al.
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.

[Illustration: {Side of a ship, with men swimming below}]

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