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turous men have been nearly frozen to death. This is a fact, then, in regard to the atmosphere over all parts of the earth; but we may also observe, that under the equator you may go higher, without reaching this extreme cold, than in the countries which lie nearer to the poles. Another fact, which you will easily believe, is, that in summer you can climb higher before you reach the cold region than in winter. Bear these facts in mind. Now, then, if it be so cold at a certain height that men would be frozen to death, of course at that height snow will not melt. What is the natural inference? Why-that mountains whose tops pierce up into this cold region will most certainly be covered with perpetual snow. is not likely that anything but snow ever falls upon their summits,-for when it rains upon the plains around them, it is snowing upon the high peaks above. Indeed it is probable that most of the rain which descends upon the earth has been crystals of snow when it commenced its descent; and afterwards melting in the lower and warmer regions of the atmosphere, takes the shape of water globules, and thus falls to the ground. These globules, no doubt, are very small when they first emerge from the snow region; but as they pass slowly downward through clouds of vapour, they gather together and attract others (by a law which I have not time to explain); and, descending faster and faster, at length plash down to the earth in large drops. Whenever it rains, then, at any particular place, you may be almost certain that it is snowing at the same time over that place-only at a point in the atmosphere far above it. I have been convinced of this fact, by observing that immediately after every occasion when it has rained in the valley, there appeared a greater

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quantity of snow upon the mountain. Had the mountain not been there, this snow would have continued on and become rain, like that which fell upon the plains and into the valley."

"Then, mamma," interrupted Frank, "this mountain must be of great height since the snow lies upon it all the year.'

"Does that follow?"

"I think so.

You said the snow did not melt because it was cold high up."

"But suppose you were in a country near the North Pole, where snow lies all the year at the very seaside, and consequently at the sea level, would it then prove a mountain to be very high?"

"Oh! I see-I see now. The perpetual snow on a mountain only shows it to be of great height when the mountain happens to be in warm latitudes."

"Precisely so. In very warm countries, such as those within the tropics, when you see the snow cap upon a mountain, you may infer that it is a very high one at least over two miles in height; and when there is much snow upon it—that is, when the snow reaches far down its sides-it proves the mountain to be still higher-three miles or more above the level of the ocean."

"Our mountain, then, must be a high one, since it is in a warm latitude, and snow lies all the year upon it."

"It is a high one, comparatively speaking; but you will remember, when we first saw it, there was only a small patch of snow upon its top, and probably in very hot summers that disappears altogether; so that it is not so high as others in South America. Taking our latitude into calculation, and the quantity of snow

which lies upon this mountain, I should say it was about 14,000 feet."

"Oh! so much as that! It does not seem half so high. I have seen mountains that appeared to me to be quite as high as it, and yet it was said they did not measure the half of 14,000 feet."

"That arises from the fact that you are not viewing this one from the the sea level, as you did them. The plain upon which it stands, and from which we view it, is of itself elevated nearly half as much. You must remember that we are upon one of the high tables of the American continent."

Here, for a minute or so, the conversation stopped, and we travelled on in silence, all of us with our eyes fixed on the white and roseate peak that glittered before us, leading our eyes far up into the heavens.

Frank again resumed the discourse which had been broken off by our admiration of this beautiful object,

"Is it not curious," said he, "that the snow should lie so regularly coming down on all sides to the same height, and ending just like the cape of a coat, or the hem of a nightcap? It seems to be a straight line all round the mountain."

"That line," rejoined his mother, "is, as you say, a curious phenomenon, and caused by the laws of heat and cold, which we have just been explaining. It is called the snow line,' and a good deal of speculation has arisen among cosmographers about the elevation of this line. Of course, on mountains within the tropics this line will be at a great height above the level of the sea. As you

advance northward or southward to the Poles, it will be found lower and lower, until within the frigid zones it may be said to cease altogether-for there, as we have

said, snow covers the whole earth, and there can be no snow line.'

"From this, one would suppose that an exact scale might be formed, giving the elevation of the snow-line for all latitudes. But that could not be done. Observation has shown that it not only differs on mountains that lie in the same latitude, but that on the same mountain it is often higher on one side than the other— particularly on those of great extent, as the Himalayas of India. This is all quite natural, and easily accounted for. The position of mountains to one another, and their proximity or great distance from the sea, will give them a colder or warmer atmosphere, independent of latitude. Moreover, the same mountain may have a warmer climate on one side than the other; and of course the snow-line will be higher on that side which is the warmer, in consequence of the greater melting of the snow. This line, too, varies in summer and winter for a like reason-as we see here upon our own mountain, where it has already descended several feet since the weather became colder. This, you will acknowledge, is all very natural; and you will see, too, that Nature, although apparently capricious in many.of her operations, acts most regularly in this one, as perhaps in all others." "But, mamma," inquired Harry, can we not get to the top of the mountain? I should like to have some snow to make snowballs and pelt Frank with them."

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"It would be a very difficult task, Master Hal; and more than either you or I could get through with. I think Frank will escape being snow-balled this time."

"But people have climbed to the top of the Himalaya mountains; and they are far higher than this, I

am sure."

Never," interrupted Frank; "no one has ever climbed the Himalayas. Have they, mamma?”

"No mortal has ever been so high as the summits of those great mountains, which are more than five miles above the level of the ocean. Even could they be climbed, it is not likely that any animal could live at their top. These inaccessible things seem to have been designed by the Creator to afford us objects for sublime contemplation-objects far above the reach of mortal man, and that can never be rendered common by his contact. Do they not seem so?"-Captain Mayne Reid.

LESSON LXV.-SELF-DECEPTION.

There is nothing in which the self-deception of the heart is more evident, than in leading us to believe that if we were placed in any other situation than our own, we should perform its duties faithfully. Our Saviour says, that it is he who is faithful in that which is least, who is faithful also in that which is much: but we flatter ourselves that we should be faithful in much, though we confess that we are deficient in regard to the little that is entrusted to us.

Maria was very prone to this species of self-deception. Nothing pleased her more than to imagine situations of trial and difficulty, in which she supposed herself to behave with the most edifying propriety. Though she knew that she was not so dutiful and attentive to her parents as she ought to have been, yet she flattered herself that if she were only placed in circumstances where filial duties would be more difficult, she would perform them without fault.

She once read an account of a young peasant girl who supported her infirm parents by the labour of her hands,