Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/423

 knowledge of Arabic literature, gradually deprived the native Christians of the

chief administrative functions. The inferior positions of scribes and notaries are,

however, still left in the hands of the Copts, and the Egyptian bureaucracy comprises altogether more Christians than Mohammedans.

The Coptic clerk, we are told by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, is even "practically the judge of first instance, for it depends upon his favour whether the peasant's