Scrape. She did indeed refuse hay this morning; but the only reason was, that she was crammed full of oats. You have nothing to fear, neighbour; the mare is in perfect trim; and she will skim you over the ground like a bird. I wish you a good journey and a profitable job.

1whimsical, full of whims; having odd fancies; capricious. 2 score, twenty. curried, cleansed by rubbing and combing.

"Wilt thou lend me thy mare to go a mile?”
"No, for she's lamed leaping over a stile."
"But if thou wilt her to me spare

Thou shalt have money for thy mare."

"Oh! Oh! say you so?

Money will make the mare to go."

THE MINSTREL-BOY.
THE minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him ;
His father's sword he has girded on,

And his wild harp slung behind him :—
"Land of song!" said the warrior-bard,
Though all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee."
The minstrel fell! but the foeman's chain
Could not bring his proud soul under;
The harp he loved ne'er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;

And said, "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and bravery !

Thy songs were made for the pure and free

They shall never sound in slavery!"

Moore.

SWIMMING.

en-ter-tain'-ment ac-cu'-mu-la-ted nav-i-ga'-tion ra -di-ant-ly

Car-pen-ta'-ri-a ap-pren'-ti-ces e-mer'-gen-cy

re-mu'-ner-a-ted im'-i-ta-ting

op-por-tu'-ni-ty in-ter-cep'-ted

con-strict'-or

Sav-an-il'-la

ac-quired'

Bat-a'-vi-a

treach'-er-ous

un-fre-quent'-ed im-po-si'-tion ex-cess'-ive

spec'-i-mens

SWIMMING is a very interesting sport, and is often also the means of saving life in a sudden 1emergency; therefore girls as well as boys ought to learn to swim. The art is very easily acquired where the opportunity is afforded.

Swimming is an art not natural to man; many animals can swim without any lessons or previous trials, but man cannot do so. Yet swimming is very easy; almost all that is necessary is to go into water about up to the armpits, and in a week or two you will learn to swim, merely by seeing others swim, and imitating their movements.

Most savages can swim, and swim well. The exceptions are those who inhabit such arid wastes as the deserts of 2Arabia and Tartary. I once had an exhibition of the skill of savages in swimming while passing through Torres Straits-the passage between the east coast of Australia and the great barrier reefs which lie between it and the open expanse of the South Pacific Ocean. These straits are many hundred miles long, and the *navigation exceedingly dangerous, because of hidden reefs and shoals. The coast from Sydney, New South Wales, to the Gulf of Carpentaria, was uninhabited save by roving bands of Australian blacks, many of

whom had never seen a white man.

These savages

were utterly destitute of raiment, they had no huts, and their canoes were of the poorest and rudest sort, with nothing for paddles but bits of bark, not much larger than their own hands. Yet they were splendid swimmers. On one occasion I saw a number of them swim a great distance under water.

6

During my first voyage we visited Savanilla, and here the sharks seemed likely to interfere with our swimming. The port was a lonely and unfrequented one-a bay almost landlocked. On one side the land was high and wild. On the other there was a long, low island, covered to the water's edge with bushes.

A

There was no town at the landing-place. 'bamboo hut served as a custom-house, and another as a house of entertainment. Farther inland, on the banks of a lagoon which swarmed with alligators, there was a cluster of huts. The shipments consisted of 'logwood, hides, and a particular kind of dried nut, useful for tanning leather. The weather was very hot, and the sea-breeze, being 10intercepted by the high land at the mouth of the bay, gave small relief. We longed to bathe in the evenings, but the sharks could be seen darting out from under the ship's "counter when anything was thrown overboard, and sometimes, when it was very calm, the fin of a huge monster was seen above the water, as it swam lazily about in search of prey.

Some Spaniards assisted us in stowing the cargo

and we were surprised to see one of them take a bathe regularly after his work was done. On asking if he did not fear the sharks, he replied that a shark would not touch a man if he splashed the water as he swam.

Taking advantage of this fact, we swam every night, keeping in active motion, and springing out of the water immediately our swim was ended. The place swarmed with large sharks, but none of our crew met with any mishaps from them.

Some years after I had opportunity of putting this to further test. We had sailed from Batavia, in the island of 12 Java, bound to 13 Rotterdam in Holland, with a valuable cargo of coffee, sugar, spices, and specimens of natural history for the University of 14 Leyden. There were some mighty boa-constrictors and a tiger or two among them. When at sea, it was found that the ship leaked ; and, upon examination, it was discovered that the leak was on the larboard quarter, near the stern, and not a great depth under water. It was thought that, if the ship were anchored in smooth water, she might be lightened enough to bring the leak up, so that it could be 15calked.

With this view, the captain took her into the Cocos or Keeling Islands,-a group which lies in the South Pacific, about a thousand miles southwest of Java, and nearly in the route of ships bound from that island to Europe or America, round the Cape of Good Hope.

These islands are very numerous, and of small

size, the biggest being no larger than a goodsized farm, but so beautiful! The islets themselves are of white coral rock. With the soil which ages have accumulated upon them, the highest part is but three feet above the sea; a dense growth of cocoa-nut trees covers them, and a few white men and 16 Malays visit them from time to time to procure turtles and cocoa-nuts. The sea round these islands was so clear that one could discern shells at the bottom, through 18 twentyfathom water. All day the sky was cloudless, the sun shone radiantly, and the heat was nicely 19 tempered, even at noontide, by the steady breeze of the south-east trade-wind. If a man could be content away from friends and the bustle of the battle of life, he would find here a sort of natural paradise,

"Amidst the green isles of glittering seas,

Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze,
And strange, bright birds on their starry wings
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things."

.

The position was laid down in the sailing 20charts, but there was no guide for navigation among the islands. The lower masts of two vessels, however, with their tops just above the water, gave warning that "treacherous reefs lay below. In threading about towards what was deemed the best place for anchorage, near the largest of the islands, the ship struck. She had grounded on a ledge of coral as steep as a wall, for while her bows stuck fast, there was plenty of water under the stern.