Gunpowder, Explosives and the State by Brenda J. Buchanan

Author:Brenda J. Buchanan [Buchanan, Brenda J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780754652595
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2006-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Egyptian Manpower

The presence of the Egyptian workers at the stamps in Figure 10.4 invites us to try to evaluate the level of any transfer of technology from France to Egypt. In October 1800 Champy wrote to his colleagues in Paris that he had trained some ten saltpetremen, who treated the rubbish surrounding the town, providing together 500 kg per day.42 In his mind that was only a beginning: ‘one can assure without any exaggeration that Egypt, if necessary, could provide 3 million pounds of pure saltpetre that would cost less than 12 sous a pound’.43 He hoped to produce no less than two-thirds more than the total production of France, for only a quarter of the price of the home country.

Several of the Egyptian workers participated in the second uprising of Cairo in March 1800 by manufacturing powder: they included ‘Mansoure, Abou Romas, Scanderani [and] Osman’, all singled out by Kléber as Champy’s workers.44 Those of Old Cairo, in contrast, such as ‘Jouadé Abd el-Fadil [and] Souallé’, were not able to use their materials and implement,45 but most probably they were simply saltpetremen working for the Qâyt Bey factory. Not counting the ten private saltpetremen in charge of saltpetre supplies, two dozen Egyptians were employed by the French. In August 1800 the Gunpowder Administration in Egypt had a staff of four officials (Champy, his son, the master powdermaker Lebrun, and a fourth who may have been an Egyptian secretary), an interpreter and twenty-two indigenous workers.46

Though higher than the ordinary income of the town day labourers, the average daily salary of these workers (19 paras) remained far below the income of the workers in the building professions of Cairo (30 paras). Above all it was very low compared to the salary of the natives attached to the Imprimerie nationale which, more than the Gunpowder Administration, recognized skill and provided real training for its workers. There, the apprentices earned nearly as much money as did the building labourers (1 pound, that is, 28.2 paras), while ordinary workers earned twice as much (56.4 paras), and first-class workers, four times more (112.8 paras), though this was only two-thirds that of a French or Italian worker. In the gunpowder factory the level of qualification required and the training provided were not very high: most of the workers were no more than unskilled labourers.

The two cross-sections of Qâyt Bey factory in Figures 10.4 and 10.5 provide more information on jobs held by Egyptians. Workers are shown squatting and stamping powder in mortars with hand-pestles; fitting up the machinery; and leading a horse to the gin. Others are busy in the drying-room; corning the powder, or filling and storing barrels; and a groom is leading a horse. But more specialized posts are also depicted: three men are weighing the components of the powder, and one at least is probably a professional weigher (kababi). With the slight exception of the few literate people (secretary, interpreter, and weigher), Egyptians provided cheap labour, even though the wages given by the French were higher than those of the ordinary townsfolk.

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