rnet Wolseley, defeated
Arabi on the 13th of September at Tel-el-Kebir. Arabi fled to Cairo
where he surrendered, and was tried (3rd of December) for rebellion. In
accordance with an understanding made with the British representative,
Lord Dufferin, Arabi pleaded guilty, and sentence of death was
immediately commuted to one of banishment for life to Ceylon. The same
sentence was passed on Mahmud Sami and others. After Arabi's exile had
lasted for nearly twenty years, however, the khedive Abbas II. exercised
his prerogative of mercy, and in May 1901 Arabi was permitted to return
to Egypt. Arabi, as has been said, was rather the figurehead than the
inspirer of the movement of 1881-1882; and was probably more honest, as
he was certainly less intelligent, than those whose tool, in a large
measure, he was. The movement which he represented in the eye of Europe,
whatever the motives of its leaders, "was in its essence a genuine
revolt against misgovernment,"[1] and it was a dim recognition of this
fact which led Arabi to style himself "the Egyptian."

See EGYPT: _History_; also the accounts of Arabi in _Khedives and
Pashas_, by C.F. Moberly Bell (1884); and in Lord Cromer's _Modern
Egypt_ (1908).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Lord Cromer in _Egypt_, No. 1, 1905, p. 2.

ARABISTAN (formerly KHUZISTAN), a province of Persia, bounded on the S.
by the Persian Gulf, on the W. by Turkish territory, on the N. by
Luristan and on the E. by the Bakhtiari district and Fars. It has its
modern name, signifying "land of the Arabs," from the Arabs who form the
bulk of the population, and is subdivided into the districts of
Muhamrah, Fellahiyeh (the old Dorak), Ram Hormuz (popularly known as
Ramiz), Havizeh, Shushter and Dizful. It has a population of about
200,000 and pays a yearly revenue of about L30,000. The soil is very
fertile, but since the dam over the Karun at Ahvaz was swept away and
the numerous canals which diverted the waters of the river for
irrigation became useless, a great part of the province is uncultivated,
and most of the crops and produce depend for water on rainfall and
wells. The climate is hot, and in the low-lying, swampy districts very
unhealthy; the prevailing winds are north-west and south-east, the
former hot and dry from the arid districts west of Mesopotamia, the
latter bearing much moisture from the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
The principal Arab tribes are the Kab (generally known as Chaab) and
B