o numerous here, that their wax forms a very extensive article
of export."

MRS. WILTON. "Borneo is called, by the natives, Pulo Kalamantan.
Borneo was the name of a city, the residence of a powerful prince in
1520, when Magellan went there: hence the Spaniards concluded that
the whole island belonged to this prince, and they called it all
Borneo. There are a great many tribes of Indians in this large
island, and the sea-coasts are inhabited by Malayans, of whom Sir
James Brooke speaks in the higher terms, as regards honesty,
cleanliness, &c. They understand the art of cutting, polishing, and
setting their diamonds. Gold and silver filigree works they excel
in; and they are otherwise ingenious, but can scarcely be considered
industrious."

DORA. "South-west of Sumatra, in latitude 12 deg. south, longitude 97 deg.
east, are the Cocos or Keeling Islands, which are entirely coralline
in their formation; very fertile, with a salubrious climate. In
1830, Captain Ross and Alexander Hare, Esq., undertook to cultivate
these islands, and render them productive. They succeeded, and they
now form a fine settlement."

CHARLES. "I shall feel greatly obliged if Mr. Stanley will take the
helm, and steer us across the Indian Ocean; for there are such
hundreds, I might almost say thousands, of islands, that I feel
convinced I shall run you all ashore, where none of you are disposed
to go."

MR. STANLEY. "Come, then, I will relieve you for a while, because it
would be most unpleasantly awkward for the ladies to be cast ashore
on a desert island; and equally so on an inhabited one, if they
possessed no letters of introduction to the natives.

"In crossing the Indian Ocean, we must sail by a great many islands;
but I do not think it will be prudent to go ashore until we arrive
at the Isle of Bourbon, and there we can pass a few days very
comfortably before we sail for Madagascar."

EMMA. "Oh, yes! Bourbon is quite a civilized island. It belongs to
the French, does it not, mamma?"

MRS. WILTON. "Yes, my dear; but the discovery was not theirs.
Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator, claims the credit. He
discovered it in 1545, and it bore his name until the French took
possession of it in the next century. When they first occupied it,
the sides of the mountains were covered with forests, which reached
even to the shores. The whole of the lower lands have since been
cleared; but the centre of this island is still covered with its
prim