its northern limits stretching to the Polar regions, and consider that here are thousands of acres of untilled soil, waiting to yield their riches to future generations.

Let the young man who thinks Colonial life might suit him, carefully weigh the advantages of this Dominion before turning his thoughts elsewhere. Let him reflect that the rapid Transatlantic liners now afloat, the specially equipped trains of the Canadian and Pacific Railway, and the flying express service of this country would, in ten or twelve days, convey him from the erstwhile home of the buffalo and the Indian to London, the commercial centre of the world.

Some young men are physically unsuited for Colonial life; but such as are healthy and vigorous, and anxious to make their way in the world, should surely hesitate to plod on day by day, week by week, year by year, "quill driving" in the cheerless offices of smoky London, when within easy reach of their English homes they might be enjoying such sunshine as we never see, air such as we never breathe, and exercise such as we cannot obtain in the Metropolis or in the towns of this country.

Across the boundless prairies of this British territory the balmy breezes of spring blow pure and invigorating, and Nature yields herself to their wooing. The bluffs and valleys are clothed with flowers of wondrous hues, the brilliant scarlet of the cactus, the mauve of the crocus, the tawny yellow of the tiger lily, the pink and damask of the rose, and the rich purple of the violet blend with the emerald tints of grass and shrub and tree, and form a harmony such as Nature, unassisted, can alone produce. Around flit innumerable birds of gaudy plumage, whose musical répertoire appears inexhaustible, while butterflies of every shape and colour abound.

When in Canada, in the spring of 1888, I saw the beauties of Nature developing themselves with such astounding rapidity that it was with difficulty I realized that, amid a scene of such splendour, I was within a few days' journey of the old country, with its cities, its factories, its network of railways, and its seething, struggling multitudes.

Moreover, by means of the great line of railway which intersects the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the thriving cities of Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto are easily accessible on the one hand, while on the other it is a comparatively short trip to Victoria and Vancouver, and thence to China and the East.

This line of railway is a main factor to the commercial prosperity of Canada. It facilitates transport to and fro between England and the East, and its freightage is enormously increasing, while along the line at intervals, spurs and branches are being thrown out, by which means the country is becoming settled, and its resources developed.

It is impracticable in the space allotted to me to enter into technicalities as to farming in the British Territories, but I may say that the country offers exceptional facilities for cattle-ranching, and that stock thrive in a remarkable manner upon the rich and nutritious natural grasses of the prairie.

The knowledge necessary for either this branch of agriculture or for grain-raising is easily and rapidly acquired, and the course of training through which it is necessary to pass before entering upon the management of a farm in England is comparatively valueless in this territory.

One of the most successful farmers I met in Canada had been trained for the Navy, another was a young

fellow who emigrated direct from Charterhouse, another a medical student.

The winters are, of course, severe, but the atmosphere is so rarified that their severity is neutralised. I have spent two winters in the Dominion, and the coldest month I experienced was in January, 1888, when the thermometer registered an average temperature for the month of thirty-one degrees below zero, or sixty-three degrees of frost, and during that time I did not feel the effect of the cold so much as in the winter of 1890-91 which I spent in London.

Moreover, the occupation of timber felling, which is carried on in the winter months, is conducive to circulation, and admirably suited for the season; while a sleigh drive over the snow-clad plains, with the bright sun shining above, compares favourably with a tramp through the slush, and mud, and fogs on this

side."

The fall, or autumn, is the most lovely period of the year. It lasts generally through the months of September, October, and part of November, and should be experienced for its enjoyments to be realised.

The opinion of one of the Committee of British Agriculturists who went out to Canada in 1890, and subsequently published a very favourable report upon the country, is certainly valuable, and I therefore quote a remark made to me by Mr. Henry Simmons, of Bearwood, Wokingham, a gentleman who was a member of this committee. He said, "The soil is undoubtedly marvellously productive. I think the climate must be the finest in the world, and if I were a younger man, I should not hesitate about going to Canada to live."

Although the Territorial Government assists settlers to a very great extent by grants of land, a small capital

is requisite for anyone intending to enter upon farming operations when arriving in the Dominion.

Having settled, a home can in a few years be formed, where a man may be owner of the soil he cultivates, and produce therefrom and thereupon all the necessities of life (with, of course, the exception of groceries and clothing), and where he may derive infinite enjoyment from the freedom of his life, and the natural beauties of his surroundings.

Sport also is to hand; myriads of wild duck, geese, crane, etc., pass over the country each spring and fall, and besides affording capital shooting they are delicious on the table. Prairie chicken and white hares (or "jack rabbits," as they are called) abound, and antelope are numerous at some seasons, while to the more adventurous the coyote, wolf, and an occasional lynx may prove attractive.

There is no doubt that a man with energy, enterprise, and a little capital may form a home may form a home upon British territory, within easy reach of his native land, where he may live at least comfortably and probably prosperously, whereas in over-crowded England these ends are apparently unattainable by men of limited means.

EDWARD H. PAXTON.

CHAPTER XC.

EGYPTIAN LANDS.

BY ROBERT WALLACE, F.L.S., F.R.S.E.,

Professor of Agriculture and Rural Economy in the University of Edinburgh ; Author of "India in 1887," "The Rural Economy and Agriculture of Australia and New Zealand," etc.

THE Egyptian delta has been aptly likened to a fan, the Nile and the trunk canals of the irrigation system of the country representing the ribs. To lend a little variety to the usual simile, the fertile part of "Egypt-proper" may be compared to a fan-shaped palmate leaf with a long stalk fringed with leaf-like stipules. Upper Egypt, from Wady Halfa northward until Cairo is almost reached, being a narrow strip of fertile land only a few miles wide on the banks of the Nile, hemmed in on each side by desert-rocks and sandy wastes, represents the stipules, and the delta, or Lower Egypt, the broad blade of the leaf. The Nile, while it is yet one river, is the leaf-stalk. Its two outlet branches, together with a number of the old arms of the hydra-headed river now acting as canals, and the recently constructed trunk canals, form the midribs of the leaf. The immense network of minor canals represents its veins.

The comparatively narrow valley through which the river flows for hundreds of miles in its northern course, has been worn out of the solid rock, and the fertile land on the banks deposited from time to time from the