Alexandria, Egypt.

[Illustration: DAUGHTERS OF EGYPT]

II

EGYPT, THE LAND OF BONDAGE

Egypt was the home of the earliest civilization in the world, which
archaeology traces back beyond 3000 years B. C. The home of a race
skilled both in the fine and mechanical arts; loving nature, honoring
women, and deeply impressed with the seriousness of life on both sides
the grave. The valley of the Nile, which is the true Egypt, is unlike
any other part of the world. It has neither Alpine grandeur, nor
pastoral softness, nor variety of plain and upland, meadow and forest.
Its low hills have neither heather nor pine upon them. Egypt is the land
of light, of glowing sunshine, of moonlight and starlight so brilliant
that night is but a softer day. From the time that Israel's ancestors
went down thither it has drawn men of every clime with a peculiar
fascination.

On the opposite page we have before us a glimpse of the majestic Nile,
stretching through one thousand miles of desert till it flows into the
Mediterranean Sea. "Wherever the river cometh, there is life."
Everywhere along its banks the desert has become fertile, and there are
countless towns and villages.

The productive capacity of the land had always depended upon the annual
overflow of the Nile, but every summer during the season of high Nile
billions and billions of cubic feet of water would roll away a rich and
wanton waste into the sea, simply because there were not enough channels
to carry it out into the thirsty sands of the desert. Energetic men
conceived the idea of bringing these waste waters into control, to carry
them out through the surrounding countries, bringing life and prosperity
where there was dearth and desolation. For this purpose several great
dams were built; one at Cairo, one at Assiut and one at Assouan, making
it possible to store up much of the water which had formerly gone to
waste, and canals were dug to carry the life-giving water out to the
desert where thousands of acres of land have been reclaimed.

The large cities of Egypt are densely populated. A town of twenty-five
thousand people is considered a mere village. It might be wondered what
the people do for a livelihood, but they all seem to do something. There
are all sorts of tradesmen and artificers. It is next to impossible to
enumerate them, there's the:--

Richman, poorman, beggarman, thief;
Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief;
Butcher, baker,