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out of the physical, is also seen in the diverse application of the work, for, as we have just read of preventive medicine, so in dymity you may read of "prevenient grace."

These remarks, illustrations of which occur in what has just preceded and will occur in what is about to follow, may serve to show you that language must be studied genealogically. Indeed, every word has a history; and in the dictionaries, every account given of a word ought to be a complete history of the word; a history of its origin, uses, and application, the one traced from the other logically, or according to the laws of thought, and philologically, or agreeably to the laws of language. Very different, and very inferior, is the character of most dictionaries. But to return to the subject of English prefixes.

E, of Latin, or rather Greek origin, in the forms e, ef, ex, denotes out of, as in egress (e and gradior, Lat. I walk), a walking out; ercess (er and cedo, Lat. I go), a going beyond—that is, too far; effect (ef and facio, Lat. I do), a thing made out, produced; a result.

E. "All occasions must be taken of sending forth pious heavenly ejaculations to God."-Bishop Hall.

Ex. "The ecclesiastical courts possessed the power of pronouncing ercommunication; and that sentence, besides the spiritual consequences supposed to follow from it, was attended with immediate effects of the most important nature. The person excommunicated was shunned by every one as profane and impious; and his whole estate, during his lifetime, and all his movables, for ever were forfeited to the crown."-Hume, "History of England.”

Ef. "Two white sparry incrustations, with efflorescences in form of shrubs, formed by the trickling of water."-Woodward, On Fossils."

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En is a prefix found in the English, the French, and the Greek languages. Into the English it appears to have come from the Latin, through the French. Many words of Latin origin have passed through the French into the English. En is the form in Greek. In Latin, en becomes in. In French, both en and in are used. The same is the case with the English. Though en and in are the same particle, it may be advisable to handle them separately, in order that their respective usages may become apparent.

En is found in the forms en, em. The prefix signifies in or into, e.g. :

Not unto such as could him feast againe,

And double quite for that he on them spent;
But such as want of harbour did constraine,
Those, for God's sake, his dewty was to entertaine,"
Spenser, "Faerie Queene."

Epi, a prefix of Greek origin, from er (ep'-i), signifying upon, as epidemic, upon or over (widely spread over) a people. Endemic declares that a disease is in-born, native to the soil; epidemic that it is very prevalent. Epi is found in epigram (40) and the Greek ypauua, pronounced gram'-ma, a writing, from the verb ypapw [graph'-o], I write), epilepsy (epi and Ania, pronounced leap'-si-a, a taking), epiphany (epi and Greek paira, pronounced phai'-no or fi'-no, I appear), epistle (epi and σrew, pronounced stel'-lo, to send), etc. etc.

"He that would write an epitaph for thee,
And do it well, must first begin to be
Such as thou wert; for none can truly know

Thy worth, thy life, but he that hath lived so."-Donne. Equi, of Latin origin (æquus, equal), denoting equality, forms part of several words, as equipoise (equi and peser, Fr. to weigh; pendere, Lat. to hang), equity; equivocal (equi and vox, Lat. e voice).

"Faith! here's an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough in God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven; oh, come in, equivocator."--Shakespeare, "Macbeth."

Es, of French origin (Lat. e, ex), is in English found in words borrowed from the French, as in escalade (es and scala, Lat. a ladder), a scaling (of a city), escape (Fr. échapper, to get cray), escheat (old Fr. escheoir, to fall due), a forfeit, eschew (old Fr. eschever, to shun), escutcheon (es and scutum, Lat. a shield). "Hence without blushing (say whate'er we can) We more regard the escutcheon than the man; Yet, true to nature and her instincts, prize The hound or spaniel as his talent lies."-Cawthorn. Eu, of Greek origin (ev, pronounced you), signifying well, occurs in euphony (eu and the Greek own, pronounced pho-ne a sound), euthanasia (eu and the Greek @avaтos, pronounced than'-a-tos, death), a happy death; the eu in eunuch is a part of

"He (Samson) rises and carries away the gates wherein they thought the word; eunuch being from the Greek evvn, pronounced u'-ne, to have encaged him."-Bishop Hall.

So in encamp, encase, enchain, enchant, enclose (or inclose), en-
demic (en and demos, Gr. a people), peculiar to a district. En
sometimes has an intensive or augmentive effect on the verb of
which it forms a part; as in encourage, enfeeble, enkindle
(candle), encrease (increase), encumber (incumber, from the
French encombre, Lat. cumulus, a heap).

"Encumbered soon with many a painful wound,
Tardy and stiff he treads the hostile round;
Gloomy and fierce his eyes the crowd survey,
Mark where to fix and single out the prey."

Rowe, "Pharsalia."

En has also, though seldom, the force of a negative; as in enemy. Enemy is from the Latin inimicus, where the English en represents the Latin in. Inimicus is made up of in, not; and amicus, a friend.

En, for the sake of euphony, becomes em before b and p; embitter, emblem, embosom, embroil, emprison (imprison), employ, empoverish (impoverish).

"At eve within yon studious nook,

I

ope my brass-embosséd book,

Pourtrayed with many a holy deed,

Of martyrs crowned with heavenly meed."-Warton.

There is a tendency to substitute i for e in many words. This tendency deserves encouragement, if only for the sake of uniformity.

Enter, coming from the Latin (intra, within) through the French (entre, between, among), is found in enterprise (enter and Fr prendre. Lat. prehendere, to take, to take hold of), an under

also in exterment (in and terra, Lat. the earth), now sa interment. It is found also in entertain (Fr. inter and tenere, to hold).

os was to give entertainment vakging unto all that came and went,

a bed, and exw, ek'-o, to have, or have charge of; eunuchs were chamberlains. Men were made eunuchs by the jealousy of Eastern despots. They were also made so in order to give them a contralto voice. The latter fact is well alluded to in this quotation:

"Our present writers, for the most part, seem to lay the whole stress in their endeavours upon the harmony of words; but then, like eunuchs, they sacrifice their manhood for a voice, and reduce our poetry to be like echo, nothing but a sound."-Lansdown, "Peleus and Thetis."

Ever, of Saxon origin, signifying always, is seen in everlasting, evermore; evermore appears in the older writers as evermo.

"I shall readily grant that the words for ever and ever-lasting do not always, in Scripture, signify an endless duration."-Barte”,

"Sermons."

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For, of Saxon origin, whose original is probably found in the German ver, which denies and reverses the action expressed in the verb, occurs in forbid (not to bid; that is, to bid not). "Rather how hast thou yielded to transgress, The strict forbiddance, how to violate

The sacred fruit forbidd'n."-Milton, "Paradise Lost." For is found also in forbear, not to bear or take; to abstain. "Phidias, when he had made the statue of Minerva, could not far. bear to engrave his own name, as author of the piece."-Dryden,

Fore, a different word from the preceding, of Saxon origin (vor,

RECREATIVE NATURAL HISTORY.

Gerin, in advance; vorwarts, Germ., forwards), appears in foretell, forecast, forefathers, forehead.

"The foreknower is not the cause of all that are foreknown."

Hemmond.

In forgive (Germ. vergeben), the idea seems to be that of giving away, giving without a return, giving freely, and hence to pardon (Fr. pardonner, in low Lat. perdonare).

"Not soon provoked, however stung and teased, And if perhaps made angry, soon appeased; She rather waves, than will dispute her right, And injured makes forgiveness her delight."-Couper. Hept, of Greek origin (eTα, pronounced hep'-ta, seven), forms the first syllable of heptagon (Greek yovia, pronounced gon'-i-a, an ongle), that which has seven angles, and consequently seven sides; and heptarchy (Greek apyn, pronounced ar'ke, government), a sevenfold government.

Seven independent thrones, the Saxon heptarchy, were founded by

the conquerors."—Gibbon.

RECREATIVE NATURAL HISTORY.—I.

THE SNAIL.

Ir is to be feared that there are not many among us who are disposed to regard the little animals that may be classed among the "common objects" of our fields, gardens, and even houses, with the same attention and curiosity as we examine the form and inquire into the habits of a lion, elephant, or gorilla, fresh from the deserts of Africa or the jungles of Asia, or a walrus tely brought from northern climes. And yet the beasts that find a hiding-place in our woods and thickets, the birds that fill the air with melody at the approach of spring, and the insects that often destroy our best and choicest fruits and blossoms, are as "fearfully and wonderfully made" as the larger animals foreign lands-ay, even as ourselves, for whose use, or pleasure, or perchance correction, they were created. Each has been called into being for some wise end by the Maker of us all, even though our limited knowledge may fail to discover its atility, and the purpose which it serves in the economy of Nature. The structure and habits of each beast or bird or insect, however small, however unattractive in appearance, claim our consideration as much as the graceful figure of the antelope or giraffe, or the instinct and docility of the horse or dog; and as a lesson may be learnt from each and all, more potent in its teaching than the precepts of the best of all books save one, we invite the attention of our readers to our studies ia Natural History, which may be termed recreative in two nes-first, as they will do much to relieve the strain that our lessons in languages, mathematics, and science may exert on the mind of the student; and secondly, in the first and truest meaning of the word, as by a thoughtful inspection of some of God's lesser works, we may renew from time to time and build again what we may have lost of our reverential love of Him without whom not even a sparrow falls to the ground unnoticed or uncared for.

In such a spirit, then, we introduce to the notice of our aders the snail, an animal that finds small favour, generally speaking, with those who love their gardens.

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We will imagine that while strolling round your garden or in the fields you have just picked up a snail. Hold him tenderly, and not long in your hand, or you may make him very wretched. How so? Remember his body is cold, your hand is hot, almost like a furnace to him, and the temperature must be enough to make him faint. In truth, while on a human hand the snail mast feel about as comfortable as St. Lawrence on his gridiron. Besides, St. Lawrence gained honour and applause for his anffering, but no such reward awaits the snail; so, out of a kindly feeling, do not keep him long in the hot hand.

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Then how shall we observe our friend and study his comfort also? Get a piece of clean window-glass, and place the snail upon it. He will hold firmly to the glass with his broad, expanded, sucker-like foot. Then, by looking at the gentleman through the glass, as he moves along, the reader will be able to note the mode in which such animals walk, mark the wave-like motions of the foot on the glass, and remember that all softbodied animals with a foot like the snail's, are named Gasteropods, a word which means "having the feet and belly joined," and which is derived from the Greek yaoтnp (gas-teer'), the belly, and Tovs (pous), a foot.

Having noticed the sucker-like foot, and tested the force with which it clings to the glass, let us look at the head of our snail. The first noticeable objects are what children call the horns or feelers. Look closely at them. What is that black shining speck on the top of each feeler? The eye of the snail, according to the judgment of most naturalists. Strange sort of eye, which can thus be lifted up above the body, when its owner wants to take a survey of the world. If we want to obtain a wider view, we get on an elevation; the snail manages matters in another manner, he lifts up the eye itself. As the snail contemplates one of us through those black specks, the question rises, is he not terribly frightened at a being having an eye as large as his whole body? However, unfortunately, in the present state of snail education, it is impossible to impart his views to us, so we will let that topic pass.

Touch the tip of his feeler; see how ingeniously he tucks the whole machine into its case, just as the top of the finger of a glove is turned in sometimes, when the glove is drawn off. Now wait awhile; see, the tube is pushed out again, and the eye is slowly rolled out from its remarkable hiding-place. Have you a pair of scissors in your hand? Would you like to cut off those feeters, eyes and all? No, some will say, respect even a snail's feelings. Others may answer yes, cut them off, if we shall get any knowledge by so doing; we do not believe such creatures feel pain. Well, you cannot prove they do not feel when thus treated, that's certain; and it shows a better heart to believe they suffer when injured. Those who believe in Shakespeare will probably take this view. They will remember his remark that a worm when crushed feels as much pain as when a giant dies. However, we will dare to be rather cruel for once only; we will do violence to our tender feelings, and, earnestly begging the snail's pardon, we cut off both feelers at one snip of the scissors. Now we have killed the snail, have we not? At least we have blinded him for life? Indignant the snail is certainly; see how he goes back into the innermost part of his house. He may well retire from a world which treats him thus. Now what will be the result? If the snail be in good health, and the operation be not performed too late in the year, that poor despicable-looking creature will begin to form a new pair of eyes and feelers in about twenty-five days. This operation was often performed on a great number of snails by Spallanzani, a celebrated Italian naturalist of the last century. Such a reproduction of organs proves the possession of singular vital powers in so lowly a creature. But Spallanzani and others have gone beyond this. They repeatedly cut off the heads of snails, and those heads, with all their organs, have been in a few months reproduced! That is a power which some men might have envied. Even the little finger of a human being when cut off is gone for life; no power of making a fresh one grow on the old place belongs to the greatest philosopher on the earth. Yet here we have a poor despised creature often able to recover its lost head, eyes, feelers, and mouth. The snail beats us all on such a work, beyond doubt.

Let us not forget the mouth of the snail. It is an instrument capable of doing no light work, as those know to whose gardens the animal pays its unwelcome visits. The two lips are formed of a horny substance, which acts in the manner of a file on vegetables. The tough leaves of the white lily are often rasped off in a few nights by this cutting machine. If any one should be desirous of examining minutely the structure of the snail's mouth, he will find some fine specimens in the Physiological Gallery of the Hunterian Museum in the College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Of the snail's brain we may just make this remark, that the complete nervous system of the creature's first cousin, the slug, is to be seen in the same museum, and Professor Owen has given a learned description of the whole. Both snails and

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are preceded by ai, ei,

the receive a sound very different vie and In the former case, an mailed from their peculiar sound. farmers are well acquainted. Lastrating the sound by

V pra to the letters lli in the Ingrish words collier, billiard, brilmoudre any one of these words very In the see the peculiar sound of the TR 38 x Bid sound which is illusmilar sommi zi șim the word seraglio.

wets horizing bynd sounds, observe the follow

Lance the ether a before and ill as a in the Parace the leere before and ill as a in the

ICI

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of the following examples of Saepe of many of them is scarcely De sus the mer fant echo of the voice. scami. like pin the English word seraglio.

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To abuse.

Alarin-clock.
Furrow.
San.

Taber.

Whirlsind.

Labour.

But there is another very diferent and common method of creature becomes drowsy, and makes g 10 mi 1 a ing genomong the qui sound astrated in the preceding sleep. Home bury themelves in the grand others

sheltered corners, But note the perparation for the winter. Home perjem retire deeply into the shell baller ty tner ce five thin walls of lime at the extrazne so that the stim completely blocked up and separated from the outside world Having performed this building frat, the small buls good-bye to all care and sorrow, dropping into a comfortable seep, for the whole winter. Some of these are indeed rudely roused from slumber by hungry birds, which, discovering the shells, drive their beaks through the thin walls, and tearing out the luckiess enail, devour him before he has time to awake.

Are nails of any use at all? Readers who wish for variety of food may make wholesome soup of their bodies. Start it

Is and man is the ease with which it may be anured It canna be stigmatised as absolutely vicious, though 11 be, at least in our opinion, inclegant. prozzamaste just spoken of, viz:— The full wing examples will be used to illustrate the kind of

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PROSTECIATION.
A-gabe-y

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Boo-tar-r

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ENGLISH.
Needle.
Belal Beef.

Bottle.

Spoon.
Arm-chair.

Currant.
Wall.

at the proposal; one species of snail was eaten in England in Speaking of these different methods of pronouncing the the time of Elizabeth, and a snail feast" is said to be still, the following opinion is taken from Bolmar's “Levizac's celebrated on special days by some trades in the North of French Grammar, namely:England. A modern cookery book describes no less than twelve modes of preparing the animals for food. reader anxious to try a dish? Is any Then take our recipe: Get a sufficient quantity, according to appetite, of the edible snail (Heie pomatia is the learned name), boil them in spring water, then strew pepper and salt over-and dine. The Emperor Nero is said to have preferred them fried; any reader who pleases can, of course, try them that way.

Our friends will bear in mind that we purposely avoid in these articles technical descriptions of species and genera, deep physiological discussion, and anatomical details. object is to call attention to the richly varied facts which are to Our main be seen in every field and garden throughout the year. There is much to excite wonder, and remind us of our infinite Creator in the meanest creatures of the waters, land, or air.

"This last pronunciation being the easiest of the two, has been adopted by so many people in France, that it is no longer mend the former, not only on account of its correctness, but considered a fault, except by grammarians. However, I recom also on account of its being a sound very common to the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese languages, in which languages this sound does not a imit of any variation. It is represented in the Spanish by 11, in the Italian by gli, and in the Portuguese by lh." Its correct sound is peculiar, and by no means difficult to bagnio, mignonette, and rignette. attain. It is the sound of the letters gn in the English words

81. GN.-This liquid is much used in the French language.

ing, at the same time, the peculiar sound of the letters gå, Pronounce the word mignonette correctly and carefully, observ which will be the correct sound of this liquid.

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ENGLISH.
Indian potato.
Igneous.
Fire-worshipper.

Fire-vomiting.

FRENCH.

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Ignition.

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Fire-eating.

A native.

Stagnant.
Stagnation.

Les fleurs sont l'ornement des jar- Flowers are the ornament of gardens. dins.

Les fleurs des jardins de ce château. The flowers of the gardens of this villa.

Avez-vous l'intention de visiter la Do you intend visiting France?

France ?

J'ai l'intention de visiter l'Italie.
Le Capitaine Dumont est-il ici ?
Le Major Guillaume est chez lui.
Voyez-vous Madame votre mère ?
Je vois Monsieur votre frère.
Mon frère n'aime pas les louanges.

I intend visiting Italy.

Is Captain Dumont here?
Major William is at home.
Do you see your mother?
I see your brother.

My brother is not fond of praises.
VOCABULARY.

Aim-er, 1, to be fond of, | Cerise, f., cherry.

to like.

Apport-er, 1, to bring.
Bois, m., wood, forest.
Capitaine, m., captain.
Caporal, m., corporal.

Demeur-er, 1, to dwell, Légume, m., vegetable.

live.

Etudi-er, 1, to study.
Fleur, f., flower.
Fraise, f., strawberry.

EXERCISE 51.

Framboise,f., raspberry.

Loin, far.

Lundi, m., Monday.

Pêche, f., peach.

Prune, f., plum.

1. Aimez-vous le pain ou la viande? 2. J'aime le pain, la viande et le fruit. 3. Avons-nous des pêches dans notre jar din? 4. Nous y avons des pêches, des fraises, des framboises et des cerises. 5. Monsieur votre frère aime-t-il les cerises ?

6. Il n'aime guère les cerises, il préfère les prunes. 7. Avez

Name of a sacred hymn. vous des légumes? 8. Je n'aime point les légumes. 9. Nous n'avons ni légumes ni fruits. (Sect. VI. 3, 4.) 10. Nous n'aimons ni les légumes ni les fruits. 11. Allez-vous tous les jours dans le bois de Monsieur votre frère ? 12. Je n'y vais pas tous les jours. 13. Votre sœur apporte-t-elle les fleurs? 14. Elle les apporte. 15. Madame votre mère apporte-t-elle des fleurs? 16. Elle en apporte tous les Lundis. 17. Voyez-vous le Général Bertrand? 18. Je ne le vois pas, je vois le Caporal Duchêne. 19. Mesdemoiselles vos sœurs sont-elles fatiguées ? 20. Mes sœurs sont fatiguées d'étudier.

To the above may be added a few proper names.

SECTION XXVIII.-USE OF THE ARTICLE [§ 77].

1. The article le, la, les, as already stated, is used in French efore nouns taken in a general sense.

sjardins sont les ornements des villages et des campagnes,

Gardens are the ornaments of villages
and of rural districts.

EXERCISE 52.

2. The article is also used in French, as in English, before and my brother is fond of books. 3. Is he wrong to like books? 1. Does your sister like flowers? 2. My sister likes flowers, wans taken in a particular sense.

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4. No, Sir, he is right to like books and flowers. 5. Have you many flowers in your garden? 6. We have many flowers and much fruit. 7. Is your cousin fond of raspberries? 8. My

3. It is also used before abstract nouns, before verbs and cousin is fond of raspberries and strawberries. 9. Is the capadjectives used substantively.

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tain fond of praises? 10. He is not fond of praises. 11. Has
the gardener brought you vegetables? 12. He has brought me
vegetables and fruit.* 13. Is he ashamed to bring you vege-
tables? 14. He is neither ashamed nor afraid to sell vegetables.
15. Is your mother tired? 16. My mother is not tired? 17.
Is your brother at Colonel D.'s ? 18. He lives at Colonel D.'s,
but he is not at home at present (à présent). 19. How many
peaches have you? 20. I have not many peaches, but I have
many plums. 21. Does Captain B. like peaches? 22. He likes
peaches, plums, raspberries, and strawberries.
23. Are you
going into (dans) your brother's wood? 24. I go there every
morning. 25. Is General L. here? 26. No, Sir, he is not here,
he is at your cousin's.

LESSONS IN GEOGRAPHY.-IX.
DISCOVERIES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

THE Russian Admiral Krusenstern, in 1804-5, made an ex-
ploratory voyage in Oceania, which enlarged our hydrographical
knowledge of the Pacific Ocean. In 1819, Bellinghausen
re-visited a part of Polynesia, and made additions to some of
the groups.
About the same period, Freycinet discovered Rose
Island, and solved some interesting questions relating to those
distant seas. In 1823 and 1824, Captain Duperré made some
additional discoveries in Polynesia, and re-explored the Papuan
group and New Zealand. Captain Lütke, of the Imperial
Russian Marine, who navigated the seas of Oceania, discovered
some new islands in the Caroline group, and Olimarau, between
them and the Ladrone Islands. In 1831-32, Captain Laplace,

of the French sloop of war La Favorite, visited the coasts of
Arabia and other countries washed by the Indian Ocean and
China Sea; while about the same time Captain Du Petit-Thouars,
of the Venus, made surveys along the shores of Kamtchatka, Cali-
fornia, and Australia. The Russian Admiral, Krusenstern, also

* The student must not forget that the article is repeated before every noun.

made additions to the geography of the Kurile Isles, the coasts of Japan, and the Sea of Okhotsk. Captain Maxwell, of the suite of Lord Amherst, our ambassador to China, extended our knowledge of these Asiatic regions. The squadron under his command made several important discoveries in the Yellow Sea, particularly Sir James Hall's Islands. This expedition ascertained that the western coast of the peninsula of Corea had been placed on our maps greatly to the westward of its true position; and made known to the world a vast archipelago which no European had previously visited. Captain Maxwell also visited the Loo-Choo Islands, where he was only welcomed by feigning shipwreck, and seeking the assistance of the inhabitants.

The northern coasts of Asia having been previously imperfectly known, M. Gedenchtrom was commissioned to explore them in 1808; but his efforts were limited. Lieutenant (afterwards Admiral) Wrangell was charged to complete the exploration of these coasts, and to fill up the blanks which then existed in the maps of Siberia, by re-visiting the most northern latitudes of these dreary regions. The object of this expedition was to examine the whole of the coast from Cape Chelagsk to Cape North, discovered by Cook to the west of Behring Strait, and to determine whether there existed in the vicinity of these capes an isthmus uniting Asia and America. This dangerous expedition occupied from 1820 to 1824. Beyond Cape Chelagsk, he discovered Cape Baranoff, and surveyed the coast from this cape to the mouth of the river Kolyma. He discovered that the hypothesis of the existence of land in this vicinity was unfounded; and he rectified and completed the geography of this part of the continent of Asia. In 1843, M. Middendorff successfully explored, in the midst of innumerable dangers, the coasts of the Frozen Ocean between Turukansk, the sources of the Khatounga, and Cape Taimoura. Traversing Siberia from north-west to south-west, he visited the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk, and part of Tartary.

In the quarter of a century that has elapsed since this time, our knowledge of Central Asia has been greatly extended, by the advance of the outposts of the Russian empire towards the south into the heart of Independent Tartary, and to the north bank of the River Amur, or Amoor, in the east, which now forms the greater part of the northern frontier of Manchooria, that part of Central Asia, nominally tributary to China, which lies to the east of the great sandy desert of Gobi. Commencing at the Caspian Sea, on the western side of the continent, the acquisition by Russia of the Kirghiz Steppes, and the great plains round the Sea of Aral, that are traversed by the Syr Daria or Jaxartes, and the Amoo Daria or Oxus, has led to the thorough exploration of these regions, of which comparatively little or nothing was previously known with any degree of certainty. In 1825 an expedition was sent to the Sea of Aral by the Russian Government, under the command of General, now Count de Berg, who was commissioned to make an accurate exploration of the Russian frontier; and in 1848 an eminent Russian sailor, Admiral Alexis Boutakoff, cut out and fitted together ships at Orenburg, and carried them in pieces across the steppes to the shores of the Sea of Aral, where they were built and launched. These ships were the pioneers of the establishment of regular steam navigation on the Sea of Aral, and up the great rivers Oxus and Jaxartes, which discharge their waters into it on the south and west, establishing along the coast of the last-named stream a line of water communication through the centre of Turkistan, by which an active commerce is and will be carried on between the Celestial Empire and Russia. For this achievement, the Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society was awarded to Admiral Boutakoff in 1867. Our knowledge of the scenery and the manners and customs of the inhabitants of Khiva, Bokhara, Thibet, and other parts of West Central Asia, has been increased by M. Arminius Vámbéry, an enterprising Hungarian, who has travelled through these regions, visiting many places hitherto unseen by Europeans, in the disguise of a dervish, at the risk of his life and liberty.

Passing eastward along the line of the Jaxartes, through the sandy wastes of the desert of Gobi, down the wooded slopes of the mountains that divide Manchooria from Mongolia, and over the rich plains that are watered by the Songari and its tributaries, we stand at last on the shores of the Japan Sea, and make our way across its waters to the crescent-formed chain of

| islands, stretching from the island of Saghalien on the north to the south-eastern extremity of the peninsula of Corea, that form the Empire of Japan. Of this island empire, the most reliable account that we possessed, until Lieutenant Silver's recently published work, was one written by Engelbert Kæmpfer, in 1690. Several attempts have been made by the Portuguese and Dutch, since the commencement of the sixteenth century, to establish commercial relations with Japan; but trade with this country has always been attended with great difficulty and danger, owing to the repugnance of the inhabitants to hold intercourse with foreigners. In 1853, however, the Japanese government entered into a commercial treaty with the United States, and in the following year another was concluded with Great Britain. Since that time several ports have been opened to British commerce, while embassies have been sent from Japan to visit Europe and America, the Japanese showing a disposition to abandon many of the customs, and even the costume to which they have adhered without change for many hundreds of years, according to their own account, and to adopt in a great measure the usages of the most civilised portions of the world. Much of an efficient and thorough survey of the Japanese waters has recently (1865-8) been carried out by Commander Bullock, of the Royal navy.

Expeditions into the interior of Asia have, from time to time, thrown great light on the geography of this part of the Old World. We owe much of our knowledge of China to the Jesuit missionaries who laboured in that country; of the northern frontiers of this empire, to Klaproth, Timkowsky, De Humboldt, and Pierre de Tohihatcheff; of Thibet, to Turner; of the Himalaya chain of mountains and the adjacent countries, to Lieutenant Webb, Captain Raper, Moorcraft, Colonel Crawford, M. Frazer, Victor Jacquemont, and Major Rennell. Sir H. Pottinger made us acquainted with Beloochistan and Scinde; Elphinstone and Burnes with Afghanistan; Burnes with Bok. hara; and Mouravief with Turcomania and Khiva. Persia has, at different periods, been visited by a number of able travellers, to whom we owe a knowledge of this country; as, Tavernier, Chardin, A. Jubert, Moorcraft, Morier, Frazer, Kerr Porter, Alexander, and Messrs. Coste and Flaudin. Of Arabia, we have gained information from Niebuhr, Burckhardt, and Rüppel; but of late years a great deal of additional light has been thrown on the western districts of this enormous peninsula, and the condition of its inhabitants, by Captain Richard F. Burton, who visited Mecca and Medina in 1853, and travelled through that part of the country which borders on the Red Sea, by a route hitherto untrodden by Europeans. A considerable part of Captain Burton's adventurous journey was performed in the disguise of a pilgrim to the cities sacred to Mahometans as the birth-place and burial-place of Mahomet, the founder of their religion, as it would be impossible for a European to pass through that country in quest of information, otherwise than in the garb of the inhabitants of some Mahometan country. Captain Burton's researches were further supplemented and augmented by Mr. William Gifford Palgrave, who travelled from the Dead Sea to the Persian Gulf, through Central and Eastern Arabia, in 1862-3. This gentleman also made his way through the country in disguise, and found, contrary to his own expectation and the general belief, that the interior of Arabia, instead of being a trackless waste, resembling the Sahara in its character, and peopled only by a few wandering Bedouin Arabs, is inhabited by tribes who live in towns and villages, under sheikhs and native princes, actively engaged in trading with each other and the countries bordering on the coast. Mr. Palgrave's discoveries, indeed, were of so important a nature, as to give quite a new character to the map of Arabia, the interior of which, previous to his visit, has been represented as being little better than a sterile uninhabited desert.

Of recent discoveries in Asia little remains to be said, but that the acquisition of territory recently made by the French in the south of Cambodia and Cochin China, has led to an extended knowledge of this part of India beyond the Ganges, of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula; while our wars with China, and the spirit of enterprise shown by such men as the " English Tai-ping," and other adventurers in the service of the Impe rialists, and the so-called Tai-pings who are seeking to overthrow the present dynasty in that country, have secured a more elaborate survey of the Chinese coast, and much information respecting the interior of that wonderful country.

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