elevation of 15,000 or 16,000 feet produces as great a change in the temperature as would be experienced in sailing from the equator to the arctic regions. The coast lands of Mexico are intensely hot, but the interior plateau, in the same latitude, has a climate as cool as that of England. Africa may be called the tropical continent, and its maritime plains are among the hottest and most unhealthy places in the world; but the interior of the continent is a vast plateau, and here the heat is greatly reduced by the elevation, and the climate in most parts is healthy.

3. The influence of the ocean in equalising the temperature of a place may be illustrated by comparing the climate of the British Isles with that of Central Asia in the same latitude, and at the same height above the sea. In the British Isles the temperature varies only about 20° on an average during the year, whilst that of Central Asia varies more than 100° on the average. Moscow, the ancient capital of Russia, has as many months of frost every winter as Edinburgh (in the same latitude) has weeks.

4. Air and ocean currents play an important part in climate by equalising differences and softening extremes. The British Isles experience the warmth of the Gulf Stream, and of the prevalent south-westerly winds from the Atlantic. The coast of Labrador is in the same latitude as Scotland, but a cold polar current sweeps its shores, and the country presents one of the coldest and most sterile regions on the face of the globe.

5. Even in our own country we readily appreciate the difference between the cold dry winds from the east and the genial south-west winds; and so, if the former instead of the latter prevailed, our climate would be colder and dryer than it is. Some winds which blow over and from the burning deserts are intensely hot and almost unbearable, such as the hot winds of Arabia, the Sahara, and of Central Australia.

6. Mountain ranges modify climates by checking winds and depriving them of their moisture. Moist winds may pass over great plains without losing their

vapour, but when they arrive at mountain chains they are forced up the sides into the cooler regions; their vapours soon condense into clouds, which hang about the mountain sides, or crown their summits, and soon melt into abundant rain. "The mountain chains are the great condensers placed here and there along the continents, to rob the winds of their treasures, to serve as reservoirs for the rain-waters, and to distribute them afterwards as they are needed over the surrounding plains." One example will suffice. The warm south-west winds from the Atlantic strike the western slopes of the Scandinavian chain, and their vapours are condensed and fall in drizzling rains on the western shores of Norway, producing the mild and equable climate which distinguishes that coast. In Sweden, on the other side of the mountain chain, only about one-fourth as much rain falls as on the western side; and the same south-west winds produce rain on one side of the mountains and fair weather on the other.

7. The nature of the surface of a country influences its climate to a considerable extent. The evaporation from marshy land keeps down the temperature of summer, vegetation protects the soil from being highly heated, and the evaporation from forests increases the rainfall and equalises the temperature.

8. The distribution of plant and animal life is entirely dependent on climate, and the condition of the human race is to a large extent affected by it. "The climate of

the New World, compared with that of the Old, is distinguished by the abundance of rain. Warmth and moisture are the most favourable conditions for the production of an exuberant vegetation, and tropical America is highly favoured in these respects. Hence the boundless virgin forests of the Amazon plains, with which no other forests of the world will bear comparison, the luxurious vegetation of Central America, and the forests of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Even the great open plains of America, unlike the deserts of the Old World, are at certain seasons of the year covered with luxuriant grasses which feed thousands of vast herds of cattle. In the

Old World vegetation is far less plentiful than in the New. Forests are found, it is true, in tropical Africa, in India, and in Russia, but not of sufficient extent to give a character to vast countries."

9. On the other hand, the Old World is distinguished by the development of animal life. America is the domain of insects and reptiles, which prosper in the moist climate. The Old World is the domain of the mammalia, the lordly lion, the ferocious tiger, the gigantic elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros, the tall giraffe, the man-like ape, and the more useful animals—the horse, the cow, the sheep, the camel, and the ass. In South America alligators, iguanos, and monster serpents, abound, and nothing can exceed the size and brilliancy of the beetles and butterflies; but in the higher development of animal life this continent is deficient. Instead of the lion and tiger, we have the puma and the jaguar; in place of the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, the feeble and harmless tapir and pecari; and the llama is the diminutive representative of the giraffe and camel. North America possesses superior types in the buffalo, deer, elk, and grizzly bear, but here the climate is less moist than in Central and South America.

1. As the productions-vegetable and animal-of any country are almost entirely controlled by the climate, so, to a large extent, are the distribution, condition, and occupation of the human race dependent on the same influence. In the barren and sterile regions of the Arctic zone man's life is a struggle against nature for very existence. The excessive humid heat of the tropics enfeebles man, and invites to a life of indolence and repose. The alternations of heat and cold of the temperate climes incites to activity and vigorous employment of body and

mind. Hence it is to the temperate regions that we must look for the great centres of civilisation, of arts and sciences, and of manufactures and commerce.

2. To these great centres are being gathered all the varied natural productions of the earth, the food stuffs, the raw materials for manufactures, and the luxuries of all kinds which grow without stint, and with little labour, in the exuberant tropical regions. And from these great centres are as constantly being sent in return the manufactured goods, the products of a more vigorous intelligence and bodily skill. Thus interchange constitutes the main part of the commerce of the world.

3. "Commerce is regulated in the paths which it follows by physical causes, and brings men to the natural inlets of every country, the estuaries of the river highways. In the ports, the business of the world is carried on, the products of the interior are stored for export, and those of foreign lands for distribution inward; hence many of the great cities of the world have grown up round their sea-ports."

4. The United Kingdom, the United States of America, France, Germany, and Belgium, are great in manufactures as well as commerce. Other countries, such as Russia, India, China, Australia, and the Dominion of Canada, are great as commercial states from their extent and natural productions. London is the commercial metropolis of the Old World; New York is the greatest commercial centre of the New World. The commercial navy of the United Kingdom numbers over 20,000 vessels with a tonnage of more than six million tons. The United States possesses as many vessels, but from their smaller size, the carrying power is only about three and a half million tons. France owns about 15,000 vessels, and Germany about 5,000, each carrying about a million tons.

5. The busiest highway of commerce in the world lies across the Atlantic between the United States and the above-named European countries. From Great Bri

tain alone more than 4,000 vessels leave for the chief ports of the United States every year, carrying manufactured articles, chiefly of metal, cotton, linen, and wool,

and bringing back corn, raw cotton, bacon and hams, beef, butter, cheese, petroleum, and numerous other articles.

6. The next great oceanic route of commerce is from England southwards across the Bay of Biscay. Near the Straits of Gibraltar it splits into two routes, the one through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, the other round the Cape, but both trending towards British India, China, Australia, and the numerous islands lying near.

7. British India comes next to the United States as the purchaser of the surplus products of the English looms, and then follow Germany, Australia, France, and the Netherlands. Of goods imported into England, France with her silks, woollen goods, wines and spirits, butter, eggs, and gloves-follows the United States; then British India with raw cotton, jute, rice, tea, hides, &c. Australia, with her wool, gold, and copper, comes next; and the Netherlands and Germany, with numerous manufactured goods, dairy produce, corn, and potatoes, are not much behind Australia.

8. But these are not the only countries which contribute to the necessities, the luxuries, or the vanities of the English people. There is scarcely a country in the world but what contributes its quota, and there is not a sea on the face of the globe where English ships are not to be found. South America sends her wool, hides, silver, and timber; the West Indies her sugar and tobacco; California her corn and gold; Canada her corn and timber and butter and cheese; the East Indies their spices; Africa her palm-oil and wool; China her tea and silk-every country is willing to sell something of surplus products, and purchase from England what she has to spare in return. It often happens that raw materials are purchased in a country, brought to England, manufactured, and then the goods returned for sale to the very country whence the raw material came. It may be seen from this that England's greatness depends very much on her great supplies of coal and iron for use in her manufactures.

9. But besides this commerce which England carries on in every quarter of the globe, other countries have