Some curious customs prevail. Taxes are rated by the number of water wheels a man uses to irrigate his land. The more water wheels he uses, the more valuable his land, hence, the higher his taxes. There is no national currency, but the coins of Egypt and Europe are used. The Spanish dollar is also used to a great extent. Glass beads, coral, shirts, and cloth are used in barter, and take the place of currency. In Kordofan, the value of goods is reckoned by the number of cows they are worth.
The most primitive system of measurement prevails. Maize is sold by the handful; eighteen of these make what would correspond to one of our larger measures. In measuring cloth, the distance from the elbow to the fingers is employed as we would use a foot rule or a yardstick.
The costumes of the people are peculiar. They consist of turbans, and linen and woolen garments. The men arm themselves with lances, and shields made from the tough hide of the hippopotamus.
The customs of the people are somewhat singular. They are averse to eating meat, and practice the rites of the Mohammedan faith. They live in low huts built of mud or stone. They care little for strangers, and do not wish to engage much in commerce. They are fond of music, and in their leisure moments play upon a guitar of five strings. It is a simple instrument, having a sounding-board made of the skin of a gazelle.
There are few attractions in Nubia beyond the numerous temples and other ancient remains of the Egyptians.
Egypt occupies a position in Northeast Africa. It extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the first cataract of the Nile. The name "Egypt" was derived from the Greek. It is as old as the age of Homer. In the ancient languages Egypt was called by a name signifying "Black Land." This name was given to it, no doubt, from the color of the soil.
Egypt may be regarded as the bed of the Nile. The cultivated portions of it extend only to the limits of the yearly inundation.
In the days of antiquity the Nile had several mouths. Five of these mouths have, in the course of ages, become filled with silt. The whole alluvial district which these mouths enclosed formed the ancient Delta. The ancients believed that the whole of this alluvial deposit had been gained from the sea.
The basin of the Nile, or Egypt proper, is formed by the ranges of the Arabian hills on the east and the Libyan on the west. The eastern chain of these mountains is about one thousand feet above the level of the sea.
Egypt is separated from Nubia by a low hilly region. This region is about fifty miles broad from north to south. It is composed of granite rocks. The same formation of rocks extends up the shore of the Red Sea, nearly to the opening of the Gulf of Suez. It stretches inland over a tract of some thirty miles in extent.