which form the terminus of the Great Northern Railway is depicted in our first illustration. This roof is supported by large semi-circular girders, formed of battens of wood jointed by iron bolts, and crossed transversely by horizontal iron rods, which complete the framework for the covering. As an example of the use of wood in this form, this station is very remarkable; but in later constructions of the same kind, iron has quite superseded the other material, and the roof before us is now in progress of reconstruction in wrought iron. Massive plates, formed in segments of a circle, are bolted together, and thus are formed roofs of the largest span and the most durable character. It is a fundamental principle in the construction of all roofs, that their weight should be so disposed as to exert only a vertical pressure upon the walls, and not in any degree a force that would tend to thrust them outwards. the case of the circular-span roofs, this object is secured by distributing the weight and pressure of the girders over a considerable portion of the wall in a vertical direction. It will be seen by reference to the engraving that the semi-circular girders rest on strong supports, placed at a considerable distance below the top of the wall, while, from the top, supporting beams spring diagonally to the upper surface of each girder, receiving a portion of its weight, and carrying the pressure downward. Thus the pressure falls, not upon any one portion of the wall, but perpendicularly upon the whole of the upper half of it. The span of the roof of the Great Northern Railway terminus is 105 feet, and its height from the floor 76 feet, but those dimensions are far exceeded in the terminus of the Midland Railway. In Besides the principal area, which is covered by a roof of this description, a terminal station usually consists of a great number of buildings devoted to different purposes connected with the traffic. In the proper arrangement of these buildings, so that all the business of the line may be carried on in the readiest possible way, the skill of the architect is shown quite as much as in the more imposing features which strike the public attention. Among the subjects to be considered and provided for in a railway terminus, or chief station, are the board-rooms for the directors, the apartments for the station-master and his assistants, the ticket-offices, waiting and refreshment rooms, platforms, signal-boxes, goods departments, engine-houses and carriage sheds, foundries, workshops, and store-rooms, with the apparatus necessary for renewing the supply of fuel and water to the locomotives. The entire range of these works frequently covers many acres of ground, and to place them so that each is ready of access, and the whole occupy as little space as possible, consistently with efficiency and convenience, is a problem which does not always receive sufficient attention. On the Continent, although railway engineering generally is not in advance of our own, greater skill is frequently shown in making the best use of space at the smallest outlay. Ces hommes, prévoyant le danger, Those men, foreseeing the danger, s'enfuirent, fled. 1. Ma cousine est-elle aussi obligeante que la vôtre? 2. Elle est aussi obligeante, et bien plus charmante que la mienne. 3. 4. Mes enfants, prévenant Vos enfants sont-ils prévenants? tous mes besoins, ne me laissent rien à désirer. 5. Lisez bien attentivement les pages suivantes. 6. Ces demoiselles, suivant l'exemple de leur mère, s'appliquent à la lecture. 7. Les couleurs voyantes ne me plaisent point. 8. Mes soeurs voyant qu'il allait pleuvoir, se hâtèrent de revenir. 9. Qu'avez-vous laissé tomber? 10. J'ai laissé tomber ma plume; la pointe en est émoussée. 11. Les avez-vous fait parler? 12. Je les ai fait parler, mais avec 13. Avez-vous fait faire des changements dans votre 14. J'y en ai fait faire. 15. À quoi en avez-vous manger et au salon fait faire? 16. J'en ai fait faire à la salle 17. Avez-vous laissé passer cet homme ? 18. Je n'ai pas essayé de l'en empêcher. 19. A qui (whom) avez-vous entendu dire cela? 20. Je l'ai entendu dire à mon père. 21. Je le lui ai entendu répéter. 22. Il vous l'a entendu dire. 23. Il vous a vu faire cela. 24. Il vous l'a vu faire. 25. Je l'ai vu passer. EXERCISE 188. difficulté. maison ? 1. Are still waters good for horses? 2. Buffon says that they are better for horses than running waters. 3. Are your sisters cautious? 4. They are not very cautious. 5. My sisters, foreseeing that it was going to rain, brought their umbrellas. 6. What have you let fall? 7. I have let my knife and book fall. 8. Do very bright colours please your brother? 9. Very bright colours do not please him. 10. Have you read the following pages? 11. Have you seen the dying woman? 12. Your sister, 14. Have you lowing your example, applies herself to study. made them read? 15. I have made them read and write. 16. I made my brother write. 17. I have had a book bound (relier). 18. Has your father had alterations made in his house? 19. He 2. The part of the verb used after the preposition en is always dying in the fear of God, was very happy. 13. Your sister, folthe present participle: has had some made in it. 20. In which room has he had some made? 21. He has had some made in my brother's room. 22. Whom have you heard say that? 23. I heard it. sister my 24. Have you heard him say that? 25. I have not heard him say it. 26. Have you seen my father pass? 27. I have not seen him pass. 28. I have heard him speak. 29. Make him speak. 30. Let it fall. 31. Do not let it fall. 32. What has your brother dropped? 33. He has dropped nothing. 34. Whom have you heard say that? 35. I heard your brother say it. 36. I have heard you repeat it. 37. We have seen you do that. SECTION XCVII.-PRACTICAL RESUME 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 ties, other. Vous avez des livres bien reliés. Elles sont venues nous trouver. Tes champs que vous avez labourés. Vous vous étes repentis de votre faute. Elle s'est souvenue de sa promesse. Windiscrétion que nous nous sommes reprochée. Les événements qu'elles se sont racontés. Las fruits que j'en ai reçus. I have warned them of it. You have well-bound books. 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. 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 êtesvous servie, Mademoiselle ? 16. Je me suis servie du vôtre. 17. Nous nous sommes servies des nôtres. 18. Quelles fautes votre fils s'est-il reprochées ? 19. Les fautes qu'il s'est re20. Les avez-vous vus rire? prochées ne sont pas sérieuses. 21. Je les ai vus sourire. 22. Les avez-vous vus voler des fruits? 24. Les avez-vous avertis 23. Je les ai vus voler des pommes. de leurs fautes ? 25. Je les en ai avertis. 26. Je ne les en ai pas avertis. EXERCISE 190. 10. 1. Are your books well bound? 2. They are well bound and well printed. 3. Did not your little girl find herself discouraged? 4. She found herself tired, but not discouraged. 5. Have your 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. 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 23. I have warned them of it. your sisters of their danger? 25. What pen has your 24. I have not warned them of it. mother used? 26. She has used mine. 27. Have not those ladies used my book? young 28. They have not used it. 29. Has your mother been well? 30. She has been perfectly well. 31. Has she remembered her promise? 32. She has remembered it. 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. 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 hiader 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 stand. 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), Bornou (chief town, Kouka), and Begharmi, or Bagirmi (chief town, Masena). The people of Soudan are the farthest advanced in civilisation of the aborigines of Africa, possessing a knowledge of agriculture and the method of irrigation of land from rivers and lakes, and manufacturing cotton cloth and iron implements of various kinds. Upper Guinea extends from the northern confines of Liberia to the mouth of the Calabar river; Lower Guinea from the mouth of the Calabar river to the mouth of the river Nourse. The coast of the Gulf of Guinea, from Liberia to the Bight of Benin, is divided into portions called the Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, and Slave Coast. The chief native states are those of Ashantee (chief town, Coomassie), Dahomey (chief town, Abomey), Yarriba (chief town, Abbeokuta), Benin (chief town, Benin), Eggarah (chief town, Iddah), and Old Calabar (chief town, Bongo). The principal British possessions on this part of the African coast are the Gold Coast Colony, the chief settlement in which is Cape Coast Castle, and Lagos, an island not far from the embouchure of the Niger. Elmina is the capital of the Dutch possessions on the coast of Upper Guinea. The nogroes of Ashantee and Dahomey are a cruel and ferocious race, frequently sacrificing the prisoners they take in war. A great part of Lower Guinea is claimed by the Portuguese, who possess some settlements on the coast, St. Paul de Loanda, the capital of Angola, being the chief of them. The remaining provinces of importance are Biafra (chief town, Biafra), Loango (chief town, Loango), Congo (chief town, San Salvador), and Benguela (chief town, San Felipe de Benguela). Eastern Africa, stretching from the Arabian Gulf to the northern confines of Natal, may be divided into two districts, north and south of the equator. The former comprehends the country of the Gallas on the southern frontiers of Abyssinia, with Ajan, and the country of the Somaulis, in the tongueshaped peninsula terminating in Cape Guardafui. The chief towns in these districts are Zeyla and Berbera, on the Arabian Gulf, and Harar in the interior. Zanguebar, comprising the provinces of Magadoxo (north of the equator), Jubb, Melinda, Zanzibar, and Quiloa, is under the control of the Imam of Muscat, an Arabian potentate, whose African capital is Shanganny, a town on the island of Zanzibar. Mozambique and Sofala nominally belong to the Portuguese. Between Sofala and Natal lies a district called Amazula, or Kaffraria. To the west of Amazula lies the Transvaal Republic, settled by Dutch boers, or farmers, who emigrated thither from Cape Colony. It only remains to add that gold was discovered to the north of the Limpopo river in 1868, in a district bordering on the Transvaal Republic. The chief who owns the territory has offered to transfer his land to the British Government. This discovery will doubtless lend a fresh impetus to emigration to Southern Africa. Some think that this is the country to which Solomon sent for gold, and that it is the Ophir of the Scriptures. " READINGS IN GERMAN.-XI. 14. Byron und Polidori. Wie Lord Byron selbst erzählt, fand folgendes Gespräch zwischen ihm und Polidori, einem sehr eiteln, italienischen Arzte während einer Rheinrevie statt. Was können Sie denn thun, wozu ich nicht im Stante wäre? fragte der Arzt. „Da Sie mich drängen," #4 antwortete der Dichter, fo will ich es Ihnen sagen; ich glaube, es giebt drei solche Dinge." Peliten bestand tarauf, daß er sie nennen sollte, und Lord Byron sprach: Ich kaan über diesen Strom schwimmen; ich kann ein Licht auf eine Entfernung vin zwanzig Schritt mit einem Pistolenschusse ausblasen; und ich habe eia Gericht geschrieben, von dem an einem Tage 14,000 Exemplare vertauf worden sind." VOCABULARY AND NOTES. () Gitel, adj. vain, frivolous. (3) Im Stande sein, to be able. (*) Drängen, to urge. 15. Heinrich der Achte und Thomas More. Heinrich der Achte von England und Franz der Erste von Frankreich waren beide Fürsten von sehr feurigem Temperament.1 Nun winidote Ersterer eine ärgerliche Botschaft an Leyteren zu senten, und wähle feinen Kanzler Thomas More dazu aus. Nachtem More seine Weisung empfangen hatte, sprach er: „Sire, wenn ich riese Botschaft einem so hefti gens Manne, wie tem Könige von Frankreich überbringe, so wird es mir ten Kopf kosten." Sein Sie unbesorgt," antwortete der König; wenn Franz Ihnen den Kopf abhauen läßt, so werte ich jeden Franzosen, der jezt in meiner Macht ist, einen Kopf7 kürzer machen lassen." „Ich bin Er Majestät sehr verbunden," verseßte der Kanzler; aber ich bezweifle sehr, daß irgend einer von tiefen Köpfen auf meine Schultern passen wird." VOCABULARY AND NOTES. (3) " position. care. (7) Ginen Korf kürzer machen to To the west of the Transvaal Republic, between it and the (1) Temperament, n. temper, dis-| (6) Unbesorgt sein, to have no Atlantic sea-board north of the Orange River, lies the country of the Hottentots and Bushmen, a race apparently but little removed above the brute creation, so ignorant are they of the rudest arts and filthy in their habits. They offer a marked contrast to the fierce and warlike Kaffirs, who have given considerable trouble at various periods to the government and inhabitants of Cape Colony. South of the Orange River lie the British dependencies called Cape Colony and Natal, and the district known as the Orange River Free States, a republic of Dutch boers, who retired thither from Natal when it was made a British colony, in 1843, in connection with Cape Colony. Great Britain resigned all jurisdiction over the Orange River Free States in 1854. Natal was erected into a colony distinct and separate from the Cape in 1856. A continuation of Kaffraria lies between Natal and Cape Colony. In 1866, British Kaffraria, on the east of Cape Colony, was incorporated with it. The colony of the Cape of Good Hope is divided into the eastern and western provinces, which are subdivided as follows: WESTERN PROVINCE. District. Clanwilliam Beaufort Malmesbury Tulbagh Worcester. Paarl Paarl. Malmesbury. Caledon Swellendam. Tulbagh. (5) Heftig, adj. violent. make shorter by a head, to decapitate. (*) Passen, to fit. 16. Der Binger Mäusethurm. Von den Brütern Grimm. Bei Bingen ragt mitten aus dem Rhein ein hoher Thurm, von tem Deutschland, daß die Menschen aus Noths Kazen und Hunte aßen und toch nachstehende Sage umgeht. Im Jahre 970 ward große Theuerung* in viele Leute Hungers starben.6 Da war ein Bischof zu Mainz, rer hiß Hatto der Andere,7 ein Geizhals,8 tochte nur daran, seinen Schaß zu mehren, und sah zu, wie die armen Leute auf der Gasse niederfielen, und bei Haufen 10 zu den Brotbänken liesen und das Brot mit Gewalt nahmen. Aber kein Erbarmen 12 kam in ten Bischof, sondern er frrach: Lasset alle Arme und Dürftige sammeln 13 in einer Scheune vor ter Start, ich will sie sreisen." Und wie sie in die Scheune gegangen waren, schloß 15 er die Thür zu, steckte die Scheune mit Feuer an' 16 und verbrannte fie fammt den armen Leuten. Als nun die Menschen unter den Flam men wimmerten 1s und jammerten, rief Vischof Hatte: „Hert, hört, wie die Mäuse pfeifen!" Allein Gott, der Herr, plagte ihn bald, daß die Mäu Swellendam. Tag und Nacht über ihn liefen und an ihm fraßen und er sich mit aller Georgetown. seiner Gewalt nicht wider sie zu bewahren vermochte. 19 Da wußte er eur lich keinen andern Rath, als daß er einen Thurm bei Bingen mitten in ten Rhein bauen ließ, der noch heutiges Tages zu sehen ist; darin meinte er ich zu fristen, aber die Mäuse schwammen durch den Strom heran, ciklomnicu den Thurm und fraßen den Bischof Leventig auf. |