Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/795

EGYPT. of waterfowl and wading birds, mainly the same as, or closely related to, European forms, move with the seasons up and down the river. Birds of prey are especially frequent in Egjpt, where kites abound in the towns and do an important service toward keeping them clean. In winter, hosts of familiar European birds are present. Several species of antelope, now becoming rare, such as the addax and oryx, approach the Xile from the Sahara. The wild ass is still to be seen in the remoter southern parts. Snakes are common, among them the deadly asp. The desert supports jackals and foxes (fennecs), and packs of stri[ied hyenas haunt the caravan trails and neighborhood of rural villages. Lions are no longer to be seen except on the borders of the Sudan or in the rough mountains along the Red Sea near Abyssinia. Leopards are somewhat more numerous. Among the domesticated ani- mals is the ichneumon.

Geology axd Mixer.l Resources. Egypt has no geological features distinct from those com- mon to the rest of Africa. The fundamental igneous and metamorphic rocks which underlie the horizontal strata of the Sahara and the Sudan, extend across the Nile into the Arabian Desert, and are prominent in the range of moun- tains lying along the western shore of the Red Sea. These rocks in many places support a sedimentary cap called the "Xubian Sandstone." a formation that also appears in various locali- ties on both banks of the Nile. In Lower Egypt Cretaceous and Tertian.- limestones are exten- sively developed. The quarries of Egypt in ancient times produced great quantities of gran- ite, porphyry, sandstone, and limestone, suitable ■both for building and for scvilptural purposes; T>ut they are now worked only intermittently. In other respects the mineral resources of the country are limited. The salt marshes of the Delta produce salt, soda, and alum, and some saltpetre is manufactured. The gold-mines, which, according to ancient records, were worked as early as 2500 B.C.. have been rediscovered in the crystalline rocks of the rugged mountains east of the Xile where abundant evidences of the old workings are found. Most of the auriferous quartz veins are found in the lower ranges. British engineers who are exploring this region have reported favorably (1901) on the prospects of profitable gold-mining.

AcRlci'LTrRE. Egj-pt is essentially an agri- cultural country, two-thirds of the inhabitants with declared occupations being engaged in farm- ing. But Egypt differs widely in this respect from most other countries by reason of its de- pendence on the annual overflow of the Xile or artificial irrigation, for the raising of crops. (For a description of this river and its floods, see Xile.) Since the British occupation in 1882, great progress has been made toward the full utilization of the annual overflow, by the con- struction or improvement of huge dams, particu- larly the Barrage at the head of the Delta, which raises the level of the river and permits the per- ennial irrigation of a large part of the Delta lands. The soil, when irrigated, is of cxtraordinarj- fer- tility, owing to the amount of organic matter contained in the waters of the Xile, Three crops a year may be raised wherever perennial irrigation is supplied. The crops in the winter season fDecember to March), when the Xile carries water in excess of actual needs of agricul- ture, are wheat, beans, barley, vegetables, and clover. The crops of summer (.pril to July) are cotton, sugar-cane, millet, rice, vegetables, and fruit. This is part of the season when the river is at its lowest. There can bo little sunmier tillage excepting where perennial irrigation is supplied. The present irrigation plans, including the great storage reservoir above Assuan (see Xile), have in view a great extension of the area of sununer crops through the release of waters stored in the flood period. The crops of the flood season are maize and millet. The total cultivated area in Eg;ipt is about 0,000.000 acres. In the district of the Delta most of the culti- vated area is under perennial irrigation. In the region above the Delta only about one-fifth of the cultivated area has this benefit. The richest crops are raised in the Delta and in the Sell Canal areas of Upper Eg^pt. In the broadest sense, the staple crops are cotton in the Delta and cereals both in the Delta and in Upper Egj-pt. EgA'ptian cotton has been recognized since 1821 as supplying a long fibre unsurpassed in quality except by American Sea Island. The crop, about one-tenth as large as that of the United States, is in demand in all manufacturing countries for the finer qualities of goods in which strength and lustre of fibre are required. Cotton-culture is rapidly extending in Upper Egypt, but nine-tenths of the crop is still in the Delta, Raw silk is produced to a small extent. The rice crop is diminishing in most districts; it is barely profitable. When the extensive salt lands in the Delta along the ^Mediterranean shall have been reclaimed, it is expected that Eg^'pt will grow all the rice needed. At present, large quantities are imported. Wheat and maize are very large food crops, the surplus being sent to Europe. The wheat area is about equally distributed between the Delta and the rest of Egypt, but maize-culture predominates in the Delta.

In regard to the form of tenure the land is divided into three classes: (1) The Kharaji, or land owned by the State, comprising about three- fourths of the land under cultivation, most- ly rented in small parcels to the natives; (2) the Ushuri, or land originally granted in fee to large landholders, comprising less than one- fourth of the cultivated land, subject to a tax equal to about ons-third of the rent paid by the fellahs or tenantry; (.3) the Wakf lands, or lands belonging to the mosques and charitable institutions, and rented by them, usually for long terms. In the first half of the ninpfeentli century, when the treasury was impoverished by the immense expenditures on public works, the fellahs, besides being compelled to do forced labor on public works, were r.lso forced to pay a burdensome rent in kind, and to sell their crops to the Oovcrnment at prices arbitrarily fixed by the Pasha. At present the rent is paid in money, and the farmer is in no way interfered with in the disposal of his crop. He has, however, another enemy, the money-lender, whose peculations, in view of the large indebtedness of the agricultural population, seriously afTect the agricultural conditions of the country. -Mthough the legal rate of interest is only 9 per cent., the rate exacted by the money-lenders is seldom less than 40 per cent., occasionally reaching GO per