e stories that would make thee laugh
at all thy trouble, and take thee to a land of which thou
hast never even dreamed. Where the trees have ever
blossoms, and are noisy with the humming of intoxicated
bees. Where by day the suns are never burning, and by
night the moonstones ooze with nectar in the rays of the
camphor-laden moon. Where the blue lakes are filled with
rows of silver swans, and where, on steps of lapis
lazuli, the peacocks dance in agitation at the murmur of
the thunder in the hills. Where the lightning flashes
without harming, to light the way to women stealing in
the darkness to meetings with their lovers, and the
rainbow hangs for ever like an opal on the dark blue
curtain of the cloud. Where, on the moonlit roofs of
crystal palaces, pairs of lovers laugh at the reflection
of each other's love-sick faces in goblets of red wine,
breathing, as they drink, air heavy with the fragrance of
the sandal, wafted on the breezes from the mountain of
the south. Where they play and pelt each other with
emeralds and rubies, fetched at the churning of the ocean
from the bottom of the sea. Where rivers, whose sands are
always golden, flow slowly past long lines of silent
cranes that hunt for silver fishes in the rushes on the
banks. Where men are true, and maidens love for ever, and
the lotus never fades."
F.W. BAIN: _A Heifer of the Dawn_.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TEMPERAMENT OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

A certain school geography book, now out of date, condenses its remarks
upon the character of our Gallic cousins into the following pregnant
sentence: "The French are a gay and frivolous nation, fond of dancing
and red wine." The description would so nearly apply to the ancient
inhabitants of Egypt, that its adoption here as a text to this chapter
cannot be said to be extravagant. The unbiassed inquirer into the
affairs of ancient Egypt must discover ultimately, and perhaps to his
regret, that the dwellers on the Nile were a "gay and frivolous people,"
festive, light-hearted, and mirthful, "fond of dancing and red wine,"
and pledged to all that is brilliant in life. There are very many
people, naturally, who hold to those views which their forefathers held
before them, and picture the Egyptians as a sombre, gloomy