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since if any one peg were loose or faulty, and gave way, the strain would be thrown on several others above and below it. I now understood the use of the line of bamboo pegs sticking in trees, which I had often seen, and wondered for what purpose they could have been put there.

This method of climbing is constantly used in order to obtain wax, which is one of the most valuable products of the country. The honeybee of Borneo very generally hangs its combs under the branches of the tappan, a tree which towers above all others in the forest, and whose smooth, cylindrical trunk often rises a hundred feet without a branch. The natives climb these lofty trees at night, building up their bamboo ladder as they go, and bringing down gigantic honeycombs.

These furnish them with a delicious feast of honey and young bees, besides the wax, which they sell to traders, and with the proceeds buy the much coveted brass wire, earrings, and gold-edged handkerchiefs with which they love to decorate themselves. In ascending durio and other fruit trees, which branch at from thirty to fifty feet from the ground, I have seen them use the bamboo pegs only, without the upright bamboo which renders them so much more secure.

The outer rind of the bamboo, split and shaved thin, is the strongest material for baskets; hencoops, bird cages, and conical fish traps are very quickly made from a single joint, by splitting off the skin in narrow strips left attached to one end, while rings of the same material, or rattan, are twisted in at regular distances.

Water is brought to the house by little aque

ducts formed of large bamboos split in half and supported on crossed sticks of various heights to give it a regular fall. Thin long-jointed bamboos form their only water vessels, and a dozen of them stand in the corner of every house. They are clean, light, and easily carried, and are in many ways superior to earthen vessels for the same purpose.

They also make excellent cooking utensils; vegetables and rice can be boiled in them to perfection, and they are often used by travelers. Salted fruit or fish, sugar, vinegar, and honey are preserved in them instead of in jars or bottles. In a small bamboo case, prettily carved and ornamented, the native carries his materials for betel chewing, and his little long-bladed knife has a bamboo sheath.

His favorite pipe is a large hubble-bubble, which he will construct in a few minutes, by inserting a small piece of bamboo for a bowl obliquely into a large cylinder about six inches from the bottom, containing water, through which the smoke passes to a long, slender bamboo tube.

There are many other small matters for which bamboo is daily used, but enough has now been mentioned to show its value. In other parts of the archipelago I have myself seen it applied to many new uses, and it is probable that my limited means of observation did not make me acquainted with one half the ways in which it is serviceable to the natives.

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Biography.- Alfred Russell Wallace was born in 1822. He is an eminent traveler and scientist. He is known as the author of several works on natural history, and as a contributor to a number of prominent periodicals. Our knowledge of the Eastern Archipelago and of South America has been greatly enlarged through his travels.

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I build my nest on the mountain's crest,
Where the wild winds rock my eaglets to rest,
Where the lightnings flash and the thunders crash,
And the roaring torrents foam and dash;

For my spirit free henceforth shall be

A type of the sons of Liberty.

Aloft I fly from my aerie high,

Through the vaulted dome of the azure sky;

On a sunbeam bright take my airy flight,

And float in a flood of liquid light;

For I love to play in the noontide ray,
And bask in a blaze from the throne of day.

Away I spring with a tireless wing,

On a feathery cloud I poise and swing;

I dart down the steep where the lightnings leap, And the clear, blue canopy swiftly sweep;

For dear to me is the revelry

Of a free and fearless Liberty.

I love the land where the mountains stand
Like the watch towers high of a patriot band;
For I may not bide in my glory and pride,
Though the land be never so fair and wide,

When Luxury reigns o'er voluptuous plains,
And fetters the freeborn soul in chains.

Then give to me in my flights to see

The land of the pilgrims ever free!

And I never will rove from the haunts I love,
But watch, from my sentinel track above,
Your banner free, o'er land and sea,
And exult in your glorious Liberty.

O, guard ye well the land where I dwell,
Lest to future times the tale I tell,
When slow expires in smoldering fires
The goodly heritage of your sires,-

How Freedom's light rose clear and bright
O'er fair Columbia's beacon height,

Till ye quenched the flame in a starless night.

Then will I tear, from your pennon fair,
The stars ye have set in triumph there;
My olive branch on the blast I'll launch,
The fluttering stripes from the flagstaff wrench,
And away I'll flee, for I scorn to see,

A craven race in the land of the free!

Notes and Questions.-The American Eagle is used as an emblem of freedom. Mention some of our coins upon which it is

placed.

Columbia is a name applied to the United States in honor of Columbus, the discoverer of America.

Describe the flag of our country. What does each star stand for? How many stripes are used? What do the colors signify? Elocution. Read the lesson in a full and clear tone of voice, expressive of courage and a sense of freedom.

Language. - What is the force of the suffix et in the word eaglet? In some words the letter is prefixed to the suffix, making it let, as in stream-let, wave-let.

Such words as roar and crash are called mi met'ic, because their sound gives an idea of their meaning.

20.-AN

ir règ'u lar, not well formed. eǎv'i ties, hollow places. pin'na eles, high points. ěl'e ment, portion.

com bined', joined; united.

ICEBERG.

Işleş (ilş), islands.
heav'ing, swelling; rising.
a stern', behind a ship.
un cọùth', awkward; strange.
sub lim'i ty, nobleness; awe.

At twelve o'clock we went below, and had just got through dinner when the cook put his head down the companion way, and told us to come on deck and see the finest sight we had ever seen. "Where away, cook?" asked the first man who came up.

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And there, floating in the ocean, several miles off, lay an immense irregular mass, its tops and points covered with snow, and its.center of a deep indigo color. This was an iceberg, and of the largest size, as one of our men said who had been in the Northern Ocean.

As far as the eye could reach, the sea in every direction was of a deep blue color, the waves running high and fresh, and sparkling in the light; and in the midst lay this immense mountain island, its cavities and valleys thrown into deep shade, and its points and pinnacles glittering in the sun. All hands were soon on deck, looking at it, and admiring its beauty and grandeur.

No description can give any idea of the strangeness and beauty of the sight. Its great size-for it must have been two or three miles in circumference, and several hundred feet in height; its slow motion as its base rose and sunk in the water, and

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