Back Matter

Questions on Lessons II. and IV.

1. What is the shape of the world?—Round, like an orange; that is, a little flattened at the top and bottom.

2. Give one reason for supposing that the world is round?—A ship may arrive at the place she started from by sailing right on without ever turning back.

3. Does this prove that the world is round in every direction like a ball?—No; only that it is round in the direction in which the ship sails.

4. Why do we say the world is a sphere or globe?—Because it is round in every direction, like a ball.

5. How is this proved?—When nothing hides the view to a great distance, the land sinks out of sight all round us, and we are standing in the middle of a circle.

6. What causes this effect?—The rounding of the surface of the world; we cannot see straight on as if it were flat.

7. Does this prove that the world is a sphere?—Yes; because the same effect may be seen in every part of the world it is round in every direction.

8. What is this circle called?—The horizon; the world and sky seem to meet all round.

9. Can the roundness of the world be seen in any other way?—Yes; it rises between us and objects at a distance, hiding the lower parts of them from view.

10. Mention such an object?—A ship coining in to land: when she first appears we cannot see her hull.

Questions on Lessons IX. and XI.

1. What is the earth's axis?—An imaginary line upon which the earth turns round or rotates.

2. Where is this line?—Through the middle of the earth, between the two flattened parts.

3. What are the poles?—The two ends of the axis, north and south.

4. In what time does the earth turn quite round?—In a day and night, that is, in twenty-four hours.

5. When have we day?—When our part of the world is turned to the sun.

6. When have we night?—When our part of the world has rolled round, from the sun.

7. What causes the change of day and night?—The rotation of the earth before the sun.

8. What is the equator?—An imaginary line round the middle of the earth between the two poles.

Questions on Lessons VI. and VII.

1. What discovery did Galileo make?—That our world is a planet.

2. What is a planet?—A body that looks bright like a star, and travels round the sun.

3. How do planets shine?—By reflecting the sun's light. They have none in themselves.

4. Is not our world larger than the stars and planets?—A great deal smaller than the stars, which are very far away: smaller than most of the planets.

5. What is our world's name as a planet?—Earth.

6. How long is our year?—Rather more than 365 days.

7. Is there any reason why our year should be 365 days in length?—That is the time the earth takes to perform her journey round the sun.

8. What is the path she takes round the sun called?—Her orbit.

Questions on Lesson XIV.

1. Name the four seasons.—Spring, summer, autumn, winter.

2. What is the difference between them?—Summer is rather hot, winter cold; spring and autumn neither very hot nor very cold.

3. How do we get summer?—Our part of the world, the northern hemisphere, is turned towards the sun, and, therefore, receives much heat.

4. When have we winter?—When the northern hemisphere is turned from the sun.

5. What part of the world is turned to him then?—The southern hemisphere; there they have summer during our winter.

6. When have we spring and autumn?—When the sun shines straight on the equator, and neither of the poles is turned towards him.

Questions on Lesson XX.

1. Which is the hottest part of the earth?—The Torrid Zone; at the equator and on each side of it.

2. Why?—It is the part nearest the sun, and that upon which his straight rays fall.

3. Which are the coldest parts?—The two Frigid, or Freezing, Zones, one round each pole.

4. Why are these cold?—They are far from the sun, and are warmed only by his slanting rays.

5. What are the belts of the earth between these called?—The North Temperate Zone, and the South Temperate Zone.

6. What can you say about the lands in these?—They have four seasons in their year, and are neither very hot nor very cold.

Questions on Lesson XXII.

1. What is latitude?—Distance from the equator, north or south.

2. Why is it important to know the distance of a place from the equator?—Because the climate of the place depends very much upon that.

3. How is latitude measured?—By imaginary lines round the earth, parallel with the equator.

4. What does "parallel with the equator" mean?—Running in the same direction as the equator, and keeping at the same distance from it all the way.

5. How many parallels are there north of the equator?—Ninety, but they are not all marked on maps of the world.

6. Which are the most important lines to remember?—Those at 23&1/2° and at 66&1/2° north and south of the equator.

Questions on Lesson XXIV.

1. Where does the sun rise?—In the east.

2. Where does he set?—In the west.

3. If you stand with your right hand to the east, in which direction are you looking?—To the north.

4. Where is the south?—Opposite to the north.

5. How may you find out the direction you are moving in at noon?—Look at our own shadow, it points north.

6. How may the other points be known?—If we stand as before, facing the north, the south is behind us, the east to the right hand, and the west to the left.

Questions on Lessons XXVI. and XXVII.

1. What is a meridian?—An imaginary line, from pole to pole, passing through the equator.

2. What does the word "meridian" mean?—Midday.

3. Why are the meridians so called?—Because they pass through all places that have mid-day at the same time.

4. Why do places north and south of each other have mid-day at the same time?—Because each portion of the earth, from pole to pole, turns towards the sun at the same time.

5. How many of these meridians are there?—360; one through each degree on the circle of the equator.

6. Which is our first meridian?—The one running through Greenwich.

7. What is the distance of places from Greenwich, east and west, called?—East and west longitude.

8. What is the great use of these lines?—They enable us to know the distance of all places from Greenwich, east or west.

Questions on Lesson XXVIII.

1. How many points of the compass are there?—Thirty-two.

2. Which are the principal?—The four cardinal points; north, south, east, west.

3. Which points are next in importance?—The points in the directions midway between these.

4. Name them?—North-east, south-east, south-west, north-west.

5. What does the circle upon the card of the compass represent?—The circle of the horizon.

6. How is it divided?—Into degrees, like all circles, 90° in each quarter.

Questions on Lesson XXX.

1. What may be learnt from the plan of a building?—Its exact size and shape, and its aspect, or the direction in which it looks.

2. How is the size shown?—By the scale.

3. What is a scale?—A measure which shows that a certain length in the plan stands for a certain length in the real object.

Questions on Lesson XXXII.

1. How may the size of a county be learned from a map?—By the scale, which shows that a measure, perhaps half an inch long, stands for ten or twenty miles.

2. How may we know its distance from the equator?—By the parallel which runs through, or near the county. The number of the parallel shows the number of degrees it is from the equator.

3. What does the map teach as to the appearance of a county?—The map shows if it is flat or hilly; if it has many rivers; if the sea washes it, and runs up into the land.

4. What may we learn about the towns?—Where they lie in the county, north, south, or,west; and how far we must go to get from our own town to any other.

5. Does the map show in what part of England our county is?—Yes; it shows what counties border ours on every side; or, if the sea washes the county, the name of the sea.

Questions on Lesson XXXV.

1. What is a continent?—The largest division of land.

2. How many Continents are there?—Five

3. Name them.—Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia.

4. What is the coast?—That part of the land which is washed by the sea.

Map Questions.

1. Which continents are upon the equator?

2. Which two continents are north of the equator?

3. Which lies south of the equator?

4. Which is the longest continent from north to south?

5. Name the four continents in the eastern hemisphere.

6. What continent lies east of Europe?

7. What continent lies west of Europe?

8. What continent is to the south of Europe?

9. What continent is quite surrounded by water?

10. What continent would be surrounded by water but for one little neck of land?

Questions on Lesson XXXVI.

1. What is a hill?—Rising ground.

2. What is a mountain?—A mass of ground more than half a mile in height.

3. What is a plain?—A tract of level land.

4. What is a tableland?—A tract of land raised high above the country round it.

5, What is a valley?—Land that sinks or dips below the country about it.

6. Name the parts of a mountain.—The base, or foot; the sides; the peaks; and the summit, or highest point.

7. How do mountains usually lie?—In chains, or ranges; or in groups.

8. What is a chain or range?—Mountains following one another in a row.

9. What is a group?—Several mountains clustered together.

Questions on Lesson XXXVII.

1. What is a stream?—Running water.

2. What is a river?—A large stream of fresh water.

3. What is the source of a river?—Its beginning.

4. What is its mouth?—The end of a river, where its waters pour into the sea.

5. What is its bed?—The channel which holds the waters of the river.

6. What are its banks?—The land which borders a river on each side.

7. What is a river valley?—The low land along the bottom of which the river runs.

8. What are tributaries?—Rivers which flow into other rivers and not directly into the sea.

9. What is a lake?—Water surrounded by land.

10. How may a river form a lake?—By filling up a hollow place in its course.

11. What is the current of a river?—The movement of its waters, fast or slow.

12. What is a delta?—Land which a river has formed at its mouth.

Questions on Lesson XXXVIII.

1. What is generally meant by a country?—A portion of land where the people speak the same language and are governed by the same laws.

2. What are the boundaries of a country?—The lands or waters which border it all round.

3. What is a kingdom?—The country or countries ruled by one king.

4. What is a republic?—A country ruled by a council chosen by the people.

5. What is a capital city?—Generally the finest and handsomest town in a country.

6. What is a sea-port?—A town on the coast to which ships come and go.

7. What is a harbour?—An inlet of the sea which affords shelter to ships.

8. What is an army?—The soldiers of a country.

9. What is a Navy?—The war ships of a country.

Questions on Lesson XL.

1. What is an ocean?—Ocean is the name of the great waters of the earth.

2. How many oceans are there?—Five.

3. How so?—The great ocean has five parts with different names.

4. Name the five oceans.—The Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic.

Questions on Lesson XLI.

1. What is a sea?—A part of the ocean lying in great curves of the land, or nearly surrounded by land.

2. What is a gulf?—An opening into the land, generally long and narrow.

3. What is a strait?—A narrow passage of water, joining two larger portions together.

4. What is a channel?—A passage of water generally longer and wider than a strait.

5. What is a bay?—An opening into the land, generally wide.

6. What is an island?—Land surrounded by water.

7. What is a group of islands?—Several islands lying close together.

8. What is the mainland?—The principal land, the continent.

9. What is a peninsula?—Land which the sea almost surrounds.

10. What is an isthmus?—The narrow neck of land which sometimes joins a peninsula to the mainland.

11. What is a cape?—A small piece of land jutting out into the sea.

12. By what other names is such a point of land known?—Ness or Naze (which means nose), and point: a high cliff jutting into the sea is called a head or promontory.

Map Questions.

1. Between what continents does the Pacific lie?

2. The Atlantic?

3. The Indian Ocean?

4. What continents have shores washed by the Arctic Ocean?

5. Name the five seas east of Asia.

6. What strait connects the Pacific and Arctic Oceans?

7. Name the gulf on the west of America.

8. Name a large bay on the west of Europe.

9. Name three large islands in the Mediterranean sea.

10. What channel lies between England and France?

11. What is the narrowest part of this channel called?

12. Name four large peninsulas which form part of the continent'of Europe?

13. What isthmus connects Africa with Asia?

14. Name the most northerly cape in Europe.

15. The most southerly.