Page 238 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

READING LESSONS.
stellation of the Bear,- om (G.) arktos, a bear, F. ocean, per·
haps om (G.) oku8, swift, and naein, to ow.
TIERRA DEL FuEGO (tee-er'-ra-del- o-e'-go), an island of S. America
separated om Patagonia by the Straits of Magellan. From the number of volcanoes observed in it by the rst navigators who explored its coast, they styled it ' 'ierra del Fuego, the "land of re."
CoLoM'BTA, one of the great divisions of S. A.; area l1/5 mil. sq. m., with 31/s mil. of inhabitants :-sometimes the appellation is given to the entire continent. Colombia, om Columbus, the discov­ erer :-L. col-umbus, a dove.
BRAZIL', a country of S. A., 3 mil. sq. m. in area, with a pop. of 7
mil.;-or, 15 times the size of France, with only 1/5th of its pop.
Brazil, so named om the abundance of brazil-wood rst und
there.
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Bouv11: , the republic of Upper Peru, 400,000 sq. m. in area; pop. about 11⁄4 mil. Bolivia, om Bolivar, who e ected its indepen­ dence: he died in 1830.
ATAG01NIA, the name of the southern extremity of S. A., 350,000 sq. m. in area, with a pop. of 500,000. It was rmerly called Magellan's Land, om the discoverer; now Patagonia, om the Patagons, an Indian tribe.
M1ss1ss1P'P1, a river of N. A., which rms, with its tributaries, one of the greatest water-systems in the world, draining an area of country of about l1/10 mil. sq. m. ssfas i, "Father of aters."
AM1AZ0N, a river of S. A., 4,700 miles in length, and navigable 2,000 in a direct line om the ocean. It receives the waters of 200 rivers in its course, some of which are as large as the Danube, and drains upwards of 2,400,000 sq. m. Orellano called .the country along the river, Amazonia,-the land of Amazons,-a name given to some heroines of antiquity, who resided near the Caspian Sea in Asia, and of whom he was reminded by companies of armed women, whom he saw on its shores :-whence the name of the rIV . •
AN1DES, a stupendous mountain-chain in S. A., extending om the Straits of Magellan to the Isthmus of Darien. The mountains of N. A. may be regarded as a continuation of the Andes, the whole chain, there re, extends upwards of .9,000 miles. Andes, om a Peruvian word-anti, signifying copper.
1. Tms great division of land is called the New W01·ld, because discovered at a comparatively recent period. It was unknown to the Europeans until 1492, when it was discovered by Christopher Colum­ bus, a Genoese, in the service of Spain, in attempt­ ing to explore a western passage to the East Indies.
In the llowing year, Amerigo Vespucci sailed thither, and, om the interesting account which he gave of the country, the whole continent has obtained
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