signify, for everybody was very glad; and Uncle and Aunt said they must stay all night, of course, and must excuse all deficiencies. So merry we were that evening! The harvest men got about Mr. Allcock, and asked him for "Largesse," which means a little money towards a frolic at the end of harvest. Do you know, Mamma, among the harvest men there is one whom they call "the Lord," and another "the Lady?" and these two take care of all the money that they collect, and divide it afterwards; also, they make the bargain with the farmer what wages he is to pay them for the whole harvest work, for they are then paid a certain sum each, whether the harvest is long or short; and they have, also, two or three good dinners of plum-pudding and meat in the course of it, and half-acrown each at the end, for a treat. Mr. Allcock gave them some money, and told them they must give him a good cheer when they had done the day's work. So when night came, and the field labour was over, they all came up to the house and stood in a ring, fourteen of them, holding each other's hands, which they threw up as high as they could in the air, and then they set up one long, load shout, holding the note so long, that I thought they never would have done-it sounded like the loud sound of a horn upon one note-then they stopped, and took breath, and then sounded again, and then they gave several short, shrieking cheers, and then said "thank ye, thank ye," very quickly, and it was all over. But Mr. Allcock kept them a little while, and said he wanted to speak to them. Then he told them that he did not like to refuse them a largesse, and he liked to hear them shout, but he did not approve of their way of spending the money at the end, and if he thought they would alter that, he would give them twice as much with twice the pleasure. Of course, when they heard that, they were likely to listen to what was coming. It was such a nice speech-so clear, and full of fun and good humour. Uncle laughed till the tears came into his eyes, and Cousin Henry said, when it was over, that he hoped they would not let it be wasted upon them. I am sure their wives would be very glad if they would take the advice, for Aunt says she is quite sorry every year to see what brutes the men make of themselves after harvest, and how ungrateful it is to the great Giver of all, to spend their earnings in this selfish guzzling at the public-houses, while the poor women and children are hardly the better for the most beautiful harvest that can be.

Well, after they were all gone, and we were all at supper, we could not think why Henry was not there. Supper is so dull without Henry-and Aunt and Uncle were so particularly vexed that

he was absent, because they wanted him and Mr. Allcock to talk together. At last, just as the cloth was going to be taken away, he came in, but looking so heated and tired, we could not think what he had been doing; and, now, only conceive, Mamma, how shocked and how grieved I was! He had walked all the way over to B, to the post-office, because he knew that Fanny had fretted about not getting a letter from you; and as the servants were all so very hard worked, and the horses too, Cousin Henry thought he had better go for it himself. Oh! I was so vexed, and so ashamed too. I am sure Uncle was very angry, and even Aunt looked provoked, and I felt that we both deserved to be scolded for having been so impatient for a letter, when so many important things were going on. And I could not help being angry with Fan, for after all, it was her fretting and impatience that had made Cousin Henry take this long walk. Don't you think, Mamma, we must try and do without your letters till harvest is over? I shall be sorry, but surely, as Aunt and Uncle and Cousin Henry are so kind as to let us come to them, we ought to give as little trouble as possible. I do try and help in the little things that I can doy and Fanny and I stoned the raisins for a pudding yesterday, and I have washed up the tea-things several times, and then we can cut the French beans, and gather a few peas sometimes. It is very little, I know, but still Aunt says it helps.

After supper

that

'I must just finish about Mr. Allcock's visit. day, when family worship was going to begin, Aunt said she should like it so very much if Mr. Allcock would help us to sing the evening hymn, for she knew he sang well. So when she had done reading he set it off, and his daughter also helped, and you can't think what a fine, cheerful sound there was in the room, for one or two of the servants have very nice voices too. I think Mr. Allcock quite enjoyed it himself, and I am sure so did we all; and the next morning we had the morning hymn, and after that our visitors went away, and we felt quite sorry to part with them Alice has given me a pretty little music-book of her own, and she says she hopes sometime or other we shall meet again, and so do I. M. Allcock says he remembers you, dear Mamma, and Papa too, and he wishes you would come and bring us to see his great manufactory at I.

But this is a long letter; it is quite time to see if I cannot do anything for Aunt and Cousin Eliza.

'So good-bye, dear Mamma.

'Your affectionate Daughter,

'LUCY.'

THE EARTH AS IT IS.

CHAPTER II.

CONTINENTS AND ISLANDS.

THE proportion of land rising above the level of the sea, is, as has been already stated, only about one-fourth of the whole surface; but in this portion there are so many varieties of form, feature, and condition, so many different vegetables and animals, such variations in soil and climate, that it is more important and interesting to us than the larger division.

The surface of the Earth takes its different forms from the originally different nature of the rocks of which it is constituted, the variety of positions into which these have been thrown, and the effects of atmospheric and other agencies ever at work upon them.

The great plains and moderately raised regions of the land, owe their principal features to the stratified rocks below them; while the mountain masses are due to the elevation of granite and other rocks, owing their origin to fire, bearing witness of repeated violent convulsions; while the high table-lands and undulations of hill and valley, by which the continents sink from their mountain ranges to the plains, to the ocean, and even below it, show that the land must have been heaved up occasionally by more slow and gentle pressure. Although the mountain chains, 'the bones of the Earth,' as they have been called, give their chief features to the large tracts of land known as continents, yet their mean height above the level of the sea is not so much affected by these as by the general extent and mass of land contained in them. Baron Humboldt gives a mean height of 671 feet to Europe; to Asia 1132 feet; to North America 748 feet; to South America 1151 feet; to the two Americas together, 949 feet; and computes the mean height of all the solid parts of the

Earth's surface above the sea at 925 feet. Africa is not included in his measurements, as not having yet been sufficiently surveyed.

Though the continents have all a peninsular form, they are of very different size, shape, and position. One extends chiefly in a north-eastern direction, and includes the whole of Europe, Asia, and Africa, (the latter almost de tached from Asia at the Isthmus of Suez, and almost con nected with Europe at the Straits of Gibraltar,) and the islands adjacent. Another includes the two Americas, only joined by a narrow isthmus, and ranges nearly north an south; while the third exhibits only the rounded mass Australia, with which must be grouped the islands of Vai Diemen's Land and New Zealand. Europe and Asia hav no well-marked natural line of separation; they are divide partly by a low mountain chain, and partly by a river Europe contains about four millions of square miles (about one-eighth of the land of the great continent,) an possesses ranges of lofty mountains, whence rivers d frozen snow pass into the valleys beneath, loaded with fragments of rock torn from their jagged sides; numerou less elevated rounded and undulated hills, some clothe with vast pine-forests, others with chestnut and oak trees while others are rich with corn-fields, or vineyards. I can boast also of noble rivers traversing wide plains, and lakes, and inland seas, its shores being deeply indented and penetrated by the Atlantic Ocean, so that it has a greater line of sea-coast, compared with its size, than any other quarter of the globe. Its line of coast from the Straits of Waigatz, in the Polar Ocean, to the Straits of Caffa, at the entrance of the Sea of Azof, is about 17,000 miles in extent. The climate is temperate, and for the most part healthful, and it abounds with the most useful minerals, and is covered by the most important vegetable and animal tribes. The remaining part of this great continent offers natural phenomena, full of interest from their

grandeur and extent. The loftiest summits of our globe are in the Himalayan chain; the most savage and dreary wilds, in the Sahara of Africa, and the Steppes of Tartary. The sea-coast of Asia is about 33,000 miles in length; it is much torn by currents, and possibly also by the action of the ocean; on the south and east especially it is indented by large seas, bays, and gulfs, and the eastern shores are rugged and fringed with innumerable islands. The coast of Africa, 16,000 miles long, is everywhere nearly uniform, but little indented by bays or gulfs. This division is the most uncivilized and desert portion of the globe.

The shores of North America have probably been much altered by the equatorial current, and the Gulf Stream, which, combined with volcanic action, may perhaps have hollowed out the Gulf of Mexico, and separated the Antilles and Bahama Islands from the Continent. The coast is less broken on the west, but in the Icy Ocean there is a labyrinth of gulfs, bays, and creeks. South America has very unbroken shores, except towards southern Chili and Cape Horn, where the tremendous surge and currents of the ocean in these high latitudes have eaten into the mountains, producing sounds and fords running far inland. The whole continent of America has a sea-coast of above 30,000 miles in extent. Its mountains, with their conical, volcanic summits, towering far above the general range, are full of interest; the prairies to the North, and the silvas and llanos of the South, are almost as extensive as the plains of Asia, though not elevated so far above the sea.

The continent of Australia is so destitute of large navigable rivers, that probably no very high land exists in the interior. It is surrounded by a chain of mountains, known the Australian Alps and the Blue Mountains, which, although the highest summit is not more than 6,500 feet above the level of the sea, are exceedingly rugged and