is the only means of communication. Among the craft using the river
the dahabiya is a characteristic native sailing vessel, somewhat
resembling a house-boat. From the Nile, caravan routes lead westward
to the various oases and eastward to the Red Sea, the shortest (120
m.) and most used of the eastern routes being that from Kena to
Kosseir. Roads suitable for wheeled vehicles are found in Lower Egypt,
but the majority of the tracks are bridle-paths, goods being conveyed
on the backs of donkeys, mules and camels.

_Posts and Telegraphs._--The Egyptian postal system is highly
organized and efficient, and in striking contrast with its condition
in 1870, when there were but nineteen post-offices in the country. All
the branches of business transacted in European post-offices are
carried on by the Egyptian service, Egypt being a member of the Postal
Union. It was the first foreign country to establish a penny postage
with Great Britain, the reduction from 2-1/2d. being made in 1905. The
inland letters and packages carried yearly exceed 20,000,000 and
foreign letters (30% to England) number over 4,000,000. Over
L17,000,000 passes yearly through the post. A feature of the service
are the travelling post-offices, of which there are some 200.

All the important towns are connected by telegraph, the telegraphs
being state-owned and worked by the railway administration. Egypt is
also connected by cables and land-lines with the outside world. One
land-line connects at El-Arish with the line through Syria and Asia
Minor to Constantinople. Another line connects at Wadi Halfa with the
Sudan system, affording direct telegraphic communication via Khartum
and Gondokoro with Uganda and Mombasa. The Eastern Telegraph Company,
by concessions, have telegraph lines across Egypt from Alexandria via
Cairo to Suez, and from Port Said to Suez, connecting their cables to
Europe and the East. The principal cables are from Alexandria to
Malta, Gibraltar and England; from Alexandria to Crete and Brindisi;
from Suez to Aden, Bombay, China and Australia.

The telephone is largely used in the big towns, and there is a trunk
telephone line connecting Alexandria and Cairo.

_Standard Time._--The standard time adopted in Egypt is that of the
longitude of Alexandria, 30 deg. E., i.e. two hours earlier than
Greenwich time. It thus corresponds with the standard time of British
South Af