266 A F E I C A [STATES. states, possessing a great extent of sterile surface. Mr Richardson graphically describes the physiognomy of the country between the towns of Tripoli and Murzuk in eight zones: 1. The plain along the sea-shore, with the date- palm plantations and the sandhills; 2. The Gharian moun tains, with their olive and fig plantations, more favoured with rains than the other regions; 3. The limestone hills and broad valleys between the town of Kalubah and Ghareeah, gradually assuming the aridity of the Sahara as yo proceed southward ; 4. The Hamadah, an immense desert plateau, separating Tripoli from Fezzan; 5. The sandy valleys and limestone rocks between El-Hessi and Es-Shaty, where herbage and trees are found; G. The sand between Shiaty and El-Wady, piled in masses or heaps, and extend ing in undulating plains ; 7. The sandy valleys of El-Wady, covered with forests of date-palms; 8. The plateau of Murzuk, consisting of shallow valleys, ridges of low sand stone hills, and naked plains. These zones extend parallel with the Mediterranean shores through the greater portion of the country. A summit of the Jebel-es-Soda, or Black Mountains, midway between Tripoli and Murzuk, almost 2800 feet high, is supposed to be the culminating point of the regency. Rivers exist only periodically, and springs are exceedingly scarce. The climate is somewhat more subject to extremes than that of Tunis, especially in the interior, where burning heat is followed by excessive cold. As far south as Sokna snow occasionally falls. The climate of Murzuk is very unhealthy, and frequently fatal to Europeans. The natural products are very much like those of Tunis. Oxen and horses are small, but of good quality; the mules are of excellent breed. Locusts and scorpions are among the most noxious animals. Salt and sulphur are the chief minerals. The population is very thin. Arabs are the prominent race, besides which are Turks, Berbers, Jews, Tibbus, and Negroes. The country is governed by a pasha, subject to the Ottoman empire. The military force by which the Turks hold possession of this vast but thinly-peopled terri tory amounts to 4500 men. The commerce is not inconsiderable, and the inhabitants of Tripoli trade with almost every part of the Sahara, as well as the Soudan. At Murzuk there is a large annual market, which lasts from October to January. The ex ports of Tripoli are wheat, wax, ivory, ostrich feathers, madder, esparto grass, cattle, salt, and dates. Tripoli is the capital of the regency, and the largest town; it lies on the Mediterranean, surrounded by a fertile plain ; the number of inhabitants is about 30,000. Murzuk, the capital of Fezzan, has a mixed population of about 11,000 souls. The town of Ghadamis has about 7000 inhabitants. In 1869 the maritime plateau of Barca and the depressed region inland from it, which contains the oases of Aujila and Jalo, was formed into a separate government, depend ent directly upon Constantinople. This country is the seat of the ancient Greek Pentapolu of Bernice, Arsince, Barca, Apollonia, and Cyrene. Bengazi, the only place of importance, occupies the site of the first of these on the Mediterranean, and has from 6000 to 7000 inhabitants. Egypt occupies the north-eastern corner of Africa, and is remarkable for its ancient and sacred associations, and its wonderful monuments of human art. Egypt is a vast desert, the fertile portions susceptible of cultivation being confined to the Delta of the Nile and its narrow valley, a region celebrated in the most ancient historic documents for its singular fertility, and still pouring an annual surplus of grain into the markets of Europe. By the annual inundation of the Nile this region is laid under water, and upon its retirement the grain crops are sown in the layer of mud left behind it. Barren ranges of hills and elevated tracts occupy the land on both sides of the Nile, which is the only river of the country. The amount of its rise is a matter of extreme solicitude to the people, for should it pass its customary bounds a few feet, cattle are drowned, houses are swept away, and immense injury ensues; a falling short of the ordinary height, on the other hand, causes dearth and famine, according to its extent. The water of tho Nile is renowned for its agreeable taste and wholesome quality. In connection with the Nile is the Birket-el- Kerun, a salt lake. The climate is very hot and dry. Rain falls but seldom along the coasts, but the dews are very copious. The hot and oppressive winds, called khamsin and simooms, are a frequent scourge to the country; but the climate is, upon the whole, more salubrious than that of many other tropical countries. The natural products are not of great variety. The wild plants are but few and scanty, while those cultivated include all the more important kinds adapted to tropical countries; rice, wheat, sugar, cotton, indigo, are cultivated for export; dates, figs, pomegranates, lemons, and olives, are likewise grown. The doum-palm, which appears in Upper Egypt, is characteristic, as also the papyrus. The fauna is cha racterised by an immense number of waterfowl, flamingoes, pelicans, &c. The hippopotamus and crocodile, the two primeval inhabitants of the Nile, seem to be banished from the Delta, the latter being still seen in Upper Egypt. The cattle are of excellent breed. Large beasts of prey aru wanting; but the ichneumon of the ancients still exists. Bees, silkworms, and corals are noticeable. Minerals are scarce, natron, salt, and sulphur being the principal. The native Egyptians of Arab descent compose the great bulk of the people, the peasant and labouring class, and are termed Fellahs. Next in number, though compara tively few (145,000), are the Copts, descended from the old inhabitants of the country, the ancient Egyptians, but far from being an unmixed race. Tho Arabic Bedouin tribes, Negroes, European Christians (Greeks, Italians, French, Austrian, English), the Jews, and the dominant Turks, compose the remainder of the population. Egypt is formally a Turkish pashalic, but the hereditary pasha, by whom the government is conducted, and whose authority is absolute, is practically an independent prince. The government of Nubia and Kordofan is also conducted by the Pasha of Egypt, and recently the whole of the Nile valley, as far south as the equator, has been annexed by the Egyptian government. An army of about 14,000 men is maintained. The agriculture of Egypt has always been considerable, there being three harvests in the year. The industry is limited: one peculiar branch is the artificial hatching of eggs in ovens heated to the requisite temperature, a pro cess which has been handed down from antiquity, and is now chiefly carried on by the Copts. Floating bee-hives are also peculiar to the Nile. The commerce is extensive and important: the exports to Europe consist chiefly of cotton, flax, indigo, gum-arabic, ostrich feathers, ivory, senna, and gold. The country forms part of the great highway of traffic between Europe and Southern Asia. Railways, from the ports of Alexandria and Damietta in the Mediterranean, and from Suez on the Red Sea, unite at Cairo; and a railway now extends thence up the bank of the Nile to near the first cataract of the river at Assouan, in lat. 24 N. The Suez canal, uniting the Red Sea and the Medi- Suez cat: terranean, was begun in April 1859, and was opened for traffic ten years later, in November 1869. The cutting runs from the artificial harbour of Port Said on the Medi
terranean, through the shallow lagoon of Menzalch, and
