generally found to be that which is nearest to the sea.

Q. Into how many classes may mountains be divided?

A. Into two classes.

Q. What mountains are comprehended in the first class?

A. Those which are most lofty and extensive; as the Andes, the mountains of Central Asia, and the Alps.

Q. What mountains are comprised in the second class?

A. Those of a less majestic character, which frequently form branches, as it were, of the first class; as the Apennines, which traverse the whole length of Italy, and the Carpathian range, which in a great measure surrounds Hungary.

Q. What is the general direction of the principal chains of mountains, or those of the first class?

A. The general direction of the principal chains appears almost, if not entirely, to correspond with the greatest length of the continents to which they belong; as, for instance, the Andes, in South Ame

rica, and the Rocky Mountains, in North America.

Q. What direction do the second class, or secondary chains of mountains, frequently follow?

A. They frequently follow the greatest length of the peninsulas in which they are situated; as the Apennines, in Italy, the Dovrefield, in Scandinavia, and the Ghauts, in Hindostan.

Q. What is the name, and what is the height, of the highest mountain in Europe?

A. Mont Blanc, one of the chain of the Alps, is the highest mountain in Europe, and its height is 15,732 feet.

Q. What is the name, and what is the height, of the highest mountain in Asia?

A. Chimilari, one of the Himalayah mountains. Its height is 29,000 feet. Q. What is the name, and what is the height, of the highest mountain in Africa? A. Geesh, one of the Abyssinian mountains. Its height is 15,000 feet. Q. What are the names, and what are

the heights, of the highest mountains in North and South America?

A. In North America, Mount St. Elias, one of a maritime range; its height is 18,000 feet. And in South America, Mount Sorata, one of the Andes; its height is 25,400 feet.

Q. What is a volcano?

A. The term volcano is applied to those mountains which send forth, from their tops or sides, flame, smoke, ashes, and streams of melted matter called lava; as Etna, in Sicily, and Vesuvius, near Naples, in Italy.

Q. What is the crater or cup of a volcano?

A. The crater or cup of a volcano is the hollow which is found at the top of it.

Q. Were there not two cities which were completely buried in the lava or melted matter which was discharged from Vesuvius, by an eruption which took place from that volcano, A.D. 79?

A. Yes; their names were Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Q. What is an extinct volcano ?

A. A mountain which does not now discharge any matter, but which shows signs of having done so at some former time.

Q. What is a valley?

A. A valley is the space lying between opposite ridges of mountains or of hills, and its lowest part is commonly the bed or channel of some torrent or river, which originates in the higher ground. Q. What is a plain?

A. A level country, very little elevated. In North America the great plains are called savannahs, or prairies; and in South America, llanos, or pampas. Q. What is an island?

A. An island is land surrounded by

water.

Q. What is an archipelago?

A. A cluster or group of islands; as the Grecian Archipelago and the archipelago between New Holland and the opposite coast of Asia.

Q. What are springs?

A. Springs derive their origin from

water, raised into the atmosphere by evaporation, falling down in the form of showers of rain or mists on hills, and thence percolating through fissures in rocks, or through porous beds, until they appear at lower points of the earth's surface.

Q. Where are springs most numerous ?

A. They are most numerous in mountainous districts, because hills readily arrest and condense clouds.

Q. Are there any springs from which warm water issues?

Iceland abounds

A. Yes; several. with springs from which boiling water issues. Its celebrated boiling spring, the Great Geyser, frequently throws out its contents to the height of more than 100 feet, and sometimes to twice that elevation.

Q. What is a rivulet?

A. It is a small stream of water, formed by the union of several springs. Q. What are rivers?

A. They are currents of water flowing into open channels through the land.