where the water of the mine flows off, and through this we had to wade along, half leg deep, for thirty rods.

The copper ore was mostly bedded in solid rock; but very little progress can be made without blasting. This is often dangerous, and many lives of the miners are lost by it.

A steam-engine is used to raise the water, and also the ore, out of the mine. The rod is made of pieces of timber, fastened together, and descends more than one thousand feet down a shaft.

The miners go up every night, and down again in the morning; so that they perform every day the journey up and down those ladders, which appear so dangerous.

But in some mines, the people employed in them are said to live there from year to year, and seldom or never see the light of the sun.

This short account of a copper mine, may give some idea of other mines; except that in coal mines, and some others that are under large hills or mountains, instead of shafts, there are tunnels cut out, level with the bottom of the mine, and through these the coal is drawn out in small cars on rail-roads made in the bottom of the tunnel.

through; bedded; progress; blasting; dangerous; steam-engine; pieces; fastened; descends; shaft. What is a shaft? Spell journey; people coal-mines; mountains; instead; level; through drawn tunnel. What is a tunnel?

THE common seal is an amphibious animal, and frequents the sea-coasts far to the north, where there is mostly an abundance of ice. It lives chiefly upon the finny tenants of the ocean, which it chases with wonderful swiftness. It also feeds on crabs and water-fowls. To catch the latter, the seal dives, and silently coming up under them, seizes them by the feet while swimming.

The front part of a seal's head is very much like that of a dog. The snout, or muzzle, is flat and broad; the eyes are of a dark colour, rather large and shining, having several short, stiff bristles over them. They are placed The ears are very

much nearer to the ears than the nose. small, being scarcely at all visible; and the teeth are like other carnivorous animals.

SPELL amphibious; frequents; sea-coasts; chiefly; finny; ocean; chases; wonderful; seizes; swimming; muzzle; bristles; scarcely; visible; teeth; carnivorous; define it. Spell seal; together; webbe

The fore legs, or arms of the seal, are short; the feet have five toes or claws, with long black nails; and the toes are joined together by a web, like a goose, to aid it in swimming. The hind feet, or tail, also consists of toes and claws webbed together.

The common seal is about from four to six feet long.— The whole body is covered with thick shining hair, which looks as if it had been rubbed over with oil, and is mostly of a yellowish gray colour.

Seals bring forth their young ones on land, where they suckle them till they are six or seven weeks old, and then lead them to the water.

The seal swims with its head erect, and thus mounts the foaming billows, cleaving the waves with great force and much apparent ease. It dives into the deep, as in an instant, to elude its enemies, or to pursue its prey; and it can remain under water for several minutes,-during which time, its nostrils are closed so as not to admit the liquid, briny element.

Seals appear to be fond of landing on the sea-beach, or on rocks and ice-banks, for the purpose of sleeping or basking in the sunshine. In fine weather they seem to prefer being on the ice, when not engaged in obtaining their food in the water. But when a number of seals are thus basking or sleeping on the ice, which is mostly near the water, they appear to have a sentinel that is always on the look out, in order to discover the approach of an enemy. If a boat or any other enemy is seen coming towards them, on a signal given, they hastily retreat to the water for safety.

The seals are generally very fat, and produce plenty of

covered; rubbed; yellowish; suckle; swims; foaming; billows; cleaving; apparent; ease; elude; pursue; prey; minutes; nostrils; liquid; element; sea-beach; purpose; basking; sunshine; weather; obtaining; sentinel; define it. Spell approach; signal; generally;

oil; and their flesh is of a dark red colour. The people who live in those parts of the world where seals abound, use their flesh for food, either cooked or raw. Their oil is used in lamps, and for all purposes to which whale oil is applied.

The skins of seals are used in various kinds of manufactures, such as the making of trunks and saddlery. When tanned, the leather is light, soft, and pliable; and is used for making boots and shoes.

Seal skins are also much used by the natives for various purposes; among which is the making of their boats or canoes. A small boat to carry one person seldom weighs more than fifty or sixty pounds, and is easily carried from place to place. A light piece of wood runs along each side, to which a frame made of whalebone is attached, and sealskins are stretched over the whole. Sometimes larger boats are constructed so as to carry fifteen or twenty persons, and they are propelled with short oars over the briny waves.

The sealers, or those who hunt and kill seals for the skins and oil, destroy great numbers of them every year. One ship alone has been known to obtain a cargo of four or five thousand seal-skins, and more than a hundred tons of oil.

hastily; cooked; their; applied; whale-oil; seals; manufactures saddlery; pliable; shoes; canoes; weighs; easily; whalebone attached; stretched; constructed; propelled; define it. destroy; cargo; define it.

Spel

BALLOON.

A BALLOON is a large bag, mostly of a round or globular shape, made of silk or some other strong substance; and, to increase its strength, it is enclosed in a firm net-work, made of twine or cordage.

A balloon that is intended to carry a man up in the air, is sometimes as large as a small house; that is, it may be twenty or thirty feet in diameter.

To the bottom or lower part of the net-work which surrounds the silk balloon, there is a little car or light boat fixed by ropes or cords: in this car the man sits, with his books, or tools, or other things that he may want to take with him up in the air.

The balloon, or large silken globe, being made air-tight by means of a gum or varnish spread over it, is filled with hydrogen gas; which is a kind of air much lighter than the common air we breathe.

SPELL balloon; globular; substance; increase; strength; twine; enclosed; intended; sometimes; thirty; diameter; define it. Spell bottom; surrounds; silken; air-tight; varnish; spread; hydrogen