Chapter IV: Part 4

The attempt made by King Philip to convert the Netherlands into a Spanish dependency and to govern it by Spanish ministers excited the resentment of Egmont and other leading members of the Netherlands aristocracy. Between him and Cardinal Granvella, the all-powerful minister of the regent Margaret of Parma, there was no love lost. As a member of the council of state Egmont joined the prince of Orange in a vigorous protest addressed to Philip (1561) against the autocratic proceedings of the minister; and two years later he again protested in conjunction with the prince of Orange and Count Horn. In the spring of 1564 Granvella left the Netherlands, and the malcontent nobles once more took their places in the council of state. The resolve, however, of Philip to enforce the decrees of the council of Trent throughout the Netherlands once more aroused their resentment. Although himself a good Catholic, Egmont had no wish to see the Spanish Inquisition established in his native country. Orange, Egmont and others were convinced that the enforcement of the decrees in the Netherlands was impossible, and, in January 1665, Egmont accepted a special mission to Spain to make known to Philip the state of affairs and the disposition of the people. At Madrid the king gave him an ostentatiously cordial reception, and all the courtiers vied with one another in lavishing professions of respect upon him. They knew his vain and somewhat unstable character, and hoped to win him over without conceding anything to the wishes of the Netherlanders. The king gave him plenty of flatteries and promises, but steadily evaded any serious discussion of the object of his mission, and Egmont finally returned home without having accomplished anything. At the same time Philip sent further instructions to the regent to abate nothing of the severity of the persecution.

Egmont was naturally indignant at the treatment he had received, while the terrors of the Inquisition were steadily rousing the people to a state of frenzied excitement. In 1566 a confederacy of the lesser nobility was formed (_Les Gueux_) whose principles were set out in a document known as the Compromise. From this league Egmont held aloof; he declined to take any step savouring of actual disloyalty to his sovereign. He withdrew to his government of Flanders, and as stadtholder took active measures for the persecution of heretics. But in the eyes of Philip he had long been a marked man. The Spanish king had temporized only until the moment arrived when he could crush opposition by force. In the summer of 1567 the duke of Alva was despatched to the Netherlands at the head of an army of veterans to supersede the regent Margaret and restore order in the discontented provinces. Orange fled to Germany after having vainly warned Egmont and Horn of the dangers that threatened them. Alva was at pains to lull their suspicions, and then suddenly seized them both and threw them in the castle of Ghent. Their trial was a farce, for their fate had already been determined before Alva left Spain. After some months of imprisonment they were removed to Brussels, where sentence was pronounced upon them (June 4) by the infamous Council of Blood erected by Alva. They were condemned to death for high treason. It was in vain that the most earnest intercessions were made in behalf of Egmont by the emperor Maximilian, by the knights of the order of the Golden Fleece, by the states of Brabant, and by several of the German princes. Vain, too, was the pathetic pleading of his wife, who with her eleven children was reduced to want, and had taken refuge in a convent. Egmont was beheaded at Brussels in the square before the town hall on the day after his sentence had been publicly pronounced (June 5, 1568). He met his fate with calm resignation; and in the storm of terror and exasperation to which this tragedy gave rise Egmont's failings were forgotten, and he and his fellow-victim to Spanish tyranny were glorified in the popular imagination as martyrs of Flemish freedom. From this memorable event, which Goethe made the theme of his play _Egmont_ (1788), is usually dated the beginning of the famous revolt of the Netherlands. In 1865 a monument to Counts Egmont and Horn, by Fraiken, was erected on the spot where they were beheaded.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--T. Juste, _Le Comte d'Egmont et le comte de Hornes_
(Brussels, 1862), _Les Pays-Bas sous Philippe II_, 1555-1565 (2 vols.,
Brussels, 1855); J. L. Motley, _Rise of the Dutch Republic_, 1555-1584
(3 vols., London, 1856); J. P. Blok, _History of the People of the
Netherlands_ (tr. from Dutch), vol. iii. (New York, 1900); R. Fruin,
_Het voorspel van den tastigjarigen oorlag_ (Amsterdam, 1866); E.
Marx, _Studien zur Geschichte des niederlandischen Aufstandes_
(Leipzig, 1902). (G. E.)

EGOISM (from Gr. and Lat. _ego_, I, the 1st personal pronoun), a modern philosophical term used generally, in opposition to "Altruism," for any ethical system in which the happiness or the good of the individual is the main criterion of moral action. Another form of the word, "Egotism," is really interchangeable, though in ordinary language it is often used specially (and similarly "egoism," as in George Meredith's _Egoist_) to describe the habit of magnifying one's self and one's achievements, or regarding all things from a selfish point of view. Both these ideas derive from the original meaning of _ego_, myself, as opposed to everything which is outside myself. This antithesis of ego and non-ego, self and not-self, may be understood in several senses according to the connexion in which it is used. Thus the self may be held to include one's family, property, business, and an indefinitely wider range of persons or objects in which the individual's interest is for the moment centred, i.e. everything which I can call "mine." In this, its widest, sense "a man's Self is the sum total of all that he _can_ call his" (Wm. James, _Principles of Psychology_, chap x.). This self may be divided up in many ways according to the various forms in which it may be expressed. Thus James (ibid.) classifies the various "selves" as the material, the spiritual, the social and the "pure." Or again the self may be narrowed down to a man's own person, consisting of an individual mind and body. In the true philosophical sense, however, the conception of the ego is still further narrowed down to the individual consciousness as opposed to all that is outside it, i.e. can be its object. This conception of the self belongs mainly to metaphysics and involves the whole problem of the relation between subject and object, the nature of reality, and the possibility of knowledge of self and of object. The ordinary idea of the self as a physical entity, obviously separate from others, takes no account of the problem as to how and in what sense the individual is conscious of himself; what is the relation between subject and object in the phenomenon of self-consciousness, in which the mind reflects upon itself both past and present? The mind is in this case both subject and object, or, as William James puts it, both "I" and "me." The phenomenon has been described in various ways by different thinkers. Thus Kant distinguished the two selves as rational and empirical, just as he distinguished the two egos as the noumenal or real and the phenomenal from the metaphysical standpoint. A similar distinction is made by Herbart. Others have held that the self has a complex content, the subject self being, as it were, a fuller expression of the object-self (so Bradley); or again the subject self is the active content of the mind, and the object self the passive content which for the moment is exciting the attention. The most satisfactory and also the most general view is that consciousness is complex and unanalysable.

The relation of the self to the not-self need not to be treated here (see METAPHYSICS). It may, however, be pointed out that in so far as an object is cognized by the mind, it becomes in a sense part of the complex self-content. In this sense the individual is in himself his own universe, his whole existence being, in other words, the sum total of his psychic relations, and nothing else being _for him_ in existence at all. A similar idea is prominent in many philosophico-religious systems wherein the idea of God or the Infinite is, as it were, the union of the ego and the non-ego, of subject and object. The self of man is regarded as having limitations, whereas the Godhead is infinite and all-inclusive. In many mystical Oriental religions the perfection of the human self is absorption in the infinite, as a ripple dies away on the surface of water. The problems of the self may be summed up as follows. The psychologist investigates the ideal construction of the self, i.e. the way in which the conception of the self arises, the different aspects or contents of the self and the relation of the subject to the object self. At this point the epistemologist takes up the question of empirical knowledge and considers the kind of validity, if any, which it can possess. What existence has the known object for the knowing subject? The result of this inquiry is generally intellectual scepticism in a greater or less degree, namely, that the object has no existence for the knower except a relative one, i.e. in so far as it is "known" (see RELATIVITY OF KNOWLEDGE). Finally the metaphysician, and in another sphere the theologian, consider the nature of the pure or transcendental self apart from its relations, i.e. the absolute self.

In ethics, egoistic doctrines disregard the ultimate problems of selfhood, and assume the self to consist of a man's person and those things in which he is or ought to be directly interested. The general statement that such doctrines refer all moral action to criteria of the individual's happiness, preservation, moral perfection, raises an obvious difficulty. Egoism merely asserts that the self is all-important in the application of moral principles, and does not in any way supply the material of these principles. It is a purely formal direction, and as such merely an adjunct to a substantive ethical criterion. A practical theory of ethics seeks to establish a particular moral ideal; if it is an absolute criterion, then the altruist would place first the attainment of that ideal by others, while the egoist would seek it for himself. The same is true of ethical theories which may be described as material. Of the second type are those, e.g. of Hobbes and Spinoza, which advocate self-preservation as the ideal, as contrasted with modern evolutionist moralists who advocate race-preservation. Again, we may contrast the early Greek hedonists, who bade each man seek the greatest happiness (of whatever kind), with modern utilitarian and social hedonists, who prefer the greatest good or the greatest happiness of the greatest number. It is with hedonistic and other empirical theories that egoism is generally associated. As a matter of fact, however, egoism has been no less prominent in intuitional ethics. Thus the man who seeks only or primarily his own moral perfection is an egoist par excellence. Such are ascetics, hermits and the like, whose whole object is the realization of their highest selves.

The distinction of egoistical and altruistic action is further complicated by two facts. In the first place, many systems combine the two. Thus Christian ethics may be said to insist equally on duty to self and duty to others, while crudely egoistic systems become unworkable if a man renders himself obnoxious to his fellows. On the other hand, every deliberate action based on an avowedly altruistic principle necessarily has a reference to the agent; if it is right that A should do a certain action for the benefit of B, then it tends to the moral self-realization of A that he should do it. Upon whatsoever principle the rightness of an action depends, its performance is right _for the agent_. The self-reference is inevitable in every action in so far as it is regarded as voluntary and chosen as being of a particular moral quality.

It is this latter fact which has led many students of human character to state that men do in fact aim at the gratification of their personal desires and impulses. The laws of the state and the various rules of conduct laid down by religion or morality are merely devices adopted for general convenience. The most remarkable statement of this point of view is that of Friedrich Nietzsche, who went so far as to denounce all forms of self-denial as cowardice:--let every one who is strong seek to make himself dominant at the expense of the weak.

EGORIEVSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Ryazan, 70 m. by rail E.S.E. of Moscow, by a branch line (15 m.) connecting with the Moscow to Ryazan main line. The cotton mills and other factories give occupation to 6000 persons. Egorievsk has important fairs for grain, hides, &c., which are exported. Pop. (1897) 23,932.

EGREMONT, EARLS OF. In 1749 Algernon Seymour, 7th duke of Somerset, was created earl of Egremont, and on his childless death in February 1750 this title passed by special remainder to his nephew, Sir Charles Wyndham or Windham, Bart. (1710-1763), a son of Sir William Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham, Somerset. Charles, who had succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1740, inherited Somerset's estates in Cumberland and Sussex. He was a member of parliament from 1734 to 1750, and in October 1761 he was appointed secretary of state for the southern department in succession to William Pitt. His term of office, during which he acted in concert with his brother-in-law, George Grenville, was mainly occupied with the declaration of war on Spain and with the negotiations for peace with France and Spain, a peace the terms of which the earl seems to have disliked. He was also to the fore during the proceedings against Wilkes, and he died on the 21st of August 1763. Horace Walpole perhaps rates Egremont's talents too low when he says he "had neither knowledge of business, nor the smallest share of parliamentary abilities."

The 2nd earl's son and successor, George O'Brien Wyndham (1751-1837), was more famous as a patron of art and an agriculturist than as a politician, although he was not entirely indifferent to politics. For some time the painter Turner lived at his Sussex residence, Petworth House, and in addition to Turner, the painter Leslie, the sculptor Flaxman and other talented artists received commissions from Egremont, who filled his house with valuable works of art. Generous and hospitable, blunt and eccentric, the earl was in his day a very prominent figure in English society. Charles Greville says, "he was immensely rich and his munificence was equal to his wealth"; and again that in his time Petworth was "like a great inn." The earl died unmarried on the 11th of November 1837, and on the death of his nephew and successor, George Francis Wyndham, the 4th earl (1785-1845), the earldom of Egremont became extinct. Petworth, however, and the large estates had already passed to George Wyndham (1787-1869), a natural son of the 3rd earl, who was created Baron Leconfield in 1859.

EGREMONT, a market town in the Egremont parliamentary division of Cumberland, England, 5 m. S.S.E. of Whitehaven, on a joint line of the London & North Western and Furness railways. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5761. It is pleasantly situated in the valley of the Ehen. Ruins of a castle command the town from an eminence. It was founded c. 1120 by William de Meschines; it is moated, and retains a Norman doorway and some of the original masonry, as well as fragments of later date. The church of St Mary is a modern reconstruction embodying some of the Norman features of the old church. Iron ore and limestone are raised in the neighbourhood.

It seems impossible to find any history for Egremont until after the Norman Conquest, when Henry I. gave the barony of Coupland to William de Meschines, who erected a castle at Egremont around which the town grew into importance. The barony afterwards passed by marriage to the families of Lucy and Multon, and finally came to the Percys, earls of Northumberland, from whom are descended the present lords of the manor of Egremont. The earliest evidence that Egremont was a borough occurs in a charter, granted by Richard de Lucy in the reign of King John, which gave the burgesses right to choose their reeve, and set out the customs owing to the lord of the manor, among which was that of providing twelve armed men at his castle in the time of war. The borough was represented by two members in the parliament of 1295, but in the following year was disfranchised, on the petition of the burgesses, on account of the expense of sending members. In 1267 Henry III. granted Thomas de Multon a market every Wednesday at Egremont, and a fair every year on the eve, day and morrow of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. In the _Quo Warranto_ rolls he is found to have claimed by prescription another weekly market on Saturday. The market rights were purchased from Lord Leconfield in 1885, and the market on Saturday is still held. Richard de Lucy's charter shows that dyeing, weaving and fulling were carried on in the town in his time.

EGRESS (Lat. _egressus_, going out), in astronomy, the end of the apparent transit of a small body over the disk of a larger one; especially of a transit of a satellite of Jupiter over the disk of that planet. It designates the moment at which the smaller body is seen to leave the limb of the other.

EGYPT, a country forming the N.E. extremity of Africa.[1] In the following account a division is made into (I.) _Modern Egypt_, and (II.) _Ancient Egypt_; but the history from the earliest times is given as a separate section (III.).

Section I. includes Geography, Economics, Government, Inhabitants,
Finance and Army. Section II. is subdivided into:--(A) Exploration and
Research; (B) The Country in Ancient Times; (C) Religion; (D) Language
and Writing; (E) Art and Archaeology; (F) Chronology. Section III. is
divided into three main periods:--(1) Ancient History; (2) the
Mahommedan Period; (3) Modern History (from Mehemet Ali).

I. MODERN EGYPT

_Boundaries and Areas._--Egypt is bounded N. by the Mediterranean, S. by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, N.E. by Palestine, E. by the Red Sea, W. by Tripoli and the Sahara. The western frontier is ill-defined. The boundary line between Tripoli and Egypt is usually taken to start from a point in the Gulf of Sollum and to run S. by E. so as to leave the oasis of Siwa to Egypt. South of Siwa the frontier, according to the Turkish firman of 1841, bends eastward, approaching the cultivated Nile-land near Wadi Halfa, i.e. the southern frontier. This southern frontier is fixed by agreement between Great Britain and Egypt at the 22 deg. N. The N.E. frontier is an almost direct line drawn from Taba, near the head of the Gulf of Akaba, the eastern of the two gulfs into which the Red Sea divides, to the Mediterranean at Rafa in 34 deg. 15' E. The peninsula of Sinai, geographically part of Asia, is thus included in the Egyptian dominions. The total area of the country is about 400,000 sq. m., or more than three times the size of the British Isles. Of this area 14/15ths is desert. Canals, roads, date plantations, &c., cover 1900 sq. m.; 2850 sq. m. are comprised in the surface of the Nile, marshes, lakes, &c. A line corresponding with the 30 deg. N., drawn just S. of Cairo, divides the country into Lower and Upper Egypt, natural designations in common use, Lower Egypt being the Delta and Upper Egypt the Nile valley. By the Arabs Lower Egypt is called Er-Rif, the cultivated or fertile; Upper Egypt Es Sa'id, the happy or fortunate. Another division of the country is into Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt, Middle Egypt in this classification being the district between Cairo and Assiut.

_General Character._--The distinguishing features of Egypt are the Nile and the desert. But for the river there would be nothing to differentiate the country from other parts of the Sahara. The Nile, however, has transformed the land through which it passes. Piercing the desert, and at its annual overflow depositing rich sediment brought from the Abyssinian highlands, the river has created the Delta and the fertile strip in Upper Egypt. This cultivable land is Egypt proper; to it alone is applicable the ancient name--"the black land." The _Misr_ of the Arabs is restricted to the same territory. Beyond the Nile valley east and west stretch great deserts, containing here and there fertile oases. The general appearance of the country is remarkably uniform. The Delta is a level plain, richly cultivated, and varied alone by the lofty dark-brown mounds of ancient cities, and the villages set in groves of palm-trees, standing on mounds often, if not always, ancient. Groves of palm-trees are occasionally seen besides those around the villages, but other trees are rare. In Upper Egypt the Nile valley is very narrow and is bounded by mountains of no great height. They form the edge of the desert on either side of the valley, of which the bottom is level rock. The mountains rarely take the form of peaks. Sometimes they approach the river in bold promontories, and at others are divided by the dry beds of ancient watercourses. The bright green of the fields, the reddish-brown or dull green of the great river, contrasting with the bare yellow rocks, seen beneath a brilliant sun and a deep-blue sky, present views of great beauty. In form the landscape varies little and is not remarkable; in colour its qualities are always splendid, and under a general uniformity show a continual variety.

_The Coast Region._--Egypt has a coast-line of over 600 m. on the
Mediterranean and about 1200 m. on the Red Sea. The Mediterranean
coast extends from the Gulf of Sollum on the west to Rafa on the east.
From the gulf to the beginning of the Delta the coast is rock-bound,
but slightly indented, and possesses no good harbourage. The cliffs
attain in places a height of 1000 ft. They are the termination of a
stony plateau, containing several small oases, which southward joins
the more arid and uninhabitable wastes of the Libyan Desert. The Delta
coast-line, composed of sandhills and, occasionally, limestone rocks,
is low, with cape-like projections at the Nile mouths formed by the
river silt. Two bays are thus formed, the western being the famous Bay
of Aboukir. It is bounded W. by a point near the ancient Canopic
mouth, eastward by the Rosetta mouth. Beyond the Delta eastward the
coast is again barren and without harbours. It rises gradually
southward, merging into the plateau of the Sinai peninsula. The Red
Sea coast is everywhere mountainous. The mountains are the northern
continuation of the Abyssinian table-land, and some of the peaks are
over 6000 ft. above the sea. The highest peaks, going from north to
south, are Jebels Gharib, Dukhan, Es Shayib, Fatira, Abu Tiur, Zubara
and Hammada (Hamata). The coast has a general N.N.W. and S.S.E. trend,
and, save for the two gulfs into which it is divided by the massif of
Sinai, is not deeply indented. Where the frontier between Egypt and
the Sudan reaches the sea is Ras Elba (see further RED SEA).

_The Nile Valley_ (see also NILE).--Entering Egypt proper, a little
north of the Second Cataract, the Nile flows through a valley in
sandstone beds of Cretaceous age as far as 25 deg. N., and throughout
this part of its course the valley is extremely narrow, rarely
exceeding 2 m. in width. At two points, namely, Kalabsha--the valley
here being only 170 yds. wide and the river over 100 ft. deep--and
Assuan (First Cataract), the course of the river is interrupted by
outcrops of granites and other crystalline rocks, which have been
uncovered by the erosion of the overlying sandstone, and to-day form
the mass of islands, with numerous small rapids, which are described
not very accurately as cataracts; no good evidence exists in support
of the view that they are the remains of a massive barrier, broken
down and carried away by some sudden convulsion. From 25 deg. N.
northwards for 518 m. the valley is of the "rift-valley" type, a level
depression in a limestone plateau, enclosed usually by steep cliffs,
except where the tributary valleys drained into the main valley in
early times, when there was a larger rainfall, and now carry off the
occasional rainstorms that burst on the desert. The cliffs are highest
between Esna and Kena, where they reach 1800 ft. above sea-level. The
average width of the cultivated land is about 10 m., of which the
greater part lies on the left (western) bank of the river; and outside
this is a belt, varying from a few hundred yards to 3 or 4 m., of
stony and sandy ground, reaching up to the foot of the limestone
cliffs, which rise in places to as much as 1000 ft. above the valley.
This continues as far as 29 deg. N., after which the hills that close
in the valley become lower, and the higher plateaus lie at a distance
of 10 or 15 m. back in the desert.

_The Fayum._--The fertile province of the Fayum, west of the Nile and
separated from it by some 6 m. of desert, seems to owe its existence
to movements similar to those which determined the valley itself.
Lying in a basin sloping in a series of terraces from an altitude of
65 ft. above sea-level in the east to about 140 ft. _below_ sea-level
on the north-west, at the margin of the Birket-el-Kerun, this province
is wholly irrigated by a canalized channel, the Bahr Yusuf, which,
leaving the Nile at Derut esh Sherif in Upper Egypt, follows the
western margin of the cultivation in the Nile valley, and at length
enters the Fayum through a gap in the desert hills by the XIIth
Dynasty pyramids of Lahun and Hawara (see FAYUM).

_The Delta._--About 30 deg. N., where the city of Cairo stands, the
hills which have hitherto run parallel with the Nile turn W.N.W. and
E.N.E., and the triangular area between them is wholly deltaic. The
Delta measures 100 m. from S. to N., having a width of 155 m. on the
shore of the Mediterranean between Alexandria on the west and Port
Said on the east. The low sandy shore of the Delta, slowly increasing
by the annual deposit of silt by the river, is mostly a barren area of
sand-hills and salty waste land. This is the region of the lagoons and
marshes immediately behind the coast-line. Southwards the quality of
the soil rapidly improves, and becomes the most fertile part of Egypt.
This area is watered by the Damietta and the Rosetta branches of the
Nile, and by a network of canals. The soil of the Delta is a dark grey
fine sandy soil, becoming at times almost a stiff clay by reason of
the fineness of its particles, which consist almost wholly of
extremely small grains of quartz with a few other minerals, and often
numerous flakes of mica. This deposit varies in thickness, as a rule,
from 55 to 70 ft., at which depth it is underlain by a series of
coarse and fine yellow quartz sands, with occasional pebbles, or even
banks of gravel, while here and there thin beds of clay occur. These
sand-beds are sharply distinguished by their colour from the overlying
Nile deposit, and are of considerable thickness. A boring made in 1886
for the Royal Society at Zagazig attained a depth of 375 ft. without
reaching rock, and another, subsequently sunk near Lake Aboukir (close
to Alexandria), reached a depth of 405 ft. with the same result.
Numerous other borings to depths of 100 to 200 ft. have given similar
results, showing the Nile deposit to rest generally on these yellow
sands, which provide a constant though not a very large supply of good
water; near the northern limits of the Delta this cannot, however, be
depended on, since the well water at these depths has proved on
several occasions to be salt. The surface of the Delta is a wide
alluvial plain sloping gently towards the sea, and having an altitude
of 29 ft. above it at its southern extremity. Its limits east and west
are determined by the higher ground of the deserts, to which the
silt-laden waters of the Nile in flood time cannot reach. This silt
consists largely of alumina (about 48%) and calcium carbonate (18%)
with smaller quantities of silica, oxide of iron and carbon. Although
the Nile water is abundantly charged with alluvium, the annual deposit
by the river, except under extraordinary circumstances, is smaller
than might be supposed. The mean ordinary rate of the increase of the
soil of Egypt is calculated as about 4-1/2 in. in a century.

_The Lakes._--The lagoons or lakes of the Delta, going from west to
east, are Mareotis (Mariut), Edku, Burlus and Menzala. The land
separating them from the Mediterranean is nowhere more than 10 m.
wide. East of the Damietta mouth of the Nile this strip is in places
not more than 200 yds. broad. All the lakes are shallow and the water
in them salt or brackish. Mareotis, which bounds Alexandria on the
south side, varies considerably in area according to the rise or fall
of the Nile; when the Nile is low there is a wide expanse of marsh,
when at its highest the lake covers about 100 sq. m. In ancient times
Mareotis was navigable and was joined by various canals to the Nile.
The country around was cultivated and produced the famous Mareotic
wine. The canals being neglected, the lake decreased in size, though
it was still of considerable area in the 15th and 16th centuries, and
was then noted for the value of its fisheries. When the French army
occupied Egypt in 1798, Mareotis was found to be largely a sandy
plain. In April 1801 the British army besieging Alexandria cut through
the land between Aboukir and the lake, admitting the waters of the sea
into the ancient bed of Mareotis and laying under water a large area
then in cultivation. This precedent was twice imitated, first by the
Turks in 1803 and a second time by the British in 1807. Mareotis has
no outlet, and the water is kept at a uniform level by means of
powerful pumps which neutralize the effect of the Nile flood. A
western arm has been cut off from the lake by a dyke, and in this arm
a thick crust of salt is formed each year after the evaporation of the
flood water. Near the shores of the lake wild flowers grow in rich
profusion. Like all the Delta lakes, Mareotis abounds in wild-fowl.
North-east of Mareotis was Lake Aboukir, a small sheet of water, now
dry, lying S.W. of Aboukir Bay. East of this reclaimed marsh and
reaching to within 4 m. of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, lies Edku,
22 m. long and in places 16 wide, with an opening, supposed to be the
ancient Canopic mouth of the Nile, into Aboukir Bay. Burlus begins a
little eastward of the Rosetta channel, and stretches bow-shaped for
64 m. Its greatest width is about 16 m. Adjoining it S.E. is an
expanse of sandy marsh. Several canals or canalized channels enter the
lake. Opposite the spot where the Bahr-mit Yezir enters is an opening
into the Mediterranean. Canal and opening indicate the course of the
ancient Sebennytic branch of the Nile. Burlus is noted for its
water-melons, which are yellow within and come into season after those
grown on the banks of the Nile.

Menzala greatly exceeds the other Delta lakes in size, covering over
780 sq. m. It extends from very near the Damietta branch of the Nile
to Port Said. It receives the waters of the canalized channels which
were once the Tanitic, Mendesian and Pelusiac branches. The northern
shore is separated from the sea by an extremely narrow strip of land,
across which, when the Mediterranean is stormy and the lake full, the
waters meet. Its average length is about 40 m., and its average
breadth about 15. The depth is greater than that of the other lakes,
and the water is salt, though mixed with fresh. It contains a large
number of islands, and the whole lake abounds in reeds of various
kinds. Of the islands Tennis (anciently Tennesus) contains ruins of
the Roman period. The lake supports a considerable population of
fishermen, who dwell in villages on the shore and islands and live
upon the fish of the lake. The reeds are cover for waterfowl of
various kinds, which the traveller sees in great numbers, and wild
boars are found in the marshes to the south. The Suez Canal runs in a
straight line for 20 m. along the eastern edge of the lake. That part
of the lake east of where the canal was excavated is now marshy plain,
and the Tanitic and Pelusiac mouths of the Nile are dry. East of
Menzala is the site of Serbonis, another dried-up lake, which had the
general characteristics of the Delta lagoons. In the Isthmus of Suez
are Lake Timsa and the Great and Little Bitter Lakes, occupying part
of the ancient bed of the Red Sea. All three were dry or marshy
depressions previously to the cutting of the Suez Canal, at which time
the waters of the Mediterranean and Red Sea were let into them (see
SUEZ CANAL).

A chain of natron lakes (seven in number) lies in a valley in the
western desert, 70 to 90 m. W.N.W. of Cairo. In the Fayum province
farther south is the Birket-el-Kerun, a lake, lying below the level of
the Nile, some 30 m. long and 5 wide at its broadest part. Kerun is
all that is left of the Lake of Moeris, an ancient artificial sheet of
water which played an important part in the irrigation schemes of the
Pharaohs. The water of el-Kerun is brackish, though derived from the
Nile, which has at all seasons a much higher level. It is bounded on
the north by the Libyan Desert, above which rises a bold range of
mountains; and it has a strange and picturesque wildness. Near the
lake are several sites of ancient towns, and the temple called
Kasr-Karun, dating from Roman times, distinguishes the most important
of these. South-west of the Fayum is the Wadi Rayan, a large and deep
depression, utilizable in modern schemes for re-creating the Lake of
Moeris (q.v.).

_The Desert Plateaus._--From the southern borders of Egypt to the
Delta in the north, the desert plateaus extend on either side of the
Nile valley. The eastern region, between the Nile and the Red Sea,
varies in width from 90 to 350 m. and is known in its northern part as
the Arabian Desert. The western region has no natural barrier for many
hundreds of miles; it is part of the vast Sahara. On its eastern edge,
a few miles west of Cairo, stand the great pyramids (q.v.) of Gizeh or
Giza. North of Assuan it is called the Libyan Desert. In the north the
desert plateaus are comparatively low, but from Cairo southwards they
rise to 1000 and even 1500 ft. above sea-level. Formed mostly of
horizontal strata of varying hardness, they present a series of
terraces of minor plateaus, rising one above the other, and
intersected by small ravines worn by the occasional rainstorms which
burst in their neighbourhood. The weathering of this desert area is
probably fairly rapid, and the agents at work are principally the
rapid heating and cooling of the rocks by day and night, and the
erosive action of sand-laden wind on the softer layers; these, aided
by the occasional rain, are ceaselessly at work, and produce the
successive plateaus, dotted with small isolated hills and cut up by
valleys (wadis) which occasionally become deep ravines, thus forming
the principal type of scenery of these deserts. From this it will be
seen that the desert in Egypt is mainly a rock desert, where the
surface is formed of disintegrated rock, the finer particles of which
have been carried away by the wind; and east of the Nile this is
almost exclusively the case. Here the desert meets the line of
mountains which runs parallel to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez. In
the western desert, however, those large sand accumulations which are
usually associated with a desert are met with. They occur as lines of
dunes formed of rounded grains of quartz, and lie in the direction of
the prevalent wind, usually being of small breadth as compared with
their length; but in certain areas, such as that lying S.W. and W. of
the oases of Farafra and Dakhla, these lines of dunes, lying parallel
to each other and about half a mile apart, cover immense areas,
rendering them absolutely impassable except in a direction parallel
to the lines themselves. East of the oases of Baharia and Farafra is a
very striking line of these sand dunes; rarely more than 3 miles wide,
it extends almost continuously from Moghara in the north, passing
along the west side of Kharga Oasis to a point near the Nile in the
neighbourhood of Abu Simbel--having thus a length of nearly 550 m. In
the northern part of this desert the dunes lie about N.W.-S.E., but
farther south incline more towards the meridian, becoming at last very
nearly north and south.

_Oases._--In the western desert lie the five large oases of Egypt,
namely, Siwa, Baharia, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga or Great Oasis,
occupying depressions in the plateau or, in the case of the last
three, large indentations in the face of limestone escarpments which
form the western versant of the Nile valley hills. Their fertility is
due to a plentiful supply of water furnished by a sandstone bed 300 to
500 ft. below the surface, whence the water rises through natural
fissures or artificial boreholes to the surface, and sometimes to
several feet above it. These oases were known and occupied by the
Egyptians as early as 1600 B.C., and Kharga (q.v.) rose to special
importance at the time of the Persian occupation. Here, near the town
of Kharga, the ancient Hebi, is a temple of Ammon built by Darius I.,
and in the same oasis are other ruins of the period of the Ptolemies
and Caesars. The oasis of Siwa (Jupiter Ammon) is about 150 m. S. of
the Mediterranean at the Gulf of Sollum and about 300 m. W. of the
Nile (see SIWA). The other four oases lie parallel to and distant 100
to 150 m. from the Nile, between 25 deg. and 29 deg. N., Baharia being
the most northerly and Kharga the most southerly.

Besides the oases the desert is remarkable for two other valleys. The
first is that of the natron lakes already mentioned. It contains four
monasteries, the remains of the famous anchorite settlement of
Nitriae. South of the Wadi Natron, and parallel to it, is a sterile
valley called the Bahr-bela-Ma, or "River without Water."

_The Sinai Peninsula._--The triangular-shaped Sinai peninsula has its
base on the Mediterranean, the northern part being an arid plateau,
the desert of Tih. The apex is occupied by a massif of crystalline
rocks. The principal peaks rise over 8500 ft. Owing to the slight
rainfall, and the rapid weathering of the rocks by the great range of
temperature, these hills rise steeply from the valleys at their feet
as almost bare rock, supporting hardly any vegetation. In some of the
valleys wells or rock-pools filled by rain occur, and furnish
drinking-water to the few Arabs who wander in these hills (see also
SINAI).

[_Geology._--Just as the Nile valley forms the chief geographical
feature of Egypt, so the geology of the country is intimately related
to it. The north and south direction of the river has been largely
determined by faults, though the geologists of the Egyptian Survey are
finding that the influence of faulting in determining physical outline
has, in some cases, been overestimated. The oldest rocks, consisting
of crystalline schists with numerous intrusions of granite, porphyry
and diorite, occupy the eastern portion of the country between the
Nile south of Assuan and the Red Sea. The intrusive rocks predominate
over the schists in extent of area covered. They furnished the chief
material for the ancient monuments. At Assuan (Syene) the well-known
syenite of Werner occurs. It is, however, a hornblende granite and
does not possess the mineralogical composition of the syenites of
modern petrology. Between Thebes and Khartum the western banks of the
Nile are composed of Nubian Sandstone, which extends westward from the
river to the edge of the great Libyan Desert, where it forms the bed
rock. The age of this sandstone has given rise to much dispute. The
upper part certainly belongs to the Cretaceous formation; the lower
part has been considered to be of Karroo age by some geologists, while
others regard the whole formation to be of Cretaceous age. In the
Kharga Oasis the upper portion consists of variously coloured
unfossiliferous clays with intercalated bands of sandstone containing
fossil silicified woods (_Nicolia Aegyptiaca_ and _Araucarioxylon
Aegypticum_). They are conformably overlain by clays and limestones
with _Exogyra Overwegi_ belonging to the Lower Danian, and these by
clays and white chalk with _Ananchytes ovata_ of the Upper Danian. In
many instances the Tertiary formation, which occurs between Esna and
Cairo, unconformably overlies the Cretaceous, the Lower Eocene being
absent. The fluvio-marine deposits of the Upper Eocene and Oligocene
formations contain an interesting mammalian fauna, proving that the
African continent formed a centre of radiation for the mammalia in
early Tertiary times. _Arsinoitherium_ is the precursor of the horned
Ungulata; while _Moeritherium_ and _Palaeomastodon_ undoubtedly
include the oldest known elephants. Miocene strata are absent in the
southern Tertiary areas, but are present at Moghara and in the north.
Marine Pliocene strata occur to the south of the pyramids of Giza and
in the Fayum province, where, in addition, some gravel terraces, at a
height of 500 ft. above sea-level, are attributed to the Pliocene
period. The Lake of Moeris, as a large body of fresh water, appears to
have come into existence in Pleistocene times. It is represented now
by the brackish-water lake of the Birket-el-Kerun. The superficial
sands of the deserts and the Nile mud form the chief recent
formations. The Nile deposits its mud over the valley before reaching
the sea, and consequently the Delta receives little additional
material. At Memphis the alluvial deposits are over 50 ft. thick. The
superficial sands of the desert region, derived in large part from the
disintegration of the Nubian Sandstone, occupy the most extensive
areas in the Libyan Desert. The other desert regions of Egypt are
elevated stony plateaus, which are diversified by extensively
excavated valleys and oases, and in which sand frequently plays quite
a subordinate part. These regions present magnificent examples of dry
erosion by wind-borne sand, which acts as a powerful sand blast
etching away the rocks and producing most beautiful sculpturing. The
rate of denudation in exposed positions is exceedingly rapid; while
spots sheltered from the sand blast suffer a minimum of erosion, as
shown by the preservation of ancient inscriptions. Many of the
Egyptian rocks in the desert areas and at the cataracts are coated
with a highly polished film, of almost microscopic thinness,
consisting chiefly of oxides of iron and manganese with salts of
magnesia and lime. It is supposed to be due to a chemical change
within the rock and not to deposition on the surface.]

_Minerals._--Egypt possesses considerable mineral wealth. In ancient
times gold and precious stones were mined in the Red Sea hills. During
the Moslem period mining was abandoned, and it was not until the
beginning of the 20th century that renewed efforts were made to
develop the mining industry. The salt obtained from Lake Mareotis at
Meks, a western suburb of Alexandria, supplies the salt needed for the
country, except a small quantity used for curing fish at Lake Menzala;
while the lakes in the Wadi Natron, 45 m. N.W. of the pyramids of
Giza, furnish carbonate of soda in large quantities. Alum is found in
the western oases. Nitrates and phosphates are also found in various
parts of the desert and are used as manures. The turquoise mines of
Sinai, in the Wadi Maghara, are worked regularly by the Arabs of the
peninsula, who sell the stones in Suez; while there are emerald mines
at Jebel Zubara, south of Kosseir. Petroleum occurs at Jebel Zeit, on
the west shore of the Gulf of Suez. Considerable veins of haematite of
good quality occur both in the Red Sea hills and in Sinai. At Jebel
ed-Dukhan are porphyry quarries, extensively worked under the Romans,
and at Jebel el-Fatira are granite quarries. At El-Hammamat, on the
old way from Coptos to Philoteras Portus, are the breccia verde
quarries, worked from very early times, and having interesting
hieroglyphic inscriptions. At the various mines, and on the routes to
them and to the Red Sea, are some small temples and stations, ranging
from the Pharaonic to the Roman period. The quarries of Syene (Assuan)
are famous for extremely hard and durable red granite (syenite), and
have been worked since the days of the earliest Pharaohs. Large
quantities of this syenite were used in building the Assuan dam
(1898-1902). The cliffs bordering the Nile are largely quarried for
limestone and sandstone.

Gold-mining recommenced in 1905 at Um Rus, a short distance inland
from the Red Sea and some 50 m. S. of Kosseir, where milling
operations were started in March of that year. Another mine opened in
1905 was that of Um Garaiat, E.N.E. of Korosko, and 65 m. distant from
the Nile.

_Climate._--Part of Upper Egypt is within the tropics, but the greater
part of the country is north of the Tropic of Cancer. Except a narrow
belt on the north along the Mediterranean shore, Egypt lies in an
almost rainless area, where the temperature is high by day and sinks
quickly at night in consequence of the rapid radiation under the
cloudless sky. The mean temperature at Alexandria and Port Said varies
between 57 deg. F. in January and 81 deg. F. in July; while at Cairo,
where the proximity of the desert begins to be felt, it is 53 deg. F.
in January, rising to 84 deg. F. in July. January is the coldest
month, when occasionally in the Nile valley, and more frequently in
the open desert, the temperature sinks to 32 deg. F., or even a degree
or two below. The mean maximum temperatures are 99 deg. F. for
Alexandria and 110 deg. F. for Cairo. Farther south the range of
temperature becomes greater as pure desert conditions are reached.
Thus at Assuan the mean maximum is 118 deg. F., the mean minimum 42
deg. F. At Wadi Halfa the figures in each case are one degree lower.

The relative humidity varies greatly. At Assuan the mean value for the
year is only 38%, that for the summer being 29%, and for the winter
51%; while for Wadi Halfa the mean is 32%, and 20% and 42% are the
mean values for summer and winter respectively. A white fog, dense and
cold, sometimes rises from the Nile in the morning, but it is of short
duration and rare occurrence. In Alexandria and on all the
Mediterranean coast of Egypt rain falls abundantly in the winter
months, amounting to 8 in. in the year; but southwards it rapidly
decreases, and south of 31 deg. N. little rain falls.

Records at Cairo show that the rainfall is very irregular, and is
furnished by occasional storms rather than by any regular rainy
season; still, most falls in the winter months, especially December
and January, while, on the other hand, none has been recorded in June
and July. The average annual rainfall does not exceed 1.50 in. In the
open desert rain falls even more rarely, but it is by no means
unknown, and from time to time heavy storms burst, causing sudden
floods in the narrow ravines, and drowning both men and animals. These
are more common in the mountainous region of the Sinai peninsula,
where they are much dreaded by the Arabs. Snow is unknown in the Nile
valley, but on the mountains of Sinai and the Red Sea hills it is not
uncommon, and a temperature of 18 deg. F. at an altitude of 2000 ft.
has been recorded in January.

The atmospheric pressure varies between a maximum in January and a
minimum in July, the mean difference being about 0.29 in. In a series
of records extending over 14 years the mean pressure varied between
29.84 and 29.90 in.

The most striking meteorological factor in Egypt is the persistence of
the north wind throughout the year, without which the climate would be
very trying. It is this "Etesian" wind which enables sailing boats
constantly to ascend the Nile, against its strong and rapid current.
In December, January and February, at Cairo, the north wind slightly
predominates, though those from the south and west often nearly equal
it, but after this the north blows almost continuously for the rest of
the year. In May and June the prevailing direction is north and
north-north-east, and for July, August, September and October north
and north-west. From the few observations that exist, it seems that
farther south the southern winter winds decrease rapidly, becoming
westerly, until at Assuan and Wadi Haifa the northerly winds are
almost invariable throughout the year. The _khamsin_, hot sand-laden
winds of the spring months, come invariably from the south. They are
preceded by a rapid fall of the barometer for about a day, until a
gradient from south to north is formed, then the wind commences to
blow, at first gently, from the south-east; rapidly increasing in
violence, it shifts through south to south-west, finally dropping
about sunset. The same thing is repeated on the second and sometimes
the third day, by which time the wind has worked round to the north
again. During a khamsin the temperature is high and the air extremely
dry, while the dust and sand carried by the wind form a thick yellow
fog obscuring the sun. Another remarkable phenomenon is the _zobaa_, a
lofty whirlwind of sand resembling a pillar, which moves with great
velocity. The southern winds of the summer months which occur in the
low latitudes north of the equator are not felt much north of Khartum.

One of the most interesting phenomena of Egypt is the mirage, which is
frequently seen both in the desert and in the waste tracts of
uncultivated land near the Mediterranean; and it is often so truthful
in its appearance that one finds it difficult to admit the illusion.

_Flora._--Egypt possesses neither forests nor woods and, as
practically the whole of the country which will support vegetation is
devoted to agriculture, the flora is limited. The most important tree
is the date-palm, which grows all over Egypt and in the oases. The
lower branches being regularly cut, this tree grows high and assumes a
much more elegant form than in its natural state. The dom-palm is
first seen a little north of 26 deg. N., and extends southwards. The
vine grows well, and in ancient times was largely cultivated for wine;
oranges, lemons and pomegranates also abound. Mulberry trees are
common in Lower Egypt. The sunt tree (_Acacia nilotica_) grows
everywhere, as well as the tamarisk and the sycamore. In the deserts
halfa grass and several kinds of thorn bushes grow; and wherever rain
or springs have moistened the ground, numerous wild flowers thrive.
This is especially the case where there is also shade to protect them
from the midday sun, as in some of the narrow ravines in the eastern
desert and in the palm groves of the oases, where various ferns and
flowers grow luxuriantly round the springs. Among many trees which
have been imported, the "lebbek" (_Albizzia lebbek_), a thick-foliaged
mimosa, thrives especially, and has been very largely employed. The
weeping-willow, myrtle, elm, cypress and eucalyptus are also used in
the gardens and plantations.