stream of water 100 feet high. Mount Hec'-la is the most noted volcano.
Eskimos building a winter hut out of blocks of snow.
The climate of Iceland is far milder than that of Greenland. The people fish, raise sheep, and gather eider-down and Iceland moss. They export wool, salted fish, Iceland moss, and eiderdown.
Reykjavik (rāk'-yah-vik), the chief town, is only a small hamlet.
4. Eskimos.—In Greenland and all along the Arctic shores—in Alaska and in northern Labrador—are the curious people called Eskimos.
They live in huts which are partly underground and which are often built of stones and earth. Sometimes these huts are made of blocks of snow, with sheets of ice for windows. To give heat and light in their huts, the Eskimos burn the oil of the seal or whale.
The Eskimos do nothing but hunt and fish. They travel in sledges drawn by four or eight dogs. The runners of the sledges are made of driftwood, or of the bones of the whale. In catching whales, they use a line with a harpoon at one end and an inflated sealskin at the other. Pulling this skin through the water tires out the wounded whale.
For Recitation.—For what is Newfoundland famed? What can you tell about Greenland? What have you learned of Iceland? What can you tell about the Eskimos?
Eskimos hunting the walrus in their canoes, or kayaks. One of them is just about to throw a harpoon with a rope tied to it.
MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
LESSON XLVI.
1. Mexico.—Leaving the snow huts of the Eskimos, let us now visit the warm countries of our continent.
Homes of native Mexicans.
First of all let us glance at Mexico, our nearest neighbor on the south. Here it is seldom cold enough for ice to be formed, except high up among the mountains.
2. Surface and Climate.—Along the coast is a strip of lowland. Most of the country, however, is a great plateau, about a mile high.
The lowland is the hot region. The plateau is the temperate region.
A large Mexican "hacienda", or farmhouse.
The climate of the plateau is delightful. No fires are needed to keep one's house warm, roses and violets bloom, and green peas are in season all the year. Most of the people of Mexico live here.
3. The agricultural products of the plateau are very different from those of the lowland.
