indigested matter, flat and insipid, and will neither profit nor delight in reading; it is time and place that give life as well as beauty.

6. Nothing, perhaps, is more delightful or instructive to the young mind than the reading of select voyages and travels; but nothing more prejudicial than an indiscriminate perusal of them.* Voyages and travels form a most entertaining and important branch of study, whether we consider them as comprehending a description of foreign countries; as displaying the wonders of nature in remote regions;-as tracing the intellectual character, and marking the variation of customs and the shades of national manners ;—as describing the productions of art, and comparing the progressive improvements of mankind,-or as delineating the physical characters of the habitable globe, and displaying the various states of civilization and barbarism. These are among the pleasing benefits which belong to the -perusal of the works of travellers. We gather all their fruit, and incur none of their hazard: we feast upon the viands which they prepare, but know only, in description, the perils they have encountered in procuring them. This happy and peculiar privilege has been thus poetically dwelt upon by Cowper:

He travels and expatiates, as the bee

From flow'r to flow'r, so he from land to land;
The manners, customs, policy of all,

Pay contribution to the store he gleans;

He sucks intelligence in every clime,
And spreads the honey of his deep research
At his return-a rich repast for me.
He travels, and I too. I tread his deck,
Ascend his topmast, through his peering eyes
Discover countries, with a kindred heart
Suffer his woes, and share in his escapes;
While fancy, like the finger of a clock,
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.

CHAP. II.-GEOGRAPHICAL DEFINITIONS.

IN order to represent the surface of the earth, we make use of a machine, (which is called an artificial globe,) and

* The reader will find full, but select, lists of voyages and travels at the conclusion of the next chapter, and at the end of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.

of engraven charts or maps; on both of which are exhibited the boundaries, divisions, rivers, &c. of the countries thereon delineated.

Those charts which represent the whole of our earth, are called maps of the world. Such, as delineate either one of the four quarters of the world or entire states, are denominated general maps: while those which exhibit a province, department, or country in any particular state, are termed chorographical maps. Such as delineate waters, or any part of the sea, for instance, are called hydrographic charts.

It may be observed that, in maps, the north is usually at the top, the east on the right hand of the student, the west at his left, and the south at the bottom of the map.

The different points of the horizon, whence the wind blows, are denominated points of the compass. Of these there are thirty-two: the principal, or four cardinal points, are, the north, east, south, and west; between these are the north-east, south-east, north-west, and south-west.

The surface of the terrestrial globe is divided into con tinents, islands, peninsulas, capes, mountains, &c. The waters are divided into different seas, gulfs, lakes, rivers, &c.

A continent is a large portion of land, comprising several regions, countries, or states: it is also called terra firma. There are two vast continents, the old, which is still called the old world, and the new, styled the new world: the former includes Europe, Asia, and Africa;—the latter contains America. The continent, least known to us, lies to the south-east of Asia, and is designated Australasia, (i. e. the southern lands:) it is more frequently known by the name of New Holland.

Islands are portions of land entirely surrounded by water; such, for instance, are Great Britain, Ireland, &c. Peninsulas are portions of continent, projecting into the sea, and surrounded on three sides by the ocean.

Such is

Africa, the largest peninsula in the known world. An isthmus is a narrow neck of land between two seas, and which unites more considerable countries together. Such are the isthmus of Suez, which connects Africa and Asia, and that of Darien, which unites North and South America. Coasts are those parts of the land, which are contiguous to, or washed by the sea. A promontory is an elevated point

of land, projecting into the sea; the extremity of which, towards the sea, is called a cape, or head-land. Such is the Cape of Good Hope at the southern extremity of Africa. Mountains are eminences of land, greatly elevated above the surrounding earth. Sometimes they are hollow, and emit fire, in which case they are termed volcanos. Of this description are mount Vesuvius, in the kingdom of Naples, and Etna in Sicily.

An ocean is a vast mass of salt water, which encompasses all parts of the globe; and by means of which, from the present improved state of navigation, an easy intercourse subsists between places and countries the most distant. There are three grand divisions of the ocean, viz. 1. The Atlantic, which divides Europe and Africa from America. 2. The Pacific Ocean, or the South Sea, which separates America from Asia. And 3. the Indian Ocean, by which the East Indies are divided from Africa.

A sea is a large body of water, almost surrounded by land, as the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas, but which also communicate with the ocean by means of straits. A gulf is an arm or part of the sea, which advances into the land, as the Gulf of Bothnia, or of Mexico; a gulf is more extensive than a bay; a bay than a creek, and a creek than a port. A strait is an arm of the sea, which runs between two countries that lie near to each other, and by which two seas communicate. Such are the Straits of Dover. A lake is a body of water, of greater or less extent, entirely surrounded by land, and having no apparent communication with the sea. Thus, in England, we have the lakes of Derwentwater, Windermere, Keswick, &c. Rivers are bodies of fresh water, deriving their sources from springs, and discharging themselves either into lakes or seas.

The world is divided into four unequal parts or quarters, which are known by the names of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; the three former of these divisions only were known to the antients, whence they are frequently called the old world. America was not discovered till the year 1492; and, on account of our recently acquired knowledge of this quarter of the globe, it is frequently called the new world.

Select Collections of Voyages and Travels,

Dampier's Collection, 4 vols. 8vo, Harris' Collection, 2 vols. fol. Maver's Voyages and Travels, 28 vols, 18mo. from the discovery of America to the time of Lord Valentia ;-any volume of which may be had separately. Collection of Modern and Contemporary Voyages and Travels, 11 vols. 8vo. Pinkerton's General Collection of Voyages and Travels, 4to. will be the most extensive when completed.

Select Voyages to the South Pole and round the World.

Hawkesworth's Account of Voyages in the Southern Hemisphere, with Cook's Voyages, and Parkinson's Journal, 10 vols. 4to. or Kippis' Life of Cook, 4to. an abstract of the Voyages, and Burney's History of Discoveries in the South Seas, 2 vols. 4to. Cook's Voyages, 7 vols. 18mo, printed verbatim from the 4to. edition, or abridg ed by Mavor, 2 vols. Bligh's Voyage, 4to. Dixon's Voyage, 4to. Perouse's Voyage, 3 vols, 8vo. Vancouver's, 6 vols. 8vo. Missionary Voyage, 4to.

CHAP. III.-EUROPE.

EUROPE is the smallest of the three divisions of the old world; but it is the most populous, and opulent, as well as the most flourishing, in consequence of the genius and industry of its inhabitants. From the Portugueze Cape (styled by our mariners the rock of Lisbon) in the west, to the Uralian Mountains in the east, it is about 3,300 British miles in length: and, from Cape Nord (in Danish Lapland) to Cape Matapan (the southern extremity of Greece,) its breadth may be about 2,350 miles. It is timated by Mr. Pinkerton to contain about 2,500,000 square miles.

Boundaries.] On the north, Europe is bounded by the Frozen Ocean; on the west, by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south, by the Mediterranean Sea; on the east by the continent of Asia.

Divisions.] Europe is divided into several kingdoms and states, which may be thus arranged.

I. NORTHERN STATES. Russia, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

II. CENTRAL STATES. Prussia, Poland, Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, France, Switzerland, Belgium or the

United Provinces (as they were formerly called ;) but which, together with the Netherlands are now united to France; and the British Islands.

Ill. SOUTHERN STATES. Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Turkey (in Europe.)

Mountains.] The principal mountains of Europe are, the Krapac, or Carpathian mountains between Poland and Hungary; the Alps, which separate France, Switzerland, and Italy; the Appennines in Italy; the Pyrenees between France and Spain; and the extensive chain, called Daarafield, or Dofre field, that separates Norway from Sweden.

Peninsulas.] In the north are, Sweden and Norway, and part of Denmark, called Jutland. In the south, are Spain and Portugal, Italy, and the Morea (antiently called Peloponnesus); in the south of Greece: and in the east, the Crimea, which forms part of Little Tartary.

Capes.] The principal Capes of Europe are, Cape North, or the North of Lapland,-Cape Finisterre, on the north-west of Spain,-Cape St. Vincent, on the south-west of Portugal,-and Cape Matapan, on the south of the Morea.

Islands.] The principal Islands. of Europe are,

1. In the Atlantic Ocean, the British Isles, comprising Great Britain and Ireland, the Western Islands which lie on the west, and the Orkney Islands, which are situated on the north of Britain. To these may be added Iceland, which lies in the first meridian, and is almost under the polar circle.

2. In the Mediterranean Sea, Ivica, Majorca, and Minorca, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Candia, and the islands of the Archipelago.

Gulfs and Inland Seas.] In the NORTHERN PARTS of Europe we meet with the Icy Sea or Frozen Ocean, and with the White Sea, which last forms a gulf in the North of Russia; the Baltic Sea between Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Prussia ;-the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain.

In the NORTH EASTERN PARTS of Europe are the Euxine or Black Sea, and the sea of Azof, between Europe and Asia; and in the SOUTH of Europe the Mediterranean Sea presents itself, forming numerous gulfs; as, the Gulf of Venice, or Adriatic Sea, between Italy and Turkey; and