god of fire, to a small island in the Lipari group, on the north of Sicily, which exhibited signs of fiery activity before the Christian era, and still emits gaseous exhalations. Our word "volcano" is from the same source, and has become the common denomination of all sites remarkable in the economy of the globe for discharges of smoke, flame, steam, ashes, and molten products, which, being generally elevated, are hence styled burning mountains. They commonly form very regular cones, with a hollow at the summit, called the crater, or cup, the sides of which are sometimes entire, like the walls of a circus, but often rent. The inclosed space, more immediately the scene of luminous phenomena during eruptions, is of very various extent, and undergoes great changes from the tremendous action of the eruptive forces. While the interior of some craters is perfectly inaccessible, owing to the steepness of the sides, others may be descended in seasons of repose to the floor, which usually presents a series of ashy cones, with cracks and fissures, through which jets of smoke, steam, and flame issue at the most tranquil intervals.

Volcanoes are either active or extinct. Those of the first class are either incessantly active, like Stromboli, which has never been known to extinguish its torch; or intermittent, intervals of quiet, more or less extended, occurring between successive outbursts. The oldest volcano, or the one whose activity has been known to the civilised world for the longest period, is Etna. Vesuvius was not known to be in action before the year A.D. 79, when the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were overwhelmed by its products. Both mountains have since had long periods of inactivity, Etna having reposed for several centuries in the middle ages; but the eruptions

of both have increased in frequency and violence in more modern times. Extinct volcanoes are those whose form and materials plainly denote them to have once been scenes of fiery explosions, but which have not been known to exhibit any signal of energy. Yet, as Europeans have only been acquainted with the great majority of volcanoes for a comparatively short period, it is possible that some may be classed as extinct which are merely intermittent. An explosion, after a long interval of intermission, is usually most tremendous.

The vast majority of volcanoes occupy the basin and shores of the Pacific Ocean, extending from the South Shetlands, along the west coast of America, from Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) to the Aleutian Isles, stretching through that chain to Kamschatka, and thence proceeding by the Kurile, Japanese, and Philippine Islands, into the Indian Archipelago, on the one hand, and through the Australian Isles to New Zealand, on the other. Milner.

LESSON XL. -INDUSTRY.

Industry, to be successful, ought to be steady, persevering, and wisely directed. Industry ought to be steady. If we look upon a young boy, and a man of maturity and experience, going out together to work, we shall observe a very marked difference in their manner. We will suppose that they are going out into the forests, upon a winter morning, with a sled drawn by oxen, to get in wood. The boy is running hither and thither, and jumping about the sled; and when he comes to the woods, he begins cutting with great zeal and earnestness, to see if he cannot get a log cut off before his father. His father, on the other hand, moves deliberately. He

takes no unnecessary steps; he makes no violent exertion. The consequence is, that the boy is exhausted in an hour, and after that can do very little more; while the man is able to continue his labour steadily till t sun goes down in the evening.

Industry must be persevering. One great cause of want of perseverance among all persons, is their losing their interest in what they have begun, and then abandoning it for something else. Thus they go on and waste a great deal of time and strength upon unfinished undertakings.

Children very often manifest a great want of perseverance in respect to the studies which they commence at school. When some new study is thought of, they are often very desirous of undertaking it. They petition their parents and the teacher to allow them to get the books and begin. They are sure that they shall like it. And so they will like it; that is, they will like the beginning of it, which is all, in fact, that they can distinctly foresee. They see clearly that they shall like the beginning; and the interest and pleasure which really belong to the novelty of the undertaking, they think will attach permanently to the study itself. They begin, accordingly, with great zeal; but when the first ardour is over, and they find that the new study, which looked so alluring, requires the same patient assiduity that the old studies demanded, they are disappointed and discouraged, and all their interest is gone.

Industry must be well directed. The building of the Egyptian pyramids seems to have been ill-directed industry. A vast amount of labour and expense was devoted to them; but the mighty structures were almost utterly useless when they were done. The work of

making a railroad, on the other hand, is well-directed industry. The interest and pleasure of construction are as great in this case as in the other; and the railroad, at last, is a vast public convenience every day of its existence. There is the same difference in smaller enter. prises, and even in the plays of children. Sometimes children waste their time upon projects which they have not the power to accomplish, and sometimes upon those which will do them no good, and give them no pleasure if they succeed in accomplishing them.

A great deal of the industry of men, as well as that of boys, is wasted in ill-directed efforts. Sometimes, for want of proper care and deliberation in forming the plan, the whole enterprise fails. Sometimes they attempt to do what is impossible; and, sometimes, after a long period of toil and anxiety, and heavy expenditure, they accomplish their object: but they find that it entirely disappoints their expectations and hopes, when it is obtained. In all our undertakings, therefore, whether in the plays of childhood or in the serious pursuits of middle life, we ought to consider the practicability and the wisdom of what we undertake, before we begin to expend our energies upon it; and thus our industry will be wisely directed. If it is steady and persevering besides, the results which it will secure for us will be of great value.-J. Abbott.

LESSON XLI.-COLUMBUS'S FIRST SIGHT OF THE NEW

WORLD.

About two hours before midnight, Columbus, standing on the forecastle, observed a light at a distance, and privately pointed it out to Pedro Guttierez, a page of the queen's wardrobe. Guttierez perceived it, and calling to Salcedo, comptroller of the fleet, all three saw it

in motion, as if it were carried from place to place. A little after midnight the joyful sound of "Land! Land!" was heard from the Pinta, which kept always a-head of the other ships; but having been so often deceived by fallacious appearances, every man was now become slow of belief, and waited in all the anguish of uncertainty and impatience for the return of day. As soon as morning dawned, all doubts and fears were dispelled. From every ship an island was seen about two leagues to the north, whose flat and verdant fields, well stored with wood, and watered with many rivulets, presented the aspect of a delightful country. The crew of the Pinta instantly began the Te Deum, as a hymn of thanksgiving to God, and were joined by those of the other ships, with tears of joy and transports of congratulation. This office of gratitude to heaven was followed by an act of justice to their commander. They threw themselves at the feet of Columbus, with feelings of self-condemnation mingled with reverence; they implored him to pardon their ignorance, incredulity and insolence, which had created him so much unnecessary disquiet, and had so often obstructed the prosecution of his well-concerted plan; and passing, in the warmth of their admiration, from one extreme to another, they now pronounced the man, whom they had so lately reviled and threatened, to be a person inspired by heaven with sagacity and fortitude more than human, in order to accomplish a design so far beyond the ideas and conception of all former ages.-Robertson.

LESSON XLII.-THE GIRAFFE.

These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals are widely distributed throughout the interior of Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers.