quality of the various imports, of goods re-exported from Egypt, or the proportion which these last bore to the internal consumption, it is reasonable to conclude that every article of luxury was a source of revenue to the government; and that both native and foreign productions coming under this denomination, whether exported or sold in Egypt, tended to enrich the state, to which they belonged, or paid a duty.

That the riches of the country were immense is proved by the appearance of the furniture and domestic utensils, and by the great quantity of jewels of gold, silver, precious stones, and other objects of luxury in use among them in the earliest times : their treasures became proverbial throughout the neighbouring states, and a love of pomp and splendour continued to be the ruling passion of the Egyptians till the latest period of their existence as an independent state, which is fully demonstrated by the history of the celebrated Cleopatra.

Another source of wealth was derived from the gold mines in the desert of the upper country. Their position, still known to the Arabs, is about S. E. from Baháyreh, a village opposite the town of Edfoot, or Apollinopolis Magna, and at a distance of nearly ten days' journey from that place, in the

26.

*"Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Ep. Hebr. xi. "The pomp of Egypt." Ezek. xxxii. 12. Conf. also the jewels of silver and gold which the Jews borrowed of the Egyptians. Exod. xii. 35.

They have lately been visited by Monsieur Linant and Mr. Bonomi, who have found the account of the Arabs to agree very well with their position.

Edfoo is in latitude 24° 58'.

mountains of the Bisharéëh. The Arab authors, Edrisi, Ebn-Saïd, and Aboolfidda, place them at Gebel Ollágee, a mountain situated in the land of Begá; and this last word at once points out the Bisháree desert, being still used by the tribe as their own name. The gold lies in veins of quartz *, in the rocks bordering an inhospitable valley and its adjacent ravines: but the small quantity they are capable of producing by immense labour, added to the difficulty of procuring water, and other local impediments, would probably render the re-opening of them at the present day an unprofitable speculation; and indeed in the time of Aboolfiddat they only just covered their expenses, and have never been worked since they were abandoned by the Arab caliphs. According to Agatharcides' account, the toil of extracting the gold was immense: it was separated from the pounded stone by frequent washings, and this process appears to be represented in the paintings of tombs executed during the reign of Osirtasen, and other ancient Pharaohs. We have no positive notice of their first discovery, but it is reasonable to suppose they were worked at the earliest periods of the Egyptian monarchy; and the total of their annual produce is stated by Hecatæus to have been re

* Mohammed Ali had an idea of re-opening them, but I believe the project has been abandoned, Wherever the ancients met with veins of quartz in the desert, I observe they invariably broke up portions of it, doubtless to try if it contained gold.

Or Omad-e'deen-Aboolfeda, Ismail-ben-Nasser. He was king of Hamah in Syria, and lived about the year 730 of the Hegira, A. D. 1334.

Diodorus, i. 49., on his authority.

corded in a temple founded by a monarch of the 18th Dynasty. He also notices an immense sum annually produced from the silver mines of Egypt, which amounted to 3,200 myriads of minæ.* Besides these were valuable mines of copper, lead, iron, and emeralds, all of which still exist in the deserts of the Red Sea; and the sulphur, which abounds in the same districts, was not neglected by the ancient Egyptians.

The riches, then, of the country were principally derived from taxes, foreign tribute, monopolies, commerce, mines, and above all from the productions of a fruitful soil. The wants of the poorer classes were easily satisfied; the abundance of grain, herbs, and esculent plants afforded an ample supply to the inhabitants of the valley of the Nile, at a trifling expense, and with little labour; and so much corn was produced in this fertile country, that after sufficing for the consumption of a very extensive population, it offered a great surplus for the foreign markett; and the quantity on hand enabling the peasant to sell it at a low rate necessarily afforded considerable profit to the government, being exported to other countries, or sold to the traders who visited Egypt for commercial purposes.

Though the lower classes of the people appear to have been contented with their condition, there is no evidence of their having participated in

* Vide suprà, p. 113.

An idea may be formed of the quantity produced in Egypt from the account of the famine of Joseph, when they were enabled to lay up from the superabundance of seven plenteous years enough corn to suffice for seven years of dearth. Gen. xli. 47.

the affluence enjoyed by the higher orders; and the very great distinction between them and the richer classes is remarkable, as well in the submissive obeisance to their superiors as in their general appearance, their dress, and the style of their houses. Some, indeed, seem to have been little better lodged and fed than those of the present day; and the degrading custom of prostration before those in authority argues that they were subject to severe discipline and punishment, though, doubtless, only administered according to the rules of justice. That they were happy under their native princes, and contented with the laws and early institutions of the Pharaohs, is strongly argued by the constant feeling of dissatisfaction evinced by them against foreign rule, not only in the time of the despotic Persians, but of the Ptolemies, who sought, on many occasions, to flatter their religious prejudices, to content the priesthood, and even to court the good will of the people. And though some allowance must be made in these cases for the effect of change, the influence of the priests, and the impatience common to all people under a foreign master, we may fairly conclude, that the spirit of their laws, under the original system, was dictated by a scrupulous regard to justice and the benevolence of a paternal government.

* Herodotus (ii. 47.) speaks of poor people in Egypt who had scarcely any thing to live upon. I do not, however, imagine they suffered from hunger like the modern peasants, nor could the taxes have been as numerous or as oppressive. Diod. i. 80.

CASTES.

The great distinction of classes* maintained in Egypt was characteristic of the East, and custom naturally removed every unpleasing impression which so readily occurs to men educated with dif ferent habits and ideas; and provided justice was regarded, it offered no cause of discontent in an eastern nation. The division of Egyptian society into separate classes, or castes, has been noticed by many authors. Herodotust says they were

divided into seven tribes, one of which was the sacerdotal, another of the soldiers, and the remaining five of the herdsmen, swineherds, shopkeepers, interpreters, and boatmen. Diodorus states that, like the Athenians, who being an Egyptian colony derived this institution from the parent country, they were distributed into three classes, the priests, the peasants, or husbandmen, from whom the soldiers were levied, and the artizans, who were employed in handicraft and other similar occupations, and in common offices among the people §; but in another place || he extends the number to five, and reckons the pastors, husbandmen, and artificers, independent of the soldiers and priests.

* The Etruscans were also divided into four castes; but this institution appears rather to have been derived from the East than to have taken its rise in Italy. They were, 1. the Larthes, Tyrani, or lords: 2. the Tusci, or priesthood: 3. the Rasenæ, or warriors; and, 4. the people, or popular caste.

+Herod. ii. 164.

Diodorus, i. 28.

$ As public weighers, notaries, and other of the usual avocations of

large towns.

Diod. i. 74.