentic returns conveyed to them totally contrary significations;misery and ruin to one, abundance and success to the other. 

In September, 1799, Desaix, having completed the conquest andsubjugation of Upper Egypt, had left two movable columns for the pursuitof Murad Bey, to whom he had offered peace on condition of his becominga vassal of France. He then returned to Cairo by the order of Kléber, who wished to make use of his name in those negotiations into whichhe was about to enter. During these proceedings, the army of the grandvizier, so long announced, was slowly advancing. Sir Sidney Smith, whoconvoyed with his squadron the Turkish troops destined to be transportedby sea, had just arrived off Dami-etta with eight thousand janizaries, and on the first of November, 1799, the landing of the first divisionof four thousand janizaries was effected. At the first tidings of thisdisembarkation, Kléber had despatched Desaix with a column of threethousand men; but the latter, uselessly sent to Damietta, had found thevictory won, --the Turkish division having been completely destroyed byGeneral Verdier, --and the French filled with unbounded confidence. This brilliant achievement ought to have served to encourage Kléber;unfortunately, he was swayed at once by his own lack of confidence andthat of the army. In this disposition of mind, Kléber had sent oneof his officers to the vizier (who had entered Syria), to make newovertures of peace. General Bonaparte, with a view to embroiling thevizier with the English, had previously entertained the idea of settingon foot negotiations, which, on his part, were nothing more than afeint. His overtures had been received with great distrust and pride. Kléber 's advances met with a favourable reception, through theinfluence of Sir Sidney Smith, who was preparing to play a prominentpart in the affairs of Egypt. This officer had largely contributed toprevent the success of the siege of St. Jean d'Acre; he was proud of it, and had devised a _ruse de guerre_ by taking advantage of a momentaryweakness to wrest from the French their valuable conquest. With thisview, he had disposed the grand vizier to listen to the overturesof Kléber. Kléber, on his part, despatched Desaix and Poussielgue asnegotiators to Sir Sidney Smith; for, since the English were masters ofthe sea, he wished to induce them to take part in the negotiation, so that the return to France might be rendered possible. Sir Sidneymanifested a disposition to enter into arrangements, acting as "MinisterPlenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty, " and attributing to himselfa power which he had ceased to hold since the arrival of Lord Elginas ambassador at Constantinople. Poussielgue was an advocate forevacuation; Desaix just the reverse. The conditions proposed by Kléberwere unreasonable: not that they were an exorbitant equivalent for whatwas given up in giving up Egypt, but because they were not feasible. Sir Sidney made Kléber sensible of this. Officers treating for a meresuspension of arms could not include topics of vast extent in theirnegotiation, such as the demand for the possession of the VenetianIslands, and the annulment of the Triple Alliance. But it was urgentlynecessary to settle two points immediately: the departure of the woundedand of the scientific men attached to the expedition, for whom Desaixsolicited safe-conduct; and secondly, a suspension of arms, for the armyof the grand vizier, though marching slowly, would soon be in presenceof the French. It had actually arrived before the fort of El Arish, the first French post on the frontiers of Syria, and had summoned it tosurrender. The negotiations, in fact, had been going on for a fortnighton board _Le Tigre_, while floating at the pleasure of the winds off thecoasts of Syria and Egypt: the parties had said all they had to say, andthe negotiations could not be continued to any useful purpose withoutthe concurrence of the grand vizier. Sir Sidney, availing himself of afavourable moment, pushed off in a boat which landed him on the coast, after incurring some danger, and ordered the captain of _Le Tigre_ tomeet him in the port of Jaffa, where Poussielgue and Desaix were to beput ashore, if the conferences were to be transferred to the camp of thegrand vizier. 

At the moment when the English commodore reached the camp, a horribleevent had occurred at El Arish. The grand vizier had collected aroundhim an army of seventy or eighty thousand fanatic Mussulmans. TheTurks were joined by the Mamluks. Ibrahim Bey, who had some time beforeretired to Syria, and Murad Bey, who had descended by a long circuitfrom the cataracts to the environs of Suez, had become the auxiliariesof their former adversaries. The English had made for this army a sortof field-artillery, drawn by mules. The fort of El Arish, before whichthe Turks were at this moment, was, according to the declaration ofGeneral Bonaparte, one of the two keys of Egypt; Alexandria was theother. 

The Turkish advanced-guard having reached El Arish, Colonel Douglas, an English officer in the service of Turkey, summoned Cazals, thecommandant, to surrender. The culpable sentiments which the officers hadtoo much encouraged in the army then burst forth. The soldiers in thegarrison at El Arish, vehemently longing, like their comrades, to leaveEgypt, declared to the commandant that they would not fight, and that hemust make up his mind to surrender the fort. 

[Illustration: 130. Jpg A MODERN FANATIC]

The gallant Cazals indignantly refused, and a struggle with theTurks ensued. During this contest, the recreants, who insisted onsurrendering, threw ropes to the Turks; these ferocious enemies, oncehoisted up into the fort, rushed, sword in hand, upon those who hadgiven them admission into the fort, and slaughtered a great numberof them. The others, brought back to reason, joined the rest of thegarrison, and, defending themselves with desperate courage, were most ofthem killed. A small number obtained quarter, thanks to that humane anddistinguished officer, Colonel Douglas. 

It was now the 30th of December: the letter written by Sir Sidney Smithto the grand vizier, to propose to him a suspension of arms, had notreached him in time to prevent the melancholy catastrophe at El Arish. Sir Sidney Smith was a man of generous feelings: this barbarous massacreof a French garrison horrified him, and, above all, it made himfearful of the rupture of the negotiations. He lost no time in sendingexplanations to Kléber, both in his own name and that of the grandvizier, and he added the formal assurance that all hostility shouldcease during the negotiations. 

Kléber, when informed of the massacre of El Arish, did not manifest asmuch indignation as he ought to have done; he was aware that, if he wastoo warm upon that subject, all the negotiations might be broken off. He was more urgent than ever for a suspension of arms; and, at thesame time, by way of precaution, and to be nearer to the theatre ofthe conferences, he left Cairo, and transferred his headquarters toSalahieh, on the very border of the desert, two days' march from ElArish. 

In the meantime, Desaix and Poussielgue, detained by contrary winds, had not been able to land at Gaza till the 11th, and to reach El Arishbefore the 13th. 

The evacuation and its conditions soon became the sole subject ofnegotiation. After long discussions it was agreed that all hostilityshould cease for three months; that those three months should beemployed by the vizier in collecting, in the ports of Rosetta, Abukir, and Alexandria, the vessels requisite for the conveyance of the Frencharmy; by General Kléber, in evacuating the Upper Nile, Cairo, and thecontiguous provinces, and in concentrating his troops about the point ofembarkation; that the French should depart with the honours of war;that they should cease to impose contributions; but that, in return, the French army should receive three thousand purses, equivalent at thattime to three million francs, and representing the sum necessary for itssubsistence during the evacuation and the passage. The forts of Katieh, Salahieh, and the Belbeys, forming the frontier of Egypt towards thedesert of Syria, were to be given up ten days after the ratification;Cairo forty days after. 

The terms of the convention being arranged, there was nothing more tobe done but sign it. Kléber, who had a vague feeling of his fault, determined, in order to cover it, to assemble a council of war, to whichall the generals of the army were summoned. The council met on the 21stof January, 1800. The minutes of it still exist. Desaix, although deeplygrieved, was swept along by the torrent of popular opinion, gave wayto it himself, and affixed his signature on the 28th of January to theconvention of El Arish. 

Meanwhile preparations were being made for departure; Sir Sidney Smithhad returned to his ship. The vizier advanced and took possession, consecutively, of the entrenched positions of Katieh, Salahieh, andBelbeys, which Kléber, in haste to execute the convention, faithfullydelivered up to him. Kléber returned to Cairo to make his preparationsfor departure, to call in the troops that were guarding Upper Egypt, toconcentrate his army, and then to direct it upon Alexandria and Rosettaat the time stipulated for embarkation. 

While these events were occurring in Egypt, the English cabinet hadreceived advice of the overtures made by General Kléber to the grandvizier and to Sir Sidney Smith. Believing that the French army wasreduced to the last extremity, it lost no time in sending off an expressorder not to grant any capitulation unless they surrendered themselvesprisoners of war. These orders, despatched from London on the 17th ofDecember, reached Admiral Keith in the island of Minorca in the firstdays of January, 1800; and, on the 8th of the same month, the admiralhastened to forward to Sir Sidney Smith the instructions which he hadjust received from the government. He lost no time in writing to Kléber, to express his mortification, to apprise him honestly of what waspassing, to advise him to suspend immediately the delivery of theEgyptian fortresses to the grand vizier, and to conjure him to waitfor fresh orders from England before he took any definite resolutions. Unfortunately, when these advices from Sir Sidney arrived at Cairo, theFrench army had already executed in part the treaty of El Arish. 

Kléber instantly countermanded all the orders previously given to thearmy. He brought back from Lower Egypt to Cairo part of the troops thathad already descended the Nile; he ordered his stores to be sent upagain; he urged the division of Upper Egypt to make haste to rejoin him, and gave notice to the grand vizier to suspend his march towards Cairo, otherwise he should immediately commence hostilities. The grand vizierreplied that the convention of El Arish was signed; that it must beexecuted; that, in consequence, he should advance towards the capital. At the same instant, an officer sent from Minorca with a letter fromLord Keith to Kléber, arrived at the headquarters. Kléber, fired withindignation at the demand for surrender, caused Lord Keith's letterto be inserted in the order of the day, adding to it these few words:"Soldiers, to such insults there is no other answer than victory. Prepare for action. "

Agents from Sir Sidney had hastened up to interpose between the Frenchand the Turks, and to make fresh proposals of accommodation. Letters, they said, had just been written to London, and, when the convention ofEl Arish was known there, it would be ratified to a certainty; in thissituation, it would not be right to suspend hostilities, and wait. Tothis the grand vizier and Kléber consented, but on conditions that wereirreconcilable. The grand vizier insisted that Cairo should be given upto him; Kléber, on the contrary, that the vizier should fall back to thefrontier. Under these conditions, fighting was the only resource. 

On the 20th of March, 1800, in the plain of Heliopolis, ten thousandsoldiers, by superiority in discipline and courage, dispersed seventyor eighty thousand foes. Kléber gave orders for the pursuit on thefollowing day. When he had ascertained with his own eyes that theTurkish army had disappeared, he resolved to return and reduce the townsof Lower Egypt, and Cairo in particular, to their duty. 

He arrived at Cairo on the 27th of March. Important events had occurredthere since his departure. The population of that great city, whichnumbered nearly three hundred thousand inhabitants, fickle, inflammable, inclined to change, had followed the suggestions of Turkish emissaries, and fallen upon the French the moment they heard the cannon atHeliopolis. Pouring forth outside the walls during the battle, andseeing Nassif-Pasha and Ibrahim Bey, with some thousand horse andjanizaries, they supposed them to be the conquerors. Taking good carenot to undeceive the inhabitants, the Turks affirmed that the grandvizier had gained a complete victory, and that the French wereexterminated. At these tidings, fifty thousand men had risen in Cairo, at Bulak, and at Gizeh, and Cairo became a scene of plunder, rapine, andmurder. 

[Illustration: 137. Jpg CITADEL OF CAIRO]

During these transactions, General Friant arrived, detached fromBelbeys, and lastly Kléber himself. Though conqueror of the grandvizier's army, Kléber had a serious difficulty to surmount to subdue animmense city, peopled by three hundred thousand inhabitants, partly ina state of revolt, occupied by twenty thousand Turks, and built in theOriental style; that is to say, having narrow streets, divided intopiles of masonry, which were real fortresses. These edifices, receivinglight from within, and exhibiting without nothing but lofty walls, hadterraces instead of roofs, from which the insurgents poured a downwardand destructive fire. Add to this that the Turks were masters of thewhole city, excepting the citadel and the square of Ezbekieh, which, in a manner, they had blockaded by closing the streets that ran into itwith embattled walls. 

In this situation, Kléber showed as much prudence as he had justshown energy in the field. He resolved to gain time, and to let theinsurrection wear itself out. The insurgents could not fail at lengthto be undeceived respecting the general state of things in Egypt, and tolearn that the French were everywhere victorious, and the vizier's armydispersed. Nassif-Pasha's Turks, Ibrahim Bey's Mamluks, and the Arabpopulation of Cairo could not agree together long. For all thesereasons, Kléber thought it advisable to temporise and to negotiate. 

While he was gaining time, he completed his treaty of alliance withMurad Bey. He granted to him the province of Sai'd, under the supremacyof France, on condition of paying a tribute equivalent to a considerablepart of the imposts of that province. Murad Bey engaged, moreover, tofight for the French; and the French engaged, if they should ever quitthe country, to facilitate for him the occupation of Egypt. Murad Beyfaithfully adhered to the treaty which he had just signed, and beganby driving from Upper Egypt a Turkish corps which had occupied it. Theinsurgents of Cairo obstinately refused to capitulate, and an attack bymain force was, therefore, indispensable for completing the reduction ofthe city, during which several thousand Turks, Mamluks, and insurgentswere killed, and four thousand houses were destroyed by fire. Thusterminated that sanguinary struggle, which had commenced with the battleof Heliopolis on the 20th of March, and which ended on the 25th ofApril with the departure of the last lieutenants of the vizier, afterthirty-five days' fighting between twenty thousand French on one side, and, on the other, the whole force of the Ottoman empire, seconded bythe revolt of the Egyptian towns. 

In the Delta all the towns had returned to a state of completesubmission. Murad Bey had driven from Upper Egypt the Turkish detachmentof Dervish Pasha. The vanquished everywhere trembled before theconqueror, and expected a terrible chastisement. Kléber, who was humaneand wise, took good care not to repay cruelties with cruelties. TheEgyptians were persuaded that they should be treated harshly; theyconceived that the loss of life and property would atone for the crimeof those who had risen in revolt. Kléber called them together, assumedat first a stern look, but afterwards pardoned them, merely imposing acontribution on the insurgent villages. Cairo paid ten million francs, a burden far from onerous for so large a city, and the inhabitantsconsidered themselves as most fortunate to get off so easily. Eightmillions more were imposed upon the rebel towns of Lower Egypt. Thearmy, proud of its victories, confident in its strength, knowing thatGeneral Bonaparte was at the head of the government, ceased to doubtthat it would soon receive reinforcements. Kléber had in the plain ofHeliopolis made the noblest amends for his momentary faults. 

He entered upon a second conquest, showing clemency and humanity onall sides, and everywhere he laboured hard to encourage the arts andindustries and agriculture. He assembled the administrators of the army, the persons best acquainted with the country, and turned his attentionto the organisation of the finances of the colony. He restored thecollection of the direct contributions to the Kopts, to whom it hadformerly been entrusted, and imposed some new customs' duties and taxeson articles of consumption. He gave orders for the completion of theforts constructing around Cairo, and set men to work at those of Lesbeh, Damietta, Burlos, and Rosetta, situated on the sea-coast. He pressedforward the works of Alexandria, and imparted fresh activity to thescientific researches of the Institute of Egypt, and a valuable mass ofinformation was embodied in the great French work, the "Descriptionde l'Egypte. " From the cataracts to the mouths of the Nile, everythingassumed the aspect of a solid and durable establishment. Two monthsafterwards, the caravans of Syria, Arabia, and Darfur began to appearagain at Cairo. 

But a deplorable event snatched away General Kléber in the midst of hisexploits and of his judicious government. He was assassinated in thegarden of his palace by a young man, a native of Aleppo, named Suleiman, who was a prey to extravagant fanaticism. 

With Kléber's death, Egypt was lost for France. Menou, who succeededhim, was very far beneath such a task. The English offered to make goodthe convention of El Arish, but Menou refused, and England prepared foran invasion, after attempting vainly to co-operate with the Turks. 

Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who had been appointed as British commissioner, landed with the English army alone at Abukir. After fierce skirmishing, the French and English met on the plains of Alexandria. In the frightfulconflict which ensued, Sir Ralph Abercrombie was slain, but the battleended with the retreat of the French. Damietta surrendered on April19th. The French were now divided, while Menou hesitated. GeneralHutchinson took the place of the deceased British commander. A greatbattle was fought at Cairo, which was won by the British, and thecapital itself now fell into their hands. General Hutchinson thenclosed in upon Alexandria; and, after hard fighting, Menou at lengthsurrendered. The French troops were allowed to return to France with alltheir belongings, except the artillery, August 27, 1801. 

CHAPTER III. --THE RULE OF MEHEMET ALI

_Mehemet's rise to power: Massacre of the Mamluks: Invasion of theMorea: Battle of Navarino: Struggle with the Porte: Abbas Pasha, Muhammed Said, and Ismail Pasha: Ismail's lavish expenditure: Foreignbondholders and the Dual Control. _

From the beginning of the eighteenth century, the destiny of Egyptwas the destiny of one man; he aided the political movements, andaccelerated or retarded social activity; he swayed both commerce andagriculture, and organised the army to his liking; he was the heart andbrain of this mysterious country. Under the watchful eyes of Europe, attentive for more than forty years, this Macedonian soldier became thepersonification of the nation under his authority, and, in the main, thehistory of the country may be summed up in the biography of Mehemet Ali. If we consider the events of his life, and the diverse roads by whichhe reached the apogee of his fortunes, reviewing the scenes, now sombre, now magnificent, of that remarkable fate, we obtain a complete pictureof Egypt itself, seen from the most intimate, real, and striking pointof view. 

According to the most authentic accounts, Mehemet Ali was born in 1768(a. H. 1182), at Cavala, a seaport in Turkey in Europe. He was yetvery young when he lost his father, Ibrahim Agha, and soon after thismisfortune, his uncle and sole remaining relative, Tussun-Agha, wasbeheaded by order of the Porte. Left an orphan, Mehemet Ali was adoptedby the Tchorbadji of Praousta, an old friend of his father, who broughthim up with his own son. The boy spent his early youth in the dischargeof unimportant military duties, where, however, he frequently foundopportunity to display his intelligence and courage. He was even able torender many services to his protector in the collecting of taxes, whichwas always a difficult matter in Turkey, and occasionally necessitated aregular military expedition. 

Anxious to reward Mehemet for all his services, and also doubtlessdesirous of a still closer connection, the aged Tchorbadji married himto his daughter. This was the beginning of the young man's success; hewas then eighteen years old. Dealings with a French merchant of Cavalahad inspired him with a taste for commerce, and, devoting himself to it, he speculated with much success, chiefly in tobacco, the richest productof his country. 

This period of his life was not without its influence upon Egypt, for weknow how strenuously the pasha endeavoured to develop the commercial andmanufacturing industries. 

The French invasion surprised him in the midst of these peacefuloccupations. The Porte, having raised an army in Macedonia, ordered theTchorbadji to furnish a contingent of three hundred men, who entrustedthe command of this small force to his son Ali Agha, appointing MehemetAli, whose merit and courage he fully appreciated, as his lieutenant. The Macedonain recruits rejoined the forces of the pasha-captain, andlanded with the grand vizier at Abukir, where was fought that battlewhich resulted in victory for France and the complete defeat of thesultan's army. Completely demoralised by this overthrow, Ali Agha leftMehemet Ali in command of his troops, and quitted the army. 

It is well to consider in a brief survey the state of the country atthe moment when the incapacity of General Menou compelled the French towithdraw from Egypt. Arrayed against each other were the troops of thesultan, numbering four thousand Albanians and those forces sent fromEngland under the command of Admiral Keith, on one side; and on theother were the Mamluks striving for supremacy; and it was a questionwhether this powerful force would once more rule Egypt as before theFrench invasion, or whether the country would again fall under thedominion of the Porte. 

There was occasion for anxiety among the Mamluks themselves; theirtwo principal beys, Osman-Bardisi and Muhammed el-Elfi, instead ofstrengthening their forces by acting in concert, as Murad Bey andIbrahim Bey had done before the French occupation, permitted theirrivalry for power so completely to absorb them that it was finally themeans of encompassing their ruin and that of their party. 

The first pasha invested with the viceroyalty of Egypt after thedeparture of the French troops was Muhammed Khusurf, who faithfullyserved the Porte. His government was able and zealous, but themeasures he employed against his haughty antagonists lacked the loftyintelligence indispensable to so difficult a task. Muhammed Khusurf, whose rivalry with Mehemet Ali had for some years attracted Europeanattention, found himself at last face to face with his future opponent. 

Mehemet Ali, by dint of hard work and the many important servicesrendered to his country, had passed through successive stages ofpromotion to the rank of serchime, which gave him the command of threeor four thousand Albanians. Foreseeing his opportunity, he had employedhimself in secretly strengthening his influence over his subordinates;he allied himself with the Mam-luks, opened the gates of Cairo to them, and, joining Osman-Bardisi, marched against Khusurf. He pursued theviceroy to Damietta, taking possession of the town, conducted hisprisoner to Cairo, where he placed him in the custody of the agedIbrahim Bey, the Nestor of the Mamluks (1803). 

At this moment, the second Mamluk bey, Muhammed el-Elfi, returned fromEngland, whither he had accompanied the British to demand protectionwhen they evacuated Alexandria in March of the same year, and landedat Abukir. This arrival filled Bardisi with the gravest anxiety, forMuhammed el-Elfi was his equal in station, and would share his powereven if he did not deprive him of the position he had recently acquiredthrough his own efforts. These fears were but too well founded. WhilstBardisi was securing his position by warfare, el-Elfi had gained theprotection of England, and, as its price, had pledged himself to muchthat would compromise the future of Egypt. 

Far from openly joining one or other of the rival parties, Mehemet Alicontented himself with fanning the flame of their rivalry. The rankof Albanian captain, which gave him the air of a subaltern, greatlyfacilitated the part he intended to play. He worked quietly and withunending perseverance. Flattering the ambitions of some, feedingthe resentment of others, winning the weak-minded with soft words, overcoming the strong by his own strength; presiding over all therevolutions in Cairo, upholding the cause of the pashas when the Mamluksneeded support, and, when the pasha had acquired a certain amount ofpower, uniting himself with the Mamluk against his allies of yesterday;above all, neglecting nothing which could secure him the support of thepeople, and making use for this end of the sheikhs and Oulemas, whomhe conciliated, some by religious appearances, others by his apparentdesire for the public good, he thus maintained his position during thenumerous changes brought about by the respective parties. 

At length, in the beginning of March, 1805, as the people were beginningto weary of disturbances as violent as they were frequent, Mehemet Alipromised the sheikhs to restore peace and order if they would assure himtheir co-operation and influence. He then incited a revolt against theOulemas, besieged Kourshyd Pasha in the citadel, made himself master ofCairo in the space of a few days, and finished his work by expellingthe Mamluks. The Albanians and Oulemas, completely carried away by hisvalour and manouvres, proclaimed him pasha immediately. Always prudent, and anxious to establish his claims upon the favour of the Porte, Mehemet Ali feigned to refuse. After considerable hesitation, whichgave way before some costly gifts, or possibly on consideration of thedifficulties hitherto experienced in establishing the authority of thepashas, the Turkish government determined to confirm the choice ofthe Egyptian people. Mehemet Ali received, therefore, the firman ofinvestiture on July 9, 1805; but during the ensuing seven months hegoverned in Lower Egypt only, Alexandria still being under the authorityof an officer delegated by the sultan. As for Upper Egypt, it hadremained the appanage of the Mamluk beys, who had contrived to retainpossession of the Saïd. 

Mehemet Ali had no sooner been proclaimed than Elfi, who had reorganisedhis party in Upper Egypt, did all in his power to overthrow thenew pasha. He first offered to assist Kourshyd to regain his formerposition; he promised his allegiance to the Porte on condition of thedismissal of Mehemet Ali, and then turned his attention to England. Hefound difficulty in obtaining her concurrence by promising to give upthe chief ports of Egypt. These negotiations, suspended the first timeby M. Dro-vetti, the French consul at Alexandria, co-operating with thepasha, were again renewed some time after through the influence ofthe English ambassador, who, in the name of his country, demanded there-establishment of the Mamluks, guaranteeing the fidelity of Elfi. ThePorte at once sent a fleet to Egypt bearing a firman, appointing MehemetAli to the pashalic of Salonica. At this juncture, the viceroy, feelingsure of the support of the sheikhs, who had assisted him to his presentposition, only sought to temporise. He soon received the furthersupport of the Mamluk beys of Bardisi's party, who forgot their personalgrievances in the desire to be revenged upon the common foe; at the sametime, twenty-five French Mamluks, urged thereto by M. Drovetti, desertedthe ranks of Elfi's adherents and joined Mehemet Ali. 

The Pasha of Egypt possessed a zealous partisan in the French ambassadorat Constantinople. The latter, perceiving that the secession ofthe Mamluks made the regaining of their former power an absoluteimpossibility, pleaded the cause of Mehemet Ali with the Porte, andobtained a firman re-establishing his viceroyalty, on condition of hispayment of an annual tribute of about $1, 000, 000. 

The power of Mehemet Ali was beginning to be more firmly established, and the almost simultaneous deaths of Osman-Bardisi and Muhammed el-Elfi(November, 1806, and January, 1807) seemed to promise a peaceful future, when, on March 17th, the English, displeased at his reconciliation withthe Porte, arrived in Egypt. Their forces numbered some seven or eightthousand men, and it was the intention to stir up the Mamluks andrender them every assistance. A detachment of the English forces, ledby General Fraser, took possession of Alexandria, which the Englishoccupied for six months without being able to attempt any otherenterprise. The remainder of the troops were cut to pieces at Rosetta bya small contingent of Albanians: thus ended the expedition. The viceroy, who at the beginning of the campaign had displayed really Orientalcruelty, and sent more than a thousand heads of English soldiers toCairo to decorate Rumlieh, finished his operations by an act of Europeangenerosity, and delivered up his prisoners without demanding ransom. Theplan of defence adopted by the pasha was the work of Drovetti, to whom, consequently, is due some of the glory of this rapid triumph. 

Mehemet Ali, having nothing further to fear from the English, whoevacuated Egypt in September, 1807, began to give scope to his ambitiousschemes, when the easily disturbed policy of the Porte saw fit to sendthe wily pasha against the Wahabis, who threatened to invade the HolyPlaces. Before obeying these injunctions, the viceroy deemed it wise, previous to engaging in a campaign so perilous, to ensure Egypt againstthe dangers with which, in the absence of the forces, she would bemenaced. 

[Illustration: 151. Jpg MOSQUE OF MEHEMIT ALI]

But Egypt had no more powerful enemies than the Mamluks, who, since1808, had kept the country in a constant state of agitation. Mehemet Alitherefore determined to put an end to this civil war, root and branch, and to exterminate completely this formidable adversary. He did nothesitate in the choice of means. War would not have succeeded; murder, therefore, was the only alternative, and the viceroy adopted thishorrible means of accomplishing his designs. He invited the entireMam-luk corps to a banquet, which he proposed to give in the CitadelPalace in honour of the departure of Tussun Pasha for Mecca. This palaceis built upon a rock, and is reached by perpendicular paths. On May 1st, the day fixed upon for the festivity, Mehemet Ali received his guestsin great splendour and with a cordiality calculated to dispel anysuspicions the Mamluks might have entertained. At the conclusion ofthe banquet, as they were returning home, they were fired upon in thenarrow pass, where retreat and resistance were perfectly impossible. Thus, after having defeated the bravest troops in the world, they diedobscurely, ingloriously, and unable to defend themselves. Hassan Bey, brother of the celebrated Elfi, spurred his horse to a gallop, rode overthe parapets, and fell, bruised and bleeding, at the foot of the walls, where some Arabs saved him from certain death by aiding his flight. Thefew who escaped massacre took refuge in Syria or Dongola. 

Whilst this horrible drama was being enacted in Cairo, similar sceneswere taking place in those provinces whose governors had receivedstringent commands to butcher every remaining Mamluk in Egypt. THUsnearly all perished, and that famous corps was destroyed for ever. 

Although Mehemet Ali had no doubt whatever as to the intentions whichhad prompted the Porte to organise the expedition against the Wahabis, he hastened to prepare for this lengthy war. Mehemet himself was incommand of an army in the Hedjaz when Latif Pasha arrived, bearing afirman of investiture to the pashalic of Egypt. Luckily, Mehemet Ali onhis departure had left behind him, as vekyl, a trustworthy man devotedto his interests, namely, Mehemet Bey. This faithful minister pretendedto favour the claims of Latif Pasha, and then arrested him, and had himpublicly executed. 

From this moment the real reign of Mehemet Ali begins. Possessed of afertile country, he promptly began to consider the ways and means ofimproving the deplorable state of its finances, and to grasp all theresources which agriculture and commerce could yield for the realisationof his ambitious schemes. Nothing must be neglected in the government ofa country for so many years the scene of incessant warfare; the labourermust be made to return to the field he had deserted during the timeof trouble; political and civil order must be reestablished so as toreassure the inhabitants, and secure the resumption of long abandonedindustries. 

The most important matter was to restrain the depredations of theBedouins, and, to assure the obedience of these hitherto unsubduedtribes, he kept their sheikhs as hostages: at the same time he checkedthe delinquencies of the Kopts, in whose hands the government of theterritories had been from time immemorial. A sure and certain peace thushaving been ensured to the interior of the country, the pasha turned hisattention to another enterprise, the accomplishment of which is alwayssomewhat difficult after a lengthy crisis. He wished to encourage andregulate the payment of taxes without hindering the financial operationsof private individuals. To this end, he re-established the custom ofreceiving tribute in kind, and to support the payment of this tribute heorganised the export trade. A thousand vessels built at his own expenseploughed the waters of the Nile in all directions, and conveyed Egyptianproduce to the shores of the Mediterranean, where huge warehouses storedthe goods destined for foreign countries. 

Mehemet Ali preserved a continual intercourse with foreign merchants, and the country owed many fortunate innovations to these relations:agriculture was enriched by several productions hitherto unknown. A Frenchman, M. Jumel, introduced improvements in the production ofcotton, whilst M. Drovetti, the pasha's tried friend, helped to furtherthe establishment of manufactories by his advice and great experience ofmen and things. Before long, cotton mills were built, cloth factories, asugar refinery, rum distillery, and saltpetre works erected. The foreigntrade despatched as much as seven million _ardebs_ of cereals everyyear, and more than six hundred thousand bales of cotton. In return, European gold flowed into the treasury of this industrious pasha, andthe revenues of Egypt, which hitherto had never exceeded $150, 000, 000, were more than doubled in 1816. 

The very slight success which Mehemet Ali had obtained when commandingthe irregular forces during the expedition against the Wahabis decidedhim to put a long-cherished idea into execution, namely, to organise anarmy on European lines. Henceforth this became the sole occupation ofthe enterprising pasha and the exclusive goal of his perseverance. The Nizam-Jedyd was proclaimed in the month of July, 1815, and all thetroops were ordered to model themselves after the pattern of the Frencharmy. 

This large undertaking, which in 1807 had cost Selim III. His life, proved almost as fatal to Mehemet Ali. A terrible insurrection brokeout amongst the alien soldiers, who principally composed the army; theinfuriated troops rose against the tyrant and the unbeliever, the palacewas pillaged, and the pasha had scarcely time to seek the shelter of hiscitadel. His only means of saving his life and recovering his authoritywas solemnly to promise to abandon his plan. Mehemet Ali thereforedeferred his military schemes and awaited the opportunity to test itssuccess upon the natives, who would be far more easily managed than theexcitable strangers, brought up as they were on the old traditions ofthe Okaz and the Mamluks. The war which still raged in Arabia gavehim the means of ridding himself of the most indomitable men, whom hedespatched to Hedjaz under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, his eldest son. 

Now came success to console Mehemet Ali for the failure of hisreformatory plans. After a long series of disasters, Ibrahim succeeded, in the year 1818, in taking Abd Allah Ibn-Sonud, the chief of theWahabis, prisoner. He sent him to the Great Pasha, a name often appliedto Mehemet Ali in Egypt, at Cairo, bearing a portion of the jewelstaken from the temple at Mecca. The unfortunate man was then takento Constantinople, where his punishment bore testimony to the victoryrather than the clemency of his conquerors. 

In reward for his services, the sultan sent Ibrahim a mantle of honourand named him Pasha of Egypt, which title conferred on him the highestrank among the viziers and pashas, and even placed him above his ownfather in the hierarchy of the dignitaries of the Turkish Empire. At thesame time Mehemet Ali was raised to the dignity of khan, an attributeof the Ottomans, and the greatest distinction obtainable for a pasha, inasmuch as it was formerly exclusively reserved for the sovereigns ofthe Crimea. 

[Illustration: 157. Jpg THE COTTON PLANT]

After destroying Daryeh, the capital of Nedj, Mehemet Ali conceivedthe idea of extending his possessions in the interior of Africa, andof subduing the country of the negroes, where he hoped to find muchtreasure. He accordingly sent his son, Ishmail Pasha, with five thousandmen, upon this expedition, which ended most disastrously with the murderof Ishmail and his guard by Melek Nemr, and the destruction of theremainder of his forces. 

In the year 1824, Sultan Mahmud, realising the impossibility of puttingdown the Greek insurrection by his own unaided forces, bent his pridesufficiently to ask help of his vassal Mehemet Ali. Mehemet was now inpossession of a well-drilled army and a well-equipped fleet, which wereplaced at the service of the sultan, who promised him in return thesovereignty of Crete, the pashalic of Syria, and possibly the reversionof Morea for his son Ibrahim. The Greeks, deceived by their easysuccesses over the undisciplined Turkish hosts, failed to realisethe greatness of the danger which threatened them. The Egyptian fleetmanaged, without serious opposition, to enter the Archipelago, and, inDecember, 1824, Ibrahim, to whom Mehemet Ali had entrusted the supremecommand of the expedition, established his base in Crete, withinstriking distance of the Greek mainland. The following February helanded with four thousand regular infantry and five hundred cavalry atModon, in the south of Morea. 

The Greeks were utterly unable to hold their own against thewell-disciplined fellaheen of Ibrahim Bey, and, before the end ofthe year, the whole of the Peloponnesus, with the exception of a fewstrongholds, was at the mercy of the invader, and the report was spreadthat Ibrahim intended to deport the Greek population and re-people thecountry with Moslem negroes and Arabs. 

The only barrier opposed to the entire extinction of the Greekpopulation was their single stronghold of Missolonghi, which was nowbesieged by Rashid Pasha and the Turks. If Ibrahim had joined his forceswith the besieging army of the Turks, Missolonghi could hardly haveresisted their combined attack, and the Greek race would have been indanger of suffering annihilation. 

Meanwhile the Great Powers of Europe were seriously concerned withthis threatened destruction of the Greeks. England proposed a jointintervention in defence of Greece on the part of the Powers, but Russiadesired to act alone. A huge army was gradually concentrated upon theTurkish frontier. The Greek leaders now offered to place Greeceunder British protection, and the Duke of Wellington was sent to St. Petersburg to arrange the terms of the proposed joint intervention. Aprotocol was signed at St. Petersburg April 4, 1826, whereby Englandand Russia pledged themselves to cooperate in preventing any furtherTurco-Egyptian agression. A more definite agreement was reached inSeptember, aiming at the cutting off of Ibrahim in Morea by a unitedEuropean fleet, thus forcing the Turks and Egyptians to terms. On July6, 1827, a treaty was signed at London, between England, France, andRussia, which empowered the French and English admirals at Smyrna topart the combatants--by peaceful means if possible, and if not, byforce. 

Admiral Codrington at once sailed to Nauplia. The Greeks were willing toaccept an armistice, but the Turks scorned the offer. At about thistime an Egyptian fleet of ninety-two vessels sailed from Alexandria andjoined the Ottoman fleet in the bay of Navarino (September 7th). Fivedays later Admiral Codrington arrived and informed the Turkish admiralthat any attempt to leave the bay would be resisted by force. Frenchvessels had also arrived, and Ibrahim agreed not to leave the baywithout consulting the sultan. A Greek flotilla having destroyed aTurkish flotilla, Ibrahim took this as a breach of the convention andsailed out to sea, but Codrington succeeded in turning him back. Ibrahimnow received instructions from the Porte to the effect that he shoulddefy the Powers. A new ultimatum was at once presented and theallied fleet of the European Powers entered the bay of Navarino. TheTurco-Egyptian fleet was disposed at the bottom of the bay in the formof a crescent. Without further parleying, as the fleet of the Englishand their allies approached, the Turks and Egyptians began to fire, anda battle ensued, apparently without plan on either side: the conflictsoon became general, and Admiral Codrington in the _Asia_ opened abroadside upon the Egyptian admiral, and quickly reduced his vessel toa wreck. Other vessels in rapid succession shared the same fate, and theconflict raged with great fury for four hours. When the smoke clearedoff, the Turks and Egyptians had disappeared, and the bay was strewnwith fragments of their ships. 

[Illustration: 161. Jpg A DISTINGUISHED EGYPTIAN JEW]

Admiral Codrington now made a demonstration before Alexandria, andMehemet Ali gladly withdrew his forces from co-operating with such adangerous ally as the sultan had proved himself to be. Before the Frenchexpedition, bound for the Morea, had arrived, all the Egyptian forceshad been withdrawn from the Peloponnesus, and the French only arrivedafter the Anglo-Egyptian treaty had been signed August 9, 1828. 

Mehemet Ali's chief ambition had always been to enlarge the circleof regeneration in the East. In Morea he had failed through Europeanintervention. He felt that his nearer neighbour, Syria, which he hadlong coveted, would be an easier conquest, and he made the punishment ofAbdullah Pasha of Acre, against whom he had many grievances, his excuseto the Porte. In reality it was a case of attacking or being attacked. Through a firman of the Divan of Constantinople, which had beenpublished officially to the European Powers, he knew that his secretrelations with Mustapha Pasha of Scodra had become known. He knew alsothat letters had been intercepted in which he offered this pasha money, troops, and ammunition, while engaging himself to march on the capitalof the empire, and that these letters were now in the hand of the SultanMahmud. He wras also informed that the Porte was preparing to send aformidable army to Egypt; and his sound instinct taught him what to doin this position. 

Ibrahim Pasha was appointed commander-in-chief of the invading army, which was composed of six regiments of infantry, four of cavalry, forty field-pieces, and many siege-pieces. Provisions, artillery, andammunition were on board the men-of-war. Thousands of baggage camels andambulances were being collected ready for departure when cholera brokeout. Coming from India, after having touched along the coasts of thePersian Gulf, it had penetrated into the caravan to Mecca, where theheat and dearth of water had given it fresh intensity. It raged in theHoly Town, striking down twenty thousand victims, and touched at Jeddahand Zambo, where its effects were very dire. Passing through Suez, itdecimated the population, and in August it reached Cairo and spread toUpper and Lower Egypt. The army did not escape the common scourge, andwhen about to invade Syria was overtaken by the epidemic. Five thousandout of ninety thousand perished. All preparations for the expeditionwere abandoned until a more temperate season improved the sanitaryconditions. 

About the beginning of October, 1831, the viceroy gave orders to his sonto prepare for departure, and on November 2d the troops started forEl Arish, the general meeting-place of the army. Ibrahim Pasha wentto Alexandria, whence he embarked with his staff and some troopsfor landing. Uniting at El Arish, the army marched on Gaza and tookpossession of that town, dispersing some soldiers of the Pasha of Acre. Thence it turned to Jaffa, where it met with no resistance, the Turkishgarrison having already evacuated the town. 

At this time the army which had sailed from Alexandria was cruisingabout the port of Jaffa, and Ibrahim Pasha landed there and took overthe command of the army, which advanced slowly on St. Jean d'Acre, seizing Caiffa to facilitate the anchoring of the fleet, which hadlanded provisions, artillery, and all kinds of ammunition. After sixmonths' siege and ten hours' fighting, Ibrahim Pasha obtained possessionof St. Jean d'Acre, under whose walls fell so many valiant crusaders, and which, since the repulse of Napoleon, had passed for all butimpregnable. Abdullah Pasha evinced a desire to be taken to Egypt, andhe landed at Alexandria, where he was warmly welcomed by the viceroy, who complimented him on his defence. 

Hostile in everything to Mehemet Ali, the Porte seized every opportunityof injuring him. When Sultan Mahmud learned of the victory of theviceroy's troops in Syria, he sent one of his first officers to enquirethe reason of this invasion. The viceroy alleged grievances against thePasha of Acre, to which his Highness replied that he alone had the rightto punish his subjects. 

The eyes of Europe were now fixed upon the Levant, where a novelstruggle was going on between vassal and suzerain. Authority and libertywere again opposing each other. The Powers watched the struggle withintense interest. The viceroy protested against bearing the cost ofthe war, and demanded the investiture of Syria. Mehemet Ali was thendeclared a rebel, and a firman was issued against him, in support ofwhich excommunication an army of sixty thousand men advanced across AsiaMinor to the Syrian boundaries, while a squadron of twenty-five sailstood in the Dardanelles ready to weigh anchor. 

[Illustration: 165. Jpg MOSQUE OF MUAD AT CAIRO]

The Porte forbade the ambassadors of the Powers to import ammunitioninto Egypt, for it feared that the viceroy might find a support whosestrength it knew only too well. But the viceroy had no need of this, for his former connections with Europe had put him in a position ofindependence, whereas the Porte itself was obliged to fall back on thissupport. Russia, the one of the three Great Powers whose dispositionit was to support the authority of the sultan, lent him twenty thousandbayonets, whilst Ibrahim Pasha made his advance to the gates ofConstantinople. 

Immediately after the taking of St. Jean d'Acre Ibrahim Pasha, followingup his successes, had turned towards Damascus, which town he enteredwithout a blow being struck, the governor and the leading inhabitantshaving taken flight. The commander-in-chief established his headquartersunder the walls of the conquered country, and then marched in threecolumns on Horns. The battle of Horns (July 8, 1832) demonstrated thevast superiority of the Egyptian troops. On both sides there were aboutthirty thousand regular soldiers, but the Egyptians were the betterorganised, the better disciplined, and the more practised in the arts ofwar. When it is remembered that at Horns the Turks lost two thousand menkilled, and 2, 500 taken prisoners, while the Egyptian casualties wereonly 102 killed and 162 wounded, one is not astonished at the enthusiasmwith which Ibrahim Pasha wrote after the battle: "I do not hesitate tosay that two or three hundred thousand of such troops would cause me noanxiety. "

It is not surprising that the beaten pashas were so struck with terrorthat in their flight they abandoned sixteen more pieces of artillery andall the ammunition they had managed to save from their defeat. Theyfled as if they could not put sufficient distance between themselves andtheir redoubtable enemy. 

This battle foretold the result of the Syrian campaign. The populationof Syria seemed to call for the domination of the conqueror; the viceroyprotested his submission to the Porte and his desire for peace, andmeanwhile Ibrahim Pasha marched forward. 

The Porte counted on its fleet to guard the Dardanelles, but it neededan army and a commander to oppose Ibrahim Pasha, who again defeated theTurks at Oulon-Kislak. He then advanced towards the plains of Anatolia, where he met Rashid Pasha. 

It was now December, 1830, and the atmosphere was heavy with a thickfog. The armies opened fire on each other on December 21st, with thetown of Koniah in the background. The grand vizier was at the head ofclose on sixty thousand men, while the Egyptian army only comprisedthirty thousand, including the Bedouins. The fighting had continued forabout six hours when Rashid Pasha was taken prisoner; the news of hiscapture spread along the Turkish lines and threw them into disorder, and the Egyptians remained masters of the field, with twenty pieces ofmounted cannon and some baggage: the Turks had lost only five hundredmen, while the Egyptian losses were but two hundred. 

The battle of Koniah was the last act in the Syrian drama. The sultan'sthrone was shaken, and its fall might involve great changes in thepolitics of the world. Ibrahim Pasha was only three days' journey fromthe Bosphorus, and the way was open to him, with no Turkish army tofight and the whole population in his favour. In Constantinople itselfMehemet Ali had a powerful party, and, if the West did not interfere, the Ottoman Empire was at an end. However, European diplomacy consideredthat, in spite of its weakness, it should still weigh in the balance ofthe nations. 

Trembling in the midst of his harem, Sultan Mahmud cried for help, andRussia, his nearest neighbour, heard the call. This was the Power that, either from sympathy or ambition, was the most inclined to come to hisaid. The Emperor Nicholas had offered assistance in a letter broughtto the sultan by the Russian General Mouravieff, and a Russian squadronappeared in the Bosphorus with eight thousand men for disembarkment. TheRussians, however, agreed not to set foot on shore unless MehemetAli should refuse the conditions that were being proposed to him. Theviceroy refused the conditions, which limited his possessions tothe pashalics of Acre, Tripoli, and Seyd, and which seemed to himincompatible with the glory won by his arms. 

The sultan did not wish to give up Syria, but that province was nolonger his. The sword of Ibrahim had severed the last bonds thatfastened it to him, and he was obliged to yield it, as well as thedistrict of Andama. On his side, the viceroy acknowledged himself avassal of the Porte, and agreed to make an annual payment of the monieshe received from the pashas of Syria. This peace was concluded on May14, 1833, and was called the peace of Kutayeh, after the place whereIbrahim signed it. 

It was impossible that the convention of Kutayeh should be more than anarmistice. The pasha benefited by it too greatly not to desire furtheradvantages, and the sultan had lost so much that he must needs makesome attempt at recovery. Mahmud's annoyance was caused by the factand nature of the dispossession rather than by its material extent. Thedescendant of the Os-manlis, ever implacable in his hatreds, who hadallowed Syria, the cradle of his race, to be wrested from him, nowawaited the hour of vengeance. Mehemet Ali knew himself to be strongenough to carry a sceptre ably, and he realised that there would be noneed for his numerous pashalics to pass out of his family. Henceforthhis mind was filled with thoughts of independence and the rights ofsuccession. 

[Illustration: 169. Jpg A MUHAMMEDAN PRAYING PRIEST]

The viceroy and the sultan continued to strengthen their forces, and aconflict occurred near Nezib on June 24, 1839. The Egyptians completelyrouted their adversaries, despite the strenuous resistance of theImperial Guard, who, when called upon to surrender, cried in the samewords used at Waterloo, "Khasse sultanem mamatenda darrhi tuffenguiniiere Koimas. " ("The guards of the sultan surrender arms only to death"). 

Greatly elated, Ibrahim flung himself into the arms of his companion inglory, Suleiman Pasha. His prediction was verified: "This time we willgo to Constantinople, or they shall come to Cairo. " They set outfor Constantinople; but the viceroy was again generous. Through themediation of Captain Caillé, aide-de-camp to Marshal Soult, who, in thename of France, demanded a cessation of hostilities, Mehemet Ali desiredhis son not to proceed into Asia Minor; so the general halted beforeAintab, the scene of his victories, as he had done on a former occasionbefore Kutayeh. 

Consumptive and exhausted with his excesses, Mahmud, whose virtue layin his ardent love of reforms, died before his time, but this untimelydemise at least spared him the knowledge of the Nezib disaster and thetreason of his fleet, which passed into the hands of the viceroy. HafizPasha, routed by Ibrahim, was arraigned on his return to Constantinoplefor leading the attack before receiving the official mandate; but theTurkish general produced an autograph of his defunct master. The sultanhad been false to the last, and deceived both European ambassadors andthe ministers of the empire, by means of mysterious correspondence, combined with his protestations for the maintenance of peace. 

It was while Mehemet Ali was organising the national guard of Egypt, and arranging the military training of the workmen employed in his manyfactories, that the unlucky treaty of July 15, 1840, which gave thewhole of Syria to the Sublime Porte, was concluded. Four Western Powershad secretly met in London and agreed to deprive the sovereign of theNile of his conquests, and fling him again at the foot of the throne, which he had treated as a plaything. Mehemet Ali haughtily protestedagainst the desecration of his rights, and France, his faithful ally, with hand on sword-hilt, threatened to draw it against whosoever shouldtouch Egypt. England and Austria covered the Syrian sea-coast with theirsails and guns. Beyrut, Latakia, Tortosa, Tripoli, Saida, Tyre, St. Jeand'Acre were bombarded and fell. This formidable coalition despatchedLord Napier to Alexandria as negotiator. Mehemet Ali accepted theovertures, and a convention guaranteed to him, as Pasha of Egypt, rights of succession unknown to all other pashalics of the empire. Thehatti-sherif of January 12, 1841, consolidated this privilege, with, however, certain restrictions which were regarded as inadmissible byFrance, the viceroy, and the cabinets. A new act of investiture, passedon June 1, 1841, confirmed the viceroy in the possession of Egypt, transmissible to his male heirs, and also in the government of Nubia. Mehemet Ali asked no more, France declared herself satisfied, and, toprove it, became once more a member of the European league by the treatyof July 15, 1841, which, without being directly connected with theEuropean question, dealing as it did with the claims of Turkey uponthe Dardanelles, implied, none the less, accordance upon the Easternsituation. As a token of reconciliation, the Ottoman Porte soon raisedits former rival, Mehemet Ali, to the rank of sadrazam. 

The political history of Mehemet Ali was now at an end. All the results, good or bad, of his career, had reached fulfilment. As a vanquishedconqueror he had been able to remain firm in the midst of catastrophe;his fatherly ideas and feelings had been his salvation. Had he beenabsolutely heroic, he would have considered it a duty, for his courageand his name's sake, to carry the struggle on to the bitter end, and toperish in the whirlpool he had raised. He showed that he desired to actthus, but in his children's interests he refrained, and this was, webelieve, the only influence of importance which made him give way. Itis true that there was not much difference between a throne crumbling toruins, or one built thereon; such as it was, however, it seemedfirmly secured to his children, and it was for them to strengthen thefoundations. The pasha considered this a fitting reward for his labours;as for himself, he was over seventy years of age, and ready to lay downhis burdens. 

[Illustration: 153. Jpg EGYPTIAN HARMEM]

A man without learning and surrounded by barbarian soldiers, Mehemet Aliappears before the world as nature made him. Dissimulation, diplomacy, and deceit, coupled with capability, great courage, genius, and muchperseverance, brought him to the head of the government of Egypt. Togain his ends he flattered the powerful Ulemas who were the nation'srepresentatives to the sultan, but, once having obtained his object, hedismissed them. 

Though a clever politician, he was a bad administrator. Beingalternately blindly confident and extremely suspicious, he did notchoose well the men he employed as his auxiliaries, and, being a Turkand a devout Mussulman, Mehemet Ali wished to give back to the Turksthe power they had lost. He only took account of the results of anyundertaking, without paying any attention to the difficulties surmountedin its execution, and this characteristic made him commit manyinjustices. It was his habit to treat men as levers, which he put asidewhen he had no further use for them. He was quick of apprehension, andof very superior intelligence, and his whole character was a mixture ofgenerosity and meanness, of greatness and littleness. 

Mehemet Ali was an affable, an easy business man, and dominated by adesire to talk. He enjoyed relating the incidents of his past life, and, when not preoccupied by affairs of importance, his conversation was fullof charm. The foreigners who visited him were always much impressed withhis superiority, while his lively humour, his freedom, and that air ofgood nature he knew so well how to adopt, all captivated his visitors. The expression of his face was exceedingly mobile, and quicklycommunicated itself to the men who surrounded him, who were in constantobservation of his moods, so that one could judge of the state of mindof the viceroy by the calm or disturbed appearance of his servants. 

When Mehemet Ali was anxious, his look became fierce, his foreheadwrinkled, and his eyes shone with anger, while his speech was brokenand his manner brusque and imperious. As regards those in his service, Mehemet Ali was by turns severe or gentle, tolerant or impatient, irascible, and surprisingly forbearing. He was jealous of the glory ofothers, and desired all honours for himself. He was an enemy of all thatwas slow. He liked to do everything, to decide everything, and workednight and day. All letters, notices, and memoranda that referred tohis government, he read himself or had them read to him. Picked mentranslated French and English political newspapers into Turkish, andhe encouraged discussion on all subjects of high interest, althoughgenerally imposing his own opinion. He did not always keep strictly tohis word. He was a stoic, and great pain could not destroy his habitualgaiety, and when very ill he would still speak affably to those aroundhim; but illnesses with him were rare, for his health was, as a rule, excellent. He was very careful about his appearance, and was fondof women without being their slave; in his youth his life had beendissolute. He was above the prejudices of his nation, and prayed veryoften, although a fatalist. 

At the age of forty-five he learned to read, and he held Europeanlearning in great esteem, confessing it superior to that of Turkey; buthe continued to regard European scientists and artists only as salariedforeigners, whom he hastened to replace by natives as soon as heconsidered the latter sufficiently enlightened. Mehemet Ali made onegreat mistake, with which his nearest servants reproach him, and thatis with not having introduced into his family learned men from Europe, picked men devoted to his cause, and well versed in the special thingsof which his country was in need. 

Had they been brought into a close contact with the viceroy, andadmitted unreservedly to all the privileges the Turks enjoyed, these menwould have adopted Egypt as their country. They would have spoken thelanguage and have become the' sentinels and safeguards necessary for themaintenance of useful institutions which the Turks either refused or didnot understand. 

During the administration of Mehemet Ali, public hygiene was notneglected, and a sanitary council watched over the health of thecountry. Measures were taken to increase the cleanliness and sanitationof the towns; military hospitals were built, and a lazarette wasestablished at Alexandria, whilst vaccine was widely used. In thecountry the planting of many trees helped the atmosphere, and Egypt, which Europeans had hitherto regarded as the seat of a permanentplague epidemic, became more and more a healthy and pleasurableresort. Mehemet, whose aims were always for the furthering of Egyptianprosperity, profited by the leisure of peace to look after theindustrial works. Two great projects that occupied his attention werethe Nile dams and the construction of a railway from Suez to Cairo. 

The actual condition of the canalisation of Egypt, while vastly improvedby the viceroy, was still far from complete. Canals, partial dams, andembankments were attempted; fifty thousand draw-wells carried thewater up to a considerable height, but the system of irrigation wasinsufficient. 

The railway from Cairo to Suez was an easier, though not less important, work. The road crossed neither mountain, river, nor forest, while aseries of little plains afforded a firm foundation, requiring veryfew earthworks. Its two iron arms stretched out into the desert, andsteam-engines could traverse the distance from the Nile to the Red Seain three hours. 

Suez would thus become a suburb of Cairo, and thus, being brought closerto Egypt, would regain her trade. This enterprise, just as the formerone, gave promise of bringing to Egypt the two sources of nationalwealth and prosperity: agriculture and trade. 

[Illustration: 179. Jpg HARBOR OF THE BULAK]

The agricultural unity which Mehemet Ali constituted enabled him tobring about improvements which with private proprietorship would havebeen impossible. The fellah, careless of to-morrow, did not sow forfuture reaping, and made no progress, but when Mehemet Ali undertookthe control of agricultural labour in Egypt, the general aspect ofthe country changed, though, in truth, the individual condition of thefellah was not improved. Besides the work of irrigation by means ofcanals, dykes, and banks, and the introduction of the cultivation ofindigo, cotton, opium, and silk, the viceroy had also planted thousandsof trees of various kinds, including 100, 000 walnut-trees; he orderedthe maimours, or prefects, to open up the roads between the villages, and to plant trees. He wished the villages, towns, and hamlets to beornamented, as in Europe, with large trees, under whose shelter thetired traveller could rest. 

In the various districts were vast tracts of land which for a long timethe plough had not touched. Concessions of these lands were made toFranks, Turks, Greeks, and Armenians, which concessions were free, andfor a term of seven or eight years, while the guarantees were exemptfrom taxes. 

During the closing years of his life, between 1841 and 1849, Mehemetoccupied himself with improvements in Egypt. He continued to prosecutehis commercial speculations, and manufacturing, educational, and otherschemes. The barrage of the Nile, which has only been finished duringthe British occupation, was begun under his direction. In 1847 hevisited Constantinople, and was received with the rank of a vizier. Inthe year 1848 symptoms of imbecility appeared, and his son Ibrahimwas declared his successor. After a reign of only two months he died. Mehemet Ali's death occurred on the 3rd of August, 1849. His directsuccessor was his grandson, Abbas Pasha, who held the sceptre ofEgypt as the direct heir of Ibrahim Pasha. This prince took but littleinterest in the welfare of his country. He had in him no spark of thenoble ambition of his predecessor, and no trace of his genius, and heshowed no desire for progress or reforms. He was a real prince of theancient East, suspicious, sombre, and careless of the destiny of thecountry entrusted to his care. He liked to withdraw to the privacy ofhis palace, and, isolated in the midst of his guards, to live that lifeof the distrustful and voluptuous despots of the East. The palace ofBar-el-Beda, which he had built on the road to Suez in the open desert, a palace without water, lifting its head in the solitude like a silentwitness of a useless life and tragic death, impresses the traveller withastonishment and fear. 

Abbas Pasha was weak in his negotiations with the European Powers, andthis was well for Egypt, as their representative was able to hold incheck his silent hostility to Western civilisation. Such guardianshipis useful when exercised over a prince like Abbas Pasha, but it tendsto become troublesome and baneful when it attempts to interfere with thegovernment of an active and enlightened sovereign animated by just andgenerous intentions. 

Muhammed Said, the successor of Abbas Pasha, was born in 1822, nineyears later than his nephew Abbas. He was brought up in Europe by Frenchprofessors, and M. Kornig, a distinguished Orientalist, remained withhis pupil and became his secretary. He not only instructed him in allbranches of knowledge becoming to his rank, but also developed in hima love of European civilisation and noble sentiments, of which he gaveproof from the moment of his accession. He was imbued with liberalprinciples, which in an Eastern potentate give proof of great moralsuperiority, and in this respect Muhammed Said wras second to no princein Europe. He worked for the emancipation of his subjects and thecivilisation of Egypt, and was not content to produce that superficialcivilisation which consists in transplanting institutions that the massof the people could not understand. Said Pasha endeavoured to pursue hisfather's policy and to carry out his high aims. He had not, however, the strength of character nor the health necessary to meet the seriousdifficulties involved in such a task, and he will be chiefly rememberedby his abolition of the more grinding government monopolies, and for theconcession of the Suez Canal. 

After his death Said Pasha was succeeded in the vice-royalty by hisnephew, Ismail Pasha, who was proclaimed viceroy without oppositionearly in the year 1863. Ismail, the first who accepted the title ofkhédive from the sultan, was born on December 31, 1830, being the secondof the three sons of Ibrahim, and grandson of Mehemet Ali. He had beeneducated at the Ecole d'Etat Major at Paris, and when Ahmed, the eldestson of Ibrahim, died in 1858, Ismail became the heir to his uncle Said. He had been employed, after his return to Egypt, on missions to thesovereign pontiff; the emperor, Napoleon III. ; and the Sultan of Turkey. In the year 1861 he was despatched with an army of 18, 000 men toquell an insurrection in the Sudan, which undertaking he brought to asuccessful conclusion. On ascending the throne he was much gratifiedto find that, on account of the scarcity of cotton, resulting from theCivil War in America, the revenues had very considerably increased fromthe export of the Egyptian cotton. At this date the cotton crop wasworth $125, 000, 000, instead of $25, 000, 000, which was the normal valueof the Egyptian output. It was a very serious misfortune to Egypt thatduring his sojourn abroad Ismail had learned many luxurious ways, andhad also discovered that European nations were accustomed to makefree use of their credit in raising sums of money for their immediateadvantage. From this moment Ismail started upon a career which gave toEgypt, in the eyes of the world, a fictitious grandeur, and which madehim one of the most talked-of rulers among the cabinets and peoples ofthe European countries. He began by transferring his own private debtsto the state, and thereafter looked upon Egypt merely as his privateestate, and himself as the sovereign landholder. Without any sense ofhis responsibility to the Egyptians themselves, he increased hisown fame throughout Europe in the sumptuous fashion of a spendthriftmillionaire. He deemed it necessary for his fame that Egypt shouldpossess institutions modelled upon those of European countries, and heapplied himself with energy to achieve this, and without any stint ofexpense. By burdening posterity for centuries to come, Ismail, duringthe two decades subsequent to his accession, always had a supply ofready money with which to dazzle European guests. During his entirereign Egypt swarmed with financiers and schemers of every description, to whom the complacent Ismail lent an only too willing ear. 

In the year 1866, in return for an increase of tribute, he obtained fromthe sultan a firman giving him the title of khédive (Turkish, _khidewi_, a king), and changing the law of succession to that of direct descentfrom father to-son; and in 1873 he obtained a new firman, purchasedagain at an immense cost to his subjects, which rendered him practicallyindependent of the sultan. Ismail projected vast schemes of internalreform. He remodelled the system of customs and the post-office, stimulated commercial progress, and created the Egyptian sugar industry. He introduced European improvements into Cairo and Alexandria; hebuilt vast palaces, entertained visitors with lavish generosity, andmaintained an opera and a theatre. By his order the distinguishedcomposer, Verdi, produced the famous opera "Aïda" for the entertainmentof his illustrious guests on the occasion of their visit to Egypt duringthe festivities connected with the opening of the Suez Canal. On thisoccasion Mariette Bey ransacked the tombs of the ancient Egyptian kingsin order to reproduce in a lifelike manner the costumes and sceneryappropriate for the occasion. 

[Illustration: 185. Jpg A FELLAH PLOWING]

The opening of this canal gave Ismail much prominence in the courts ofEurope. He was made a Grand Commander of the Bath, and the same yearvisited Paris and London, where he was received by Queen Victoria andwelcomed by the lord mayor. In 1869 he again visited London. By hisgreat power of fascination and lavish expenditure he was ever able tomake a striking impression upon the foreign courts. During the openingof the canal, when Ismail gave and received royal honours, treatingmonarchs as equals, and being treated by them in like manner, thejealousy of the sultan was aroused. Ismail, however, contrivedjudiciously to appease the suspicions of his overlord, Abdul Aziz. 

In the year 1876 the old system of consular jurisdiction for foreignerswas abolished, and the system of mixed courts was introduced, by whichEuropean and native judges sat together to try all civil cases, withoutrespect to nationality. 

In the year 1874 Darfur, a province in the Sudan west of Kordofan, was annexed by Ismail. He also engaged in a disastrous war against theAbyssinians, who had ever shown themselves capable of resisting theinroads of Egyptians, Muhammedans, Arabs, and even of European invaders, as was proven by the annihilation of a large Italian army of invasion, and the abandonment of the campaign against Abyssinia by the Italians inthe closing years of the nineteenth century. 

[Illustration: 187. Jpg ARABS AT A DESERT SPRING]

It was true that Ismail had attempted to carry out the great schemes ofhis grandfather for the regeneration of the Orient, and it is possiblethat, if the jealousy of European Powers had not prevented the army ofIbrahim Bej from controlling immense territories in Syria and Anatolia, which they had won by conquest, that the regeneration of the Orientmight have been accomplished at least a century earlier. No people wouldhave benefited more by the success of Mehemet Ali's policy than theChristian people who to-day are under the rule of the barbarous Turks. With the regeneration of the Orient, the trade of European nations inthe East would have been very largely increased. 

The policy of regeneration, wisely begun by Mehemet Ali, was resumedwithin Egypt itself in a spendthrift manner by his grandson Ismail. Every act of his reign, with its ephemeral and hollow magnificence, moved towards the one inevitable result of foreign intervention. Theprice of all the transient splendour was the surrender by slow degreesof the sovereignty and independence of Egypt itself. The European Powersof late have withdrawn their interest in the betterment of the nativepopulations in the Asiatic dominions of the sultan, and have concernedthemselves exclusively with the immediate interests of commerce and theenforcement of debts contracted to European bondholders. All progress inthe later history of Egypt has originated in the desire of the EuropeanPowers to see Egypt in a position capable of meeting her indebtedness toforeign bondholders. 

In so far as the cry raised of "Egypt for the Egyptians" was a protestagainst forcing the Egyptians to pay for an assumed indebtednesswhich was at least four times greater than anything they had actuallyreceived, no movement was ever more just and righteous than the protestof the fellaheen against foreign control, a movement which has beenchiefly associated with the name of Arabi Pasha. The issue of Ismail'sfinancial troubles was most ignominious and disastrous to Egypt, after nearly a hundred years of heroic struggles to keep pace with theprogress of modern Europe. Had Ismail modelled his career upon that ofhis illustrious grandfather, rather than that of Napoleon III. , with which it shows many striking parallels, it is probable that theadvantage secured to Egypt through the British occupation might haveresulted in political and financial independence. When the crash came, and the order for his deposition was sent by the sultan, Ismail resignedthe khedivate in complete submission; and, taking away with him a largeprivate fortune and a portion of the royal harem, he spent the remainderof his life in retirement at Naples and Constantinople, and was buriedwith solemn pomp in the royal cemetery at Cairo. 

[Illustration: 190. Jpg PART OF CAIRO, SHOWING THE MULQUFS ON THE HOUSESOF MODERN EGYPT]

[Illustration: 191. Jpg PAGE IMAGE]

CHAPTER IV--THE BRITISH INFLUENCE IN EGYPT

_Ismail deposed: Tewfik Pasha: Revolt of Arabi Pasha: Lord Wolseley andthe Battle of Tel-el-Kebir: The Mahdist Rising: General Gordon in theSudan: Death of Gordon: The Sudan abandoned and re-conquered: Battle ofOnidurman: Khartum College: Financial Stability: Abbas II. : Education, Law, and the improved condition of the Fellaheen: The Caisse de laDette_

The official deposition of Ismail Pasha by the sultan of Turkey, AbdulHamid, occurred on June 26, in the year 1879, and his son Tewfik assumedthe khedivate, becoming practically the protégé of England and Egypt. Tounderstand how this came to pass, it is necessary to review the accountof the financial embarrassments of Ismail. In twelve years he hadextracted more than $400, 000, 000 from the fellaheen in taxes. He hadborrowed another $400, 000, 000 from Europe at the same time, of whichnominal sum he probably received $250, 000, 000 in cash. The loans wereostensibly contracted for public works. Possibly ten per cent, of theborrowed money was profitably laid out. The railways were extended;Upper Egypt was studded with sugar factories, --most of them doomed tofailure, --and certain roads and gardens were made about the city ofCairo. 

The remainder of this enormous sum of money was spent in purchasinga change in the law of succession, and the new title of khédive; indisastrous Abyssinian campaigns; in multiplying shoddy palaces, and inpersonal extravagance, which combined Oriental profusion with theworst taste of the Second Empire. Useless works engaged the corvee;the fellaheen were evicted from vast tracts, which became ill-managedestates; and their crops, cattle, and even seed were taken from themby the tax-gatherers, so that they died by hundreds when a low Nileafflicted the land. The only persons who flourished in Ismail's timewere foreign speculators and adventurers of the lowest type. As theseconditions became more serious, the khédive attempted to find some meansof protection against the concession-monger. He adopted a suggestion ofthe wise Nubar Pasha, and instituted the mixed tribunals for adjudgingcivil cases between natives and foreigners. 

The Powers agreed to the establishment of these tribunals, and intendedto enforce the decisions of the courts, even in case that Ismailhimself were the delinquent. When later the khédive repudiated the mixedtribunals, this action precipitated his fall. It became increasinglydifficult for the khédive to meet his accumulated obligations. The priceof cotton had fallen after the close of the American war, and there wasless response from the impoverished people to the Cour-bash, which in1868 was still more strictly enforced; and soon this enforcement by themixed tribunal of debts due to foreigners by an agricultural population, who lived by borrowing, and were accustomed to settle their debtsby haggling, aggravated the misery of the fellaheen, and led to thatuniversal despair which was to give strength and significance tothe Arabist revolt. It was no uncommon procedure for the Levantinemoney-lender to accompany the tax-gatherer into the provinces witha chest of money. He paid the taxes of the assembled and destitutefellaheen, who in return were obliged to give mortgages on their cropsor holdings. 

The desperate state of Egyptian finance, which led to the sale of theprecious Suez Canal shares, at last opened the eyes of the bondholders. Mr. G. T. Goschen (Viscount Goschen) and M. Joubert were deputed toEgypt on behalf of the foreign creditors. The accounts were found to bein a state of wild confusion, with little or no chance of learningthe actual facts controlling the financial situation. The minister offinance, or "Mufet-tish, " Ismail Pasha Sadeck, was now arrested andbanished to Dongola. 

There was an immediate prospect of a dual control by England and France. Commissioners were appointed to constitute a caisse, or court, forreceiving the interest due to the bondholders. The great mass of thedebt was then unified, but the Goschen and Joubert arrangement was foundto be too severe for the impoverished country. A low Nile and a famineresulted in a demand for an investigation into the administration, and the following year Ismail was obliged to authorise a commissionof inquiry. The waste, extravagance, and wholesale extortion from thepeasantry revealed by this report made a deep impression upon Europe, and Ismail was forced to disgorge the estates which he had received fromthe fellaheen. 

In the meantime, the khédive was not inactive in taking measuresto prevent the advent of a confirmed foreign control. He created aconstitutional ministry, upon whom the responsibility rested for thedifferent branches of the administration. He likewise fomented anoutburst of feeling among the Moslems against the foreign element inthe constitutional ministry. This was intended to strengthen thepro-Egyptian element in the government, and Ismail thus hoped todemonstrate to the European Powers the uselessness of attempting tosubordinate the Egyptians to foreign methods of finance and control. Ismail subsequently dismissed the ministry, and soon afterwards thecontrollers themselves. Knowing well the jealousy which existed betweenEngland and France, he believed that there was a chance that he mightsuccessfully play off one Power against the other. If the Moslems hadnot been so severely oppressed by taxation, and Ismail had acted withcourage and firmness, it is probable that he might have held his own, and Egypt might have refused to again accept the dual control. 

Bismarck now intervened, and hinted to the sultan that he would receivethe support of the Powers, and Abdul Hamid immediately sent a telegramto the Egyptian government that Ismail Pasha was deposed from thekhedivate. At this moment his courage gave way, and Ismail surrenderedhis throne to his son Tewfik. 

[Illustration: 195. Jpg THE KHEDIVE TEWFIK]

Tewfik had the misfortune to enter upon a doleful heritage of an emptytreasury, a starving people, and an army ready to mutiny. There were nowtwo parties in Egypt. The military movement was of the least importance. The superior posts in the army had been occupied by Circassians sincethe days of Mehemet Ali. 

196 THE BRITISH INFLUENCE IN EGYPT

Slave boys were bought and trained as officers. The number and qualityof the Circassians had deteriorated, but they still held the mostimportant posts. The fellaheen officers, under Arabi, who had beenbrought to protest against reductions in the military establishment, nowclaimed that the Circassians should make way for the Egyptians. Togetherwith this military dissatisfaction was also a strong civil movementtowards national reform, which included a number of serious and sensibleadministrative reforms, which have since been carried out. Arabi Pashawas the leader of the National Party, and had hopes of convincingfair-minded people of the justice of their cause; but many influences, some good and some bad, were at work simultaneously to divert him fromconstitutional methods towards making his appeal to the violent andfanatical element. 

Just at this time a divergence between English and French views indealing with the situation had manifested itself, having its root inearlier history. France, now as in 1840, was aiming at the policy ofdetaching Egypt from the control of the unprogressive Turks; Englandaimed at the maintenance of the much talked of integrity of the OttomanEmpire. The French premier, Gambetta, was determined that there shouldbe no intervention on the part of the Turks. He drafted the "IdenticNote" in January, 1881, and induced Lord Granville, the English ForeignSecretary, to give his assent. This note contained the first distinctthreat of foreign intervention. The result was a genuine and spontaneousoutburst of Moslem feeling. All parties united to protest againstforeign intervention, joined by the fellaheen, who now saw anopportunity of freeing themselves from foreign usurers, to whom theyhad become so unjustly indebted. Riots broke out in Alexandria in 1881. Gambetta was replaced by the hesitating Freycinet, who looked upon theintervention with alarm, and upon Germany with suspicion. England wasthus at the last moment left to act alone. Past experience had taughther that the destiny of Egypt lay in the hands of the dominant sea-powerof the Mediterranean, and that Egypt must not be neglected by themasters of India. After a vain attempt to bring about mediation throughDervish Pasha, the special commissioner of the Porte, it was discoveredthat the Nationalist Party was too little under control to be utilisedin any further negotiations. Ahmed Arabi Pasha had greatly increased hisinfluence, and had finally been appointed Minister of War. On the 11thof June there was serious rioting, in which many Greeks and Maltese, four Englishmen, and six Frenchmen were slain. Arabi now stepped forwardto preserve order, being at this moment practically the dictator ofEgypt. While endeavouring to maintain order, he also threw up earthworksto protect the harbour of Alexandria, and trained the guns upon theBritish fleet. The admiral in charge, Sir Beauchamp Seymour, who waswaiting for the arrival of the Channel Squadron, sent word to theEgyptians to cease the construction of fortifications. The request wasnot fully assented to, although it was reinforced by an order fromthe Porte. An ultimatum was presented on July 10, commanding Arabia tosurrender the forts. The terms were refused, and eight ships and fivegunboats prepared for action on the following day. At the same time theFrench fleet retired upon Port Said. 

The first shot was fired on July 11th, at seven o'clock in the morning, by the Alexandrians, and in reply an iron hail rained upon the forts ofthe Egyptians from the guns of the British fleet. Arabi's troopsfought well and aimed correctly, but their missiles were incapable ofpenetrating the armour of the ironclads. One fort after another wassilenced. Lord Charles Beresford, in command of the gunboat _Condor_, led a brilliant attack upon Fort Marabout. The firing re-opened onthe next day, and a flag of truce was soon displayed. After someunsatisfactory parleying the bombardment was resumed, and when a secondflag of truce was unfurled it was discovered that Arabi Pasha hadretreated to Kefr-el-Dowar, fourteen miles away from Alexandria. Onhis departure the city was given over to plunder and destruction. Theconvicts escaped from the prison, and, joining forces with the Arabs, looted and burned the European quarters. Two thousand persons, mostlyGreeks and Levantines, were slain, and an enormous quantity of propertydestroyed. Admiral Seymour then sent a body of sailors on land, whopatrolled the streets and shot down the looters, and order was thusfinally restored in Alexandria. The khédive, who was forced to fly forhis life to an English steamer, was reinstated in the Ras-el-Tin Palace, under an escort of seven hundred marines. The British admiral wasafterwards severely criticised for not having put a stop to the riotingbefore it assumed such serious proportions. 

Arabi's army of 6, 000 was now increased by recruits flocking in fromevery port in Egypt. After considerable pressure had been brought tobear upon the khédive, Tewfik issued a proclamation dismissing Arabifrom his service. To enforce the submission of the Arabists, an Englisharmy of 33, 000 men was gradually landed in Egypt, under the command ofSir Garnet Wolseley, with an efficient staff, including Sir John Adye, Sir Archibald Alison, Sir Evelyn Wood, and General Hamley. An Indiancontingent also arrived under General Macpherson. 

Sir Garnet, after making a feint to land near Alexandria, steamed toPort Said and disembarked, moving up the Suez Canal in order to joinforces with the Indian contingent, who were advancing from Suez. Fighting took place over the control of the canal at the Mahsameh andKassassin Locks, and at the latter place the British cavalry won animportant victory over the Egyptian advance-guard. Arabi's strongholdwas at Tel-el-Kebir, and the English were very anxious to win adecisive victory before the troops which the sultan was sending fromConstantinople under Dervish and Baker Pasha should arrive. On September12, 1882, preparations had been completed for an advance, and the armyof 11, 000 infantry and 2, 000 cavalry, with sixty pieces of artillery, moved forward during the night to within a mile of Arabi's lines. TheEgyptians had 20, 000 regulars, of which number 2, 500 were cavalry, withseventy guns, and they were also aided by 6, 000 Bedouins. Though wellsituated, the army of Arabi was taken by surprise, and the followingday, in response to the various flanking movements of the British, directed by Wolseley, and the direct charge of the Highlanders, theymade but a very indifferent defence. In a brief space of time theEgyptians were in full retreat, Arabi fleeing to Cairo. The Indiancontingent occupied Zagazig, and General Drury-Lowe rode with hiscavalry for thirty-nine miles, and entered Cairo on the evening of the14th. Arabi made a dignified surrender, and with him 10, 000 men alsogave themselves up. 

The Nationalist movement was now at an end, the various garrisonssurrendering one after another, and the greater part of the British armyleft Egypt, 12, 000 men remaining behind to maintain order. The Egyptiangovernment wished to try Arabi as a rebel in a secret tribunal. It wasgenerally believed that this would have meant a death sentence. Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, a distinguished British Liberal and a friend of Arabi, who had often expressed his sympathy with the cause of the Nationalistsin their endeavour to free Egypt from the slavery of the foreignbondholder, now raised a vigorous protest in favour of an open trial. Hepersonally contributed to the defence of Arabi, and his efforts led tothe commutation of the sentence of death to that of perpetual exilein Ceylon--a sentence which was subsequently very much modified. ArabiPasha returned to Egypt in the year 1902, after an exile which hadlasted about nine years. 

[Illustration: 201. Jpg PALACE OP THE KHEDIVE AT ALEXANDRIA]

The difficult task of readjusting the government of Egypt was thenundertaken. Proposals were made to France for a modification of thedual control, in which France was offered the presidency of the DebtCommission. France, however, refused to accept the compromise, and theBritish government finally determined upon independent action. In placeof the officials through whom the two governments had hitherto exercisedthe control, a single financial adviser was appointed, who was notallowed to take part in the direct administration of the country. Theoutline of this adjustment was given in a circular note addressed byLord Granville to the Powers. He declared that an army would remain inEgypt as long as it was required; representative institutions were tobe created; the Egyptian army and gendarmery were to be placed in thehands of Englishmen; the Diara estates were to be economically managed;foreigners were to be placed upon the same footing as natives in regardto taxation. The other Powers, including Turkey but excluding France, accepted the agreement. The office of financial adviser was given to SirEdgar Vincent. 

The important work of the reconstruction of Egypt now began in earnest. Sir Benson Maxwell set about establishing an effective means for theimpartial administration of justice, and Colonel Moncrieff undertook theresponsibility for the work of irrigation. Mr. Clifford Lloyd created apolice system, reorganised the prisons and hospitals, and set free theuntried prisoners. Baker Pasha formed a provincial gendarmery, and SirEvelyn Wood organised an army of six thousand men. 

In the year 1883, while this work of reconstruction was proceeding, areligious insurrection, which had originated two years previously, wasforced upon the notice of the government. It has already been relatedthat the Ismailian sect of the Muhammedans had introduced the doctrineof a coming Messiah, or Mahdi, who was to be the last of the imans, andthe incarnation of the universal soul. 

Not a few impostors had exploited this doctrine to their own advantage, and some of the Arabian tribes were firmly convinced that the Mahdi hadcome, and that the Mahdis who had appeared to their kinsmen elsewherewere merely clever charlatans. In the year 1881 Muhammed Ahmet, areligious leader among the Moslem Arabs in the Central African provincesof Kordofan and Darfur, proclaimed himself as the Mahdi, and called uponthe Muhammedans to initiate a holy war. 

The Mahdi's continued advances were rendered possible by the precariousstate of affairs in Egypt. After a settlement was effected in 1883, Hicks Pasha, an officer of courage and ability, who had retired fromthe Indian army, gathered 11, 000 men at Omdurman to quell the Mahdistinsurrection. With this force he started up the Nile and struck acrossthe desert to El-Obeid, where his troops were decoyed into a ravine, andafter three days' fighting his whole army was annihilated by the Mahdistarmy numbering about 300, 000 men. The entire Sudan then revolted againstEgypt. The redoubtable Osman Digna appeared with the Hadendowa Arabsoff the coast of the Red Sea, and harassed the Egyptian garrison. Osmandefeated Captain Moncrieff and an army of 3, 000 Bashi-Bazouks led byBaker Pasha. Egypt, under the advisement of the British government, thenattempted to withdraw from the Sudan. It was decided that the westernprovinces of Kordofan and Dafur should be abandoned, but that importantcentres like Khartum on the Nile should be preserved, at least fora time. Here all the Egyptian colonists were to congregate. If therevolting Arab tribes, called by the general name of Dervishes, wouldnot come to friendly terms with the settlers, then, in time, it wasdecided that Khartum itself, and every other locality in the Sudan, should be entirely relinquished, except the ports of the Red Sea. 

General Gordon was sent to Khartum to make terms with the Mahdi andprepare for eventualities. The evacuation of this place was almostimmediately decided upon by the British Cabinet, and Gordon arrived onFebruary 18, 1884, but, being unsupported by European troops, he foundthe position an exceedingly difficult one to maintain. The Mahdi scornedhis overtures, and Osman Digna was daily closing in upon the Egyptianport of Suakin. 

[Illustration: 204. Jpg OSMAN DIGNA]

The British then determined to act with vigour. Sinkitat had fallen onFebruary 8th, and to protect Tokar and Suakin they landed four thousandmen and fought a fierce battle with nine thousand Hadendowas at El - TebFebruary 28, 1884. The Egyptian garrison of Tokar, when the British armyarrived, was found to have compromised with the Mahdists. Later on wasfought the battle of Tamai against Osman Digna, during which a bodyof Arabs rushed the British guns and broke up the formation of theirsquare. The British were on the point of defeat, but they managed torecover the lost guns, and scatter the Hadendowas. 

General Gordon's situation was now extremely critical. It was hoped thatan army might advance from Suakin across the desert to Berber, and thenascend the Nile to Khartum. In the meantime, Gordon urgently called forhelp, and, after interminable delays, in the autumn of 1884, an Englisharmy under Lord Wolseley started up the Nile to relieve him. The troopsof Wolseley were aided by a camel corps of one thousand men, who wereorganised to make a rush across the desert. On the 16th of January, 1885, the camel troops came up with the enemy and fought the decisivebattle of Matammeh. The Mahdist troops were mown down by rifles andGatling-guns as soon as they were within short range. Immediately afterthe battle, Sir Charles Wilson determined to use the Egyptian flotillato make an immediate advance. The steamers were protected, and a smallrelief force started on January 24th. They came in sight of Khartum onthe 28th, but were fired upon from every side. At this moment, a nativecalled from the bank that the city had fallen, and that the heroicGordon had been killed. 

A history of Egypt would be incomplete without some account of thatleader whose bravery, humanitarian views, and understanding of theOriental character have made him famous among the pioneers of Christiancivilisation in Asia and Africa. Fresh from his laurels won in theservice of the Chinese government in suppressing the Tai-peng rebellion, Gordon returned to England in 1871. In 1874 he accepted a position fromEgypt, with the consent of the British government. He journeyed to Cairoand up the Nile to take up the command as governor of the EquatorialProvinces in succession to Sir Samuel Baker. There he laboured withincessant energy to put down the slave-trade and to secure the welfareof the natives. He established a series of Egyptian outposts along theAbyssinian frontier and made a survey of Lake Albert Nyanza. Returningto Cairo in 1874, after some delay, he was appointed by Ismail Pasha asgovernor-general of the whole of the Egyptian Sudan. A war followedwith Abyssinia, and, after the army, led by Egyptian officers, had beenbeaten twice, Gordon went to Massowah to negotiate with the Abyssinianmonarch, Atti Johannes. He next proceeded to Khartum, and vigorouslyundertook the suppression of the slave-trade. 

[Illustration: 207. Jpg MOSQUE OF THE IBRIHAM AT DESUK]

Gordon's death at Khartum, in 1884, is one of the greatest tragedies ofmodern history. Supported neither by Egypt nor by the English army, ofa different religion from all his followers, pressed on all sides by theMah-dist forces, Gordon gallantly kept his few faithful followers at hisside, and, with incessant activity and heroism, protected the remainingEgyptian colonists of the cities along the Nile, over which he stillheld control. He had called upon the British government to send aidacross the desert from Suakin via Berber, but this request had beendenied him. Berber then fell, and he was cut off to the north by manyhundred miles of territory occupied by Mahdists. On January the1st, nearly a month before the long-delayed succour approached thebeleaguered city, the provisions had given out. He had written onDecember 14th that, with two hundred men, he could have successfullykept up the defence. As his army had been starving since the 5th ofJanuary, it is difficult to understand how he managed to hold out tillJanuary the 26th. On this date, two days before the relief expeditionapproached, the Mahdi's troops attacked Khartum, and, finding Gordon'smen too weak to fight, the defences were cut down, and the heroic Gordonwas killed by a shot at the head of the steps of the palace. 

Upon learning of the death of Gordon, the relief expedition retreated, finding that the object of their advance had proved to be a hopelessone. A general evacuation was begun, and Dongola and the whole countrysouth of Wady Haifa surrendered. The Mahdi, soon after winning Khartum, died, and was succeeded by the Califa Abdulla at Taashi. This changefacilitated the Anglo-Egyptian retreat. About the same time SlatinBey surrendered in Darfur and embraced Muhammedan-ism, and Lupton Bey, following his example, also adopted the religion of Islam, and yieldedin Bahr-el-Ghazel. Emin Pasha alone retained his authority, derivedoriginally from Egypt, in the province of Equatoria. Sir H. M. Stanleyafterwards made his famous journey "Through Darkest Africa" and rescuedthis famous pasha. This noted explorer died May 9, 1904. 

In the autumn of 1885, the dervish Emir of Dongola, Muhammed el-Kheir, advanced upon the Egyptian frontier. On December 30th he was met by theEgyptian troops under Sir Frederick Stephenson. The Egyptian troops, unaided by Europeans, attacked the dervishes at Ginnis and totallydefeated them, winning two guns and twenty banners. It was a source ofmuch gratification that the Egyptian fellaheen had proved themselves socourageous and well disciplined in the encounter with the fierce hostsof the desert. 

[Illustration: 210. Jpg LORD KITCHENER OF KHARTUM]

In October, 1886, Wad en Nejumi, the victor of El-Obeid, was sent by thecalifa to invade Egypt. The advance of this army was delayed by troublewithin the Sudan; but the califa, having at length beaten his enemies, in the year 1889 sent large reinforcements northwards to carry onthe campaign against Egypt with vigour. The Egyptian troops, with onesquadron of hussars, fought a decisive engagement with Wad en Nejumi onAugust 3rd of the same year. The dervish leader, many of his emirs, andtwelve hundred Arab warriors were slain; four thousand more were takenprisoners, and 147 dervish standards were captured. 

The ever-increasing progress of Egypt during the next ten years, together with the accounts received from escaped prisoners of thereign of terror and inhumanity which obtained in the Sudan, broughtthe question of the reconquest of the lost provinces once more intoprominence. The Italians had met with a fearful disaster in fightingagainst the Abyssinians at the battle of Adowa on March 1, 1896. Theywere holding Kassala within the ex-Egyptian territory by invitationfrom England, and a reason was presented for attacking the dervisheselsewhere in order to draw off their army from Kassala. With theappointment of Sir Henry Kitchener, on March 11, 1896, as sirdar of theEgyptian army, the final period of hostilities was entered upon betweenEgypt and the independent Arabs of the Central African Provinces. 

General Kitchener was ordered to build a railroad up the Nile, and topush forward with a well-organised Egyptian army, whose chief officerswere Englishmen. The whole scheme of the invasion was planned withconsummate forethought and deliberation, the officials and advisersin charge of the enterprise being chosen from the most tried and ableexperts in their several provinces. Lieut. -Col. E. P. C. Girouard, abrilliant young Canadian, undertook the work of railroad reconstruction. Col. L. Bundle was chief of the staff, and Major R. Wingate head of theIntelligence Department, ably assisted by the ex-prisoner of the califa, Slatin Bey. The army consisted in the beginning almost entirely ofEgyptian and Sudanese troops, together with one battalion of the NorthStaffordshire Regiment. There were eight battalions of artillery, eightcamel corps, and sixty-three gunboats which steamed up the Nile. 

After some sharp skirmishing, the advance was made to Dongola, when theEnglish battalion was sent home disabled, and in time was replaced by astrong English brigade under General Gatacre. Early in 1897, a railroadhad been thrown across the desert from Wady Haifa towards Abu Hamed, obviating the need of making an immense detour around the bend of theNile near Dongola. The califa had, by this time, organised his defence. The Jaalin tribe had revolted against him at Metammeh, and had soughtfor help from the Egyptians, but before the supply of rifles arrived, the dervishes under the Emir Mahmud stormed Metammeh and annihilated thewhole tribe of the Jaalin Arabs. 

The van of the army of invasion, both the flying corps and the flotillaof gunboats, advanced upon Abu Hamed towards the end of August. Major-General Hunter carried the place by storm. Berber was found to bedeserted, and was occupied on September 5th. Hunter burned Adarama andreconnoitred on the Atbara. The gunboats bombarded Metammeh and reducedthe place to ruins. The sirdar, General Kitchener, then went on amission to Kassala, where he found the Italians anxious to evacuate. He thereupon made an agreement whereby the Egyptians should occupythe place, which was accordingly accomplished under Colonel Parsons onChristmas Day, 1897. Disagreements among the dervishes prevented themfrom making any concerted defence, and early in 1896 Kitchener renewedthe advance and captured the dervish stores at Shendy on March 27th. Thezeriba or camp of Mahmud was attacked and stormed with great loss to thedervishes on the 5th of April. 

On the date scheduled beforehand by Lord Kitchener, just after theannual rains had refreshed the country, the Anglo-Egyptian army made itsfinal advance upon Khartum. There were ten thousand British troops andfifteen thousand Egyptians. The forces were concentrated at Wady Hamed, sixty miles above Omdurman, from which point they bombarded the citywith shells filled with deadly lyddite, and the mosque and tomb of thelate Mahdi were destroyed. At length the entire army advanced to withinfour miles of Khartum. On September 2nd the cavalry and a horse batteryreached Kasar Shanbal. From this point they saw the whole army of thecalifa, consisting of from forty to fifty thousand men, advancing toconfront them from behind the hills. The Anglo-Egyptians advanced tomeet the dervishes disposed in the form of a horseshoe, with either endresting upon the banks of the river. At intervals along the whole lineof the army were field-pieces and Maxims, and the gunboats were withinreach to aid in shelling the enemy. The British soldiers then builta square sand rampart called a zarilea, and their Egyptian allies dugdefensive trenches. 

On the front and left the dervishes came on in great strength, but, whenthe Maxims, the field-guns, and the repeating rifles opened fire uponthem, at a comparatively close range, a frightful havoc was the result. All who remained to fight were immediately shot down, and the wholefield was cleared in fifteen minutes. The dervishes retreated behind thehills, and were joined by fresh forces. General MacDonald, in makinga detour with a body of Lancers, was suddenly beset by two thousanddervish riflemen, who fiercely charged him on three sides. Quicklyforming a square, he succeeded by desperate efforts in repelling theenemy, until he was reinforced by Kitchener, who perceived his desperatesituation. 

The calif then attacked the extreme left wing of the army, but was againdriven off. The Anglo-Egyptians were now in a position to deliver themain attack upon the dervish defences. The troops of the califafought with heroic bravery, fearlessly advancing within range of theAnglo-Egyptian fire, but each time they were mown down by the cross fireof the Maxims and rifles. Vast numbers were slain, and some divisionsof the dervishes suffered complete annihilation. They left ten thousanddead upon the field, and ten thousand wounded. The rest fled in alldirections, a scattered and straggling force, with the califa himself. The Anglo-Egyptians lost but two thousand men. Few prisoners were taken, for, in almost every instance, the dervishes refused to surrender, andeven when wounded used their swords and spears against the rescuers ofthe ambulance corps. All the fighting was over by midday, and in theafternoon General Kitchener entered Omdurman, and the army encamped inthe vicinity. Slatin Bey was duly installed as governor in the nameof the Egyptian khédive. The European prisoners of the califa were nowreleased, and on Sunday, the 4th of September, the sirdar and all hisarmy held a solemn service in memory of General Gordon near the spotwhere he was killed. 

Bodies of men were now sent out on all sides to pacify the country, andthe sirdar, who had been elevated to the peerage as Lord Kitchener ofKhartum, started on an expedition up the Nile in a gunboat, in order tosettle the difficult question arising from the occupation of Pashoda bya French corps under Major Marchand. The ability and strategy of thisFrench commander were of a very high order. The general plan of theexpedition had been in accord with French military traditions, basedupon former attempts in India and America to separate the Britishcolonial dominions, or to block the way to their extension byestablishing a series of military outposts or forts at certain strategicpoints chosen for this purpose. Had the French designs under Desaix inIndia, or of the army of occupation in the Mississippi Valley in theeighteenth century, been supported by a powerful fleet, there is nodoubt that British colonisation would have suffered a severe setback. IfMajor Marchand remained in Fashoda, the route to all the upper regionsof the Nile would be cut off from any English or Egyptian enterprise. Accordingly, Lord Kitchener ran the risk of grave internationalcomplications by advancing upon Fashoda to meet Major Marchand. Fortunately, a temporary agreement was entered upon that the homegovernments should decide the question at issue, and Lord Kitchener thenhoisted the Anglo-Egyptian flag south of the French settlement, and theofficers fraternised over glasses of champagne. 

It is now believed that Russia would have aided France if it had cometo a war, but the French government thought the affair not of sufficientimportance to warrant an international struggle over the retention ofFashoda, and the respective spheres of influence of France and GreatBritain were finally agreed upon early in the following year by theNiger Convention, which left the whole of the ex-Egyptian provincesunder British protection, as far south as the Equatorial Lakes, and asfar west as the border line between Darfur and Wadai. 

The calif was subsequently pursued from place to place in the desert, and was at length overtaken by Colonel Wingate at Om Dubreikat. Thedervish leader fought a desperate fight; and, refusing to fly, was slainwith all his personal followers on November 26, 1899. 

The total cost of these campaigns had been incredibly small, notamounting in all to the total of $12, 000, 000, and the railroad, the costof which is here included in the expenditure, is of permanent value toEgypt. 

After the re-occupation of Khartum, it was again, as in Gordon's time, made the seat of government, the dervish capital having been locatedacross the Nile at Omdurman. For a memorial to Gordon, $500, 000 wasenthusiastically raised in England. The memorial took the practicalform of an educational establishment for the natives of the Sudan, thefoundation-stone of which was laid by Lord Cromer in January, 1900. The school is intended to be exclusively for Muhammedans, and only theMoslem religion is to be taught within its walls. 

Though the Mahdism, of which the late califa had been the leadingspirit, had degenerated into a struggle of slave-traders versuscivilisation, the calif at least showed conspicuous courage in themanner in which he faced his death. For the last twenty years, duringwhich the revolts of the dervishes had troubled the outlying provincesof the Egyptian dominions, trade had been almost at a standstill; largenumbers of blacks had been enslaved; an equal number probably had beenslaughtered, and whole regions depopulated. The total population was cutdown during these years to one-half of what it previously had been, andit was of vital importance to Egypt to reconquer all the lost provinceswhich lay upon the banks of the river Nile. If the prosperity ofEgypt is to rest upon a sound basis, and not be subjected to periodicoverthrow at the hands of the hostile inhabitants of the south, it isessential that the Upper Nile should be under the control of those whoare responsible for the welfare of the country. Egypt is the gift of theNile, and the entire population of Egypt is dependent upon this river. To secure prosperity for the country and to develop Egyptian resourcesto the fullest extent, the rulers of Egypt must also be the rulers ofthe Nile. When the Anglo-Egyptian expedition under Kitchener set out toreconquer the Sudan, the development of Egypt had been progressing inall directions at a rapid rate. Having greater interests to defend, lessindebtedness to meet, and greater facilities for meeting the taxes duethe home government, no less than the foreign bondholders, the time wasripe in which to take that great step towards securing the prosperity ofEgypt in the future by finally destroying the community of slaveholders, which, under the sanction of Mahdism, brutally tyrannised over thenon-Muhammedan population. 

[Illustration: 218. Jpg SLAVE BOATS ON THE NILE]

From the beginning of the British occupation, the English have beenengaged in persevering efforts at reform in every branch of theadministration. The reforms which they instituted in the differentdepartments of the army, finance, public works, and the police systemwere not at first popular. The native officials found out that theycould not use methods of extortion; the upper classes, the pashas, andthe wealthy landowners also discovered that they were not at libertyto do as they pleased, and that the English inspectors of irrigationstrictly regulated the water-supply. It has since been fullydemonstrated that the curtailing of their privilege to make use ofthe water when and how they chose is more than compensated by improvedconditions. 

During the fifteen years previous to 1898, the population of Egypt hadincreased by about three million, or forty-three per cent. It was thenten million; it is now nearly eleven million. Within the boundaries ofthe irrigated land Egypt has always been a very populous country. Bythe effort to expand this area of irrigation, the way was prepared fora considerable increase in the total population. There are sections ofthis land where the density of the population averages from seven toeight hundred or even a thousand persons to the square mile. In earlytimes, the population was still greater, as the irrigation area wasincreased by the great reservoir of Lake Mceris. When Omar made a census(A. D. 640), there were to be found six million Kopts, exclusive of theaged, the young, and the women, and three hundred thousand Greeks: thiswould imply, even at that decadent period, a total population of fifteenmillion. 

The increased prosperity shown by the railroads is most satisfactory. Two hundred and twelve miles of new railroad have been constructed, and an enormous development of the railroad and telegraph business hasresulted. Since the year 1897 railroad development has been very rapid, and, with the line to the Sudan, amounted in 1904 to some two thousandmiles. From the Sudan railway it is intended ultimately to extend arailroad system through the heart of Africa, from Cairo to Capetown. 

Great progress has been made in all departments of public works. Hundreds of agricultural roads have been built, and the mileage ofcanals and drains has been largely increased to the very great benefitof the Egyptian peasant. 

The quantity of salt sold was doubled between 1881 and 1897, while theprice has been reduced nearly forty per cent. The tonnage of the port ofAlexandria increased from 1, 250, 000 pounds to 2, 549, 739 between 1881 and1901. This increase was paralleled by a like increase in Alexandria'sgreat rival, Port Said. 

Sir Evelyn Baring (Viscount Cromer) was appointed consul-general andfinancial adviser to Egypt in January, 1884, succeeding in this positionSir Edward Malet. Sir Evelyn was nominally the financial adviser, butpractically the master of Egypt. The khédive never ventured to opposethe carrying out of his wishes, since the British army of occupation wasever at his beck and call to lend its weight to the commands which heissued to the government under the appearance of friendly advice. 

The most serious obstacle to the progress of Egypt has been theauthority of the mixed administrations, the chief of which is the Caissede la Dette. The main object of these administrations is to secure forEuropean bondholders payment of the debts incurred by Egypt chieflyunder the incredibly profligate government of Ismail Pasha. The Caissede la Dette has commissions from six of the Powers. It receives from thetax-gatherer all the taxes apportioned to the payment of the interestfor foreign indebtedness. Its influence, however, extends much farther, and the Caisse exercises the right of prohibiting expenditure on thepart of the Egyptian government until its own demands for currentinterest have been complied with. It further has the right to veto anyloan which the Egyptian government might be willing to raise, howeverurgent the necessity might be, unless it can be demonstrated that thereis not the least likelihood that payment of the shareholders whom theCaisse represents will be in the least degree affected. If all that theCaisse claimed as belonging to its jurisdiction were really allowed toit by the Anglo-Egyptian government, the Caisse or International Courtmight exercise an arbitrary control over Egyptian affairs. It has manytimes seriously attempted to block the progress of Egypt with the soleaim of considering the pockets of the foreign shareholders, and inentire disregard to the welfare of the people. 

Added to this tribunal is the Railway Board and the Commissions ofthe Daira and Domains. The Railway Board administers the railroads, telegraphs, and the port of Alexandria. The Daira and DomainsCommissions administer the large estates, mortgaged to the holders ofthe loans raised by Ismail Pasha under these two respective names. TheDaira Estate yielded a surplus over and above the amount of intereston the debt paid, for the first time, in 1890. The Domain Estate hadto face a deficit until the year 1900. Until these respective dates theEgyptian government itself was obliged to pay the deficit due to thebondholders. 

[Illustration: 223. Jpg VISCOUNT CROMER (SIR EVELYN BARING)]

In the year 1884, the Convention of London was signed by the EuropeanPowers, which was, however, for the most part, oppressive and unjust tothe Egyptians. The amount of money raised by taxation, which was allowedto be spent in one year, was limited to the definite sum of $25, 927, 890. Fortunately for Egypt, the London Convention had one clause by which$44, 760, 000 could be utilised for the development of the country. Withthis sum the indemnities of Alexandria were paid, defects in the paymentof interest were made good, and a small sum was left wherewith toincrease irrigation and other useful works. The criminal folly ofthe former lavish expenditure was now demonstrated by a brilliantobject-lesson. This small sum, when kept out of the hands of therapacious bondholders, and applied to the development of the rich soilof Egypt, was found to work wonders. From the moment when the financesof Egypt were for the first time used to develop what is naturally therichest soil in the world, progress towards betterment grew rapidly intothe remarkable prosperity of to-day. For a time, however, the governmentwas obliged to use extreme parsimony in order to keep the country fromfurther falling under the control of the irresponsible bondholders. Finally, in the year 1888, Sir Evelyn Baring wrote to the homegovernment that the situation was so far improved that in his judgment"it would take a series of untoward events seriously to endangerthe stability of Egyptian finance and the solvency of the Egyptiangovernment. " The corner had been turned, and progressive financialrelief was at length afforded the long-suffering Egyptian people in theyear 1890. After several years of financial betterment, it was decidedto devote future surpluses to remunerative objects, such as works ofirrigation, railway extension, the construction of hospitals, prisons, and other public buildings, and in the improvement of the system ofeducation. Great difficulty was experienced in making use of thissurplus, on account of technical hindrances which were persistentlyplaced in the way of the Egyptian government by the Caisse de la Dette. These difficulties are now almost entirely removed. 

In 1896 it was decided, as has been narrated, to be for the interest ofEgypt to start a campaign against the dervishes. Appeal was made to theCaisse de la Dette to raise additional funds for the necessaryexpenses of the projected campaign. The Caisse, following its universalprecedent, immediately vetoed the project. England then made specialgrants-in-aid to Egypt, which both aided the Egyptian government andgreatly strengthened her hold upon Egypt. By means of this timelyassistance, Egypt was enabled successfully to pass through the period ofincreased expenditure incurred by the reconquest of the Sudan. 

During the lifetime of Khedive Tewfik, who owed his throne to theBritish occupation, there had been little or no disagreement between theBritish and Egyptian authorities. In the year 1887 Sir Henry DrummondWolff prepared a convention, in accordance with which England promisedto leave Egypt within three years from that date. At the last momentthe sultan, urged by France and Russia, refused to sign it, and theoccupation which these two Powers would not agree to legalise even fora period of three years was now less likely than ever to terminate. Thefollowing year Tewfik dismissed Nubar Pasha, who had, by the advice ofthe foreign Powers, stood in the way of reforms planned by the Englishofficials. 

Tewfik died in 1892, and was succeeded by Abbas Hilmi Pasha, calledofficially Abbas II. He was born in 1874, and was barely of ageaccording to Turkish law, which fixes magistracy at eighteen years ofage in the case of the succession to the throne. He came directly fromthe college at Vienna to Cairo, where his accession was celebratedwith great pomp; and the firman, confirming him in all the powers, privileges, and territorial rights which his father had enjoyed, wasread from the steps of the palace in Abdin Square. For some time thenew khédive did not cooperate with cordiality with Great Britain. He wasyoung and eager to exercise his power. His throne had not been saved forhim by the British, as his father's had been, and he was surroundedby intriguers, who were scheming always for their own advantage. He atfirst appeared almost as unprogressive as his great-uncle, Abbas I. , but he later learned to understand the importance of British counsels. During his visit to England in 1899 he frankly acknowledged the greatgood which England had done in Egypt, and declared himself readyto cooperate with the officials administering British affairs. Thisfriendliness was a great change from the disposition which he had shownin previous years, during the long-drawn-out dispute between himself andSir Evelyn Baring regarding the appointment of Egyptian officials. Thecontroversy at one time indicated a grave crisis, and it is reportedthat on one occasion the British agent ordered the army to make ademonstration before the palace, and pointed out to the young ruler thefolly of forcing events which would inevitably lead to his dethronement. The tension was gradually relaxed, and compromises brought about whichresulted in harmony between the khédive and the British policy ofadministration, and no one rejoiced more than Abbas Hilmi over thevictory of Omdurman. 

[Illustration: 227. Jpg BAZAR IN ASWAN]

Agricultural interests are dearer to the heart of the khédive thanstatecraft. He rides well, drives well, rises early, and is ofabstemious habits. Turkish is his mother tongue, but he talks Arabicwith fluency and speaks English, French, and German very well. 

An agreement between England and Egypt had been entered upon January 19, 1899, in regard to the administration of the Sudan. According to thisagreement, the British and Egyptian flags were to be used together, and the supreme military and civil command was vested in thegovernor-general, who is appointed by the khédive on the recommendationof the British government, and who cannot be removed withoutthe latter's consent. This has proved so successful that thegovernor-general, Sir Reginald Wingate, reported in 1901:

"I record my appreciation of the manner in which the officers, non-commissioned officers, soldiers, and officials, --British, Egyptian, and Sudanese, --without distinction, have laboured during the past yearto push on the work of regenerating the country. Nor can I pass overwithout mention the loyal and valuable assistance I have received frommany of the loyal ulemas, sheiks, and notables, who have displayed amost genuine desire to see their country once more advancing in the pathof progress, material success, and novel development. "

In 1898 there were in all about 10, 000 schools, with 17, 000 teachersand 228, 000 pupils. Seven-eighths of these schools were elementary, the education being confined to reading, writing, and the rudimentsof arithmetic. The government has under its immediate directioneighty-seven schools of the lowest grade, called kuttabs, andthirty-five of the higher grades, three secondary, two girls' schools, and ten schools for higher or professional education, --the school oflaw, the school of medicine, with its pharmaceutical school and itsschool for nursing and obstetrics, polytechnic schools for civilengineers, two training-schools for schoolmasters, a school ofagriculture, two technical schools, one training-school for femaleteachers, and the military school. In addition to the schools belongingto the Ministry of Public Instruction, there were under the inspectionof that department in 1901 twenty-three primary schools of the highergrade, with an attendance of 3, 585, and 845 schools of the lowest grade, with 1, 364 teachers and an attendance of 26, 831 pupils. There are187 schools attached to various Protestant and Catholic missions, andforty-three European private schools. 

The Koptic community supports one thousand schools for elementaryeducation, twenty-seven primary boys' and girls' schools, and onecollege. The teaching of the Koptic language in the schools is nowcompulsory; the subjects taught, and the methods of teaching them, arethe same as in vogue in other countries. Fifty per cent, of the Kopticmale population can read and write well. The indigenous tribunals of thecountry are called Mehkemmehs, and are presided over by cadis. Atthe present time they retain jurisdiction in matters of personal lawrelating to marriage succession, guardianship, etc. Beyond this spherethey also fulfil certain functions connected with the registrationof title of land. In matters of personal law, however, the nativeChristians are subject to their own patriarchs or other religiousleaders. 

In other matters, natives are justiciable before the so-called nativetribunals, established during the period of the British occupation. These consist of forty-six summary tribunals, each presided over by asingle judge, who is empowered to exercise jurisdiction in matters up to$500 in value, and criminal jurisdiction in offences punishable by fineor by imprisonment of three years or less. Associated with these areseven central tribunals, each chamber consisting of three judges. There is also a court of appeal in Cairo, one-half of its membersbeing Europeans. In criminal matters there is always a right to appeal, sometimes to the court of appeal, sometimes to a central tribunal. In civil matters an appeal lies from a summary tribunal to a centraltribunal in matters exceeding $500 in value, and from the judgment ofa central tribunal in the first instance to the court of appeal in allcases. The prosecution in criminal matters is entrusted to the parquet, which is directed by a procurer-general; the investigation of crimeis ordinarily conducted by the parquet, or by the police under itsdirection. Offences against irrigation laws, which were once of suchfrequent occurrence and the occasion of injustice and lawlessness, arenow tried by special and summary administration tribunals. 

The capitulations or agreements concerning justice entered into by allthe Great Powers of Europe and the Ottoman Empire, relative to the trialand judgment of Europeans, include Egypt as an integral part of theTurkish Empire. Foreigners for this reason have the privilege of beingtried by European courts. But if one party in a case is European andanother Egyptian, there are special mixed tribunals, established in1876, consisting partly of native and partly of foreign judges. Thesetribunals settle civil and also some criminal cases between Egyptiansand Europeans, and in 1900 penal jurisdiction was conferred upon them inconnection with offences against the bankruptcy laws. 

There are three mixed tribunals of the first class, with a court ofappeal, sitting at Alexandria. Civil cases between foreigners of thesame nationality are tried before their own consular courts, which alsotry criminal cases not within the jurisdiction of the mixedtribunals, in which the accused are foreigners. By this well organisedadministration of justice, crime has steadily decreased throughoutEgypt, and the people have learned to enjoy the benefit of receivingimpartial justice, from which they had been shut off for many centuries. 

About sixty per cent, of the inhabitants of modern Egypt belong tothe agricultural class--the fellaheen. The peasantry are primitiveand thrifty in their habits, and hold tenaciously to their ancienttraditions. They are a healthy race, good-tempered and tractable, andfairly intelligent, but, like all Southern nations breathing a balmyatmosphere, they are unprogressive. Centuries of oppression have not, however, crushed their cheerfulness. There is none of that abject miseryof poverty among the Egyptians which is to be seen in cold countries. There is no starvation amongst them. Food is cheap, and a peasant canlive well on a piastre (five cents) a day. A single cotton garment isenough for clothing, and the merest hut affords sufficient protection. The wants of the Egyptians are few. Their condition, now freed fromforced labour, called the "Courbash, " as also from injustice, crushingtaxation, and usury, which characterised former administrations, compares favourably with the peasantry of many countries in Europe, andis equal, if not superior, to that of the peasantry of England itself. 

Under the British protection there has been a renewal of the KopticChristian race. They are easily to be distinguished from theirMuhammedan countrymen, being lighter in colour, and resembling theportraits on the ancient monuments. They are a strong community in UpperEgypt, whither they fled from the Arab invaders, and they there holda large portion of the land. They live mostly in the towns, are bettereducated than other Egyptians, and are employed frequently in thegovernment service as clerks and accountants. 

Koptic is still studied for church purposes by the Kopts, who both bytheir physiognomy and by their retention of the old Egyptian institutionof monasticism are the only true descendants having the socialand physical heredity of the ancient Egyptians. Four of the oldestmonasteries in the world still survive in the Natron Valley. 

[Illustration: 232. Jpg MOSQUE OF EL GHURI AT CAIRO]

In spite of their distinguished social ancestry, the Kopts are by nomeans a superior class morally to the fellaheen, who are in part thedescendants of those ancient Egyptians who renounced the Christianreligion, the language and institutions of the Egyptian Christians, andaccepted Muhammedanism and the Arabic language and institutions. 

The creed of the Kopts is Jacobite. They have three metropolitans andtwelve bishops in Egypt, one metropolitan and two bishops in Abyssinia, and one bishop in Khartum. There are also arch-priests, priests, deacons, and monks. Priests must be married before ordination, butcelibacy is imposed upon monks and high dignitaries. The AbyssinianChurch is ruled by a metropolitan, and bishops are chosen from amongstthe Egyptian-Koptic ecclesiastics, nor can the coronation of the King ofAbyssinia take place until he has been anointed by the metropolitan, andthis only after the authorisation by the Patriarch of Alexandria. 

[Illustration: 235. Jpg PAGE IMAGE]

CHAPTER V. --THE WATER WAYS OF EGYPT

_The White and Blue Niles: The Barrage: Clearing the Sudd: The SuezCanal: Ancient and modern irrigation: The Dam at Aswan: The modernexploration of the Nile. _

Between the Sudan and the Mediterranean the only perennial stream isthe Nile, a word probably derived from the Semitic root nahal, meaninga valley or a river-valley, and subsequently a "river, " in a pre-eminentand exclusive sense. The ancient Egyptians called it the Ar or Aur(Koptic, Iaro), or "black"; hence the Greek word [. .. ] allusion to thecolour, not of the water, but of the sediment which it precipitatedduring the floods. In contrast to the yellow sands of the surroundingdesert, the Nile mud is black enough to have given the land itself itsoldest name, Kem, or Kemi, which has the same meaning of "black. " AtKhartum, where the White Nile joins the Blue Nile, the main branch hasa fall from its upper level in the region of the tropical lakes, fourthousand feet above the sea, to twelve hundred feet, while traversinga distance of twenty-three hundred miles. From Khartum to the sea thedistance through which the waters of the Nile wend their way is abouteighteen hundred and forty miles. During the greater part of this coursethe flow is level, the average descent being about eight inches permile. If it were not, therefore, for the obstruction met with in theNubian section, the course of the Nile would be everywhere navigable. Although no perennial affluents enter the main stream lower downthan Khartum, the volume of the Nile remains with little diminutionthroughout the entire distance to the Mediterranean. During the periodof low water the amount of water in different localities is stilluniform, notwithstanding all the irrigation, infiltration, andevaporation constantly taking place. The only explanation which has beengiven to this phenomenon is that there are hidden wells in the bed ofthe Nile, and from their flow the waste is ever renewed. 

As the earth revolves from west to east, the waters of the Nile tendto be driven upon the right bank on the west, where the current isconstantly eating away the sandstone and limestone cliffs. Forthis reason the left side of the river is far more fertile and wellcultivated than the right bank. Below Ombos the valley is narrowlyconstructed, being but thirteen hundred yards in width, the cliffsoverhanging the river on either side, but at Thebes it broadens out tonine or ten miles, and farther up, in the Keneh district, the valley istwelve or fifteen miles in width. The river here approaches within sixtymiles of the Red Sea, and it is believed that a branch of the Nile onceflowed out into the sea in this direction. 

[Illustration: 237. Jpg THE PLAIN OF THEBES]

Seventy miles below Keneh the Nile throws from its left bank the BahrYusef branch, a small current of 350 feet in breadth, which flows forhundreds of miles through the broader strip of alluvial land between themain stream and the Libyan escarpments. In the Beni-Suef district thisstream again bifurcates, the chief branch continuing to wind along theNile Valley to a point above the Delta, where it joins the mainstream. The left branch penetrates westward through a gap in theLibyan escarpments into the Fayum depression, ramifying into a thousandirrigating rills, and pouring its overflow into the Birket-el-Qarum, or"Lake of Horns, " which still floods the lowest cavity and is a remnantof the famous ancient Lake Moris. The Fayum, which is the territoryreclaimed from the former lake, is now an exceedingly productivedistrict, a sort of inland delta, fed like the marine delta by thefertilising flood-waters of the Nile. 

The traveller Junker wrote of this district in 1875: "I found myselfsurrounded by a garden tract of unsurpassed fertility, where there wasscarcely room for a path amid the exuberant growths; where pedestrians, riders, and animals had to move about along the embankments of countlesscanals. Now a land of roses, of the vine, olive, sugar-cane, and cotton, where the orange and lemon plants attain the size of our apple-trees, itwas in primeval times an arid depression of the stony and sandy Libyanwaste. "

North of the Fayum the Nile flows on to Cairo, where the narrow waterway allowed to its course by the two lines of cliffs widens, and thecliffs recede to the right and left. There is thus space for the watersto spread and ramify over the alluvial plain. Nearly all this portionof Egypt has been covered by the sediment of the Nile, and from theearliest times there have been numerous distinct branches or channels ofthe river running out by separate openings into the sea. As several ofthese branches have been tapped to a great extent for irrigation, allexcept two have ceased to be true outlets of the Nile. In the Greekperiod there were seven mouths and several [. .. Greek. .. ], or "falsemouths. " The two remaining mouths are those of Rosetta and Damietta, andthese were always the most important of the number. They branched offformerly close to the present spot where Cairo stands, a little belowMemphis; but during two thousand years the fork has gradually shifted toabout thirteen miles lower down. 

The triangular space enclosed by these two branches and the sea-coastwas called by the Greeks the delta, on account of the likeness inshape to the Greek letter of that name A. At the head, or apex, of thetriangle stands the famous barrage, or dam, begun in 1847 by MehemetAli, for the twofold purpose of reclaiming many thousand acres of wasteland, and of regulating the discharge and the navigation through theDelta. The idea was originated by a Frenchman in his service namedLinant Bey. This engineer desired to alter the course of the river andbuild a weir at a point farther to the north, where the contour of landseemed to favour the design more than that of the present locality. Mehemet Ali thought his plans too costly, and accepted in preferencethose of Mougel Bey. Unexpected difficulties were encountered from thevery beginning. Mehemet was exceedingly anxious to hurry the work, andMougel Bey had only made a beginning, when an exceptionally high Nilecarried away all the lime in the concrete base. Mehemet Ali did notlive to see the completion of this work. The object, could it have beenrealised, was to hold up the waters of the Nile during the eight monthsof the ebb, and thus keep them on a level with the soil, and at the sametime to supply Lower Egypt with an amount of water equal to that whichcame down during flood-time. It was hoped to cover the very largeexpenditure by the additional land which it was expected would comeunder irrigation, and by doing away with the primitive _shadoofs_and setting free for productive enterprise the numerous army of theagricultural labourers who spent the greater part of their time inslowly raising up buckets of water from the Nile and pouring them intothe irrigating channels. 

[Illustration: 240b. Jpg Harbour at Suez]

The barrage is a double bridge, or weir, the eastern part spanning theDamietta branch of the Nile, the western part the Rosetta branch. Theappearance of the structure is so light and graceful that the spectatorfinds it hard to conceive of the difficulty and the greatness of thework itself. Architecturally, the barrage is very beautiful, witha noble front and a grand effect, produced by a line of castellatedturrets, which mark the site of the sluice gates. There are two loftycrenellated towers, corresponding with the towers over the gateway ofa mediaeval baronial castle. The sluices are formed of double cones ofhollow iron, in a semicircular form, worked on a radii of rods fixed toa central axis at each side of the sluice-gate. They are slowly raisedor let down by the labour of two men, the gates being inflected as theydescend in the direction of the bed of that part of the river whosewaters are retained. The working of the barrage was never what it wasintended to be. After the year 1867 it ceased to be of any practicalutility, and was merely an impediment to navigation. Between theyears 1885--90, however, during the British occupation, Sir ColonScott-Moncrieff successfully completed the barrage at a cost of$2, 500, 000, and now the desired depth of eight feet of water on thelower part of the Nile can always be maintained. 

[Illustration: 241. Jpg THE NILE BARRAGE]

It proved to be of the greatest advantage in saving labour worthhundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and in the irrigation andnavigation facilities that had been contemplated as among the benefitswhich would naturally accrue from its successful completion. 

Compared with the advance of the land seaward at the estuary of theMississippi and the Ganges, the advance of the Nile seaward is veryslow. This is accounted for by the geological theory that the Deltaof the Nile is gradually sinking. If this is so, the tendency of theperiodical deposit to raise the level of the Delta will be counteractedby the annual subsidence. These phenomena account for the gradual burialof Egyptian monuments under the sand, although the actual level of thesea above what it formerly was is quite unappreciable. 

The periodical rise in the Nile, recurring as regularly as therevolutions of the heavenly bodies, necessarily remained an unsolvedmystery to the ancients, for until the discovery of the tropicalregions, with their mountainous lakes and deluging rains, it wasimpossible to learn the occasion of this increase. It is now known thatthe Blue Nile, flowing out of the mountainous parts of Abyssinia, is thesole cause of the periodic overflow of the Nile. Without the tropicalrains of the Ethiopian tablelands, there would be no great rise nor anyfertilising deposits. Without the White Nile, which runs steadily fromthe perennial reservoirs of the great Central African lakes, the LowerNile would assume the character of an intermittent wady, such as theneighbouring Khor Baraka, periodically flushed by the discharge ofthe torrential downpours from Abyssinia. Though there is a periodicalincrease in the flow of the upper waters of the White Nile, yet theeffect of this, lower down, is minimised by the dense quantities ofvegetable drift, which, combining with the forest of aquatic growth, forms those vast barriers, known by the name of _sudd_, which not onlyarrest navigation but are able to dam up large bodies of water. 

The sudd, it is supposed, stopped the advance of the Roman centurionswho were sent up the Nile in the days of Nero. Sir Samuel Baker wasthe one who first pointed out the great disadvantage of allowing thevegetable matter to accumulate, both to merchants and to those who wereemployed to suppress the slave-trade. In the year 1863 the two branchesof the White Nile were blocked above their junction at Lake No. Onceblocked, the accumulation rapidly increased from the stoppage of outlet, forming the innumerable floating islands which at this part of the Nilecustomarily float down-stream. A marsh of vast extent had beenformed, and to all appearance, as Baker narrates, the White Nile haddisappeared. Baker cut through fifty miles of the sudd, and urged thekhédive to reopen the Nile. The work was successfully undertaken byIshmail Ayub Pasha, and the White Nile became clear for large vesselswhen Gordon reached Khartum in 1874. It is practically impossible tokeep the central provinces of the Nile open to civilisation unlessthe course of the Nile is free. Yet in 1878 the obstruction had beenrenewed, and during the occupation of these provinces by the rebeldervishes under the Mahdi and the califa the Nile was completelyblocked, as formerly, at Lake No. The alarming failure of the Nile floodin 1899--1900 was generally attributed to this blockade, and in1899 fifty thousand dollars was placed at the disposal of thegovernor-general for reopening the White Nile by removing the vastaccumulation of sudd which blocked the Bahr-el-Jebel from Lake No almostas far as Shambeh. The work was started under the direction of SirWilliam Garstin in 1899. In 1900 the greater part of the sudd had beenremoved by the strenuous labours of Major Peake, and the Nile againbecame navigable from Khartum to Rejaf. The sudd was found to be piledup and of almost as close a structure as peat. It was sawn out in blocksten feet square and carried away by gunboats. In the years 1901--02further progress was made, and twenty thousand dollars appropriatedfor the work; and by means of constant patrolling the sudd is nowpractically absent from the whole course of the White Nile. 

The discharge of the flood waters from the Upper Nile begins to makeitself felt in Lower Nubia and Egypt in the month of June, at firstslightly, and after the middle of July much more rapidly, the rivercontinuing to rise steadily till the first week in October, when itreaches high-water mark, nearly fifty-four or fifty-five feet at theEgyptian frontier, and twenty-five or twenty-six feet at Cairo. Asubsidence then sets in, and continues till low-water level is againreached, usually about the end of May. The floods are then much higherand confined to a narrower space in the Nubian section of the Nile, while they gradually die out in the region of the Delta, where theexcess seawards is discharged by the Rosetta and Damietta branches. Inplace of the old Nilometers, the amount of the rise of the Nile is nowreported by telegraph from meteorological stations. 

It is popularly supposed that at every rise the plains of the Delta areinundated, but this is not the case. The actual overflow of the banksof the river and canals is the exception, and when it happens is mostdisastrous. The irrigation of fields and plantations is effected byslow infiltration through the retaining dykes, which are preventedfrom bursting by the process of slow absorption. The first lands to beaffected are not those which are nearest to the dyke, but those whichare of the lowest level, because the waters, in percolating throughunder the ground, reach the surface of these parts first. In Manitobaduring a dry season sometimes the roots of the wheat strike down deepenough to reach the reservoir of moisture under ground. In Egypt thisunderground moisture is what is counted upon, but it is fed by a specialand prepared system, and is thus brought to the roots of the plantsartificially. 

[Illustration: 245. Jpg SCALE OF THE NILOMETER]

An analysis of the Nile alluvium, which has accumulated in the course ofages to a thickness of from three to four feet above the old river-bed, shows that it contains a considerable percentage of such fertilisingsubstances as carbonate of lime and magnesia, silicates of aluminum, carbon, and several oxides. Where the water has to be raised to higherlevels, two processes are used. The primitive shadoof of native originfigured on a monument as far back as 3, 300 years ago, and the moremodern sakieh was apparently introduced in later times from Syria andPersia. The shadoof is used on small farms, and the sakieh is more oftenused for larger farms and plantations. These contrivances line the wholecourse of the Nile from Lower Egypt to above Khartum. The shadoof willraise six hundred gallons ten feet in an hour, and consists of a poleweighted at one end, with a bucket at the other; when the water israised the weight counterbalances the weight of the full bucket. Thesakieh, which will raise twelve hundred gallons twenty or twenty-fourfeet in an hour, is a modified form of a Persian wheel, made to revolveby a beast of burden; it draws an endless series of buckets up from thewater, and automatically empties them into a trough or other receptacle. In former times these appliances were heavily taxed and made theinstruments of oppression, but these abuses have been reformed sinceEgypt came under a more humane form of government. 

Another interesting feature of the water ways of Egypt is theintermittent watercourses. The largest of these is the Khor Baraka(Barka), which flows out towards Tapan, south of Suakin. It presentssome analogy to the Nile, and in part was undoubtedly a perennial stream250 miles long, and draining seven or eight thousand square miles. Atpresent its flat sandy bed, winding between well-wooded banks, is dryfor a great part of the year. This route is extensively used for thecaravan trade between Suakin and Kassala. During September the waterbegins to flow, but is spasmodic. After the first flood the nativesplant their crops, but sometimes the second flow, being too great, cannot be confined to the limits prepared for it, and the crops arecarried away and the sowing must of necessity be started again. 

[Illustration: 247. Jpg A MODERN SAKIEH]

The canals of Egypt are of great aid in extending the beneficialinfluence of the inundations of the Nile. In Lower Egypt is theMahmudiyeh Canal, connecting Alexandria with the Rosetta branch, andfollowing the same direction as an ancient canal which preceded it. 

Mehemet Ali constructed this canal, which is about fifty miles long andone hundred feet broad. It is believed that twelve thousand labourersperished during its construction. Between the Rosetta and the Damiettabranches of the Nile there are other canals, such as the Manuf, whichconnects the two branches of the river at a point not far from theDelta. East of the Damietta branch are other canals, occupying theancient river-beds of the Tanitic and Pelusiac branches of the Nile. One of these is called the canal of the El-Muiz, from the first Fatimitecaliph who ruled in Egypt, and who ordered it to be constructed. Another is named the canal of Abul-Munegga, from the name of the Jew whoexecuted this work under the caliph El-'Amir, in order to bring waterinto the province of Sharkiyah. This last canal is connected with theremains of the one which in ancient times joined the Nile with the RedSea. After falling into neglect it has again in part been restored andmuch increased in length as the Sweet Water Canal. 

Further mention may also be made of the great canal called theBahr-Yusef, or River Joseph, which is important enough to be classed asa ramification of the Nile itself. As has been mentioned, this water wayruns parallel with the Nile on the west side below Cairo for about 350miles to Farshut, and is the most important irrigation canal in Egypt. It is a series of canals rather than one canal. Tradition states thatthis canal was repaired by the celebrated Saladin. Another tradition, relating that the canal existed in the time of the Pharaohs, hasrecently been proved to be correct. 

Egypt possesses not only the greatest natural water way in the world, but also the greatest artificial water way--the Suez Canal. Before theopening of this canal there were in the past other canals which affordedcommunication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. These ancientcanals differed in one respect from the Suez Canal, since they were allfed by the fresh waters of the Nile. One of these still remains in use, and is called the Fresh Water Canal. According to Aristotle, Strabo, andPliny, Sesostris was the first to conceive and carry out the idea of awater connection between the two seas, by means of the Pelusiac branchof the Nile from Avaris to Bubastis, and by rendering navigable theirrigation canal which already existed between Bubastis and Heroopolis. It is believed by some that the fragment bearing the oval of Ramses II. Found near the course of the present canal affords confirmation of thisassertion. 

The first authentic account of the carrying out of the conception ofan inter-sea water way is to be found in the time of Pharaoh Necho II. , about the year 610 B. C. Herodotus records of Necho that he was "thefirst to attempt the construction of the canal to the Red Sea. " Thiscanal tapped the Nile at Bubastis, near Zagazig, and followed closelythe line of modern Wady Canal to Heroopolis, the site of which lies inthe neighbourhood of Toussun and Serapeum, between the Bitter Lakes andLake Tinseh. At that date the Red Sea reached much farther inland thanit does now, and was called in the upper portion the Heroopolite Gulf. The expanse of brackish water, now known as the Bitter Lakes, was then, in all probability, directly connected with the Red Sea. The lengthof this canal, according to Pliny, was sixty-two miles, or aboutfifty-seven English miles. This length, allowing for the sinuosity ofthe valley traversed, agrees with the distance between the site of oldBubastis and the present head of the Bitter Lakes. The length givenby Herodotus of more than one thousand stadia (114 miles) must beunderstood to include the whole distance between the two seas, both bythe Nile and by the canal. Herodotus relates that it cost the lives of120, 000 men to cut the canal. He says that the undertaking was abandonedbecause of a warning from an oracle that the barbarians alone, meaningthe Persians, would benefit by the success of the enterprise. 

[Illustration: 251. Jpg HIEROGLYPHIC RECORD OF AN ANCIENT CANAL]

The true reason for relinquishing the plan probably was that theEgyptians believed the Red Sea to have been higher in altitude than theNile. They feared that if the canal were opened between the Nile andthe Red Sea the salt water would flow in and make the waters of the Nilebrackish. This explanation would indicate a lack of knowledge of locksand sluices on the part of the Egyptians. 

The work of Necho was continued by Darius, the son of Hystaspes (520B. C. ). The natural channel of communication between the HeroopoliteGulf and the Red Sea had begun to fill up with silt even in the time ofNecho, and a hundred years later, in the time of Darius, was completelyblocked, so that it had to be entirely cleaned out to render itnavigable. The traces of this canal can still be plainly seen in theneighbourhood of Shaluf, near the south end of the Bitter Lakes. Thepresent fresh-water canal was also made to follow its course for somedistance between that point and Suez. Persian monuments have been foundby Lepsius in the neighbourhood, commemorating the work of Darius. Onone of these the name of Darius is written in the Persian cuneiformcharacters, and on a cartouche in the Egyptian form. Until this date ittherefore appears that ships sailed up the Pelusiac branch of the Nileto Bubastis, and thence along the canal to Heroopolis, where the cargoeswere transhipped to the Red Sea. This inconvenient transfer of cargoeswas remedied by the next Egyptian sovereign, who bestowed much care onthe water connection between the two seas. 

Ptolemy Philadelphus (285 B. C. ), in addition to cleaning out andthoroughly restoring the two canals, joined the fresh-water canal withthe Heroopolite Gulf by means of a lock and sluices, which permitted thepassage of vessels, and were effective in preventing the salt water frommingling with the fresh water. At the point where the canal joined theHeroopolite Gulf to the Red Sea, Ptolemy founded the town of Arsinoë, alittle to the north of the modern Suez. 

The line of communication between the two seas was impassable duringthe reign of Cleopatra (31 b. C. ). It is believed by some that it wasrestored during the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (98-117). Duringthis period the Pelusiac branch of the Nile was very low, the waterhaving almost completely deserted this formerly well-filled course. If Trajan, therefore, undertook to reopen the water way, he must havetapped the Nile much higher up, in order to reach a plentiful supply ofwater. The old canal near Cairo, which elsewhere joined the line ofthe former canal on the way to the Bitter Lakes, was once called "AmnisTrajanus, " and from this it has been inferred that Trajan was really thebuilder, and that during his reign this canal was cleaned and renderednavigable. As there is no further evidence than the name to prove thatTrajan undertook so important an enterprise, the "Amnis Trajanus" wasprobably constructed during the Arabic period. 

When Amr had conquered Egypt, according to another account, the caliphOmar ordered him to ship rich supplies of grain to Mecca and Medina, because during the pilgrimages these cities and often the whole ofHedjaz suffered severely from famine. As it was extremely difficult tosend large quantities of provisions across the desert on the backsof camels, it is supposed that to facilitate this transportation Omarordered the construction of the canal from a point near Cairo to thehead of the Red Sea. On account of his forethought in thus providing forthe pilgrims to the Hedjaz, Omar received the title of "Prince of theFaithful" (Emir el-Momenéen), which thenceforth was adopted by hissuccessors in the caliphate. One hundred and thirty-four years afterthis time, El-Mansur, the second caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, is saidto have closed the canal to prevent supplies from being shipped to oneof the descendants of Ali who had revolted at Medina. Since that time itis probable that it has never been reopened, although there is a reportthat the Sultan Hakim rendered it available for the passage of boats inthe year A. D. 1000, after which it was neglected and became choked withsand. While not thereafter used for navigation, there were parts whichduring the time of the annual inundation of the Nile were filled withwater, until Mehemet Ali prevented this. The parts filled during theinundation extended as far as Sheykh Hanaydik, near Toussun and theBitter Lakes. 

The old canal which left the Nile at Cairo had long ceased to flowbeyond the outskirts of the city, and the still more ancient canal fromthe neighbourhood of Bubastis, now known as the Wady Canal, extendedonly a few miles in the direction of the isthmus as far as Kassassin. During the construction of the Suez Canal the need of supplying thelabourers with fresh water was imperative. The company, therefore, determined in 1861 to prolong the canal from Kassassin to the centre ofthe isthmus, and in the year 1863 they brought the fresh-water canal asfar as Suez. In one or two places the bed of the old canal was clearedout and made to serve the new canal. The level of the fresh-water canalis about twenty feet above that of the Suez Canal, which it joins atIsmailia by means of two locks. The difference of level between it andthe Red Sea is remedied by four locks constructed between Nefeesh andits terminus at Suez. Its average depth of water at high Nile is sixfeet, and at low Nile three feet. 

A canal from Bulak, near Cairo, passing by Heliopolis and Belbeys, andjoining the Wady Canal a few miles east of Zagazig, restores the lineof water communication between the Nile and the Red Sea as it existedperhaps in the time of Trajan, and certainly as it was in the time ofthe Caliph Omar. The improvement of this canal as a means of transit islocal and external only. 

Napoleon Bonaparte was the first in modern times to take up the subjectof a water connection between the two seas. In 1798 he examined thetraces of the old canal of Necho and his successors, and orderedMonsieur Lepère to survey the isthmus and prepare a project for unitingthe two seas by a direct canal. The result of this French engineer'slabours was to discover a supposed difference of thirty feet betweenthe Red Sea at high tide and the Mediterranean at low tide. As thisinequality of level seemed to preclude the idea of a direct maritimecanal, a compromise was recommended. 

Owing to the exertions of Lieutenant Waghorn, the route throughEgypt for the transmission of the mails between England and India wasdetermined upon in 1839. The Peninsular and Oriental Company establisheda service of steamers between England and Alexandria, and between Suezand India. In spite of this endeavour nothing was actually accomplishedwith regard to a canal until 1846, when a mixed commission was appointedto enquire into the subject. This commission entirely exploded the errorinto which Lepère had fallen in reporting a difference of level betweenthe two seas. 

A plan was projected in 1855 by M. Linant Bey and M. Mougel Bey, underthe superintendence of M. De Les-seps, who had already received a firmanof concession from Said Pasha. This plan recommended a direct canalbetween Suez and Pelusium, which should pass through the Bitter Lakes, Lake Tinseh, Ballah, and Menzaleh, and connecting with the sea at eachend by means of a lock. A fresh-water canal from Bulak to the centre ofthe isthmus and thence through Suez, with a conduit for conveying waterto Pelusium, was also proposed. This project was in 1856 submitted toan international commission company composed of representatives fromEngland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Prussia, and Spain, and the following modification was suggested: that the line of the canalto the north should be slightly altered and brought to a point seventeenand a half miles west of Pelusium, this change being determined uponfrom the fact that the water at this point was from twenty-five tothirty feet deep at a distance of two miles from the coast, whereas atPelusium this depth of water was only to be found at a distance offive miles from the coast. It was suggested that the plan for locksbe abolished, and the length of the jetties at Suez and Port Said bediminished. Various other details of a minor character were determined, and this project was finally accepted and carried through by the SuezCanal Company. 

[Illustration: 259. Jpg FERDINAND DE LESSEPS]

In 1854 M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, whose father was the firstrepresentative of France in Egypt after the occupation, and who waschosen consul at Cairo (1831--1838), obtained a preliminary concessionfrom Said Pasha, authorising him to form a company for the purpose ofexcavating a canal between the two seas, and laying down the connectionson which the concession was granted. This was followed by the drawing upand revision of the project mentioned above, and by the renewal in1856 of the first concession with certain modifications and additions. Meanwhile the British government, under the influence of LordPalmerston, then foreign secretary, endeavoured for various politicalreasons to place obstacles in the way of the enterprise, and so farsucceeded in this unworthy attempt as to prevent the sultan from givinghis assent to the concessions made by the viceroy of Egypt. Nothing, however, could daunt the intrepid promoter, M. De Lesseps. He declaredhis motto to be "Pour principe de commencer par avoir de la con-fiance. "Undeterred by intrigues, and finding that his project met with afavourable reception throughout the Continent of Europe, he determined, in 1858, to open a subscription which would secure funds for theundertaking. The capital, according to the statistics of the company, approved in the firman of the concession, was to consist of fortymillion dollars in shares of one hundred dollars each. More than halfof this amount was subscribed for, and eventually, in 1860, Said Pashaconsented to take up the remaining unallotted shares, amounting to morethan twelve million dollars. Disregarding the opposition of the Englishgovernment, and ignoring the Sublime Porte, which was influenced byEngland, M. De Lesseps began his work in 1859, and on the 25th of Aprilof that year the work was formally commenced, in the presence of M. DeLesseps and four directors of the company, by the digging of a smalltrench along the projected line of the canal, on the narrow strip ofland between Lake Menzaleh and the Mediterranean. This was followedby the establishment of working encampments in different parts of theisthmus. 

Although the first steps were thus taken, incredible difficultiesprevented de Lesseps from pushing forward with his work. Towards theclose of 1862 the actual results were only a narrow "rigole" cut fromthe Mediterranean to Lake Tinseh, and the extension of the freshwatercanal from Rasel-Wady to the same point. The principal work done in 1863was the continuation of the fresh-water canal to Suez. At this point afresh obstacle arose which threatened to stop the work altogether. Among the articles of the concession of 1856 was one providing thatfour-fifths of the workmen on the canal should be Egyptians. Said Pashaconsented to furnish these workmen by conscription from different partsof Egypt, and the company agreed to pay them at a rate equal to abouttwo-thirds less than was given for similar work in Europe, and one-thirdmore than they received in their own country, and to provide them withfood, dwellings, etc. In principle this was the _corvée_, or forcedlabour. The fellaheen were taken away from their homes and set to workat the canal, though there is no doubt that they were as well treatedand better paid than at home. The injustice and impolicy of this clausehad always been insisted upon to the sultan by the English government, and when Ismail Pasha became viceroy, in the year 1863, he saw thatthe constant drain upon the working population required to keep twentythousand fresh labourers monthly for the canal was a loss to the countryfor which nothing could compensate. In the early part of 1864 he refusedto continue to send the monthly contingent, and the work was almoststopped. 

By the consent of all the parties, the subjects in dispute weresubmitted to the arbitrage of the French Emperor Napoleon III. , whodecided that the two concessions of 1854 and 1856, being in the natureof a contract and binding on both parties, the Egyptian governmentshould pay an indemnity equal to the fellah labour and $6, 000, 000 forthe resumption of the lands originally granted, two hundred metres onlybeing retained on each side of the canal for the erection of workshops, the deposit of soil, etc. , and $3, 200, 000 for the fresh-water canal, andthe right of levying tolls on it. The Egyptian government undertook tokeep it in repair and navigable, and to allow the company free use ofit for any purpose. The sum total of these payments amounted to$16, 800, 000, and was to be paid in sixteen instalments from 1864 to1879. 

The company now proceeded to replace by machinery the manual labour, and, thanks to the energy and ingenuity of the principal contractors, Messrs. Borel and Lavalley, that which seemed first of all to threatendestruction to the enterprise now led to its ultimate success. Withoutthe machinery thus called into action, it is probable that the canalwould never have been completed when it was. The ingenuity displayedin the invention of this machinery, and its application to this vastundertaking, constituted one of the chief glories in the enterprise ofM. De Lesseps. 

The work now proceeded without interruption of any kind; but at the endof the year 1867 it became evident that more money would be needed, anda subscription was opened for the purpose of obtaining $20, 000, 000 bymeans of one hundred dollar shares, issued at $600 a share, and bearinginterest at the rate of five dollars a share. When more money was neededin 1869, the government agreed to renounce the interest on the sharesheld by it for twenty-five years, and more bonds were issued. 

By help of these subventions and loans the work was pushed onward withgreat vigour. The sceptical were gradually losing their scepticism, and all the world was awakening to see what an immense advantage tocivilisation the triumph of de Lesseps' engineering enterprise would be. 

[Illustration: 263. Jpg THE OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL]

The great Frenchman had shown consummate skill as an organiser, butstill more perhaps as an astute diplomatist, who knew how to upsetthe machinations of his numerous and powerful opponents by judiciouscounter-strokes of policy. By the beginning of 1869, the great laboursof the company had very nearly reached their completion. The waters, flowing from the Mediterranean, first entered into the Bitter Lakes onMarch 18, 1869. Ismail Pasha was present to watch the initial success ofthe grand undertaking, and predicted that in a very short space of timethe canal would be open to the ships of all the world. The first steamerwhich made the passage was one which carried M. De Lesseps on board, and which steamed the whole length of the canal September, 1869, in aninterval of fifteen hours. This was a great triumph for the intrepid andpersevering engineer, whose enterprise had been scoffed at by many menof the greatest European fame, and the completion of which had beendelayed by incredible obstacles arising from jealousy or want of funds. By this time the unworthy tactics of the former Palmerston ministry ofGreat Britain in opposition to a scheme of such universal helpfulnessto commerce had been succeeded by an official interest in the successof the enterprise which grew from sentiment, in the first instance, toa willingness later to buy up all the shares held by the Egyptiangovernment. M. De Lesseps gave formal notice early in September that thecanal would be opened for navigation on November 17, 1869. The khédivemade costly preparations in order that the event might become aninternational celebration. Invitations were sent to all the sovereignsof Europe. The sultan refused to be present, but the Empress Eugenieaccepted the invitation in the name of the French people. The Austrianemperor, the Prussian crown prince, and Prince Amadeus of Italy alsotook part in the festivity. The initial ceremony was on November 15th, at Port Said. Emperor Francis Joseph landed at midday, and was receivedwith pomp and magnificence by the Khedive Ismail. There were splendiddecorations in the streets and triumphal arches were raised. Meanwhilesalutes were exchanged between the batteries and the ships of war in theharbour. At night there were gorgeous illuminations and fireworks. Thekhédive gave a grand ball on his own yacht, at which the Emperor ofAustria and all the distinguished guests were in attendance. The Frenchempress then arrived in Alexandria, and was received by Ismail andFrancis Joseph with salutes of guns and the acclamations of the people. The next day the French imperial yacht Aigle, with the empress on board, proceeded to steam up the canal, being followed by forty vessels. Theyreached Ismailia after eight hours and a half, and were there met byvessels coming from the south end at Suez. On November 19th the fleetof steamers, led by the French imperial yacht, set out for Suez. Theyanchored overnight at the Bitter Lakes, and on November 21st the wholefleet of forty-five steamers arrived at Suez and entered the Red Sea. The empress, accompanied by the visiting fleet, returned on November22nd, and reached the Mediterranean on the 23rd. 

England, the country which more than any other had opposed the progressof the canal, derived more benefit than any other country from itscompletion. In 1875 the British government bought 176, 600 shares fromthe khédive for a sum of nearly $20, 000, 000; and at the present time thevalue of these shares has risen more than fourfold. By this acquisitionthe British government became the largest shareholder. Of the shippingwhich avails itself of this route to the East, which is shorter by sixthousand miles than any other, about eighty per cent, is British. In1891, of 4, 207 ships, with a grain tonnage of 12, 218, 000, as many as3, 217 of 9, 484, 000 tons were British. 

Extensive works were undertaken in 1894 for the widening of the canal. Illuminated buoys and electric lights have been introduced to facilitatethe night traffic, so that, proceeding continuously, instead of stoppingovernight, ships can now pass through in less than twenty hours in placeof the thirty-five or forty hours which were formerly taken to effectthe passage. These greater facilities postponed the need of discussingthe project for running a parallel canal to the East which some time agowas thought to be an impending necessity on account of the blockage ofthe canal by the number of vessels passing through its course. 

By the Anglo-French Convention of 1888, the canal had acquired aninternational character. Both the water way itself and the isthmus forthree miles on either side were declared neutral territory, exempt fromblockade, fortification, or military occupation of any kind. The passageis to remain open for all time to ships of all nations, whether they arewar-ships or merchantmen or liners, or whether the country to which theybelong is engaged in war or enjoying peace. Within this convention wasincluded the fresh-water canal which supplies drinking water to Ismailiaand Port Said, and all the floating population about the banks ofthe Suez Canal. On April 8, 1904, by the terms of a new Anglo-FrenchColonial Treaty, it has been jointly agreed that the provisions of theConvention of 1888 shall remain in force for the next thirty years. 

Egypt was the scene of the earliest of all advances in engineeringscience. The system of irrigation, which originated in the days of theoldest Egyptian dynasties, has remained practically the same through allthe intervening centuries until very recent times. During every periodof vigorous government the rulers of Egypt paid special attention toirrigation canals and sluices, through which the flood waters couldbe brought to some hitherto uncultivated area. The famous barrage, projected early in the nineteenth century and only rendered efficientfor what it was intended since the British occupation, made very littlealteration in the actual supply of water during the seasons of low waterin the Nile. The most serious problem is how to ward off the periodicalfamine years, of which there has been record from the earliest ages, and of which the Book of Genesis has left an account in the history ofJoseph and the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. Withoutcreating such a vast reservoir in the upper waters of the Nile, that thestorage there retained can be available in years of low water to fillthe river to its accustomed level, it is impossible to preventthe calamity occasioned by leaving many districts of Egypt withoutcultivation for one or more seasons. With the desire of accomplishingthis, Sir Benjamin Baker, the leading authority on engineering works inEgypt, prepared a scheme for reserving a vast storage of water in UpperEgypt at Aswan. It was also decided to follow up the enterprise withanother to be undertaken at Assiut. 

On February 20, 1898, the khédive approved of a contract with Messrs. John Aird and Company, which settled the much-debated question of theNile reservoir and the scheme for the great dam at Aswan. The governmentwas able to start the undertaking without any preliminary outlay. It wasagreed that the company should receive the sum of $800, 000 a year fora period of thirty years. Aswan, six hundred miles south of Cairo, wasselected as an advantageous site because the Nile at that place flowsover a granite bed, and is shut in on either side by granite rocks, which, when the course of the river is barred, would form the shores ofthe artificial irrigation lake. 

Before this work started, there had been a long controversy as to theeffect produced by the rising waters upon the renowned temple on theIsle of Philæ. Lord Leighton, the president of the Royal Academy, hadvigorously protested against allowing the destruction of this famousancient ruin. In the modification of the plans caused by this protest, it was hoped that no serious harm would result to this well-preservedrelic of ancient Egyptian religion and art. 

[Illustration: 269. Jpg APPROACH TO PHILAE]

The enterprise was put through with great rapidity, the projectfully realising the designs of its inaugurators. By aid of this greatstructure, 2, 500 square miles have been added to the area of the 10, 500miles hitherto subject to cultivation. Its value to the country is atthe least worth $100, 000, 000. The dam extends for one and a quartermiles, and possesses 180 openings, each of which is twenty-three feethigh, and will altogether allow the outpour of fifteen thousand tons ofwater per second. Navigation up and down the Nile has not been impeded, since, by a chain of four locks, vessels are able to pass up and downthe river. Each lock is 260 feet long and thirty-two feet wide. Duringflood-time the gates of the dam are open; while the flood is subsidingthe gates are gradually closed, and thus, in a long season of low water, the reservoir is gradually filled up for use through a system of canals, whereby the waters can be drawn off for irrigation and the main flow ofthe Nile can be increased. The lake thus formed is nearly three timesthe superficial area of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, and the waters areheld back for a distance of 140 miles up the course of the river. Thereservoir is filled during the months of January and February, and fromApril to the end of August the water is let out for irrigation purposesfrom the bottom of the reservoir, thus enabling the sediment, whichis of such value, to be carried out through the sluices. Four or fivewaterings are allowed to percolate from it to the various regions whichare thus brought under cultivation, and besides this the main supply ofthe river itself is artificially increased at the same time. 

The dam has been constructed of granite ashlar taken from quarries nearAswan. These quarries are the very same from which the ancient obeliskswere hewn. The amount of rock used was about one million tons inweight. In building the dam it was found to be very difficult to lay thefoundation, since the bottom of the river proved to be unsound, althoughin the preliminary reports it had been declared to be of solid granite. In some instances it was found necessary to dig down for forty feet, inorder to lay a perfectly secure foundation on which the heavy wall couldbe superimposed. This required much additional labour, and great riskand damage was encountered during the progress of the work at the dateof the impending rise of the waters of the Nile. Rubble dams wereraised to ward off the waters from the point where it was necessary toexcavate. The holes were gradually filled with solid blocks of granite;then the base of the structure, one hundred feet in width, was laid, and the massive piers, capable of resisting the immense pressure ofthe water during the height of the floods, were raised, and the wholeedifice was at length completed with great rapidity by the aid ofmany thousand workmen, just before the rise in the Nile occurred. Theofficial opening of the dam took place on the 10th of December, 1902. 

The dam at Aswan is the greatest irrigation project ever yet undertaken, but is by no means the last one likely to be executed in relation tothe waters of the Nile. A smaller dam is to be constructed at Assiut, in order to supply a system of irrigation in the neighbourhood of thatcity, and also to carry water across to thousands of acres between thisregion and Cairo. This project is planned somewhat after the design ofthe barrage which is below Cairo. 

It is impossible to forecast what engineering skill may have instore for the future of Egypt. One may hope, at least, that the mostprosperous days of the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, and the Romans will bereproduced once more for the modern Egyptians, as an outcome of thewise administration which has originated through the occupation of thecountry by the English, as an international trust held for civilisation. By aid of British initiative, Egypt now controls a vast empire inequatorial Africa and the Sudan, and the great water ways of thisimmense territory are being gradually brought under such control thatthe maximum advantage to all the population will be the necessaryresult. The whole Nile is now opened to commerce. The British haveguaranteed equal rights, and what has been called the policy of the"open door, " for the commerce of all nations. 

The history of the modern exploration of the Nile is closely associatedwith the history of Egypt in modern times. The men who firstvisited Egypt and ascended the Nile valley were in almost every caseIndo-Euro-peans. The early Egyptians were familiar perhaps with theNile as far as Khartum, and with the Blue Nile up to its source in LakeTsana, but they showed little or no interest in exploring the WhiteNile. In 457 B. C. , Herodotus entered Egypt, and ascended the Nile asfar as the First Cataract. He then learned many things about its upperwaters, and made enquiries about the territories which lay beyond. He heard that the source was unknown; that there was a centre ofcivilisation in a city of the Ethiopians, in the bend of the Nile atMeroë (Merawi of to-day), but about the regions beyond he was unable tolearn anything. Eratosthenes, the earliest geographer of whom wehave record, was born in 276 b. C. At Cyrene, North Africa. From theinformation he gathered and edited, he sketched a nearly correct routeof the Nile to Khartum. He also inserted the two Abyssinian affluents, and suggested that lakes were the source of the river. 

When Rome extended her domains over Egypt, in 30 B. C. , the interest ofthe Romans was aroused in the solution of the problem of the discoveryof the source of the Nile. Strabo set out with Ælius Gallus, the RomanGovernor of Egypt, on a journey of exploration up the Nile as far asPhilæ, at the First Cataract. About 30 B. C. Greek explorers by the namesof Bion, Dalion, and Si-mondes were engaged in active exploration of theNile above the First Cataract and perhaps south of Khartum, according tothe account of Pliny the Elder, writing in 50 A. D. The Emperor Nero, inA. D. 66, sent an expedition up the Nile, and its members journeyed asfar as the modern Fashoda and perhaps even beyond the White Nile. Their advance was impeded by the sudd, and, after writing discouragingreports, their attempt was abandoned. Among the Greek merchants whotraded on the East African coast was one named Diogenes, who had beeninformed by an Arab that by a twenty-five days' journey one could gainaccess to a chain of great lakes, two of which were the headwaters ofthe White Nile. They also said that there was a mountain range, namedfrom its brilliant appearance the Mountains of the Moon. He was informedthat the Nile formed from the two head streams, flowed through marshesuntil it united with the Blue Nile, and then it flowed on until itentered into well-known regions. Diogenes reported this to a Syriangeographer named Marinus of Tyre, who wrote of it in his _Geography_during the first century of the Christian era. The writings of Marinusdisappeared, it is supposed, when the Alexandrian Library was scattered, but luckily Gladius Ptolemy quoted them, and thus they have beenpreserved for us. Ptolemy wrote, in 150 A. D. , the first clearlyintelligible account of the origin of the White Nile, the two lakes, Victoria and Albert Nyanza, and the Mountains of the Moon. But no lessthan 1, 740 years elapsed before justice could be done to this ancientgeographer, and his account verified. It was Sir Henry M. Stanley whodiscovered the Ruwanzori mountain range, corresponding to the classicalMountains of the Moon, and who thus justified Ptolemy's view ofthe topography of Africa. For many years after Ptolemy, the work ofexploring the sources of the Nile was entirely discontinued, and thesolution of the problem was still wrapped in impenetrable mystery. 

The first modern explorer of any consequence who came from Great Britainwas a Scotchman named Bruce. In 1763 he travelled through many portsof Northern Africa and visited the Levant, and subsequently Syria andPalestine. Wherever he went he drew sketches of antiquities, which arenow preserved in the British Museum. Landing in Africa in 1786, he wentup the Nile as far as Aswan. From there he travelled to the Red Sea andreached Jiddah, the port of Hajas. He then returned to Africa, stoppingat Massawra, and from there penetrated into the heart of Abyssinia. The emperor received him with favour and suffered him to reach the BlueNile, which to the mind of Bruce had always been considered as the mainstream of the Nile. Having determined the latitude and longitude, hewent down the Blue Nile as far as the site of Khartum, where the watersof the White Nile join with those of the Blue Nile. He next proceededto Berber, and crossed the desert to Korosko, returning, after a threeyears' journey, in the year 1773. In journeying through France manylearned men took a great interest in the story of his explorations, buthe was bitterly disappointed to hear that he had not been the first toreach the sources of the Blue Nile. Partly for this reason he delayedpublishing his travels for seventeen years after his return. Bruce was atruthful and accurate writer, but nevertheless his book was received onall sides with incredulity. Although received at the British court, hewas not given any special honours or decorations. He first pointed outthe great importance to England of controlling the Egyptian route toIndia, and he also secured for English merchants a concession on the RedSea. 

In 1812, John Ludwig Burckhardt, of Swiss nationality, the first amongEuropeans, made a pilgrimage to Mecca and then travelled up the Nileto Korosko, after which he crossed the desert to Berber and Shendy. His death occurred after his return to Cairo, and he left a valuablecollection of Oriental manuscripts to the University of Cambridge, England, which were published after his death. 

In 1827, a Belgian, named Adolphe Lisiant, ascended the White Nile towithin 150 miles of Khartum. The expedition which he led was aided byan English society, called the "African Association, " which becameafterwards a part of the Royal Geographical Society. Many explorersvisited the White Nile between 1827 and 1845. In 1845, John Pethrick, aWelshman, explored the Nile for coal and precious metals in the interestof Mehemet Ali. After the death of this pasha, Pethrick visited El-Obeidin Kordofan as a trader, and remained there for five years. In 1853he ventured upon an enterprise relating to the ivory trade. For thispurpose he travelled backwards and forwards upon the White Nile and theBahr-el-Ghazal for a period of six years, reaching some of the importantaffluents of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the Jur and the Jalo, or the Rol. Returning to England, he was commissioned to undertake a reliefexpedition to help Captains Speke and Grant, who had set out upon theirjourney of exploration, and in the year 1861 he returned to CentralAfrica. Interest in the slave-trade deterred him from following thedirections under which he had been sent out, namely, to bring reliefto Speke and Grant. Sir Samuel Baker anticipated him in relieving theexpedition, and this so angered Speke that he attempted to have Pethrickdeprived of his consular position. Pethrick died in 1882. 

When Lieutenant Richard Francis Burton had completed his famous journeythrough Hedjaz to the sacred city of Mecca, he called at the port ofAden at the southwest extremity of Arabia. While there, he made friendswith the authorities, and persuaded them to allow him to penetrateAfrica through Somaliland, which is situated to the southwest ofAbyssinia. He hoped by an overland journey westbound to strike the Nileat its headwaters. John H. Speke accompanied Burton on his journey, andthus gained his first experience of African exploration. Unfortunatelythis expedition was not a success, for the Somali were so suspiciousof the object of the travellers that they forced them to return to thecoast. 

[Illustraton: 277. Jpg THE MAIN STREAM OF THE NILE]

Once more, in 1856, the same party started farther south from Zanzibar. Hearing of a great inland lake, they pressed forwards to make anexploration, but were prevented by the Masai tribes. Burton was now laidup with fever, and Speke formed a large party and crossed the Unyamiveziand Usukuma. On July 30, 1858, they were fortunate enough to cross oneof the bays of the southern half of Lake Victoria Nyanza. They strucknorthwards, and, on August 3rd, gained sight of the open waters of thegreat lake. Speke did not realise the vast area of the lake at thistime, and put down its width at about one hundred miles. As he hadpromised Burton to return at a certain pre-arranged date, he went backto the coast. Burton, however, was unreasonable enough to be displeasedwith Speke's discovery, and the two fell into strained relations. Onarriving at the coast, Speke at once went back to England, and thereraised funds to make a longer and more complete exploration. He wasnaturally anxious to learn more about the great lake in the middle ofthe continent, and, besides this, he thought that he could demonstrateto the satisfaction of the scientific world that this vast basin ofwater was the source of the White Nile. Captain James A. Grant askedleave to accompany Speke, and became his efficient lieutenant. Grant wasa good shot, a matter of importance, for it was almost certain thatthe party would have to confront the danger of being surrounded by wildbeasts and hostile natives. He was also a good geologist and paintedwell in water-colours, and proved himself to be a capable lieutenantto the leader of the party. The Indian government sent the expedition aquantity of ammunition and surveying instruments. 

The party started from Zanzibar for the interior in October, 1860. AtUsugara they were detained by the illness of Captain Grant and some ofthe Hottentot retainers. A number of the instruments were now sent backin order to lighten the burdens, and among other things was returned thecumbrous photographic apparatus, which was the only kind in use in thesixties. At Ugogo serious trouble arose with the native chiefs, whodemanded tolls from the party. Many of the remaining porters heredeserted, and others were frightened by the hostility of the localtribes. When at length they reached the Unyamivezi most of the beasts ofburden had died, and half of the stores they had intended to bring withthem were found to have been stolen by the natives. The Arabs here toldSpeke that there was another lake besides the Victoria, whose waters, according to some, were reported to be salty. 

Fierce internecine wars were now being waged between the tribes of thelocality, which made any thought of progress, so long as they lasted, an impossibility. Speke, having successfully endeavoured to negotiate apeace between the chief Mouwa and the Arabs of the region, resolved uponthe bold enterprise of pushing on without Grant and the suppliestowards Buzina, the nearest country ruled by Bahima chiefs. The venture, however, was a fruitless one, and he bravely struggled to reach Usui. In this he succeeded, remaining there till October, 1861, when he wentthrough the region of the Suwaroras, who demanded excessive tollsfor permission to pass through their territory. Proceeding into thewilderness, they were met by envoys from Rumanika, a king whose courtthey intended to visit, and who had heard in advance of their impendingjourney. The messengers of the king received them well and brought themto the court. Rumanika now desired them to remain at his capital untilhe had sent word before them that the party intended to go to Uganda. Grant, about this time, was laid up with an ulcerated leg; and, when thetime came for moving forward, Speke was obliged to set out for Ugandaalone, which place he entered on January 16, 1862. He became a closefriend of the royal family and the chief men, and his beard was aconstant source of admiration and conversation. 

The illness of Grant prevented him from joining the party at Uganda tillthe end of May, and on July 7th of the same year, after many delays, they obtained leave from the king to leave Uganda. By July the 28th, Speke had reached the Ripon Falls, where the Victoria Nyanza branch ofthe Nile flows out of the great lake at the head of Napoleon Gulf. Thesefalls were called after the Marquis of Ripon, who was then thepresident of the Royal Geographical Society. At this time, Grant, stillconvalescent, was moving by a more direct route towards Ungaro. Spekemet him again on the way thither, and they finished their journeytogether. After suffering vexatious impositions from the monarch, Speke asked leave to go and visit a new lake which the natives calledLutanzige, but was refused permission. He then sent Bombay, his servantand interlocutor, along the course of the Nile towards the outpostsof Pethrick. The messenger returned with hopeful news that there wasa clear course open to them in that direction. The whole party thenjourneyed down the Kafu River to the point where it enters the Nile. On the way thither, they came to the Karuma Falls, and were obligedto march across swampy ground. Finally they met a Sudanese black namedMu-hammed Wad-el-Mek, who was dressed like an Egyptian and who spokeArabic. Muhammed first of all told them that he had come from Pethrick, but it was later discovered that he was in the employment of DoctorBono, a trader from Malta. The Sudanese was not anxious that theparty should proceed, and told them stories about the impossibility ofascending the river at that time, during the month of December. It wasdifficult to dissuade Speke, however, and on January 12, 1863, he setout for a place which is now called Affudu. There the party paused forawhile in order to kill enough game to feed the native servants. On the1st of February, having forced some of the natives into their service asporters, they descended the Nile to its confluence with the Asua River. They next crossed this river, and proceeded onwards to the Nile Rapids, and from thence skirted the borders of the Bari country. On February 15, 1863, they made an entrance into Gondokoro, where the whole party wasfilled with joy to meet Sir Samuel Baker, who had arrived there on theway out to relieve them. They all advanced together to Khartum, afterwhich Speke and Grant returned to England, in the spring of 1863. Thuswas the task of the discovery of the sources of the Nile, which hadbaffled the seekers for many centuries, at length completed. Speke wasreceived by the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII. ), but the satisfactionof being allowed to place an additional motto on his coat-of-arms wasthe only recognition which he received for his services. 

As a result of Speke's discoveries, the Victoria Nyanza took its placeon the maps of Africa, and a fair conception had been obtained of thesize and shape of Lake Albert Nyanza. 

[Illustration: 283. Jpg THE FERRY AT OLD CAIRO]

The whole course of the White Nile was also revealed with more or lessaccuracy, and all the mysterious surmises as to the great flow of theNile from some unknown headwaters of enormous extent were now solved. It was only necessary to fill in the details of the map in regard tothe great lakes and the rivers which flowed into them, and further toinvestigate the extensive territory between the lakes and the Egyptiansettlements to the north. Sir Samuel Baker was the man who more thanany other helped to supply the details of the work already accomplished. From Cairo he started on a journey up the course of the Nile. When hehad reached Berber, he chose the course of the At-bara, or Blue Nile, the branch which receives the floods of water from the Abyssiniantable-lands. He travelled up the western frontier of Abyssinia, proceeding as far as the river Rahad, a river flowing into the Blue Nilefrom the Egyptian side. From this point Baker turned backwards towardsKhartum, which he reached in June, 1862, where he made a stay of someduration. He now made up his mind to search for Speke, and went up theWhite Nile as far as Gondokoro, where the meeting with Speke took place. Baker left this place March 26, 1863, but met with almost insuperableobstacles in trying to make further advance. The porters deserted, thecamels died, and the ammunition and the presents intended to ease theway through the territory of native princes had to be all abandoned. Thus disencumbered, his party ascended the White Nile until they reachedthe Victoria affluent. The Bauyno tribes now prevented his intendedadvance to the Albert Nyanza. Baker, however, had the good fortune to bewell received by the chieftain Kamurasi, and, as he was at this momentsuffering from a severe attack of fever, the friendliness of thisCentral African chieftain was probably the means of saving his life. Theking graciously received Baker's present of a double-barrelled gun, andthen sent him onward with two guides and three hundred men. The partynow managed to push their way to the shores of the Albert Nyanza. Theyfirst arrived at a place called Mbakovia, situated near the south-eastcoast, and on March 16, 1864, they saw for the first time the great lakeitself, which they now named the Albert Nyanza. After a short stay atMbakovia, they proceeded along the coast of the lake until they reachedMagungo, where the Victoria branch of the Nile flows into the AlbertNyanza. Continuing the journey up the source of the Victoria Nile, theydiscovered the Murchison Falls. When they set out for the Karuma Fallsthe porters deserted, and after many desperate adventures they at lengthreturned to Khartum in May, 1865. Baker then went on to Berber, andcrossed the desert to Suakin on the Red Sea. He returned to Englandlate in the year 1865, and was received with honour and decorated by thequeen with a well-earned knighthood. 

In the year 1869 Baker entered the service of the Egyptian government, and was commissioned by the viceroy to subdue the regions of EquatorialAfrica, and annex them to the Egyptian Empire. To succeed in thisenterprise he waged many a war with African tribes like the Boni. Onseveral occasions these conflicts had been forced upon him; onother occasions Baker Pasha was the aggressor, owing to his fixeddetermination to extend on all sides the limits of the Egyptian Sudan. With all the rulers, however, who treated him well, he remained on termsof loyalty and friendship; and, in time, he inspired them with respectfor his fairness and liberality. Baker Pasha scattered the slave-traderson all sides, and, for the time being, effectually broke up their power. The slave-traders of the Sudan were of Arab nationality, and were inthe habit of advancing farther, year by year, upon the villages of thedefenceless Africans, and spreading their ravages into the heart ofAfrica. They always attacked the less warlike tribes, and, upon breakinginto a negro settlement, would carry off the whole population, exceptthe aged or sick. The slaves were herded together in vast numbers byhelp of logs of wood sawn in two, with holes cut large enough to enclosethe neck of a slave, and the two sides of the log afterwards securelyfastened again, thereby yoking together a row of these unfortunatebeings. Every year, out of five hundred thousand or more slaves, atleast half the number perished. . The markets for the slaves were thecities of the Muhammedans all through North Africa, Syria, Turkey, andPersia. The death-dealing hardships to the slaves were for the most partendured on the long journey to Cairo, or, when the trade was suppressedthere, to points north of the Sudan, such as Tripoli, or certain portson the Red Sea. Those who were hardy enough to reach the slave-marketswere usually well treated by their Muhammedan masters. During the timeof Baker Pasha's administration, while he was pursuing the slave-tradersand establishing Egyptian outposts, the whole course of the Nile fromthe Great Lakes became well known to the civilised world, though afterthis period Baker Pasha did not make any further voyages of discoveryinto unknown parts. 

During the years of 1859 and 1860, an adventurous Dutch lady of fortune, Miss Alexandrine Tinné, journeyed up the Nile as far as Gondokoro, andin 1861 she commenced to organise a daring expedition to find the sourceof the Bahr-el-Ghazel, and explore the territory between the Nile basinand Lake Chad. She started from Khartum, and ascended the Bahr-el-Ghazelas far as the affluent Bahr-el-Hamad. She then crossed overland as faras the Jur and Kosango Rivers, and reached the mountains on the outlyingdistricts of the Nyam-Nyam country. Here the members of the expeditionsuffered from black-water fever, and only with the greatest difficultywere they able to return to Khartum, where they arrived in July, 1864. In 1868 Miss Tinné, nothing-daunted, started for Lake Chad from Tripoli, with the intention of closing in upon the Nile from the eastern sourcesof the affluents of the Bahr-el-Ghazel. On reaching Wadi-Aberjong, however, this brave-hearted woman was waylaid by the fierce Tuaregs, andwas beheaded August 1, 1868. 

In the sixties, Georg Schweinfurth, a native of Riga, in the Balticprovinces of Russia, set out to explore Nubia, Upper Egypt, andAbyssinia for botanical purposes. Subsequently the Royal Academy ofScience in Berlin equipped him for an expedition to explore the regionof the Bahr-el-Ghazel. He entered the Sudan by Suakin on the Red Sea, and crossed the desert to Berber, reaching Khartum on November 1, 1868. The following January he set out along the course of the White Nile, passed Getina, and examined the vegetation (sudd) which had drifteddown from all the affluents of the White Nile. He prolonged his stayfor three years on the Bahr-el-Ghazel, solely absorbed in scientificstudies, and, unlike his predecessors, he was unconcerned with reformsand attempts to suppress the slave-trade. 

Schweinfurth penetrated so far into the heart of Africa that he reachedthe Congo basin and explored the upper waters of the Welle River, and onhis return to Europe he published a work, in 1873, called "The Heartof Africa. " In this book he tried to demonstrate that the area of theVictoria Nyanza was taken up by a chain of five lakes. 

About this time, in the same year, the famous Henry Morton Stanleyreturned to London from his adventurous discovery and relief of Dr. David Livingstone. The distinguished missionary and explorer died notlong afterwards, and the fame of his brilliant discoveries and heroiclife aroused great sympathy and interest in African exploration. Thegreat river which Livingstone had explored was believed by him to havebeen the Nile, but was more correctly thought by others to have been theCongo River. On account of the interest aroused in Livingstone, the _NewYork Herald_ and the _Daily Telegraph_ of London decided to send Stanleyon a fully equipped expedition to solve the many problems relating tothe heart of Africa about which the civilised world was still in thedark. 

Stanley chose the route of Zanzibar, and, landing there, he went up thecourse of the river and crossed the country to the Victoria Nyanza bythe way of Unyamwezi. He reached the lake by the end of February, 1875. On March the 8th he set out to explore the shores of the lake, andmapped the whole region, including its bays, islands, and archipelagoes, with a considerable amount of accuracy. He also examined Napoleon Gulf, and reached as far as Ripon Falls, at which point the waters of the lakeflow towards the Albert Nyanza. He then verified the accuracy of Speke'ssupposition that the Victoria Nyanza really was the main source of theWhite Nile. Stanley set out from Uganda at the end of the year 1875, and travelled across the country to the Congo. About the same timethree English surveyors, Colonels Purdy, Colston, and Sidney Enser, made several topographical reports on much of the territory betweenthe Bahr-el-Ghazel, the Shari, and the Nile. Later on, in 1876, GeneralGordon sent Romolo Gesei, an Italian in the service of the khédive, to navigate and to explore Lake Albert Nyanza. In the following yearColonel Mason, an American, surveyed the lake, of which he made anaccurate topographical chart. 

In the year 1880, Mr. E. G. Ravenstein, an eminent geographer, made somevaluable surveys of eastern equatorial Africa, which had the effectof inciting the Royal Geographical Society to send out, in 1882, anexpedition under Joseph Thomson, a brilliant young African explorer, inorder to find out a direct route to the Victoria Nyanza. Thomson set outfrom Momhasa early in the year 1883, but he never succeeded in realisingthe purpose of his mission. 

Emin Pasha, as we have seen, was the governor appointed by the khédiveto rule the Egyptian equatorial provinces. He made a few discoveries, such as the Semliki River, which was called by him Divern. Whilst hewas engaged in travelling through the Bahr-el-Ghazel district, therevolt of the Mahdi occurred, and Emin Pasha was isolated from the outerworld. In the year 1886 Doctor Junker returned to Europe from Emin, androused great interest by his account of the adventures of the pasha, whom most people had believed to have died, but whom they now learnedhad set up an independent sovereignty in the heart of Africa, awaitinganxiously the advent of a relief expedition. Then Henry M. Stanleyvolunteered to go out on a relief expedition to bring Emin Pasha home. 

Stanley avoided the route through the German colony on the East, andstarted upon his ever memorable relief expedition by the Congoroute. The veteran adventurer succeeded in relieving Emin Pasha, and, furthermore, he discovered the Mountains of the Moon, called by thenatives Ruwenjori, on May 24, 1888. He also traced to its sourcesthe Semliki River, and explored Lake Albert Edward and a gulf of theVictoria to the south-west. The remainder of this famous journey, for the success of which he was knighted as Sir Henry M. Stanley, wasoutside the basin of the Nile, and is recorded in his book, "ThroughDarkest Africa. "

In 1900, Dr. Donaldson Smith, an American, made an important journeythrough the countries between the north end of Lake Rudolf and theMountain Nile. 

[Illustration: 290b. Jpg EXAMPLES OF PHOENECIAN PORCELAIN]

CHAPTER VI--THE DECIPHERMENT OF THE HIEROGLYPHS*

 *The early portion of this chapter is selected, by kind permission of Dr. Henry Smith Williams, from his "History of the Art of Writing, " Copyright, 1902 and 1903. 

_The Rosetta Stone: The Discoveries of Dr. Thomas Young: TheClassification of the Egyptian Alphabet by Champollion: EgyptianLove-songs and the Book of the Dead_

Conspicuously placed in the great hall of Egyptian antiquities, in theBritish Museum, is a wonderful piece of sculpture known as the RosettaStone. A glance at its graven surface suffices to show that three setsof inscriptions are recorded there. The upper one, occupying aboutone-fourth of the surface, is a pictured scroll, made up of chains ofthose strange outlines of serpents, hawks, lions, and so on, which arerecognised, even by the least initiated, as hieroglyphics. The middleinscription, made up of lines, angles, and half-pictures, one mightsuppose to be a sort of abbreviated or shorthand hieroglyphic. Thethird, or lower, inscription, is manifestly Greek, obviously a thing ofwords. If the screeds above be also made of words, only the elect haveany way of proving the fact. 

Fortunately, however, even the least scholarly observer is left inno doubt as to the real import of the thing he sees, for an obligingEnglish label tells us that these three inscriptions are renderings ofthe same message, and that this message is a "decree of the Priestsof Memphis conferring divine honours on Ptolemy V. , Epiphanes, Kingof Egypt, B. C. 195. " The label goes on to state that the uppertranscription (of which, unfortunately, only parts of the last dozenlines or so remain, the slab being broken) is in "the Egyptian language, in hieroglyphics, or writing of the priests"; the second inscription inthe same language, "in demotic, or the writing of the people"; and thethird "in the Greek language and character. "

Then comes a brief biography of the Rosetta Stone itself, as follows:"This stone was found by the French in 1798 among the ruins of Fort St. Julian, near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile. It passed into the handsof the British by the treaty of Alexandria, and was deposited in theBritish Museum in the year 1801. " There is a whole volume of historyin that brief inscription, and a bitter sting thrown in, if the readerchance to be a Frenchman. Yet the facts involved could scarcely besuggested more modestly. They are recorded much more bluntly in a graveninscription on the side of the stone, which runs: "Captured in Egypt bythe British Army, 1801. " No Frenchman could read those words without asinking of the heart. 

The value of the Rosetta Stone depended on the fact that it gavepromise, even when originally inspected, of furnishing a key to thecenturies-old mystery of the hieroglyphics. For two thousand years thesecret of these strange markings had been forgotten. Nowhere in theworld--quite as little in Egypt as elsewhere--had any man the slightestclue to their meaning; there were even those who doubted whether thesedroll picturings really had any specific meaning, questioning whetherthey were not merely vague symbols of esoteric religious import andnothing more. And it was the Rosetta Stone that gave the answer to thesedoubters, and restored to the world a lost language and a forgottenliterature. 

The trustees of the British Museum recognised that the problem of theRosetta Stone was one on which the scientists of the world mightwell exhaust their ingenuity, and they promptly published a carefullylithographed copy of the entire inscription, so that foreign scholarshiphad equal opportunity with British to try to solve the riddle. Howdifficult a riddle it was, even with this key in hand, is illustrated bythe fact that, though scholars of all nations brought their ingenuityto bear upon it, nothing more was accomplished for a dozen years thanto give authority to three or four guesses regarding the nature of theupper inscriptions, which, as it afterwards proved, were quite incorrectand altogether misleading. This in itself is sufficient to show thatordinary scholarship might have studied the Rosetta Stone till the endof time without getting far on the track of its secrets. The key wasthere, but to apply it required the inspired insight--that is to say, the shrewd guessing power--of genius. 

The man who undertook the task had perhaps the keenest scientificimagination and the most versatile profundity of knowledge of hisgeneration--one is tempted to say, of any generation. For he was noneother than the extraordinary Dr. Thomas Young, the demonstrator of thevibratory nature of light. 

Young had his attention called to the Rosetta Stone by accident, andhis usual rapacity for knowledge at once led him to speculate as to thepossible aid this tri-lingual inscription might give in the solution ofEgyptian problems. Resolving at once to attempt the solution himself, heset to work to learn Koptic, which was rightly believed to represent thenearest existing approach to the ancient Egyptian language. His amazingfacility in the acquisition of languages stood him in such good steadthat within a year of his first efforts he had mastered Koptic andassured himself that the ancient Egyptian language was really similarto it, and had even made a tentative attempt at the translation of theEgyptian scroll. His results were only tentative, to be sure, yet theyconstituted the very beginnings of our knowledge regarding the meaningof hieroglyphics. Just how far they carried has been a subject of ardentcontroversy ever since. Not that there is any doubt about the specificfacts; what is questioned is the exact importance of these facts. Forit is undeniable that Young did not complete and perfect the discovery, and, as always in such matters, there is opportunity for difference ofopinion as to the share of credit due to each of the workers who enteredinto the discovery. 

Young's specific discoveries were these: (1) that many of the picturesof the hieroglyphics stand for the names of the objects actuallydelineated; (2) that other pictures are sometimes only symbolic; (3)that plural numbers are represented by repetition; (4) that numerals arerepresented by dashes; (5) that hieroglyphics may read either fromthe right or from the left, but always from the direction in which theanimals and human figures face; (6) that proper names are surroundedby a graven oval ring, making what he called a cartouche; (7) that thecartouches of the preserved portion of the Rosetta Stone stand for thename of Ptolemy alone; (8) that the presence of a female figure aftersuch cartouches, in other inscriptions, always denotes the femalesex; (9) that within the cartouches the hieroglyphic symbols have apositively phonetic value, either alphabetic or syllabic; and (10) thatseveral different characters may have the same phonetic value. 

Just what these phonetic values are, Doctor Young pointed out in thecase of fourteen characters, representing nine sounds, six of whichare accepted to-day as correctly representing the letters to which heascribed them, and the three others as being correct regarding theiressential or consonantal element. It is clear, therefore, that he was onthe right track thus far, and on the very verge of complete discovery. But, unfortunately, he failed to take the next step, which would havebeen to realise that the same phonetic values given the alphabeticcharacters within the cartouches were often ascribed to them also whenused in the general text of an inscription; in other words, that theuse of an alphabet was not confined to proper names. This was the greatsecret which Young missed, but which his French successor, Jean FrançoisChampollion, working on the foundation that Young had laid, was enabledto ferret out. 

[Illustration: 296. Jpg JEAN FRANCOIS CHAMPOLLION]

Young's initial studies of the Rosetta Stone were made in 1814; hislater publications bore date of 1819. Champollion's first announcementof results came in 1822; his second and more important one in 1824. Bythis time, through study of the cartouches of other inscriptions, he hadmade out almost the complete alphabet, and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"was practically solved. He proved that the Egyptians had developed arelatively complete alphabet (mostly neglecting the vowels, as earlySemitic alphabets did also) centuries before the Phoenicians were heardof in history. 

Even this statement, however, must in a measure be modified. Thesepictures are letters and something more. Some of them are purelyalphabetical in character, and some are symbolic in another way. Some characters represent syllables. Others stand sometimes as mererepresentatives of sounds, and again, in a more extended sense, asrepresentatives of things, such as all hieroglyphics doubtless werein the beginning. In a word, this is an alphabet, but not a perfectedalphabet such as modern nations generally use. 

The word "hieroglyphic" is applied, as we have seen, to various forms ofpicture writing; but the original interpretation which the Greeks, whoinvented it, put upon the word was the "holy writing" of the Egyptians. The earliest Greek travellers who went to Egypt, when that country wasfinally opened up to the outside world, must have noticed the strangepicture scrolls everywhere to be seen there on the temple walls, onobelisks, on statues, and mummy-cases, as well as on papyrus rolls, which were obviously intended to serve the purpose of handing downrecords of events to future generations. 

It is now known that this writing of the Egyptians was of a mostextraordinary compound character. Part of its pictures are used asdirect representations of the objects presented. Here are some examples:

[Illustration: 298. Jpg PAGE IMAGE]

Again the picture of an object becomes an ideograph, as in the followinginstances:

Here the sacred ibis or the sacred bull symbolises the soul. The beestands for honey, the eyes for the verb "to see. " Yet again thesepictures may stand neither as pictures of things nor as ideographs, butas having the phonetic value of a syllable. Such syllabic signs may beused either singly, as above, or in combination, as illustrated below. 

But one other stage of evolution is possible, namely, the use of signswith a purely alphabetical significance. The Egyptians made thisstep also, and their strangely conglomerate writing makes use of thefollowing alphabet:

[Illustration: 299. Jpg PAGE IMAGE]

In a word, then, the Egyptian writing has passed through all the stagesof development, from the purely pictorial to the alphabetical, but withthis strange qualification, --that while advancing to the later stages itretains the use of crude earlier forms. As Canon Taylor has graphicallyphrased it, the Egyptian writing is a completed structure, but one fromwhich the scaffolding has not been removed. 

The next step would have been to remove the now useless scaffolding, leaving a purely alphabetical writing as the completed structure. Looking at the matter from the modern standpoint, it seems almostincredible that so intelligent a people as the Egyptians should havefailed to make this advance. Yet the facts stand, that as early asthe time of the Pyramid Builders, say four thousand years B. C. , * theEgyptians had made the wonderful analysis of sounds, without which theinvention of an alphabet would be impossible. 

 * The latest word on the subject of the origin of the alphabet takes back some of the primitive phonetic signs to prehistoric times. Among these prehistoric signs are the letters A, E, I, O, U, (V), F and M. 

They had set aside certain of their hieroglyphic symbols and given themalphabetical significance. They had learned to write their words withthe use of this alphabet; and it would seem as if, in the course of afew generations, they must come to see how unnecessary was the cruderform of picture-writing which this alphabet would naturally supplant;but, in point of fact, they never did come to a realisation of thisseemingly simple proposition. Generation after generation and centuryafter century, they continued to use their same cumbersome, complexwriting, and it remained for an outside nation to prove that an alphabetpure and simple was capable of fulfilling all the conditions of awritten language. 

Thus in practice there are found in the hieroglyphics the strangestcombinations of ideographs, syllabic signs, and alphabetical signs ortrue letters used together indiscriminately. 

It was, for example, not at all unusual, after spelling a wordsyllabically or alphabetically, to introduce a figure giving the ideaof the thing intended, and then even to supplement this with a so-calleddeterminative sign or figure:

[Illustration: 301. Jpg DETERMINATIVE SIGNS]

Here Queften, monkey, is spelled out in full, but the picture of amonkey is added as a determinative; second, Qenu, cavalry, after beingspelled, is made unequivocal by the introduction of a picture of ahorse; third, Temati, wings, though spelled elaborately, has picturesof wings added; and fourth, Tatu, quadrupeds, after being spelled, hasa picture of a quadruped, and then the picture of a hide, which is theusual determinative of a quadruped, followed by three dashes to indicatethe plural number. *

 * Another illustration of the plural number is seen in the sign Pau, on page 298, where the plural is indicated in the same manner. 

These determinatives are in themselves so interesting, as illustrationsof the association of ideas, that it is worth while to add a few moreexamples. The word Pet, which signifies heaven, and which has also themeaning up or even, is represented primarily by what may be supposedto be a conventionalised picture of the covering to the earth. Butthis picture, used as a determinative, is curiously modified in theexpression of other ideas, as it symbolises evening when a closed floweris added, and night when a star hangs in the sky, and rain or tempestwhen a series of zigzag lines, which by themselves represent water, areappended. 

[Illustration: 302a. Jpg HIEROGLYPHICS]

As aids to memory such pictures are obviously of advantage, but thisadvantage in the modern view is outweighed by the cumbrousness of thesystem of writing as a whole. 

Why was such a complex system retained? Chiefly, no doubt, because theEgyptians, like all other highly developed peoples, were conservatives. They held to their old method after a better one had been invented. Butthis inherent conservatism was enormously aided, no doubt, by the factthat the Egyptian language, like the Chinese, has many words that havea varied significance, making it seem necessary, or at least highlydesirable, either to spell such words with different signs, or, havingspelled them in the same way, to introduce the varied determinatives. 

Here are some examples of discrimination between words of the same soundby the use of different signs:

[Illustration: 302b. Jpg HIEROGLYPHICS]

Here, it will be observed, exactly the same expedient is adopted whichwe still retain when we discriminate between words of the same sound bydifferent spelling, as to, two, too; whole, hole; through, threw, etc. 

But the more usual Egyptian method was to resort to the determinatives;the result seems to us most extraordinary. After what has been said, thefollowing examples will explain themselves:

[Illustration: 303. Jpg HIEROGLYPHICS]

It goes without saying that the great mass of people in Egypt were neverable to write at all. Had they been accustomed to do so, the Egyptianswould have been a nation of artists. Even as the case stands, aremarkable number of men must have had their artistic sense welldeveloped, for the birds, animals, and human figures constantlypresented on their hieroglyphic scrolls are drawn with a fidelity whichthe average European of to-day would certainly find far beyond hisskill. 

Until Professor Petrie* published his "Medum, " and Professor Ermanhis "Grammar, " no important work on Egyptian hieroglyphic writing hadappeared in recent years. 

 * The information as to the modern investigation in hieroglyphics has been obtained from F. L. Griffith's paper in the 6th Memoir of the Archaeological Survey on Hieroglyphics from the collections of the Egypt Exploration Fund, London, 1894-95. 

Professor Petrie's "Medum" is the mainstay of the student in regard toexamples of form for the old kingdom; but for all periods detailed andtrustworthy drawings and photographs are found among the enormous massof published texts. *

 *To these may now be added the 105 coloured signs in Beni Hasan, Part III. , and still more numerous examples in the Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund (Archaeological Survey), for the season 1895-96. 

There is an important collection of facsimiles at University College, London, made for Professor Petrie by Miss Paget. A large proportion ofthese are copied from the collections from Beni Hasan and El Bersheh;others are from coffins of later periods, and have only paleographicalinterest; and others are from earlier coffins in the British Museum. But the flower of the collection consists in exquisite drawings ofsculptured hieroglyphics, sometimes with traces of colour, from the tombof Phtahhotep at Saqqâra, supplemented by a few from other tombs inthe same neighbourhood, and from the pyramid of Papi I. These were allcopied on the spot in 1895--96. 

The only critical list of hieroglyphics with their powers publishedrecently is that of Erman, printed in his "Grammar. " The system bywhich he classifies the values--obscured in the English edition bythe substitution of the term of "ideograph" for _Wortzeichen_(word-sign)--displays the author's keen insight into the nature ofhieroglyphic writing, and the list itself is highly suggestive. 

In the case of an altogether different system of ancient writingthat has come down to us, --the old cuneiform syllabary of theAssyrians, --dictionaries, glossaries, and other works of a grammaticalcharacter have been preserved to the present day. Documents such asthese are, of course, of material aid in regard to obscure texts, but inthe case of the Egyptian writing the only surviving native word-listis the Sign Papyrus of Tanis, * which is, unfortunately, of the RomanPeriod, when the original meanings of the signs had been well-nighforgotten. 

 * Egypt Exploration Fund, Ninth Memoir, 1889-1890. This is an extra volume, now out of print. 

It has its own peculiar interest, but seldom furnishes the smallest hintto the seeker after origins. The famous "Hieroglyphics of Horapollo"occasionally contains a reminiscence of true hieroglyphics, but maywell be a composition of the Middle Ages, embodying a tiny modicum ofhalf-genuine tradition that had survived until then. 

Scattered throughout Egyptological literature there are, as maybe imagined, many attempts at explaining individual signs. But anyendeavour to treat Egyptian hieroglyphics critically, to ascertaintheir origins, the history of their use, the original distinction or therelationship of signs that resemble each other, reveals how little isreally known about them. For study, good examples showing detail andcolouring at different periods are needed, and the evidence furnishedby form and colour must be checked by examination of their powers inwriting. 

In investigating the powers of the uses of the signs, dictionaries givemost important aid to the student. The key-words of the meanings, viz. , the names of the objects or actions depicted, are often exceedingly rarein the texts. Doctor Brugsch's great Dictionary (1867-82) frequentlysettles with close accuracy the meanings of the words considered in it, supplying by quotations the proof of his conclusions. *

 * There has been in preparation since 1897 an exhaustive dictionary, to be published under the auspices of the German government. The academies of Berlin, Gottingen, Leipsig and Munich have charge of the work, and they have nominated as their respective commissioners Professors Erman, Pietsch- mann, Steindorff, and Ebers (since deceased). This colossal undertaking is the fitting culmination of the labours of a century in the Egyptian language and writing. The collection and arrangement of material are estimated to occupy eleven years; printing may thus be begun about 1908. 

 Despite its uncritical method of compilation, Levy's bulky Vocabulary (1887-1804), with its two supplements and long tables of signs, is indispensable in this branch of research, since it gives a multitude of references to rare words and forms of words that occur in notable publications of recent date, such as Maspero's excellent edition of the Pyramid Texts. There are also some important special indices, such as Stern's excellent "Glossary of the Papyrus Ebers, " Piehl's "Vocabulary of the Harris Papyrus, " Erman's "Glossary of the Westcar Papyrus, " and Doctor Pudge's "Vocabulary" of the XVIIIth Dynasty "Book of the Dead. " Schack's Index to the Pyramid Texts will prove to be an important work, and the synoptic index of parallel chapters prefixed to the work is of the greatest value in the search for variant spellings. 

In 1872, Brugsch, in his "Grammaire Hiéroglyphique, " published a usefullist of signs with their phonetic and ideographic values, accompanyingthem with references to his Dictionary, and distinguishing some of thespecially early and late forms. We may also note the careful list inLepsius' "Ægyptische Lesestucke, " 1883. 

Champollion in his "Grammaire Egyptienne, " issued after the author'sdeath in 1836, gave descriptive names to large numbers of the signs. In 1848, to the first volume of Bunsen's "Egypt's Place in UniversalHistory, " Birch contributed a long list of hieroglyphics, withdescriptions and statements of their separate phonetic and ideographicvalues. De Rougé, in his "Catalogue des signes hiéroglyphiques del'imprimerie nationale, " 1851, attached to each of many hundreds ofsigns and varieties of signs a short description, often very correct. He again dealt with the subject in 1867, and published a "CatalogueRaisonné" of the more usual signs in the first _livraison_ of his"Chrestomathie Egyptienne. " Useful to the student as these first listswere, in the early stages of decipherment, they are now of littlevalue. For, at the time they were made, the fine early forms were mostlyunstudied, and the signs were taken without discrimination from textsof all periods; moreover, the outlines of the signs were inaccuratelyrendered, their colours unnoted, and their phonetic and ideographicpowers very imperfectly determined. Thus, whenever doubt was possibleas to the object represented by a sign, little external help wasforthcoming for correct identification. To a present-day student of thesubject, the scholarly understanding of De Rougé and the ingenuity ofBirch are apparent, but the aid which they afford him is small. 

As a result of recent discoveries, some very interesting researches havebeen made in Egyptian paleography in what is known as the _signary_. *We reach signs which seem to be disconnected from the known hieroglyphs, and we are probably touching on the system of geometrical signs usedfrom prehistoric to Roman times in Egypt, and also in other countriesaround the Mediterranean. 

 * The information regarding the alphabet here given is derived from the Eighteenth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899-1890. 

How far these signs are originally due to geometrical invention, or howfar due to corruption of some picture, we cannot say. But in any casethey stood so detached from the hieroglyphic writing and its hieraticand demotic derivations, that they must be treated as a separate system. For the present the best course is to show here the similarity of formsbetween these marks and those known in Egypt in earlier and later times, adding the similar forms in the Karian and Spanish alphabets. The usageof such forms in the same country from about 6000 B. C. Down to 1200B. C. , or later, shows that we have to deal with a definite system. Andit seems impossible to separate that used in 1200 B. C. In Egypt from thesimilar forms found in other lands connected with Egypt from 800 B. C. Down to later times: we may find many of these also in the Kretaninscriptions long before 800 B. C. The only conclusion then seems tobe that a great body of signs--or a _signary_--was in use around theMediterranean for several thousand years. Whether these signs wereideographic or syllabic or alphabetic in the early stages we do notknow; certainly they were alphabetic in the later stage. And theidentity of most of the signs in Asia Minor and Spain shows them tobelong to a system with commonly received values in the later times. 

What then becomes of the Phoenician legend of the alphabet? Certainlythe so-called Phoenician letters were familiar long before the rise ofPhoenician influence. What is really due to the Phoenicians seems tohave been the selection of a short series (only half the amount of thesurviving alphabets) for numerical purposes, as A = 1, E = 5, I = 10, N= 50, P = 100. 

[Illustration: 309. Jpg TABLE OF COMPARATIVE SYMBOLS]

This usage would soon render these signs as invariable in order as ourown numbers, and force the use of them on all countries with which thePhoenicians traded. Hence, before long these signs drove out of useall others, except in the less changed civilisations of Asia Minor andSpain. According to our modern authorities this exactly explains thephenomena of the early Greek alphabets; many in variety, and so diversethat each has to be learned separately, and yet entirely uniform inorder. Each tribe had its own signs for certain sounds, varying a gooddeal; yet all had to follow a fixed numerical system. Certainly all didnot learn their forms from an independent Phoenician alphabet, unknownto them before it was selected. 

The work of Young and Champollion, says Doctor Williams, * gives a newinterest to the mass of records, in the form of graven inscriptions, andpapyrus rolls, and cases and wrappings, which abound in Egypt, but whichhitherto had served no better purpose for centuries than to excite, without satisfying, the curiosity of the traveller. 

 * History of the Art of Writing, Portfolio I. , plate 8. 

Now these strange records, so long enigmatic, could be read, and withinthe past fifty years a vast literature of translations of these Egyptianrecords has been given to the world. It was early discovered that thehieroglyphic character was not reserved solely for sacred inscriptions, as the Greeks had supposed in naming it; indeed, the inscription of theRosetta Stone sufficiently dispelled that illusion. But no one, perhaps, was prepared for the revelations that were soon made as to the extent ofrange of these various inscriptions, and the strictly literary characterof some of them. 

A large proportion of these inscriptions are, to be sure, religious incharacter, but there are other extensive inscriptions, such as those onthe walls of the temple of Karnak, that are strictly historical; tellingof the warlike deeds of such mighty kings as Thûtmosis III. AndRamses II. Again, there are documents which belong to the domain ofbelles-lettres pure and simple. Of these the best known example is thenow famous "Tale of Two Brothers"--the prototype of the "modern" shortstory. 

Up to the middle of the nineteenth century, no Egyptologist haddiscovered that the grave-faced personages who lie in their mummy-casesin our great museums ever read or composed romance. Their literature, as far as recovered, was of an eminently serious nature, --hymns to thedivinities, epic poems, writings on magic and science, business letters, etc. , but no stories. In 1852, however, an Englishwoman, Mrs. Elizabethd'Orbiney, sent M. De Rougé, at Paris, a papyrus she had purchased inItaly, and whose contents she was anxious to know. Thus was the tale ofthe "Two Brothers" brought to light, and for twelve years it remainedour sole specimen of a species of literature which is now constantlybeing added to. 

This remarkable papyrus dates from the thirteenth century B. C. , and wasthe work of Anna, one of the most distinguished temple-scribes of hisage. Indeed, it is to him that we are indebted for a large portion ofthe Egyptian literature that has been preserved to us. This particularwork was executed for Seti II. , son of Meneptah, and grandson of RamsesII. Of the nineteenth dynasty, while he was yet crown prince. 

The tale itself is clearly formed of two parts. The first, up to theBata's self-exile to the Valley of the Cedar, gives a really excellentpicture of the life and habits of the peasant dwelling on the banksof the Nile. The civilisation and moral conditions it describes aredistinctly Egyptian. Were it not for such details as the words spoken bythe cows, and the miraculous appearance of the body of water between thetwo brothers, we might say the ancient Egyptians were strict realistsin their theory of fiction. But the second part leads us through marvelsenough to satisfy the most vivid of imaginations. It is possible, therefore, that the tale as we have it was originally two separatestories. 

The main theme of the story has occupied a great deal of attention. Itsanalogy to the Biblical narrative of Joseph and Potiphar's wife comes atonce into the reader's mind. But there is just as close a similarityin the Greek tales, where the hero is killed or his life endangeredfor having scorned the guilty love of a woman, as in the stories ofHippolytus, Peleus, Bellerophon, and the son of Glaucus, not tomention the extraordinary adventure of Amgiad and Assad, sons of PrinceKamaralzaman, in the _Thousand and One Nights_. 

The religions of Greece and Western Asia likewise contain myths that canbe compared almost point for point with the tale of the two brothers. In Phrygia, for example, Atyo scorns the love of the goddess Cybele, as does Bata the love of Anpu's wife. Like Bata, again, he mutilateshimself, and is transformed into a pine instead of a persea tree. Are we, therefore, to seek for the common origin of all the myths andromance in the tragedy of Anpu and Bata that was current, we know nothow long, before the days of King Seti?

Of one thing we may be sure: of this particular type the Egyptian taleis by far the oldest that we possess, and, if we may not look to thevalley of the Nile as the original home of the popular tale, we mayjustly regard it as the locality where it was earliest naturalised andassumed a true literary form. 

Analogies to the second part of the tale are even more numerous andcurious. They are to be found everywhere, in France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, in Russia and all Slavonic countries, Roumania, Peloponnesia, in Asia Minor, Abyssinia, and even India. 

Of late years an ever-increasing accumulation of the literature of everyage of Egyptian history has either been brought to light or forthe first time studied from a wider point of view than was formerlypossible. In making a few typical selections from the mass of thisnew material, none perhaps are more worthy of note than some of thelove-songs which have been translated into German from Egyptian in"Die Liebespoesie der Alten Ægypten, " by W. Max Muller. This is a verycareful edition of the love-songs on the recto (or upper surface) of theHarris Papyrus 500, and of similar lyrics from Turin, Gizeh, and Paris. The introduction contains an account of Egyptian notions of love andmarriage, gathered from hieroglyphic and demotic sources, and a chapteris devoted to the forms of Egyptian verse, its rhythm and accent. Theinteresting "Song of the Harper, " which is found on the same HarrisPapyrus, is also fully edited and collated with the parallel texts fromthe Theban tombs, and compared with other writings dealing with deathfrom the agnostic point of view. The following extracts are translatedfrom the German:

 LOVE-SICKNESS

 I will lie down within doors For I am sick with wrongs. T hen my neighbours come in to visit me. With them cometh my sister, She will make fun of the physicians; She knoweth mine illness. 

 THE LUCKY DOORKEEPER

 The villa of my sister!-- Her gates (are) in the midst of the domain-- (So oft as) its portals open, (So oft as) the bolt is withdrawn, Then is my sister angry: O were I but set as the gatekeeper! I should cause her to chide me; (Then) I should hear her voice in anger, A child in fear before her!

 THE UNSUCCESSFUL BIRD-CATCHER

 The voice of the wild goose crieth, (For) she hath taken her bait; (But) thy love restraineth me, I cannot free her (from the snare); (So) must I take (home) my net. What (shall I say) to my mother, To whom (I am wont) to come daily Laden with wild fowl? I lay not my snare to-day (For) thy love hath taken hold upon me. 

The most ardent interest that has been manifested in the Egyptianrecords had its origin in the desire to find evidence corroborative ofthe Hebrew accounts of the Egyptian captivity of the Jewish people. * TheEgyptian word-treasury being at last unlocked, it was hoped thatmuch new light would be thrown on Hebrew history. But the hope provedillusive. After ardent researches of hosts of fervid seekers for halfa century, scarcely a word of reference to the Hebrews has been foundamong the Egyptian records. 

 * The only inscription relating directly to the Israelites will be found described in Chapter VII. 

If depicted at all, the Hebrew captives are simply grouped with othersubordinate peoples, not even considered worthy of the dignity of names. Nor is this strange when one reflects on the subordinate position whichthe Hebrews held in the ancient world. In historical as in other matter, much depends upon the point of view, and a series of events that seemedall-important from the Hebrew standpoint might very well be thought tooinsignificant for record from the point of view of a great nation likethe Egyptians. But the all-powerful pen wrought a conquest for theHebrews in succeeding generations that their swords never achieved, and, thanks to their literature, succeeding generations have cast historicalperspective to the winds in viewing them. Indeed, such are the strangemutations of time that, had any scribe of ancient Egypt seen fit toscrawl a dozen words about the despised Israelite captives, and hadthis monument been preserved, it would have outweighed in value, inthe opinion of nineteenth-century Europe, all the historical recordsof Thûtmosis, Ramses, and their kin that have come down to us. Butseemingly no scribe ever thought it worth his while to make such aneffort. 

It has just been noted that the hieroglyphic inscriptions are by nomeans restricted to sacred subjects. Nevertheless, the most widely knownbook of the Egyptians was, as might be expected, one associated withthe funeral rites that played so large a part in the thoughts of thedwellers by the Nile. This is the document known as "The Chapters of theComing-Forth by Day, " or, as it is more commonly interpreted, "The Bookof the Dead. " It is a veritable book in scope, inasmuch as the closelywritten papyrus roll on which it is enscrolled measures sometimesseventy feet in length. It is virtually the Bible of the Egyptians, and, as in the case of the sacred books of other nations, its exact origin isobscure. The earliest known copy is to be found, not on a papyrus roll, but upon the walls of the chamber of the pyramid at Saqqâra near Cairo. The discovery of this particular recension of "The Book of the Dead" wasmade by Lepsius. Its date is 3333 B. C. No one supposes, however, thatthis date marks the time of the origin of "The Book of the Dead. " On thecontrary, it is held by competent authority that the earliest chapters, essentially unmodified, had been in existence at least a thousand yearsbefore this, and quite possibly for a much longer time. Numerous copiesof this work in whole or in part have been preserved either on the wallsof temples, on papyrus rolls, or upon the cases of mummies. Thesecopies are of various epochs, from the fourth millennium B. C. , as justmentioned, to the late Roman period, about the fourth century A. D. 

Throughout this period of about four thousand years the essentialcharacter of the book remained unchanged. It is true that no two copiesthat have been preserved are exactly identical in all their parts. Thereare various omissions and repetitions that seem to indicate that thebook was not written by any one person or in any one epoch, but that itwas originally a set of traditions quite possibly handed down for a longperiod by word of mouth before being put into writing. In this regard, as in many others, this sacred book of the Egyptians is closelycomparable to the sacred books of other nations. It differs, however, in one important regard from these others in that it was neverauthoritatively pronounced upon and crystallised into a fixed, unalterable shape. From first to last, apparently, the individual scribewas at liberty to omit such portions as he chose, and even to modifysomewhat the exact form of expression in making a copy of the sacredbook. Even in this regard, however, the anomaly is not so great as mightat first sight appear, for it must be recalled that even the sacredbooks of the Hebrews were not given final and authoritative shape untila period almost exactly coeval with that in which the Egyptian "Book ofthe Dead" ceased to be used at all. 

A peculiar feature of "The Book of the Dead, " and one that gives itstill greater interest, is the fact that from an early day it was thecustom to illustrate it with graphic pictures in colour. In fact, takenas a whole, "The Book of the Dead" gives a very fair delineation of theprogress of Egyptian art from the fourth millennium B. C. To its climaxin the eighteenth dynasty, and throughout the period of its decline; andthis applies not merely to the pictures proper, but to the forms of thehieroglyphic letters themselves, for it requires but the most cursoryinspection to show that these give opportunity for no small artisticskill. 

As to the ideas preserved in "The Book of the Dead, " it is sufficienthere to note that they deal largely with the condition of the humanbeing after death, implying in the most explicit way a firm andunwavering belief in the immortality of the soul. The Egyptian believedmost fully that by his works a man would be known and judged afterdeath. His religion was essentially a religion of deeds, and the code ofmorals, according to which these deeds were adjudged, has been said byDoctor Budge, the famous translator of "The Book of the Dead, " to be"the grandest and most comprehensive of those now known to have existedamong the nations of antiquity. "

[Illustration: 318. Jpg TAILPIECE]

[Illustration: 318b. Jpg PHOENICIAN JEWLERY]

[Illustration: 321. Jpg PAGE IMAGE]

CHAPTER VII--THE DEVELOPMENT OF EGYPTOLOGY

_Mariette, Wilkinson, Bunsen, Brugsch, and Ebers: Erman's speech onEgyptology: The Egypt Exploration Fund: Maspero's investigations: TheTemple of Bubàstis: Ancient record of "Israel": American interest inEgyptology. _

Accompanying Napoleon's army of invasion in Egypt was a band of savantsrepresentative of every art and science, through whom the conquerorhoped to make known the topography and antiquities of Egypt to theEuropean world. The result of their researches was the famous workcalled "Description de l'Egypte, " published under the direction of theFrench Academy in twenty-four volumes of text, and twelve volumes ofplates. Through this magnificent production the Western world receivedits first initiation into the mysteries of the wonderful civilisationwhich had flourished so many centuries ago, on the banks of the Nile. Egypt has continued to yield an ever-increasing harvest of antiquities, which, owing to the dry climate and the sand in which they have beenburied, are many of them in a marvellous state of preservation. Fromthe correlation of these discoveries the new science of Egyptologyhas sprung, which has many different branches, relating either tohieroglyphics, chronology, or archaeology proper. 

The earliest and most helpful of all the discoveries was that of thefamous Rosetta Stone, found by a French artillery officer in 1799, while Napoleon's soldiers were excavating preparatory to erectingfortifications at Fort St. Julien. The deciphering of its trilingualinscriptions was the greatest literary feat of modern times, in whichDr. Thomas Young and J. F. Champollion share almost equal honours. 

Jean François Champollion (1790-1832) is perhaps the most famous ofthe early students of Egyptian hieroglyphs. After writing his "_Del'écriture hiératique des anciens égyptiens_" at Paris, he produced in1824 in two volumes, his "_Précis du système hiéroglyphique des ancienségyptiens, _" on which his fame largely depends, as he was the first tofurnish any practical system of deciphering the symbolic writing, whichwas to disclose to the waiting world Egyptian history, literature, andcivilisation. Champollion wrote many other works relating to Egypt, andmay truly be considered the pioneer of modern Egyptology. While much ofhis work has been superseded by more recent investigations, he was soimbued with the scientific spirit that he was enabled securely to laythe foundation of all the work which followed. 

[Illustration: 321. Jpg THE GREAT HALL OF ABYDOS]

The distinguished French savant, Augustus Mariette, (1821-1881) beganhis remarkable excavations in Egypt in the year 1850. The series ofdiscoveries inaugurated by him lasted until the year 1880. Mariette madean ever-memorable discovery when he unearthed the famous Serapeum whichhad once been the burial-place of the sacred bulls of Memphis, which thegeographer Strabo records had been covered over by the drifting sands ofthe desert even in the days of Augustus. 

[Illustration: 322. Jpg PROPYLON AT DENDERAH]

The Serapeum was in the neighbourhood of the Sphinx, and, on account ofits great height, remained in part above the ground, and was visible toall passers-by; while everything else in the neighbourhood except thegreat Pyramid of Khûfûi was totally buried under the sand. Marietteworked his way along the passage between the Great Sphinx and the otherlesser sphinxes which lay concealed in the vicinity, and thus graduallycame to the opening of the Serapeum. In November, 1850, his labours werecrowned with brilliant success. He discovered sixty-four tombs ofApis, dating from the eighteenth dynasty until as late as the reign ofCleopatra. He likewise found here many figures, images, ancient Egyptianornaments and amulets, and memorial stones erected by the devoutworshippers of antiquity. Fortunately for Egyptian archæology andhistory, nearly all the monuments here discovered were dated, and werethus of the highest value in settling the dates of dynasties and of thereigns of individual monarchs. Mariette afterwards discovered a splendidtemple in the same place, which he proved to have been the famous shrineof the god Sokar-Osiris. He was soon appointed by the Egyptian Viceroy, Said Pasha, as director of the new museum of antiquities which was thenplaced at Bulak, in the vicinity of Cairo, awaiting the completion ofa more substantial building at Gizeh. He obtained permission to makeresearches in every part of Egypt; and with varying success he excavatedin as many as thirty-seven localities. In some of the researchesundertaken by his direction, it is to be feared that many invaluablerelics of antiquity may have been destroyed through the carelessness ofthe workmen. This is to be accounted for from the fact that Mariette wasnot always able to be present, and the workmen naturally had no personalinterest in preserving every relic and fragment from the past. It isalso to be regretted that he left no full account of the work which heundertook, and for this reason much of it had to be gone over again bymore modern explorers. 

In the Delta excavations were made at Sais, Bubastis, and elsewhere. Mariette also discovered the temple of Tanis, and many curioushuman-headed sphinxes, which probably belong to the twelfth dynasty, and represent its kings. He further continued the labours of Lepsiusabout the necropolis of Memphis and Saqqâra. Here several hundred tombswere discovered with the many inscriptions and figures which thesecontained. One of the most important of these findings--a superb exampleof Egyptian art--is the statue called by the Arabs "The VillageChief, " which is now in the museum at Bulak. Mariette followed out hisresearches on the site of the sacred city of Abydos. Here he discoveredthe temple of Seti I. Of the nineteenth dynasty. 

[Illustration: 324. Jpg TYPES OF EGYPTIAN COLUMNS: 1, 2, 3, GEOMETRIC ', 6-11, BOTANICAL; 4, 5, 12, HATHORIC. ]

On the walls are beautiful sculptures which are exquisite examples ofEgyptian art, and a chronological table of the Kings of Abydos. HereSeti I. And Ramses IL, his son, are represented as offering homage totheir many ancestors seated upon thrones inscribed with their names anddates. 

Mariette discovered eight hundred tombs belonging for the most partto the Middle Kingdom. At Denderah he discovered the famous Ptolemaictemple of Hâthor, the goddess of love, and his accounts of thesediscoveries make up a large volume. Continuing his labours, he excavatedmuch of the site of ancient Thebes and the temple of Karnak, and, southof Thebes, the temple of Medinet-Habu. At Edfu Mariette found the templeof Horus, built during the time of the Ptolemies, whose roof formed thefoundation of an Arab village. After persevering excavations the wholemagnificent plan of the temple stood uncovered, with all its columns, inscriptions, and carvings nearly intact. *

 * In connection with the architecture of the ancient Egyptian tombs, it is interesting to note that there was a development of architectural style in the formation of Egyptian columns not dissimilar in its evolution to that which is visible in the case of the Greek and Roman columns. 

 The earliest Egyptian column appears to have been of a strictly geometrical character. This developed into a column resembling the Doric order. A second class of Egyptian column was based upon plant forms, probably derived from the practice of using reeds in the construction of mud huts. The chief botanical form which has come down to us is that of the lotus. A more advanced type of decoration utilised the goddess Hâthor for the support of the superincumbent weight and has its analogy in the decadent caraytides of late Roman times. 

Owing to Mariette's friendship with the viceroy he was able to guardhis right to excavate with strict exclusiveness. He was accustomed toallow other scholars the right to examine localities where he had beenthe first one to make the researches, but he would not even allow thefamous Egyptologist, also his great friend, Heinrich Brugsch, to makeexcavations in new places. After his death, conditions were somewhataltered, although the general directorship of the excavations was stillgiven exclusively to Frenchmen. The successors of Mariette Bey wereGaston Maspero, E. Grébault, J. De Morgan, and Victor Laret. But as timewent on, savants of other nationalities were allowed to explore, withcertain reservations. Maspero founded an archaeological mission in Cairoin 1880, and placed at its head, in successive order, MM. Lebebure, Grébault, and Bouriant. The first of all to translate complete Egyptianbooks and entire inscriptions was Emanuel de Rougé, who exerted a greatinfluence upon an illustrious galaxy of French savants, who followedmore or less closely the example set by him. Among these translators wemay enumerate Mariette, Charles Deveria, Pierret, Maspero himself, andRevillout, who has proved himself to be the greatest demotic scholar ofFrance. 

England is also represented by scholars of note, among whom may bementioned Dr. Samuel Birch (1813--85). He was a scholar of recognisedprofundity and also of remarkable versatility. One of the most importanteditorial tasks of Doctor Birch was a series known as "The Recordsof the Past, " which consisted of translations from Egyptian andAssyrio-Babylonian records. Doctor Birch himself contributed severalvolumes to this series. He had also the added distinction of being thefirst translator of the Egyptian _Book of the Dead_. 

Another English authority was Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, who wroteseveral important works on the manners and customs of the ancientEgyptians. Wilkinson was born in 1797 and died in 1875. Whoever wouldknow the Egyptian as he was, in manner and custom, should perusethe pages of his Egyptian works. His "Popular Account of the AncientEgyptians" has been the chief source of information on the subject. 

German scholars have done especially valuable work in the translationof texts from the Egyptian temples, and in pointing out the relationbetween these texts and historical events. Foremost among practicalGerman archaeologists is Karl Richard Lepsius, who was born in 1810 atNaumburg, Prussia, and died in 1884 at Berlin. In his maturer yearshe had a professorship in Berlin. He made excursions to Egypt in anofficial capacity, and familiarised himself at first hand with themonuments and records that were his life-study. The letters of Lepsiusfrom Egypt and Nubia were more popular than his other writings, and weretranslated into English and widely read. 

Another famous German who was interested in the study of Egyptologywas Baron Christian Bunsen (1791-1867). From early youth he showed theinstincts of a scholar, but was prevented for many years from leading ascholar's life, owing to his active duties in the diplomatic service forPrussia at Rome and London. During the years 1848--67, Bunsen broughtout the famous work called "Egypt's Place in Universal History, "which Brugsch deemed to have contributed more than any other work inpopularising the subject of Egyptology. 

Heinrich Carl Brugsch was born at Berlin in 1827 and died there in 1894. Like Bunsen, he was a diplomatist and a scholar. He entered theservice of the Egyptian government, and merited the titles of beyand subsequently of pasha. He became known as one of the foremost ofEgyptologists, and was the greatest authority of his day on Egyptianwriting. He wrote a work of standard authority, translated into Englishunder the title of "The History of Egypt under the Pharaohs. " Thechronology of Egypt now in use is still based upon the system created byBrugsch, which, though confessedly artificial, nevertheless is able tomeet the difficulties of the subject better than any other yet devised. 

Among distinguished German Egyptologists must be mentioned GeorgMoritz Ebers (1839-96). He is best known by his far-famed novels, whosesubjects are taken from the history of ancient Egypt, perhaps the mostpopular being "An Egyptian Princess. " Besides these popular novels and avaluable description of Egypt, Ebers also made personal explorations inthe country, and discovered at Thebes the great medical papyrus, whichis called the Papyrus Ebers. This remarkable document, to which hedevoted so much labour, is our chief source of information regardingthe practice of medicine as it existed, and would alone keep the name ofEbers alive among Egyptologists. 

The leading German Egyptologist of to-day is Dr. Adolf Erman, who wasborn at Berlin in 1854. He is the worthy successor to Brugsch in thechair of Egyptology at the University of Berlin, and is director ofthe Berlin Egyptian Museum. His writings have had to do mainly withgrammatical and literary investigations. His editions of the "Romancesof Old Egypt" are models of scholarly interpretation. They give theoriginal hieratic text, with translation into Egyptian hieroglyphics, into Latin and into German. Doctor Erman has not, however, confined hislabours to this strictly scholarly type of work, but has also written adistinctly popular book on the life of the ancient Egyptians, whichis the most complete work that has appeared since the writings ofWilkinson. 

The memorable speech of Erman, delivered on the occasion of his electionas a member of the Berlin Academy, sets forth clearly the progressmade in the science of Egyptology and present-day tendencies. On thatoccasion he said:

"Some of our older fellow-specialists complain that we of the youngergeneration are depriving Egyptology of all its charm, and that, out ofa delightful science, abounding in startling discoveries, we have madea philological study, with strange phonetic laws and a wretched syntax. There is doubtless truth in this complaint, but it should be urgedagainst the natural growth of the science, and not against the personalinfluence of individuals or its development. The state through whichEgyptology is now passing is one from which no science escapes. It is areaction against the enthusiasm and the rapid advance of its early days. 

"I can well understand to outsiders it may seem as though we had onlyretrograded during later years. Where are the good old times when everytext could be translated and understood? Alas! a better comprehension ofthe grammar has revealed on every side difficulties and impedimentsof which hitherto nothing had been suspected. Moreover, the number ofascertained words in the vocabulary is continually diminishing, whilethe host of the unknown increases; for we no longer arrive at themeaning by the way of audacious etymologies and still more audaciousguesses. 

"We have yet to travel for many years on the arduous path of empiricalresearch before we can attain to an adequate dictionary. There is indeedan exceptional reward which beckons us on to the same goal, namely, that we shall then be able to assign to Egyptian its place among thelanguages of Western Asia and of Africa. At present we do well tolet this great question alone. As in the linguistic department ofEgyptology, so it is in every other section of the subject. The Egyptianreligion seemed intelligently and systematically rounded off when eachgod was held to be the incarnation of some power of nature. Now wecomprehend that we had better reserve our verdict on this matter untilwe know the facts and the history of the religion; and how far we arefrom knowing them is proved to us by every text. The texts are full ofallusions to the deeds and fortunes of the gods, but only a very smallnumber of these allusions are intelligible to us. 

"The time has gone by in which it was thought possible to furnish thechronology of Egyptian history, and in which that history was supposedto be known, because the succession of the most powerful kings had beenascertained. To us the history of Egypt has become something altogetherdifferent. It comprises the history of her civilisation, her art, andher administration; and we rejoice in the prospect that one day it maybe possible in that land to trace the development of a nation throughoutfive thousand years by means of its own monuments and records. But wealso know that the realisation of this dream must be the work of manygenerations. 

"The so-called 'demotic' texts, which lead us out of ancient Egypt intothe Græco-Roman period, were deciphered with the acumen of genius morethan half a century ago by Heinrich Brugsch, but to-day these alsoappear to us in a new light as being full of unexpected difficulties andin apparent disagreement with both the older and the later forms ofthe language. In this important department we must not shrink from arevision of past work. 

"I will not further illustrate this theme; but the case is the same inevery branch of Egyptology. In each, the day of rapid results is at anend, and the monotonous time of special studies has begun. Hence I wouldbeg the Academy not to expect sensational discoveries from their newassociate. I can only offer what _labor improbus_ brings to light, andthat is _small_ discoveries; yet in the process of time they willlead us to those very ends which seemed so nearly attainable to ourpredecessors. "

The German school may perhaps be said to have devoted its timeespecially to labours upon Egyptian grammar and philology, while theFrench school is better known for its excellent work on the historyand archaeology of ancient Egypt. On these topics the leading authorityamong all the scholars of to-day is the eminent Frenchman, ProfessorGaston C. C. Maspero, author of the first nine volumes of the presentwork. He was born at Paris, June 24, 1846. He is a member of the FrenchInstitute, and was formerly Professor of Egyptian Archeology andEthnology in the Collège de France, and, more recently, Director ofthe Egyptian Museum at Bulak. His writings cover the entire fieldof Oriental antiquity. In this field Maspero has no peer amongEgyptologists of the present or the past. He possesses an eminent giftof style, and his works afford a rare combination of the qualities ofauthority, scientific accuracy, and of popular readableness. 

Some extraordinary treasures from tombs were discovered in the year1881. At that date Arabs often hawked about in the streets whatpurported to be genuine works of antiquity. Many of these were inreality imitations; but Professor Maspero in this year secured from anArab a funeral papyrus of Phtahhotpû I. , and after considerable troublehe was able to locate the tomb in Thebes from which the treasure hadbeen taken. Brugsch now excavated the cave, which was found to be theplace where a quantity of valuable treasures had been secreted, probablyat the time of the sacking of Thebes by the Assyrians. Six thousandobjects were secured, and they included twenty-nine mummies of kings, queens, princes, and high priests, and five papyri, among which wasthe funeral papyrus of Queen Makeru of the twentieth dynasty. Themummy-cases had been opened by the Arabs, who had taken out the mummiesand in some instances replaced the wrong ones. Many mummies of theeighteenth and nineteenth dynasties had been removed to this caveprobably for safety, on account of its secrecy. Out of the twenty-ninemummies found here, seven were of kings, nine of queens and princesses, and several more of persons of distinction. The place of concealmentwas situated at a turn of a cliff southwest of the village ofDeîr-el-Baharî. 

The explorers managed successfully to identify King Raskamen of theseventeenth dynasty, King Ahmosis I. , founder of the eighteenth dynasty, and his queen Ahmo-sis-Nofrîtari, also Queen Arhotep and Princess SetAmnion, and the king's daughters, and his son Prince Sa Amnion. Theyalso found the mummies of Thûtmosis I. , Thûtmosis II. And of ThûtmosisIII. (Thûtmosis the Great), together with Ramses I. , Seti I. , RamsesXII. , King Phtahhotpû II. , and noted queens and princesses. 

In the year 1883 the Egypt Exploration Fund was founded for the purposeof accurate historical investigation in Egypt. The first work undertakenwas on a mound called the Tel-el-Mashuta, in the Wadi-et-Tumi-lat. This place was discovered to be the site of the ancient Pithom, atreasure-city supposed to have been built by the Israelites for Pharaoh. In the Greek and Roman period the same place had been called Hereopolis. M. Naville also discovered Succoth, the first camping-ground of theIsraelites while fleeing from their oppressor, and an inscription withthe word "Pikeheret, " which he judged to be the Pihahiroth of the Bookof Exodus. The next season the site of Zoan of the Bible was explored, avillage now termed San. 

Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie started work where a rim of red granitestood up upon one of the many mounds in the neighbourhood. The site ofthe ancient city had been here, and the granite rim was on the site of atemple. The latter had two enclosure walls, one of which had been builtof sun-dried bricks, and was of extreme antiquity; the other was builtof bricks of eight times the size and weight of modern bricks, and thewall was of very great strength. Dwelling-houses had been built in thelocality, and coins and potsherds discovered. These remains ProfessorPetrie found to belong to periods between the sixth and twenty-sixthdynasties. Stones were found in the vicinity with the cartouche of KingPapi from one of the earliest dynasties. There were also red granitestatues of Ahmenemhâît I. , and a black granite statue of Kind UsirtasenI. And of King Ahmenemhâît II. , and a torso of King Usirtasen II. Wasfound cut from yellow-stained stone, together with a vast number ofrelics of other monarchs. Parts of a giant statue of King Ramses II. Were discovered which must have been ninety-eight feet in height beforeit was broken, the great toe alone measuring eighteen inches across, andthe weight of the statue estimated to be about 1, 200 tons. In additionto these relics of ancient monarchs, a large number of antiquities werediscovered, with remains of objects for domestic use in ancient Egyptiansociety. 

The explorations conducted at Tanis during 1883-84 brought to lightobjects mainly of the Ptolemaic period, because a lower level had not atthat period been reached, but here many invaluable relics of Ptolemaicarts were unearthed. The results of researches were published at thisdate bearing upon the Great Pyramid. Accurate measurements had beenundertaken by Professor Petrie, who was able to prove that during oneepoch systematic but unavailing efforts had been made to destroy thesegreat structures. 

Professor Maspero discovered among the hills of Thebes an importanttomb of the eleventh dynasty, which threw light upon obscure portionsof Egyptian history, and contained texts of the "Book of the Dead. "The following year he discovered the necropolis of Khemnis in theneighbourhood of Kekhrneen, a provincial town in Upper Egypt built onthe site of the ancient Panopolis. The remains were all in a state ofperfect preservation. 

In July, 1884, Professor Maspero secured permission from the Egyptiangovernment to buy from the natives the property which they held on thesite of the Great Temple at Luxor, and to prevent any further work ofdestruction. These orders, however, were not carried out till early in1885, when Maspero began excavating with one hundred and fifty workmen. He first unearthed the sanctuary of Amenhôthes III. , with its massiveroof. He brought to light the great central colonnade, and discovered aportico of Ramses II. , and many colossi, which were either still erector else had fallen on the ground. The columns of Amenhôthes III. Werenext explored, which were found to be among the most beautiful of allspecimens of Egyptian architecture. It is believed that Luxor will proveto have been a locality of almost as great a beauty as Karnak. 

During the season of 1884-85 Professor Petrie started excavations at themodern Nehireh, which he learned was the site of the ancient Naucratis. *Here many Greek inscriptions were found. 

 * The investigations on this site were continued in the season of 1888-89. 

[Illustration: 336. Jpg ruins at luxor]

This city was one of great importance and a commercial mart during thereign of Ahmosis, although in the time of the Emperor Commodus it hadwholly disappeared. Two temples of Apollo were discovered, one of whichwas built from limestone in the seventh century B. C. ; and the otherwas of white marble, beautifully decorated, and dating from the fifthcentury. 

Magnificent libation bowls were also discovered here, some of which hadbeen dedicated to Hera, others to Zeus, and others to Aphrodite. Thelines of the ancient streets were traced, and a storehouse or granaryof the ancient Egyptians was unearthed, also many Greek coins. Besidesthese were discovered votive deposits, cups of porcelain, alabasterjugs, limestone mortars; and trowels, chisels, knives, and hoes. 

Much light was thrown by these discoveries on the progress of theceramic arts, and many links uniting the Greek pottery with the Egyptianpottery were here for the first time traced. It was learned that theGreeks were the pupils of the Egyptians, but that they idealised thework of their masters and brought into it freer conceptions of beautyand of proportion. 

M. Naville was engaged about this time in controversies as to the truesite of this ancient Pithom. He also made, in 1886, a search for thesite of Goshen. He believed he had identified this when he discoveredat Saft an inscription dedicated to the gods of Kes, which Navilleidentified with Kesem, the name used in the Septuagint for Goshen. Others, however, disagree, and locate the site of Goshen at a placecalled Fakoos, twelve miles north of Tel-el-Kebir. 

The explorations of 1885-86 started under the direction of ProfessorW. M. Flinders Petrie, Mr. F. Llewellen Griffith, and Mr. Ernest A. Gardiner. Gardiner set out in the direction of Naucratis, and Petrie andGriffith proceeded to explore the site of Tanis. The mound at which theyworked, like many other localities of modern and ancient Egypt, has beenknown by a variety of names. It is called Tel Farum, or the Mound of thePharaoh; Tel Bedawi, the Mound of the Bedouins; and Tel Nebesheh, afterthe name of the village upon this site. There are remains here of anancient cemetery and of two ancient towns and a temple. The cemeterywas found to be unlike those of Memphis, Thebes, or Abydos. It containedmany small chambers and groups of chambers irregularly placed about asandy plain. These were built mostly of brick, but there were other andlarger ones built of limestone. A black granite altar of the reign ofAhmenemhait II. Was discovered, and thrones of royal statues of thetwelfth dynasty. Here were also found a statue of Harpocrates, a portionof a statue of Phtah, with an inscription of Ramses II. , a sphinx andtombs of the twentieth century B. C. Containing many small relics ofantiquity. 

Professor Petrie went on from here to the site of Tell Defenneh, theTahpanhes of the Bible, called Taphne in the version of the Septuagint. This proved to be the remains of the earliest Greek settlement inEgypt, and contains no remains from a later period than the twenty-sixthdynasty. It was here that Psammeticus I. Established a colony of theCarian and Ionian mercenaries, by whose aid this monarch had wonthe throne; and this Greek city had been built as one out of threefortresses to prevent the incursions of the Arabians and Syrians. Thecity of Tahpanhes or Taphne is referred to in the book of Jeremiah. 

There were found on this site the remains of a vast pile of brickbuildings, which could be seen in outline from a great distance acrossthe plains. The Arabs called this "El Kasr el Bin el Yahudi, " that is, "The Castle of the Jew's Daughter. " This was found to have been a fort, and it contained a stele with a record of the garrison which had beenstationed there; pieces of ancient armour and arms were also found inthe neighbourhood. There was likewise a royal hunting-box on this site, and all the principal parts of the settlement were found to have beensurrounded by a wall fifty feet thick, which enclosed an area of threethousand feet in length and one thousand in breadth. The gate on thenorth opened towards the Pelusiac canal, and the south looked out uponthe ancient military road which led up from Egypt to Syria. Pottery, bronze-work, some exquisitely wrought scale armour, very light butoverlapping six times, were unearthed within this enclosure. There werealso Greek vases and other Greek remains, dating in the earlier partof the reign of Ahmosis, who had subsequently sent the Greeks away, andprevented them from trading in Egypt. Since this Greek colony came to anend in the year 570 B. C. , and as the locality was no longer frequentedby Greek soldiers or merchants, it is possible to set an exact term tothe period of Greek art which these antiquities represent. The Greekpottery here is so unlike that of Naucratis and of other places that itseems to be well ascertained that it must have been all manufactured atDefenneh itself. Outside the buildings of the Kasr, Petrie discovered alarge sun-baked pavement resting upon the sands, and this discovery wasof value in explaining a certain passage of the forty-third chapter ofJeremiah, translated from the Revised Version as follows: "Then came theword of the Lord to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, Take great stones inthine hand, and hide them in the mortar of the brick-work which is atthe entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes in the sight of the men ofJudah [i. E. Johannan and the captains who had gone to Egypt]; and sayunto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold Iwill send and take Nebuchadrezzar the King of Babylon, my servant, andwill set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shallspread his royal pavilion over them. And he shall come and smite theland of Egypt. " An alternate reading for "brickwork" is the pavementor square. The pavement which Jeremiah described was evidently the onewhich Petrie discovered, though he was not able at the time to discoverthe stones which, according to Jeremiah, had been inserted in themortar. Outside the camp wall was further discovered the remains of alarge settlement, strewn on all sides with bits of pottery and jewelryand a great number of weights. 

During this season Maspero carried on researches at Luxor, and proceededto excavate in the neighbourhood of the Great Sphinx. There are manyEgyptian pictures which represent the Sphinx in its entirety down tothe paws, but the lower parts had for centuries been buried in theaccumulations of sand which had covered up all of the ancient site. It had previously been supposed that the Sphinx had been hewn out of asolid mass of rock resembling an immense boulder. Professor Maspero'sexcavations enabled him not only to verify the accuracy of theold Egyptian paintings of the Sphinx, but also to show that a vastamphitheatre had been hewn out of the rock round the Sphinx, which wasnot therefore sculptured from a projecting rock. Since the upper rim ofthis basin was about on the same level with the head of the figure, itbecame evident that the ancient sculptors had cut the rock away on allsides, and had subsequently left the Sphinx isolated, as it is at thepresent day. Maspero dug down during this season to a depth of thirtyyards in the vicinity. 

Professor Maspero's last official act as Director-General of theExcavations and Antiquities of Egypt was his examination of the mummy ofRamses II. Found in 1884, in the presence of the khédive and otherhigh dignitaries. The mummy of this great conqueror was well preserved, revealing a giant frame and a face expressive of sovereign majesty, indomitable will, and the pride of the Egyptian king of kings. Hethen unbandaged the mummy of Nofritari, wife of King Ahmosis I. Of theeighteenth dynasty, beside which, in the same sarcophagus, had beendiscovered the mummy of Ramses ITT. The physiognomy of this monarch ismore refined and intellectual than that of his warlike predecessor; norwas his frame built upon the same colossal plan. The height of the bodywas less, and the shoulders not so wide. In the same season Maspero alsodiscovered an ancient Egyptian romance inscribed on limestone near thetomb of Sinûhît at Thebes. A fragment on papyrus had been preserved atthe Berlin Museum, but the whole romance was now decipherable. 

Professor Maspero resigned his office of directorship on June 5, 1886, and was succeeded in the superintendency of excavations and Egyptianarcheology by M. Eugene Grébault. In the same month Grébault startedupon the work of unbandaging the mummy of the Theban King SekenenraTa-aken, of the eighteenth dynasty. It was under this monarch that arevolt against the Hyksôs, or Shepherd Kings, had originated, in thecourse of which the Asiatics were expelled from Egypt. The history ofthis king has always been considered legendary, but from the signs ofwounds present in the mummy, it is certain that he had died in battle. In the same season the mummy of Seti I. Was unbandaged, and also that ofan anonymous prince. 

The next season the work of clearing away the sand from around the GreatSphinx was vigorously prosecuted by Grébault. In the beginning of theyear 1887, the chest, the paws, the altar, and plateau were allmade visible. Flights of steps were unearthed, and finally accuratemeasurements were taken of the great figures. The height from the lowestof the steps was found to be one hundred feet, and the space between thepaws was found to be thirty-five feet long and ten feet wide. Here therewas formerly an altar; and a stele of Thûtmosis IV. Was discovered, recording a dream in which he was ordered to clear away the sand thateven then was gathering round the site of the Sphinx. 

M. Naville and Mr. F. Llewellen Griffiths explored during the season of1886-87 the mound of Tel-el-Yehu-dieh (the mound of the Jew). Thesite is probably that on which was once built the city that PtolemyPhiladelphus allowed the Jews to construct. The remains of a statue ofthe cat-headed goddess Bast, to which there is a reference in Josephus, was also found here. The discovery of tablets of definitely Jewishorigin make it clear that the modern name had been given to the placefor some reason connected with the colony thus proved to have once beensettled there. 

Naville also made researches at Tel Basta, the site of the Bubastisof the Greeks, the Pi Beseth of the Bible, and the Pi Bast of theEgyptians, which was formerly the centre of worship of the goddess Pashtand her sacred animal, the cat. The whole plan of the ancient temple wassoon disclosed, the general outline of which bears much resemblance tothat of the great Temple of San. In the division which Naville calledthe Festival Hall were numerous black and red statues inscribed with thename of Ramses II. , but many of which were probably not really erectedby this monarch. Here there was also found a standing statue of theGovernor of Ethiopia, a priest and priestess of the twenty-sixthdynasty, and many other monuments of the greatest historical interest. The hall itself was built of red granite. 

Another hall, which Naville called the "Hypostyle Hall, " possessed acolonnade of such beauty that it would seem to justify the statement ofHerodotus, that the temple of Bubastis was one of the finest in Egypt. The columns were either splendid red granite monoliths, with lotus-budor palm-leaf capitals; or, a head of Hâthor from which fell two longlocks. These columns probably belonged to the twelfth dynasty. In whatNaville called the "Ptolemaic Hall" occurs the name Nephthorheb orNectanebo I. Of the thirtieth dynasty. The relics of this remarkabletemple thus cover a period from the sixth to the thirtieth dynasties, some 3, 200 years. During this season Professor Petrie made importantdiscoveries in relation to the obscure Hyksôs dominion in Egypt. Manyrepresentations of these Shepherd Kings were found, and, from theirphysiognomy, it was judged that they were not Semites, but ratherMongols or Tatars, who probably came from the same part of Asia as theMongul hordes of Genghis Khan. 

Early in 1888 excavations were resumed on the site of the great templeof Bubastis by M. Edouard Naville, Mr. F. LI. Griffiths, and the Countd'Hulst. The investigation again yielded the usual crop of antiquitiesthat was now always expected from the exploration of the famous sites. Athird hall was discovered, which had been built in the time of OsorkonI. , of red granite inlaid with sculptured slabs. There were also manyother monuments and remains of the monarchs, together with much valuableevidence relating to the rule of the Hyksôs. 

Petrie brought to London many beautiful Ptolemaic and Roman portraits, which he had discovered in a vast cemetery near the pyramid which bearsthe name of King Ahmenemhâît III. The portraits are in an excellentstate of preservation, and are invaluable as illustrative of thefeatures, manners, and customs of the Greek and Roman periods inEgyptian history. 

His researches in the neighbourhood of the Fayum at this time commencedto bear fruit; and many questions were answered regarding the ancientLake Mceris. It was in this season also that the ever memorableexcavations conducted at Tel-el-Amarna were first begun. This place issituated in Upper Egypt on the site of the capital, which had been builtby Ahmenhotpû IV. Here were discovered many clay tablets in cuneiformcharacters containing documents in the Babylonian language. These werefound in the tomb of a royal scribe. The list contained a quantityof correspondence from the kings or rulers of Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia to Ahmenhotpû III. And IV. There wereEgyptian garrisons in those days in Palestine, and they were accustomedto keep their royal masters well informed as to what was going on in thecountry. Among other cities mentioned are Byblos, Smyrna, Appo or Acre, Megiddo, and Ashpelon. During this season many relics of early Christianart were discovered. In many cases a pagan picture had been in partpainted over, and thus given a Christian significance. Two figures ofIsis suckling Horus are, with slight alterations, made to represent theVirgin and the Child. A bas-relief of St. George slaying the dragon wasdiscovered, which closely resembled that of Horus slaying Set. 

During the following season of 1888-89, Petrie resumed his excavationsround the pyramid of Hawara, which was supposed to be the site of thefamous Labyrinth. Work had been begun here in the season previous, and it was now to be crowned with great success. All the undergroundpassages and secret chambers under the pyramid were examined, and theinscriptions discovered of King Ahmenemhâît III. Prove that this waswithout doubt the pyramid of the monarch of that name. It was discoveredthat the Romans had broken into the recesses of these secret chambers, and many broken Roman _amphoræ_ were unearthed. Later Professor Petrieexamined the pyramid of Illahûn, which stands at the gate of the Fayum. It is probable that this was on the site of the ancient locks whichregulated the flow of the Nile into Lake Moris. Many of the antiquitieshere discovered bore inscriptions of King Usirtasen II. , and, in the samelocality, was discovered the site of an early Christian cemetery datingfrom the fifth or sixth centuries. A few miles from Illahûn, the sameindefatigable explorer discovered the remains of another town belongingto the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasties. A wall once surrounded thetown, and beyond the wall was a necropolis. The place is now calledTell Gurah, and the relics give inscriptions of Thûtmosis III. OrTûtankhamon and of Horemheb. 

In the same season of 1888--89, Miss Amelia B. Edwards, who had beensent out by the Egypt Exploration Fund, brought to a conclusion theexcavations which had been carried on for several seasons at Bubastis. It was discovered that the temple itself dated back to the reign ofthe famous Khûfûi (Kheops), the builder of the great Pyramid, sincean inscription with his name on it was discovered, together with oneinscribed to King Khafrî (Chephren). The monuments discovered on thissite were, for the most part, shipped to Europe and America. 

The city of Boston, Mass. , received a colossal Hâthor-head capital ofred granite, part of a colossal figure of a king, an immense lotus-budcapital from the Hypo-style Hall of the temple, a bas-relief in redgranite from the Hall of Osorken II. , and two bas-reliefs of limestonefrom the temple of Hâthor, taken from the ancient Termuther. 

[Illustration: 347. Jpg THE LOTUS FLOWER NYMPHAEA LOTUS]

Specimens recovered from here date from the fourth to the twenty-seconddynasties, and the relics from Termuther are from the last period of thePtolemies. 

Early in 1891, Professor Petrie made his exhaustive examination of thepyramid of Me-dum, which he declared to be the earliest of all datedEgyptian pyramids, and probably the oldest dated building in the world. Its builder was Snofrui of the third dynasty; and, joined with it, andin a perfect state of preservation, was the pyramid temple built at thesame period. From forty to sixty feet of rubbish had accumulated aroundthe buildings, and had to be removed. The front of the temple was thirtyfeet wide and nine feet high, and a door was discovered at the southend. A wide doorway leads to the open court built on the side of thepyramid. In the centre of the court stands the altar of offerings, wherethere is also an inscribed obelisk thirteen feet high. The walls of thetemple are all marked with _graffiti_ of visitors who belonged to thetwelfth and eighteenth dynasties. A statuette was found dedicated to thegods of the town by a woman. 

The tombs at this place had been rifled in ancient times, but manyskeletons of people, who had been buried in a crouching attitude, werediscovered, and Petrie considered that these belonged to a differentrace from that which was accustomed to bury the dead recumbent. Aquantity of pottery was also unearthed, dating from the fourth century. The method by which the plan of a pyramid was laid out by the ancientEgyptians was discovered in this excavation, and the designs showconsiderable mechanical ingenuity in their execution, and afford aperfect system for maintaining the symmetry of the building itself, nomatter how uneven the ground on which it was to be built. 

In the spring of 1891, M. Naville started an excavation on the site ofthe ancient Heracleopolis Magna at a place now named Hanassieh. He foundhere many Roman and Koptic remains, and further discovered the vestibuleof an ancient Egyptian temple. There were six columns, on which RamsesII. Was represented as offering gifts. The name of Menephtah was alsonoticed, and the architraves above the columns were seen to be cut withcartouches of Usirtasen II. Of the twelfth dynasty. This temple wasprobably one of those to the service of which Ramses II. Donated someslaves, as is described in one of the papyri of the Harris collection. 

A stone was discovered by Mr. Wilborn at Luxor, recording a period ofseven years' successive failure of the Nile to overflow, and the effortsmade by a certain sorcerer named Chit Net to remove the calamity. 

During the season of 1895, Professor Petrie and Mr. Quibell discoveredhomes belonging to paleolithic man on a plateau four thousand feetabove the Nile. Thirty miles south of Thebes, there are many large andbeautifully worked flints. Their great antiquity is proved by the factthat they are deeply stained, whereas, in the same locality, there areother flints of an age of five thousand years, which show no traces ofstains. 

Close by this site was discovered the abundant remains of a hithertounknown race. This race has nothing in common with the true Egyptians, although their relics are invariably found with those of the Egyptiansof the fourth, twelfth, eighteenth, and nineteenth dynasties. Petriedeclares these men to have been tall and powerful, with strong features, a hooked nose, a long, pointed beard, and brown, wavy hair. They werenot related to the negroes, but rather to the Amorites or Libyans. Thebodies in these tombs are not mummified, but are contracted, though laidin an opposite direction from those discovered at Medum. The graves areopen, square pits, roofed over with beams of wood. This ancient raceused forked hunting-lances for chasing the gazelle, and their beautifulflints were found to be like those belonging to an excellent collectionalready existing in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford. They also madean abundant use of copper for adzes, harpoons for spearing fish, andneedles for sewing garments. They used pottery abundantly, and itsvariety is remarkable no less than the quality, which, unlike theEgyptian, was all hand-made and never fashioned by aid of the wheel. They entered Egypt about 3, 000 B. C. , and were probably of the whiteLibyan race, and possibly may have been the foreigners who overthrew theold Egyptian empire. 

The discovery of the name of "Israel" in an Egyptian inscription wasin a sense, perhaps, the most remarkable event of the year 1895 inarchæology. It was first laid before the public by Professor Petrie, *and was treated by Spiegelberg** in a communication to the BerlinAcademy, and by Steindorff. ***

 * Contemporary Review, May 1896. 

 ** Sitzberichte, xxv. , p. 593. 3. 

 *** Zeitschrift fur deutsch. Alt. Test. Wiss. , 1896, p. 330. 

The name occurs in an inscription dated in the fifth year of Merenptah, the successor of Ramses II. , and often supposed to be the Pharaoh of theExodus. It is there written with the determinative of a people, not ofa city or country, and reads in our conventional transliteration_Ysiràar_, but in reality agrees very closely to the Hebrew [. .. ] thelast portion _aar_ being recognised as the equivalent of _el_ in severalwords. Merenptah states that "Israel is fekt (?) without seed (grain oroffspring), Syria (Kharu) has become widows (Kharut) of or to Egypt. " Wecan form no conclusion from these statements as to the relation inwhich the Israelites stood to Pharaoh and to Egypt, except that they arerepresented as having been powerless. It is pretty clear, however, fromthe context that they were then in Palestine, or at least in Syria. Steindorff suggests that they may have entered Syria from Chaldæaduring the disturbed times in Egypt at the end of the eighteenthdynasty, and connects them with the movements of the Khabiri (Hebrews?)mentioned in the Tel-el-Amarna tablets. On the other hand, it is ofcourse possible, as Professor Petrie points out, that this referenceto the Israelites may have some connection with the Exodus itself. M. Clermont Ganneau thinks that the localities mentioned are all inSouthern Palestine. *

 * Revue Archéologique, xxix. , p. 127. 

M. Edouard Naville found at Thebes many remains of the Punt sculptures. The Puntites appear with their aquiline features, their pointed beards, and their long hair; negroes also of black and brown varieties arerepresented adjoining the Puntites proper. There are wickerworkhuts, and a figure of a large white dog with its ears hanging down. Long-billed birds also appear flying about in the trees. Their nestshave been forsaken and robbed, and the men are represented as gatheringincense from the trees. Altogether, much invaluable information has beengathered concerning the famous people who lived in the Land of Punt, andwith whom for a long period the Egyptians held intercommunication. Otherdiscoveries were made near the great temple of Karnak, and the buildingsof Medinet-Habu were cleared of rubbish in order to show their trueproportions. 

From its foundation, the Egypt Exploration Fund has received largepecuniary support from the United States, chiefly through the enthusiasmand energy of Dr. W. C. Winslow, of Boston. In 1880 Doctor Winslow, whohad been five months in Egypt, returned to America deeply impressed withthe importance of scientific research in Egypt, and, upon hearing of theExploration Fund in London, he wrote a letter expressive of his interestand sympathy to the president, Sir Erasmus Wilson, which brought areply not only from him, but also from the secretary, Miss Edwards, expatiating upon the purpose and needs of the society, and outliningoptimistically its ultimate accomplishments. 

Doctor Winslow was elected honorary treasurer of the Fund for the UnitedStates for the year 1883-84. * Many prominent residents became interestedand added their names to its membership, and have given it their effortand their hearty financial support. Among the distinguished Americanmembers have been J. R. Lowell, G. W. Curtis, Charles Dudley Warner, andamong the chief Canadian members are Doctor Bourinot and Dr. J. WilliamDawson. 

 *The American subscriptions from the year 1883 rapidly increased, and by the year 1895 had figured up to $75, 800, and the total number of letters and articles written during that time had grown to 2, 467. The organisation in America consists of a central office at Boston, together with independent local societies, such as have already been formed in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The Boston office, and any independent local society, which subscribes not less than $750 a year, is entitled to nominate a member of the Committee. At the end of July, 1884, Doctor Winslow had forwarded to London $1, 332. 20. 

The Fund has always preserved amicable relations with the GovernmentDepartment of Antiquities in Egypt. Excavations are conducted byskilled explorers, and the results published promptly with due regard toscientific accuracy and pictorial embellishment. The antiquities foundare either deposited in the National Museum at Cairo, or distributedamong public museums in the United Kingdom and the United States ofAmerica and Canada, in strict proportion to the contribution of eachlocality. Exhibitions are usually held in London in July of each year. 

The Fund now consists of three departments, for each of which separateaccounts are kept. These departments are: 1. The Exploration Fund, forconducting archeological research generally, by means of systematicexcavations. 2. The Archæological Survey, for preserving an accuratepictorial record of monuments already excavated but liable todestruction. 3. The Græco-Roman Branch, for the discovery of theremains of classical antiquity and early Christianity. 

The first work of the Græco-Roman Branch was to publish the recentlydiscovered Oxyrrhynchos papyri, of which two volumes, containing manyimportant classical and theological texts, were issued in 1898 and 1899and 1900. Among its contents are parts of two odes of Pindar, of whichone begins with a description of the poet's relation to Xenocritus, theinventor of the Locrian mode of music; a considerable piece of the"Kolax" of Menander, one of the two plays upon which the "Eunuchus" ofTerence was based; part of a rhetorical treatise in Doric dialect, whichis undoubtedly a work of the Pythagorean school; the conclusion of theeighteenth Keo-Tcfe of Julius Africanus, dealing with a question ofHomeric criticism; and part of a biography of Alcibiades. A new lightis thrown upon some of the less-known departments of Greek literature bya well-preserved papyrus, which contains on one side a prose mime in twoscenes, a work of the school of Sophron, having points of resemblance tothe fifth mime of Herondas; while on the other side is an amusing farce, partly in prose, partly in verse. The scene is laid on the shores of theIndian Ocean, and the plot turns upon the rescue of a Greek maiden fromthe hands of barbarians, who speak a non-Greek language with elementsapparently derived from Prakrit. *

 * This is a peculiarly interesting suggestion in view of the fact that there is in the British Museum an unpublished fragment which for some time was considered by Doctor Budge to be a species of Egyptian stenography, but which has also been suggested to be in Pehlevi characters. 

The new Homeric fragments include one of Iliad VI. , with criticalsigns and interesting textual notes. Sappho, Euripides (Andromache, "Archelaus, " and "Medea"), Antiphanes, Thucydides, Plato ("Gorgias" and"Republic"), Æschines, Demosthenes, and Xenophon are also represented. Among the theological texts are fragments of the lost Greek original ofthe "Apocalypse of Baruch" and of the missing Greek conclusion of the"Shepherd" of Hennas. 

In the winter of 1898-99, Doctors Grenfell and Hunt conductedexcavations for the Græco-Roman Branch in the Fayûm. In 1899-1900, theyexcavated at Tebtunis, in the Fayûm, on behalf of the University ofCalifornia; and by an arrangement between that university and the EgyptExploration Fund an important section of the Tebtunis papyri, consistingof second-century B. C. Papyri from crocodile mummies, was issued jointlyby the two bodies, forming the annual volumes of the Græco-Roman Branchfor 1900-01 and 1901-02. Since 1900 Doctors Grenfell and Hunt haveexcavated each winter on behalf of the Græco-Roman Branch, --in 1900-01in the Fayûm, and in 1901-02 both there and at Hibeh, with the resultthat a very large collection of Ptolemaic papyri was obtained. In thewinter of 1902-03, after finishing their work at Hibeh, they returned toOxyrrhynchos. Here was found a third-century fragment of a collection ofsayings of Jesus, similar in style to the so-called "Logia" discoveredat Oxyrrhynchos in 1897. As in that papyrus, the separate sayingsare introduced by the words "Jesus saith, " and are for the most partunrecorded elsewhere, though some which are found in the Gospels (e. G. "The Kingdom of God is within you" and "Many that are first shallbe last, and the last shall be first") occur here in differentsurroundings. Six sayings are preserved, unfortunately in an imperfectcondition. But the new "Logia" papyrus supplies more evidence concerningits origin than was the case with its predecessor, for it contains anintroductory paragraph stating that what follows consisted of "thewords which Jesus, the Living Lord, spake" to two of His disciples; and, moreover, one of the uncanonical sayings is already extant in part, theconclusion of it, "He that wonders shall reign and he that reigns shallrest, " being quoted by Clement of Alexandria from the Gospel accordingto the Hebrews. It is, indeed, possible that this Gospel was the sourcefrom which all this second series of "Logia" was derived, or they, orsome of them, may perhaps have been taken from the Gospel according tothe Egyptians, to which Professor Harnack and others have referred the"Logia" found in 1897. But the discoverers are disposed to regard bothseries as collections of sayings currently ascribed to our Lord ratherthan as extracts from any one uncanonical gospel. 

[Illustration: 357. Jpg PAGE IMAGE]

CHAPTER VIII. --IMPORTANT RESEARCHES IN EGYPT

_The Royal Tombs at Abydos: Reconstruction of the First and SecondDynasties: The Ten Temples at Abydos: The statuette of Khûfûi: Potteryand Pottery Marks: The Expedition of the University of California. _

Some interesting explorations have been conducted in Egypt by theExploration Fund during the four years 1900-04, under the guidance ofProf. W. M. Flinders Petrie, whose enthusiasm and patience for the workin this field seem to increase with the years of labour. In the winterof 1899-1900, Professor Petrie and his zealous helpers began theirinvestigation of the royal tombs of the first dynasty at Abydos. Commenting on this undertaking, Professor Petrie writes:

"It might have seemed a fruitless and thankless task to work at Abydosafter it had been ransacked by Mariette, and had been for the last fouryears in the hands of the Mission Amélineau. My only reason was thatthe extreme importance of results from there led to a wish to ascertaineverything possible about the early royal tombs after they were donewith by others, and to search even for fragments of the pottery. To workat Abydos had been my aim for years past; but it was only after itwas abandoned by the Mission Amélineau that at last, on my fourthapplication for it, I was permitted to rescue for historical study theresults that are here shown. 

"Nothing is more disheartening than being obliged to gather results outof the fraction left behind by past plunderers. In these royal tombsthere had been not only the plundering of the precious metals and thelarger valuables by the wreckers of early ages; there was after that thesystematic destruction of monuments by the vile fanaticism of the Kopts, which crushed everything beautiful and everything noble that mere greedhad spared; and worst of all, for history, came the active search in thelast four years for everything that could have a value in the eyes ofpurchasers, or be sold for profit regardless of its source; a search inwhich whatever was not removed was deliberately and avowedly destroyedin order to enhance the intended profits of European speculators. Theresults are therefore only the remains which have escaped the lustof gold, the fury of fanaticism, and the greed of speculators in thisransacked spot. 

"A rich harvest of history has come from the site which was said to beexhausted; and in place of the disordered confusion of names without anyhistorical connection, which was all that was known from the _MissionAmélineau_, we now have the complete sequence of kings from the middleof the dynasty before Mena to probably the close of the second dynasty, and we can trace in detail the fluctuations of art throughout thesereigns. "*

At the time when Professor Maspero brought his history of Egypt to aclose, the earliest known historical ruler of Egypt was King Mena orMenés. **

 * "The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty, " Parts I. -II. (Eighteenth and Twenty-first Memoirs of the Egypt Exploration Fund), London, 1900-1902. 

 ** See Volume I. , page 322, et seq. 

Mena is the first king on the fragmentary list of Manetho, and thegeneral accuracy of Manetho was supported by the accounts of Herodotusand other ancient writers. For several centuries these accounts wereaccepted as the basis of authentic history. With the rise of the scienceof Egyptology, however, search began to be made for some corroborationof the actual existence of Mena, and this was found in the inscriptionsof a temple wall at Abydos, which places Mena at the head of the firstdynasty; and, allowing for differences of language, the records ofManetho relating to the earlier dynasty were established. Mena wastherefore accepted as the first king of the first dynasty up to the veryend of the nineteenth century. 

As a result of Professor Petrie 's recent investigations, however, hehas been enabled to carry back the line of the early kings for three orfour generations. 

The royal tombs at Abydos lie closely together in a compact group on asite raised slightly above the level of the surrounding plain, so thatthe tombs could never be flooded. Each of the royal tombs is a largesquare pit, lined with brickwork. Close around it, on its own level, or higher up, there are generally small chambers in rows, in which wereburied the domestics of the king. Each reign adopted some variety in themode of burial, but they all follow the type of the prehistoric burials, more or less developed. The plain square pit, like those in which thepredynastic people were buried, is here the essential of the tomb. Itis surrounded in the earlier examples of Zer or Zet by small chambersopening from it. By Merneit these chambers were built separately aroundit. By Den an entrance passage was added, and by Qa the entrance wasturned to the north. At this stage we are left within reach of the earlypassage-mastabas and pyramids. Substituting a stone lining and roof forbricks and wood, and placing the small tombs of domestics farther away, we reach the type of the mas-taba-pyramid of Snofrui, and so lead on tothe pyramid series of the Old Kingdom. 

[Illustration: 361. Jpg PLAN OF THE ROYAL TOMBS AS ABYDOS]

The careful manner with which all details of a burial were supervisedunder the first dynasty enables the modern Egyptologist, by a skilfulpiecing together of evidence, to reconstruct an almost perfect pictureof the life of Egypt at the dawn of civilisation. One of our mostvaluable sources of information is due to the fact that, in building thewalls of the royal tombs, there were deposited in certain parts withinthe walls objects now technically known as _deposits_. We do not knowwhether, in selecting these objects, the ancient Egyptian had regardto what he considered their intrinsic value, or whether, as was mostprobable, it was some religious motive that prompted his action. Oftenthe objects thus deposited come under the designation of pottery, although the vases were sometimes shaped of stone and not of clay. Within such vases all kinds of objects were preserved. The jar or vasewas closed with a lump of clay, either flat or conical, and the clay wasimpressed, while wet, with a seal. 

A detailed and elaborate examination of the relative positions of thetombs, their dimensions, and the objects found in them, compared withthe various fragments of historical records of the early dynasties, enables us to reconstruct the exact order of these ancient rulers. Thissequence is:

[Illustration: 362. Jpg TABLE OF ANCIENT RULERS]*

 * Ka and Zeser were possibly brothers of Mena. 

Following the dating tentatively computed by Professor Petrie, the datesof some of these kings are:

[Illustration: 363a. Jpg TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY OF EARLY KINGS]

Thus we have reconstructed the list of Thinite kings before Mena sofar as the facts allow, and perhaps so far as we are ever likely toascertain them. 

The facts about the second dynasty, the kings after Qa, must now bestudied. In the tomb of Perabsen it was found that there wereburied with him vases of three other kings, which are therefore hispredecessors. Their names are Hotepahaui, Raneb, and Neteren; and itis certain that Raneb preceded Neteren, as the latter had defaced andre-used a vase of the former. As on statue No. 1, Cairo Museum, thesethree names are in the above order, and, as the succession of two ofthem is now proved, it is only reasonable to accept them in this order. From all the available facts it seems that we ought to restore thedynasty thus:

[Illustration: 363b. Jpg TABLE OF KINGS]

The oldest tomb that we can definitely assign is that marked B 7, thetomb of King Ka. This is a pit with sloping sides; the thickness of thebrick walls is that of the length of one brick, and the soft footing ofthe wall and pressure of sand behind it has overthrown the longer sides. 

[Illustration: 364. Jpg ENLARGED PLAN OF FIRST DYNASTY TOMBS]

The broken pottery mixed with the sand, which filled it, largelyconsisted of cylinder jars, like the later prehistoric form; and thesehad many inscriptions on them, written in ink with a brush, most ofwhich showed the name of Ka in the usual panelled frame. There cantherefore be no doubt of the attribution of this tomb. 

The tomb B 9 is perhaps that of King Zeser, who seems to have been asuccessor of Ka. It is of the same construction as that of Ka. The tombB 10 appears to be the oldest of the great tombs, by its easternmostposition; and the objects of Narmer point to this as his tomb. In boththe thickness and the batter of the walls there is a care shown inproportioning the strength of the ends and the sides. The tomb B 15is probably that of King Sma. Its walls are not quite so thick, beingfifty inches at the end. The post-holes in the floor suggest that therewere five on the long side, and one in the middle of each end, as in thetomb of Narmer. But along the sides are holes for roofing beams near thetop of the wall. These roof beams do not at all accord with the posts;and this proves that, here at least, the posts were for backing a woodenchamber inside the brick chamber. If this be the case here, it wasprobably also true in Narmer's tomb; and hence these brick tombs wereonly the protective shell around a wooden chamber which contained theburial. This same system is known in the first dynasty tombs, and we seehere the source of the chambered tombs of Zer and Zet. Before the ageof Mena, the space around the wood chamber was used for dropping inofferings between the framing posts; and then, after Mena, separatebrick chambers were made around the wooden chamber in order to hold moreofferings. *

 *This chamber was burnt; and is apparently that mentioned by M. Amélineau, Fouilles, in extenso, 1899, page 107. 

The tomb B 19, which contained the best tablet of Aha-Mena, is probablyhis tomb; for the tomb with his vases at Naqada is more probably that ofhis queen Neithotep. As both the tombs B 17 and 18 to the north of thiscontained objects of Mena, it is probable that they were the tombs ofsome members of his family. 

The great cemetery of the domestics of this age is the triple row oftombs to the east of the royal tombs; in all the thirty-four tombs here, no name was found beside that of Aha on the jar sealings, and the twotombs, B 6 and B 14, seen to be probably of the same age. In B 14 werefound only objects of Aha, and three of them were inscribed with thename of Bener-eb, probably the name of a wife or a daughter of Mena, which is not found in any other tomb. *

 * Professor Petrie's arguments, although home out by the evidence that he produces, have from time to time been criticised. M. Naville, for example, endeavours to prove that the buildings in the desert are not literally tombs, but rather temples for the cult of their Ka; and that there ought not to be kings anterior to Mena, particularly at Abydos: "Narmer" is really Boethos, the first king of the second dynasty. According to M. Naville, Boethos, Usaphis, and Miebidos are the only kings as yet identified of the early time. M. Naville also suggests that Ka-Sekhem and Ka- Sekhemui are two names for one king. 

[Illustration: 366. Jpg EBONY TABLET OF KING AHA-MENA]

From the time of Mena has come down to us an ebony tablet, as shown inthe illustration. This is the most complete of the inscriptions of thisking, and was found in two portions in the tombs marked B 18 and B 19. The signs upon the tablet are most interesting. On the top line, afterthe cartouche of Aha-Mena, there are two sacred boats, probably ofSokaris, and a shrine and temenos of Nit. In the line below is seen aman making an offering, and behind him is a bull running over undulatingground into a net stretched between two poles, while at the end, standing upon a shrine, is a bird, which appears to be the ibis of Thot. A third line shows three boats upon a canal or river, passing betweencertain places, and it has been reasonably conjectured that the othersigns in this line indicate these places as being Biu, a district ofMemphis; Pa She (or "the dwelling of the lake"), the capital of theFayum; and the Canal of Mer, or Bahr Yusef. So far this tabletcontains picture signs, but the fourth line gives a continued series ofhieroglyphics, and is the oldest line of such characters yet discovered. Mr. F. LI. Griffiths translates these characters as "who takes thethrone of Horus. "

In the north-west corner of the tomb, a stairway of bricks was roughlyinserted in later times in order to give access to the shrine of Osiris. That this is not an original feature is manifest: the walls are burntred by the burning of the tomb, while the stairs are built of blackmud brick with fresh mud mortar smeared over the reddened wall. It isnotable that the burning of these tombs took place before their re-usein the eighteenth dynasty; as is also seen by the re-built doorway ofthe tomb of Den, which is of large black bricks over smaller red burntbricks. It is therefore quite beside the mark to attribute this burningto the Kopts. 

The tomb of King Zer has an important secondary history as the site ofthe shrine of Osiris, established in the eighteenth dynasty (for none ofthe pottery offered there is earlier than that of Amenhôthes III. ), andvisited with offerings from that time until the twenty-sixth dynasty, when additional sculptures were placed here. 

[Illustration: 368. Jpg TOMB OF ZER, 4700 B. C. ]

Afterwards it was despoiled by the Kopts in erasing the worship ofOsiris. It is the early state of the place as the tomb of King Zer thatwe have to study here, and not its later history. 

The tomb chamber has been built of wood; and the brick cells aroundit were built subsequently against the wooden chamber, as their rough, unplastered ends show; moreover, the cast of the grain of the wood canbe seen on the mud mortar adhering to the bricks. There are also long, shallow grooves in the floor, a wide one near the west wall, threenarrow ones parallel to that, and a short cross groove, all probably theplaces of beams which supported the wooden chamber. Besides these therewas till recently a great mass of carbonised wood along the north sideof the floor. This was probably part of the flooring of the tomb, which, beneath the woodwork, was covered with a layer of bricks, which layon clean sand. But all the middle of the tomb had been cleared to thenative marl for building the Osiris shrine, of which some fragments ofsculpture in hard limestone are now all that remain. 

A strange feature here is that of the red recesses, such as were alsofound in the tomb of Zet. The large ones are on the west wall, and inthe second cell on the north wall. No meaning can yet be assigned tothese, except as spirit-entrances to the cells of offerings, like thefalse doors in tombs of the Old Kingdom. 

In spite of the plundering of the tombs in various ages, the work of theEgypt Exploration Fund was so thorough that not a few gold objectshave been found in the course of recent excavations. By far the mostimportant discovery of recent years was that of some jewelry in the tombof King Zer. The story of this find is so entertaining, and illustratesso admirably the method of the modern scientific explorer, that we givethe account of it in Professor Petrie's own words:

"While my workmen were clearing the tomb, they noticed among the rubbishwhich they were moving a piece of the arm of a mummy in its wrappings. It lay in a broken hole in the north wall of the tomb. The party of fourwho found it looked into the end of the wrappings and saw a large goldbead, the rosette in the second bracelet. They did not yield to thenatural wish to search further or to remove it; but laid the arm downwhere _they_ found it until Mr. Mace should come and verify it. Nothingbut obtaining the complete confidence of the workmen, and paying themfor all they find, could ever make them deal with valuables in thiscareful manner. On seeing it, Mr. Mace told them to bring it to our hutsintact, and I received it quite undisturbed. In the evening the mostintelligent of the party was summoned as a witness of the opening ofthe wrappings, so that there should be no suspicion that I had not dealtfairly with the men. I then cut open the linen bandages, and found, to our great surprise, the four bracelets of gold and jewelry. Theverification of the exact order of threading occupied an hour or two, working with a magnifier, my wife and Mr. Mace assisting. When recorded, the gold was put in the scales and weighed against sovereigns beforethe workman, who saw everything. Rather more than the value of gold wasgiven to the men, and thus we ensured their good-will and honesty forthe future. "

The hawk bracelet consists of thirteen gold and fourteen turquoiseplaques in the form of the façade with the hawk, which usually enclosesthe _ka_ name of the king. The gold hawks have been cast in a mouldwith two faces, and the junction line has been carefully removed andburnished. The gold was worked by chisel and burnishing; no grinding orfile marks are visible. In the second bracelet, with the rosette, twogroups of beads are united at the sides by bands of gold wire and thickhair. The fastening of the bracelet was by a loop and button. Thisbutton is a hollow ball of gold with a shank of gold wire fastened init. The third bracelet is formed of three similar groups, one larger, and the other smaller on either side. The middle of each group consistsof three beads of dark purple lazuli. The fastening of this braceletwas by a loop and button. The fourth bracelet is fashioned of hour-glassbeads. 

In this extraordinary group of the oldest jewelry known, we seeunlimited variety and fertility of design. Excepting the plain goldballs, there is not a single bead in any one bracelet which would beinterchangeable with those in another bracelet. Each is of independentdesign, fresh and free from all convention or copying. 

The tomb of Zet consists of a large chamber twenty feet wide and thirtyfeet long, with smaller chambers around it at its level, the wholebounded by a thick brick wall, which rises seven and a half feet to theroof, and then three and a half feet more to the top of the retainingwall. Outside of this on the north is a line of small tombs about fivefeet deep, and on the south a triple line of tombs of the same depth. And apparently of the same system and same age is the mass of tombsmarked W, which are parallel to the tomb of Zet. Later there appears tohave been built the long line of tombs, placed askew, in order not tointerfere with those which have been mentioned, and then this skew linegave the di-rection to the next tomb, that of Merneit, and later on tothat of Azab. The private graves around the royal tomb are all built ofmud brick, with a coat of mud plaster over it, and the floor is of sand, usually also coated over with mud. 

[Illustration: 372. Jpg TOMB OF ZET, CIRCA 4700 B. C. ]

The first question about these great tombs is how they were coveredover. Some have said that such spaces could not be roofed, and at firstsight it would seem almost impossible. But the actual beams found yetremaining in the tombs are as long as the widths of the tombs, andtherefore timber of such sizes could be procured. In the tomb of Qa theholes for the beams yet remain in the walls, and even the cast of theend of a beam, and in the tombs of Merneit, Azab, and Mer-sekha areposts and pilasters to help in supporting a roof. The clear span ofthe chamber of Zet is 240 inches, or 220 if the beams were carried ona wooden lining, as seems likely. It is quite practicable to roofover these great chambers up to spans of twenty feet. The wood of suchlengths was actually used, and, if spaced out over only a quarter of thearea, the beams would carry their load with full safety. Any boarding, mats, or straw laid over the beams would not increase the load. Thatthere was a mass of sand laid over the tomb is strongly shown by theretaining wall around the top. This wall is roughly built, and notintended to be a visible feature. The outside is daubed with mudplaster, and has a considerable slope; the inside is left quite rough, with bricks in and out. 

Turning now to the floor, the basis of it is mud plastering, which waswhitewashed. On that were laid beams around the sides, and one down themiddle: these beams were placed before the mud floor was hard, and havesunk about one-quarter inch into it. On the beams a ledge was recessed, and on this ledge the edges of the flooring planks rested. Such plankswould not bend in the middle by a man standing on them, and thereforemade a sound floor. Over the planks was laid a coat of mud plaster. Thisconstruction doubtless shows what was the mode of flooring the palacesand large houses of the early Egyptians, in order to keep off the dampof the ground in the Nile valley. For common houses a basis of potteryjars turned mouth down was used for the same purpose. A very strikingexample of this method was unearthed at Koptos. 

The sides of the great central chamber of Zet are not clear inarrangement. The brick cross walls, which subdivide them into separatecells, have no finished faces on their ends. All the wall faces areplastered and whitewashed; but the ends of the cross walls are roughbricks, all irregularly in and out. Moreover, the bricks project forwardirregularly over the beam line. It seems, then, that there was anupright timber lining to the chamber, against which the cross walls werebuilt the walls thus having rough ends projecting over the beams. Thefooting of this upright plank lining is indicated by a groove left alongthe western floor beam between the ledge on the beam and the side ofthe flooring planks. Thus we reach a wooden chamber, lined with uprightplanks, which stood out from the wall, or from the backs of the beams. How the side chambers were entered is not shown; whether there was adoor to each or not. But as they were intended to be for ever closed, and as the chambers in two corners were shut off by brickwork all round, it seems likely that all the side chambers were equally closed. Andthus, after the slain domestics and offerings were deposited in them, and the king in the centre hall, the roof would be permanently placedover the whole. 

The height of the chamber is proved by the cast of straw which formedpart of the roofing, and which comes at the top of the course of headerson edge which copes the wall all around the chamber. Over this strawthere was laid one course of bricks a little recessed, and beyond thatis the wide ledge all round before reaching the retaining wall. Theheight of the main chamber was 90. 6 inches from the floor level. 

Having examined the central chamber, the chambers at the sides should benext considered. The cross walls were built after the main brick outsidewas finished and plastered. The deep recesses coloured red, on the northside, were built in the construction; where the top is preserved entire, as in a side chamber on the north, it is seen that the roofing ofthe recess was upheld by building in a board about an inch thick. The shallow recesses along the south side were merely made in theplastering, and even in the secondary plastering after the cross wallswere built. All of these recesses, except that at the south-west, werecoloured pink-red, due to mixing burnt ochre with the white. 

The tomb of Merneit was not at first suspected to exist, as it had noaccumulation of pottery over it; and the whole ground had been pittedall over by the Mission Amélineau making "_quelques sondages_, " withoutrevealing the chambers or the plan. As soon, however, as Petrie begansystematically to clear the ground, the scheme of a large centralchamber, with eight long chambers for offerings around it, and a line ofprivate tombs enclosing it, stood apparent. The central chamber is veryaccurately built, with vertical sides parallel to less than an inch. Itis about twenty-one feet wide and thirty feet long, or practically thesame as the chamber of Zet. Around the chamber are walls forty-eightto fifty-two inches thick, and beyond them a girdle of long, narrowchambers forty-eight inches wide and 160 to 215 inches long. Of thesechambers for offerings, Nos. 1, 2, 5, and 7 still contain pottery inplace, and No. 3 contains many jar sealings. 

At a few yards distant from the chambers full of offerings is a lineof private graves almost surrounding the royal tomb. This line hasan interruption at the south end of the west side similar to theinterruption of the retaining wall of the tomb of Zet at that quarter. It seems, therefore, that the funeral approached it from that direction. 

The chamber of the tomb of Merneit shows signs of burning on both thewalls and the floor. A small piece of wood yet remaining indicates thatit also had a wooden floor like the other tombs. Against the walls standpilasters of brick; and, although these are not at present more than aquarter of the whole height of the wall, they originally reached to thetop. These pilasters are entirely additions to the first building; theystand against the plastering and upon a loose layer of sand and pebblesabout four inches thick. Thus it is clear that they belonged to thesubsequent stage of the fitting of a roof to the chamber. The holes thatare shown in the floor are apparently connected with the construction, as they are not in the mid-line where pillars are likely. At the edge ofchamber No. 2 is a cast of plaited palm-leaf matting on the mud mortarabove this level, and the bricks are set back irregularly. This showsthe mode of finishing off the roof of this tomb. 

[Illustration: 377. Jpg PLANS OF THE TOMBS OF DEN-SETUI AND OTHERS]

From the position of the tomb of Den-Setui, it is seen naturally tofollow the building of the tombs of Zet and Merneit. It is surrounded byrows of small chambers for offerings, and for the burial of domestics. The king's tomb appears to have contained a large number of tablets ofivory and ebony, for fragments of eighteen were found, and two othersare known, making in all twenty tablets from this one tomb. Theinscriptions on stone vases are, however, not more frequent than inprevious reigns. This tomb appears to have been one of the most costlyand sumptuous. The astonishing feature of this chamber is the granitepavement, such considerable use of granite being quite unknown until thestep pyramid of Saqqâra early in the third dynasty. At the south-westcorner is a strange annex. A stairway leads down from the west and thenturns to the north. At the foot of the first flight of steps is aspace for inserting planks and brickwork to close the chamber, likethe blocking of the door of the tomb of Azab. 1 This small chamber wastherefore intended to be closed. Whether this chamber was for the burialof one of the royal family, or for the deposit of offerings, it isdifficult to determine. Of the various rows of graves around the greattomb there is nothing to record in detail. An ebony tablet, presumablyof the time of Den, found among the first dynasty tombs, represents ascene in which a king is dancing before Osiris, the god being seatedin his shrine. This tablet is the earliest example of those pictorialrecords of a religious ceremony which, as we now know, was continuedalmost without change from the first dynasty to the thirty-third. It isinteresting to note on this engraving that the king is represented withthe _hap_ and a short stick instead of the oar. 

[Illustration: 379. Jpg TABLET OF DEN-SETUI, 4600 B. C. ]

It should be noted also that the royal name, Setui, occurs in the lowerpart of the tablet, so that there is a strong presumption that thetablet is of the time of Den-Setui, and the presumption is almost acertainty when the tablet is compared with some sealings found in itsvicinity. Mr. F. LI. Griffiths has written at length on this importantinscription. *

 * Royal Tombs of the first dynasty, Part I: Eighteenth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, London, 1900, page 42. 

He thinks that this tablet and two others somewhat similar were thebrief annals of the time, and record the historic events and the namesof government officials. He translates a portion of the inscription as"Opening the gates of foreign lands, " and in another part he reads, "The master comes, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt. " Moreover, hetranslates certain signs as "Sheikh of the Libyans, " and he identifiesa place named _Tny_ as This, or the capital of the nome in which Abydoslay. 

Of this reign also is an ivory tablet finely polished, but blackenedwith burning, which has engraved upon it the oldest architecturaldrawing in the world. 

[Illustration: 380. Jpg architectural drawing, B. C. 4600. ]

The inscription on this precious fragment apparently refers to the greatchiefs coming to the tomb of Setui, and a picture of a building in themiddle of the inscription may be taken as representing on the left thetomb chamber of Den-Setui, with a slight mound over it. The uprightstrokes represent the steles outside the tombs, adjacent to which is theinclined stairway, while on the right is a diagram of the cemetery, withgraves ar-ranged in rows around the tomb, with small steles standing upover the graves. 

A small piece of still another ivory tablet gives an interestingportrait of Den-Setui. This king flourished about 4600 b. C, so thatthis is perhaps the oldest portrait that can be named and dated. Itshows the double crown fully developed, and has an additional interest, inasmuch as the crown of Lower Egypt was apparently coloured red, whilethe crown of Upper Egypt was white in accordance with the practice thatwe know existed during the later historic period. 

[Illustration: 381. Jpg IVORY PANEL OF DEN-SETUI, 4600 B. C. ]

Among the many ivory objects found at Abydos is a small ivory panel froma box which seems to have contained the golden seal of judgment of KingDen. 

The engraving of this ivory panel is of the finest description, andbears evidence of the magnificent workmanship of the Egyptians 6, 500years ago. It will be seen that enough of the fragment has beenpreserved to include the cartouche of the monarch, and the snake at theside is the pictograph of judgment. Beneath is the hieroglyph for gold, and at the bottom is a sign which represents a seal cylinder* rollingover a piece of clay. 

 * It was for a long time thought that this hieroglyphic character represented a finger ring, but as it is now positively known that finger rings were not in use until long after the time of Den, this explanation had to be abandoned in favour of the more correct interpretation of a seal cylinder. 

The tomb of Azab-Merpaba is a plain chamber, with rather sloping sides, about twenty-two feet long and fourteen feet wide. The surrounding wallis nearly five feet thick. The lesser and more irregular chamber onthe north is of the same depth and construction, fourteen feet by nine. This lesser chamber had no remains of flooring; it contained many largesealings of jars, and seems to have been for all the funeral provision, like the eight chambers around the tomb of Merneit. Around this tomb isa circuit of small private tombs, leaving a gap on the southwest likethat of Merneit, and an additional branch line has been added on at thenorth. 

[Illustration: 382. Jpg STAIRWAY IN THE TOMB AZAB]

All of these tombs are very irregularly built; the sides are wavy indirection, and the divisions of the long trench are slightly piled up, of bricks laid lengthwise, and easily overthrown. This agrees withthe rough and irregular construction of the central tomb and offeringchamber. The funeral of Azab seems to have been more carelesslyconducted than that of any of the other kings here; only one piece ofinscribed vase was in his tomb, as against eight of his found in hissuccessor's tomb, and many other of his vases erased by his successor. Thus his palace property seems to have been kept back for hissuccessor's use, and not buried with Azab himself. In some of thechambers much ivory inlaying was found. 

The entrance to the tomb of Azab was by a stairway descending from theeast, thus according with the system begun by Den. On the steps, justoutside of the door, were found dozens of small pots loosely piledtogether. These must have contained offerings made after the completionof the burial. The blocking is made by planks and bricks, the wholeoutside of the planking being covered by bricks loosely stacked, as canbe seen in the photograph, the planking having decayed away from beforethem. The chamber was floored with planks of wood laid flat on the sand, without any supporting beams as in other tombs. 

The tomb of Mersekha-Semempses is forty-four feet long and twenty-fivefeet wide, surrounded by a wall over five feet thick. The surroundingsmall chambers are only three to four feet deep where perfect, while thecentral pit is still eleven and one-half feet deep, though broken awayat the top. When examined by Professor Petrie few of the small chamberscontained anything. Seven steles were found, the inscriptions of whichare marked in the chambers of the plan; and other steles were also foundhere, scattered so that they could not be identified with the tombs. The most interesting are two steles of dwarfs, which show the dwarf typeclearly; with one were found bones of a dwarf. In a chamber on theeast was a jar and a copper bowl, which shows the hammer marks, andis roughly finished, with the edge turned over to leave it smooth. Thesmall compartments in the south-eastern chambers were probably intendedto hold the offerings placed in the graves; the dividing walls are onlyabout half the depth of the grave. 

[Illustration: 384. Jpg TOMB OF MERSEKHA, SHOWING WOODEN FLOOR]

The structure of the interior of the tomb of Mersekha is at presentuncertain. Only in the corner by the entrance was the wooden flooringpreserved; several beams (one now in Cairo Museum) and much broken woodwas found loose in the rubbish. The entrance is nine feet wide, andwas blocked by loose bricks, flush with wall face, as seen in thephotograph. Another looser walling farther out, also seen in thephotograph, is probably that of plunderers to hold back the sand. 

The tomb of King Qa, which is the last of the first dynasty, shows amore developed stage than the others. Chambers for offerings are builton each side of the entrance passage, and this passage is turned to thenorth, as in the mastabas of the third dynasty and in the pyramids. Thewhole of the building is hasty and defective. 

[Illustration: 385. Jpg PLAN OF TOMB OF QA, CIRCA 4500 B. C. ]

The bricks were mostly used too new, probably less than a week afterbeing made. Hence the walls have seriously collapsed in most of thelesser chambers; only the one great chamber was built of firm andwell-dried bricks. In the small chambers along the east side the longwall between chambers 10 and 5 has crushed out at the base, and spreadagainst the pottery in the grave 5, and against the wooden box in grave2. Hence the objects must have been placed in those graves within a fewdays of the building of the wall, before the mud bricks were hard enoughto carry even four feet height of wall. The burials of the domesticsmust therefore have taken place all at once, immediately after theking's tomb was built, and hence they must have been sacrificed at thefuneral. The pottery placed in the chambers is all figured in positionon the plan. 

[Illustration: 386. Jpg STYLE OF KING QA]

Only three steles were found in the grave of Qa, but these were largerthan those of the earlier graves. One of them, No. 48, is the longestand most important inscription that has come down to us from the firstdynasty. This lay in a chamber on the west side of the tomb. In thepreparation of the stele, the block of stone had been ground all overand edges rounded. On its surface the hieroglyphs were then sketched inred ink, and were finally drawn in black, the ground being then roughlyhammered out. There the work stopped, and the final scraping anddressing of the figures was never accomplished. The reading of the signsis therefore difficult, but enough is seen to show that the keeperof the tomb bore the name of Sabef. He had two titles which are nowillegible, and was also "Overseer of the Sed Festival. " This scantyinformation goes to show how little the official titles were changedbetween the days of the first dynasty and the time of the building ofthe pyramids. The stele of the king Qa was found lying over chamber;it is like that found by M. Amélineau, carved in black quartzose stone. Near it, on the south, were dozens of large pieces of fine alabasterbowls. 

Among various objects found in these chambers should be noted the fineivory carving from chamber 23, showing a bound captive; the large stockof painted model vases in limestone in a box in chamber 20; the set ofperfect vases found in chamber 21; a fine piece of ribbed ivory; a pieceof thick gold-foil covering of a hotep table, patterned as a mat, foundin the long chamber west of the tomb; the deep mass of brown vegetablematter in the north-east chamber; the large stock of grain betweenchambers 8 and 11; and the bed of currants ten inches thick, thoughdried, which underlay the pottery in chamber 11. In chamber 16 werelarge dome-shaped jar sealings, with the name of Azab, and on one ofthem the ink-written signs of the "King's ka. "

The entrance passage has been closed with rough brick walling at thetop. It is curiously turned askew, as if to avoid some obstacle, but thechambers of the tomb of Den do not come near its direction. After ninesteps, the straight passage is reached, and then a limestone portcullisslab bars the way, let into grooves on either side; it was, moreover, backed up by a buttress of brickwork in five steps behind it. All thisshows that the rest of the passage must have been roofed in so deeplythat entry from above was not the obvious course. The inner passagedescends by steps, each about five inches high, partly in the slope, partly in the rise of the step. The side chambers open off this stairwayby side passages a little above the level of the stairs. 

The interior structure of the tomb of Qa is rather different from anyother. Instead of the timber being an entirely separate structure apartfrom the brick, the brick sides seem here to have been very looselybuilt against the timber sides. Some detail yet remains of the woodenfloor. The roofing is distinct in this tomb, and it is evident thatthere was an axial beam, and that the side beam only went half acrossthe chamber. This is the only tomb with the awkward feature of an axialdoorway, and it is interesting to note how the beam was placed out ofthe axis to accommodate it. 

The tomb of Perabsen shows a great change in form since the earlierseries. A new dynasty with new ideas had succeeded the great foundersof the monarchy; the three reigns had passed by before we can again seehere the system of the tombs. Even the national worship was changed, and Set had become prominent. The type of tomb which had been developedunder Azab, Mer-sekha, and Qa seems to have given way to the earlierpattern of Zer and Zet. In this tomb of Perabsen we see the same row ofsmall cells separated by cross walls, like those of the early kings;but in place of a wooden central chamber there is a brick chamber, anda free passage is left around it communicating with the cells. What wasthe form of the south side of that chamber cannot now be traced, as, ifany wall existed, it is now entirely destroyed. The entirely new featureis the continuous passage around the whole tomb. Perhaps the object ofthis was to guard against plunderers entering by digging sideways intothe tomb. 

[Illustration: 389. Jpg STONE CHAMBER OF KHASEKHEMUI]

The tomb of Khasekhemui is very different from any of the other royaltombs yet known. The total length of the chamber from end to end is twohundred and twenty-three feet, and the breadth in the middle is fortyfeet, growing wider towards the northern end. The whole structure isvery irregular; and, to add to the confusion, the greater part of it wasbuilt of freshly made mud bricks, which have yielded with the pressureand flowed out sideways, until the walls are often double their originalbreadth. It was only owing to this flow of the walls over the objectsin the chambers, that so many valuable things were found perfect, andin position. Where the whole of the original outline of a wall haddisappeared, the form is given in the plan with wavy outline. 

The central stone chamber of the tomb of Khasekhemui is the mostimportant part of the whole, as it is the oldest stone construction yetknown. The chamber is roughly seventeen by ten feet; the depth is nearlysix feet. There is no sign of any roof. 

Nearly all the contents of this tomb were removed by the Frenchinvestigators in 1897. Among the more interesting objects found weresealings of yellow clay, which were curiously enough of different typesat opposite ends of the tomb. Copper needles, chisels, axes, and modeltools were also found, and a beautiful sceptre of gold and sard wasbrought to light by Professor Petrie, only an inch or two below a spotthat had been cleared by previous explorers. 

In chamber 2 of the tomb of Khasekhemui were also found six vasesof dolomite and one of carnelian. Two of these are shown in theillustration, and each has a cover of thick gold-foil fitted over thetop, and secured with a double turn of twisted gold wire, the wire beingsealed with a small lump of clay, the whole operation resembling themethod of the modern druggist, in fastening a box of ointment. Nearthese vases were found two beautiful gold bracelets; one, Number 3, is still in a perfect condition; the other, Number 4, has been, unfortunately, crushed by the yielding of the wall of the tomb in whichit was deposited. 

[Illustration: 391. Jpg GOLD-CAPPED VASES AND GOLD BRACELETS]

Each royal grave seems to have had connected with it two great steles. Two, for instance, were found in the tomb of Merneit, one of which, however, was demolished. There were also two steles at the grave of Qa. So far only one stele had been found of Zet, and one of Mersekha, andnone appear to have survived of Zer, Den, or Azab. These steles seem tohave been placed at the east side of the tombs, and on the ground level, and such of them as happened to fall down upon their inscribed faceshave generally been found in an excellent state of preservation. 

Hence we must figure to ourselves two great steles standing up, side byside, on the east of the tomb; and this is exactly in accord with thenext period that we know, in which, at Medum, Snofrui had two greatsteles and an altar between them on the east of his tomb; and Rahotephad two great steles, one on either side of the offering-niche, eastof his tomb. Probably the pair of obelisks of the tomb of Antef V. , atThebes, were a later form of this system. Around the royal tomb stoodthe little private steles of the domestics, placed in rows, thus formingan enclosure about the king. 

Some of Professor Petrie's most interesting work at Abydos was commencedin November, 1902. In the previous season a part of the early town ofAbydos had been excavated, and it was found that its period began at theclose of the prehistoric age, and extended over the first few dynasties;the connection between the prehistoric scale and historic reigns wasthus settled. The position of this town was close behind the site of theold temples of Abydos, and within the great girdle-wall enclosure of thetwelfth dynasty, which stands about half a mile north of the well-knownlater temples of Seti I. And Ramses II. This early town, being behindthe temples, or more into the sandy edge of the desert, was higher up;the ground gently sloping from the cultivated land upward as a sandyplain, until it reaches the foot of the hills, a couple of miles back. 

The broad result of these new excavations is that ten different templescan be traced on the same ground, though of about twenty feet differenceof level; each temple built on the ruins of that which preceded it, quite regardless of the work of the earlier kings. 

In such a clearance it was impossible to preserve all the structures. Had Petrie and his companions avoided moving the foundations of thetwenty-sixth dynasty, they could never have seen much of the earlierwork; had they left the paving of the twelfth dynasty in place, theymust have sacrificed the objects of the Old Kingdom. 

[Illustration: 393. Jpg GENERAL PLAN OF BUILDINGS AT ABYDOS]

Also, had they only worked the higher levels, and left the rest, theinflow of high Nile would have formed a pond, which would have sorotted the ground that deeper work could not have been carried on in thefuture. The only course, therefore, was to plan everything fully, andremove whatever stood in the way of more complete exploration. Allstriking pieces of construction, such as the stone gateways of Papi, were left untouched, and work carried on to deep levels around them; inthis way, at the end of the season, the site was bristling with piecesof wall and blocks of stonework, rising ten or fifteen feet abovethe low level clearances. As the excavations progressed, there wasan incessant need of planning and recording all the constructions. Professor Petrie always went about with a large dinner-knife anda trowel in his pocket, and spent much time in cutting innumerablesections and tracing out the lines of the bricks. The top and base levelof each piece of wall had to be marked on it; and the levels could thenbe measured off to fixed points. 

An outline of some of the principal buildings is given, to show thegeneral nature of the site of the temple of Abydos. This plan is notintended to show all periods, nor the whole work of any one age; butonly a selection which will avoid confusion. The great outer wall on theplan was probably first built by Usirtasen I. ; the bricks of the oldestparts of it are the same size as bricks of his foundation deposits, andit rests upon town ruins of the Old Kingdom. But this wall has been sooften broken and repaired that a complete study of it would be a heavytask; some parts rest on nineteenth dynasty building, and even Romanpatchwork is seen. Its general character is shown with alternatingportions, the first set consisting of towers of brickwork built inconcave foundations, and then connecting walls between; formed instraight courses. The purpose of this construction has long been apuzzle. The alternate concave and straight courses are the naturalresult of building isolated masses, on a concave bed like all Egyptianhouses, and then connecting them by intermediate walls. The hard faceacross the wall, and the joint to prevent the spread of scaling, are theessential advantages of this construction. 

The corner marked Kom-de-Sultan is the enclosure which was emptied outby Mariette 's diggers, because of the abundance of burials with stelesof the twelfth to eighteenth dynasties. 

[Illustration: 395. Jpg WALL OF USIRTASEN I. ]

They have removed all the earth to far below the base of the walls, thusdigging in most parts right through the town of the Old Kingdom, whichstood here before the great walls were built. The inner two sides ofthis enclosed corner are later than the outer wall; the bricks arelarger than those of Usirtasen, and the base of the wall is higher thanhis. The causeway line indicated through the site by a dotted line fromthe east to the west gate is a main feature; but it is later than thesixth dynasty, as the wall of that age cuts it, and it was cut in twoby later buildings of the twentieth dynasty. It seems then to begin withUsirtasen, whose gateways it runs through; and to have been kept up byThûtmosis III. , who built a wall with granite pylon for it, and alsoby Ramses II. , who built a great portal colonnade of limestone for thecauseway to pass through on entering the cemetery outside the west wallof this plan. 

To the north of the causeway are seen the tombs of the first dynasty. One more, No. 27, was found beneath the wall of Thûtmosis; it was of thesame character as the larger of the previous tombs. All of these are farbelow any of the buildings shown on this outline plan. 

Of the two long walls, marked vi. , the inner is older, but was re-usedby Papi. It is probably the temenos of the third dynasty. The outerwall is the temenos of the sixth dynasty, the west side of which isyet unknown, and has probably been all destroyed. The temple of Papiis shown in the middle with the north-west and south sides of the thinboundary wall which enclosed it. The thick wall which lies outside ofthat is the great wall of the eighteenth dynasty, with the granitepylon of Thûtmosis III. It seems to have followed the line of the sixthdynasty wall on the north. The outline marked xix. Shows a high levelplatform of stone, which was probably for the basement of buildings ofRamses II. 

Within the area of these temples was discovered quite a number ofhistorical relics. None is more interesting, perhaps, than the ivorystatuette of the first dynasty king. This anonymous ruler is figured aswearing the crown of Upper Egypt, and a thick embroidered robe. 

From the nature of the pattern and the stiff edge represented, it looksas if this robe were quilted with embroidery; no such dress is knownon any Egyptian figure yet found. The work belongs to an unconventionalschool, before the rise of the fixed traditions; it might have beencarved in any age and country where good natural work was done. In itsunshrinking figuring of age and weakness with a subtle character, itshows a power of dealing with individuality which stands apart from allthe later work. 

[Illustration: 395. Jpg IVORY STATUETTE OF FIRST DYNASTY KING]

Of greater interest, however, is the ivory statuette of Khûfûi, whichis the first figure of that monarch that has come to light. The king isseated upon his throne, and the inscription upon the front of it leavesno doubt as to the identity of the figure. The work is of extraordinarydelicacy and finish; for even when magnified it does not suggest anyimperfection or clumsiness, but might have belonged to a life-sizedstatue. The proportion of the head is slightly exaggerated; as, indeed, is always the case in minute work; but the character and expression areas well handled as they might be on any other scale, and are full ofpower and vigour. The idea which it conveys to us of the personalityof Khûfûi agrees with his historical position. We see the energy, thecommanding air, the indomitable will, and the firm ability of the manwho stamped for ever the character of the Egyptian monarchy and outdidall time in the scale of his works. No other Egyptian king that we knowresembled this head; and it stands apart in portraiture, though perhapsit may be compared with the energetic face of Justinian, the greatbuilder and organiser. 

[Illustration: 398. Jpg ivory statuette of khufvi. ]

Two ivory lions were also found in one of the private tombs around thatof Zer. It is evident that these lions were used as playing pieces, probably for the well-known pre-historic game of Four Lions and a Hare, for the bases of the lions are much worn, as if by sliding about upon asmooth surface, and the pelt of the lion, as originally carved, is alsoworn off as if by continued handling. The lion shown in the illustrationis of a later style than those of Zer or of Mena. Near the place wherethis was found were a few others. One of them, apparently a lioness, isdepicted with a collar, indicating that the animal had been tamed, and yet another had inserted within the head an eye accurately cut inchalcedony. Another valuable object unearthed at Abydos was the sceptreof King Khase-khemui. This consisted of a series of cylinders of sardembellished at every fourth cylinder with double bands of thick gold, and completed at the thinner end with a plain cap of gold, copper rod, now corroded, binding the whole together. 

During the reign of King Zer the ivory arrow tip began to be commonlyused; hundreds were gathered from his tomb, and the variety of forms isgreater than in any other reign. Besides the plain circular points, many of them have reddened tips; there are also examples of quadrangularbarbed tips, and others are pentagonal, square, or oval. Only the plaincircular tips appear in succeeding reigns down to the reign of Mersekha, except a single example of the oval forms under Den. 

[Illustration: 399. Jpg CARVED IVORY LION]

Some flint arrow-heads were also found around the tomb of Zer, mostly ofthe same type as those found in the tomb of Mena. Two, however, of thesearrow-heads, Numbers 13 and 14, are of a form entirely unknown as yetin any other age or country. The extreme top of the head is of a chiselform, and this passes below into the more familiar pointed form. Theinference here is almost inevitable, and it seems as if the arrow-headshad been made in this peculiar way with a view to using the arrow asecond time after the tip was broken in attacking an animal. 

[Illustration: 400. Jpg ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ARROWS]

Another curious object dating from this reign and classed among thearrows is a small portion of flint set perpendicularly into the end ofa piece of wood. This, in the opinion of Professor Giglioli, is notan arrow at all, but a tattooing instrument. If this explanation becorrect, then this instrument is an extremely interesting find, for thefact has been recently brought to light that tattooing was in voguein prehistoric times, and there is, moreover, at Cairo, the mummy ofa priestess of the twelfth dynasty having the skin decorated in thismanner. 

Among the domestic articles is an admirable design of pair of tweezers, made with a wide hinge and stiff points. Of analogous interest are twocopper fish-hooks, which, however, have no barbs. Needles also, which weknow were used in prehistoric days, appear in the relics of the tomb ofZer and of subsequent rulers. Of the reign of Zer are also found copperharpoons cut with a second fang, similar forms being found amongthe remains of Mersekha and of Khasekhemui. In the centre of theillustration is seen the outline of a chisel of the time of Zer, verysimilar to those used in the early prehistoric ages. The same continuityfrom prehistoric to first dynasty times is shown in the shape of thecopper pins dating from Zer, Den, Mersekha, and Qa. 

[Illustration: 401. Jpg MISCELLANEOUS COPPER OBJECTS]

At various times quite a considerable number of articles relating tointimate daily life has been discovered. An exceedingly fortunate findwas that of an ivory comb of crude but careful workmanship, and which, even after the lapse of sixty-seven centuries, has only lost three ofits teeth. This comb, according to the inscription on it, belonged toBener-ab, a distinguished lady, whose tomb has been already mentioned, and who was either the wife or the daughter of King Mena of the firstdynasty. 

Of the class of domestic objects is the primitive but doubtless quiteeffective corn-grinder shown in the illustration. This was found inan undisturbed tomb in the Osiris temenos, where also was a strangelyshaped three-sided pottery bowl, similar in shape to a stone bowl of thesame period, but otherwise unknown in antiquity. This three-sided bowlmay be regarded as a freak of the workman rather than as having anyparticular value along the line of evolution of pottery forms; and itis interesting to note that bowls of this form have been quite recentlymade by the modern English potters in South Devonshire, as the result ofthe inventive fancy of a village workman. 

During the course of the excavations at Abydos many thousands offragments of pottery were collected. 

[Illustration: 402a. Jpg IVORY COMB, B. C. 4800]

Those that appeared to be of historic value were sorted and classified, and, as a result of minute and extended labours, it is now possible forthe reader to see at a glance the principal types of Egyptian potteryfrom prehistoric times, and to view their relationship as a whole. Thediagram exhibits an unbroken series of pottery forms from s. D. 76 toB. C. 4400. 

[Illustration: 402b. Jpg CORN-GRINDER AND THREE-SIDED BOWL]

The forms in the first column are those classified according to thechronological notation devised by Professor Petrie, enabling a "sequencedate" (s. D. ) to be assigned to an object which cannot otherwise bedated. In the second column are forms found in the town of Abydos, andin the last column are those unearthed in the tombs. Most of the largejars bear marks, which were scratched in the moist clay before beingbaked; some few were marked after the baking. 

[Illustration: 403. Jpg TYPES OF PREHISTORIC AND FIRST DYNASTY POTTERY]

Some of the marks are unquestionably hieroglyphs; others are probablyconnected with the signs used by the earlier prehistoric people; andmany can scarcely be determined. 

[Illustration: 404a. Jpg POTTERY MARKS]

A typical instance of these pottery marks is shown in the illustration. These signs appear to be distinctly of the time of Mer-sekha, and thefortified enclosure around the name may refer to the tomb as the eternalfortress of the king. These marks can be roughly classified into typesaccording to the skill with which they were drawn. The first exampleillustrates the more careful workmanship, and the others show moredegraded forms, in which the outline of the hawk and the signs in thecartouche become gradually more debased. It is tolerably certain thatwhat are known as the Mediterranean alphabets were derived from aselection of the signs used in these pottery marks. 

[Illustration: 404b. Jpg POTTERY FORMS FROM ABYDOS]

An undisturbed tomb was found by accident in the Osiris temenos. Thesoil was so wet that the bones were mostly dissolved; and only fragmentsof the skull, crushed under an inverted slate bowl, were preserved. Thehead had been laid upon a sandstone corn-grinder. Around the sides ofthe tomb were over two dozen jars of pottery, most of them large. Andnear the body were sixteen stone vases and bowls. Some of the forms, such as are shown in the illustration, Nos. 3, 7, 8, are new to us. Astrange three-sided pottery bowl was also found here, but since thereis no museum in England where such a complete tomb can be placed, it wassent to Philadelphia, in order that the whole series should be arrangedas originally found. 

The sealings, the general description of which has been already given, have come to light in such considerable quantities during the past fewyears that their study became a special branch of Egyptology. As tothe earliest sealings, it was not until the time of Den that a broaduniformity of style was established. The seals of the second dynasty aregenerally of a smaller style and more elaborately worked than those ofthe first dynasty. It is reasonable, therefore, to conclude that thelater seals were made in stone or metal rather than in wood. 

[Illustration: 405. Jpg THREE TYPES OF SEALINGS]

The illustration given of sealing No. 128, of the Egypt Exploration Fundcollection, shows a very fair type of the figuring of men and animals atthe time of the first dynasty as a survival of the prehistoric manner ofengraving. Here, then, at the very dawn of history, we find a spiriteddepiction of the human form, for, rude though it is, there can be nodoubt but that it is a representation of the human figure, and stiff andungainly though the action of the drawing be, there can be no doubt asto the progressive movement intended by the artist. On a sealing, No. 116, is seen the leopard with the bent bars on his back. The shrine uponthe same seal is of the general form, and is like the early huts withreed sides, and an interwoven palm-rib roof. This is a specimen of anintermediate manner of workmanship. The most advanced stage of art inthe sealings of the first dynasty, is No. 108. This is the royal seal ofKing Zer, B. C. 4700, showing him seated and wearing the crowns of Upperand Lower Egypt. By his side are the royal staff and his cartouches. Itwas workmanship of this character which survived in Egypt almost as lateas Roman times; that is to say, the same style engraving was current inthe Valley of the Nile for forty-six centuries. 

A particularly interesting sealing is a representation of two jars withthe flat seals across their tops. 

[Illustration: 406. Jpg A SEALING SHOWING JARS]

These jars, moreover, are depicted as bound around with a network ofrope in a manner which corresponds with some fragments of rope foundaround some jars of this character. 

[Illustration: 407. Jpg accounts on pottery, B. C. 4600]

A small fragment of pottery originally forming the base of a brownearthenware dish had inscribed upon it some accounts, and is the oldestof such business records yet found in Egypt. The exact import of thefigures is not yet entirely intelligible, but they seem to referto quantities of things rather than to individuals, as the numbers, although mostly twenty, are sometimes one hundred and two hundred. Thisinteresting fragment was found at the tomb of Zet, and thus establishesthe use of arithmetic before 4600 B. C. 

The expedition supported by Mrs. Hearst, in the name of the Universityof California, has done some useful work at El-Ahaiwah, oppositeMenshiyeh. The main cemetery at this place is an archaic one, containingabout a thousand graves or more, of which about seven hundred hadalready been plundered. Between these plundered graves, about 250 werefound untouched in modern times. The graves yielded a good collection ofarchaic pottery, pearl and ivory bracelets, hairpins, carnelian, garnet, gold, blue glaze and other beads, etc. 

About this cemetery was a cemetery of the late New Empire, containing anumber of vaulted tombs built of unburned brick. These yielded a largenumber of necklaces, and several fine pieces of faïence and ivory, andother objects. A second cemetery, farther north, contained a few latearchaic graves and about fifteen large tombs, usually with one mainchamber and two small chambers at each end. These tombs were of twotypes (1) roofed over with wood, without a stairway, (2) roofed overwith a corbelled vault and entered from the west by a stairway. Theburials in these tombs are in the archaic position, head to south. Dissected, or secondary, burials occur in these cemeteries, butonly rarely. Only one indisputable case was found, as shown in theillustration. 

[Illustration: 408. Jpg UNIQUE INSTANCE OF A DISSECTED BURIAL]

It would require several volumes adequately to deal with the resultsof the excavations of the present century. Further discoveries, allthrowing new light upon the life of ancient Egypt, are being made eachseason, and the number of enthusiastic workers gathered from everynation constantly increases. Notwithstanding the heroic and splendidwork of past investigators, for many years to come the valley of theNile promises to yield important results, not only in actual field work, but also in the close study and better classification of the thousandsof objects that are continually being brought to light. 

Six thousand years of history have been unrolled; tomb and tablet, shardand papyrus have told their story, and the vista stretches back tothe dawn of human history in that inexhaustible valley watered by theperennial overflow of the grandest river in the world. But there ismuch still to be accomplished by the enthusiastic spirit, the keen andselective mind, in the study of this ancient land, the cradle and thegrave of nations. 

THE END.