CAIRO TO KISUMU years of age. It was brought out by a school census some years ago that over fifty thousand of these boys could re¬ cite a good part of the Mohammedan bible, and that forty-five hundred had memorized the whole from be¬ ginning to end. Another forty-five hundred were able to recite one half of it from memory, while thirty-eight hun¬ dred could correctly give three fourths of it. When it is remembered that the Koran contains one hundred and fourteen divisions and in the neighbourhood of eighty thousand words, it will be seen what this means. I m willing to bet that there are not four thousand children in the United States who can reel off the New Testament without looking at the book, and that with our vast popu¬ lation we have not fifty thousand boys who can recite even one book of our Bible from memory and not mispronounce a word.

The Mohammedans reverence their bible quite as much as we do ours. While it is being read they will not allow it to lie upon the floor, and no one may read or touch it without first washing himself. It is written in Arabic and the Moslems consider its style a model. They believe that it was revealed by God to Mohammed, and that it is eternal. It was not written at first, but was entirely com¬ mitted to memory, and it is to a large extent in that way that it is still taught. The better classes of Mohamme¬ dans have beautiful copies of this book. They have some bound in gold with the texts illuminated, and the univer¬ sity has a collection of fine editions which is looked upon as one of its greatest treasures.

This famous Mohammedan university is situated in the heart of business Cairo. When I rode to it to-day (on my donkey) I passed through a mile or more of covered ba-72