donkey has a boy to run after it with a stick, and to shout at it to make it go. The donkey boys are very jolly little fellows. They always smile, however far they have to run.

10. Most donkey boys wear a white or blue gown, and have a red cap, or fez, on the head. If a donkey boy sees an Englishman coming, he runs to him and says, "My donkey is called John Bull." If he sees an American coming, he says that his donkey's name is Yankee Doodle.

11. Sometimes the donkey boy will ask the rider,—

"Very good donkey?"

If the rider says "Yes," he will then ask,—

"Very good donkey boy?"

"Yes."

12. "Very good saddle too?"

"Yes."

"Then me have very good present!"

13. Now let me tell you something that will surprise you. The people of Egypt in the old, old days thought that their cats were gods.

14. They prayed to them and built temples to them. When the family cat died, all the people in the house shaved their eyebrows to show how sorry they were.—Best love to you all. FATHER.

7.  THROUGH THE CANAL.

1. MY DEAR CHILDREN,—I have just sailed through a very wonderful canal. It joins two great seas together, and is now part of the way to India.

2. By means of this canal we can sail from England to India in three weeks. Before it was made the voyage took three months or more.

3. The canal was made more than forty years ago by a Frenchman. He dug a great ditch, and joined together a number of lakes. By doing so he made a waterway from sea to sea. This waterway is about a hundred miles long.

4. I joined my ship at the town which stands at the north end of the canal. There is nothing to see in the town except the lighthouse and the shops. On the sea wall there is a statue of the Frenchman who made the canal.

5. As we lay off the town we could see many little boats darting to and fro. The boatmen were dressed in all the colours of the rainbow—red, blue, green, and orange. In one boat there were men and women playing and singing songs.

6. By the side of our ship men were swimming in the water. I threw a piece of silver into the water. One of the men dived, and caught it before it reached the bottom.

7. On the other side of the ship there were great barges full of coal. Hundreds of men and women carried this coal to the ship in little baskets upon their heads. They walked up and down a plank, and all the time they made an awful noise which they called singing.

8. When all the coal was on board, the ship began to steam slowly along the narrow canal. No ship is allowed to sail more than four miles an hour, lest the "wash" should break down the banks.

9. Soon we passed out of the narrow canal into one of the lakes. Our road was marked by buoys. Away to right and to left of us stretched the sandy desert.

10. In the afternoon we passed a station, where I saw a number of camels laden with boxes of goods. They were going to travel across the sands for many days.

11. The sun went down in a sky of purple and gold. Then a large electric light shone forth from our bows. It threw a broad band of white light on the water and on the banks of the canal. Where the light touched the sands it seemed to turn them into silver.

12. In less than twenty-four hours we reached the town at the south end of the canal. A boat came out from the shore, and this letter is going back with it.—Love to you all. FATHER.

8.  AMONGST THE ARABS.—I.

1. MY DEAR CHILDREN,—I am now sailing along the Red Sea. The weather is very hot. All over the ship electric fans are hard at work. In spite of them I cannot keep cool.

2. Away on the left, or port, side of the ship I see high hills. They are red in colour, and seem to be baked by the hot sun. Even through my spy-glass I cannot see a speck of green on them. All is red and bare.

3. Beyond the hills lies the land of Arabia. It is a hot, dry land, in which years sometimes pass without a shower of rain. There is hardly ever a cloud in the sky, and there is no dew at night.

4. Much of the land is covered with sand. Little or nothing will grow. You know that we call a sandy waste of this kind a desert.

5. Here and there in the desert a few springs are found. The water of these springs causes grass and trees to grow well. Around each spring is what looks like an island of green in the midst of a red sea of sand. A green spot in a desert is called an oasis.

6. The Arabs live upon these green spots. Some of them dwell in villages, and some wander from oasis to oasis. Those who live in villages build their houses of sun-dried bricks; those who wander from place to place live in tents.

7. The Arabs are fine, fierce-looking men. They own flocks of sheep, herds of goats, camels and horses.

8. An Arab's tent is woven out of camel's hair. So are the ropes of the tent. The poles are made of palm wood.

9. Inside the tent there are leather buckets for drawing water. There are also skin bags for carrying it across the desert. There are no chairs or tables or beds in the tents. The Arabs squat upon the ground and sleep on rugs.

10. In front of an Arab tent you are almost sure to see a woman grinding corn between two large stones. There is a hole in the top stone, and into this she pours the grain.

11. She turns the top stone round and round, and the grain is ground into flour, which oozes out at the edges. With this flour she makes cakes.

Arabs of the Desert.

9.  AMONGST THE ARABS.—II.

1. Date palms grow on every oasis. The date palm is a beautiful tree. It is very tall, and has a crown of leaves at the top.

2. The fruit grows in great golden clusters. Sometimes a cluster of dates weighs twenty-five pounds.

3. The date palm is beloved by the Arabs, because it is so useful to them. They eat or sell the dates, and they use the wood for their tents or houses. From the sap they make wine. Out of the leaf-stalks they weave baskets.

4. Some of the Arabs are traders. They carry their goods from oasis to oasis on the backs of camels. A large number of laden camels form a caravan.

5. A camel is not pretty to look at, but the Arab could not do without it. I think you can easily understand why the camel is called the "ship of the desert." It