Wealden district furnishes much phosphatic material, which has been extensively worked at Froyle. In the vicinity of Farnham it contains a bed of " coprolites " of considerable extent, and 2 to 15 feet in thickness. Specimens of these from the Dippen Hall pits, analyzed by Messrs Paine and Way, showed the presence of phosphates equivalent to 55 96 of bone-earth (Journ. JR. Agric. Soc. Eny., vol. ix. p. 56). Phosphatic nodules occur also in the Chloritic Marl of the Isle of Wight and Dorsetshire, and at Wroughton, near Swindon. They are found in the Lower Greensand, or Upper Neocomitan series, in the Atherfield Clay at Stopham, near Pulborough ; occasionally at the junction of the Hythe and Sandgate beds ; and in the Folkeston beds, at Farnham. At Woburn, Leighton, Ampthill, Sandy, Upware, Wicken, and Potton, near the base of Upper Neocomian iron-sands, there is a band between 6 inches and 2 feet in thickness containing " coprolites ; " these consist of phosphatized wood, bones, casts of shells, and shapeless lumps. The coprolitic stratum of the Speeton Clay, on the coast to the N. of Flamborough Head, is included by Prof. Judd with the Portland beds of that formation. In 1864 two phos phatic deposits, a limestone 3 feet thick, with beds of calcium phosphate, and a shale of half that thickness, were discovered by Mr Hope Jones in the neighbourhood of Cwmgynen, about sixteen miles from Oswestry. They are at a depth of about 12 feet, in slaty shale containing Llandeilo fossils and contemporaneous felspathic ash and scoriae. A specimen of the phosphatic limestone analyzed byVoelcker yielded 34 92 per cent, of tricalcic phosphate, a specimen of the shale 52 - 15 per cent. (Report of Brit,
Assoc., 1865).
Herapath, Chem. Gaz. 1849, p. 449 ; Buckland, Geology and Mine ralogy, 4th ed., 1869; Fisher, Quart. Journ. Geol.Soc. 1873, p. 52 ; Teall, On the Potton and Wicken Phosphatic Deposits (Sedgwick Prize Essay for 1873), 1875 ; Bonney, Cambridgeshire Geology, 1875.
COPTS, the name given to the descendants of the native inhabitants of Egypt after the Mahometan conquest, supposed by some to be descended from the ancient Egyptians or else from the mixed race which inhabited the country under the Roman empire. They are Christians, and are said to comprise less than one fourteenth of the whole population. Although numerous, their numbers continue to dwindle, and they arc being gradually, by marriage or conversion, absorbed in the Mussulman population of the country. Their name Kubt, or Kubti, is supposed to bo derived either from ./Egyptos or Egypt, or else from the town of Coptos, or even lakobitai. Although scarcely distinguishable from the other inhabitants, they are said to have large and elongated black eyes, high cheek -bones s the lobe of the ear high, the nose straight and spread at the end, black and curly hair, thick and spread lips, and large chin. In height they are rather under the middle size ; they have in general little embonpoint, slender limbs, and pale or bronze complexion, and a sullen expression ; but they differ considerably, those who have embraced Roman Catholicism resembling more Greeks or Syrians, while the others of the Said retain their primitive type. Their dress is like that of the Mahometans, except that their turban is of a black-greyish or light-brown colour, and they often wear a black coat or gown over their other dress. In their general customs they follow the rules of the other inhabi tants ; the women veil their faces, both in public and at home when male visitors are present. In religion they are followers of the Eutychian heresy or Jacobite sect, so called from Jacobus Baradrcus, a Syrian, who propagated the doctrine; and in 1840 there were 150,000 of this sect, while 5000 were said to be Roman Catholics, and as many nf ti 1Q n^^ir fo,-(.i, Jacobites are monophysites and monothelites. They have altogether about 130 churches or convents. Their religious orders are a patriarch, a metropolitan of the Abyssinians, bishops, arch-priests, priests, deacons, and monks. The " patriarch," called " of Alexandria," resides at Cairo, and is generally chosen by lot out of eight or nine monks of the convent of St Antony in the eastern desert designated as capable of filling the office, but he may be appointed by his predecessor. The metro politan is appointed by the patriarch, and the twelve bishops are selected by preference from the monks. They generally baptize their children within the year, and some circumcise them about eight years of age ; this rite was evidently handed down by their ancestors, as it is repre sented in Egyptian sculptures of the Pharaonic period. In their schools the Coptic language is taught imperfectly. In their prayers appear to be many repetitions, and they pray in this manner riding or walking. Their churches are divided into five compartments, the most important of which is the chancel (heyM). They observe many fasts and festivals, and some perform pilgrimages to Jerusalem. They also abstain from parts of the flesh of the pig and camel, and from that of animals which have been strangled and from blood. They do not perform military service. In their habits and customs they follow those of the other populations of Egypt ; they rarely intermarry with any other sect ; in their marriages they employ a go-between vaTcd, and two-thirds of the dowry is settled upon the wife during lier life. The marriages take place on Saturday night, and the festivities sometimes are kept up for eight days. At these a singular custom prevails of attaching two cascabels to the wings of two pigeons, whereby the birds fly about till they are giddy, and then placing them in two hollow balls of sugar, each set on a dish ; the balls are afterwards broken and the pigeons fly about the room. The preparations for the marriage consist of ablution, a procession of the bride covered with a shawl, attended by musicians, to the house of the bridegroom, stepping over the blood of a slaughtered lamb at the door, the crowning of the bride and bridegroom, and subsequent entertainments, much abridged or even omitted when a widow is married. ^The etiquette is not to leave the house for a year to pay visits. Divorces are only given for adultery on the part of the wife. The Copts are exceedingly bigoted, prone to be con verted to Islamism, sullen, as Ammianus Marcellinus describes the Egyptians, false, faithless, and deceitful, but extremely useful as secretaries and accountants and skilful workmen. In their funeral ceremonies they follow Mussulman customs, but pay special visits on two days cf the year to the sepulchres, and give away a slaughtered bullock and other viands. Both in their physical type and in some of their ceremonies they retain a resemblance to their ancestors, the ancient Egyptians.
Seventy years after their conquest by the Mahometans, G40, unsuccessful in revolt, they suffered the persecution of their masters. The monks were branded in the hand, civilians oppressed with heavy taxation, churches demo lished, pictures and crosses destroyed, 722-23. A few years later all Copts were so branded. Degrading dresses were imposed upon them, 849-50. Later, under El Hakim, 997, they were compelled to wear heavy crosses and black turbans as an ignominious distinction ; churches were destroyed, and many of the Copts converted. In 1301, the blue turban was introduced, but many Copts preferred liange of religion to the adoption of this head-dress. of the Greek faith.
In 1321 a dreadful religious strife, attended by the destruc tion of churches and mosques and great loss of life, raged at Cairo between the Copts and the Mohametans ; but in 1354-55 great numbers embraced Islamism, and they appear to have gradually declined.
