CHARLES.  “I would much rather live in our temperate climate than between the tropics; for everything connected with the elements is so outrageously violent, that I should be continually in a state of alarm, and in constant dread of a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake, or some such awful visitation.’”

GRANDY.  “Why should you fear, my dear boy?  Who, or what, can harm you if you follow that which is good?  Is not the arm of the Lord mighty to save? and is it not stretched forth all the day long to defend his own children?  Has he not promised to be a stronghold whereunto the faithful may always resort, and to be a house of defence for his people?  Cast thy fear from thee, Charles; rely on God’s gracious promises, and pray for faith to believe in his omnipotence.”

DORA.  “The Sea of Ochotsk.  This sea is nearly land-locked, being in this respect, as well as in size and general situation, not unlike Hudson’s Bay.  The waters are shallow, not exceeding (about fifty miles from land) fifty fathoms, and rarely giving, even in the centre, above four times the depth just mentioned.  There are three gulfs belonging to this sea, the Gulf of Penjinsk, the Gulf of Gijiginsk, and the Gulf of Tanish; but not many islands of consideration.”

MR. WILTON.  “Although Asia cannot vie with Europe in the advantages of inland seas, yet, in addition to a share of the Mediterranean, it possesses the Red Sea and Gulf of Persia, the Bays of Bengal and Nankin, and other gulfs already mentioned, which diversify the coasts much more than those of either Africa or America, and have doubtless contributed greatly to the early civilization of this celebrated division of the globe.  I wish each of you young folks to describe the following seas as I mention their names.  Dora, tell me all you have learnt respecting the Red Sea.”

DORA.  “The Red Sea, or Arabian Gulf of antiquity, constitutes the grand natural division between Asia and Africa; but its advantages have been chiefly felt by the latter, which is entirely destitute of inland seas.  Egypt and Abyssinia, two of the most civilized countries in that division, have derived great benefits from that celebrated sea, which, from the Straits of Babelmandel to Suez, extends about 21 deg., or 1470 British miles, terminating not in two equal branches, as delineated in old maps, but in an extensive western branch; while the eastern ascends little beyond the parallel of Mount Sinai.”

GRANDY.  “The Gulf of Suez was the scene of the most stupendous miracle recorded in Exodus—­the Passage of the Israelites,—­when God clave in sunder the waters of the sea, and caused them to rise perpendicularly, so as to form a wall unto the Israelites, on their right hand, and on their left.  This is not to be read figuratively, but literally; for in Exodus xv. 8, it is said they ‘stood as an heap,’ and were ‘congealed,’ or suspended, as though turned into ice:—­’And with the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together:  the floods stood upright as an heap; the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.’”