THE REDEMPTION OF EGYPT.
The Redemption of Egypt. By W. Basil Worsfold. (George Allen. 25s.)—In this singularly handsome and beautifully illus- trated volume Mr. Worsfold gives the fruits of a visit to Egypt in the winter of 1898-99, which was undertaken for the purpose of etaminkg on the spot the physical and social characteristics of the country, and of exhibiting them in connection with the work of political reorganisation and industrial development which is now in progress. Mr. Worsfold is clearly a painstaking observer ; he has been at great pains to check his observations by inquiries at authorities in Egypt; and he writes lucidly and easily. Doubtless he travels over ground which, owing to circumstances, has recently become very familiar. Alexandria, Cairo, the Delta, Luxor, and Assouan are almost as well known to English readers °leverage intelligence as, say, Calcutta, Bombay, and the public works in India. The story of the enormous services which have been rendered to the Egyptian people by means of the British occupation has often been told before, and Mr. Worsfold is unable to add anything material to it. But both sketch and story are vivid, and on account of the personal element in them distinctly original, though, to be sure, Mr. Worsf old might have spared us a good deal of rather commonplace moralisation such as :— "The English occupation, by extending the protection of the law to the peasants, has already made 'gross manifestations of injustice impossible ; but many years must pass before even the powerful ministers of civilisation which England has introduced can create the spirit of justice in the people themselves." A remarkably good.chapter in this book is that on the education system. It shows among other things the rapid increase in the proportion of students learning English, as compared with those learning French. Taking the years 1889
and 1898 as the basis of comparison, the percentage of boys learning English in the primary schools has risen from 24 to 72, while the percentage of boys learning French has fallen from 76 to 28. In the secondary schools the pez centage of boys learning English has risen from 26 to 41, whill the percentage of boys learning French has fallen from 74 to 59. The educational position in Egypt generally may be Bummed up by saying that out of a total of seven thousand seven hundred and thirty-five pupils who are receiving instruction in the Govern- ment schools of all grades, five thousand seven hundred and forty are taught either French or English, and that of this num- ber three thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine are learning the latter language, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty- one the former. Altogether, as a manual and guide-book of Egypt and of its " redemption " by this country, Mr. Worsfold's book, which is in every respect a delight to the eye, is without a rival.
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