The Round World ... New edition, revised, etc

Front matter

BELL'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG HEADERS. A Series of Reading-books designed to facilitate the acquisition of the power of Reading by very young Children. The special feature of these Books is that, even from the most elementary grade, they possess the interest which a connected narrative, however simple in wording, seldom fails to excite ; and by this means make the reading-lesson a pleasure instead of a dull piece of routine, and actually encourage the pupils to pro long it, or to practise the newly-acquired faculty at home. The first and second volumes consist of stories, written in easy words of one syllable. The third contains words of less simple pronunciation. The others can be taken up in the following order : — The Books are issued in cloth binding of a distinct colour for each, with cut edges, price 6d. each.

Those with an asterisk prefixed are illustrated. Suitable for Infants. *The Old Boat-House. — Nell and Fan; or, a Cold Dip. *Tot and the Cat. A Bit of Cake. The Jay. The Black Hen's Nest. Tom and Ned. Mrs. Bee. *The Cat and the Hen. Sam and his Dog Red-Leg. Bob and Tom Lee. A Wreck. The New-born Lamb. The Rosewood Box. Poor Fan. The Sheep Dog. Suitable for Standards I. and II. *The Two Parrots. By the Author of " Tot and the Cat." *The Story of Three Monkeys. *Story of a Cat. Told by Herself. The Blind Boy. The Mute Girl. A New Tale of Babes in a Wood. The Dey and the Knight. The New Bank Note. The Royal Visit. A King's Walk on a Winter's Day. *Queen Bee and Bdsy Bee. *Goll's Crag. Syllabic Spelling. By C. Barton. In Two Parts. Paper Wrapper. Infants, 3d. Standard I., 3d. Poetry for Children.

Selected and arranged by E. A. Helps. Infants, 2d.; Standard I., Id. ; Standard H., Id. ; Standard III., id. London: George Bell & Sons, York Street, Coyent Garden. BELL'S READING-BOOKS. FOR SCHOOLS AND PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES. The popularity which the series of Reading-books known as " Books for Young Readers " has attained, is a sufficient proof that teachers and pupils alike approve of the use of interesting stories with a simple plot, in place of the dry combinations of letters and syllables, making no impression on the mind, of whieh elementary reading-books generally consist. The publishers have therefore thought it advisable to extend the application of this principle, and are issuing a series adapted for more advanced readers. Now Ready, Post 8vo, Strongly Bound, 1/- each. *Grimm's German Tales.

Preface

. In the present edition the vocabulary has been greatly simplified, and several of the lessons have been shortened. So much care has been taken in the choice of words, that the text now presents no difficulty which cannot readily be mastered by an ordinary reader of eight or nine years of age. At the same time, it is hoped that the interest of the lessons has been preserved. All the more difficult words are grouped alphabetically, for revision, at the end of the book. I.— THE MEANING AND USE OP GEOGRAPHY. ge-o-graph-y de-scrip-tion ac-count trav-el sold-iers in-creas-ed fore-fa-thers breath-ing need-ful cloth-ing won-der-ful trou-ble 1. It is a long, hard word, this " Geography," and I only wish that we had some simple word to use instead of it. It means a description of the earth, or, if you like it better, an account of the world on which we live. 2.

In former days people very seldom went out of their own countrj**, and knew verjlittle about other lands. The children who were born in a town or country place, would most likely never go more than a few miles from home in the whole course of their lives. No one went abroad unless he had plenty of money, for it was a costly thing to travel. The people of those days had no railways, no steamships, not even good hard roads to drive or walk upon. Some times a bold traveller would risk his life in mak ing his way through a strange country, and if he chanced to get home in safety at last, he had many a tale to tell about all that he had seen. Soldiers, too, sometimes came back from distant wars, with many a story about the countries they .had marched through, and the men with whom they had fought.

But the great mass of the people — the workmen and farmers and trades men — had to be content with the little world at home, and hardly anybody cared to learn what was going on outside. 3. All this is changed for the better, now-a days. " Many run to and fro upon the earth, and knowledge is increased." Good roads join not only towns, but even little villages together. There are many lines of railway, over which well-laden trains run puffing along, at a rate of speed unknown to our forefathers. Steamers and ships without number cross and recross the seas. We can go as far in a few hours, as our grandfathers could have gone in a week. When the pleasant summer days come round, there are cheap trips, by rail, to all parts of the country, giving every one the chance of seeing new sights, and of breathing the fresh sea-air.

Even young children are often taken by their parents to dis tant places, to spend a holiday. 4. In these days, then, it is needful that we should learn all we can about our own land and other lands. We ourselves are very likely to travel by-and-by, and are sure to meet people who have gone far and seen much. A large part of the food which we eat and drink is brought from abroad. For our clothing, too, we depend largely on other countries. It is surely useful and pleasant to know what is going on in these dis tant lands, and to learn what strange sights are in them. Books of travels ai*e indeed charming to read, for plenty of them can be had, with wonder ful, yet true stories, and nice pictures of real THE EARTH A MOVING BALL. 9 places. In every good school boys and girls now learn geography.

They are sure to like it, if they are not troubled with too many hard names. But it is a study which (like all others) needs much time and care. II.— THE EARTH IS A MOVING BALL. crick-et rea-son cir-cle chance quick-ly Cre-a-tor 1. Everyone knows what a ball is — something quite round. Now our earth is a sort of ball; very large, it is true, yet almost round, and not at all unlike a cricket ball in shape. To speak truly, however, I must tell you that the earth is not quite round, and perhaps it is more like an orange in its shape than anything else. I shall tell you more about this by-and-by. But for the present, all I want you to bear in mind is that the earth is round. 2. If I were to throw a ball up into the air, and if by some chance it could stay up there, I should have a sort of faint likeness of the way in which the earth keeps its place in the heavens.

You will perhaps wonder why it does not fall, for anything we may throw into the air soon comes down again to the ground. Some day you shall learn the reason why a stone or a cricket ball always falls back to the ground from which it was first thrown, and you shall also hear why the earth stays in the heavens, though it seems to have nothing to hold it up. But there are many other things which you must learn first. 3. Not only is the earth a ball — it is also a moving ball, always turning round and round with great speed, and going onwards at the same time. 4. Did you ever spin a top ? There are many kinds of tops, as every boy knows, but they are all made for spinning. Now when you spin a top, you may see it turn quickly on its sharp pointed end, as long as it has any force left. It does not however keep spinning at the very spot on the ground where it first fell, but goes onward all the while, making almost a circle as it goes.

By "circle" I mean a round line like the outer edge of a penny. 5. The earth's way of spinning is not unlike that of the top. Instead of turning round and round in the same place in the sky, it goes a little onward every turn it takes. This onward path is nearly a circle. It takes the earth a whole day and night (twenty-four hours) to spin round once, and a whole year is spent in getting once round the circle in which it moves. 6. Do not fancy that the earth makes a turn once, stops a while, and then goes on again. No, indeed, it does nothing of the kind. This huge ball has never stopped for an instant since its Creator first placed it in the heavens. The earth's turning goes on for ever. 7. When you go into the playground, see if you can copy the movement of the earth, by mak ing a large circle on the ground, and walking THE INSIDE OF THE EARTH. 11 round it, turning your own body quickly all the time.

You will find it a very tiring thing to do, and it may make you feel giddy if you go too quickly, but it will give you a kind of rough notion of the way in which our great earth moves. The whole circle round which you walk will mean a year, and each turn of your body will mean a single day. III.— THE INSIDE OF THE EARTH. sol-id trem-ble cer-tain min-er-als earth-quake im-mense thought 1. We live on the surface, or outside of this Round World of ours, and it is only the outside of the earth which Geography has to deal with. Very little is known about the inside. Men sometimes dig deep holes in the ground, and go far down through the solid earth or rock, in search of coal, iron, gold, or other useful mine rals. But even the deepest holes or mines (as they are called), go a very short way into the im mense mass of the whole world, and we have no means of getting far below the earth's surface. 2.

In some parts of the world, far from our country, there are mountains which now and then cast forth flames, and smoke, and burning streams of melted rock. So in some places there must be fire under the ground. For all we know, the fire may be under our own feet at this moment, in the heart of the earth ; but anyhow, it does not trouble us in England. 3. The solid earth sometimes trembles, and then the ground may shake with such force that even houses fall, and great cracks are opened in the rocks beneath. Very awful are these earth quakes, and we may well hope that they may never be felt here. Nor are they at all common. But they do sometimes happen in some parts of the world, and they seem to show that the earth is not such a firm mass as we might fancy it to be. 4. Some learned men say that the hard out side of the earth — its " crust," as they term it — is only thin and shell-like, while beneath this slight coating there is nothing but a melted mass in a state of great heat. 5.

A strange thought this is, yet the earth is at least solid enough for us to dwell upon, what ever wise folks may say about it. This much we know for certain — the rocks which make up the crust of the earth must be many miles deep. So if the middle of the earth is soft or hard, hot or cold, it matters not to us if we have many miles of hard rock below our feet. IV.— THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. moun-tain sur-round ex-ist extent thirs-ty en-joy 1. The surface of the earth is made up of land and water. The solid, hard ground on which we live is land, whether it be flat or sloping, high or low. In one place it rises into lofty mountains; in another it sinks into low plains. THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. 13 It is in some parts wooded, in others grassy or stony. We walk upon the land when we tread the streets of a town.

We are carried quickly over the land when we rush along in a railway train. Most of us spend the greater part of our lives on the land. 2. Yet there is far more water than land upon the earth's surface. Those of us who live beside the sea look out upon a vast extent of salt-water, which stretches very much further than our eye can reach. Ships go to and fro across this great sea, and we might sail over it for weeks without catching sight of land. Go where we may across the land, we at last find the sea, for it surrounds every piece of land upon the world. 3. But the sea is not the only water on the surface of the earth. Rivers and brooks run down the hills and through the valleys of the land, carrying with them fresh water which the rain has poured upon the ground. a brook. These running streams wet the thirsty land, and help it to bring forth its grain and fruits.

In some places the fresh water gathers in hollows, and makes large sheets of water, which look not unlike the sea. 4. Some dry countries have hardly any rain, but by far the greatest part of the land is full of springs and rivers, and lakes. Neither plants nor animals can exist without water ; and as God made the earth to be the home of Man, He has given us all the water it needs, so that we may richly enjoy the fruits of the ground. V.— THE ROUNDNESS OF THE WORLD PROVED. ap-pear gaze voyage Aus-tra-lia tum-ble pas-sen-ger New Zea-land un-der-stand ves-sel 1. "It is all very well to say that the world is round ; but it does not appear to me to be in the least round. How can you prove to me that it really is a ball?" 2. Some of you may have thought of asking me this, and I do not wonder at it.

Each of us sees such a small part of the earth at once, that he can hardly bring himself to feel that he spends his life upon the outside of an immense ball. And it does seem odd to think that our friends who have gone to Australia or New Zealand, and are therefore on the other side of the world, have their feet turned towards ours. Why, we cannot fancy such a thing ! 3. Who, indeed, can understand that he is really living upon a ball — a ball, too, which is for ever in motion, rolling round and round, and going onwards at the same time through the sky ? Yet it is a fact, all the same, and it can be proved most clearly. ROUNDNESS OF THE WORLD. 4. If the world were not round, it would some where have an edge like the edge of a table, and it would then be possible to walk to this edge, and gaze over it, or perhaps tumble off it into space.

But nobody ever saw the edge of the world. There is no such thing. 5. Sailors have many a time taken their ships all round the world. Starting from some sea port, and going onward in a straight course for a long time, they have at last got back to the very same spot from which they first set out. If you pass a piece of string round a globe, you will easily understand what I mean. 6. When a ship is coming in from a voyage, and is at length drawing near to land, the first sign of solid ground is very likely to be the top of some lofty mountain. If the country is flat, perhaps the tip of a church spire or tower will come first into view. But, at any rate, the highest points on the land are seen long before the low ground near the sea. It sailor-boy on the look-out. is from the topmast of the ship that the passengers first hear the welcome cry of " Land ho !

" for the captain always keeps some one on the look-out at the top of a mast when he is coming near the shore, because he knows that the first peep of land will be got sooner from that high point than from the deck of the ship below. 7. The same thing happens when we stand on the sea-beach, and gaze at a distant vessel which is coming nearer and nearer to the land. First we see the tops of the masts, then the sails, last of all the hull (or body of the ship). But if the ship is sailing away, the hull goes first out of sight, then the sails, and the last part of the vessel which we see is the very top of the tallest mast. 8. The picture which I give you here will show you more plainly than any words of mine why these facts prove that the sea must be curved. And if the sea is thus curved in every part of the world, it follows that the world itself is a round ball.

VI.— SIZE OF THE EARTH. con-trive e-noup-h cir-cum-fer-ence mea-sure 1. Let us find how large the world is. You will only learn what is very simple and easy. I am not going to tell you how far the earth is SIZE OF THE EARTH. 17 from the sun, nor if it is bigger or smaller than any of the stars or the moon. All we want to know now is the number of miles which we should have to travel in going once round the world, and in going once tlirougk it (if we could go through it). Then we shall know enough about the earth's size for the present. 2. I suppose you have all heard of the length known as a "mile." 12 inches make one foot. 3 feet make one yard. 1,760 yards make one mile. 3. A grown man, if he is a good walker, will generally contrive to walk a mile in fifteen minutes. A young lad, or a woman, not being able to go quite so quickly, would perhaps take twenty minutes in going over the same distance.

A fast horse can trot a mile in about six minutes. An " express " railway train, at full speed, travels a mile in a single minute ; and even the common train, called " slow," seldom takes more than two or three minutes in passing over a mile of distance. 4. And now we must learn a new and rather long word, namely, circumference. This word means the distance round any ball or circle. Let us see if we can understand its meaning. 5. The line that goes round, or bounds, a cart wheel is the wheel's circumference. The rim of a penny is its circumference. If I were to show you a watch, or a clock face, or a round cake, or if I were to point to the full moon in the sky, I think you would at once know what I meant if I spoke of the circumference of each of these things. 6. Take a string, and cut off it a piece just long enough to go once round a ball, so that half the ball may be on each side of the string.

You will the circumference of a ball. find that the same length of string will also go round the ball in any other way. Whenever you put the string round this ball, so as to make the two ends merely touch, you will find half the ball on each side of it. 7. Next cut an orange straight through the middle, thus parting it into halves. The line round the cut edge of the orange, if we measure it, will tell us the circumference of the orange 8. So, then, the circumference of the earth is the distance round it. This is almost 25,000 miles. It seems a long way, does it not? 9. If an express railway train could go straight round the world, at the speed of a mile a minute, THE EARTHS SHAPE. 19 not stopping for an instant, it would take about seventeen days to get once round the earth. Fancy a man who never got tired, one who could walk on and on, over land and over sea, as long as he pleased, at the rate of four miles an hour.

Well, if this man were to start off for a walk round the earth, eight months would have passed away before he had made his round, and got back to the same place again. 10. Of course neither man nor train could really travel straight round the world. I only give you the two cases to let you learn the true length of a line drawn round the earth. VII.— THE EARTH AND AN ORANGE. ex-act mod-el op-po-site stalk knit-ting ax-is squeez-ed need-le cen-tre 1. I said, some time ago, that the earth is not quite round. It is like a ball which has been pressed in, very slightly, at two points, the one j ust opposite to the other. 2. The exact shape of the world is very well shown by the common orange. If you take an orange in your hand, and look closely at it, you will observe a little black dot on the top; just facing this dot, on the lower side of the orange, there is a white spot (which marks the place where the stalk of the fruit grew).

Well, if we hold the orange thus, with the black dot upwards, we at once see that the fruit has a little swelling in the middle, and looks as if it had been squeezed at the top and bottom. So is it *with the earth. One part of this great ball swells out a little, while another becomes almost flat. The orange, there fore, will do very well for a small model, or copy, of the world. 3. Let us now get a knit ting-needle, or a straight piece of wire, and push it through the orange, from the black dot to the white spot on the op posite side, passing straight lesson on an orange. through the fruit. If we turn the orange round and round on this needle, we shall get some notion of the way in which the earth spins round. 4. The points where the earth is almost flat are called its poles. On the orange they were shown by the two dots through which the needle was pushed.

A line supposed to be drawn straight through the earth, from the one pole to the other, is called its axis. This is the line on which the earth turns round. There is of course no real line inside our wrorld, like the wire through the orange, but we can easily fancy such a line, passing from the one pole to the other, on which the earth spins round and round, just as our orange turns on its line, the needle. 5. The axis passes straight through the middle or centre of the earth, going from one pole to THE EARTHS SHAPE. 21 the other. The poles, therefore, are merely the ends of the axis. We call the one the North Pole, the other the South Pole. VIII.— MORE ABOUT THE EARTH'S SHAPE. di-a-me-ter E-qua-tor hem-i-spheres bur-ied bulge di-vid-ing flat-ten-ed 1. Any straight line drawn through the middle of the world, from one side to the other, is called its diameter.

Now the axis is a diameter, but not the only one, for we may draw as many straight lines as we please through a ball or circle, and if they all pass through the centre, each of them will be rightly called a diameter. When we took the wire and stuck it through the middle of the orange just now, part of it was hidden inside the fruit. That hidden part was the axis of the orange, and its diameter too. But if I pull the wire out again, I may stick it through the orange in hundreds of other ways, merely taking care to pass it through the middle of the orange each time. If I do so, that part of the wire which is buried within the fruit will always be its diameter. 2. A diameter, then, of any round or nearly round body, such as an orange or the earth, is simply its distance in a straight line from out side to outside, passing through the centre of the body.

Two drawings which I have made for you below will perhaps make the matter clearer. 3. The diameter of a ball that is quite round, such as a cricket ball, is al ways the same in length, no matter how it is drawn. But this is not so with the earth or an orange, for both these balls are slightly flattened. The axis of the earth (or orange) is not its longest diameter. The earth's axis is a line over 8,000 miles in length. We may say, therefore, that the diameter of our world north polh. is about 8,000 miles long ; but we must bear in mind, all the while, that the earth is not quite round, and that all its diameters are not exactly the same, wherever they may be drawn. 4. And now comes another south polb. word which we ought to learn, and that is Equator. The Equator is a line supposed to be drawn round the world, at exactly the same distance from each pole. 5.

Let us take the orange once more, and see if we can find its equator. Just half-way between the points, or poles, through which the wire wTas passed, we notice that the fruit bulges out most. If we here draw a line which shall pass evenly round the orange, as it turns upon the wire, we shall make a circle like the WOPTHERN HEMISPHERE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE MOTIONS OF THE EARTH. 23 Equator. You see it is the largest circle that can be drawn on the orange, and it cuts it exactly into two equal parts, with a pole at the top of each. Any other circles drawn straight across the orange would become smaller and smaller as they got nearer to the poles. 6. Halves of a ball, cut in any direction through its middle, are termed " hemispheres." The halves of the earth which would be made by dividing it along the Equator are the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

IX.— THE MOTIONS OF THE EARTH. tint-ed grad-u-al-ly spin-ning crea-ture de-grees rap-id-ly sha-dy 1. What a lovely sight is the sunrise on a fine morning! When the first streaks of daylight appear in the east, darkness soon begins to fade away. The sky gets brighter and brighter, and the clouds become tinted with gold and red. Then up shoots the sun in all its glory, waking the world from sleep, and bringing new life and warmth and light to all God's creatures. 2. By noon the sun has reached its highest point in the heavens, and, if it be summer-time, the beams have become so hot that we are often glad to get out of the glare into a shady nook, and rest awhile till the cool of the day comes. 3. Towards evening, when the day is far spent, the sun has sunk low in the western sky, and we then see it gradually pass out of sight, often with the same bright tints which marked its rise.

Slowly the night closes in, and all the land is once more dark. 4. Strange as it might at first sight appear, this seeming passage of the sun across the sky is no real passage at all. We know that the sun does not move ; it is our own world which is in constant motion. As the earth rolls round upon its axis, everj-* part of it by degrees passes into the light and then out of the light. One side of the world is thus always in light, while the opposite side is in darkness. Happily, the earth never stands still, even for a moment, so every country gets its own share of day and night in proper order. 5. The path of the earth through the sky is an immense circle, and in the centre of that circle stands the sun. As it takes the earth a whole year to get once round this path, we may say that the earth makes a circle round the sun in one year. 6.

These yearly and daily motions of the earth are not very easy to understand, just at first. All, however, that you have to keep in mind is, that we have both a motion of the earth round its own axis, and a motion of the earth round the sun, and that these go on at the same time. You know now how anything may move onward and turn round on itself at the same instant, Look how a carriage wheel keeps rolling on as it whirls along a road. See also what takes place when a top is spun on the ground. In both cases, you see, a spinning motion and an onward motion are going on together. THE BRITISH ISLES. 25 7. Is it not strange to think of our world thus rushing through the sky, with all the people who live upon it, and the very air and clouds, on its long year's journey round the sun ? Even since we read these last words, it has gone many, many miles further on its path, and it will not get back to the same place in the sky for twelve months hence.