Asyut is the largest city in Egypt south of Cairo. It is the capital of this part of the Nile valley and the chief centre of its commerce and trade. Before the railroad was built, caravans from the Sudan brought great quantities of merchandise from Central Africa to Asyut and transferred it to other camel trains bound for Tripoli, Cairo, or Suez. The railroad now carries this trade, and the iron tracks have been extended southward beyond the city of Khartum. The gap in the railroad between Shellal and Wady Halfa is filled by steamers on the river. Asyut itself has many good buildings. Not far from the railroad station are brick houses of two and three stories which would be considered fine anywhere. They are owned by Copts, who started life poor and have become millionaires. Most of the houses of the city are Egyptian in character, flat-roofed buildings of one, two, and three stories, facing the street. Many of them are new and substantially built. The bazaars are far better than when first I visited Asyut, and the town, which has now over fifty thousand people, is double the size it was then. The Asyut Training College is a missionary institution, but it gives a good general education. It is run upon broad lines and has among its students Mohammedans, Copts, and other Christians. This is about the only one of our Protestant denominations that is working here, the other sects having apparently given up Egypt to it. This Church has mission stations scattered throughout the Nile valley, and schools not only in Lower and Upper Egypt but also in the Sudan, and even on the borders of Abyssinia. There are more than fifteen thousand boys now being taught in its various institutions. It is surprising that a large part of the money that the mission is spending upon education comes from the natives themselves. In one year over one hundred thousand dollars was spent, of which almost eighty thousand was subscribed by the Egyptians. Of the fifteen thousand in the schools, more than thirteen thousand are paying for tuition, so that the institutions are largely self-supporting. The Egyptians of to-day have learned the value of modern school training and are anxious to have their sons go to college. They want them taught English and are willing to pay something in order that they may get a good education.