SECTION XCVII.-PRACTICAL RÉSUMÉ OF THE RULES ON THE PAST PARTICIPLE.

The participle past is VARIABLE under any of the following conditions:

1. When employed as an adjective; in which case it agrees in gender and number with the noun which it qualifies. Des livres imprimés,

Printed books.

Ces femmes paraissent bien abattues, Those women appear very dejected. 2. When used in the formation of the tenses of passive verbs; when it always agrees with the subject of the proposition. Elles sont bien reçues de tout le They are well received by everybody. monde,

3. When employed in forming the compound tenses of neuter verbs having être as an auxiliary; in which place, as in the preceding case, it agrees with the subject or nominative.

Votre sœur est partie ce matin, Your sister went away this morning. 4. When employed in forming the tenses of active verbs having avoir as an auxiliary; in which connection it agrees not with the subject, but with the direct object or regimen, provided that object precedes it.

Les maisons que nous avons achetées, The houses which we have bought. 5. When used along with être in the formation of the compound tenses of reflective verbs, wherein the reflective pronoun is the direct object; in which position it agrees with that pronoun or direct object. Ces dames se sont flattées,

Those ladies have flattered themselves. 6. When used along with être (as in Rule 5) in the formation of the compound tenses of those reflective verbs, in which the reflective pronoun is not the direct, but the indirect object of the proposition; in which event it agrees with the direct object, provided (as in Rule 4) that object precedes it.

Les histoires qu'elles se sont racon- The stories which they related to each tées, other.

7. When forming part of a compound tense of a verb governinz a succeeding infiuitive, it is at the same time preceded by a direct object which is represented as performing the action denoted by the infinitive; in which condition it agrees with that direct object.

Vous avez des livres bien reliés.
Vos filles sont estimées.
Ces terres sont bien labourées.
Mes voisines sont tombées d'ac-
cord.

Elles sont venues nous trouver.
La victoire que nous avons rem-
portée.

Les champs que vous avez labourés. Vous vous êtes repentis de votre faute.

Elle s'est souvenue de sa promesse.
Les soldats que j'ai vus passer.
Les musiciennes que j'ai entendues
jouer.

Mindiscrétion que nous nous sommcs reprochée.

Les événements qu'elles se sont racontés.

Les fruits que j'en ai reçus.
Les nouvelles que j'en ai apportées.

A l'ordinaire, as usual.
Avert-ir, 2, to earn.
Bose, f., mud.
Coutume (de), usually,
youal.
Ceill-ir, 2, to gether.
Schiffr-er, 1, to deci
pher.

I have warned them of it.
You have informed them of it.
EXAMPLES.

You have well-bound books.
Your daughters are esteemed.
Those lands are well ploughed.
My neighbours have come to an un-
derstanding.

They came to us.

The victory which we have gained.

The fields which you have ploughed. You have repented (you) of your fault. She remembered her promise. The soldiers whom I saw passing. The musical ladies whom I heard playing.

The indiscretion with which we reproached one another.

The events which they related to one another.

The fruits which I received from it. The news which I brought from it.

VOCABULARY. Fleur, f., flower. Reproch-er (se), 1, ref., Malade, sick person. to reproach one's self. Merveille (à), wonder- Ri-re, 4, ir, to laugh. fully, perfectly. Serieux, -se, serious. Parven-ir, 2, ir., to zuc Souri-re, 4, ir., to smile. ceci. Suivant, according to. Port-er (se), 1, to be, Tomb-er, 1, to fall. to do. Trouv-er, 1, to find. Decourag-er, 1, to ds. Plus tôt, sooner, car- Voler, 1, to steal. lier.

courage.

EXERCISE 189.

1. Cette demoiselle ne se trouve-t-elle pas bien fatiguée? 2. Elle est fatiguée et découragée. 3. Votre sœur est-elle allée à l'église suivant sa coutume? 4. Ma mère et ma sœur y sont allées. 5. Votre sœur est-elle revenue plus tôt que de coutume? 6. Elle est revenue plus tard qu'à l'ordinaire. 7. Cette pauvre malade est-elle tombée? 8. Elle est tombée dans la boue. 9. Ma mère est-elle parvenue à déchiffrer ma lettre? 10. Elle n'y est pas parvenue. 11. Quelles fleurs avez-vous cueillies? 12. Les fleurs que j'ai trouvées sont plus belles que celles que vous m'avez envoyées. 13. Votre cousine ne s'est-elle pas bien portée? 14. Elle s'est portée à merveille. 15. De quel livre vous êtes16. Je me suis servie du vôtre. vous servie, Mademoiselle?

17. Nous nous sommes servies des nôtres. 18. Quelles fautes votre fils s'est-il reprochées ? 19. Les fautes qu'il s'est reprochées ne sont pas sérieuses. 20. Les avez-vous vus rire? 21. Je les ai vus sourire. 22. Les avez-vous vus voler des fruits ? 23. Je les ai vus voler des pommes. 24. Les avez-vous avertis 26. Je ne les en ai de leurs fautes? 25. Je les en ai avertis.

pas avertis.

EXERCISE 199.

1. Are your books well bound? 2. They are well bound and 4. She found herself tired, but not discouraged. 5. Have your well printed. 3. Did not your little girl find herself discouraged? sisters come to an understanding? 6. They have not come to

an understanding. 7. My brothers have come to an understanding. 8. Who came to you? 9. Your friends came to us. 10. Is not your sister gone to church? 11. My sister is gone to church as usual. 12. Did your sister return sooner than usual? 13. My sister returned later than usual. 14. Are the fields which you have ploughed large? 15. The fields which I have bought are very large. 16. Where are the gentlemen whom you saw pass? 17. The ladies whom I heard sing are in their room. 18. Did your poor sister fall? 19. Did that poor sick woman fall in the mud? 20. Did your sister succeed in reading that book? 21. She succeeded in reading it. 22. Have you warned your sisters of their danger?

23. I have warned them of it.

24. I have not warned them of it. 25. What pen has your

mother used? 26. She has used mine. 27. Have not those ladies used my book? young 29. Has your mother been well? 28. They have not used it. 30. She has been perfectly well. 31. Has she remembered her promise? 32. She has remembered 33. Have you seen those boys laugh? 34. I have seen them smile. 35. Have you seen them play? 36. I have heard them play.

it.

LESSONS IN GEOGRAPHY.-XXXIV.

AFRICA (continued).

AFRICA, unlike the other great continents on the world's sur face, is not divided into great independent states and empires, or territorial districts of considerable size, which are dependencies of European powers. It is true that the French have obtained a footing in the north, and have established there the colony of Algeria; that the Portuguese hold portions of the east and west coasts, and profess to have a claim, by right of priority of discovery, over immense tracts in the interior; and that the British, after dispossessing the Dutch, have acquired the flourishing colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal at the southern extremity of Africa. But while the three nations already named have planted themselves on the coast at these and other points, the fierce and savage races of the country have prevented free ingress into the interior by force of overwhelming numbers, nature aiding the native owners of the soil in the defence of their territories, by the desert wastes that stretch for miles in the north and south, and the dense forests that line the tropical coasts on the east and west, which act as barriers to hinder ready intercommunication between the inland regions and those on the coast-to say nothing of the fevers and diseases that are engendered by the miasma of the swamps and marshes at the mouths of the navigable rivers, for ever lurking, like an invisible foe, to strike down the white pioneer of civilisation, before he can reach the healthier countries of the interior through the sickly belt that lies between them and the coast.

The civilisation of Africa by conquest, as in the case of North America, has been prevented by the causes already mentioned, and its inhabitants--that is to say, the barbarous black races of the interior and south-have never, like the European, and the

Asiatic in a lesser degree, shown any signs of ability to work out the great problem of civilisation for themselves as a race, or indeed to improve by the example and under the tuition of the European. The apologists of the negro, who would place him on the same level as the white man in every respect, urge that their statement is true, because Fabre Geffrard, the ex-president of Hayti, and a few others, have evinced considerable administrative ability, and because Africa has produced one negro bishop of great learning, and exemplary worth and piety-the Rev. Samuel Crowther, Bishop of Sierra Leone. But here, as in other cases, the exception goes only to prove the rule, and the great fact remains the same, that the Africa of to-day is much the same as the Africa of a thousand years ago a vast country teeming with natural wealth, which the inhabitants are unable to turn to good account, and cut up into districts held by petty tribes, whose chief purpose and pleasure of life seems to be to injure, plunder, kill, or kidnap one another for sale to the Portuguese as slaves, whenever a fitting opportunity offers. Hence it is impossible to give the student, as in the case of other continents, a clearer or more reliable summary of the divisions of Africa than the following-divisions which are for most part arbitrary, and separated from each other by no natural landmarks, or political boundaries laid down and defined by man. It must be remembered, as in the summary of the chief divisions of Asia, that the figures relative to areas, population, etc., are only approximately stated, while the cities whose names are printed in italics are only the most important or most populous towns in the divisions after which they stan l.

THE CHIEF DIVISIONS OF AFRICA-THEIR CAPITALS, AREA, POPULATION, ETC.

Marocco, an empire in the north-western corner of Africa, is one of the Barbary States, the others being Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. It is divided into four provinces, Fez, Marocco, Sus, and Tafilet. The chief sea-ports are Tangier and Mogador. Among the manufactures of Marocco, the leather which takes its name from the country deserves especial mention, being remarkable for its extreme softness and pliancy, and its peculiar brilliancy of colour. The Barbary States, and the oases or fertile islands in the sandy sea of the Sahara, are famous for dates, which form the principal vegetable food of the wandering tribes. Algeria, lying on the sea-board of the Mediterranean, to the east of Marocco, is a large and important French colony, taken

by the French from the Dey of Algiers in 1830, but not wholly subdued until 1847, when Abd-el-Kader ceased to offer resist ance to the French troops. It is divided into three provincesAlgiers, Oran, and Constantine. The French settlers are chiefly engaged in the production of cotton and wine, nearly 100,000 acres having been planted with choice vines from the best winegrowing districts of France and Spain. The other possessions of France in Africa, or in African waters, of importance, are st. Louis and Goree in French Senegambia, and Réunion or the Isle of Bourbon, eastward of Madagascar.

Tunis, Tripoli, and Barca, lying eastward of Algeria along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and Fezzan, a large oasis to the south of Tripoli, form a dependency of the Ottoman Empire in Africa, the whole being under an officer styled the Pasha of Tripoli, who acts as governor-general, appointing lieutenantgovernors, or beys, in Tunis and the other provinces under his control. Commerce is carried on between the Tripolitan provinces and Soudan by caravans, which traverse the Sahara.

Egypt, bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, and having its eastern coast washed by the Red Sea, is divided into three parts-Lower Egypt in the north, which includes the delta of the Nile; Middle Egypt in the centre; and Upper Egypt in the south. Nominally it is a dependency of the Ottoman Empire, but virtually Egypt is an independent country, the government being hereditary and vested in the family of Mehemet Ali, who rendered himself master of the country by the slaughter of the Mamelukes in 1811. Egypt is remarkable for its antiquities, of which the ruined temples of Karnac and Luxor, among the remains of Thebes, and the gigantic pyramids of Gizeh, are the most remarkable. Among the noteworthy engineering works of the present day, the canal cut across the Isthmus of Suez, to enable ships to pass from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, occupies a conspicuous place.

Nubia and Kordofan, situated between Egypt and Abyssinia, have been, since 1821, subject to Egypt. These provinces are governed by an Egyptian viceroy, who resides at Khartoom. The people of Southern Nubia are a powerful and athletic race of negroes.

Abyssinia is a large country in the east of Africa, divided into several petty states, the chief of which are the kingdom of Gondar (or Amhara), the kingdom of Shoa, and the kingdom of Tigré, of which the chief towns are respectively Gondar, Ankobar, and Antalo. The most powerful of the native princes assumes the sovereignty of the whole of Abyssinia, under the title of "negus," holding the same position among the other princes as the Saxon "bretwalda" held among the princes of the Saxon heptarchy. The religion of the Abyssinians is a debased form of Christianity.

The great desert called Sahara stretches westward across the continent, from the western confines of Nubia to the Atlantic. It is a vast table-land, consisting of a sandy surface studded here and there with rocky tracts, and with nothing to break the dreary monotony of its appearance except a few islets of verdure called oases, formed in depressions of the desert, and watered by springs that are never known to fail. Its inhabitants are wandering tribes of Berber origin.

Senegambia is a comparatively small district on the west coast of Africa, extending from St. Louis in the north, to the confines of Liberia in the south. The interior is peopled with native tribes. On the coast are the British settlements of British Senegambia (chief towa, Bathurst) and Sierra Leone (chief town, Freetown); the French settlements of St. Louis and Goree, already mentioned, in French Senegambia; and Bissao, in Portuguese Senegambia. The independent state of Liberia, to the south of Senegambia, is peopled in some measure by blacks redeemed from slavery, having been established, in 1848, as a safe retreat for negroes rescued from slavers, and for free blacks from the United States of America. Liberia may be considered as forming a part of Upper Guinea.

Soudan or Nigritia, the country in which the true negro is found, lies to the south of the Sahara, between the desert on one side, and Upper Guinea and the unexplored regions of Central Africa on the other. It consists of a great number of petty states, the principal of which are Bambarra (chief town, Sego), Timbuctoo (chief town, Timbuctoo), Borgou (chief town, Boussa), Sackatoo (chief towns, Sackatoo and Kano), Mandara (chief town, Delow), Bornon (chief town, Kouka), and Begharmi, or Bagirmi (chief town, Masena). The people of Soudan are the farthest