[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF A PENINSULA.]

In the picture we see a narrow strip of land which extends far out into the water. You will notice that the land has water all round; except at one place.

What is the name for land that has water on all sides but one? What is a peninsula?

How would you change this peninsula to an island? What is the difference between a peninsula and an island?

The narrow neck which joins the peninsula to other land--just as the neck joins the head to the body-is called an _isthmus_, which means _neck_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PICTURE OF A BAY.]

Here is another picture which I wish you to look at. You see where the sh.o.r.e bends like a bow; and the water runs a little way into the land.

Can you think of anything else that is bent like this? Yes-a bay-window.

Now, when I tell yon that bay means the same as bow, you can almost guess the name for this bend in the land. It is called a bay. You will easily remember that little word.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF A BAY.]

A wide opening or bend in the land, into which the water flows, is usually called a bay.

Sometimes, when the opening in the bend is long and narrow, it is called a _gulf_.

On the next page is shown a narrow strip of water joining two larger bodies of water. The name given to this narrow pa.s.sage is strait, a word meaning narrow.

As an isthmus connects two bodies of land, so a strait connects two bodies of water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PICTURE OF A STRAIT.]

After a rain make little lakes, rivers, bays, etc. Perhaps you may find some already made.

See whether you can find in the magazines and books at home pictures of gulfs, bays, peninsulas, etc.

_Write the following:_ A peninsula is land almost surrounded by water.

An isthmus is a neck of land joining two larger bodies of land.

A gulf or bay is a portion of some large body of water extending into the land.

A strait is a narrow pa.s.sage of water that joins two larger bodies of water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF A STRAIT.]

LESSON XXVII.

A TRIP TO THE HIGHLANDS.

Uncle Tom had been telling Fred and me about many strange places he had seen. Last of all, he told us about some high mountains he had climbed.

We wanted to climb one very much. So father said he would go with us up a high hill not far from the city.

Mother did not need to call us in the morning, for we woke up very early. The sky in the east was bright, and we knew that soon we should see the sun. We wanted to start at once, but mother said it would be better to have breakfast first.

We put on thick shoes that the stones would not easily cut. Father gave each of us a stout stick to help us climb. Fred had a knapsack, in which mother put some bread, cold meat, crackers, and a cup to drink from. In one corner we put some towels.

We were soon outside the city, walking along the road. We pa.s.sed a village, and went through fields and woods. By and by we could see the land before us rising higher and higher. We saw no longer such beautiful farms and gardens as we had pa.s.sed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "AS WE WENT UP THE SLOPE."]

In a little while we reached the foot of the hill and began to ascend.

As we went up the slope, we came to steep, rugged places that were hard to climb, where we needed our sticks. The trees were smaller, and there were many bushes. There were large rocks, too, in the sides of the hill.

At the foot, the weather was quite warm, but it grew cooler and cooler the higher we went.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "WE COULD SEE THE CITY WITH ITS LITTLE STRAIGHT STREETS."]

"On the summit at last!" cried Fred, as we reached the top.

From where we stood, we could see the city with its little straight streets, that look so wide when we walk on them. We could see the house-tops, too, and the church steeples. Then father showed us the village we pa.s.sed; and the woods we went through. But the trees looked like bushes, and some men at the foot of the hill looked no larger than the baby.

Down the mountain, a little way, we found a spring where the water was clear and cool. Here we sat down on a rock, and ate the lunch we had brought. While we rested, we watched the little rill that flowed from the spring--

"Blue in the shadow, Silver in the sun."

Down the hill, it was larger, and we saw other rills flowing into it.

When it reached the valley, it was much larger; and farther down, father said, boats could sail on it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "IN THE VALLEY LAY A LARGE SHEET OF STILL WATER."]

Before us, in the valley, lay a large sheet of still water.

"Oh, how pretty!" exclaimed I.

"Yes, that is a lake," said father. "How beautiful it looks as the sunlight plays on its smooth surface! It reflects in its clear water the sky and the trees around it."

"I can see an island in the lake," said Fred. "Vessels are sailing all round it."

"Are all islands small, like that?" he asked.

"Oh, no!" said father. "Some islands are hundreds of miles round, and have many people living upon them."

Fred then pointed to a piece of land extending out into the water, and asked whether that, too, was an island.

"No," replied father, "that is a peninsula. It is land almost surrounded by water. And the narrow neck which joins the peninsula to the mainland is called an isthmus.

"You see the bend in the land, with the water from the lake running in?"

asked father.