Courses of Reading in Geography and Natural History

GEOGRAPHY is learned best by the careful reading of books of travel. Pupils would derive infinitely more knowledge by the use, under judicious instructors, of a library of this sort, than by years of drudging through those masses of inanity known as School Geographies. The following list is designed chiefly to aid teachers in the selection of books suitable for geographical study at school, and to assist private readers in the choice of useful and entertaining works on the various subjects of interest in our own and foreign countries.

A good atlas is the first desideratum, and is an indispensable auxiliary to the course of reading here indicated. Rand, McNally, & Co.’s Atlas is one of the latest publications, and perhaps the most accurate and complete in the market. Among other very good works of this kind we may mention Gray’s, Johnson’s, Colton’s, and Zell’s, any one of which will answer all the ordinary purposes of the reader. When no complete work is available, the maps in the larger school geographies will render very fair service.

The World.

Coffin: Our New Way round the World.

Curtis: Dottings round the Circle.

Dana: Two Years before the Mast.

Hall: Drifting Round the World.

Gerstacker: A Journey round the World.

Prime: Around the World.

Pumpelly: Across America and Asia.

Smiles: A Boy’s Journey round the World.

Nordhoff: Man-of-War Life.

Knox: The Young Nimrods around the World.

Hale: Stories of the Sea, told by Sailors.

Verne: Famous Travels and Travellers.

—— The Great Navigators.

—— The Explorers of the Nineteenth Century.

Figuier: The Ocean World.

—— The Insect World.

Mrs. Brassey: Voyage in the Sunbeam.

Ainsworth: All round the World.

Harper: What Darwin Saw.

Humboldt: Cosmos.

North America.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in the Occident.

Knox: The Young Nimrods in North America.

Rideing: Boys in the Mountains.

Hawthorne: American Nights’ Entertainment.

Ingersoll: Friends Worth Knowing; Glimpses of American Natural History.

Hale: Stories of Discovery.

Say: Insects of North America.

Drake: Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast.

Flagg: The Woods and By-Ways of New England.

Nordhoff: *Cape Cod and all along Shore.

Thoreau: The Maine Woods.

—— A Week on the Concord.

—— Cape Cod.

—— Excursions in Field and Forest.

Samuels: The Birds of New England.

Scudder: The Bodleys Afoot.

Drake: Around the Hub; A Boy’s Book about Boston.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxvi.

Murray: Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp Life in the Adirondacks.

Warner: The Adirondacks Verified.

Bromfield: Picturesque Journeys in America.

Jordan: Vertebrates of the Northern States.

Appleton: Picturesque America.

—— Our Native Land.

Howells: *Their Wedding Journey.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxvii.

King: The Great South.

Olmsted: The Sea-Board Slave States.

Baldwin: The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi.

Pollard: The Virginia Tourist. Twain: Life on the Mississippi.

Lanier: Florida; its Scenery.

Porte Crayon: Virginia Illustrated.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxviii.

Lewis and Clarke’s Expedition across the Rocky Mountains.

Irving: Astoria.

—— Adventures of Captain Bonneville.

—— A Tour on the Prairies.

Meline: Two Thousand Miles on Horseback.

Richardson: Beyond the Mississippi.

Browne: Crusoe’s Island.

Nordhoff: Northern California.

Taylor: Eldorado.

Codman: The Round Trip.

Bird: A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains.

Ingersoll: Knocking round the Rockies.

Cozzens: The Marvellous Country; or, Three Years in Arizona and New Mexico.

Browne: The Apache Country.

Taylor: Colorado; A Summer Trip.

Richardson: Wonders of the Yellowstone.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxix.

Robinson: The Great Fur Land.

Butler: The Great Lone Land.

—— The Wild North Land.

Hartwig: The Polar World.

Hayes: The Land of Desolation.

Blake: Arctic Experiences.

Nourse: American Explorations in the Ice Zones.

Burton: Ultima Thule.

Stephens: Off To the Geysers.

Haven: Our Next-Door Neighbor.

Wilson: Mexico; its Peasants and Priests.

Ruxton: Adventures in Mexico.

Stephens: Travels in Yucatan.

—— Travels in Central America.

Squier: The States of Central America.

Ober: *The Silver City.

Kingsley: A Christmas in the West Indies.

Hurlbert: Gan Eden; or, Pictures of Cuba.

Dana: To Cuba and Back.

South America.

Holton: New Granada.

Orton: The Andes and Amazon.

Agassiz: Journey in Brazil.

Ewbank: Life in Brazil.

Fletcher: Brazil and the Brazilians.

Bishop: A Thousand Miles’ Walk across South America.

Marcoy: Travels across South America.

Hassaurek: Four Years among Spanish Americans.

Squier: Peru.

Orton: *The Secret of the Andes.

Stephens: On the Amazons.

Dixie: Across Patagonia.

Reid: *The Land of Fire.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxx.

Europe.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in Europe.

Champney: Three Vassar Girls Abroad.

Scudder: The English Bodley Family.

Hawthorne: Our Old Home.

Taine: Notes on England.

Escott: England.

Miller: First Impressions of England and its People.

Emerson: English Traits.

Hoppin: Old England; Its Scenery, Art, and People.

Abbott: A Summer in Scotland.

Miller: Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland.

White: Natural History of Selborne.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. i.-v.

Longfellow: Outre Mer.

Taylor: Views Afoot.

Macquoid: Through Normandy.

Hamerton: Round My House.

Hale: A Family Flight through France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Walworth: The Old World seen through Young Eyes.

Bulwer: France, Literary, Social, and Political.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. vi.-x.

Taine: Tour through the Pyrenees.

Hale: A Family Flight through Spain.

De Amicis: Spain and the Spaniards.

Bodfish: Through Spain on Donkey-Back.

Hare: Wanderings in Spain.

Hay: Castilian Days.

Irving: The Alhambra.

—— Spanish Papers.

Andersen: Pictures of Travel.

Latouche: Travels in Portugal.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. xiv., xv.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in Classic Lands.

Browne: Yusef; Travels on the Shores of the Mediterranean.

Eustis: Classical Tour through Italy.

Dickens: Pictures from Italy.

Hare: Cities of Northern and Central Italy.

—— Days near Rome.

Hawthorne: English and Italian Notes.

Howells: Italian Journeys.

—— Venetian Life.

Taine: Italy (Florence and Venice).

—— Italy (Rome and Naples).

Di Cesnola: Cyprus.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. xi.-xiii.

Stephens: Travels in Greece and Turkey.

Mahaffy: Rambles and Studies in Greece.

Baird: Modern Greece.

Townsend: A Cruise in the Bosphorus.

De Amicis: Constantinople.

Gautier: Constantinople.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xix.

Waring: Tyrol and the Skirt of the Alps.

Whymper: Scrambles among the Alps.

Taylor: The By-Ways of Europe.

Hugo: Tour on the Rhine.

Browne: An American Family in Germany.

Hawthorne: Saxon Studies.

Hugo: Home-Life in Germany.

Baring-Gould: Germany, Past and Present.

De Amicis: Holland.

Scudder: The Bodleys in Holland.

Dodge: *Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates.

Havard: Picturesque Holland.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands.

Taylor: Northern Europe.

Browne: Land of Thor.

Du Chaillu: The Land of the Midnight Sun.

Andersen: Pictures of Travel in Sweden.

MacGregor: Rob Roy on the Baltic.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. xvii., xviii.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in the Orient.

Gautier: A Winter in Russia.

Wallace: Russia.

Richardson: Ralph’s Year in Russia.

Morley: Sketches of Russian Life.

Dixon: Free Russia.

Asia.

Kennan: Tent Life in Siberia.

McGahan: Campaigning on the Oxus.

Burnaby: A Ride to Khiva.

Schuyler: Turkistan.

Taylor: Central Asia.

Arnold: Through Persia by Caravan.

Stack: Six Months in Persia.

VÁmbÉry: Travels in Central Asia.

O’Donovan: The Merv Oasis.

Curtis: The Howadji in Syria.

Kinglake: EÖthen.

MacGregor: Rob Roy on the Jordan.

Prime: Tent Life in the Holy Land.

Taylor: Travels in Arabia.

Blunt: The Bedouin Tribes.

Keane: Six Months in Mecca.

Baker: Rifle and Hound in Ceylon.

Butler: The Land of the Vedas.

French: Our Boys in India.

Knox: The Boy Travellers in India and Ceylon.

—— The Boy Travellers in Siam and Java.

Vincent: The Land of the White Elephant.

Leonowens: An English Governess at the Siamese Court.

Kingston: *In Eastern Seas.

Wilson: The Abode of Snow.

Markham: Thibet.

Gordon: The Roof of the World.

Williams: The Middle Kingdom.

Taylor: India, China, and Japan.

French: Our Boys in China.

Eden: China, Japan, and India.

Oppert: Corea.

Knox: The Boy Travellers in Japan and China.

Miller: Little People of Asia.

—— Child Life in Japan.

Greey: The Wonderful City of Tokio.

—— The Bear Worshippers.

Griffis: The Mikado’s Empire.

Bird: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. xxi.-xxiii.

Africa.

Hale: A Family Flight over Egypt and Syria.

Knox: The Boy Travellers in Egypt.

—— The Boy Travellers in Central Africa.

McCabe: Our Young Folks in Africa.

Du Chaillu: Wild Life under the Equator.

—— The Country of the Dwarfs.

Baker: *Cast up by the Sea.

Stanley: *My Kalulu.

Baker: Ismailia.

—— Albert N’Yanza.

Speke: Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile.

Edwards: A Thousand Miles up the Nile.

Taylor: Central Africa.

Schweinfurth: The Heart of Africa.

Livingstone: Last Journals.

Stanley: How I found Livingstone.

—— Through the Dark Continent.

Du Chaillu: Explorations in Central Africa.

—— Journey to Ashango Land.

Anderson: Southwestern Africa.

Livingstone: South Africa.

Cumming: Hunter’s Life in South Africa.

MacLeod: Madagascar and its People.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxiv.

Australia and the Pacific.

Grant: Bush Life in Australia.

Cook: Voyages round the World.

Gironierre: Twenty Years in the Philippine Islands.

Nordhoff: Stories of the Island World.

Cheever: The Island World of the Pacific.

Lamont: Wild Life among the Pacific Islanders.

Bird: Six Months among the Sandwich Islands.

Dana: Corals and Coral Islands.