forests, crocodiles abound in the rivers, and the ostrich roams over the hot sandy plains.

9. Africa is not noted for its mineral treasures: copper is found in the west of Cape Colony, and in Katanga, in central South Africa; gold in the rivers of the west; diamonds in Griqualand West, the northern district of Cape Colony; and salt is the great mineral treasure of the Sahara.

10. Guarded by its pestilential coast-lands, by the excessive heat of its climate, by the almost total absence of inland water communication, and by its inhospitable and semi-savage tribes, vast regions of the interior of Africa remain almost unknown, and trade and commerce has not been developed to the same extent as it has in the more favoured continents. The Barbary States trade chiefly with France and England, sending ostrich feathers and ivory-brought by caravans from the interior-and esparto grass and other vegetable fibres for paper-making. Egypt trades with the European countries bordering the Mediterranean, and sends cotton, wheat, and beans, to England. Palm-oil is the staple article of trade of the west coast. It is brought by the natives to the trading stations, and bartered for cotton and other manufactured goods of England and France. Our colonists in South Africa send us wool, hides, and feathers, in exchange for our manufactured goods-chiefly cotton-cloth and wearing apparel. The trade of the east coast, of which Zanzibar is the centre, is chiefly in the hands of Indian merchants.

1. Modern Egypt, though far less powerful than the ancient kingdom of the Pharaohs, is much more extensive. In recent years Egypt has been continually enlarging its borders, until it now holds nominal sway over all the country in the valley of the Nile, and much of

the surrounding country from the Equator to the Mediterranean Sea, embracing an area at least ten times as large as Great Britain. The Khedive, or King, is nominally a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, and pays a yearly tribute of £720,000 to the Sultan, but in reality he is one of the most powerful sovereigns of Africa

2. The vast extent of country included under the real and nominal government of the Khedive consists of Egypt proper, Nubia, and Egyptian Soudan. Egypt proper is again divided into the districts of Lower, Middle, and Upper Egypt.

3. Egypt proper is the narrow green strip on the banks of the Lower Nile, and the fertile delta composed of the mud which the river has been carrying down through unnumbered ages. It is bounded by the dreaded Libyan Desert on the west, and by the arid plateau and mountains of the Arabian Desert on the east.

4. The country of the delta was the ancient Egypt, and to this day this is the most important part of the Khedive's dominions. It is not only the most civilised portion of the country and the seat of the great towns, but it contains all those gigantic memorials-pyramids, obelisks, and sphinxes-of the greatness of this ancient land of the Pharaohs.

5. The Nile is the river of Egypt, and to this river Egypt owes its very existence as a habitable country. Its waters form the great highway into the interior, and by their annual overflow bring fertility and plenty to an almost rainless land. From Abyssinia and the far off mountainous regions, where it takes its rise, it brings down fine soil, and by its annual overflow leaves on the surface stores of rich mud, which renew the fertility of the soil exhausted by the crops which have been taken off it. Canals are now used to regulate the overflow, and the yearly "cutting" to let in the waters of the river is an imposing State ceremonial.

6. The river begins to rise about the end of June, and from this time till the end of September the increase in depth is regular and constant at the rate of about four inches a day. When the flood is at its highest the valley

and the delta present the appearance of a vast lake, dotted with towns and villages. Communication has to be carried on by means of boats, save where, between places of importance, a few viaducts have been raised. From September to the end of the year the river subsides, and the land is tilled; and by June the harvest has been reaped.

7. Egypt is essentially-and above everything-an agricultural country. From the time when Jacob's sons went down to Egypt to buy corn, the Nile valley has been accounted the granary of the East. Even at the present day its fruitfulness is without a parallel in any region of like extent. Manufacturing and mining industries have been introduced, but the results have been only a waste of money, machinery, and labour. About five million acres are under cultivation for cotton, rice, sugar, beans, barley, maize, and clover, and so well suited is the climate for agriculture, that with artificial irrigation two and even three crops can be raised yearly. Flax and indigo are grown to some extent, and there are large plantations of roses cultivated for the production of the valuable scent, the "attar" of roses.

8. Egypt is deficient in mineral wealth. Gold is found along the coast of the Gulf of Akabah—the ancient land of Midian-and also tin and antimony; and nitre is obtained in various places. The fisheries are important; they employ 10,000 hands, and support a considerable export trade to Syria, Turkey, and Greece.

9. Cairo, the greatest city in Africa, is the capital. It is built on the right bank of the Nile, a little above the apex of the delta. The city contains a population of about 350,000 people, a motley assemblage of many nations. Cairo is the starting point for excursions to perhaps the greatest objects of attraction in the whole country-the Pyramids and the great Sphinx.

10. Alexandria is the great commercial emporium and port of Egypt. The town is divided into two sections. The Arab quarter consists of irregular streets of low houses, and is by no means cleanly; but the European quarter, of recent creation, consists of broad streets,

of fine shops, and charming squares, making Alexandria one of the most brilliant cities of the Mediterranean. It has a population of 212,000, and is connected by rail with the capital and most of the cities of the delta.

11. Tanta, Rosetta, and Damietta, are important towns on the delta. Port Said is a modern town, built at the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Canal, Ismalia, a still newer town, stands midway on the canal, and is the head-quarters of the Canal Company.

1. The northern district of Nubia, except in the valley of the Nile, is a barren desert, characterised by a total want of vegetation, and by excessive heat and dryness. Further south its general aspect is that of grassy steppes, sandy on the limits of the desert, and merging into the richest tropical vegetation of Soudan.

2. The chief towns of Nubia are Dongola and Berber, both in the Nile valley. They are the startingpoints of caravans across the desert country east and west of the Nile. From Dongola the chief caravan route runs in a south-west direction to the province of Darfur. Berber is a collection of mud huts surrounded by tall acacias and palms, and is the starting point of a caravan route to the port of Suakin, on the Red Sea.

3. Egyptian Soudan is the most southern part of the Khedive's dominions. It is a country gradually extending, and its limits are very vague. As we proceed southward the Egyptian hold on the Nile valley is less and less substantial, though there are Egyptian stations almost on the Albert and Victoria Lakes.

4. The Soudan is a well-watered region, getting more and more fertile as we proceed south. The province of Kordofan in the north is described as consisting generally of wide undulating plains, covered with high brown

Darfur,

grass, with groups of trees here and there. another province on the west of Kordofan, has only been Egyptian since 1875. The country is unfruitful, and dry except during the period of the summer rains, when it blooms with the richest vegetation. The Marrah mountains are in this province.

5. Khartoum, near the junction of the Blue and White Niles, is the great city of Southern Egypt. It is the centre of the traffic for the surrounding country, and the converging point of all caravan routes in this district. Ivory, ebony, ostrich feathers, "durra," or millet-grown very extensively in the lower valley of the Blue Nile-cotton and gums, are here exchanged for European goods. The town contains a motley population of about 40,000.

6. The climate of Egypt varies in different portions. In the delta the heat and drought are almost as great as in the Sahara; but during the summer months northerly winds blow up the Nile valley, and thus temper the scorching heat of that season. Of rain there is little throughout the year. So rare are showers in some parts of Egypt, that at Thebes, for example, there is not a storm of rain oftener than once in four years. At Cairo there is an average of only thirteen rainy days in twelve months, and further south there is scarcely any rain at all; heavy dews, however, make up somewhat for the deficiency of other moisture.

7. Further south again, past where the Nile receives its last tributary—the Atbara—the tropical rains begin, and hence the landscape no longer presents an appearance of burnt-up grass or bare sand, but perennial vegetation of the richest description.

8. The total value of the exports from Egypt to the United Kingdom in 1879 amounted to nearly £9,000,000. Of these, cotton, cotton-seeds, wheat, beans, flour, and gum, were the chief. The imports from the United Kingdom, chiefly cotton goods, amounted to about two millions.

9. The population of Egypt proper is a little over five millions, but probably the total number of people in