with no outlet, or into a frozen ocean which completely shuts out commerce. Look at Europe on the other hand. It is of all the continents the one which is most thoroughly broken up by inroads of the sea. Asia is four and a half times as large as Europe in 'superficial area; yet Europe has a coast-line five times as great as that of Asia. Excepting only the plains of Russia, no part of Europe is more than three hundred miles distant from the sea; while the number and the distribution of its navigable rivers bring the ocean within easy reach even of its remotest parts. And what are the consequences of this? A glance at the map of Europe will tell us. It is evidently the continent most thickly covered with cities and towns; and with high-roads, canals, and railways, weaving the towns into a living and everbusy net-work. There civilization has struck its roots deepest, and stretched its branches widest. There the arts and sciences have reached their highest development. There the great mechanical inventions which have knit the world into one vast inter-dependent society, have had their birth; and commerce, manufactures, and agriculture have been brought to the greatest perfection. Europe has laid the whole world under contribution for the supply of her physical wants. In return, she has laid the whole world under obligation to her for more ethereal but not less real benefits. She has been the cradle of those free political institutions which have developed the self-control and the independence of man as a member of society. Her literature is the richest and most varied in the world. In Europe the Christian religion has been most widely diffused, and it has been the centre from which the message of peace has been sent to the farthest corners of the world. What is true of Europe as a whole is preeminently true of Great Britain. There the circle of European-nay, `of universal -civilization and industry has its centre. By her colonies she has diffused the influence of her spirit and the energy of her sons throughout the world, so that her greatest rivals in material and social progress are her own children. This is a proud position for so small a land to hold. But 'insignificant as the British Isles appear on the map of the world, Britain is in no small degree indebted to climate, physical configuration, and geographical position for the greatness which she has achieved. "The 'territory," says Emerson," "has a singular perfection. The climate is warmer by many degrees than it is entitled to be by latitude. Neither hot nor cold, there is no hour in the whole year when one cannot work. The temperature makes no ⚫exhaustive demands on human strength, but allows the attainment of the largest stature. In variety of surface it is a miniature of Europe, having plain, forest, marsh, river, sea-shore. From first to last it is a museum of 'anomalies. This foggy and rainy country furnishes the world with astronomical observations. Its short rivers do not afford water-power, but the land shakes under the thunder of its mills. There is no gold mine of any importance, but there is more gold in England than in all other countries. It is too far north for the culture of the vine, but the wines of all countries are in its docks; and oranges and pine-apples are as cheap in London as on the Mediterranean.' adapta'tions, adjust'ments | es'culent, eat'able. alterna'tion, succes'sion. anom'alies, irregular'ities. bar barism, savageness. benefi'cial, improving. characteristic, distinc'tive com'plicated, in'tricate. configuration, form. convenient,advantageous. destina'tion, des'tiny. development, growth. distribu'tion, arrange'ment employ'ment, use. ethe'real, immate'rial. luxuriance, prolif'icness. per'manently, last'ingly. predom'inates, has mastery preëm'inent, supreme'. prod'igal, lib'eral. profusely, abun'dantly. ru'minants, cud-chewers. smelt'ed, separated into metal and dross. spontaneously, vol'untasteril'ity, bar'renness. [rily. superficial, sur'face. territory, land. unfa'vourable, ad'verse. 3 Bread-fruit tree.-Grows in Tahiti and other South Sea Islands. 4 Chinese Wall.-A stupendous wall forming the northern boundary of China. It runs westward from the Yellow Sea for 1250 miles, till it meets the mountains which form the western frontier. It was intended as a defence against the Tartars, and was completed in the third century B. C. QUESTIONS.-What is the leading characteristic of the temperate regions? What proportion of the human race do they contain? To what is the activity of these regions in a great measure due? How does a temperate climate enable man to work? How does it compel him to work? What is the character of his struggle with nature in the frozen regions? What prevents labour in the Tropics? What renders it unnecessary? What animals are characteristic of the temperate regions? What plants? Why does corn precede all civilization? What is necessary to its permanent production? What are the chief corn-plants of the Temperate Zone? What trees are most abundant there? What minerals? By what are the differences that occur within the Temperate Zone produced? What is the character of Central Asia? How is this accounted for? What is remarkable in the configuration of Europe? What are the consequences of this? What country in Europe is preeminent in these respects? To what is Britain in some degree indebted for her proud position? What does Emerson say of the effects of its climate? Mention some of the anomalies which he points out. THE OVERLAND ROUTE.1 To be read before a Map of the Eastern Hemisphere. EMBARKING at Southampton in one of the splendid steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, we soon pass the Isle of Wight, and make for the open sea. The second day brings us in contact with the rough waters of the Bay of Biscay. The Spanish coast is probably sighted off Cape Finisterre; and here the Englishman begins to recall with patriotic pride the many triumphs achieved by his countrymen on the Peninsula and in the surrounding waters. Here, in 1805, Sir Robert Calder inflicted a partial defeat on Villeneuve, the French admiral; who, a few months later, was completely overthrown at Trafalgar. Coruña* is not far off, where Moore so gallantly held the French at bay till he completed his plans for embarkation. At the south-western angle of Portugal we are off Cape St. Vincent—a lone, romantic 'promontory, with some fractured rocks at its base standing out into the ocean, and having on its summit a fine light-house with a brilliant light revolving every two or three minutes. The cape was the scene of two great victories gained by the English fleet over that of Spain; in connection with the second of which it gave his title to one of England's foremost sailors. There the Spaniards were defeated by Sir George Rodney in 1780, and still more signally by Sir John Jervis (afterwards Earl St. Vincent) in 1793. It was on the latter occasion that Nelson, then bearing the rank of commodore, took one of the Spanish ships, the San Nicolas, by entering through its cabin windows! Seeing this, the captain of the San Josef discharged a volley on the captors. Nelson thereupon closed with the San Josef, and boarded her from the deck of the San Nicolas. Ere long we discern the promontory of Trafalgar stretching into the Atlantic-a spot hallowed by what, in the estimation of Englishmen, is certainly the most memorablet of all the events which have made this corner of Europe famous in ancient and in modern story. On the south, the lonely headland of Cape Spartel rises from the African coast above the Atlantic waters; and to the east of it may be seen the white buildings of Tangier, a city of Phoenician origin, and of note in the times of the Romans. Seized in 1457 by the Portuguese, Tangier was by them ceded to England * See lesson on Battle of Coruña and Death of Moore, p. 18. † See lessons on Battle of Trafalgar and Death of Nelson, pp. 48, 54. in 1662, along with Bombay, as part of the dower of Catherine of Braganza, when she became queen of Charles II. It proved so useless and so 'expensive a possession, however, owing to the constant attacks of the Moors, that it was very soon abandoned to them, and they at once set about repairing the costly works which the English had dismantled at their departure. In this region, according to ancient fable, the Hesperides-daughters of the evening star-had their famous gardens, whose golden apples Hercules ruthlessly carried off. We are now fairly within the renowned strait which was regarded by the ancients with so much awe as the remote boundary of their world, beyond which all was mystery and fable. On our left are the green hills of Spain, swelling into lofty mountains not far from the shore, with here and there a white village or a picturesque watch-tower. By-and-by we get a glimpse of the mouldering and forlorn ramparts of Tarifa, the most thoroughly Moorish town in Spain, and the most southern in Europe. From this point the Vandals2 were driven across to Africa by the Goths in 417 A.D. At this point Tarif,3 a great Moorish general, after whom Tarifa is named, landed with his army in 711, when he came to conquer the Goths and establish the Moorish kingdom in Spain. Here, finally, Alfonzo XI. overthrew the Moors in a decisive action in 1340. Tarifa is a quaint old town, with its island fortress and lighthouse--fitting 'memento of the fierce struggles in which the inhabitants of the opposing shores engaged. In a few hours we reach the grand fortress of Gibraltar, which keeps stern watch at the gates of the Mediterranean, and forms with the Rock of Ceuta, on the African side, the famous "Pillars of Hercules." Nothing could well be more imposing than the view of Gibraltar from the bay on its western side. Ranges of batteries rising from the shore, tier above tier, extend along its entire sea-front. At the northern extremity is the town. Every nook in the crags bristles with artillery. White barracks and gay villas, 'embowered in gardens and groves, occupy the midway ascent. Above all towers in rugged grandeur the summit of the Rock itself.* No less striking is the contrast which presents itself when we have doubled Europa Point, and look back to the eastern side of the Rock from the bosom of the Mediterranean. The scene which we have quitted was one of busy 'excitement and varied life. Now one long unbroken precipice, 1400 feet in height, (394) * See lesson on The Great Siege of Gibraltar, p. 11. towers above us. There are few signs of vegetation, and none of human habitation, save only the little village of white houses in Catalan Bay, which crouches at the foot of the Rock, as if in constant dread of being crushed by the overhanging masses. Off Cape de Gata, the south-eastern headland of Spain-infamous to the mariner for the squalls that come suddenly down from its lofty crest-we get our last glimpse of the Peninsula, and of its brown, stern, and rugged mountains. As we skirt the African coast we discover the whereabouts of Algiers, now a French colony; then of Tunis, near which is the site of ancient Carthage, so long the rival of Rome for the 'supremacy of the world. Our next stoppage is at Valetta, the port and capital of Malta, where the Knights of St. John triumphed so heroically over the infidel Turk in the sixteenth century. This, like Gibraltar, is now a British possession-one of the ocean towers which emphatically mark England's empire of the seas. Our next port is Alexandria. The castle of Farillon, which serves as our land-mark in approaching the town, occupies the site of the famous Pharos of antiquity. A few miles eastward from it is Aboukir Bay, where Nelson annihilated the French fleet in 1798, and shut up Buonaparte's army in Egypt. Here the literally overland part of our route commences. From Alexandria* we proceed by rail5 to Suez, taking Cairo on our way. Travellers hastening to India have to content themselves with a passing glimpse of Cleopatra's Needles and Pompey's Pillar at the first of these cities, and of the Pyramids in the vicinity of the last.† But the opening of the Suez Canal renders it more than probable that the only truly overland part of the Overland Route will ere long be dispensed with, and that steamers from Southampton will reach India direct by way of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Private vessels, specially adapted to the dimensions of the canal, and carrying both merchandise and passengers, now regularly perform the voyage without break. The adoption of the same course by the mail steamers is only a question of time. The Suez Canal is certainly one of the greatest triumphs of modern engineering. Yet it is only an improvement on a much earlier plan; for it is well known that in the fifth century beforę |