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and solitaries who had thrown over their own weird and confused religious beliefs and embraced Christianity; they then retired to the mountains and deserts of their country to dedicate their lives to the service of the Christians' God. The Egyptians, their ancestors, who lived sixteen hundred years before Christ, had already arrived at the conception of a god who was one in his person, but who manifested himself in the world under many forms and many names. The Greeks and the Romans, who successively held Egypt, caused many changes to come over the native religion of the country which they governed; and since the conflicting myths and theories taught to the people of Egypt under their rule had bewildered their minds and confused their beliefs, they gladly accepted the simple teaching of Christ's Apostle as a veritable gift of God. Their religious belief took the form of that of Eutyches (died after 451), who sacrificed the "distinction of the two natures in Christ to the unity of the person to such an extent as to make the incarnation an absorption of the human nature by the divine, or a deification of human nature, even of the body." In other words, they believed that Christ had but one composite nature, and for this reason they were called Monophysites; in their liturgies they stated that God had been crucified. They formed a part of the Alexandrian Church until the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, when it was laid down that Christ had a double nature-human and divine-but after this date they separated themselves from it, and were accounted heretics by it, because they obstinately refused to give up their belief in the one divine nature of Christ which embraced and included the human. To the sect of Monophysites or Eutychians the Copts still belong. The orthodox church of Alexandria and its heretical offshoot continued to discuss with anger and tumult the subtle points of their different opinions, until the fifth Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople A.D. 553,

made some concessions to the Monophysite party. Shortly after, however, new dissensions arose which so weakened the orthodox church that the Monophysite party hailed with gladness the arrival of the arms of Muḥammad the Prophet, and joined its forces with his that they might destroy the power of their theological opponents. After 'Amr had made himself master of Egypt (A.D. 640), he appointed the Copts to positions of dignity and wealth; finding, however, that they were unworthy of his confidence, they were degraded, and finally persecuted with vigour. From the time of Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, A.D. 1235 and onwards, but little is known of the history of the Coptic Church. The Copt of to-day usually troubles himself little about theological matters; in certain cases, however, he affirms with considerable firmness the doctrine of the " one nature."

The knowledge of the Coptic language is, generally speaking, extinct; it is exceedingly doubtful if three Coptic scholars, in the Western sense of the word, exist even among the priests. The language spoken by them is Arabic, and though copies of parts of the Bible are found in churches. and private houses, they are usually accompanied by an Arabic version of the Coptic text, which is more usually read than the Coptic. The Bible, in all or part, was translated from Greek into Coptic in the third century of our era; some, however, think that the translation was not made until the eighth century. The versions of the principal books of the Old and the whole of the New Testament, together with lives of saints, monks and martyrs, form the greater part of Coptic literature. The Coptic language is, at base, a dialect of ancient Egyptian; many of the nouns and verbs found in the hieroglyphic texts remain unchanged in Coptic, and a large number of others can, by making proper allowance for phonetic decay and dialectic differences, be identified without difficulty. The Copts used the Greek alphabet to write down their language, but found it neces

*

sary to borrow six signs from the demotic forms of ancient Egyptian characters to express the sounds which they found unrepresented in Greek. The dialect of Upper Egypt is called "Sahidic "† or Theban, and that of Lower Egypt "Memphitic." During the last few years the study. of Coptic has revived among European scholars, but this is partly owing to the fact that the importance of a knowledge of the language, as a preliminary to the study of hieroglyphics, has been at length recognized. The Roman Propagandist Tukis published during the last century some valuable works; in spite, however, of the activity of scholars and the enter prise of publishers, it still costs nearly £5 to purchase a copy of as much of the Memphitic Coptic version of the Bible as has come down to us.

The Bedâwin are represented by the various Arabicspeaking and Muḥammadan tribes, who live in the deserts which lie on each side of the Nile; they amount in number to about 250,000. The Bisharîn, Hadendoa, and Ababdeh tribes, who speak a language (called 'to bedhawîyyeh') which is like ancient Egyptian in some respects, and who live in

* These signs are: cy=

$

x =

Linish; y = ∞ fi
ch; &= & };
6=

+ This is the older and richer dialect of Coptic, which was spoken from Minyeh to Aswân.

More correctly called Boheiric, from the province of Boheirâ in the Delta; the name Bashmuric has been wrongly applied to this dialect, but as it appears to have been exclusively the language of Memphis, it may be styled "Middle Egyptian." The dialect of Bushmûr on the Lake of Menzaleh appears to have become extinct about A. D. 900, and to have left no traces of itself behind. See Stern, Kopt. Gram., p. I.

§ Among more recent scholars may be named Wilkins, Zoega, Tattam, Ideler, Schwartze, Revillout, Hyvernat, Amélineau, Stern, Guidi, Lagarde, etc.

the most southern part of Upper Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia, are included among this number. Among these three tribes the institutions of Muḥammad are not observed with any great strictness. When the Bedâwin settle down to village or town life, they appear to lose all the bravery and fine qualities of independent manhood which characterize them when they live in their home, the desert.

The inhabitants of Cairo, Alexandria, and other large towns form a class of people quite distinct from the other inhabitants of Egypt; in Alexandria there is a very large Greek element, and in Cairo the number of Turks is very great. In the bazaars of Cairo one may see the offspring of marriages between members of nearly every European nation and Egyptian or Nubian women, the colour of their skins varying from a dark brick-red to nearly white. The shopkeepers are fully alive to their opportunities of making money, and would, beyond doubt, become rich but for their natural indolence and belief in fate. Whatever they appear or however much they may mask their belief in the Muḥammadan religion, it must never be forgotten that they have the greatest dislike to every religion but their own. The love of gain alone causes them to submit to the remarks made upon them by Europeans, and to suffer their entrance and sojourning among them.

The Nubians or Berbers, as they are sometimes called, inhabit the tract of land which extends from Aswân or

Syene to the fourth cataract. The word Nubia appears to be derived from nub, 'gold,' because Nubia was a goldproducing country. The word Berber is considered to mean 'barbarian' by some, and to be also of Egyptian origin. They speak a language which is allied to some of the North African tongues, and rarely speak Arabic well. The Nubians found in Egypt are generally doorkeepers and domestic servants, who can usually be depended upon for their honesty and obedience.

The Negroes form a large part of the non-native population of Egypt, and are employed by natives to perform hard work, or are held by them as slaves. They are Muḥammadans by religion, and come from the countries known by the name of Sûdân. Negro women make good and faithful servants.

The Syrian Christians who have settled down in Egypt are generally known by the name of Levantines. They are shrewd business men, and the facility and rapidity with which they learn European languages place them in positions of trust and emolument.

The Turks form a comparatively small portion of the population of Egypt, but many civil and military appointments are, or were, in their hands. Many of them are the children of Circassian slaves. The merchants are famous for their civility to foreigners and their keen eye to business.

The Armenians and Jews form a small but important part of the inhabitants in the large towns of Egypt. The former are famous for their linguistic attainments and wealth; the latter have blue eyes, fair hair and skin, and busy themselves in mercantile pursuits and the business of bankers and money-changing.

The European population in Egypt consists of Greeks about 65,000, Italians 30,000, French 14,000, English 9,000, Germans, Austrians, Russians, etc., etc., about 10,000. The greater part of the business of Alexandria is in the hands of the Greek merchants, many of whom are famous for their wealth. It is said that the Greek community contributes most largely to the crime in the country, but if the size of that community be taken into account, it will be found that this statement is not strictly true. The enterprise and good business habits of the Greeks in Alexandria have made it the great city that it is. The French, Austrian, German, and English nations are likewise represented there, and in Cairo, by

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