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vens, and leading the solitary shepherd's thoughts back to the hills of his native Britain, and to the loved ones who dwell there. Among the mahogany trees of Brazil, numerous monkeys grin and chatter as they swing from branch to branch in their sportive moods. The llama and alpaca yield their wool to the inhabitants of Peru, and carry heavy burdens over the lofty passes of the Andes. On the pampas of La Plata, the Indians, so expert on horseback, dash among the immense herds of wild horses and cattle, and capture their leaders by a dexterous use of the lasso.

In the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America, the reindeer transports his owner in safety over the yielding snow. Its milk yields him cheese, its flesh supplies him with food, its sinews with thread and fishing lines, its horns with spoons, and its skin with clothing. The chamois leaps from crag to crag, or looks fearlessly down the most awful precipices of Switzerland. The snows of the Arctic regions are covered with the footprints of fur-bearing animals, and the districts round Hudson's Bay supply myriads of them with food. There the sable with its coveted fur burrows under the roots of trees; the beaver builds its dome-shaped house, and stores up its winter food; foxes, black, silver, red, white, and blue, display their proverbial cunning; the walrus fiercely defends itself against the polar bear, and the ever-watchful seal dreads the same assailant's approach.

But in whatever part of the world an animal may have its habitat, it will always be found that some, if not all, of the plants of the locality are specially designed to supply its wants, while the animal itself, whether it can be easily domesticated or not, has been placed there by its Creator to serve some useful purpose to the inhabitants of the country in which it roams at large.

EXERCISE.-6. PARSING, ETC.

1. Write out the words that are of the common gender in the first two paragraphs. 2. Give the feminines of the nouns :-horse, dog, tiger, lion, hunter, shepherd.

3. Change the following phrases into others with a possessive case: The burning sands of the desert; the cold of winter; the influence of climate; the claws of its assailants; fragrant myrtles of Australia; the thoughts of the solitary shepherds; the mahogany trees of Brazil; the lofty passes of the Andes; in the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America; under the roots of the trees.

BRITISH INDIA.

mil-i-ta-ry [L, miles, a soldier], like war, pertaining to arms, consisting of soldiers. grad-u-al [L. gradus, a step], by degrees, regular and slow, step by step. ter-ri-tor-ies [L. terra, the earth], large tracts of land, dominions. prod-ucts [L., pro, from or forth; duco, to lead], things brought forth or yielded by the soil, as plants and fruits of all kinds, and minerals.

THE British Empire abroad comprises our colonies and possessions. The former are chiefly inhabited by people of British descent, while the latter are kept in subjection by a civil and military force, that hold to the natives an inferior position in point of numbers. Gained, as many of our possessions have been, at the point of the sword, the history of their acquisition forms an interesting portion of the annals of our country.

The most interesting of all our territories, so far as the story of its gradual conquest is concerned, undoubtedly is India, the land of barbaric pearl and gold. The names of Lord Clive, Warren Hastings, Wellington, and Sir Colin Campbell, have shed a lustre round the story of Indian warfare, and given it an undying place in our history.

Our connection with India dates from the year 1600, when Queen Elizabeth granted to certain merchants the exclusive right of trading in its products. The East India Company thus formed, soon established several factories or trading stations on the west coast, the first settlement being made in 1612, at Surat, a town about 150 miles north of Bombay. Since then nearly the whole country-having an extent of more than twelve times the British isles-has passed into our hands by treaty or conquest. The government was administered by the East India Company till November, 1858, when it passed into the hands of the Queen, who assumed the title of Empress of India.

British India is divided into five parts, or presidenciesBengal in the north-east; Madras in the south; Bombay in the west; the Punjab in the north-west; and the NorthWest Provinces, between the Punjab and Bengal. In each of these are many large and flourishing towns. Calcutta, the seat of government and the residence of the Viceroy of India, with a population of 600,000, stands on the Hoogly,

a branch of the Ganges. It consists of two parts-the native town, which is crowded and filthy, and the European portion, with wide streets and handsome buildings. About 250 miles from Calcutta is a celebrated temple, where formerly many of the Hindoos sacrificed themselves beneath the ponderous wheels of the car of Juggernaut. Madras, on the Coromandel coast, suffers from the want of a harbour, but that of Bombay is the finest in India. Bombay is a place of great trade, and, commercially, perhaps our most important city in the east. The principal city in the Punjab is Lahore, and in the North-West Provinces are Lucknow, Delhi, and Cawnpore, all conspicuous for the thrilling events of which they were the scene during the mutiny in 1857.

The physical features of India are remarkable for the boldness of their character. The Himalayas form the northern boundary, rising in Mount Everest to a height of five-and-a-half miles. From these mountains flow forth numerous rivers, which water northern India. The Ganges, the Brahmapootra, and the Indus, with their various tributaries, form a magnificent water system. The Indus may be said to occupy the north-west part of India. Part of the country through which it flows is called the Punjab, from the fact that it is watered by five rivers-the Sutlej, the Beas, Chenab, Ravee, and Jhelum. The banks of the Indus are memorable as the scene of Alexander the Great's exploits in India, and there he is said to have sat down and wept because he had vanquished everything, and had no more worlds to conquer. The Sanpoo, or Brahmapootra, rises on the northern side of the Himalayas, and, after a rapid course round the eastern extremity of these mountains, unites itself with the water of the Ganges. The Ganges has a south-eastern course, discharging itself by many mouths into the Bay of Bengal. The valley through which it flows is exceedingly fertile, and yields rich crops of rice, indigo, and opium. The district round the mouth of the river, known as the Sunderbunds, is covered with jungle and forest, the haunt of tigers and crocodiles. In the eyes of the Hindoo, the Ganges is a sacred stream; he makes long journeys to behold it, and bathes in its waters

with the firm belief that they possess the power to cleanse from sin.

Southern India forms a table-land known as the Deccan, enclosed by the Eastern and Western Ghauts and the Vindhya mountains. The shores of this part of the country are called on the east the Coromandel coast, and the Malabar coast on the west. This district is not so fruitful as the north; large portions remain uncultivated, but teak and other trees are found in abundance. Cotton, which grows here towards the west, is of a much coarser quality than that of America, but during the recent struggle in the United States it was in great demand. The price rose rapidly, and enormous sums were realized by the merchants of western India. Since the settlement of American affairs the value of Indian cotton has rapidly diminished, and many of the speculators have suffered enormous loss.

The religion of the people of India is idolatry. Their chief god is Brahma, from which Brahminism derives its name. It is a system which requires many of its devotees to subject themselves to cruel tortures, and from its close connection with the Ganges, may be described as a local religion. There are many other idols before which the deluded people bow themselves down; and other systems of superstition are found flourishing in India. Many of the people are followers of Mahomet, an Arabian enthusiast, who founded a system of religion which is now embraced by the greater part of the population of Western Asia. We have long continued to send out missionaries to preach among the heathen, but the fruit of their labour has not been great, when we take the enormous numbers of the people into consideration.

The Hindoos believe in the immortality of the soul, but they also put faith in its transmigration or removal from body to body. It was long a custom with the Indian widows to burn themselves on the same pile which consumed the remains of their husbands. The Hindoo religion made this act a meritorious one, giving promise of heavenly blessings to all who thus martyred themselves. British law interfered, however, and now the suttees, as these dreadful

sacrifices were called, are forbidden within the limits of our Indian territories.

CEYLON, which forms a part of our Indian empire, lies off the south-east coast, separated from the main land by Palk's Passage. Even while the rest of India was under the power of the East India Company, this island formed a direct colony of the British crown. It is remarkable chiefly for its cinnamon and coffee, but the coast is also celebrated for its pearl fishery. The Portuguese and Dutch were the earliest settlers, but the British rule was established in the year 1819.

India has recently been the scene of a severe struggle between the natives and the resident Europeans. On the hundredth anniversary of the battle of Plassey, which was fought in 1757, the natives endeavoured to extirpate the white population. Their plans for a general slaughter were well arranged, but an overruling Providence prevented their completion. The Indian mutiny, as it was called, will long be remembered for the danger which our civil and military power then encountered, and no less for the prompt measures by which the peril was happily averted.

EXERCISE.-7. COMPOSITION.

1. Make a list of (a) persons, and (b) places named in this lesson. 2. Distinguish in your own words between colonies and possessions, and give us an illustration of each.

3. Describe in your own words the peculiarities of the Hindoo religion. 4. Re-write the second paragraph, altering as many of the words as possible.

THE SPIDER AND THE BEE.

JONATHAN SWIFT.*

mag-ni-tude [L. magnitudo, from magnus, great], size, bulk, extent of dimensions. de-struc-tion [L. destruo, from de, down; struo, to build], death, ruin, demolition, the act of pulling down. in-fin-ite [L. in, not; finis, an end], without end, innumerable, countless.

UPON the highest corner of a large window, there dwelt a certain spider, swollen up to the first magnitude by the destruction of an infinite number of flies, whose spoils lay

* JONATHAN SWIFT, a celebrated Irish divine and writer, was born at Dublin, in 1667. He was made Dean of St. Patrick's in 1713, and held

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