Exports from the Fayûm Province.
| 1889. | 1890. | 1891. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotton | 39,433 | 56,334 | 86,638 | ||
| Cotton-seed | 82,010 | 104,608 | 185,917 | ||
| Cereals | 418,935 | 797,363 | 1,109,070 |
The value of the exports in 1891 was not less than that given in the following calculation:—
| Kantars. | Piastres. | L.E. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotton | 86,638 | at | 170 | = | 147,284 |
| Cotton-seed | 185,917 | at | 55 | = | 102,254 |
| Cereals | 1,109,070 | at | 70 | = | 776,349 |
| Total | = | 1,025,887 |
The area on which an average land tax of 57 piastres a feddan was paid has been given before as 233,301 feddans (242,166 acres). Hence the value of cotton, cotton-seed, and cereals exported from the Fayûm in 1891 was at the rate of L.E. 4·397 a feddan (4l. 6s. 10d. an acre).
Clover, which is extensively cultivated, is all consumed in the province.
Besides the above, the Fayûm exports also figs, grapes, olives, quail, fish, mats, baskets, and a few other things.
The province is justly famed for its excellent figs, but the grapes are not of superior quality to those of other parts of Egypt, though they have the reputation of being so.
In 1891 Government farmed out the fisheries for a sum of L.E. 2000. Every day large numbers of fish, chiefly bulti (Nile carp) are sent in crates to Cairo. The bulti is excellent eating. Another common fish is the armûd, or Nile shad-fish alias sheath-fish or cat-fish (Silurus). It is considered by the natives to be good to eat, but according to others it is not fit for food.
Another handsome fish, called by the fishermen lâl, and also a fine species of the perch family, known to them as lafâsh, both from their appearance good table fish, are not uncommon, except by comparison with the abundant carp. The lafâsh grows to a great size, one that I photographed, measured, and weighed being 1·32 metres long, of 1 metre girth, and 92 lbs. weight.