Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/435

 RELIGION— THE M0UAMMEDAN8. 858 appeared from Egypt. The species of gnstrio fever known in the East hy the name of deng is also very prevalent, while the elephantiasis of the Arabs frequently attacks the natives, especially in the delta. Another skin disease, the so-called ♦• button " of the Nile, analogous to the " date " of Bagdad and the " button " of AlopiH) and Hi^kra, is endennc in the country Most of the inhabitants as well as strangers suffer from this sore once during life or during their residence in Egypt, although for the most part under a somewhat mild form of the malady. Religion. — The Mohammedans. Upwards of nine-tenths of the Egyptians are Mohammedans. But in a land where religions have succeeded each other like the alluvial deposits of the Nile, the people have not had time thoroughly to conform themselves to the official cult. Hence more than one observer has discovered in the legends and ceremonies of the fcllahin traces of the religion which formerly attracted multitudes of wor- shippers to the vestibules of the great temples at Thebes and Memphis. Thus the nocturnal feast attended by the peasantry in the expectation of a visit from the golden cow in the ruined sanctuary of Denderah, recalls the solemn processions made in honour of the divine heifer Ilathor.* In truth the Egyptians are Mussulmans only on the surface, and compared with the indifferent masses, very few are those who scrupulously observe the prescriptions of the Prophet. The mosques are little frequented ; the fellah does not always perform his ablutions in the canal flowing by his dwelling, nor does the Bedouin stop in the wilderness to carry out the prescribed formality with sand in the absence of water. During the last fifty years the spirit of religious tolerance has made rapid strides in P^gypt. However intense the zeul of the most ardent hajis, none of them came forward to oppose the Englisli until the " holy war " was proclaimed, and even then none of the few volunteers who entered the ranks were natives of Lower Egypt, t However proud of belonging to the chosen people, the Egj-ptian Muslims have forfeited the right any longer to despise aliens to their faith, with whom they have not dared to try issues, and who confront them with all the marks of intellectual superiority and all the resources of material strength. Nevertheless within the limits of Egj-ptian territory is found the very centre of the hostile movement against the Christians. The formidable Mussulman brother- hood of the Mahdi, or " Guide," Sidi Mahommed Ben Ali-es-SenCisi, has its metro- politan convent at Serhftb, or JarahCib, in the oasis of Faredgha. But the Guide himself, allied apparently with the Mahdi who raised the Arab tribes of EordofILn and the Upi>er Nile, is a native of Algeria, and from Mauritania come nearly all the faithful that have rallied round him. The choice of this place was due to two distinct advantages which it presented — an almost central position for the pro- paganda in the Mussulman world, and its remoteness from all military and trading stations in the hands of Europeans. Here he has been able almost secretly to • O. Miuf e o, " Maniiacript Notet.'* t Slatkousie Wallace, " Kgy|it and Ibe F<rvptlan Quectioa." 28— AF.