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Lands in Egypt are classed either as Kharagi Ushûrî, the former including all the lands which appeared in the Cadastral survey made for Muḥammad 'Alî in 1813, and the latter the estates which were given by him and his successors to their friends and their favourites; ushûrî lands were at that time exempt from taxation.

The principal domestic animals are the ass, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, ox, pig, sheep, and goat. The ass is indigenous. The camel was known in Egypt so far back as 4000 B.C., for earthenware models of the animal have been found in graves of this period. Representations of the camel are not found on the monuments, and he plays no part in ancient Egyptian mythology; he seems to be mentioned in the Travels of an Egyptian, but the writer only saw the camel in Palestine, and we must conclude that the Egyptians, during the greater part of the dynastic period, had no use for the animal. The introduction of the camel into Egypt in modern times probably dates from the Roman period. The horse appears to have been unknown in Egypt until the beginning of the XVIIIth dynasty, about 1600 B.C., when the Egyptians began to employ the animal in their Asiatic wars. The sheep was known at an early period, but it does not appear to have been indigenous; a species of ram with flat, projecting horns existed under the early dynasties, but it appears to have become extinct before the XIIth dynasty. The pig was kept in certain districts, and the animal appears as a creature of evil in ancient Egyptian mythology; it was a black pig (which was a personification of Set, the god of evil) that inflicted an injury on the eye of Horus, the Sun-god, and so produced an eclipse. Several species of the dog were known, and some of the kinds used in hunting have been satisfactorily identified by recent investigators of the subject, especially in the case of greyhounds and the more heavily built dogs which were used for pulling down big game. The cat has flourished in Egypt in all periods, and the position which it occupies in the ancient mythology proves that it must have been well known in Egypt at a very early period. One species appears to have been used in hunting.

Among wild animals may be mentioned the wolf, fox, jackal, hyena, hare, ichneumon, gazelle, oryx, and ibex. The hippopotamus in early times was found in the Nile and its marshes far to the north in Egypt, and hunting it was considered worthy sport for an Egyptian gentleman. At what period the hippopotamus became extinct in Egypt is unknown,

but we may note that Saint Jerome, in his life of Abbâ Benus the monk, mentions that a hippopotamus used to come up from the river by night and devour the crops and lay waste the fields, and that the holy man succeeded in driving away the animal by adjuring it to depart in the name of Jesus Christ. This statement suggests that a hippopotamus was to be seen in Upper Egypt in the fifth century after Christ. The elephant disappeared from Egypt at a very early period, and probably also the rhinoceros. The lion was common, and the religious texts mention an animal which is probably to be identified with the lynx. Paintings on early tombs prove that the chief priests wore a leopard skin as a portion of their ceremonial attire, but it is uncertain at present whether the leopard was a native of the country or not.

Many species of birds existed, and still exist, in Egypt, and found good cover in the marshes and in the low-lying lands near the canals. The commonest bird of prey was the vulture, of which three kinds have been identified. Eagles, falcons, hawks, buzzards, kites, crows, larks, linnets, sparrows, quail, the pelican, the bat, etc., are all found in Egypt. The hawk, ibis, swallow, and heron appear in the ancient mythology, and many of the legends about them from ancient sources appear in the writings of the Copts and Arabs. In many districts geese of different kinds have always abounded, and at Chenoboskion, in Upper Egypt, they were fattened systematically; near the village of Gîzah, at the present day, may be seen large numbers of geese which are identical in shape and colour with those which the ancient Egyptians depicted so successfully on their monuments nearly 6,000 years ago. Pigeons and chickens flourish in Egypt, but it is thought that the latter were imported subsequent to the XXVIth dynasty.

Fish have always been abundant in the Nile, and in many districts form an important article of food. The commonest were the oxyrhynchus, i.e., the sharp-snouted, the latus, the silurus, the phagrus, chromis nilotica, etc. The reservoirs, or irrigation basins, become filled with very small fish which are much prized by the natives, who catch them and pack them between layers of salt in large earthenware jars and keep them for months. Before the advent of steamers and railways the Egyptians, when travelling from Upper Egypt to Cairo, or from Cairo to Kharțâm, took such jars of salted fish with them on their long journeys, and practically lived on fish and hard,

dry bread-cakes. In 1899 a survey of the fishes of the Nile was undertaken by the Egyptian Government with the co-operation of the Trustees of the British Museum, and Mr. W. S. Loat was entrusted with the work. Mr. Loat fished the Nile from the Delta to Gondokoro, i.e., for a distance of about 2,800 miles, and he collected 9,500 specimens, representing over 100 species of fishes, 14 of which are new to science.

In 1902 Lord Cromer inaugurated a series of reforms in connection with the Fishing Industry on the salt-water lakes adjoining the sea. The fisheries were farmed by the Government, and the fishermen were little better than slaves in the hands of the tax-farmers, the average yearly income of a whole family being from £3 to £4. Soon after the introduction of licences the fishermen on Lake Bûrlûs (Borollus) were making from £2 15s. to £3 5s. per month! and the licence system was working admirably. The men and women of the Lakes population are better fed and better dressed, and each year the number of those who make the pilgrimage to Mecca is increasing. Mortar is now used in building the walls of their houses instead of mud, and the roofs are made of planks of wood instead of palm trunks.

Among reptiles the crocodile is the most famous. Until a comparatively late period this creature frequented the Nile so far north as the Delta, but steamers and sportsmen have, little by little, driven it southwards, and now the crocodile is rarely seen to the north of Wâdî Ḥalfah. Lizards are still fairly common, but turtles and tortoises are rare, except in the upper reaches of the Nile. In pre-dynastic times snakes must have existed in large numbers, and at a much later period they were a terror to the Egyptian; in modern times some 20 species have been identified, and of these several are venomous. Snakes play a prominent part in ancient Egyptian mythology, some appearing as friends of man and others as foes. Certain species attained a very large size, for Dr. Andrews found in the Fayyûm vertebræ of a fossil serpent, and it is calculated that when living it must have been between 40 and 50 feet long. The uraeus belonged to the venomous group, and appears to have been worshipped; it was regarded as the guardian of the king, and is described as possessing the faculty of belching flames and fire when moved to wrath. Frogs and toads have always abounded in Egypt, and scorpions still exist in considerable numbers. The small, black variety is able to kill small animals, and its sting can cause a full-grown man

much suffering. Among insects flies of various kinds, lice, and similar creatures increase with such extraordinary rapidity in certain circumstances that they become veritable plagues. The locusts still appear from time to time, and in large numbers, but, thanks to the methods now adopted for their destruction, their ravages are neither so severe nor so widespread as formerly. The beetle (scarabæus sacer) is common in Egypt and the Sûdân, and is an interesting creature. From pre-dynastic times to the end of the Pharaonic period it occupied a prominent position in the mythology and religion of the country, and even at the present day in the Sûdân it is supposed to possess magical powers. It was held to be the symbol of the self-created god Kheperȧ, and in the minds of the Egyptians it was associated with beliefs in regeneration, resurrection, and immortality.

It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to state that there still exist in the Sûdân several species of animals which were common enough in Egypt at one time, and that until quite recently there existed the probability that they would become as extinct in the Sûdân as they are in Egypt, unless steps were taken quickly to prevent the unnecessary destruction of animal life which was being carried on by the natives, whose object was to procure hides for sale in the market, and by “sportsmen," who were bent on piling up records of big game shot. The situation was quickly grasped by the Sûdân Government, who promptly took steps to draw up the "Soudan Game Ordinance,' which was issued in 1901. The regulations embodied in this document were necessarily of a tentative character, and many of them were subsequently modified. The immediate result was, however, very good. A "sanctuary" for Central African animals was formed, where no one is allowed to shoot. This sanctuary was kept practically inviolate during 1905, only two tiang, two white-eared cob, and three or four oribi being shot. A second and less absolute sanctuary has also been formed, in which only Sûdân officials in general will be allowed to shoot. It is in contemplation to place a limit of time to the period that shooting parties may pass in the reserved district; but at present the quantity of game killed yearly by shooting is not large enough to make much difference to the general stock of game in the country. Outside these two reserves all sportsmen will be allowed to shoot, save where restrictions are imposed for reasons other than those based on the desirability of preserving game. In 1901, up to October 31st, about 842 animals were

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killed by holders of licences, and in 1902 the number amounted to 1,340; the number up to September 30th, 1903, was 1,072, and of these 175 animals were shot by visitors, and the remainder by Sûdân officials. In 1905 about 2,101 head of game were killed in the Sûdân. Of these 1,847 were killed by residents, officers, and officials, and 268 by visitors. In 1910 some 2,300 head of game were shot by 141 licence-holders; revenue, LE.3,500. Among the animals killed were:-Addra and other gazelles, the ariel, bashbuck, buffalo, cheetah, digdig, dinker, eland, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, ibex, Jackson's hartebeest, klingspringer, kudu, leopard, lion, oryx Jeucoryx, oribi, Mrs. Gray's waterbuck, rhinoceros, reedbuck, roan antelope, tiang, Toru hartebeest, Uganda cob, Wart hog, white-eared cob, waterbuck, wild ass, wild boar, wild dog. Some ostriches also were killed. In 1913-14 about 1,903 head of game were killed, 968 by visitors and 935 by holders of official licences. According to the official report, one of the principal causes of the abundance of African game in the past has been the existence of powerful warrior tribes, which laid waste great tracts of surrounding country for decades together. In these devastated areas the game increased until its numbers were as great as the soil could support. The barbaric power that makes a solitude and calls it peace is the best game preserver. Legislation can protect game from the rifle, but it is powerless to save it from giving way to civilization. The Pax Britannica can never do for African game in the future what the Zulu Impis, the Masai Moran, the slave-raiders, and the Dervishes have done in the past. The present condition and the outlook for the near future of the game appear to be very satisfactory. There are large areas in the Sûdân which are not likely ever to be populated, and where the continued existence of game in abundance can be secured by adequate protection. In such districts there is no reason why large game should not continue to exist for centuries; but from others, as the country becomes repopulated, and chains of prosperous villages spread along the river banksthe favourite haunts of the game-it is bound in time to disappear. At many places on the White Nile hippopotami do a great deal of harm. "In the narrow rivers of the Bahr al"Ghazâl they swarm and are a positive pest, damaging the crops near rivers, and constantly making unprovoked attacks on small boats, dugouts, etc. Quite recently a Berthon boat, carrying the mail for the north, was attacked and sunk, the