An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians

It is generally observed that many of the most remarkable peculiarities in the manners, customs, and character of a nation are attributable to the physical peculiarities of the country. Such causes, in an especial manner, affect the moral and social slate of the modern Egyptians, and therefore here require some preliminary notice; but it will not as yet be necessary to explain their particular influences: these will be evinced in many subsequent parts of the present work.

The Nile, in its course through the narrow and winding valley of Upper Egypt, which is confined on each side by mountainous and sandy deserts, as well as through the plain of Lower Egypt, is everywhere bordered, excepting in a very few places, by cultivated fields of its own formation. These cultivated tracts are not perfectly level, being somewhat lower towards the deserts than in the neighbourhood of the river. They are interspersed with palm groves and villages, and intersected by numerous canals. The copious summer rains which prevail in Abyssinia and the neighbouring countries begin to show their effects in Egypt, by the rising of the Nile, about the period of the summer solstice. By the autumnal equinox, the river attains its greatest height, which is always sufficient to fill the canals by which the fields are irrigated, and, generally, to inundate large portions of the cultivable land: it then gradually falls until the period when it again begins to rise. Being impregnated, particularly during its rise, with rich soil washed down from the mountainous countries whence it flows, a copious deposit is annually spread, either by the natural inundation or by artificial irrigation, over the fields which border it; while its bed, from the same cause, rises in an equal degree. The Egyptians depend entirely upon their river for the fertilization of the soil, rain being a very rare phenomenon in their country, excepting in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean; and as the seasons are perfectly regular, the peasant may make his arrangements with the utmost precision respecting the labour he will have to perform. Sometimes his labour is light; but when it consists in raising water for irrigation it is excessively severe.

The climate of Egypt, during the greater part of the year, is remarkably salubrious. The exhalations from the soil after the period of the inundation render the latter part of the autumn less healthy than the summer and winter; and cause ophthalmia and dysentery, and some other diseases, to be more prevalent then than at other seasons; and during a period of somewhat more or less than fifty days (called “el-khamáseen^[12]”), commencing in April, and lasting throughout May, hot southerly winds occasionally prevail for about three days together. These winds, though they seldom cause the thermometer of Fahrenheit to rise above 95° in Lower Egypt, or, in Upper Egypt, 105°,^[13] are dreadfully oppressive, even to the natives. When the plague visits Egypt, it is generally in the spring; and this disease is most severe in the period of the khamáseen. Egypt is also subject, particularly during the spring and summer, to the hot wind called the “samoom,” which is still more oppressive than the khamáseen winds, but of much shorter duration, seldom lasting longer than a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. It generally proceeds from the south-east, or south-south-east, and carries with it clouds of dust and sand. The general height of the thermometer in the depth of winter in Lower Egypt, in the afternoon and in the shade, is from 50° to 60°: in the hottest season it is from 90° to 100°; and about ten degrees higher in the southern parts of Upper Egypt. But though the summer heat is so great it is seldom very oppressive, being generally accompanied by a refreshing northerly breeze, and the air being extremely dry. There is, however, one great source of discomfort arising from this dryness—namely, an excessive quantity of dust; and there are other plagues which very much detract from the comfort which the natives of Egypt, and visitors to their country, otherwise derive from its genial climate. In spring, summer, and autumn, flies are so abundant as to be extremely annoying during the daytime, and musquitoes are troublesome at night (unless a curtain be made use of to keep them away), and sometimes even in the day; and every house that contains much wood-work (as most of the better houses do) swarms with bugs during the warm weather. Lice are not always to be avoided in any season, but they are easily got rid of; and in the cooler weather fleas are excessively numerous.

The climate of Upper Egypt is more healthy, though hotter, than that of Lower Egypt. The plague seldom ascends far above Cairo, the metropolis; and is most common in the marshy parts of the country, near the Mediterranean. During the last ten years, the country having been better drained, and quarantine regulations adopted to prevent or guard against the introduction of this disease from other countries, very few plague cases have occurred, excepting in the parts above mentioned, and in those parts the pestilence has not been severe.^[14] Ophthalmia is also more common in Lower Egypt than in the southern parts. It generally arises from checked perspiration, but is aggravated by the dust and many other causes. When remedies are promptly employed, this disease is seldom alarming in its progress; but vast numbers of the natives of Egypt, not knowing how to treat it, or obstinately resigning themselves to fate, are deprived of the sight of one or both of their eyes. 205589771

When questioned respecting the salubrity of Egypt, I have often been asked whether many aged persons are seen among the inhabitants: few, certainly, attain a great age in this country; but how few do, in our own land, without more than once suffering from an illness that would prove fatal without medical aid, which is obtained by a very small number in Egypt! The heat of the summer months is sufficiently oppressive to occasion considerable lassitude, while, at the same time, it excites the Egyptian to intemperance in sensual enjoyments; and the exuberant fertility of the soil engenders indolence, little nourishment sufficing for the natives, and the sufficiency being procurable without much exertion.

The modern Egyptian metropolis, to the inhabitants of which most of the contents of the following pages relate, is now called “Masr”;^[15] more properly, “Misr”; but was formerly named “El-Káhireh”; whence Europeans have formed the name of Cairo. It is situated at the entrance of the valley of Upper Egypt, midway between the Nile and the eastern mountain range of Mukattam. Between it and the river there intervenes a tract of land, for the most part cultivated, which, in the northern parts (where the port of Boolák is situated), is more than a mile in width, and, at the southern part, less than half a mile wide. The metropolis occupies a space equal to about three square miles; and its population is about two hundred and forty thousand. It is surrounded by a wall, the gates of which are shut at night, and is commanded by a large citadel, situated at an angle of the town, near a point of the mountain. The streets are unpaved, and most of them are narrow and irregular: they might more properly be called lanes.

By a stranger who merely passed through the streets, Cairo would be regarded as a very close and crowded city; but that this is not the case is evident to a person who overlooks the town from the top of a lofty house, or from the menaret of a mosque. The great thoroughfare-streets have generally a row of shops along each side. Above the shops are apartments which do not communicate with them, and which are seldom occupied by the persons who rent the shops. To the right and left of the great thoroughfares are bye-streets and quarters. Most of the bye-streets are thoroughfares, and have a large wooden gate at each end, closed at night, and kept by a porter within, who opens to any persons requiring to be admitted. The quarters mostly consist of several narrow lanes, having but one general entrance, with a gate, which is also closed at night; but several have a bye-street passing through them.

Of the private houses of the metropolis it is particularly necessary that I should give a description. The accompanying engraving will serve to give a general notion of their exterior. The foundation-walls, to the height of the first floor, are cased, externally, and often internally, with the soft calcareous stone of the neighbouring mountain. The surface of the stone, when newly cut, is of a light yellowish hue; but its colour soon darkens. The alternate courses of the front are sometimes coloured red and white,^[16] particularly in large houses; as is the case with most mosques. The superstructure, the front of which generally projects about two feet, and is supported by corbels or piers, is of brick, and often plastered. The bricks are burnt, and of a dull red colour. The mortar is generally composed of mud in the proportion of one-half, with a fourth part of lime, and the remaining part of the ashes of straw and rubbish. Hence the unplastered walls of brick are of a dirty colour, as if the bricks were unburnt. The roof is flat, and covered with a coat of plaster.

The most usual architectural style of the entrance of a private house in Cairo is shown by the sketch here inserted. The door is often ornamented in the manner here represented: the compartment in which is the inscription, and the other similarly-shaped compartments, are painted red, bordered with white; the rest of the surface of the door is painted green. The inscription, “He (i.e., God) is the excellent Creator, the Everlasting” (the object of which will be explained when I treat of the superstitions of the Egyptians), is seen on many doors; but is far from being general. It is usually painted in black or white characters. Few doors but those of large houses are painted. They generally have an iron knocker and a wooden lock; and there is usually a mounting-stone by the side.

The ground floor apartments next the street have small wooden grated windows, placed sufficiently high to render it impossible for a person passing by in the street, even on horseback, to see through them. The windows of the upper apartments generally project a foot and a half, or more, and are mostly formed of turned wooden lattice-work, which is so close that it shuts out much of the light and sun, and screens the inmates of the house from the view of persons without, while at the same time it admits the air. They are generally of unpainted wood; but some few are partially painted red and green, and some are entirely painted. A window of this kind is called a “róshan,” or, more commonly, a “meshrebeeyeh,” which latter word has another application, that will be mentioned below. Several windows of different descriptions are represented in some of the illustrations of this work; and sketches of the most common patterns of the lattice-work, on a larger scale, are here inserted.^[17] Sometimes a window of the kind above described has a little meshrebeeyeh, which somewhat resembles a róshan in miniature, projecting from the front, or from each side. In this, in order to be exposed to a current of air, are placed porous earthen bottles, which are used for cooling water by evaporation. Hence the name of “meshrebeeyeh,” which signifies “a place for drink,” or “—for drinking.” The projecting window has a flat one of lattice-work, or of grating of wood, or of coloured glass, immediately above it. This upper window, if of lattice-work, is often of a more fanciful construction than the others, exhibiting a representation of a basin with a ewer above it, or the figure of a lion, or the name of “Allah,” or the words “God is my hope,” etc. Some projecting windows are wholly constructed of boards, and a few have frames of glass in the sides. In the better houses, also, the windows of lattice-work are now generally furnished with frames of glass in the inside, which in the winter are wholly closed: for a penetrating cold is felt in Egypt when the thermometer of Fahrenheit is below 60°. The windows of inferior houses are mostly of a different kind, being even with the exterior surface of the wall: the upper part is of wooden lattice-work, or grating; and the lower closed by hanging shutters; but many of these have a little meshrebeeyeh for the water-bottles, projecting from the lower part.^[18]

The houses in general are two or three storeys high; and almost every house that is sufficiently large encloses an open, unpaved court, called a “hósh,” which is entered by a passage that is constructed with one or two turnings, for the purpose of preventing passengers in the street from seeing into it. In this passage, just within the door, there is a long stone seat, called “mastab′ah,” built against the back or side wall, for the porter and other servants. In the court is a well of slightly brackish water, which filters through the soil from the Nile; and on its most shaded side are, commonly, two water-jars, which are daily replenished with water of the Nile, brought from the river in skins.^[19] The principal apartments look into the court; and their exterior walls (those which are of brick) are plastered and whitewashed. There are several doors, which are entered from the court. One of these is called “báb el-hareem” (the door of the hareem): it is the entrance of the stairs which lead to the apartments appropriated exclusively to the women and their master and his children.^[20]

In general, there is, on the ground floor, an apartment called a “mandar′ah,” in which male visitors are received. This has a wide wooden grated window, or two windows of this kind, next the court. A small part of the floor, extending from the door to the opposite side of the room, is six or seven inches lower than the rest: this part is called the “durká’ah.”^[21] In a handsome house, the durká’ah of the mandar′ah is paved with white and black marble, and little pieces of fine red tile, inlaid in complicated and tasteful patterns, and has in the centre a fountain (called “faskeeyeh”), which plays into a small shallow pool, lined with coloured marbles, etc., like the surrounding pavement. I give a sketch of the fountain. The water which falls from the fountain is drained off from the pool by a pipe. There is generally, fronting the door, at the end of the durká’ah, a shelf of marble or of common stone, about four feet high, called a “suffeh,” supported by two or more arches, or by a single arch, under which are placed utensils in ordinary use—such as perfuming vessels, and the basin and ewer which are used for washing before and after meals, and for the ablution preparatory to prayer: water-bottles, coffee cups, etc., are placed upon the suffeh. In handsome houses, the arches of the suffeh are faced with marble and tile, like the pool of the fountain represented in the sketch above, and sometimes the wall over it, to the height of about four feet or more, is also cased with similar materials: partly with large upright slabs, and partly with small pieces, like the durká’ah. The raised part of the floor of the room is called “leewán”^[22] (a corruption of “el-eewán,” which signifies “any raised place to sit upon,” and also “a palace”). Every person slips off his shoes on the durká’ah before he steps upon the leewán.^[23] The latter is generally paved with common stone, and covered with a mat in summer, and a carpet over the mat in winter; and has a mattress and cushions placed against each of its three walls, composing what is called a “deewán,” or divan. The mattress, which is generally about three feet wide and three or four inches thick, is placed either on the ground or on a raised frame; and the cushions, which are usually of a length equal to the width of the mattress, and of a height equal to half that measure, lean against the wall. Both mattresses and cushions are stuffed with cotton, and are covered with printed calico, cloth, or some more expensive stuff. The walls are plastered and whitewashed. There are generally, in the walls, two or three shallow cupboards, the doors of which are composed of very small panels, on account of the heat and dryness of the climate, which cause wood to warp and shrink as if it were placed in an oven; for which reason the doors of the apartments also are constructed in the same manner. We observe great variety and much ingenuity displayed in the different modes in which these small panels are formed and disposed. A few specimens are here introduced. The ceiling over the leewán is of wood, with carved beams, generally about a foot apart, partially painted, and sometimes gilt. But that part of the ceiling which is over the durká’ah, in a handsome house, is usually more richly decorated; here, instead of beams, numerous thin strips of wood are nailed upon the planks, forming patterns curiously complicated, yet perfectly regular, and having a highly ornamental effect. I give a sketch of the half of a ceiling thus decorated, but not in the most complicated style. The strips are painted yellow or gilt; and the spaces within, painted green, red, and blue.^[24] In the example which I have inserted, the colours are as indicated in the sketch of a portion of the same on a larger scale, excepting in the square in the centre of the ceiling, where the strips are black, upon a yellow ground. From the centre of this square a chandelier is often suspended. There are many patterns of a similar kind; and the colours generally occupy similar places with regard to each other; but in some houses these ceilings are not painted. The ceiling of a projecting window is often ornamented in the same manner. A sketch of one is here given. Good taste is evinced by only decorating in this manner parts which are not always before the eyes; for to look long at so many lines intersecting each other in various directions would be painful.

In some houses (as in that which is the subject of the engraving opposite p. 9) there is another room, called a “mak’ad,” for the same use as the mandar′ah, having an open front, with two or more arches and a low railing; and also, on the ground floor, a square recess, called a “takhtabósh,” with an open front, and generally a pillar to support the wall above: its floor is a paved leewán; and there is a long wooden sofa placed along one, or two, or each of its three walls. The court, during the summer, is frequently sprinkled with water, which renders the surrounding apartments agreeably cool—or at least those on the ground-floor. All the rooms are furnished in the same manner as that first described.

Among the upper apartments, or those of the Hareem, there is generally one called a “ká’ah,” which is particularly lofty. It has two leewáns—one on each hand of a person entering: one of these is generally larger than the other, and is the more honourable part. A portion of the roof of this saloon, the part which is over the durká’ah that divides the two leewáns, is a little elevated above the rest; and has, in the centre, a small lantern, called “memrak,” the sides of which are composed of lattice-work, like the windows before described, and support a cupola. The durká’ah is commonly without a fountain; but is often paved in a similar manner to that of the mandar’ah, which the ká’ah also resembles in having a handsome suffeh, and cupboards of curious panel-work. There is, besides, in this and some other apartments, a narrow shelf of wood, extending along two or each of the three walls which bound the leewán, about seven feet or more from the floor, just above the cupboards, but interrupted in some parts—at least in those parts where the windows are placed; upon this are arranged several vessels of china, not so much for general use as for ornament.^[25] All the apartments are lofty, generally fourteen feet or more in height; but the ká’ah is the largest and most lofty room, and in a large house it is a noble saloon.

In several of the upper rooms, in the houses of the wealthy, there are, besides the windows of lattice-work, others, of coloured glass, representing bunches of flowers, peacocks, and other gay and gaudy objects, or merely fanciful patterns, which have a pleasing effect. These coloured glass windows, which are termed “kamareeyehs,”^[26] are mostly from a foot and a half to two feet and a half in height, and from one to two feet in width; and are generally placed along the upper part of the projecting lattice-window, in a row; or above that kind of window, disposed in a group, so as to form a large square; or elsewhere in the upper parts of the walls, usually singly, or in pairs, side by side. They are composed of small pieces of glass, of various colours, set in rims of fine plaster, and enclosed in a frame of wood. On the plastered walls of some apartments are rude paintings of the temple of Mekkeh, or of the tomb of the Prophet, or of flowers and other objects, executed by native Muslim artists, who have not the least notion of the rules of perspective, and who consequently deface what they thus attempt to decorate. Sometimes, also, the walls are ornamented with Arabic inscriptions, of maxims, etc., which are more usually written on paper, in an embellished style, and enclosed in glazed frames. No chambers are furnished as bedrooms. The bed, in the daytime, is rolled up, and placed on one side, or in an adjoining closet, called “khazneh,” which, in the winter, is a sleeping-place: in summer, many people sleep upon the house-top. A mat, or carpet, spread upon the raised part of the stone floor, and a deewán, constitute the complete furniture of a room. For meals, a round tray is brought in, and placed upon a low stool, and the company sit round it on the ground. There is no fire-place:^[27] the room is warmed, when necessary, by burning charcoal in a chafing-dish. Many houses have, at the top, a sloping shed of boards, called a “malkaf,”^[28] directed towards the north or north-west, to convey to a “fes-hah,” or “fesahah” (an open apartment), below the cool breezes which generally blow from those quarters.

Every door is furnished with a wooden lock, called a “dabbeh,” the mechanism of which is shown by a sketch here inserted. No. 1 in this sketch is a front view of the lock, with the bolt drawn back; Nos. 2, 3, and 4, are back views of the separate parts, and the key. A number of small iron pins (four, five, or more) drop into corresponding holes in the sliding bolt as soon as the latter is pushed into the hole or staple of the door-post. The key also has small pins, made to correspond with the holes, into which they are introduced to open the lock: the former pins being thus pushed up, the bolt may be drawn back. The wooden lock of a street-door is commonly about fourteen inches long:^[29] those of the doors of apartments, cupboards, etc., are about seven, or eight, or nine inches. The locks of the gates of quarters, public buildings, etc., are of the same kind, and mostly two feet, or even more, in length. It is not difficult to pick this kind of lock.

In the plan of almost every house there is an utter want of regularity. The apartments are generally of different heights—so that a person has to ascend or descend one, two, or more steps, to pass from one chamber to another adjoining it. The principal aim of the architect is to render the house as private as possible; particularly that part of it which is inhabited by the women; and not to make any window in such a situation as to overlook the apartments of another house. Another object of the architect, in building a house for a person of wealth or rank, is to make a secret door (“báb sirr”^[30]), from which the tenant may make his escape in case of danger from an arrest, or an attempt at assassination—or by which to give access and egress to a paramour; and it is also common to make a hiding-place for treasure (called “makhba”) in some part of the house. In the hareem of a large house there is generally a bath, which is heated in the same manner as the public baths.

Another style of building has lately been very generally adopted for houses of the more wealthy. These do not differ much from those already described, excepting in the windows, which are of glass, and placed almost close together. Each window of the hareem has, outside, a sliding frame of close wooden trellis-work, to cover the lower half. The numerous glass windows are ill adapted to a hot climate.

When shops occupy the lower part of the buildings in a street (as is generally the case in the great thoroughfares of the metropolis, and in some of the bye-streets), the superstructure is usually divided into distinct lodgings, and is termed “raba.” These lodgings are separate from each other, as well as from the shops below, and let to families who cannot afford the rent of a whole house. Each lodging in a raba comprises one or two sitting and sleeping-rooms, and generally a kitchen and latrina. It seldom has a separate entrance from the street, one entrance and one staircase usually admitting to a range of several lodgings. The apartments are similar to those of the private houses first described. They are never let ready-furnished; and it is very seldom that a person who has not a wife or female slave is allowed to reside in them, or in any private house: such a person (unless he have parents or other near relations to dwell with) is usually obliged to take up his abode in a “wekáleh,” which is a building chiefly designed for the reception of merchants and their goods. Franks, however, are now exempted from this restriction.

Very few large or handsome houses are to be seen in Egypt, excepting in the metropolis and some other towns. The dwellings of the lower orders, particularly those of the peasants, are of a very mean description: they are mostly built of unbaked bricks, cemented together with mud. Some of them are mere hovels.hovels. The greater number, however, comprise two or more apartments; though few are two storeys high. In one of these apartments, in the houses of the peasants in Lower Egypt, there is generally an oven (“furn”), at the end farthest from the entrance, and occupying the whole width of the chamber. It resembles a wide bench or seat, and is about breast-high: it is constructed of brick and mud; the roof arched within, and flat on the top. The inhabitants of the house, who seldom have any night-covering during the winter, sleep upon the top of the oven, having previously lighted a fire within it; or the husband and wife only enjoy this luxury and the children sleep upon the floor. The chambers have small apertures high up in the walls, for the admission of light and air—sometimes furnished with a grating of wood. The roofs are formed of palm-branches and palm-leaves, or of millet-stalks, etc.,etc., laid upon rafters of the trunk of the palm, and covered with a plaster of mud and chopped straw. The furniture consists of a mat or two to sleep upon, a few earthen vessels, and a hand-mill to grind the corn. In many villages large pigeon-houses of a square form, but with the walls slightly inclining inwards (like many of the ancient Egyptian buildings), or of the form of a sugar-loaf, are constructed upon the roots of the huts, with crude brick, pottery, and mud.^[31] Most of the villages of Egypt are situated upon eminences of rubbish, which rise a few feet above the reach of the inundation, and are surrounded by palm-trees, or have a few of these trees in their vicinity. The rubbish which they occupy chiefly consists of the materials of former huts, and seems to increase in about the same degree as the level of the alluvial plains and the bed of the river.

In a country where neither births nor deaths are registered it is next to impossible to ascertain, with precision, the amount of the population. A few years ago a calculation was made, founded on the number of houses in Egypt, and the supposition that the inhabitants of each house in the metropolis amount to eight persons, and in the provinces to four. This computation approximates, I believe, very nearly to the truth; but personal observation and inquiry incline me to think that the houses of such towns as Alexandria, Boolák, and Masr el-’Ateekah contain each, on the average, at least five persons: Rasheed (or Rosetta) is half deserted; but as to the crowded town of Dimyát^[32] (or Damietta), we must reckon as many as six persons to each house, or our estimate will fall far short of what is generally believed to be the number of its inhabitants. The addition of one or two persons to each house in the above-mentioned towns will, however, make little difference in the computation of the whole population of Egypt, which was found, by this mode of reckoning, to amount to rather more than 2,500,000; but it is now much reduced. Of 2,500,000 souls, say 1,200,000 are males; and one-third of this number (400,000) men fit for military service: from this latter number the present Básha of Egypt has taken, at the least, 200,000 (that is, one-half of the most serviceable portion of the male population) to form and recruit his armies of regular troops, and for the service of his navy. The further loss caused by withdrawing so many men from their wives, or preventing their marrying, during ten years, must surely far exceed 300,000; consequently, the present population may be calculated as less than two millions. The numbers of the several classes of which the population is mainly composed are nearly as follows:—

Of the remainder (namely, Arabians, Western Arabs, Nubians, Negro slaves, Memlooks [or white male slaves], female white slaves, Franks, etc.), amounting to about 70,000, the respective numbers are very uncertain and variable. The Arabs of the neighbouring deserts ought not to be included among the population of Egypt.^[33]

Cairo, I have said, contains about 240,000 inhabitants.^[34] We should be greatly deceived if we judged of the population of this city from the crowds that we meet in the principal thoroughfare-streets and markets; in most of the bye-streets and quarters very few passengers are seen. Nor should we judge from the extent of the city and suburbs; for there are within the walls many vacant places, some of which, during the season of the inundation, are lakes (as the Birket el-Ezbekeeyeh, Birket el-Feel, etc.). The gardens, several burial-grounds, the courts of houses, and the mosques, also occupy a considerable space. Of the inhabitants of the metropolis, about 190,000 are Egyptian Muslims; about 10,000, Copts; 3,000 or 4,000, Jews; and the rest, strangers from various countries.^[35]

The population of Egypt in the times of the Pharaohs was probably about six or seven millions.^[36] The produce of the soil in the present age would suffice, if none were exported, for the maintenance of a population amounting to 4,000,000; and if all the soil which is capable of cultivation were sown, the produce would be sufficient for the maintenance of 8,000,000. But this would be the utmost number that Egypt could maintain in years of plentiful inundation; I therefore compute the ancient population, at the time when agriculture was in a very flourishing state, to have amounted to what I first stated; and must suppose it to have been scarcely more than half as numerous in the times of the Ptolemies, and at later periods, when a great quantity of corn was annually exported.^[37] This calculation agrees with what Diodorus Siculus says (in lib. i. cap. 31); namely, that Egypt contained, in the times of the ancient kings, 7,000,000 inhabitants, and in his own time not less than 3,000,000.

How different now is the state of Egypt from what it might be, possessing a population of scarcely more than one quarter of the number that it might be rendered capable of supporting! How great a change might be effected in it by a truly enlightened government, by a prince who (instead of impoverishing the peasantry by depriving them of their lands, and by his monopolies of the most valuable productions of the soil; by employing the best portion of the population to prosecute his ambitious schemes of foreign conquest, and another large portion in the vain attempt to rival European manufactures) would give his people a greater interest in the cultivation of the fields, and make Egypt what nature designed it to be—almost exclusively an agricultural country! Its produce of cotton alone would more than suffice to procure all the articles of foreign manufacture, and all the natural productions of foreign countries, that the wants of its inhabitants demand.^[38]

The desired change may now be easily effected, for since the above was written the Básha has been placed in a new position, which will enable him to acquire a greater and more honourable fame, by the cultivation of the arts of peace, than his conquests, brilliant as they have been, have hitherto procured for him. No one who is acquainted with the modern history of Egypt, and more particularly with the state of the country during the period that intervened between the French expedition and the accession of Mohammad ’Alee to the office of viceroy, can doubt that he possesses extraordinary talents for government; and let us hope that those talents will be rightly employed: but, as he himself affirms, some time will be required for effecting the necessary changes.