JAPAN.

1. The empire of Japan' is composed of several islands which lie to the east of Asia, the largest of which is Nphon. The islands Ximo and Xico'co form a part of the empire; and Jes'so is dependent upon it.

2. These islands have a diversified surface and a variable climate; they are very rich in mineral productions; and are highly cultivated, and very populous.

3. The Japanese' have made considerable advancement in the sciences, and excel in agriculture and some manufactures; and their varnish is unrivalled.

4. JED'DO, the capital of Japan, is situated on a bay in the island of Niphon, and is one of the most populous and magnificent cities of Asia.

5. Meä'co, the ecclesiastical capital, is noted for manufactures; Nangasuck'i, as the only port to which foreigners are admitted.

OCEANICA,

OR

ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN

1. Ocean'ica is a term applied to a vast number of islands which are widely dispersed in the Pacific ocean, lying chiefly to the southeast of Asia; and they are considered as forming a fifth grand division of the world.

2. These islands have commonly been divided into three classes, namely, the Eastern Archipelago or Asiatic Islands, Australia, and Polynesia.

JAPAN. 1. What is said of Japan? 2. What is said of the islands? 3. The Japanese? 4 Jeddo? 5. Meaco and Nangasacki?

OCEANICA.-1. What is said of Oceanica? 2. How are these islands divided?

See Map of Asia. By what are the Japan islands separated from Asia? How is Niphon situated? Ximo? Xicoco? Jesso? Jeddo? Meaco? Nangasacki?

3. Most of them are situated within the torrid zone, and are generally exposed to great heat; but there is a wide diference of temperature among thein, and many of them enjoy a delightful climate.

4. They present all varieties of surface, but many of them are mountainous, and some of them have mountains of great elevation. No other part of the globe so much abounds in volcanoes; and many of the islands are sup posed to be of volcanic origin.

5. The low islands generally have for their base a reef of coral rocks, by which they are supposed to have been originally formed, and to have been gradually augmented and elevated, by the slow accumulation of light bodies drifted to them by the sea.

6. Most of the animals of the south of Asia are found in these islands, and there are many varieties peculiar to this part of the globe. The orang-outang most abounds in Borneo; the beautiful birds of paradise in New Guinea; and the kanguroo is found in New Holland.

7. The cocoa-nut tree and the family of the palm trees. which are very beautiful and highly useful, abound in most of the islands. Many of them also furnish sandal-wood, which is burnt in the houses of Oriental nations, for its fragrant odor.

8. The bread-fruit tree is another remarkable and most useful production of many of the islands. It grows to the height of 40 or 50 feet, and produces a nutritious fruit of the size of a child's head, and in such abundance, that the produce of three trees will support a man for a year.

9. These islands produce various spices and abound in rice, coffee, sugar, cotton, benzoin, camphor, bananas, sago, and a variety of tropical fruits.

10. The Islanders consist chiefly of two races, 1st, the Malay race, who are widely dispersed throughout the Eastern Archipelago and Polynesia; and 2dly, the Negro or Papuan race, who form the principal part of the population of Australia, and are also found in many of the other islands.

11. The islanders of the Malay race are of a tawny or dark olive complexion, and exhibit considerable diversity in their condition and character, some of them being somewhat advanced in the arts of civilized life, while others are

3. What is said of their situation and climate? 4. What is said of the surface? 5. Low islands? 6 Animals?

7. What trees abound? 8. What is said of the bread-fruit tree? 9. What productions? 10. What aces of inhabitants? 11. What is said of the Malay race

extremely barbarous, and in some instances, cannibals. The inhabitants of Polynesia are pagans; those of the Eastern Archipelago, partly pagans and partly Mahometans.

12. The Papuan race are smaller than the African negroes, and not so black. They are the most degraded of the human species; and seem incapable of acquiring the habits and feelings of civilized men.

13. The islands of the Eastern Archipelago, which are also called the Asiatic Islands, the East India Islands, and Northwest Oceanica, comprise five divisions or clusters, namely, the Sunda or Sumatra Islands, Borneo, the Philippine Islands, Celebes, and the Moluccas.

14. These islands supply other parts of the world with various spices, or aromatic luxuries, as pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs. Some of the other productions are rice, sugar, cotton, coffee, camphor, benzoin, sago, cocoa, cassia, and edible birds' nests.

15. SUNDA ISLES. - Sumatra, the largest of the Sunda Isles, is fertile, but mountainous, and contains the elevated mountain of Ophir.

16. This island is chiefly in the possession of the natives. but the English have a small settlement at Bencoo'len.

12. The Papuan race? 13. What does the Eastern Archipelago comprise? 14. What are some of their noted produtions 15. What is said of Sumatra? 16. In whose possession is it?

17. Ju'va, the other great island of this cluster, belongs to the Dutch, and is so fruitful in rice, that it has been sometimes styled the Granary of the East.

19. The interior is mountainous; but the coasts are low and marshy; and the climate here is very unhealthy.

19. Batavia, in the northwest part of Java, is the capital of all the Dutch East India possessions, and, on account of its former splendor and great commerce, was styled the Queen of the East.

20. Ban'ca, an island lying east of Sumatra, also belongs to the Dutch, and is noted for its rich tin mines.

21. BORNEO. Borneo, the largest island in the world, except New Holland, and perhaps also New Guinea, is 800 miles long, and 700 broad; but it has been little explored, and is little known.

22. It is noted for a species of ape called the orangoutang, an animal which bears a strong resemblance to the human species.

23. PHILIPPINE or MANILLA ISLANDS.-The Philippine Islands belong to Spain. The two largest are Luzon' and Mindanä'o, both of which are very fertile ; and the former is remarkable for volcanoes.

24. Manilla, on the west coast of Luzon, is the capital of the Spanish East India possessions, and has heretofore been a place of much commerce.

25. CELEBES. Cel'ebes, a large island, remarkable for its irregular form and fine scenery, belongs partly to the natives, and partly to the Dutch

26. THE MOLUCCAS.

-

The Moluc'cas, called also the Spice Islands, belong to the Dutch. The most important islands are Gilo'lo and Ceram', the two largest; Amboy'na, noted for cloves; Ban'da, for nutmegs.

AUSTRALIA.

27. Australia or Australasia, called also Central Oceanica, comprises New Holland, Papua or New Guinea, Van Die'men's Land, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, New Heb'ri-des, New Zealand, and other smaller islands.

28. New Holland, which is about three fourths as large as Europe, and is sometimes styled a continent, was first

17. What is said of Java? 18. What of the surface and climate? 19. Batavia? 20. Banca? 21. Borneo?

22. For what is it noted? 23. Philippine islands? 24. Manilla? 25. Celebes? 26. Moluccas? 27. What does Australia comprise 23. What is said of New Holland ?

discovered by the Dutch, in 1605; and the most of it is yet unexplored.

29. The natives of New Holland, as well as of most other parts of Australia, are the most degraded and barbarous of the human species. They wear little or no clothing, have no form of government, and are destitute of all the comforts of civilized life.

30. The coasts are extremely diversified; and the forests are said to be inferior in majesty to those of America, and in variety and elegance to those of Asia.

31. The quadrupeds are different from those of any other part of the world, and are mostly of the opossum species. One of the largest and most celebrated is the kanguroo, an elegant animal, which is sometimes 6 feet long, and is remarkable for the shortness of its fore legs, and for the abdominal pouch of the female, for the protection of its young.

32. New Holland is celebrated chiefly for the English Colony, in New South Wales, in the southeast part, formed by the transportation of convicts from Great Britain.

33. This colony was begun, in 1787, and contained, in 1836, 70,000 inhabitants, about two fifths of whom were convicts.

34. The climate of the country occupied by the colony,

29. What of the natives? 30. What of the coasts and forests? 31. Quadrupeds, and kanguroo? 32. For what is New Holland chiefly celebrated? 33. What is said of this colony' 34. What of the climate and soil?