of the United States of America, then thirteen, but now twenty-four in number.

362. These States, under a free, prudent, and wise government, form now the happiest and most flourishing countries in the world; and are the refuge of people driven from the various nations of Europe, by ruinous wars and political revolutions. Their head is called a President; he is chosen for four years, and governs according to laws made by two houses of the legislature.

363. The chief towns are Washington, Philadelphia, New-York, Boston, Baltimore and Charleston. The chief rivers and the finest in the world, are the Delaware, the Susquehanah, the Hudson, the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Missouri.

364. North and westward of the United States, lie Upper and Lower Canada, two immense districts still subject to the British empire; the capitals of which are Quebec and Montreal, both situated on the immense river St. Lawrence.

Obs.--This great river joins five lakes of fresh water, the largest in the world; and between two of them are the grand falls of Niagara.

365. Southward of the United States, lies the Gulf of Mexico; in which are situated the islands called the West Indies-as Cuba, St. Domingo, Jamaica, Porto Rico, Barbadoes, Martinico, Guadaloupe, Tobago, St. Kitts, &c.

366. By turning to a map, it will be seen that North America is joined to South America by a long slip of land called Mexico, and the Isthmus of Darien, occupied or governed by the Spaniards, as well as the greater part of South America itself, from the time of the discoveries of Columbus, to the revolutions which took place a few years since, in those countries.

367. In this immense continent, Mexico, Peru, and Buenos-Ayres, each more extensive than all Europe, and abounding in gold and silver, and various valuable

productions, have been governed for three centuries previous to their revolt from Spain, by three Spanish Viceroys.

368. South America is watered by the largest rivers in the world, as the Amazons, La Plata, and Öronooko. In the Andes, it possesses the highest chain of mountains, some of them four miles high; and among them are the most productive gold and silver mines in the world.

369. South of Peru is Chili; and south of Chili the inhospitable and frozen regions of Patagonia; among whose scanty inhabitants are some tribes of gigantic statures, from six and a half to seven feet high. Terra del Fuego, or the Land of Fogs, is the most southerly region of America, and Cape Horn is its extreme point.

370. The following is an enumeration of the organized districts and countries of America:

371. The United States of America, consist of the following states and territories, each having a separate government which extends to the regulation of its own

372. The Great or Pacific Ocean is filled with numerous clusters of islands, called the Society Islands, the Friendly Islands, the Sandwich Islands, Phillips's Island, &c. all discovered by the English within the last fifty years. The inhabitants live in a natural savage state; and the anecdotes of their simple manners form the charm of the voyages of Wallis, Cook, and

others.

373. MAPS are exact portraits of the surface of the earth, viewed as from an eminence, or laid down according to a scale, in which every part retains its exact proportion.

The top of a map is the north, the bottom the south, the right hand is the east, and the left hand the west: when these points are indicated by a compass engraved on map, the north is indicated by a fleur-de-lis.

the

Obs. 1.-It would be well to convey the idea of the prineiple of maps to children, by showing them a plan of the place where they live, or a map of their county or district, laying it in the position of the places.

2. Young persons should be taught the use of maps, by means of the problems in Goldsmith's Royal Atlas. 374. The figures running from north to south, or

south to north, at the side of a map, indicate the latitude or distance in degrees or minutes from the equator. The lines across are mere guides to the eye, to connect the figures on each side, and are called the parallels of latitude. When the figures increase upward, it is north latitude; if downward, it is south latitude. 375. An imaginary line, which passes over every person or place on the earth, from the north pole to the south pole, is called the meridian; and the distance between these meridians, measured at the equator, is called the longitude.

The figures at the bottom and top of the map indicate such distances between meridians, and the lines which join them are called meridians. The longitude is east when the distance increases from left to right; or west when it increases from right to left.

Obs. See a map of the whole world, and examine, study and copy it.

376. A globe is an exact portrait of the earth or heavens. For the facility of working problems, it is provided with a universal brass meridian; with a universal wooden horizon; with an hour circle to reduce its motion into time; with a compass to set it due north and south; and with a quadrant to measure distances and altitudes.

377. As the earth, which is 360 degrees round, turns any place to the sun in every 24 hours, of course 15 degrees turn to and from the sun in every hour, and one degree in every four minutes.

The hour of the day, therefore, at different places, depends on their difference in longitude, calculated in the above proportion; all places to the east moving under the sun, or having their noon sooner than those o the west, because the earth turns from west to east.

Obs.-Albany is nearly longitude three degrees west of Boston; it therefore passes under the sun twelve minutes later than Boston arrives at the sun; and of course, when it is twelve o'clock at Boston, it wants twelve minutes of twelve in Albany; or when it is twelve in Albany, it is twelve min

utes after twelve in Boston. In working such problems, it is simply necessary to bear in mind, that the whole earth of 360 degrees turns round in twenty four hours; and, of course, that the clocks every where vary in proportion to the distances of their meridians, or the difference of their longitudes.

XV. Of Morals and Religion.

378. Man is not well adapted to a social state, unless his conduct be restrained by a respect for others beyond what is imposed by Laws; that is, except he be actuated by an habitual sense of what is right, and by feelings of remorse for having done what is wrong.

379. In due time he will find, that his happiness consists in restraining his own passions and sensual propensities; in doing good to others; and in rendering his existence useful, by creating a reliance in others upon his labour, skill, and kindness.

380. The perception which every man feels of what is right and wrong, is called the Moral Sense; and it appears to arise from a consciousness of doing, or not doing to others what we would have them do to us, were our situations reversed. Doing to others, therefore, as we would that others should do to us, is the golden rule of social virtue.

Obs. Another rule as universal, and not less important to the cause of virtue, is never to do an act which you would be ashamed to have known.

381. The practice of virtue implies restraint on our own wishes, and on our respecting the rights and happiness of others; restraint is the result of habit, and habit is produced by education. Hence the necessity of education, for restraining vicious propensities, and for producing virtuous habits, on which depend all our happiness and prosperity.

Obs.-The golden rule of virtue is also the golden rule of manners; true politeness consisting in deferenee to others, and conceding our own wants and wishes to the pleasure and enjoyment of others.

382. There are no general rules so unerring as those, that virtue ought always to be practised, because it is