MRS. WILTON.  “There are many lakes in Australia, but none of them very large.  Lake Alexandria is the largest, but it is very shallow; and Lake St. George, the second in size, which, in 1828, was a sheet of water 17 miles long by 7 broad, was said by an old native female to have been a forest within her memory, and in 1836 it was dried up to a grassy plain.”

EMMA.  “Does not Van Diemen’s Land belong to New Holland, mamma?”

MRS. WILTON.  “Yes, my dear; and the part nearest to it is New South Wales, from which it is separated by Bass’s Straits, which are 100 miles broad, and contain a great many small islands.  Van Diemen’s Land was discovered by Tasman, in 1644, and named by him in honor of the Dutch Governor-General of the East Indies:  but it is now more appropriately called Tasmania.  This island contains several mountains of considerable elevation.  The highest is ascertained to be 3964 feet in height.  Hobart Town is the capital.  The population of Tasmania has of late years much increased, for, owing to its eligibility, the tide of emigration has been strong.  For many years, three or four vessels have annually sailed from Great Britain, laden with emigrants possessed of more or less capital, and they have, in most cases, prospered equal to their expectations.”

GEORGE.  “Are there not more coral reefs about Australia than in any other part of the Ocean?”

MR. WILTON.  “It is generally supposed so; but, in asking that question, do you know what coral reefs are?”

GEORGE.  “Yes, papa; they are the work of insects, who build them for their habitations; but it is very wonderful.”

GRANDY.  “It is wonderful, my dear; and there are many other marvellous productions of the Most High God, so infinitely beyond the power of man to produce, that, in meditating on them, the mind is lost in wonder and surprise.  ’The most powerful, acutest, and holiest mind,’ says a learned divine, ’will eternally be unable fully to find out God, or perfectly to comprehend Him.’  May these wonders then increase our reverence, and humble us before the mighty Creator of all things.”

MR. WILTON.  “Captain Hall examined some coral reefs during the different stages of one tide, and gives the following description as the result:—­’When the tide has left it for some time, it becomes dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly hard and rugged; but as the tide rises, and the waves begin to wash over it, the coral worms protrude themselves from holes that were before invisible.  These animals are of a great variety of shapes and sizes, and, in such prodigious numbers, that, in a short time, the whole surface of the rock appears to be alive and in motion.  The most common worm is in the form of a star, with arms from four to six inches long, which are moved about with a rapid motion, in all directions, probably to catch food.  Others are so sluggish, that they may be mistaken for pieces of rock; and are generally of a dark color, from four