The total number of date trees which yield fruit or seed is about 3,452,674. Cattle and farm animals, including horses and camels, number 1,668,860. The following table shows (in feddans) the area of the several crops in 1890 and 1891: In Lower Egypt the soil yields four crops in three years; in Upper Egypt seven crops in six years. Commerce. The exterior commerce of Egypt, comprising imports and exports of all kinds of merchandise, is given at the following figures for five years :— The movement of specie during the same period has been The following table shows the value of the commercial intercourse of Egypt with different foreign countries for three years :— Great Britain LE £E £E £E £E 3,061,426 2,685,546 3,183,231 7,843,938 7,242,455 6,517,946 LE British Colonies in the Mediterranean 139,212 126,676 113,358 23,557 13,236 12,090 1,900,621 1,917,102 1,812,837 468,150 451,838 342,391 Spain Other countries Total. 157,300 238,805 305,581 347,200 371,625 190,638 306,984 176,245 9,091,481 8,718,735 9,266,116 13,341,318 12,789,687 11,892,875 The proportion per 1,000 of Egyptian intercourse with various countries for the last three years was as follows: 248,485 The value of the leading exports and imports of Egypt during the last three years is shown in the following table : Goods imported into Egypt are examined by experts, who determine their value either according to the purchase price in their original country as indicated on the invoices, plus the cost of transport, freight, insurance, &c., or according to the wholesale price at the port of disembarkation, minus a discount of 10 per cent. In order, however, to facilitate customs operations, the administration, in communication with the merchants interested, establishes, on the same basis as above, periodical tariffs for such articles of importation as cotton-goods, indigo, coal, petroleum, rice, flour, metals, sugar, &c. In the statistics of the Custom House, the values are estimated according to the estimated price which served as the basis for the payment of duty now fixed at 8 per cent. ad valorem, without taking into account the amount of that duty. As regards exports, there are tariffs for nearly all of them, estimated monthly for some of them, quarterly for others, in the same manner as the tariffs of imports are established. The quantities recorded in statistics are those declared by the merchants and controlled by the Customs. The origin of imports and destination of exports are declared by importers and exporters, and controlled, as much as possible, by the searchers and appraisers of the Custom House. The statistics of the Customs only give general commerce. In order to know the amount of special trade deduction must be made from the total of imports of the value of goods re-exported, which, however, has only an inconsiderable importance. In fact the value of these goods amounts to about three or four hundred thousand pounds, one half of which is due to tobacco re-exported in the form of cigarettes. The transit trade is of no importance. At the utmost its value amounts to 600,000l. per annum, uine-tenths of which represents the value of coal imported at Port Said to be re-exported on payment of a duty of 1 per cent. ad valorem. Goods temporarily deposited or re-shipped are not included in the transit." From the efforts made by the Customs authorities to ensure accuracy, and from the method of valuation employed, the commercial statistics of Egypt may be regarded as Comparatively exact. The subjoined statement shows the total value of the imports from Egypt into the United Kingdom, and of the exports of British produce and manufactures to Egypt, in five years, according to the Board of Trade Imports from Egypt into U. K. 8,368,851 10,658,288 10,525,230 8,845,426 9,284,801 The following table shows the values of the principal imports into the United Kingdom from Egypt, and of the principal exports from the United Kingdom to Egypt : The imports of wheat from Egypt, 352,0051. in 1891, amounted to only 407. in 1894. Shipping and Navigation. The following tables show the nationality and tonnage of vessels arriving and clearing at Alexandria. Great facilities have been afforded to steamers since the completion of the docks, wharfs, and quays; and in order to still further facilitate navigation the Government have constructed a new pass, 300 feet wide, to enable vessels, which have often been delayed off the port during stormy weather, to make a direct run into harbour. The new pass, 26 feet deep, was opened to navigation in July 1894. Arrivals and clearances of commercial vessels at Alexandria in five years : The following table shows the nationality of commercial vessels arrived and cleared in 1894 : The following table shows the number and gross tonnage of vessels of the leading nationalities that passed through the canal in 1894 : The number and gross tonnage of vessels that have passed through the Suez Canal, and the gross receipts of the company, have been as follows in six years : |