orphan home) to read the letters, answer them and send a copy to the
Minister of Justice who has them Classified, and acting on the
information sends orders out to bring the guilty parties to justice, and
as punishment is meted out only to the bribetakers, for it is only
acting according to the mandates of human nature for a relative or
friend to try to get a person out of trouble to offer a bribe, carried
with it no penalty, but it left the bribetaker at the mercy of the other
party, and in consequence of adopting this system very few public
officials proved untrue, and crime has greatly diminished. Our
department has charge of all mail matter and telegraph, telepost and
telephone lines and wireless stations and all newspaper books and
magazine publications, and we edit the National Gazette; besides we have
charge of all Government scientific research parties, and if you will
call again to-morrow I think I will be able to introduce you to the
Chief Engineer who stands very high in his profession, and who has, by
placing an Astronomical Observatory on the summit of Mount Everest,
attracted the attention of the civilized world."



CHAPTER VI.

DEPARTMENT OF MINES.

I called at the appointed time and was introduced to the Chief
Engineer, who invited me to accompany him on an inspection tour, to
which I gladly assented, and, after a week's pleasant travel by rail, we
arrived at the station on the southwestern slope of Mount Everest at an
elevation of twelve thousand feet above the sea. We had arrived in the
evening and enjoyed a good night's rest, and, eating a hearty breakfast,