EGYPT

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, lost to Egypt, 1882- | 96, by the revolt of the Mahdi, now administered by a governor general appointed by Egypt, with the assent of Great Britain, extends S. from the frontier of Egypt to Ugan da and the Belgian Kongo, and from the Red Sea to the confines of Madai, central Africa; area about 950,000 sq. m.; pop. 2,000,000. The Nile is the main irrigator of the country, watering and fertilizing annually a strip averaging about 7 m. in width, except at the N. where the valley broadens into the delta. The greater part of the country consists of deserts; that between the Nile and the Red Sea is intersected by chains of mountains, whose summits rise 6,000 ft. The most noted lake in Egypt is the Birket-el-Keroun in the Fayum, W. of the Nile, 30 m. long; along the seacoast of the delta is a series of lagoons, stretching nearly 200 m.

There are in Egypt few trees of any kind, except the palm, and few wild beasts. Average temperature of Lower Egypt 55° to 70°; that of Upper Egypt, 66° to 120° in winter; chief industry agriculture; principal crops, cotton, sugar, rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, barley, and vegetables. The manufacture of firearms, cotton, silk, and woolen goods is directed by the government. The chief exports are raw cotton, cotton seeds, cereals and vegetables, tobacco, provisions, and drugs. An extensive trade by caravans is maintained with the interior of Africa. The Suez Canal, the Mahmoudieh Canal from Alexandria to the Nile, and some 1,455 m. of railroads facilitate commerce. The prevailing religion of Egypt has been Mohammedan since 640 A.D. The Copts, however, 608,000 in number, are Christian descendants of the ancient Egyptians, and members of the Greek Orthodox Church. There are about 10,000 public schools, sixteen schools for higher education, besides mission schools and private European schools. The most famous university of Islam is the Univ. of El-Azhar, at Cairo, which has about 9,000 students.

Egypt, though nominally tributary to Turkey, is ruled by a monarchy conditionally independent, the administration being carried on by native ministers, subject to the ruling of the khedive. Since 1883 the government has been further popularized by providing for a legislative council, a general assembly, and various provincial boards. These bodies are chosen by restricted general suffrage; their powers are only advisory. The khedive pays an annual tribute to the Sultan and levies taxes in his name, but Great Britain practically governs the country. An English financial adviser has a seat in the council of ministers, and without his concurrence no final decision can be taken. The Turks, although the ruling class, form but a small portion of the population. The foreigners, chiefly Greeks, Italians, British, and French, number abt. 112,500. The Arabs make the larger part of the population, though the Copts number 608,000; chief cities, Cairo, Alexandria, Damietta, Tanta, Mansura, Zagazig, Assiout, Port Said, Fayum. As early as 5000 B.C. the Egyptians were a highly civilized people, with a fully organized society, a great proficiency in arts and manufactures.

EGYPT

In the earliest ages they recognized only one God, but later became idolatrous and polytheistic. Each deity had an animal which was worshiped as his or her symbolic representative.

The government of ancient Egypt was a monarchy, limited by the influence of powerful hereditary classes (castes) of priests and soldiers. The first Egyptian dynasty was founded by Menes, 5004 B.C. Under the second, third, fourth dynasties the great pyramid of Sakkara (the oldest monument in Egypt), the three great pyramids and the sphinx at Gizeh were built. The third and fourth dynasties were of Memphis. With the tenth dynasty, nearly twenty centuries after Menes, what is called the old empire ended. The eleventh and twelfth dynasties were Theban. Abt. 2400 a rival line established itself in the delta, where it reigned for one hundred and eighty-four years and constituted the fourteenth dynasty. The Hyksos, or shepherd kings, whose hosts were led by Hittites, invaded the country abt. 2214, established their capital at Avaria, and founded the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth dynasties. Under the eighteenth dynasty, founded at Thebes, the Hyksos were expelled, the new empire" began (1703), and Egypt became one of the great powers of 'the world. Under Rameses II, of the nineteenth dynasty, the pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites, Egypt declined in power, and was invaded by a N. race which seized the W. part of the delta. Menephtah, son of Rameses, who established his capital at Memphis, defeated the invaders. Shortly after, abt. 1300, occurred the exodus of the Jews. A rival dynasty, the twenty-first, arose at Tanis, in Lower Egypt and established authority over all Egypt. The twenty-second dynasty, was Assyrian. Psammetichus founded the twentysixth dynasty, expelled the Assyrians, made himself master of all Egypt, and allowed the Greek to colonize in the country.

In 527 Egypt became a Persian province. Abt. 405 the Persians were expelled and native monarchs ruled until 340, when Artaxerxes III of Persia reconquered the country. In 332 Alexander the Great conquered Egypt; after whose death his general, Ptolemy Soter, ruled, and after him nine Ptolemies. Alexander founded Alexandria, which became the chief center of Greek civilization. Augustus Cæsar reduced Egypt to a Roman province. For three centuries after that its history is a record only of fruitless rebellions and of savage persecutions of the Christians. In 1798 Bonaparte invaded Egypt and the French held it till 1801, when the British expelled them. Civil war followed, and Mehemet Ali, an Albanian adventurer, became ruler with the title of pasha. He subjected Nubia, conquered Syria and a great part of Asia Minor, and would have made himself master of Constantinople had not the powers intervened. His nephew, Ismail Pasha, negotiated immense foreign loans for internal improvements, and made taxes so oppressive that he was driven out, 1879. Mohammed Tewfik, son of Ismail, who succeeded him, found the finances in such confusion that the aid of European governments was invoked, and the British and French

EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

govts. took control of all the sources of revenue. This led to a revolt in 1882, headed by Arabi Pasha, Minister of War, which was crushed by British troops. The control of the finances now passed into British hands and British troops remained in effective possession of the country. A revolt of the Mahdi in the Sudan occurred, 1881-85. Gen. Gordon, who had been sent by the English to withdraw the garrison at Khartum, was imprisoned in the city, and perished before the relief expedition under Wolseley arrived, January, 1885. This revolt lost to the khedive the Sudan, which was not recovered until 1896, when an Anglo-Egyptian expedition for the recovery of the lost provinces was dispatched under Lord Kitchener, who, in 1898, finally brought the Sudan under rule of the governments. In 1892 Abbas Hilmi succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, Mohammed Tewfik.

Egyp'tian Ar'chitecture, was one mainly of temples and tombs. Symbolic carvings, hieroglyphics, and paintings play a large part in its decorative scheme. The temples of Karnak, Luxor, Medinet-Abou, and Abydos, and the Ramesseum are the grandest examples of the art of the Ramesside epoch; Edfu, Denderah, and Philæ, of the Ptolemaic; while the temple caverns of Abu-Simbel and the innumerable rock-cut tombs of the Nile Valley exhibit another phase of Egyptian architecture, unrivaled unless by the cave temples of India. Limestone and granite, with a coarse sandstone for the rougher masses of masonry, and brick dried in the sun for exterior circuit walls, seem to have been the materials most in use.

Egyptian Vul'ture, called also PHARAOH'S HEN, small vulture of S. Europe, Africa, and Asia, occasionally seen in England. These birds are valuable scavengers, protected by law and custom, and are half domesticated.

Ehrenberg (a'ren-běrkh), Christian Gottfried, 1795-1876; German naturalist; b. Delitzsch, Prussian Saxony; obtained a chair of medicine in the Univ. of Berlin; published "Scientific Travels through N. Africa and W. Asia' and "Physical Symbols of Birds, Insects, etc."; made interesting discoveries with the microscope, and published important works entitled "The Infusoria as Perfect Organisms " and "Mikro-Geologie." He discovered that taceous and other strata of great extent are composed of microscopic organisms.

cre

Ehrenbreitstein (a-ren-brit'stin), "honor's broad stone," fortified town of Rhenish Prussia; on the E. bank of the Rhine; opposite Coblentz; at the base of a rocky hill. On the summit of this hill stands the citadel of Ehrenbreitstein, on a rocky promontory 400 ft. above the water, inaccessible on three sides and defended on the N., the only attackable front, by a double intrenchment. It has been a fortress from very early times, its origin dating from the time of Drusus, when the Romans erected various castles and strongholds on the Rhine.

Eichberg (ik'běrg), Julius, 1824-93; American composer; b. Düsseldorf, Germany; in 1857 he came to New York, and in 1859 removed to Boston, where he established the

Eider (i'der), river of Germany, forming the boundary between Schleswig and Holstein; rises 10 m. SW. of Kiel, flows nearly W., and enters the German Ocean at Tönning; is 90 m. long, and navigable from its mouth to Rendsburg. A canal cut from Rendsburg to Kielfiord completes water connection between the Baltic and the North Sea.

Eider Duck, one of several species of sea ducks, especially the European eider, which

furnishes eider down. This duck also occurs in the N. parts of N. America, but the common American eider and another species are found on the Pacific coast. The eider is larger than the common duck, and the plumage color

in the male varies with the seasons. The female is of a light reddish brown, marked across with darker shades. The male displays in spring a conspicuous pied plumage of sable beneath and creamy white above, with a patch of shining sea-green on the head. During incubation the female deposits in her nest the down which she plucks from her breast, and if this is removed by hunters she furnishes another supply.

Eiffel (i'fel) Tow'er, a tower erected on the grounds of the French International Exposition in 1889. It is 300 meters, or 984 ft., in height, of light structure and graceful form. Visitors are carried to the upper platform by

EIGHT-HOUR DAY

elevators. Meteorological observations are carried on at the top, affording very important results.

Eight-hour Day, a movement to fix by law or agreement between employer and workmen the hours of labor at not more than eight on any one day. The proposition arose in England in 1833, and its general adoption in Great Britain was moved at a trades-union congress in 1869. It has not, however, made great progress in that country. In the U. S. it was proposed in 1866 by the National Labor Union, and the eight-hour day was introduced into the U. S. navy yards by act of Congress in 1869, and the principle has been since applied to other workers by federal and state laws. It is in Australia, however, that the eight-hour day has been most generally followed, many trades having adopted it as early as 1856. The principal objection of employers to such a limitation of the hours of labor is based not only upon the increasing of the hours during which a factory remains idle, but upon the fact that the demand for an eight-hour day is usually coupled with the understanding that the day wage paid for longer hours shall still be the standard. But the general experience of employers that overtime work, even when stimu'lated by extra pay, is usually below the average, has been clinched by official statistics in Great Britain, which prove the output under the eight-hour régime is as great as it was when the working hours were longer.

Eimeo (i'me-o), one of the Society islands; in the Pacific; 30 m. NW. of Tahiti.

Einbeck (in'běk), town of Hanover, on the Ilme; 21 m. NNW. of Göttingen; has bleacheries and tanneries, manufactures of woolens and linens, and a gymnasium founded by Luther; prominent among the military towns of the old empire, but the French destroyed its walls, 1761. Pop. (1900) 7,914.

Ein'hard. See EGINHARD.

Einsiedeln (in'se-děln), town of Switzerland; canton of Schwytz; 24 m. SSE. of Zurich; has a famous Benedictine abbey, containing a black image of the Virgin Mary, which is visited by many pilgrims; contains a large library, and connected with it are a priests' seminary, gymnasium, lyceum, etc. Pop. (1900) 8,551.

Eisenach (i'zen-äkh), town of Saxe-Weimar, Germany; on the Hörsel; 48 m. W. of Weimar; inclosed by walls, and has a handsome ducal palace, now used as a courthouse, and a school of design; also has manufactures of cotton and woolen fabrics, art pottery, leather, carpets, soap, white lead, etc. Close by this town is the Castle of Wartburg, formerly a residence of the landgraves of Thuringia, and memorable as the refuge in which Luther remained secreted ten months, 1521-22. Pop. (1905) 35,153.

Eisenerz (i'zen-ĕrts), also called INNERBERG, town of Styria, Austria; at the N. base of the Erzberg; 20 m. WNW. of Bruck. The Erzberg, which is 5,000 ft. high, is a solid mass of iron ore of rich quality. Mines have been worked here for 1,000 years. Pop. (1900) commune, 6,494.

ELAND

Eisteddfod (as-těth'vod), congress of Welsh bards and musicians to promote cultivation of national poetry and music and maintain the traditions and customs of Wales. Its origin is ancient, probably antedating the Christian era, but the first meeting of which there is record was held on the Conway (N. Wales) in the sixth century.

Eject'ment, in law, an action for the recovery of the possession of lands, now generally used wherever the common law prevails for the trial not merely of the right to possession,

but to the title.

Ek'ron, a royal city of the Philistines, and seat of an oracle of Beelzebub; in Judea; 25 m. W. by N. from Jerusalem; site identified with the modern Akir.

Elagab'alus, or Heliogab'alus, 204-222 A.D.; Varius Avitus Bassianus, but on being apRoman emperor; b. Antioch; original name pointed a priest of the Syrian god Elagabal, he assumed that name. Caracalla was assassinated April 8, 217, and Macrinus was proclaimed emperor, April 11th. Elagabalus was proclaimed emperor by the army in Syria, May 16, 218. A battle was fought between Macrinus and Elagabalus, June 8th, and Macrinus was put to death some days afterwards. Elagabalus, one of the most infamous of the Roman emperors, was assassinated by his soldiers and succeeded by Alexander Severus.