Page 241 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

240 THIRD BOOK OF
plains to the snow-clad summits of America, all the climates and natural productions of our hemisphere are exhibited in miniatre, and the zones of the mountains, as they increase in elevation, produce everything as varied and as peculiar to themselves, . as the di erent zones or climates of the earth.
5. The lakes of America, like its mountains and rivers, are on the grandest scale. Lake Superior ex­ ceeds in extent every other body of fresh wa.ter at present known in the world. Its length is about 400 miles, and its breadth, 160. It receives the waters of about rty rivers, some of which are of consider­ able magnitude. The water of this lake is remark­ able r its great transparency, so that sh may be seen at a vast depth.
· 6. The aborigines, or ea liest inhabitants of Amer­ ica, are distinguished om their Asiatic progenitors or ancestors by the bronze hue of the skin, which, with a w exceptions, is c mmon to almost all the nations of this continent. How the rst emigrants passed om the old to the new world is a matter of conjecture: the most probable opinio seems to be that they crossed Bhering's Straits, and gradually peopled thi_s continent. Christianity prevails almost universallythroughoutAmerica. Nearlythree- urths of those who pro ss it are Catholics. The entire pop­ ulation of North and South America is estimated at 47 millions.
THE CHOICE OF FRIENDS.
1. LEAGUE not with him in friendship's tie, Whose sel sh soul is bent on pleasure ;
For he om joy to joy will y,
As changes ncy's ckle measure.
0. B.