The lines of latitude are from east to west; on a map you also see lines from north to south, these are lines of longitude, a word meaning length, and they measure time. The Earth turns once round every twenty-four hours; there must in consequence be a great difference in the time of different places as they happen to be east or west of each other: thus, when it is twelve o'clock in the day at London it is twelve o'clock at night in some parts of the Pacific ocean. The lines of longitude tell us the difference of time in each place. Three hundred and sixty of these go round the globe, divided into two parts of one hundred and eighty each; every degree of longitude is equal to four minutes of time, and every fifteen degrees equal to one hour. By means of the latitude and longitude we can easily find any place on a map, or globe.

We have mentioned the equator as a great line dividing the globe from east to west into two equal parts; the parts thus divided are called the northern and southern hemispheres. The equator is sometimes called the equinoctial* line, because the days and nights there are nearly of the same length, twelve hours each, throughout the year. Latitude is reckoned north and south from the equator to the poles. Longitude, with English people, generally begins from London. Thus the people of Bath, Bristol, and Manchester are in north latitude, and west longitude.

The Sun appears to go round the earth in an elliptical or oval course: this path of the sun is called the ecliptic, and extends twenty-three degrees and a half each side of the equator. The ends of the ecliptic are called Tropics; the northern is the Tropic of Cancer, and the southern the Tropic of Capricorn.

*This word signifies equal-night.

The word tropic means return, because the sun appears to come to these points and then to return. The sun comes to the tropic of Cancer about the twenty-first of June, and then is our longest day; and to the tropic of Capricorn on the twenty-first of December, our shortest day.

The polar-circles are each twenty-three degrees and a half from the poles. The north is called the Arctic circle, or Circle of the Bear, because the nearest to those beautiful stars in the north of the heavens, Ursa Major, or the Greater Bear. The south is called the Antarctic circle, which means opposite to the Arctic.

The spaces on the earth between these circles are named zones, or bands. There are five zones; two Frigid, two Temperate, and one Torrid.

The Torrid zone lies between the Tropics, and is forty-seven degrees or about three thousand two hundred miles broad. Torrid means burning hot, and this zone is so called on account of the great heat always felt there. The sun is nearly and sometimes quite over head to some part or other of this zone. Yet some of the most fruitful countries of the earth are in it, and it is from these countries we get all our sugar, tea, coffee, and spices, with a great deal of our cotton, indigo, and rice. These things will grow only in very hot countries, Most of the wild and fierce beasts that are carried about here for shows are found in the torrid zone; and from it come also the immense elephant and hippopotamus, the playful monkies, the chattering parrots and a number of beautifully coloured birds. The trees grow to a very great size, and the grass is sometimes higher than a man. The seasons of the torrid zone are not divided into hot and cold like ours, but dry and wet. For six months in the year hardly any rain falls, and the sun shines so bright and warm as almost to burn up every

B*

thing; and for nearly the other six months there are terrible storms, the rain comes down in torrents and makes the rivers overflow their banks, the winds tear up the strongest trees, and together with the water lay waste the country for miles round.

The two Temperate zones lie between the Tropics and the Polar circles, and are each forty three degrees or about three thousand miles broad. They contain the most beautiful parts of the globe, especially the north temperate zone, in which we live. The countries in this zone are remarkable for fertility and producing the most useful fruits of the earth. The air is also much more pleasant and healthy than in the others. The sun never shines directly overhead to any part of this zone, therefore its heat is not so overpowering as nearer the Equator. Yet the parts near the Tropics are very warm, and the fruits growing there as fine. The people of the temperate zones are also more industrious, more civilized, and generally speaking more virtuous than those of the torrid.

The two Frigid zones extend from the polar circles to the poles, and are so called from the great cold that prevails in them; they are each twenty-three degrees and a half or a little more than sixteen hundred miles broad. It is only in the north frigid zone that land has been discovered. No one has been able to approach the poles, on account of the extreme cold and the ice. We might think the people of these countries to be very wretched, and certainly we should not like to live in the midst of everlasting ice and snow, where scarcely any thing grows, and where the nights last from one to six months. Yet remember, little friends, that God is even there, and it is a proof of his great goodness that he has made these poor people so very happy and so contented with their lot as to think their country the finest in the world.

There if they have long nights they have also long days; for their days are equal to their nights, and from one to six months they never see the sun set. Some of these people build huts of snow and ice, and make them very warm and comfortable inside. They wrap themselves up in the skins of bears and reindeer, and pass their time in hunting and fishing, having in the nights quite light enough for their sports, the moon and stars shining with uncommon brightness. It is said that when they know the sun is about to appear again, they go to the tops of their highest hills to get the first sight of his glorious face, and the moment they see him they make all kinds of noises by shouting, clapping their hands, and playing on instruments of music. We are born in happier lands than they are, but we must not despise them, rather let us give thanks to our heavenly Father for his great goodness to us, and pray that these the children of his providence may also become the children of his grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Earth consists of land and water. There is considerably more water than land. Could we divide the earth into three equal parts we should find that two of these parts were water, and one part land. Yet a very great part even of the land has no people living on it; and were there ten times as many people on the earth as there now are, there would be room enough for all.

The Water is divided into Oceans, Seas, Channels, Bays, Lakes, and Rivers.

The Land consists of Continents, Islands, Peninsulas, and Isthmuses. We speak also of Countries, Empires, and Kingdoms.

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An Ocean is a very large extent of water. are five Oceans; the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic Oceans. The Pacific is the largest of

all, covering more space than all the land put together. It is between Asia and America, and is called the Pacific or peaceful ocean because few storms happen on it. The Atlantic is the next largest ocean, and separates Europe and Africa from America. The InIdian Ocean is to the south of Asia. The Arctic and Antarctic Oceans are those that surround the two poles.

A Sea is smaller than an ocean.

A Channel is a narrow sea between two countries; and a Strait is narrower still, joining two seas together.

A Bay is a part of the sea surrounded on all sides but one by land; and a Gulf is a narrow bay running some way into the land.

A Lake is water nearly or entirely surrounded by land. Most salt water lakes are called seas.

Rivers, we all know, are streams of fresh water running from the land to the sea. They usually rise in mountains, and are mere springs at first, but a number of these springs running one into another form small streams or rivulets, these again meeting gradually become large enough to be called rivers. Some of them are more than a hundred miles wide at their mouths or the places where they enter the sea.

As an Ocean is the largest extent of water, so is a Continent the largest extent of land. Properly speaking, there are but two Continents, the Old, containing Europe, Asia, and Africa; and the New, containing North and South America: but we usually call each of these continents; making four, to which some people add Australia, or five in all.

An Island is land wholly surrounded by water, just as a lake is wholly surrounded by land.

A Peninsula is land surrounded by water on all sides but one; like a bay, which is water surrounded by land on all but one of its sides.