Chapter II

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EGYPT

1. The Country and its River

Egypt is a country in the north of Africa. It has sea to the north and sea to the east. On the north it is called the Mediterranean Sea, and on the east the Red Sea. On the west is the great sandy desert called the Sahara, and to the south are great forests and mountains. Egypt itself is the land of the great River Nile. There is very seldom any rain there, and everyone has to get water from the great river. So all the people live near the Nile or the canals which lead out of it. A "canal" is a waterway, the channel of which has been dug by men. The big towns are where the river flows out into the sea, or where a canal meets the main stream, because the people bring their merchandise to market in boats. All over the land are little villages, where many people live and work in the fields to grow food. Year by year when there is heavy rain in the mountains far away south, the River Nile rises and floods the fields. Then the people plant their seed quickly and get a good harvest. It is not difficult to understand why the Egyptians love their great river, which gives them water for their fields and carries them in their boats from place to place.

2. Its Past History

Egypt is the only part of Africa that could be reached easily by people in Europe and Asia, because in Egypt is the only place where men could walk from Asia and Europe into Africa. Even if they did not want to walk, the sea was not too wide to cross in small boats. In the Bible we read how Abraham, who lived in Asia, walked to Egypt, and later how Moses led the Children of Israel back to Asia. Since that time Europeans have cut a waterway for ships through this narrow neck of land, which is called the Suez Canal. So now people can no longer walk from Asia to Africa, but in the old days the Egyptians grew wiser than others in Africa, because they were more able to meet men from other lands in Asia and Europe, and to learn something from them all. So hundreds and hundreds of years ago there were people living in this country of the Nile who were wise and great. They built large cities and temples and houses. They knew how to write, and covered the walls of their houses with writing. Their letters were not like ours, but were pictures of the things they were writing about. They also built huge stone tombs for their kings to be buried in, and these were called "pyramids." The kings of Egypt were called "Pharaohs." When the old Egyptians wrote books, instead of paper they used the dried leaves of a reed called "papyrus," which grows in the Nile. Several leaves were fastened together to make a book. These old writings on reeds and on the walls have been found after lying buried in the sand, which has covered so much of old Egypt. The hot sand has kept them dry, and prevented them being destroyed during hundreds of years. By reading these writings we are able to find out how these people lived so long ago. They had also a wonderful way of taking the waters of the Nile in ditches over the whole land. There is hardly any rain in Egypt, and this Nile water prevented the country becoming so sandy and dry. In those days Egypt was well-known for its wonderful harvests and stores of food.

But though these people were wise in many ways, yet they were proud and cruel to their enemies. In the Bible we read how they treated the Children of Israel in the time of Moses. Perhaps this was because they did not know God our Father, but worshipped many gods, whose pictures and images were like animals. Many of the great temples they built for these gods are still standing, and when we see pictures of them, we wonder at the skill of these people who lived so long ago. Egypt was one of the first great countries to become Christian, and many of the old heathen temples were turned into churches. But at last the Arabs, who were Mohammedans, conquered Egypt, and forced most of the people to become Mohammedans too. But some remained faithful in spite of all, and these to-day are called "Copts," from the old name for Egypt. For hundreds of years these Copts have lived in a country ruled by Moslem Arabs, or Turks, who hated their religion, but they have been true to Christ through all.

There are people of all lands living in the towns of Egypt in these days, for there is a great deal of business to be done in them. But the people who work in the fields are the children of the old Egyptians, though they have forgotten their old wisdom and are now very ignorant.

3. The People of Egypt

The Egyptians are a race different both from the dark-skinned people of Africa and from Europeans. They have olive skins, very dark, almond-shaped eyes, and dark, straight hair. Most of the men shave their heads, and wear a turban or tarboosh as a covering. The women fasten a veil below their eyes, which falls over the lower part of their face. Both the men and the women wear several loose garments, which cover the whole body from the neck to the feet. All except the very poor wear shoes.

In the towns there are a great many people, some very rich and others very poor. Often a city looks very beautiful, because the houses are built of white or light-coloured stone or brick. But they are close together, and the streets are very narrow and dirty, and so the poor people are often ill. The houses are built in "storeys," one room on the top of another, with steps leading to the upper rooms. Often there is a courtyard in the middle of the house, so that all the rooms can have windows and light. One part of the house is separated from the rest for the women to use. This is called the "hareem," and no man, except the master of the house, is allowed to go into it. All rich Mohammedans have a separate part of their house for the women. A poor woman in all countries has plenty of work to do, but a rich lady in Egypt has many servants, or slaves, to do the work, and, as she is kept shut up in the "hareem" from the time she is ten or eleven years old, she can learn very little, except how to do beautiful needlework. She cannot help her husband and her sons to be wise and good, because she does not know enough about life and work outside the "hareem." So the Egyptian ladies have little to do and little to think about all the day while their husbands are away, and they are often very dull. But the town-people love their children very much, and Egyptian children are taught always to love, honour, and obey their father and mother. An Egyptian man may have four wives, but generally he has only one.

Until a few years ago, all Egyptians who had enough money used to buy slaves to do their work. Slaves could be bought or sold, or married or given away, as if they were things instead of people. Masters could illtreat or even kill their slaves and not be punished, because it was only as if they had broken their water-jar in a temper, and that was no one else's business. Often slaves were happy if they had good masters, but it is a bad custom to take away a person's freedom and treat him as if he had no soul. During the last few years many Europeans have been helping the Egyptians to improve their country, and one of the changes has been to do away gradually with slavery. No one is now allowed to buy a slave, and anyone born in slavery can become free if he wishes to do so. Instead of slaves, people now have servants who receive wages for their work. These are free to leave their master if he does not treat them well. Although slavery is dying out of Egypt, there are other parts of North Africa where the old bad customs still exist, though the great European nations try to prevent the public markets for slaves being held. People are happiest in countries where there are no slaves and everyone is free to do the work for which he is best fitted.

In Egyptian households where there is more than one wife there is often quarrelling. The wives of one man all live in one "hareem," and cannot help being jealous if they see their husband likes one better than another. Then there is quarrelling and ill-will among them. As the children grow up there is a further cause for jealousy, because the mothers of boys are more important than those who have only girl-children. Children cannot respect their mothers if they often see them quarrelling and jealous. Again, there is always a possibility that a husband may divorce his wife. He is not likely to do so if she has a boy-baby, but until she has, her position as a wife is not very secure. These bad marriage customs lead to much unhappiness, and prevent the women of Egypt from doing so much good as the women of some other lands are able to do. We must not, of course, think that all Egyptian homes are unhappy; probably many poor women are quite glad when their husband brings another wife to help with the work. But where servants do the work, there are only the pleasures of the home to be shared, and then jealousy will be likely to come.

4. The Big Towns

If we went for a walk in the narrow streets of an Egyptian city or big town, we should see on either side open shops, each with its owner ready to sell his goods. Many of the people of the towns have shops or trades. They sell jewellery, furniture, cloth, and everything that is wanted in the house for cooking. In the streets there are some men carrying drinking-water for sale, because it is hot walking about and people get thirsty. Others will be selling sweet-stuff made of sugar, which everyone likes. Others wait about ready to write letters for people who cannot write for themselves, and there are always many beggars. Great steamers from other countries--England, France, India, Japan--bring merchandise to Alexandria and Port Said, the seaports of Egypt, and so people from these countries have shops and offices in those towns. Then the goods are taken by boats or trains to the capital, Cairo, where the Sultan lives, and to other large towns. In all these towns there are hundreds of people, so that a man can only know those who live near him or work with him. Most of them are unknown to one another and are like strangers, although they all live in one town and can all speak Arabic.

5. Life in the Villages

The country-people of Egypt are very poor, and have to work very hard all the year round in their fields. Their houses are built of bricks dried in the sun, plastered together with mud, and the roof is made of plaited palm leaf. Inside there is only one room, which has a big oven made of mud with a flat top on which the father and mother sleep. The work in the fields is very hard, as the ground has to be made fertile by digging canals and ditches all over it to bring the water from the Nile, because, you remember, there is no rain in Egypt. When the Nile begins to fall, the water has to be raised in baskets fastened to a wheel or pole, and thrown on the ground. In order to get enough money, the people plant another kind of seed as soon as one harvest is gathered; first, perhaps, planting wheat, then millet, or cotton, then maize. So the country-people in Egypt are always working hard from sunrise to sunset all the year in their fields, and their little children have to learn to mind sheep, goats, or cattle, and to help in other ways as soon as they can walk alone.

Other men work on the Nile, carrying people or goods up and down the river in boats from place to place. This, again, is hard work, but the boatmen seem very happy and often sing as they pass along. People in the country villages are ignorant, and very few can read or write. Sometimes when the harvest has been bad and food is dear and scarce, the people get deeply into debt. There is a great deal of illness and disease, but there are very few doctors and nurses to help people to get well. So the life of an Egyptian peasant is a hard one--a great deal of work and very little time to rest, or play, or learn. But everyone has something to make him happy, and, unless there is famine or pestilence, these people have their wives and children and home, just as people have in England and other countries. The only person who need be unhappy is the one who has no one to love.

So we have learnt a little about that part of Africa called Egypt--the land of the Nile--and about the people who live in it. We must remember that all the other people who live on the North Coast of Africa, in Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, are something like the Egyptians, also speaking Arabic, and different from the dark-skinned people who live farther south where it is very hot.