WEDNESDAY

the first day of | po t, so named from the custom in the | ne aes jan Church of placing ashes on | raj as an expre ion of humility and | ab tance, a custom derived from the /} thi s. The custom still holds in the} Eg nan Catholic Church. In the Church | ca Bogland, the Commination Service) al: pointed to be read as a solemn warning inst impenitent sinners, fit SIA, the largest of the continents, has | At area of u7t million eee miles, or | elc tly one-third of the land surface of the | Pe. It is joined to Europe and Africa, | me approaches within 36 miles of America. | So s the home of tie oldest civilisations | Ar the cradle of the great religions of the | int id. It has the largest population, | do mated at $50 millions, and the greatest | th ety of races and langaazes of all the;. fnents. Asia is a continent of con- | br: ts. It contains the highest plateaux | ca: mountains in the world, and the/ wo yest depre ions, Stretching beyond | the Arctic Circle in the north, it almost | 99 thes the Equator in cp a and Me po e es every varict: climate | fro productions. Near vaerhracele in | ph h-eastern Siberia, is the pole of | pre test cold, the average temperature | pai he year being 30° below freezing point. | car 8 of the continent are rainleas, whilst | for strict north of the ve Bengal has; erage rainfall exceeding 600 inches. 1 [s. 54]