different times, but its place on the map may be seen in the vicinity of the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, northward of the Persian Gulf.

3. Ashur, the grandson of Noah, was the first ruler of Assyria. In the year 2229 B.C. he built the city of Nineveh, and surrounded it with walls a hundred feet high. It was likewise defended by fifteen hundred towers, each two hundred feet in height. The city was said to be so large that a person would have travelled a hundred miles merely in walking round it; and many beautiful sculptures have been brought to England lately by some travellers who have dug them out of the ruins of this great city.

4. But the city of Babylon, which was built a short time afterwards, was superior to Nineveh both in size and beauty. It was situated on the river Euphrates. The walls were so very thick that six chariots drawn by horses could be driven abreast upon the top, without danger of falling off on either side. In this country we do not surround our cities with walls but in ancient times walls were necessary to protect the people from their enemies.

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5. In this city there were magnificent gardens, belonging to the royal palace. They were constructed in such a manner that they appeared to be hanging in the air without resting on the earth. They contained large trees, and all kinds of fruits and flowers.

6. There was also a splendid temple dedicated to Belus, Bel, or Baal, who was the chief idol of the Assyrians. This

temple was six hundred and sixty feet high, and it contained a golden image of Belus forty feet in height.

7. The city of Babylon, which I have been describing, was first built by Nimrod, that mighty hunter of whom the Bible tells us. But the person who made all the beautiful gardens and palaces, and who set up the golden image of Belus, was a woman named Semiramis.

8. She had been the wife of Ninus, king of Assyria; but when king Ninus died, queen Semiramis became sole ruler of the empire. She was an ambitious woman, and could not content herself to live quietly in Babylon, although she had taken so much pains to make it a beautiful city.

9. She was tormented with a wicked desire to conquer all the nations of the earth. So she collected an immense army and marched against the rich and powerful king of the Indies, who lived in what we now call Hindoostan, a country lying to the south-east of Assyria.

QUESTIONS.-1. Did all the people leave the land of Shinar after the confusion of languages? Did the people of the land of Shinar increase? What did they do? 2. What name did the country around Shinar receive? What was the first empire or great nation of the earth? In which direction was Assyria from the Persian Gulf? Which way from the Mediterranean Sea? Which way from Egypt? 3. Who was the first ruler of Assyria? What city did he build? Describe the city of Nineveh. 4. Where was the city of Babylon? Describe this wonderful city. Why did the ancients surround their cities with walls? 5. What of the hanging gardens? 6. The temple of Belus? 7. Who built Babylon? Who made the hanging gardens, the image of Belus, &c.? 8. What of Semiramis? Was she content with Babylon? 9. What

foolish and wicked desire had she? What did she do? Where did the king of the Indies live? In which direction was India from Assyria?

CHAP. XI.-ASIA continued.

QUEEN SEMIRAMIS SETS FORTH TO CONQUER THE WORLD, BUT IS DEFEATED BY THE KING OF THE INDIES.

1. WHEN the king of the Indies, who was very rich and powerful, heard that queen Semiramis was coming to invade his dominions, he mustered a vast number of men to defend them. Besides his soldiers, he had a great many elephants.

2. Each of these enormous beasts was worth a whole regiment of soldiers. They were taught to rush into the battle and toss the enemy about with their trunks, and trample them down with their huge feet.

3. Now, queen Semiramis had no elephants, and therefore she was afraid that the king of the Indies would overcome her. She endeavoured to prevent this misfortune by a very curious contrivance. In the first place, she ordered three thousand brown oxen to be killed.

4. The hides of the dead oxen were stripped off, and sewed together in the shape of elephants. These were placed upon camels, and when the camels were drawn up in battle array, they looked pretty much like a troop of great brown elephants. Doubtless the king of the Indies wondered where queen Semiramis had caught them.

5. When the battle was to be fought, the king of the Indies, with his real elephants, marched forward on one side, and

queen Semiramis, with her camels and ox-hides, came boldly against him on the other.

6. But when the Indian army had marched close to the host of the Assyrians, the former perceived that there was no such thing as an elephant among them. They therefore laid aside all fear, and rushed furiously upon queen Semiramis and her soldiers.

7. The real elephants put the camels to flight; and then, in a great rage, they ran about, tossing the Assyrians into the air, and trampling them down by hundreds. Thus the Assyrian army was routed, and the king of the Indies gained a complete victory.

8. Queen Semiramis was sorely wounded; but she got into a chariot, and drove away at full speed from the battlefield. She finally escaped to her own kingdom, but in a very sad condition.

9. She then took up her residence in the palace at Babylon. But she did not long enjoy herself in the beautiful gardens which she had suspended in the air. It is said that her own son, whose name was Ninyas, put his mother to death, that he might get possession of the throne, and reign over the people.

10. Such was the melancholy end of the mighty queen Semiramis. How foolish and wicked it was for her to spend her life in trying to conquer other nations, instead of making her own people happy! But she had not learned that golden rule, "Do to another as you would have another do to you."

QUESTIONS.-1. What did the king of the Indies do when he heard that Semiramis was going to make war upon his kingdom? What sort of an army had he? 2. What of the elephants? 3. By what contrivance did Semiramis endeavour to match the elephants of the king of India? 5. Describe the battle. What was the result of the battle? 8. What of Semiramis? 9. What became of her? 10. Was the conduct of Semiramis good or wise? Do you think she was happy? Do you think any person can be happy who does not try to make others so?

CHAP. XII.-ASIA continued.

ABOUT NINYAS. REIGN OF SARDANAPALUS AND RUIN OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE.

1. AFTER Ninyas had wickedly murdered his mother, he became king of Assyria. His reign began about the year 2000 B.C., or about three hundred and fifty years after the deluge.

2. Ninyas was not only a very wicked man, but a very slothful one. He did not set out to conquer kingdoms, like his mother, but shut himself up in his palace, and thought of nothing but how to enjoy himself.

3. He knew that his people hated him; and therefore he kept guards in his palace; but he was afraid to trust even his guards. Whether he was murdered at last, or whether he died quietly in his bed, is more than I can tell, for history does not inform us.

4. After the reign of Ninyas, there was an interval of eight hundred years, during which it is impossible to say what happened in the kingdom of Assyria. It is probable