Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/542

 488 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. But after a short period of unexampled prosperity, the inevitable reaction set in, accompanied by wholesale failures and commercial ruin. The cultivation of the cotton plant ceased to encroach on the lands under cereal crops ; nevertheless, it has continued to hold the foremost rank for the annual value of its yield. Even the cotton seed, of which no use was formerly made, has acquired very considerable economic importance. The oil extracted from it by powerful machinery is not only utilised by the peasantry in the preparation of their food, but is also employed to adulterate the " olive oil " consumed especially in the south of Europe. The mills of Douvres alone import whole cargoes for the fabrication of these oils, used partly for alimentary purposes, partly in the manufacture of soap. At the beginning of the present century the scientific explorers who accom- panied the French expedition under Bonaparte estimated at about 10,000 square miles the total area of the arable lands in Egypt. Since then the space under cidtivation has been increased by, perhaps, one-fifth, thanks to the development of the network of irrigating canals. But over one-third of the delta still remains to be reclaimed, either by draining the marshy tracts or by effecting improvements in the present irrigation system. Nearly the whole of the coastlands extending from Lake Mariut to Lake Menzaleh are occupied by stagnant, brackish, and even saline waters. Amid the swamps stand bare sandy dunes, and along the edge of the lakes from the Arabian to the Libyan desert there stretches a zone of territory with an average breadth of from 18 to 20 miles, the so-called Berari, whose surface, lying almost flush with the surrounding waters, has been brought under cultivation only at a few isolated points. The present state of this region of the delta is somewhat analogous to that of the Camargue in France, although the remains of cities scattered over the rising grounds are sufficient proof that there was a time when these now abandoned lauds supported a numerous population of agriculturists. In the midst of the sands along the sea-coast the explorer is surprised still to meet at certain points groups of houses surrounded by date-trees, vineyards, and fruit- gardens. Hence it is obviously possible to bring the sands themselves under cultivation, although the process certainly proves very laborious. The sand has to be dug sufficiently deep to enable the roots of the plants to reach the necessary moisture ; at the same time care must be taken not to penetrate too far, which would have the effect of causing the vegetable fibre to rot. The holes have also to be surrounded by hoardings, in order to prevent them from getting choked by the sands of the shifting dunes. The ground so prepared jaelds pistachios, figs, and all kinds of fruits of better quality than those grown in any other part of Egypt. It is noteworthy that the sandy tracts about the mouth of the Guadalquivir are brought under cultivation much in the same way. Hence it has been suggested that immigrants from Egypt may probably have taught the natives of Andalusia to reclaim their so-called " navasos " by this process. •