The Story of Egypt. By Basil Worsfold. (Horace Marshall and
Son. Is. 6d.)—Mr. Worsfold, after a brief survey of "Ancient Egypt" and the " Mahommedan Conquest," takes us to what may be called the beginning of modern Egyptian history, Mehemet All and his dynasty, and conducts us down to the present. All is interesting, but the pages headed "General Progress" may be specially noticed. What a story they tell ! The figures can be put into a small compass, but how much they mean ! In fifteen years the population of Egypt has increased by nearly a half ; the tax per feddan has been lowered from .£E1 28. to 188. ; the taxation per head in 1881 was .€1 2s. 2d. and in 1897 it was 17s. 9d. The eorvee—most significant fact of all—has been reduced from .2281,000 to £11,000. (The Suez Canal was made, it must be remembered, on the old system.) The Debt has been diminished, in the same time, from £14 8s. 9d. per heal to .210 Os. 2d. And all this was jeopardised when Lord Salisbury undertook to evacuate the country in two years' time ! Happily, the Sultan refused to ratify the convention.
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