364 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOE. 



Postumous, erroneously spelt posthumous, from the Latin postu- 

 raus, the same as postremus (from post, after), signifies late, very 

 late, the latest, the last. This word is applied to a child born 

 after the father's death, or a book published after the author's 

 death. 



Sometimes the word is spelt postTiume, for postume. We 

 have here an instance of the effect on spelling of a supposed 

 etymology. Postume was thought to be composed of post, after, 

 and humus, the ground, and hence the word was written post- 

 hume. It is, however, the superlative of the Latin posterus, 

 and is used in the Latin language with the same applications as 

 in English. Richardson is wrong in the etymology which he 

 gives of this word. 



Pre, of Latin origin, before, as in precaution (from Latin, 

 eavere, to beware), forethought. 



" Precaution trudgeth all about 

 To see the caudles fairly out." 



Churchill, " The Ghost." 



Pre is found in precede (Latin, cedo, I go), in precipitous (Latin, 

 caput, the head), headlong; in precocious (Latin, coquere, to 

 took), cooked before, forward, too soon ready. 



" I had heard of divers forward and precose youths, and some I 

 Lave known, but I never did either heare or read of anything like to 

 this sweete child." Evelyn, " Memoirs." 



LESSONS IN GEOGEAPHY. XL 



IN our last lesson it was stated that it is generally believed 

 by geographers in the present day that the southern pole of 

 the axis on which the earth revolves once in the course of 

 every twenty-four hours, is situated in the midst of a vast 

 continent to which access is forbidden by the masses of ice 

 that fringe its coasts, and the steep rampart of volcanic 

 mountains that rises abruptly from the very edge of its shore. 

 The northern pole of the earth's axis, on the contrary, is 

 supposed to bo in the midst of an open ocean, navigable by 

 vessels, if a ready and practicable means of entrance to its 

 waters could be found through the ice-fields that encircle it. 

 Possibly we are on the eve of solving the problem, and dis- 

 covering with certainty what may be the condition of the 

 regions that lie around the North Pole, for an expedition 

 thither is preparing under the auspices of the French Govern- 

 ment, which will in all probability set out for its destination 

 in 1869, under the command of its originator, M. Gustave 

 Lambert. It is M. Lambert's intention to avoid the routes 

 taken by former explorers, and to push his way to the north 

 through Behring Strait. 



To tell the story of Arctic explorations since Sir John 

 Franklin left England on his third expedition of discovery to 

 the north in 1844, to die three years after on the dreary wastes 

 of King William Land, hard by Point Victory an apt name 

 for the last resting-place of a man to whom belongs the merit and 

 honour of having discovered the " north-west passage " from 

 England .to the shores of Asia by sea" barren honour " as it is 

 and must be to all save himself and his companions, as its dis- 

 covery can never be attended with results useful to commerce 

 would oeeupy too much space. It will, therefore, suffice to say 

 that of late years the most active and successful explorers of 

 the regions that lie north of the, line of waters that stretch from 

 Baffin Bay on the east to Banks Strait on the west, are Dr. 

 Elisha K*mt Kane and Dr. Isaac J. Hayes. Both of these 

 travellers are Americans, and both have received a gold medal 

 from the Royal Geographical Society as an acknowledgment of 

 the eminent services rendered to geography by their discoveries 

 the former having received the Founder's Gold Medal in 

 1856, for his services in connection with the American expedi- 

 tions sent out in search of Franklin in 1850 and 1853, and 

 the latter the Patron's Gold Medal in 1867, for his memorable 

 expedition in 1860-61, towards the supposed open polar sea, in 

 which he attained lat. 81 35' in Smith Sound, a more northern 

 point of land than has been reached by any previous navigator. 



Coming southward from Smith Sound, up which Dr. Hayes 

 penetrated to within 9 25', or somewhat less than 600 miles of 

 the North Pole, we have Greenland or Danish America on our 

 right, which was visited by Mr. Edward Whymper, a well- 

 known Alpine explorer, in 1867. Owing to an epidemic, which 

 lad carried off about ten per cent, of the population, this 



explorer was not successful in penetrating as far into the 

 interior as he intended, and another journey will be necessary 

 to ascertain from what sources sustenance is derived by the 

 herds of deer that come from the interior of the country to the 

 coasts at certain periods, and after a short stay return once 

 more to their yet undiscovered haunts. In Alaska Mr. Frederick 

 Whymper, an artist attached to the late Russo- American Tele- 

 graph Expedition, has been more successful, having advanced 

 more than 1,200 miles into the heart of the country along the 

 course of the Kwichpac or Youcon River, a magnificent stream 

 that discharges its waters into the ocean nearly opposite the 

 Isle of St. Lawrence, that lies like a breakwater across the 

 entrance to Behring Strait, between the opposing coasts of Asia -, 

 and America. 



Mr. Frederick Whymper' s journey into the interior of Alaska 

 was made in 1866-7. He travelled by sledge from Norton 

 Sound, a deep inlet to the south-east of Behring Strait, to the 

 banks of the Youkon River, spending the winter months at 

 Nulato, the last of the trading ports that the Russians have 

 established along the course of the river and the interior of the 

 country. In the spring he re-commenced his journey, and made 

 his way up the stream in a boat, consisting of a framework 

 covered with skins, to a point about 600 miles distant from 

 Nulato, where the Porcupine River enters the Youkon. He 

 then turned, and descended the course of the river to the sea. 

 The Youkon is navigable for 1,800 miles from its embouchure 

 during the summer months, but for at least eight months of the 

 year it is frozen over. The natives on the coast are Esquimaux, 

 while in the' interior, and on the banks of the river, parties of 

 Indians are occasionally met with. Public attention has recently 

 been directed to Alaska, formerly Russian America, on account 

 of its sale by the Russian government to the United States in 

 1867, for the sum of 7,000,000 dollars, or about 1, 400,000. 



Some hundreds of miles lower down the west continent of 

 North America, a little to the north of the boundary line 

 between the British dominions and the United States, lies a 

 broad belt of forest land and fertile pasture ground, watered 

 by the head-streams of the Saskatchewan and the Red River, 

 which stretches from the western confines of the new dominion 

 of Canada to the Rocky Mountains. This region was visited by 

 Viscount Milton and Dr. Cheadle in 1861-63; the expedition 

 being " undertaken with the design of discovering the most 

 direct route through British territory to the gold regions of 

 Cariboo (in British Columbia), and exploring the unknown 

 country on the western flank of the Rocky Mountains, in the 

 neighbourhood of the sources of the north branch of the Thomp- 

 son River." This expedition has furnished us with much 

 valuable information about a country that has hitherto been 

 entirely abandoned to Indians and trappers, but which contains 

 upwards of 65,000 square miles of land, of unsurpassed fertility, 

 abounding in mineral wealth, and which is destined to become, 

 at no very distant period perhaps, one of the principal centres 

 of British colonisation, affording the true north-west passage 

 by land from Europe, through our colonies of Canada and British 

 Columbia, to the splendid harbours of Esquimault and the great 

 coal-fields of Vancouver Island, which offer every advantage for 

 the protection and supply of a merchant fleet trading thence to 

 India, China, and Japan. Our illustration* will give the reader 

 some idea of the beauty and grandeur of the scenery on jhe eastern 

 slope of the Rocky Mountains. It is a view ef the valley near 

 Jasper House, or Fort Assiniboine, a little trading station on the 

 bank of the Athabasca or Elk River, which emerges .from the 

 heart of the Rocky Mountains through a narrow gorge near this 

 point, and expands into a lake about three or four miles long, 

 the shores of which are beautifully wooded with clumps and 

 clusters of dark-green pines, and covered with luxuriant verdure. 

 In the background, on the right of the picture, is an ice-capped 

 conical mountain called the Priest's Rock, which forms a pro- 

 minent feature in the landscape, while on the left is seen the 

 flattened top and profile of a steep ascent rising almost perpen- 

 dicularly from the plains below, called the Roche a Myette. 



Passing still southwards through the United States the 

 western parts of which are now being opened up by strong and 

 resolute backwoodsmen from the outlying districts of the Central 



* Tliis illustration is taken, by permission of the authors, from the 

 "North- West Passage by Land," by Lord Milton, M.P., and Dr. 

 Cheadle. London : Cassell, Fetter, and Galpiu. 



