he Egyptian method of embalming the bodies of
the dead. It seems that they believed that the spirit will return to the
body in the course of time and they undertook to preserve the body as
near perfect as possible until that time arrived. There are multiplied
thousands of these mummies in Egypt. In the great museum in Cairo the
mummy of the Pharoah who made the burdens of the enslaved Hebrews
heavier can be seen today. Little did he think that in thousands of
years the descendants of these people would spit in the face of his
mummy, but they often do that very thing.

In the old days it is said that they used to license robbery and govern
it by law. The spoil was taken to the robber chief and the victim could
go and claim his property and by paying a certain per cent of its value
recover the property, after which the man who did the stealing could
secure from the chief his portion of the proceeds. We laugh at this but
how much worse is it than some of the things we license today?

I had a most pleasant visit in the home of Dr. Ewing, a United
Presbyterian missionary. The United Presbyterian people have done and
are doing a most remarkable work in Egypt. A visit to their mission in
Cairo was wonderfully interesting to say the least. I was presented
with some coins there, the smallest of which was worth, at that time,
one-sixteenth of a penny, but the missionaries assured me that those
coins were seldom used except in church collections.

CHAPTER XIX

A COUNTRY WITH A THOUSAND RIVERS--VENEZUELA

Years ago two miners worked together for months and finally came to know
each other as Tom and Jack. One day Tom was not well and could not do
much but watch Jack dig. After noting some movements of the body that
seemed familiar he said: "Jack, where did you come from?" The two men
sat down and talked of boyhood days and found that they were born in the
same community and had played together when they were small boys. Here
they had worked together for months without knowing that they were
neighbors; they actually got up and shook hands with each other.

Venezuela is our nearest neighbor to the south. This country is nearer
to Florida than New Orleans is to New York and yet we have lived side by
side for four hundred years and hardly knew we were neighbors. We might
have been friends and greatly assisted each other all these years. Is it
not about time we were getting acquainted and shaking hands with each
other?

I