Having invented this system the Egyptians developed it during thousands of years

until they could write anything they wanted, and they used these "canned words"

to send messages to friends, to keep business accounts and to keep a record of

the history of their country, that future generations might benefit by the

mistakes of the past.

 

THE NILE VALLEY

 

THE BEGINNING OF CIVILISATION IN THE VALLEY OF THE NILE

 

THE history of man is the record of a hungry creature in search of food.

 

Wherever food was plentiful, thither man has travelled to make his home.

 

The fame of the Valley of the Nile must have spread at an early date.

 

From the interior of Africa and from the desert of Arabia and from the western

part of Asia people had flocked to Egypt to claim their share of the rich farms.

Together these invaders had formed a new race which called itself "Remi" or "the

Men" just as we sometimes call America "God's own country." They had good reason

to be grateful to a Fate which had carried them to this narrow strip of land. In

the summer of each year the Nile turned the valley into a shallow lake and when

the waters receded all the grainfields and the pastures were covered with

several inches of the most fertile clay.