Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/391

 EXTENT AND POPULATION. 818 Cbampolliun's discovery revealed the mystery of the hieroglyphics so long and so earnestly sought for, and when the savants were able at last to decipher the inscriptions which cover in thousiinds the walls and columns of the immense architectural librar}' of Egypt, they plunged with rupture into this hitherto almost unknown field of inquiry. To the works of Herodotus and of the Greek geographers were now added still more precious documents, the so-called " tables," and the papyri written forty centuries ago by the Egj'ptiuns themselves. Thanks to the investigations of Mariette, now continued by M. Maspero, and thanks to the interpretations of Lepsius, Birch, Chabas, Emmanuel de Rouge, Diimichen, and so many other Egyptologists, the history of the ancient land of the Nile is being gradually reconstituted. The Western nations are beginning to become acquainted with the private life, the deep moral character, and as it were the very soul of this people, from whom they have inherited such a large part of their ideas. Whatever may be said to the contrary, great changes have taken place since the times represented on the oldest monuments. Doubtless the same type of face and figure may be found amongst many descendants of the Retu, and even fashions have survived, if not amongst the Egyptians at least amongst the Nubians whom they had subjugated. The art of husbandry has not been modified, at least amongst the peasantry, and as formerly " the unchanging temperature of Egypt endows the people," as Bossuet has remarked, "with solid and constant minds." But the series of historic events could not have been accomplished without producing a correspond- ing effect on the Egyptian people ; immigrants of all races have completely modified the urban civilisation. After acting as the teacher of the surrounding nations, Egypt had to be taught in her turn, and the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and European peoples successively became her masters. Extent and PoruLAXioN. Egypt may possibly now possess a smaller population than she did when at the height of her power ; but towns and villages have always been numerous on the banks of the Nile, and they follow in close proximity along the banks of the river, 08 in the time of Herodotus. In comparison with its extent of arable land, Egypt possesses one of the densest populations in the world. Indeed, Egypt proper consists entirely of lowlands which could be brought within the zone of irrigation. The rocky or sandy tracts which stretch beyond the valley of the Nile form a portion of Libya on the west, or of "Arabia," as it is called, on the east. The narrow strip of " golden thread," with its " fringes " in the delta, composes the whole of the domain of the felluhin, and the only inhabitable spots beyond these limits are a few oases to the west, and the pasturages found in the eastern uplands. The triangle of the delta and the winding river valley, which a pedes- trian traverses easily in a few hours, provided he can find a boat in which to cross the Nile, compose all the rest of the country, which Amru described to the Caliph Omar in these words : " Imagine an arid desert and a verdant plain between two mountainous ramparts ; that is Egypt."