THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

The British Empire embraces the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and all its colonies and dependencies throughout the world, having a population of over four hundred million and an area of more than nine million square miles. The colonies are found in every quarter of the globe-in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceanica, North America and South America; and are as follows:

IN EUROPE.

Isle of Man, the Channel Isles (Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney), Gibraltar and Malta.

IN ASIA.

Island of Cyprus, British India (consisting of Hindoostan, Burmah, Beloochistan, and Sikkim in Thibet), Ceylon, Straits Settlements (consisting of Singapore, Penang, Wellesley, Malacca and the Dindings), the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Laccadive Islands, the Keeling Islands and other smaller groups, Island of Perim, Aden in Arabia and the Island of Hong Kong and the opposite peninsula of Kowloon in China.

IN AFRICA.

Cape Colony, Natal, Kaffraria, Zululand, Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesia, Vaal River Colony, Orange River Colony, the Colony of Walfish Bay, British Somaliland, Nigeria, British Equatorial Africa, Sierra Leone, Gambia, the Gold Coast, Lagos, Island of Socotra, Island of Mauritius, the Amirante and Seychelle Islands, the Island of Ascension, the Island of St. Helena and the Island of Tristan d'Acunha.

IN OCEANICA

Australia (consisting of the States of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, West Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory), Tasmania, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, the Fiji Islands, Cook's Islands, Chatham Islands, Auckland Island, Lord Howe Island, Fanning Island, Starbuck Island, the eastern part of New Guinea, the northern part of Borneo, and the Island of Labuan.

IN NORTH AMERICA.

Canada (consisting of the Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories of Saskatckawan, Keewatin, Alberta and Assiniboia, along with Labrador in the east and the region around Hudson's Bay), Newfoundland,

British Honduras, the Bermuda Islands, the Bahama Islands, Jamacia and other West India Islands, such as Trinidad, Barbadoes, the Cayman Islands, and most of the Lesser Antilles including Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua, St. Christopher, Barbrida, Nevis, Anguila, and most of the Virgin Islands.

IN SOUTH AMERICA.

British Guiana and the Falkland Islands.

IN OTHER QUARTERS.

The two small volcanic islands of St. Paul and New Amsterdam, in the Indian Ocean; and Victoria Land, Enderby Land and Graham's Land, near the South Pole.

SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

Pyramids of Egypt.

Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Mausoleum, or tomb of Mausolus, at Halicarnassus.

Temple of Artemis, or Diana, at Ephesus.

Temple and Statue of Zeus, or Jupiter, at Olympia, in Elis.

Pharos at Alexandria, in Egypt.

Colossus of Rhodes.

HISTORIC LEGENDS.

We will now note the legends of history-stories which were formerly believed to be true, but many of which modern scholars, historians and antiquarians have demonstrated to be pure fables.

Many Grecian and Roman legends are so remarkable and extravagant that their falsity is at once apparent; as the stories of the circumstances which they narrate are so entirely out of the natural order of things that their occurrence could not have been possible. The most remarkable legend of the Middle Ages is that of William Tell and Gesler in Swiss history; and the mast famous of modern legends is that of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas in our own history.

GRECIAN LEGENDS.

Inachus, Cecrops, Lelex, Cadmus, Danaus, and Pelops.-The oldest city in Greece was Argos, the capital of Argolis, which was founded in the year 1856 B. C., by Inachus, a Phoenician. In the year 1556 B. C.-three hundred years after the founding of Argos-Cecrops, an Egyptian, founded in Attica. a city which he named Athens in honor of the Goddess Athena. The Egyptian, Lelex, is said to have founded Sparta, B. C. 1520. The Phoenician, Cadmus, is said to have founded Thebes and its famous citadel, the Cadméa, B. C. 1493. The Egyptian, Danaus, is said to have arrived at Argos B. C. 1485, with fifty daughters, and to have taught the people to dig wells. The Phrygian prince, Pelops, is said to have landed on the peninsula of Southern Greece, named in his honor Peloponnesus, or Island of Pelops, about 1350 B. C.

Hercules. A fabulous personage of Greece's Heroic Age was Hercules [Her'ku-leez], celebrated for his wonderful feats of strength. He was reputed to be the son of Zeus and Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, king of Thebes. While yet an infant in his cradle, Hercules is said to have strangled two huge serpents which the goddess Hera had sent to destroy him. The twelve labors which Hera exacted of Hercules were the following: 1. He killed the Nemean lion and wore his skin in the remainder of his exploits. 2. He slew the Lernean hydra, whose heads multiplied sevenfold on being severed. 3. He brought to Eurystheus upon his shoulders the Erymanthean boar. 4. He subdued the golden-horned and brazen-hoofed stag of Diana. 5. He destroyed with his arrows the foul Stymphalian birds. 6. He cleansed the Augean stables. 7. He tamed the furious bull of Crete. 8. He gave Diomedes to be devoured by his own horses. 9. He vanquished the Amazons. 10. He killed the three-headed Geryon, king of Gades [now Cadiz], in Spain, and brought his oxen to Greece. 11. He killed the hundred-headed dragon of the Hesperides, and obtained the golden apples of

his garden. 12. He dragged the three-headed dog Cerberus from the gate of Hades, into which he descended twice. Hercules killed the centaur Nessus with an arrow poisoned with the blood of the Lernean hydra, because the centaur had insulted the hero's wife, Dejanira. The dying centaur persuaded Dejanira to give a tunic dipped in his blood to her husband in reconciliation; but as soon as Hercules clothed himself in this garment he was poisoned by it, and perished in the flames of a funeral pile which he built on Mount Eta. Zeus received him as a god, and gave to him in marriage Hebe, the goddess of youth. Hercules is usually represented as a robust man, leaning on his club, wearing the skin of the Nemean lion on his shoulders, and holding the Hesperian fruit in his hands.

Theseus. Theseus, a fabulous king of Athens, was another legendary character of early Greece, and was regarded as the civilizer of Attica. He is said to have kidnapped the beautiful Helen, daughter of Tyndarus, king of Sparta; but Helen was rescued by her brothers, Castor and Pollux, who were afterwards deified.

Argonautic Expedition.-In the time of Hercules, Jason, a prince of Thessaly, went on the celebrated Argonautic Expedition, so called from the ship Argo, in which he sailed. The following is the story of the Argonautic Expedition, according to the Greek poets. Phryxus, a Theban prince, and his sister Helle, being obliged to leave their native country to escape the cruelty of their step-mother, mounted the back of a winged ram with a golden fleece, to be conveyed to Colchis, a country on the eastern border of the Euxine, or Black Sea, where an uncle of theirs was king. While passing over the strait now called the Dardanelles, Helle became giddy, fell into the water and was drowned; whence the strait received the name of Hellespont, or Sea of Helle. Phryxus arrived safely in Colchis, and sacrified his winged ram to Jupiter in acknowledgment of Divine protection, and put the golden fleece into that deity's temple. He was afterwards murdered by his uncle, who wished to obtain the golden fleece. It was to avenge the death of Phryxus and to secure the golden fleece that Jason undertook the Argonautic Expedition. Jason obtained the golden fleece and married Media, a daughter of the king of Colchis.

The Gordian Knot.-While Alexander the Great was conquering Asia Minor, he found in the citadel of Gordium a very ancient chariot with a knot twisted in the most intricate manner, respecting which an oracle had declared that whoever should loosen this knot should conquer Asia. Alexander is said to have cut the knot with his sword, considering that sufficient to make him master of Asia.

Diogenes. The eccentric philosopher, Diogenes, is said to have lived in a tub and to have worn but a single garment. His only worldly possessions were his tub, a garment, a staff, and a wooden bowl for drinking. One day observing a boy drinking from the hollow of his hand, he dashed his bowl to pieces, saying: "That boy has taught me that I still have something unnecessary." Being seen