lard instead, because they will not be at the trouble of keeping and milking the cows.  Rice is the chief support of the population.  Sugar, coffee, and many other delightful things grow here, and cotton shrubs thrive well.  Manilla is the only port of trade in the Philippines:  it is a fortified city inhabited by people from all parts of the world.  This city is entered by six gates.  The streets have carriage ways and footpaths, and are lighted at night.  The houses are solidly constructed, but, on account of earthquakes, seldom more than one story above the ground floor.  Most of the houses are furnished with balconies and verandahs; the place of glass in the windows is supplied by thin semi transparent pieces of shell, which though more opaque repel heat better.  In the year 1762 Manilla was taken by the English; but ransomed by Spain for 1,000 000_l_. sterling.  There! who can compete with my islands in value?”

MRS. WILTON.  “Quantity must compensate for the loss of quality.  Here are the Caroline or New Philippines,—­forty-six groups of them, comprising several hundred islands.  A few of them are high, rising in peaks, but by far the greater number are merely volcanic formations.  They were discovered in 1686, by a Spaniard, who named them after Charles II. of Spain.  There are no hogs on these islands, and the inhabitants subsist chiefly on fish.  They are reputed to be the most expert sailors and fishermen in Polynesia; and, notwithstanding the tremendous sea by which they are surrounded, they have a considerable trading intercourse with the Ladrone and many other islands.”

GEORGE.  “Papa, it is your turn again.—­Pelew Isles.”

MR. WILTON.  “They are chiefly known from the accounts of Captain Wilson, who was wrecked on them in 1783.  He describes the inhabitants as hospitable, friendly, and humane; and they are a gay and comparatively innocent people; but they do not appear to have any form of religion, although they conceive that the soul survives the body.  These islands are covered with close woods.  Ebony grows in the forests.  Bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees are in abundance.  Cattle, goats, poultry, &c., have been sent there and thrive well.  The Pelews have a considerable trade with China.

“Now it seems to me that we had better cross the equator with all expedition, for there are so many islands up here, we cannot possibly go to all, and I think we have noticed the most important.”

DORA.  “South Polynesia then.  Papua or New Guinea is my portion, and it happens to lie near the Pelew Isles.  It is supposed to be the first part of Australia discovered by Europeans, and is the favorite residence of the superb and singular birds of paradise, of which there are ten or twelve kinds.  There are three kinds reckoned the most gorgeous:  viz., the King, which has two detached feathers parallel to the tail, ending in an elegant curl with a tuft:  the Magnificent, which has also two detached feathers of the same length with