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GEOGRAPHICAL READER. 
There are many rare kinds of wood, rich fruits, and 
valuable medieines ; and from the island of Java large 
quantities of excellent coffee are obtained. 
4. Brilliant diamonds, rubies of the finest color, em- 
eralds, and all those stones which are most valued, and 
used to ornament the crowns of kings and emperors, are 
found here. For thousands of years other countries all 
over Asia and Europe have known of the wealth of the 
Indies, and have sought to obtain these precious things. 
Many voyages from countries in western Kurope, in 
the time of Columbus, were undertaken in the hope 
of finding a shorter way to this wonderful land. 
5. The greater and more western of the two penin- 
sulas belongs to the government of Great Britain, and is 
therefore sometimes called British India. "Chis is the 
most interesting of all these countries. In the northern 
part of this peninsula a large river, called the Ganges, 
flows through a rich plain eastward to the sea. 
6. While many of the inhabitants of Europe were 
scarcely more learned or skillful than are the negroes of 
Sudan, there were on this plain great cities and splendid 
temples, books, and learned men. Before any ofthe great 
cities now in Europe had been built, the people here 
knew how to make the finest muslins, rich shawls, 
and many beautiful things from wood, ivory, pearl, and 
gold. "Chese were souglt for by other nations as much 
as were the spices and precious stones of the Indies. 
7. This plain is still covered with great cities, some of 
them very old. "There are in many of them thousands 
of English soldiers and merchants, besides all the native 
people. Calcutta, the capital of British India, is in the 
low, marshy lands, at the mouth of the Ganges,