storal
people, though the wealth of the Bedouin in the Eastern or Arabian
Desert consists in their camels, horses, sheep and goats. In the Nile
valley the chief domestic animals are the camel, donkey, mule, ox,
buffalo, sheep and goat. Horses are comparatively few, and are seldom
seen outside the large towns, the camel and donkey being the principal
beasts of burden. The cattle are short-horned, rather small and well
formed. They are quiet in disposition, and much valued for
agricultural labour by the people, who therefore very rarely slaughter
them for meat. Buffaloes of an uncouth appearance and of a dark slaty
colour, strikingly contrasting with the neat cattle, abound in Egypt.
They are very docile, and the little children of the villagers often
ride them to or from the river. The buffaloes are largely employed for
turning the _sakias_. Sheep (of which the greater number are black)
and goats are abundant, and mutton is the ordinary butcher's meat. The
wool is coarse and short. Swine are very rarely kept, and then almost
wholly for the European inhabitants, the Copts generally abstaining
from eating their meat. Poultry is plentiful and eggs form a
considerable item in the exports. Pigeons are kept in every village
and their flesh is a common article of food.

_Fishing._--The chief fishing-ground is Lake Menzala, where some 4000
persons are engaged in the industry, but fish abound in the Nile also,
and are caught in large quantities along the coast of the Delta. The
salting and curing of the fish is done chiefly at Mataria, on Lake
Menzala, and at Damietta. Dried and salted fish eggs, called
_batarekh_, command a ready market. The average annual value of the
fisheries is about L200,000.

_Canals._--The irrigation canals, which are also navigable by small
craft, are of especial importance in a country where the rainfall is
very slight. The Delta is intersected by numerous canals which derive
their supply from four main channels. The Rayya Behera, known in its
lower courses first as the Khatatba and afterwards as the Rosetta
canal, follows the west bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile and has
numerous offshoots. The most important is the Mahmudia (50 m. long),
which connects Alexandria with the Rosetta branch, taking a similar
direction to that of the ancient canal which it succeeded. This canal
supplies Alexandria with fresh water.

The Rayy