[1] Mes-sē´na, town of Sicily on the Strait of Messina, which lies between the island of Sicily and the toe of Italy.
[2] The Great Powers are the leading nations of the world. They are rich in men and money, and keep up large armies or navies, or both. Great Britain, the United States of America, Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and, since 1905, Japan, are the Great Powers.
[3] A letter sent by one government to another, referring to some matter which is in dispute between them.
[4] Ar-ma-ged´on.
[5] People of partly Finnish and partly Turkish descent, now the ruling people in Hungary. There are nearly ten million people speaking the Magyar language.
[6] Descended from the people who live in the north-east of Asia Minor.
[7] Bel-grād´.
[8] Bos´nia.
[9] Her-tse-go-vē´na.
[10] Means the Ox Ford.
[11] Dar-da-nelz´.
[12] Tre-es´tā.
[13] Sal-on-ē´ka.
[14] E-jē´an.
[15] Ra-goo´za.
[16] Mos´tar.
[17] Al-ba'nia, a country on the coast of the Adriatic Sea to the south and west of Servia.
[18] Sa-ra-yā´vo.
[19] We speak of Servia and Servians, but it is more correct to say Serbia and Serbs.
[21] Ve-en´na, called by the Austrians and Germans Wien.
[22] Shar-le-mān´ (Charles the Great), became king of the Franks in 768, and reigned for forty-six years.
[23] Ish´l.
[24] Bo-he´mi-a, a kingdom in the north-west of the Austrian Empire fenced in by lofty mountains.
[25] Ag-a-mem´non.
[26] Kī´ser, a German form of Cæsar, the name given to the Roman emperors.
[27] Former duchy of Germany, consisting of what is now Würtemberg Baden, and South-west Bavaria.
[28] City of Bavaria, 90 miles north by west of Mūn´ich, the capital.
[29] Title given to certain princes of Germany because they had the right to elect the Emperor.
[30] Chief town of the province of Brandenburg, 16 miles west of Berlin. It contains a royal palace, and is practically the German Windsor.
[31] Born 1795, died 1881. A great writer of history and philosophy. His History of Frederick the Great was begun in 1852, and occupied him for thirteen years, during which he paid two visits to Germany.
[32] Mä-rī´a Ter-e´sa, Queen of Hungary and German Empress; reigned from 1741 to 1780. She was the mother of Marie Antoinette (ong-twa-net), wife of Louis XVI. of France.
[33] Sīl-ēs´i-a, since 1742 a province of Prussia in the extreme south-east, between Poland and Bohemia. Most of it is in the basin of the Oder. It is very rich in iron, coal, and metals, and is an important manufacturing region.
[34] Now a province of Prussia, stretching from the Netherlands east to the Elbe, and from the North Sea south to Westphalia and Hesse Nassau. It contains the following German ports—Emden, Harburg, Papenburg, and Wilhelmshaven. The town of Hanover, which still contains the favourite residence of George I. and George II., is 112 miles by rail south of Hamburg.
[35] Krā´kō, the old capital of Poland; stands on the left bank of the Vistula, in the Austrian crown land of Galicia.
[36] Ga-lish´i-a, crown land of Austria, on the north side of the Carpathians. Its north-west frontier is formed by the Vistula, and the eastern parts are drained by the Dniester, Pruth, and Sereth. The country is rich in petroleum, from which the spirit is made by which motors are propelled. As motors are now so largely used in war, the possession of Galicia is a great advantage to Austria and Germany.
[37] Sō´bē-es´kē, John III. of Poland; reigned from 1674 to 1696.
[38] A form of government in which the head of the state is not a king, but a citizen elected by the people for a number of years.
[39] Mar-sā-yāz´.
[40] Roo-zhā´ d´lēl´ (1760-1836).
[41] Capital of Alsace-Lorraine, on a small tributary of the Rhine. It became German in 1871.
[42] Mar-selz´, chief city of South France, on the Gulf of Lions, one of the two great ports (the other is Genoa) on the Mediterranean Sea.
[43] Native of Corsica (Kōr´si-ka), large French island, 110 miles south of the coast of France. The chief town is Ajaccio, in which Napoleon's birthplace is still shown.
[44] Too-lon´. French naval port, 42 miles east of Marseilles.
[45] German town on the left bank of the Saale, 14 miles E.S.E. of Weimar.
[46] Nē'men, river rising in the Russian government of Minsk, and flowing to the Baltic Sea in East Prussia.
[47] Boo-lō'ny, town on the English Channel, connected with Folkestone by a daily cross-Channel service.
[48] Old capital of Russia, on the Moskva, a tributary of the Oka, 390 miles south-east of Petrograd. Its huge citadel is called the Kremlin.
[49] People living in the south and east of Russia who give military service to the Czar in return for the lands on which they live. They are very fierce and warlike, and are the best light cavalry in the Russian army.
[50] Byer-ye-zē´na, tributary of the Dnieper, in the Minsk government of Russia.
[51] Met´ter-nich, chief minister of Austria from 1809 to 1848.
[52] Blūch´er, field-marshal of Prussia; a very warlike, upright, and loyal man, but no great general. He hated Napoleon.
[53] Village, Prussia, 12 miles south of Berlin.
[54] Capital of the kingdom of Saxony, on the Elbe; a great centre of art and learning. It has given its name to a kind of porcelain.
[55] Small island (area 86 square miles) off west coast of Italy.
[56] Kā-tr'brā', village, 19 miles south-east of Brussels. It stands at cross-roads, whence its name (four arms).
[57] Lē'ny, village, 25 miles south-east of Brussels.
[58] Village in Belgium, 11 miles south of Brussels.
[59] Island of the South Atlantic Ocean; area, 47 square miles. Napoleon was kept prisoner at Longwood.
[60] Zoi´der, means south.
[61] Cape of south-west Spain, at the entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar, memorable for Nelson's victory over the combined fleets of France and Spain (Oct. 21, 1805).
[62] German word meaning alliance or league.
[63] Sax´ony, kingdom of South Germany, north of Bohemia. It is divided into two halves by the river Elbe.
[64] Vür´tem-berg, kingdom of the German Empire, to the west of Bavaria. It is drained for the most part by the river Neckar (tributary of the Rhine) and its tributaries.
[65] Ba-vā´ria, kingdom of the German Empire, to the west and south-west of Bohemia. It still has its own king, and is the most independent part of the German Empire.
[66] An assembly for making laws.
[67] Frank´fort, a city of Prussia, in the province of Hesse-Nassau, on the river Main, 22 miles above its junction with the Rhine. The German Diet met here from 1816 to 1866.
[68] Succeeded to the throne on the death of his father in 1840. He was born in 1795, and died in 1861.
[69] The famous hero in Swiss legend who refused to reverence the ducal hat of Austria, set up in 1307 at Altorf, and shot the apple off his son's head. He afterwards led the successful revolt against Austria.
[70] Prussian statesman, born at Nassau in 1757; died in 1831.
[71] Born 1803, died 1879. In 1859 he was appointed Prussian Minister of War.
[72] Molt´ka, born 1800, died 1891.
[73] In Continental countries the "great general staff" consists of a body of officers, who form the thinking and directing head of the army.
[74] These duchies now form one Prussian province between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Through the province runs the Kaiser Wilhelm or Kiel Canal, which enables ships to pass from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea without rounding Denmark.
[76] French order of merit founded by Napoleon in 1802. The emblem of the order is a five-rayed star of white enamel edged with gold, bearing on one side the image of the republic, with the inscription, République Française, and on the other side two flags, with the motto, Honneur et Patrie. It is crowned by a wreath of oak and laurel, and is hung from a red ribbon.
[77] Bo-hē´mi-a, a kingdom in the north-west of the Austrian Empire. It is almost square in shape, and is shut in by lofty mountains. It is mainly drained by the Moldau, a tributary of the Elbe.
[78] Sā´do-wa, village in Bohemia, 8 miles north-west of Königgrätz (on the Elbe).
[79] Ker´nig-grāts, town of Bohemia, on the Elbe, 65 miles east of Prague, the capital.
[80] Son of the Emperor William I., born at Potsdam in 1831, and on the death of his father in 1888 became the Emperor Frederick III.
[81] Kēl, seaport of Prussia, on a bay in the Baltic, near the Baltic end of the great Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, and 70 miles by rail north of Hamburg. It is the chief naval station of the German Empire.
[82] Con´cord, peace and goodwill.
[83] Shans-e-lees-ay, the Elysian fields; amongst the Greeks the abode of the blessed after death.
[84] Mad´lenn, in honour of Mary Magdalene.
[85] Tweel´ree.
[86] Ghee-nyol.
[87] Gil´o-tēn, the beheading instrument, so called from its inventor, Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814).
[88] Lē´ong, city of France, at the confluence of the Saône and the Rhone; the great centre of French silk manufacture.
[89] Fortified town of France, near the Belgian frontier, 66 miles south-east of Calais. It is noted for the manufacture of linen, cotton, velvet, and woollen goods.
[90] Roo-ong´, chief cotton port of France, on the Seine, 87 miles by rail north-west of Paris.
[91] Bor-do´, port of France, on the Gironde, 60 miles from the sea; the great wine-exporting port.
[92] River of Germany, tributary of the Rhine, which it enters at Mainz.
[93] (1808-73). Son of Louis Napoleon, brother of Napoleon I. He was elected President of the French Republic in 1848, and on December 2, 1852, after he had overthrown the Government by armed force, was proclaimed emperor as Napoleon III.
[94] Krī´me-a, peninsula of Southern Russia, in which the British, French, and Turks fought the Russians (1854-6).
[95] Watering-place of Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, 11 miles by rail east of Coblenz (at the confluence of the Rhine and its tributary the Moselle).
[96] Called the mitrailleuse (me-trah-yuse).
[97] Fortified town of Lorraine, on the Moselle.
[98] Body of troops kept in hand to be called up when needed.
[99] That branch of the army which handles the big guns.
[100] Horse soldiers armed with sabres, carbines, and sometimes lances.
[101] Brūzh, 63 miles north-west of Brussels, 8 miles inland from the North Sea, with which it is connected by two canals. From the 12th to the 16th century Bruges was the largest business city of Northern Europe. It is now a quiet, quaint old city, with many ancient and interesting buildings.
[102] Sound the g hard; 32 miles north-west of Brussels, on the rivers Scheldt and Lys (leese). It is divided by canals into some forty islands, and has over two hundred bridges. Though it is now a manufacturing place, it preserves its ancient appearance, and is a most interesting city.
[103] Ep´r´, 32 miles by rail south-south-west of Bruges. Its Cloth Hall and St. Martin's Church date from the thirteenth century.
[104] Skelt, rises in department Aisne, France, and enters the North Sea by two main channels formed by islands, the outermost of which is Walcheren. Length, 250 miles, 210 of which are navigable.
[105] Rises in the French department of Pas de Calais, and flows north-east through Belgium, to join the Scheldt at Ghent.
[106] Rises in French department of Haute Marne, flows mainly north-east, north, north-west, and west for 500 miles. In Holland it joins the left arm of the Rhine. The river is navigable from the sea to Verdun, some 135 miles from its source.
[107] Town on right bank of the Meuse, 17 miles by rail south by east of Namur. In the fifteenth century it was a busy manufacturing town, but prior to the war was a quiet tourist resort. The citadel stands on a cliff 300 feet above the river.
[108] Na-mur´, strongly fortified town, at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse. The citadel stands on a height in the angle between the rivers, and the place was, before the war, encircled by nine forts on high ground, from 3 to 5 miles apart.
[109] Sān'br´, tributary of the Meuse. It rises in French department of Aisne, and becomes navigable 19 miles from its source.
[110] Le-āzh´, 50 miles east by south of Brussels.
[111] Ar-den´, wooded hill region between the Meuse and the Moselle; general elevation, 1,800 feet.
[112] State of taking no part on either of two sides. Belgium, by treaty, must never take sides in any war that is waged, and the Great Powers guarantee that she shall not be conquered. She can, of course, resist an invader.
[113] Independent Grand Duchy (area 997 sq. m.) between France, Belgium, and Germany. It forms a low plateau, and is drained by the Moselle and its tributary the Sauer. Mining and iron smelting are the chief occupations of the people.
[114] Vōzh. You will see their position on the map. The highest point (4,680 ft.) is at the south end. The western slopes of the mountains are thickly wooded, and the valleys give pasturage to many cattle.
[115] Bāl, largest and richest town of Switzerland, on the north bank of the Rhine, where it sweeps eastward.
[116] Lor-rān´, āl-säs´.
[117] Say.
[118] Born 1856; died 1879. After 1870 he lived with his mother at Chislehurst in Kent, and entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
[119] Zar´brūk-en, on left bank of Saar, 38 miles east of Metz, in a coal-mining district.
[120] Vīs´en-boorg, 33 miles north-east of Strassburg.
[121] Born 1808; died 1893. He was made duke and field-marshal after saving the day at Magenta (see p. 88).
[122] Vaert, village, 12 miles south of Weissenburg.
[123] From Algeria (Al-jē´ri-a), African colony of France fronting the Mediterranean Sea, inhabited chiefly by Moors.
[124] Fross-ar, born 1807; died 1875. He had been a colonel in the Crimean War.
[125] Stīn´mets, born 1796; died 1877. Was in command of the Prussian army which gained victories over the Austrians in 1866.
[126] Baz-ane´, born 1811; died 1888. Marshal of France; previously saw service in Algeria, Spain, Italy, Morocco, the Crimea and Mexico. In 1873 he was denounced as a traitor and sentenced to death, but let off with twenty years' imprisonment. In August 1874 he escaped to Madrid, where he died.
[127] Sha-lon, on the Marne, 92 miles east of Paris. The camp (45 sq. m.) is 12 miles north of the town.
[128] Called by the French the battle of Borny; village 2½ miles from Metz.
[129] Vār-dun´, town and fortress of France on right bank of the Meuse; 35 miles by rail west of Metz.
[130] Grav´lot.
[131] Reh-zon-veel´.
[132] Nine miles north-west of Metz.
[133] One of the seven archangels, considered to be the guardian of Israel.
[134] Seh-don´.
[135] Gee-von´.
[136] Vār-sa´y´, French town, 11 miles south-west of Paris, containing a famous palace of Louis XIV., said to have cost £40,000,000.
[137] Jofr, born 1852.
[138] Born 1850.
[139] Mah´di, false prophet of the Mohammedans, who preached a holy war in the Sudan, that part of Africa south of Egypt and the Sahara. He was conquered by a British and Egyptian force at Omdurman in 1885.
[140] Dō-dā´, born 1840, died 1897, one of the greatest French novelists of the later nineteenth century. He has been compared, not unjustly, with Dickens.
[141] Children, Cooking, Church.
[143] Lē´ber, dear.
[146] Boo´d´ha, the founder of a religion largely professed in Tibet, parts of N. India, Ceylon, Burma, China, and Japan.
[147] The danger arising from the growing power of the Yellow peoples, chiefly the Chinese and Japanese.
[148] Land´vair.
[149] The Sultan of Turkey is the religious head of Mohammedans throughout the world.
[150] Kō´ni-ā, town, Asia Minor, about 300 m. east of Smyrna.
[151] Town of Mesopotamia, on the Tigris.
[152] Town on the Shat-el-Arab, 70 m. from the Persian Gulf.
[153] So called from the colour of its cover. It contains State documents explaining how the war arose.
[154] Country of N. Africa. In 1911 the Germans made a treaty with France, by which they agreed to let the French rule Morocco as a protectorate in return for territory in the French Congo.
[155] Born 1875, nephew of Leopold, King of the Belgians, whom he succeeded in 1909. He is a student, has travelled widely, and is greatly interested in improving the lot of his people. He is very popular with all classes of his subjects. The Socialists, of whom there are many in Belgium, say that when Belgium becomes a republic Albert will be their first president. His wife, Elizabeth, is a princess of Bavaria; she has qualified as an oculist.
[156] Since the war began its name has been changed to Petrograd.
[157] Born 1862. He was Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 1892 to 1895, and became Foreign Secretary in Dec. 1905.
[159] Herr von Jagow (Ya-go), born 1863. He is a close personal friend of the Kaiser's, and has been the German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs since 1913.
[161] Bethmann-Hollweg (Betman-Holvech), born 1856. He has been Chancellor—that is, chief minister of the German Empire—since 1909.
[162] Born 1847. In 1905 he became ambassador at Vienna, but was transferred to Berlin in 1908.
[163] France has colonies in Asia, Australasia, Africa, and certain islands of America, comprising in all an area of more than 4½ million square miles, with an estimated population of 41 millions.
[165] The rate which the Bank of England charges for giving ready money for a legal promise to pay money at a future date. The rise of the bank rate shows that money is scarce; its fall, that money is plentiful.
[166] Sailors who have left the Navy, but must return to it when required to do so.
[167] The Territorials are citizen soldiers from 17 to 35 years of age, who enlist for four years, and may be required to serve in any part of the United Kingdom, but not out of it without their own consent. They must put in a certain number of drills each year, and attend an annual camp. At the outbreak of war they numbered about 250,000.
[168] Lon-wee´, fortified town of France on the Belgian border, called by Louis the Fourteenth the "iron gate of France."
[169] See-ra-lay-Forge, manufacturing town in France, 33 miles east of Nancy.
[170] In the House of Commons the party or parties which support the Government sit on the Speaker's right; the party or parties which oppose the Government sit on the Speaker's left.
[171] Those Irishmen who desire Home Rule for Ireland.
[172] Residence of the German Ambassador in London. It was in Carlton House Terrace.
[173] Born 1859. He has been in the Navy since 1872, and has seen service in Egypt, and in China where he was wounded. When called to take chief command of the Fleet he was Second Sea Lord at the Admiralty, the headquarters of the Navy in Whitehall, London.
[175] Destroyers are fast warships, smaller than cruisers, and are meant to act against torpedo boats of the enemy. They also engage in scouting and patrol work. Some of them have a speed of more than 40 knots, and carry 105 men. All are armed with quick-firing guns and torpedoes.
[176] War vessels built mainly for speed. They were originally used for scouting, but nowadays they are little inferior in strength and gun power to battleships. A battle cruiser is really a battleship with high speed. The Lion, for example, has a tonnage of 26,350 tons, and steams over 30 miles an hour. She carries eight 13.5-inch guns, and sixteen 4-inch guns. The Lion, the Tiger, the Queen Mary, and the Princess Royal are the most powerful battle cruisers in existence.
[177] Am-fī´on.
[179] Quoted from "First Lessons in War," by Spenser Wilkinson.
[180] Born 1761, died 1842. He invented shrapnel in 1787, and it was first employed by the British in 1804. Some of our victories in the Peninsular War were largely won by means of it, and it played an important part in the battle of Waterloo. The Prussians first used it in 1864.
[181] Millimetre. A millimetre is 1/1000 of a metre (3-1/3 ft.). Seventy-five millimetres is about three inches. This is the bore or calibre of the gun.
[182] Apparatus for signalling by flashing the sun's rays.
[184] The Austrian Switzerland, north of Italy and east of Switzerland. Its capital is Innsbrück, on the Inn.
[185] Belgian West Africa, mainly drained by the Congo and covering an area of some 800,000 square miles. It was explored by H. M. Stanley on behalf of Leopold, King of the Belgians, and became his property with the consent of the Great Powers. In 1889 Leopold bequeathed it to Belgium, and it was taken over by that country in 1908.
[186] Brē-äl-mon´, Henry Alexis, Belgian military engineer; born 1821, died 1903. The works which he planned along the Meuse were completed after his death.
[187] Āks-la-shä-pel´, or Äch´en, ancient city of Prussia, formerly the capital of Charlemagne, forty miles west-south-west of Cologne.
[188] Mal-may-de.
[189] Stä´ve-lot.
[190] Vār-vi-ā´.
[191] Vee-zā´.
[192] River of Belgium; after a north and west course of fifty miles joins the Nethe to form the Rupel, four miles north-west of Malines.
[193] Citizen soldiers for the defence of a town.
[194] Lay-man, born 1852; one of Belgium's most scientific soldiers.
[195] Flair-on.
[196] Shōd-fon-taine, means warm spring.
[197] French for behold!
[198] Born 1848; said to have been killed in a subsequent action.
[200] Under the will of Cecil Rhodes, a former Premier of Cape Colony, a sum of money was set aside to send colonial students to the University of Oxford. In addition, Oxford scholarships were founded for two students from each of the states of the United States and for fifteen students from Germany. The students were not to be merely bookworms, but clever youths, manly, truthful, upright, and successful in outdoor sports.
[201] On active service soldiers are supplied with compressed food which they may only eat when they cannot otherwise obtain supplies. In the British army the emergency ration is kept in a small sealed tin cylinder about five inches long. It consists of a cake of beef and a tablet of cocoa paste.
[203] German Lancers. The name comes from a Polish word derived from the Turkish.
[204] Seaport and first-class fortress, capital of province of West Prussia, 3 miles from the Baltic Sea and 285 miles by rail north-east of Berlin.
[205] So called from the cross which the Crusaders wore when they set out to free the Holy Land from the infidel. The First Crusade was preached in 1095, and lasted from 1096 to 1099.
[206] Ruled over Hungary, with his capital at Budapest. Became King of the Huns, 434 A.D.; died of intemperance, 453.
[207] An idyll is a story poem. The king is Arthur, who "in twelve great battles overcame the heathen hordes, and made a realm and reigned."
[208] Born 1478, died 1535; became Lord Chancellor of England. Was beheaded by Henry VIII.
[209] Means "Nowhere" (written 1516).
[210] Born 1466, died 1536; a native of Antwerp, and the greatest scholar and critic of his age.
[211] Born 1466, died 1530. His best pictures are in Antwerp.
[212] Fought in Germany between 1618 and 1648.
[213] The chief officer of a Dutch or Belgian town; the mayor.
[214] Go-b'lan´, so called from Gilles Gobelin, a famous tapestry maker of Paris in the fifteenth century.
[215] Sir Anthony Van Dyck, born 1599, died 1641. Many of his best portraits are to be found in private galleries in England.
[216] Peter Paul Rubens, born 1577, died 1640; the greatest painter of the Flemish school.
[217] The home of the Army Council and of the Headquarters Staff in Whitehall, London. The Army Council completely controls the army. At the head of it is the Secretary of State for War, who is a member of one of the Houses of Parliament and of the Cabinet.
[218] So called because raised by Lord Strathcona (1820-1914) who rose from a clerk in the Hudson Bay Company to be head of the company and High Commissioner for Canada. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway was almost entirely due to him.
[219] City of Saskatchewan, Canada; 400 miles west of Winnipeg, on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
[220] Chief city and commercial capital of Canada, on the St. Lawrence, Province of Quebec.
[221] Town, Canada, Province of Alberta; on the Canadian Pacific Railway, 2,262 miles west of Montreal.
[222] Capital of Ontario, Canada; second city of the Dominion; on north-west shore of Lake Ontario.
[223] Town, 60 miles south-west of Toronto.
[224] An over-great love of war.
[225] Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, born 1874, First Lord of the Admiralty since 1911. He first became a minister in 1906.
[226] Val-kar-tyā´.
[227] Capital of Province of Quebec, on north bank of St. Lawrence, 145 miles north-east of Montreal.
[228] Parish priest.
[229] James Wolfe (1727-59) defeated the French on the Heights of Abraham, to the west of Quebec, and by this victory won Canada for the British. He is referred to in the first verse of "The Maple Leaf," Canada's national song, which runs as follows:—
[230] Opposite to Quebec, on the other side of the river.
[231] To the east of Point Levis.
[232] Seaman of Devonshire, a relation of Sir Walter Raleigh, whom he assisted in founding Virginia. In 1591 he engaged a whole Spanish fleet with his single ship the Revenge, and was fatally wounded in the fight.
[233] Cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh. He took possession of Newfoundland (1583), but went down in the Golden Hind on the return voyage.
[234] Served under Drake, and fought against the Spanish Armada. Perished in the Arctic Ocean, 1594.
[235] Francis Drake (1540-1596), the greatest of English admirals, the first Englishman to sail round the world (1577-1580). He singed the King of Spain's beard in 1587, and fought against the Spanish Armada (1588).
[236] Group of twenty coral islands in the Indian Ocean, 700 miles south-west of Sumatra. They produce cocoanuts.
[237] German protectorate on the east coast of the Chinese province of Shantung. It was seized from China in 1897. The port is Tsing-tau. The Japanese first attacked this place on August 23, and declared that at the end of the war they would give it up to China.
[238] Largest city of New Zealand, in a fine harbour in the north of North Island.
[239] Tall, brown-skinned natives of New Zealand. They are a clever, cheerful race, very fond of games, riding, and feasting. Some of them visited this country in 1889, as members of a New Zealand football team.
[240] Louis Botha, born 1863, first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.
[241] Dutch farmers of what was formerly the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State.
[242] On August 7, 1914, the Prince of Wales founded a National Fund to relieve distress brought about by the war. He was its first treasurer, and he generously offered to pay the whole cost incurred in working the fund. Early in December 1914 it had reached £4,000,000.
[243] Close them up in ranks. The verses are adapted from W. E. Henley's "A New Song to an Old Tune."
[244] The Land of the Five Rivers, on the north-west frontier of India.
[245] Independent state of India, on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. It includes Mount Everest, the highest mountain of the world.
[246] Members of a secret society in China with the cry, "China for the Chinese." The German minister at Peking was murdered, and foreigners were besieged, and an expedition, in which British, French, Germans, Russians, Americans, and Japanese took part, relieved them (August 1900). China was forced to pay 64 millions of money.
[247] Native state of Madras, India; about as large as Scotland.
[248] Native state of Central India; nearly twice as large as Wales.
[249] Part of the Indian Empire, to the south of Afghanistan.
[250] The high priest and ruler of Tibet, and the head of the religion known as Lamaism. He lives at Lhassa, the capital of Tibet, a country of Central Asia north of the Himalayas.
[251] Aga Sultan Mohammed Shah, born 1875. He is a man of lofty character and great influence. He attended the coronation of Edward VII. as a guest of the nation.
[252] Ruler of Kashmir, the most northerly state of India.
[253] Both these generals were born in 1846.
[254] Surround them with troops, and thus form a screen behind which other troops can advance to engage the enemy.
[255] Province of Belgium, between the Meuse and the Scheldt, with Brussels as its chief town.
[256] Born 1713, died 1768. "Tristram Shandy" fills out nine volumes.
[257] Besieged in 1695.
[258] John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, born 1650, died 1722, was one of the most brilliant of British soldiers. He was sent to Flanders to protect Holland against French invasion, and in 1702-3 seized the line of the Meuse. Afterwards he joined Prince Eugène on the Danube, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Franco-Bavarian armies at Blenheim, 1705.
[259] Born 1811, died 1863. "Vanity Fair" and "Esmond" are his two greatest novels.
[260] Born 1816, died 1855. Her other great novel is "Jane Eyre."
[261] Flam´-bō, flaming torches.
[262] A disguise for the face worn during revels.
[263] "The Watch on the Rhine."
[264] It was written by Hoffmann von Fallenleben at Heligoland in 1841. There is a monument to the composer in Heligoland.
[265] German name for the Niemen.
[266] Tributary of the Po, North Italy. The sea is the Baltic.
[267] Sovereign duchy of the German Empire, chiefly surrounded by the provinces of Hanover, Saxony, and Westphalia.
[268] Named after the Prussian general Zieten (tsĕt'en), who gained great renown in the wars of Frederick the Great.
[269] Persons left with the enemy as pledges that certain conditions will be fulfilled.
[270] Rex et Imperator, Latin for "King and Emperor." Our King is also Emperor of India.
[271] The English come.
[272] Born 1852.
[273] Governor of the Sudan. He defended Khartum, at the junction of the Blue and White Niles, for several months against the followers of the Mahdi, and was killed by them two days before the relieving force came in sight of Khartum (1885).
[274] Town of Natal, on the Klip River; besieged by the Boers from November 2, 1899, to February 25, 1900.
[275] Diamond-mining centre of British South Africa, 646 miles by rail north-east of Cape Town. It was besieged by the Boers from October 15, 1899, to February 16, 1900.
[276] Thirty miles south-east of Kimberley, on the Modder River. The Boer leader Cronje was here forced to surrender with 4,000 men, February 27, 1900.
[277] Capital of the Transvaal. It surrendered to Lord Roberts on June 5, 1900.