Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/731

707 AGRICULTUKE.J quality is injured by the salt with which the air is im pregnated, and therefore it is not so favourable to vegeta tion. This condition, however, is not usually found far south of the sea, or the salt-marshes and lakes, which in tervene for the most part between it and the land. In Lower Egypt we find the greater portion of the neglected tracts principally to the east and west of the modern Delta, and in its northern portion. In Upper Egypt the narrow ness of the valley, and the more numerous population, pre serve the country in a better state of cultivation, and the soil is somewhat richer. The largest uncultivated tracts lie on the western bank, where the valley is broadest, and in places where the great canal running parallel to the Nile has fallen into a state of neglect. Condition of the Country. Although some of the accounts of the classics may be deemed exaggerated when they speak of the population and prosperity of Egypt, we cannot accuse them of errors, except in the number of towns and of the inhabitants of the country; for the monuments show us how rich was Egypt under native rulers, and indicate to what causes this condition may reasonably be assigned. From the time at which the Great Pyramid was built to the Persian invasion, a period of between 2000 and 3000 years, the population of Egypt and its extent of cultivated land far exceeded what they are in the present day. The country does not seem to have been over-peopled ; and many causes conduced to prevent this, particularly the serious wars in which the Pharaohs engaged, The long and desolating struggles with the Assyrians and Persians inflicted a severe blow on the in terests of the country. Under the Macedonians it recovered much of its former prosperity; and when the Romans held Egypt, it was one of their most productive provinces, and a granary of the empire. During the Roman rule various poli tical causes contributed to the decline of the population. After the Muslim conquest this decay continued almost uninterruptedly until the time of the Fatimees ; but from that time until the Turkish conquest the rulers of the successive independent dynasties generally governed the country with a regard for its interests, and cannot be accused of the systematic tyranny and misrule of the Turkish pashas. There was a temporary recovery under the independent or semi-independent Memlook rulers before the French invasion; and in spite of much of the Turkish system the country has again made good progress during the government of the family of Mehemet AH. To over taxation, forced labour, and needless wars, in other words, government in a Turkish sense, must be attributed the present misery of the peasant population, and the want of hands enough to cultivate the soil. Physical causes have had far less to do with the impover ishment of Egypt than political ones. The elevation of the tract north of the Gulf of Suez, with the depression of the north coast of Egypt, has much diminished the cultivable soil in the Delta, by increasing the salt lakes and marshes which occupy its northern portion. There is, however, no greater fallacy than to suppose that the sands of the deserts have done injury by encroaching tpon the alluvial tracts, and that once fertile regions are buried beneath them. In some places undoubtedly they have encroached upon the cultivable land, particularly where, as iu the case of the canal of the lied Sea, the neglect of the Government had withdrawn the inundation, but no sooner was the Sweet Water Canal opened than fertility returned. On the other hand the deposit of the Nile has been constantly, in almost every part ol the country, encroaching upon the deserts and diminishing their extent. It is neglect that has permitted the sand to drift over the soil where there have been no labourers to cultivate it. Above Gebel-es-Silsileh, iu Upper Egypt, the change in the level of the river has placed cul- E G Y r T 707 tivable soil almost vholly beyond the reach of the inunda tion, and thus made agriculture very laborious, but this is only for the space of about 40 miles in Egypt, where the ex tent of the cultivable soil must always have been small on account of the narrowness of the valley. The failure of five of the seven branches of the Nile is partly due to the neglect of the Government, as they might all have been re tained as constantly running canals ; and the decay of the great canal which runs parallel to the Nile throughout the chief part of Upper Egypt is traceable to the same cause. Under the government of Mehemet Ali a great engineer ing work was begun with the view of bettering the condi tion of Egypt. This was the construction of a barrage across both branches of the Nile at the point of the Delta, ia order to regulate the inundation, and thus render the country more fertile and easy of cultivation. After being abandoned this work is now to be completed. Its opera tion will on the whole be beneficial, although undoubtedly the power to be thus acquired by the khedive, of regulat ing the inundation for the benefit of his lands without re ference to small proprietors, will be productive of much injustice. Egypt can never regain her ancient prosperity without a radical reform. The country has been governed under the Turks upon the system of getting the maximum of revenue from a peasantry allowed the minimum of sus tenance. This is what is meant by the high-flown phrases one hears about the welfare of Egypt. The welfare of the population has never been contemplated. The frugal peasantry are kept at starvation-point, and no one prospers but the tax-gatherers of all grades, who constitute the richer class. Yet Egypt is better governed than the other pro vinces of the Turkish empire which enjoy a purely Turkish administration, for it is held net on the uncertain tenure of an ordinary pashalik, but as a copyhold which it is the interest of the tenant to keep in decent repair. Agriculture. Under the Pharaohs Egypt was an agricultural country, and both commerce and manufactures were comparatively unimportant. The main energies of the people were expended in turning to the best account a soil of unexcelled richness, annually watered and renewed by the river. This natural policy was the true one for the prosperity of the country. From the sculptures and paintings of the tombs, we form a clear idea of the agricul ture of the ancient Egyptians, while the classical writers give us information respecting the tenure of laud, and the laws affecting the cultivators. In the representations of the tombs which picture the daily life of the great proprietors of land, we learn what especial attention they paid to the processes of agriculture. We see them constantly overseeing the labourers, and thus watching the interests of their lands. They were espe cially anxious to conduct the water of the Nile over those tracts which were not above its level at different periods of the year, and to raise it by manual labour to the higher portions of the land. In their caual-system they displayed mechanical skill, as well as in the construction of dams and dikes to retain the water upon the lands ; but for raising water they seem to have been contented with the rudest contrivances. Indeed we know of but two methods that were employed in raising water, the use of the simple machine called in the present day the shadoof, and buckets carried by men. The ordinary shadoof still employed is of the same form as that used by the ancient Egyptians. It consists of a pole resting upon a beam placed across two columns of brick or mud. and having at one extremity a weight, and at the other a rude bowl-shaped bucket suspended by a stick. A man stands beneath it, and pull ing down the bucket to the water raises it again, assistad by the weight. (For the ancient form of the shadoof, see Anc. Eg, t ii. 4; for the modern, Mod. Eg., chap. xiv. )