ira--contain burning mountains. The largest
volcano--Omotepeque--always continues burning, and reminds one of
Mount Etna rising from the water's edge, a smooth unbroken cone to
the height of nearly 1000 feet. The waters of this lake descend by
the river St. John towards the Atlantic; but there is no outlet into
the Pacific Ocean."

GEORGE. "I should like to know why the Pacific is so called?"

[Illustration: THE EARTHQUAKE]

CHARLES. "I can tell you, George. In the year 1520, when Magellan
was on his way to the Spice Islands (the Moluccas, you know), he and
the crew suffered dreadful privations: they were nearly four months
at sea without discovering land. Their stock of provisions was
almost exhausted, the water became putrid, and in consequence the
poor men were attacked with that horrible disease the scurvy. The
only source of consolation, under these troubles, was the
uninterrupted fair weather they enjoyed, and the favorable winds
which wafted them gently onward; so that Magellan was induced to
call the Ocean Pacific: hence the origin of its name."

GEORGE. "Thank you, Charles. How pleasant it is to get all the
information we require, without the trouble of searching in great
dusty books. Now, Emma, will it please you to travel onward?"

EMMA. "What, George! Have you, too, caught the mania, that you are
in such a hurry to get to California?"

GEORGE. "Not to go gold-hunting, indeed; but the Rocky Mountains are
up in the north, and I have a story about them."

EMMA. "Well, to oblige you and ourselves too, we will proceed. The
Gulfs of Fonseca and Conchagua are deep indentations, about the
middle of the coast of Guatemala, to which country Costa Rica
belongs."

MRS. WILTON. "The city of Guatemala was founded in 1776. It is
situated on table-land, 5000 feet above the sea and enjoys a
delicious climate,--literally, a perpetual spring. Beautiful
churches and buildings adorn this city; but the houses are built
only one story high, in order more effectually to resist the action
of earthquakes; for you must know this city has close to it two
burning mountains--Fuego and Agua, which prove the volcanic nature
of the earth. Among all the phenomena of nature few appear to be
attended with such horrible consequences as earthquakes. Thousands,
who in one moment are full of busy life, are, the next, swallowed up
as if they had never existed, or crushed to death by fragments of
falling buildings. In _six minutes_, by th