manufacturing centre of the world, able to supply money
to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte, who is credited with the statement that it
was not England's armies that defeated him, but her "spindles."

NOTE.--The teacher may refer to some of the modern social
problems resulting in large part from this industrializing of the
country: overcrowding in cities, bad housing and slums, urban and
suburban transportation, educational problems, intemperance,
decrease in physique, etc. (For the history of this period, see _A
History of the British Nation_, by A.D. Innes, T.C. & E.C. Jack,
Edinburgh.)

THE ROAD TO CATHAY

The aim of this lesson is to show how the desire of certain European
nations to find a western route to the rich countries of the
East--India, Cathay, and Cipango (India, China, and Japan)--led to the
discovery and subsequent exploration of America. It can be used as a
review lesson on the exploration of Canada. It will also give the pupil
practice in collecting information from various sources so as to show
the development of history along a certain line.

The subject-matter may be divided into as many lessons as the teacher
thinks best, and the oral method should be used. All the dates given are
not intended to be memorized; they are used to show the historical
sequence; only three or four of the most important need be committed to
memory by the class at their present stage. The map should be used
frequently.

THE LESSON

One of the results of the Crusades was to reveal to the European nations
the wealth of the East. Trade between the East and West grew, and Venice
became one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the states of Europe.

In 1295, a Venetian traveller named Marco Polo returned from Cathay
after an absence of twenty-five years. His stories of the wealth in
silks, spices, pearls, etc., of those eastern countries intensified the
desire of the West to trade with them. A great commerce soon grew up,
carried on principally by the great Italian cities--Venice, Florence,
Genoa, Pisa, Milan--and as these cities controlled the Mediterranean,
the only route to Asia then known, they had a monopoly of the Eastern
trade, and kept for a time the other western nations--Spain, Portugal,
France, and England--from sharing in it. These nations, animated by the
hope of gain and by the spirit of adventure and exploration, could not
long be denied their share. This spirit was stim