The principal branches of the Mediterranean are, the Adriatic Sea, between Italy and Greece; and the Archipelago, between Greece and Asia Minor. The eastern portion of the Mediterranean is called the Levant. On the south of France is the Gulf of Lions, and at the north of Italy is the Gulf of Genoa.

The principal Rivers which flow into the Mediterranean are the Rhone, from France; the Po, from Italy; and the Nile, from Egypt. Besides these, the waters of the Danube, the Dnieper, and the Don, come to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea by the Sea of Mar

mora.

The Countries on the shores of the Mediterranean are:—

Syria, including Palestine, forms the eastern shore of the Mediter

ranean.

The principal Islands in the Mediterranean are, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Candia, and Cyprus. Besides these, there is a large number of smaller islands; one of which, Malta, to the south of Sicily, belongs to Britain. It lies about midway between Gibraltar and Egypt.

The Mediterranean is separated from the Red Sea by the narrow Isthmus of Suez. A great ship-canal across the isthmus has, after ten years of labour, been constructed by a French engineer named Lesseps. The waters of the two seas are united, and ships can now sail from Europe to India, China, Australia, &c., without having to pass either round the south of Africa or round Cape Horn.

4. The BLACK SEA lies between Russia and Turkey-in-Asia. It is connected with the Mediterranean by the Bosphorus, Sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles.

On the north of the Black Sea is the Crimea, a peninsula of Russia, famous for the siege of Sebastopol, the chief city of the Crimea, and, at the time of the war (1854-56), a great naval station of Russia.

At the entrance to the Black Sea is the Golden Horn, on which stands the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire.

Three great Rivers flow into the Black Sea: the Danube, from Austria and Turkey; and the Dnieper and the Don, from Russia.

The Countries on the shores of the Black Sea are:--RUSSIA, TURKEYIN-EUROPE, and TURKEY-IN-ASIA.

Large quantities of wheat, grown in the south of Russia and in the countries of the Danube, are exported by way of the Black Sea.

PRINCIPAL SEAS-WEST.

The principal Seas on the western side of the Atlantic are Davis Strait and Baffin Sea, Hudson Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.

1. DAVIS STRAIT and BAFFIN SEA (named after two great English navigators, who discovered them) lie between Greenland and the northern coasts of America. Through these seas nearly all the expeditions to the Polar regions have passed. Baffin Sea is now the principal resort of the whaling ships in the North Atlantic.

In a long narrow channel to the north of Baffin Sea is the nearest point to the North Pole ever reached. Here, in 1854, were discovered the shores of an open sea free of ice, stretching away to the Pole as far as the eye could reach.

2. HUDSON BAY is named from the celebrated Henry Hudson, one of the boldest and most successful of the early English navigators. It was discovered by him in 1609, and here that brave seaman perished. A mutiny broke out among his men, and he and several sick sailors were put into a small boat and cast adrift. The carpentor of the ship alone refused to remain with the mutineers, nobly preferring to share the fate of his brave commander. The boat was never seen or heard of more.

Hudson Bay forms a vast inland sea in the very heart of British America. Its shores are covered with ice for the greater part of the year. The principal entrance from the Atlantic is called Hudson Strait. (See page 200.)

3. The GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE is one of the most important inlets on the coasts of America. It is a wide bay lying between the Island of Newfoundland and Canada. At its western extremity is the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, the great river of Canada. During summer. steamers and vessels of all kinds are constantly crossing the gulf on their way to Quebec and Montreal, or from the St. Lawrence to Europe. In winter, owing to the ice, the navigation is closed. The fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are very extensive and valuable.

On the coast, to the south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is a long narrow inlet called the Bay of Fundy, remarkable for the great height and violence of its tides. These usually rise to a height of sixty or seventy feet, and are caused by the vast flow of water from the Atlantic forcing itself into so narrow a channel. (See page 357.)

4. The GULF OF MEXICO lies between Mexico and the United States. It is an immense sea, nearly 1000 miles long, and about 500 miles broad.

Into it flow the waters of the Mississippi, and many other smaller rivers from the United States and Mexico.

It gives its name to the celebrated Gulf Stream, the most remarkable ocean current in the world.

The Gulf Stream is a current of warm water which flows into the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico. Its water, heated under the burning sun of the tropics, first flows from the Atlantic along the northern shores of South America. It then enters the Caribbean Sea, and from it flows into the Gulf of Mexico: hence the name Gulf Stream. There, hemmed in, it sweeps round the gulf, and rushes with great force through the Strait of Florida back into the Atlantic.

Its course is so well marked, that at some places the bow of a ship may be in the Gulf Stream and the rest of the vessel out of it. This has been shown by noticing the difference between the temperature of the water at the bow of the vessel and that amidships. From Florida it flows northward to Newfoundland, gradually increasing in width. From Newfoundland its waters spread over the surface of the colder waters of the Atlantic, one branch turning southward, and another eastward. The southern branch encircles a great space called the Sargasso Sea, which is covered for hundreds of miles with thick sea-weed. The eastern branch slowly crosses the Atlantic to the shores of Europe.

The air over the Gulf Stream is loaded with warmth and moisture, and makes the climate of the British Islands much milder than it otherwise would be. On the opposite side of the Atlantic lies the coast of Labrador-a region of ice and snow. Were it not for the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, the harbours and rivers of Britain would be blocked up with ice for a great part of the year. The influence of the Gulf Stream is felt as far as the north of Norway, where it mingles with the icy waters of the Polar Seas.

5. The CARIBBEAN SEA lies south of the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected with it. The two together form the great opening between North and South America.

BED OF THE ATLANTIC.

The depths of the Atlantic have been sounded and surveyed by the British and the American navies, so that we now know, to a considerable extent, the character of its bed or bottom. Its greatest depth is about seven and a half miles. One result of these measurements is the certain knowledge we now possess that the bed of the ocean, like the land, is diversified by mountains and valleys, hills, table-lands, and plains. Between Newfoundland and Ireland the bed of the Atlantic is re

markably level. Here, in the still waters at the bottom, lie the Atlantic Cables, by which messages are ever flashing across the ocean from one hemisphere to another.

The Atlantic contains few Islands compared with the vast number in the Pacific Ocean. The principal islands in the Atlantic are Iceland (see page 110), the British Islands, Newfoundland, and the West India Islands.

The Countries which lie opposite each other on the two sides of the Atlantic are :

South America extends further south than Africa, so that there is no land opposite Patagonia on its eastern side.

The Atlantic is the great highway of commerce. On its waters are constantly sailing the ships of all the maritime nations of the Earth. To the coasts of Greenland and Labrador ships sail to hunt the whale and the seal; and they return laden with oil, whalebone, and sealskin. From Canada and the other British provinces ships cross the Atlantic with timber, wheat, flour, furs, and other productions.

From the United States come cotton, wheat, tobacco, rice, flour, &c. From the West Indies we get sugar, coffee, pepper, &c.

From Honduras we get mahogany and other valuable woods, and dyes. From Brazil we get coffee, india-rubber, hides, silver, and diamonds. From the coast of Africa we get ivory, palm-oil, wool, and gums. It is also by the Atlantic that ships come laden with cotton from India, tea and silk from China, wool and gold from Australia.

In a voyage from England' to India, China, or Australia, ships sail down the Atlantic, then round Africa by the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Indian Ocean. This is the usual route, though much of the traffic now passes through the Suez Canal; but ships can also reach Australia by sailing to the west, round South America by Cape Horn. In sailing eastward by the Cape of Good Hope the winds are generally more favourable, as in this region they blow chiefly from the west. But in the voyage from Australia it is usual to return by Cape Horn. (See page 248.) It thus appears that a ship going from Britain to Australia by the Cape of Good Hope, and returning by Cape Horn, makes a voyage round the world. The first voyage round the world was made by Magellan, a Portuguese navigator, in 1519-1521.

THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

The PACIFIC is the largest of all the oceans. It is larger than the whole land surface of the globe, so that all the continents and islands of the world could lie within it.

The Pacific also forms one-half of the water-surface of the Earth, all the other oceans together being only about equal in extent to this great ocean. Its length from north to south is about 9000 miles. Its greatest breadth (from South America to China) is about 12,000 miles, (See page 313.)

At the north, a very narrow channel, called Behring Strait, connects it with the Arctic Ocean. At the south, a vast expanse of water extends from Cape Horn to Australia.

In the middle of the Pacific lie thousands of Islands, of all forms and sizes, known by the general name of Polynesia, a word signifying "many islands." These islands, with some lying equally to the Indian and the Pacific Ocean, but assigned to the larger ocean, the Pacific, form part of the sixth division of the Earth's surface, called OCEANIA.

The Countries on the two sides of the Pacific are :

The INDIAN OCEAN extends from Africa to Australia, and is bounded on the north by India and Arabia. It is about 6000 miles long and 6000 miles broad. At the south its waters unite with those of the Antarctic Ocean.

Its two principal branches are, the Bay of Bengal, to the east of India; and the Arabian Sea, with its two arms, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

The Indian Ocean is one of the regions of the globe frequently visited by cyclones, or circular hurricanes. These storms (in the Chinese seas called typhoons) are often very destructive to ships.

The principal Islands in the Indian Ocean are: Madagascar, near Africa; Ceylon, to the south of India; Sumatra and Java, and a large chain of islands, in the Eastern Archipelago.