to five inches long, and two or three round.  When the coral is broken about high-water mark, it is a solid hard stone; but if any part of it be detached at a spot where the tide reaches every day, it is found to be full of worms of different lengths and colors, some being as fine as a thread and several feet long, of a bright yellow, and sometimes of a blue color; others resemble snails, and some are not unlike lobsters in shape, but soft, and not above two inches long.’”

DORA.  “We must be content to see these in imagination.  But sometimes I feel disposed to regret that we are not really afloat in the ‘Research;’ and at other times I congratulate myself that the voyage is only imaginary; for in Polynesia particularly, we have met with so many ignorant, savage people, it is well for us that we can, if we choose, steer clear of them.  I suppose it would not be possible in all Europe to find a country where such unreasonable things were done from religious superstition?”

GRANDY.  “My dear Dora, you are very much mistaken.  Europe has been, and still is in many parts, a slave to superstition; and, although not savages, there are many vices and iniquitous deeds committed in civilized Europe, which no temptation would induce the savages of Polynesia to commit.  But, to assure your mind that horrible crimes were perpetrated from zeal in the doctrines of their religion, I will give you an instance connected with Sweden in olden time.  The story is told by a slave girl named Kumba, thus:—­’My mother was amongst the slaves of Queen Gunnild:  she was the most faithful of her servants.  Poor and heavy was her lot, yet did she wish to live.  My father was a free-born person, who thought little of forsaking the woman who loved him, and the child she had nursed for him.  I remember a night—­that night has stretched itself over my whole life.  Flames arose from a pile:  they ascended high into heaven.  It was the corpse of the Queen which was burned.  My mother was amongst those who tended the pile:  she with many others was cast alive into the flames.  The Queen, it was said, needed her attendance in another world.  I stood amongst the people, still a child, and heard my mother’s cry, and saw her burn!  Fatherless and motherless, I went thence into the world alone, and wandered in the woods without knowing whither.  There came people who seized me, and carried me back to the Court of King Atle.  They said that I wished to run away, and I was conducted to the presence of the king.  I answered haughtily to his questions, and he caused me to be whipped till the blood came:  in punishment, as he said, of my disobedience.’  Is not that barbarous enough for a savage land, Dora?”

DORA.  “Oh yes, madam, that is very shocking.  Poor, unhappy Kumba!  What a life of wretchedness was hers.”

MR. WILTON.  “Grandy’s story must conclude our conversation to-night.  At the next meeting we will endeavor to explore the coast of Africa, and visit the islands of the Indian Ocean.  Carry away the books, boys:  I am sure you must all be hungry, and tired too, for we have been over an immense space of water.