istinction to the
Old; and a German schoolmaster, who wrote a geographical text-book,
suggested in the introduction that as the fourth continent had been
discovered by Amerigo Vespucci (Americus Vesputius), there was no reason
why it should not be called Amerigo or America after its discoverer. The
proposal was accepted, and only too late was it realised that Columbia
would have been the proper name.

One discovery followed after another, and the coasts of America
gradually assumed on charts and maps the form with which we are
familiar. Let us for a moment dwell on another of the most striking
voyages in the history of the world. In the year 1519 the Portuguese
Magelhaens sailed along the east coast of South America and discovered
the strait which still bears his name; and what is more, he found at
last, through this strait, the western passage to India. He sailed over
an immense ocean, where the weather was good and no storms threatened
his ships; and accordingly he called it the Pacific Ocean. Other
dangers, however, awaited him. The mariners sailed for four months over
unbroken sea, suffering from hunger and disease. At last three of the
vessels reached the Philippines. There Magelhaens landed with a small
party, and was overpowered and slain by the natives. Only one of the
ships, the _Victoria_, came home, but this was the first vessel which
sailed round the world.

During the succeeding centuries white men struck their claws ever firmer
into America. The Indians were forced back into the backwoods, and in
North America they have been almost exterminated. Under French, and
later, under English rule, those parts of North America have developed
an unexpected power and wealth which were despised by the Spaniards, who
in their boundless greed of gain thought of nothing but gold.

NEW YORK

In a house in a Swedish countryside sit an old man and woman talking
seriously.

"It is a great pity," says the old woman, "that Gunnar is beginning to
think of America again."

"Yes, he will never rest," replies the old man, "till we have given our
consent and let him go. To-day he says that an emigration 'touter' has
promised him gold and green forests if he will take a ticket for one of
the Bremen line steamers. I reminded him that the farm is unencumbered,
but he answered that it could not provide for both his brothers and
himself. 'It was a very different thing for you, father,' he said, 'but
there are three of us to di