1. I CANNOT undertake to tell you of all the interesting events which have occurred in the West Indies. Several of these islands have often changed masters, very few of them being now possessed by the nations that discovered them; they have frequently been shaken by earthquakes, and often desolated by hurricanes. But of these events I cannot tell you now.

2. I must not, however, overlook the story of Hayti. This fine island was discovered by Columbus on his first voyage, and here he left a party of his men, and thus founded the first European settlement in the New World; the island was called Hayti by the natives, but named Hispaniola by the Spaniards. The first settlement was destroyed by the natives, but Columbus returned with a large body of troops, and the whole island speedily became subject to Spain. In after times, the French obtained possession of a portion of the country, and, until

about forty years ago, it was shared between the French and Spanish governments, and was known by the name of St. Domingo.

3. But the negro slaves had become much more numerous than the white inhabitants, and, in 1791, they rose against their masters. France, at this time, was in a state of revolution, and could afford no aid to put down the insurrection; the negroes therefore slaughtered the white people by thousands, pillaging their houses, and then setting them on fire. A few escaped, bnt the greater

number were killed.

4. The negroes now declared themselves independent, and began to form a government of their own. After various revolutions, the whole island was formed into a republic, the officers of which were negroes or mulattoes, and so it continues to this day. The people are, on the whole, well governed, the state of society is improving, and attention is being paid to education. Nearly all the inhabitants are people of colour, but many of them are intelligent, and carry on the various concerns of agriculture and commerce with skill and success.

5. Before I leave the West Indies, I must say a few words about the Buccaneers, a famous set of sea-robbers, who infested these islands during part of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These at first consisted of men from England and France, who settled on the western coast of St. Domingo and the neighbouring island of Tortuga, about the year 1630.

6. For a while, they lived by killing wild cattle, and selling their skins, but the Spaniards were jealous of their intrusion, and murdered them without mercy, whenever they had the opportunity; in revenge, the buccaneers procured small boats, and put to sea to intercept the Spanish treasure-ships, and other vessels. This business succeeded so well, that a great many desperate adventurers from all parts of Europe united themselves to the buccaneers. They

therefore procured larger vessels, which were equipped in the best manner for attack; these were filled with daring seamen, and commanded by bold leaders; and such was their power at one time, that they made successful attacks upon many large cities, sometimes pillaging the inhabitants, and sometimes laying them under contribution.

7. The buccaneers formed a regular society, and all their plunder was divided by settled rules. Although daily practising every atrocity, they pretended to so much regard for religion, that after a while, the French and English buccaneers separated, because they were, the one Catholics, the other Protestants.

8. But, at length, the European governments were roused, by the violence and cruelty of these robbers, to measures of retaliation. They sent large vessels to cruize in the neighbourhood of the West Indies, and, after many struggles, the confederacy of the buccaneers was broken up, about the year 1712. A few of the most desperate retired to the island of Madagascar, in Africa, but they never became powerful, and in a few years were wholly exterminated by some English men-of-war sent against them.

9. In later times, the West Indian seas were again infested by pirates, who captured many trading vessels, but they have been hunted down by the English and Americans.

QUESTIONS. 1. What of some of the West India islands ?2. Who discovered Hayti? What settlement was made? Names of the island? To what country did it become subject? What of 4. What of the France ? 3. What occurred in 1791?State of society ?- -5. What of negroes? Their government? the buccaneers ? Where were they originally from? Where and -6. How did they live for a while? in what year did they settle? What did they afterwards do? By whom were they joined? What exploits did they perform ?-7. How was their plunder divided? What caused the English and French buccaneers to separate?8. How were they finally subdued ?-9. What of other pirates?

Georgia settled

First settlement in New York and New Jersey
Settlement at Plymouth

Delaware and Pennsylvania first settled by the Swedes
Buccaneers first assemble at St. Domingo and Tortuga -

Maryland settled

First settlement in Connecticut

Rhode Island settled

The English get possession of New York

Pennsylvania settled by Penn

Capture of Louisburg by the people of New England

Capture of Louisburg by Wolfe

Quebec taken by the English

The American Stamp Act passed

1759

1765

1. HAVING now related the history of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, the reader will probably think that my History ought to close here; but there is a fifth portion of the globe, on which I must now employ my pen.

2. America ought no longer to be called the New World; for there is a newer one, composed of the islands which lie in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The name of

Oceania has been given to this region, which is subdivided into Malaysia, Australasia, and Polynesia. If all the islands were put together, they would cover a space of at least four millions of square miles.

3. Those islands which lie in the Indian Ocean, near the continent of Asia, are called the Indian Archipelago, or Malaysia; the largest of them are Borneo, Sumatra, and Java. Scarcely anything has been written about the history of Malaysia, for the islands are chiefly inhabited