PETER PARLEY'S

UNIVERSAL HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.-INTRODUCTION.

ABOUT TRAVELLING IN THE CAR OF A BALLOON, AND WHAT CURIOUS THINGS ONE MAY MEET WITH.

1. IF you could get into the car of a balloon, rise into the air, and sail over the country, how many interesting things you would see! At one moment you would be passing over a city, at another you would look down upon a valley, or a river, or a hill, or a mountain!

2. What a pleasant method this would be of studying what is called geography! for geography, you know, is a description of cities, rivers, valleys, hills, mountains, and other things that a traveller meets with.

3. How much more delightful this would be than to look over maps, which only give you a sort of picture, showing where towns are placed, how rivers run, and where mountains lie. But as very few of us can travel about with balloons, we must be content with maps, and learn geography from them as well as we can.

4. Suppose that in travelling in some distant country we should meet with a building different from any we had

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ever seen; suppose that it was built of stone, covered with moss, and marked with great age, as if it had been erected at least five hundred years ago :—

5. Suppose that, on entering this building, we should find strange, dark rooms of vast size; suppose that we should find in this building the graves of persons who died two or three hundred years ago, with their names carved upon the stones beneath which their bones repose!

6. Now, what do you imagine we should think of all this? Should we not be curious to know why this building was erected-when, and by whom it was built? Should we not be anxious to know something of the people who constructed such a wonderful building? Should we not desire to go back five hundred years, and learn the story of that distant time?

7. And if we could meet with some old man who had lived so long, should we not wish to sit down by his side and hear him tell how and when this edifice was built? Should we not ask him a thousand questions about the people who built it, and those who had been buried in it?

8. Now, if you were to travel in foreign countries, you would meet with a great many such buildings as I have described. You would, indeed, find many that are more than five hundred years old.

9. If you were to extend your travels to Italy, or Greece, or Egypt, or some parts of Asia, you would often meet with the ruins of temples, palaces, and cities, which existed in a perfect

state two or three thousand years ago. Some of these would excite your wonder on account of their beauty, and some on account of their grandeur.

10. Such things you would meet with in foreign lands, but no man could be found old enough to tell you their story from his own observation. What then would you do? Perhaps you would be content, after returning from your travels, to sit down with old Peter Parley, and hear the history of those ancient times.

11. Well, I suppose that most of my readers have either travelled about, or read of distant countries. Perhaps, then, they are curious to hear an old man tell of the olden time. If the reader is not already tired of my stories, I beg him to sit down and hear what I have to say.

QUESTIONS.-1. What would a person see if he were to sail over the country in the car of a balloon? 2. What is geography? 3 What are maps? 4. Suppose we should meet with some old building, what should we desire to know? 5. What would a traveller meet with in foreign lands? 6. What would he meet with in Italy, Greece, Egypt, or Asia? What would these ancient ruins teach?

CHAP. II.-INTRODUCTION continued.

ABOUT HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY, AND OTHER MATTERS.

1. I SUPPOSE you have often met with the words History and Geography. History is the story of mankind since the world was created, and may be compared to an old man

who has lived for thousands of years, and who has seen cities built and fall into decay; who has seen nations rise, flourish, and disappear; and who, with a memory full of wonderful things, sits down to tell you of all that has happened during so many ages.

2. Geography, as I have before said, is a description of towns, rivers, mountains, and countries--the things which a traveller sees in going from one place to another. Geography, then, may be compared to some roving fellow who has been all over the world in ships, stage-coaches, steamboats, and railroad carriages, and who has come back to give us an account of all he has seen.

3. You will see, then, that history is a record of events which have happened, and that geography tells you of the places where they happened. In order to understand the former, you must know something of the latter. In this little book I shall, therefore, sometimes put on the old greybeard of History, who has lived for thousands of years, and tell you of what has come to pass; and sometimes I shall take you in a balloon or vessel, and carry you with me to the places where the events I relate have occurred.

4. I shall, in the progress of my story, tell you how the first man and woman were made, how they had a large family, how these increased and spread themselves throughout the different countries. I shall tell you of the great nations that have existed, of the great battles that have been fought, and of the deeds of celebrated persons.

5. But, before I proceed, I must remind you that the world is round, and that men and animals live upon the surface; that the face of the earth is divided into land and water; that on the land trees, grass, herbs, and flowers grow; men and animals dwell; and towns, cities, and villages are built.

6. A high piece of land, you know, is called a mountain or hill; a low piece of land is called a valley. You often see water running in a stream through a valley; this is called a river and you sometimes see a still piece of water surrounded by hills; this is called a lake.

7. About one third of the face of the earth is land, and two thirds are water. The land is divided into two great continents; the western continent consists of North and South America; the eastern continent consists of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

8. If you will turn to page 7, you will see a map of the eastern continent; and on page 8, you will see a map of the western continent.

QUESTIONS.-1. What is history? To what may it be compared ? 2. What is geography? To what may it be compared? 5. What is the shape of the earth? Where do men and animals live? How is the face of the land divided? What grow upon the land? What live upon the land? What are built upon the land? 6. What is a mountain or hill? A valley? A river? A lake? 7. What part of the face of the earth is land? What portion is water? How is the land divided? What of the western continent? The eastern?