In examining these gods of the ancient Egyptians as shown in the relics from the tombs, it is easy to see where the Israelites got their ideas of the golden calf. The oppressors from whom they were fleeing revered certain animals. They looked upon hawks as emblems of the sun, moon, and stars, and at their death often turned them to mummies. The cat was sacred to one of their gods. They had also statues of cows, the cow being considered emblematic of Hathor, the goddess of beauty, love, and joy. You may see her statues scattered up and down the Nile valley. Sometimes she is depicted as a cow and at others as a woman wearing cow horns with the sun hung between them. There is a carving of Queen Cleopatra decked out in that way. But the jewels of which the Israelites made that calf! If you will look up the Bible record in Exodus you will see that Moses advised the Israelites that every man should borrow of his Egyptian neighbour jewels of silver and jewels of gold. A little farther on it is stated that they did so, the paragraph concluding as follows: And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them. And they spoiled the Egyptians. In the museums here in Cairo you may see pints and quarts of jewellery such as the Israelites borrowed and took with them into the wilderness to melt down to make that golden calf. The place is filled with great cases containing ornaments of gold and silver taken from the tombs. Some date back almost to the early days of the Pyramids, and many were in use before the Israelites left Egypt. Some are golden snakes with spring coils so that they will fit any arm; others are solid rings of massive gold. I saw armlets to be worn above the elbow, golden girdles for the waist, and a chain of gold with a goose head at each end. Among the finest of these ornaments are those owned by a queen who lived 600 B.C. and whose mummy came from a tomb not far from Thebes. CHAPTER XIII THE AMERICAN COLLEGE AT ASYUT At Asyut up the Nile valley about as far south of the Mediterranean as Washington is south of Buffalo, the United Presbyterians of the United States have established a training college for young Egyptians which is doing a wonderful work. I came from Cairo to see it, winding my way in and out along the great river. The valley is narrow above Cairo, being only from three to nine miles in width, so that from the railroad I could see the yellow sand on both sides of the green, watered strip. We were sometimes far out in the desert, and sometimes moving in and out of the irrigated lands. We passed mud villages which border the river and the larger canals. The date trees hanging over them were loaded with honey-coloured fruit. Upper Egypt has vast numbers of dates. There are in the whole country something like eight million of these palms, which, at a rough estimate, bring in one dollar annually for every tree.