N. boundary of Gloucester county, Now Jer-
sey ; the harbours opening into the Atlantic
Ocean, in the lat. of 39. 17. and 39. 30. N. On
both these harbours are towns of the same name.

Egham, a village of England, in Surry, 18 m,
from Hyde Park Corner, London, on the great
western road.

Eglingen, a town of Suabia, capital of a lord-
ship of the same name, 8 m. N. of Dillengen.

Eglisau, a town and castle of Switzerland, in
the canton of Zurich, seated on the Rhine, 13 m.
N. of Zurich.

Egment op den Hoef, a village of North Hol-
land, 3 m. W. by S. of Alkmaer. It appears to
have been a considerable town, but was destroyed
in 1573, by the enraged Spaniards, after their
failure before Alkmaer. It now exhibits exten-
sive and picturesque ruins perhaps the only ruins
in all Holland. Near it are two other villages;
Egmont op Zee, a m. to the W. on the sea-coast,
and Egmont Binnen, nearly two m. to .the S.;
where a bloody but undecisive battle was fought,
in 1799, between the allied English and Russian
army, and the French and Dutch.

Egremont, a town in Cumberland, Eng. On
the W. side is an artificial mount, with the ruins
of a castle ; and 3 m. S. E. of the town, in the
wooded vale of the Calder, are the remains of
the Calder abbey. Egremont, is seated near the
Irish sea. on the river Eden, 5 m. S. S. E. of
Whitehaven, and 28'.* N. W. of London.

Egremont, p.t. Berksaire Co. Mass. Pop. S89.

Egypt, a country comprising the X. E. extrem-
ity of Africa, having about 400 m. of coast, be-
tween Alexandria, and El Arisb, including the
indentations of lakes and bays ; Cape Bourlos its
N. extremity is in lat. 31. 30. N., from which
point it extends inland to the frontier of Nubia,
in the lat. of about 24. 30. giving a length of about
503 m. while its boundaries E. and W. are very un
defined. It is divided from Asia, at its N. E. ex-
tremity, by an extensive desert, and further S. by
the gulf of Suez, and the Red sea, (see Suez.)
It is hounded on the W. by the deserts of Barca
and Libya, and parts of Africa but little known,
and in its extreme limits from W. to E. may be
considered as comprising about 2 degrees of long,
or 122 statute m. between 31. and 32. E. ; the
inhabited parts however, do not exceed more than
15 to 25 m. on each side of the Nile, which runs
in a direction N. by W. through the whole ex-
tent of Egypt, except for about 120 m. above its
entrance into the Mediterranean, where it diver-
ges into two main and numerous collateral chan-
nels. This is called the Delta of the Nile, com-
prising an area of about 12,000 square m. studded
over, the greater part, with towns and villages.

name of papyrus, the leaves of which afforded
the first materials for. making paper. It has
a tapering stem surmounted hy a tuft or plume
of hairy leaves.

This country, so celebrated in history for its
fertility, its policy and arts, appears first to have
attained pre-eminence under the renowned Sesos-
tris about 1720 years antecedent to the Christian
era. For nearly four centuries priol to this period,
Egypt appears to have been divided into several
xe2x80xa2petty sovereignties, under what was then termed
Hycsos or Shepherd Kings, of whom Amasis al
Tketmosis was the first who gained an ascend-
ancy over his compeers ; this ascendancy
was acquired about 100 years prior to that
of Sesostris ; and it appears to have been the de-
scendants of Amasis who were ruling in Egypt
at the time of the dearth in western Asia, wheii
Jacob and his family established themselves jn
the valley of Gessen, or Goshen, east of the Nile.
From the descendants of Amasis and Sesostris
sprung the race of the Pharoahs, who ruled over
Egypt for 12 centuries, until Cambyses king of
Persia, became master of it, 525 years B. C.
By the Pharaoh’s all those wonderful structures
were raised, and works perfected, which we
cannot behold without astonishment. These are,
the pyramids, the labyrinths, the immense grottos
in Thebaid, the obelisks, temples and pompous
palaces, the lake Mceris, and the vast canals, which
served both for trade, and to irrigate the land.
After this conquest, Cambyses demolished the
temples, disinterred the remains of Amasis and
burnt them, and persecuted the priests. This
country continued under the Persian yoke till
the time of Alexander of Macedon, who having
conquered Persia, built the city of Alexandria.
He was succeeded by Ptolemy, the son of Lagos,
324 years B. C. Ten kings of that name succeed-
ed each other, till Cleopatra, the sister of the last
Ptolemy, ascended the throne ; when Egypt be-
came a Roman province, and continued so till the
reign of Omar, the second paliph of the successors
of Mahomet, who drove out the Romans after it
had been in their hands 700 years. When the
power of the caliphs declined in the 13th century,
Saladin set up the empire of the Mamelouks
who in time became so powerful, that they ex-
tended their dominions over a great part of Afri-
ca, Syria, and Arabia. Next, about 1570, Egypt
yielded to the arms of Selim, the 2nd emperor
of the Turks, under whose dominion it still
continues.

The present inhabitants are composed of four
different races of people; the Turks, who assume
to be masters of the country ; the Saracen Arabs,
who were conquered by the Turks; the Copts,
who were descended from the first Egyptians
that became Christians; and the Mamelouks,
who were originally Circassian or Mingrelian
slaves, and being the only military force, continu-
ed for centuries to he the real masters of the
country; and Egypt had been for many years,
distracted by the civil wars between the different
contending beys, by which its 24 provinces were
governed. The famous Hassan Ali, the Turkish
admiral, gained several victories over them in
1786; but though he repressed, Jie could not
totally subdue them. The French invaded Egypt
in 1798, under Bonaparte, who defeated the beys
in several engagements; but after the departure
of Bonaparte, a strong British force arrived
to aid the country, and the French were expelled
in 1801. But the Turkish Pacha, finding the