The chief TOWNS are,-Perth, the capital, on the Swan R., having Freemantle for its port. Besides are, Albany on the coast, where coal is shipped by the Australian Mail ships.

The most important PRODUCTIONS are,―copper, lead, gold, coal, iron, timber, wool, and horses.

This has been a penal settlement for a long time.

TASMANIA is separated from Victoria by Bass St. (120 miles), and has Norfolk I. for a dependancy, nearly 1,000 miles off the E. coast of Australia.

It is very elevated, the highest peak being Mt. Humboldt, 5,500 ft.

Owing to the small size of the island, the RIVERS are small, but important; among the most so being the Derwent, the Huon, and Tamar.

CHIEF TOWNS.-Hobart Town, (the capital), on the Derwent; next to which are Launceston and Georgetown.

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PRODUCTIONS.-The climate is mild and agreeable, and the island has been known as the granary of Australia." The people are employed in the South Seas whale fishing; in agriculture, and in stockrearing.

HISTORY.-The island takes its name from its Dutch discoverer, Tasman (1644). For some time it was a British penal settlement.

NEW ZEALAND consists of North Island, South Island, and Stewart I. The larger are separated by Cook's St. There are many important inlets round the coast, among the largest being:-B. of Islands, Hauraki G., B. of Plenty, Hawke B., Port Nicholson, Cook's St., Manukau Hr., and Kaipara Hr., in the N. Id.; with Port Cooper, Ottawa Hr., Port Otago, Molyneux B., Foveaux St. (between S. I. and Stewart I.), Chilly B., Dusky B., and Blind B., in the S. Id.

MOUNTAINS. Both of the larger islands are very mountainous. In the more northern we have three elevated volcanic peaks,-Mt. Egmont (9,000 ft.),

Tongariro (active), and Ruapahu (9,000 ft.). In the S. Id. is Mt. Cook (13,000 ft.).

The only RIVER of any importance is the Waikato, on the W. side of North Island, flowing through L. Taupo.

CHIEF TOWNS.-These are, Auckland (the capital), Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, Christchurch, Dunedin, Port Napier, and Lyttelton.

The PRODUCTIONS are,-hops, tobacco, cereals, maize, figs, timber, wool, gold, &c.

HISTORY.-New Zealand was discovered by Tasman (1642). It became a colony of itself in 1845; and in 1861 the Otago gold discoveries brought in many immigrants.

THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ALREADY GIVEN IN GOVERNMENT EXAMINATIONS:

1. Name, and describe the British possessions in Asia, and mention the exports of each.

2. An English merchant, trading in corn, timber, silk, wool and cotton, wishes to visit those parts of the world from which, or to which, these articles are exported. Make out, in the most convenient order, a list of places to be visited.

3. Write out as complete an account as you can of any one of the British Colonies, mentioning its position, climate, products, and inhabitants.

4. Where is Gibraltar? lesson on it for a first class.

Write the notes of a

5. Where are all the following places? Give a short account of three of them:-Quebec, Jamaica, Melbourne, Singapore, Queensland, Malta, St. Helena, Hudson's Bay, and Caffraria.

6. What are our colonial possessions in America? Give some account of one of them with a little sketch map.

7. Give an account of the Australian continent, our colonies therein, and its general physical features.

8. Describe the great East Indian Peninsula—its river and mountain system.

9. Draw a map of the coast of North America from cape Sable to San Francisco, or of the coast of the Mediterranean sea, or of England, from Berwick to Penzance.

10. Enumerate the different races of men which inhabit the United States, and the localities in which each race has settled. What were the circumstances connected with the first English settlement in that country?

11. Give a short historical notice of Canada, and state what you can of its mineral riches, its forest productions, and its wild animals.

"West

12. State what you understand by the Indies." Enumerate the British, French, and Dutch Islands of North America, and give a short account of the Bahamas.

13. Describe the river system of North America, and more especially the St. Lawrence or the Mississippi,--draw a map of its course.

14. What is the trade between England and (1) New Brunswick, (2) Hudson's Bay Territory, (3) Vancouvers Island, and (4) Newfoundland.

15. Describe the physical features of Hindostan in general outline. What are the most fertile parts of the country, and what are its chief exports to Europe?

16. Mention the chief islands of the eastern Archipelago; by whom they are governed; what changes have taken place in their dependence on European powers; their chief commercial value: Burmah-its divisions, government, inhabitants, and exports.

17. An account of the island of Ceylon-its history and physical features.

18. The divisions of British North America, with their principal towns and rivers.

19. Describe the climate of Canada,—its trees and animals, the inhabitants, and the chief articles of

commerce.

ASIA.

Asia forms the larger part of the land in the Old World, having an area of about 18,000,000 sq. miles, inhabited by nearly half the population on the globe. Its characteristic physical features are,

(1) Its elevated Table-lands (Thibet, Gobi, Shamoo, Iran, Anatolia, and Arabia); and

(2) Its Recipient Lakes (Caspian, Aral, Lob Nor, Urumiah, Tengri, &c.

Its greatest length from N.E. to S.W. is nearly 7,000 miles, and its extreme breadth from E. to W. 5,200 miles.

Europe is really a prolongation of Asia to the W., but Africa is very distinct, though connected with Asia by the Isthmus of Suez.

BOUNDARIES.-On the N., by the Arctic O., the whole of this shore-line lying within the Arctic Circle, 66° N. L. On the E., by the Pacific O. On the S., by the Indian O. On the W., by the Red Sea, Isthmus of Suez, Levant, Grecian Archipelago, Dardanelles, S. of Marmara, Bosporus, Black S., Caucasus Mts. Caspian S., R. Ural, Ural Mts., R. and G. of Kara.

MOUNTAINS. The mountain axis of Asia runs generally in an E. and W. direction from the central knot or elevated Table-land of Pamir; forming the Himalayas, which are a south fringe to the elevated plateau of Thibet, being separated from the valley of the Ganges by a chain of inferior height, serving as outliers or a bulwark as it were to this most elevated mountain range on the globe. Its highest peaks are, -Mt. Everest, 29,000 ft.; Kunchinjinga, 28,180 ft.; Dhawhalagiri, 27,000 ft.

The mountain ranges of Central Asia have been as yet but imperfectly determined, and the views of geographers have had to be considerably modified with respect to them. Humboldt's view of these was that there were five ranges, of which the Altai, the Thian Shan, the Kuen Lun, and the Himalayas run

rally E. and W., the former two slightly approach