Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker.

Date:
1885-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    68/628 (page 44)
    disappointment, and tlieir national pride to utter humiliation. Their conquerors succeeded in maintaining their position, and though apparently at first inclined to moderation, were at length driven by the conduct and the previous example of the Copts themselves to persecute and oppress them to the uttermost. In spite, however, of all these disasters, a numerous community of Copts has always existed in Egypt, a fact which is mainly to be accounted for by the remarkable tenacity and constancy of the Egyptian character. Owing, however, to the continual oppres- sion and contempt to which they have been subjected, the grave disposition of the subjects of the Pharaohs has degenerated into sullen gloom, and their industry into cupidity. The rancour which they have so long cherished has embittered their character, while the persecutions they have suffered have taught them to be at one time cringing, and at another arrogant and overbearing. They are in very few respects superior to their Mohammedan countrymen. They generally possess an hereditary aptitude for mathematical science, and are therefore in great request as book-keepers and accountants, but on the other hand they are entirely destitute of the generous and dignified disposition of the Arabs. They obey their law which forbids polygamy, but constantly abuse that which per- mits them to indulge in spirituous liquors, drunkards being fre- quently met with, even among their priests. Their divine worship will strike the traveller as strange, and anything but edifying or elevating. The traveller may distinguish the Copts from the Arabs by their dark turbans, which are generally blue or black, and their dark- coloured clothes. This costume was originally prescribed by their oppressors, and they still take a pride in it as a mark of their origin, though now permitted to dress as they please. A practised eye will also frequently detect among them the ancient Egyptian cast of features. Towards strangers the Copt is externally obliging, and when anxious to secure their favour he not unfrequently appeals to his Christian creed as a bond of union. 'Many Copts have recently been converted to Protestantism by American missionaries, parti- cularly in Upper Egypt, chiefly through the foundation of good schools and the distribution of cheap Arabic Bibles. Even the orthodox Copts have a great reverence for the sacred volume, and it is not uncommon to meet with members of their sect who know the whole of the gospels by heart. The Roman propaganda, which was begun by Franciscans at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th cent., has been less successful among the Copts, and there now exist a few small Roman Catholic communities in Upper Egypt only (atGirgeh, Akhmim, andNegada). To the Romanists, however, is partly due the preservation of the old Coptic language, into which they caused the gospels to be translated by the most learned scholars of the day (accompanied by a preface asserting the supremacy of