Lesson:

1. The Himalayas are the highest mountains on our globe. They are in Asia, and separate India from Tibet. They extend in a continuous line for more than a thousand miles.


2. If you ever ascend one of these mountains from the plain below, you will have to cross an unhealthy border, twenty miles in width. It is, in fact, a swamp caused by the waters overflowing the river banks.


3. The soil of this swampy border is covered with trees and shrubs, where the tiger, the elephant, and other animals find secure retreat. Beyond this border, you will reach smiling valleys and noble forests.


4. As you advance onward and upward, you will get among bolder and more rugged scenes. The sides of the mountains are very steep, sometimes well wooded to quite a height, but sometimes quite barren.


5. In crossing a river, you must be content with three ropes for a bridge. You will find the streets of the towns to be simply stairs cut out of the rock, and see the houses rising in tiers.


6. The pathways into Tibet, among these mountains, are mere tracks by the side of foaming torrents. Often, as you advance, you will find every trace of the path swept away by the falling of rocks and earth from above.


7. Sometimes you will find posts driven into the mountain side, upon which branches of trees and earth are spread. This forms a trembling foothold for the traveler.


8. In the Andes, in South America, the sure-footed mule is used to carry travelers. Quite often a chasm must be crossed that is many feet wide and hundreds of feet deep. The mule will leap across this chasm, but not until it is sure it can make a safe jump.


9. 'One day,' says a traveler, 'I went by the worst pass over the Andes Mountains. The path for seventy yards was very narrow, and at one point it was washed entirely away. On one side the rock brushed my shoulder, and on the other side my foot overhung the precipice.'


10. The guide told this man, after he was safely over the pass, that, to his knowledge, four hundred mules had fallen over that precipice, and in many instances, travelers had lost their lives at that terrible spot.





DEFINITIONS


1. Himalaya Tibet: A country of central Asia.


2. Ascend: Go up, climb.


2. Swamp: Low, wet ground.


3. Retreat: Place of safety.


4. Advance: Go forward.


4. Rugged: Rough.


4. Barren: Without trees or shrubs, unproductive.


5. Tiers: Rows one above another.


7. Foothold: That on which one may tread.


8. Andes: The second highest range of mountains in the world, in South America.


8. Chasm: A deep opening in the earth or cleft in the rocks.


9. Precipice: A very steep and dangerous descent.


10. Knowledge: That which is known.