of the pictures on the tombs is supported and confirmed by the skulls and bones of mummies which anthropologists have examined and measured during the last few years; hence all attempts to prove that the Egyptian is of negro origin are overthrown at the outset by facts which cannot be controverted. In cases where the Egyptians intermarried with people of Semitic origin, we find aquiline noses.* One of the most remarkable things connected with the Egyptians of to-day is the fact that a very large number of them have reproduced, without the slightest alteration, many of the personal features of their ancestors who lived seven thousand years ago. The traveller is often accompanied on a visit to a tomb of the Ancient Empire by a moderr, Egyptian who, in his attitudes, form, and face, is a veritable reproduction of the hereditary nobleman who built the tomb which he is examining. It may be that no invading race has ever found itself physically able to reproduce persistently its own characteristics for any important length of time, or it may be that the absorption of such races by intermarriage with the natives, together with the influence

* A very good example of this is seen in the black granite head of the statue of Osorkon II., presented to the British Museum (No. 1063) by the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund. The lower part of the nose is broken away, but enough of the upper part remains to show what was its original angle. It was confidently asserted that this head belonged to a statue of a Hyksos king, but the assertion was not supported by any trustworthy evidence. The face and features are those of a man whose ancestors were Semites and Egyptians, and men with similar countenances are to be seen in the desert to the south-east of Palestine to this day. A clinching proof that the statue is not that of a Hyksos king was brought forward by Prof. Lanzone of Turin, who, in the earlier part of this year, showed Mr. Renouf a small statue of Osorkon II., having precisely the same face and features. The XXIInd dynasty, to which this king belonged, were Semites, as their names show, and they were always regarded by the Egyptians as foreigners, and, the determinative of a man from a foreign country, was placed after each of their names.

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of the climate, has made such characteristics disappear; the fact, however, remains, that the physical type of the Egyptian fellâh is exactly what it was in the earliest dynasties. The invasions of the Babylonians, Hyksos, Ethiopians (including negro races), Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks, have had no permanent effect either on their physical or mental characteristics. The Egyptian has seen the civilizations of all these nations rise up, progress flourish, decay, and pass away; he has been influenced from time to time by their religious views and learning; he has been the servant of each of them in turn, and has paid tribute to them all; he has, nevertheless, survived all of them save one. It will, of course, be understood that the inhabitants of the towns form a class quite distinct from the Egyptians of the country; the townsfolk represent a mixture of many nationalities, and their character and features change according to the exigencies of the time and circumstances in which they live, and the influence of the ruling power.

THE MODERN EGYPTIANS.

The total population of Egypt proper may be fixed roughly at 8,000,000, of whom about 130,000 are foreigners. Sir Francis Grenfell is of opinion that the population of Egypt is now nearer nine than eight millions. In a country where an increase in population always means an increase in taxation, it is quite impossible to obtain an accurate census. As far back as the time of David* the idea of "numbering the people" has been unpopular in the East.

It is exceedingly difficult to obtain an exact idea of what the population of Egypt actually was in Pharaonic times, for the inscriptions tell us nothing. Herodotus gives us no information on this matter, but Diodorus tells us that it amounted to 7,000,000 in ancient times. The priests at Thebes informed Germanicus in A.D. 19 that in the times of Rameses II. the country contained 700,000 + fighting men; it will also be remembered that the Bible states that the "children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them." Exodus xii. 37, 38. In the time of Vespasian 7,500,000 persons paid poll-tax; we may assume that about 500,000 were exempt, and therefore there must have been at least 8,000,000 of people in Egypt, without reckoning slaves. (Mommsen, Provinces of Rome, Vol. II., p. 258.) It is probable, however, that the population of Egypt under the

* "And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel." I Chronicles xxi. I.

"Septigenta milia aetate militari." Tacitus, Annals, Bk. ii., 60.

rule of the Pharaohs has been greatly exaggerated, chiefly because no accurate data were at hand whereby errors might be corrected. During the occupation of the country by the French in 1798-1801 it was said to be 2,500,000; Sir Gardner Wilkinson, however, set it down at as low a figure as 1,500,000. In 1821 the population numbered 2,514,000, and in 1846 it had risen to 4,456,186. The last census was ordered by Khedival decree on December 2, 1881, and it was completed in May 3, 1882. According to the official statement published in the Recensement Général de l'Égypte, at Cairo, in 1884, it amounted in 1882 to 6,806,381 persons, of whom 3,216,847 were men, and 3,252,869 were women. Of the 6,806,381 persons, 6,708,185 were inhabitants of the country, and 98,196 were nomads. It showed that there were in the total 245,779 Beduîn and 90,886 foreigners; the number was made up in the following manner :—

Cairo, 374,838; Alexandria, 231,396; Damietta, 43,616; Rosetta, 19,378; Port Sa'îd, 21,296, and Suez, 11,175. Of the provinces Beḥêreh contained 398,856; Sherkîyeh, 464,655; Dakhaliyeh, 586,033; Gharbîyeh, 929,488; Ķalyûb, 271,488; Menûf, 646,013; Asyût, 562,137; BeniSuêf, 219,573; Fayûm, 228,709; Gîzeh, 283,083; Minyeh, 314,818; Esneh, 237,961; Girgeh, 521,413; Ķeneh 406,858. The dwellers in the Oases* and the Peninsula of Sinai were not reckoned in the total given above. The annual increase in the population was estimated at 56,202, but at this rate the population of Egypt would only number a little over 7,000,000.

*The Egyptian Oases are five: Wâḥ el-Khârgeh, 90 miles from Thebes; Wâḥ ed-Dakhaliyeh, or Oasis Minor with warm springs, to the west of the city of Oxyrhynchos; Farâfra, about 80 miles north of Oasis Minor; Siwa, where there was a temple to Jupiter Ammon, to the south-west of Alexandria; and Wâḥ el-Bahriyeh, to the north of Wâḥ el-Khârgeh.

The population of Egypt to-day comprises the Fellâḥîn, Copts, Beduîn, Jews, Turks, Negroes, Nubians and people from Abyssinia, Armenians and Europeans.

The Fellâhîn amount to about four-fifths of the entire population of Egypt, and are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits. In physical type they greatly resemble the ancient Egyptians as depicted on the monuments. Their complexion is dark; they have straight eyebrows, high cheek bones, flat noses with low bridges, slightly protruding jaws, broad shoulders, large mouths and full lips. The colour of their skin becomes darker as the south is approached. The whole of the cultivation of Egypt is in the hands of the fellâhîn.

The Copts are also direct descendants from the ancient Egyptians, and inhabit chiefly the cities of Upper Egypt. such as Asyût and Aḥmîm. The name Copt is derived from Kubt, the Arabic form of the Coptic form of the Greek name for Egyptian, AiquπTIOS; it may be mentioned, in passing, that Ayuтos, Egypt, is thought by some to be derived from an ancient Egyptian name for Memphis, Het-ka-Ptaḥ, "The house of the genius of Ptaḥ." The number of Copts in Egypt to-day is estimated at about 350,000, and the greater number of them are engaged in the trades of goldsmiths, clothworkers, etc.; a respectable body of clerks and accountants in the postal, telegraph and government offices in Egypt, is drawn from their community. They are clever with their fingers, and are capable of rapid education up to a certain point; beyond this they rarely go. Physically, they are of a finer type than the fellâhîn; their heads are longer and their features are more European.

The Copts are famous in ecclesiastical history for having embraced with extraordinary zeal and rapidity the doctrines of Christianity as preached by St. Mark at Alexandria. Before the end of the third century A.D., Egypt was filled with hundreds of thousands of ascetics, monks, recluses