Aborigines.-Amazonia and Patagonia.

The total population of South America is, by some, calculated to be about thirteen millions, though others suppose the number of its inhabitants to be considerably greater.

Magnitude of our Globe.

It is by no means an easy task to ascertain the exact size of the earth: It is true' (as an able writer has observed*) 'there is but one longitude; but there are two latitudes, the north and the south. Both of these begin at the equator; the one extends northward, the other southward, as far as the arctic and antarctic Poles. But, no one has yet been able to reach either Pole. The mountains of ice in Greenland, and the Northern Sea, have always obstructed the passage to the North Pole: and immense fields, mountains, and islands of ice, have rendered the passage to the South Pole impossible. Thanks, however, to the geometricians, we can at present know very nearly the size of our globe. According to the most exact calculations, the surface of the earth is 199,512,595 square miles. The seas and unknown parts of the earth, by a measurement of the best maps, contain 160,522,026 square miles. The inhabited parts contain about 38,990,569 square miles, in the following proportion:

Hence it appears, that scarcely one-third of the globe is habitable.

It has been calculated, that there might be at least three thousand millions of men upon the earth at once; but in reality there

• Mr. Sturm.---See his excellent Reflections on the Works of God in Nature and Providence, for every Day in the Year,' vol. ii. p. 34. (Dr. Clarke's corrected edition.) To be bad of the Publisher of this Work in Numbers.

are no more than about a thousand and eighty millions; of which

If then, we suppose the earth to be inhabited by one thousand millions of men, or thereabouts; and that 33 years make a geneit follows that in this space of time, a thousand millions Therefore the number of men who die on the earth

ration; of men die. amounts

This calculation is very striking. If the mortality be so great each year, and even each day; is it not very possible that at this very moment, one of our fellow-creatures may have departed from this world and before an hour has elapsed, more than 3000 souls shall have entered into eternity; What a motive to induce us to think often and seriously upon death!

:

Prodigiously great as the earth may appear; it dwindles almost into nothing, when compared with the other worlds which roll over our head. The earth is scarcely, when compared with the universe, what a grain of sand is when compared with the highest mountain. And, what is the universe, when compared to the inexpressibly glorious and infinitely great Creator of the heavens and the earth? The world and all its inhabitants are before HIм as a drop in the bucket, or as the smallest atom which sports in the sunbeams!

BRITISH DOMINIONS.

The British Dominions formerly comprised Normandy, Guienne, and several other provinces of France;* of which the Norman isles now only continue in possession of the sovereigns of Britain. They may be classed as follows:

I. In Europe. England, Wales, and Scotland, which form the island of Great Britain, the largest of all the European islands ;-Ireland, the isles of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, (usually denominated the Norman isles,) Wight, Scilly,

Before this part of our work has been published, perhaps, Bayonne may be subject to England; she has already possessions in France, gained by the brilliant achievements of a WELL NGTON and a HILL.

and Man;-In Spain, Gibraltar, and the island of Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea.

II. In Asia. Before the treaty concluded with the sultan Tippoo Saib, in 1792, the British Dominions in Asia, were computed to contain nearly 198,000 square miles, and about ten millions of inhabitants. Considerable accessions of territory, and consequently of population, have been made since that time but the whole now consist of the three governments of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay: to these may be added Java and its numerous dependencies.

e;

III. In Africa. The settlements of Sierra Leone and Fort James, on the coast of Guinea, the cape of Good Hope, the island of St. Helena, and the isles of France and Bourbon.

IV. In America. The different countries already enumerated in page 299, to which may be added, the islands of Jamaica, Barbadoes, St. Christopher, Antigua, Nevis, and Montserrat, Dominica, Martinico, St. Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines, the Bahama Islands, the Bermudas, or Summer Islands, &c. &c. in the West Indies.

On the coast of New Holland, Britain has the settlement of Botany Bay, whose chief place is Sydney, and Norfolk island, lying in the Great South Pacific Ocean.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The island of Great Britain is the largest of the European islands; it extends from fifty to nearly 59 degrees of north latitude; and, consequently, is about 500 geographical miles in length. Its greatest breadth from the Laud's End to the North Foreland in Kent, is 320 geographical miles. In British miles, the length may be computed at 580, and the breadth at 370 miles.

ENGLAND.

Boundaries, Climate, &c.

The southern, most opulent, and most important division of Britain, was anciently called Britannia by the Romans; but ever since the eighth century, it has been known by the name of Anglia, or England; which originated from the Angles, who then occupied the country, now known by the name of Jutland; and whose aid having been invoked by the aboriginal inhabitants, in order to protect them from the incursions of their foes, the Angles conquered a considerable portion of the country.

Boundaries. England is bounded on the North by Scotland; -on the south, by the British Channel; -on the east, by the

GEOGRAPHY.

German Ocean ;-and on the west, by St. George's, or the Irish Channel.

Climate and soil. Notwithstanding its northerly situation, and the frequent prevalence of fogs and rains, England enjoys a salubrious and temperate climate, and its soil is remarkably fer

tile.

Rivers. The principal rivers in England, are the Thames, the Severn, the Medway, the Humber, the Trent, the Ouse, the Avon, the Ribble, Mersey, the Tyne, and the Tweed.

I. The Thames takes its rise in Gloucestershire, under the name of the Isis: after receiving the Thame near Oxford, it is thenceforward known by the name of Thames; and flowing eastward, through London, it unites with the Medway below Rochester, and falls into the German Ocean.

2. The Severn rises in Montgomeryshire, in the principality of Wales: it runs through the counties of Salop, Worcester, and Gloucester; and discharges itself into the Irish Sea, by the Bristol Channel.

3. The Humber, though called a river, is rather an arm or the sea, into which flows the river, Ouse, Trent, &c.

4. The Dee rises in Wales, and flows into the Irish Sea, below the city of Chester.

5. The Tweed is a pastoral little river, chiefly remarkable, as dividing England from Scotland.

Lakes. Soham-Mere, Whittlesea-Mere, and Ramsey-Mere, in the isle of Ely, in the county of Cambridge; in rainy reasons, all these meres overflow the country, and form one lake, from The counties of Westmorland 40 to 50 miles in circumference. and Cumberland, contain several beautiful lakes that afford nu merous picturesque scenes; and there are also in Lancashire, the small lakes, known by the name of Derwentwater.

Canals. Although the various rivers, whose streams water our fertile soils, greatly contribute to facilitate internal navigachannel of tion, and thus open to distant places a safe and easy communication; yet the want of similar conveniencies for other places, not so favoured by situation, afforded ample scope for the ingenuity of individuals. Hence arose the numerous artificial rivers, called canals. The duke of Bridgewater's canal, the Trent and Mersey, the Grand Junction canals, may be mentioned among others; and so great are the benefits which have resulted from the formation of canals, both to the public, and to individuals, that each succeeding year witnesses the rapid increase of these admirable channels for internal trade and commerce.

Mountains. England is not remarkable very for high mountains: the principal are, the Peak, in Derbyshire; the Endle, in Lancashire; the Skiddaw, Derwent-Fells; the Wrynose and Lanvellin, in Cumberland; the Wolds, in Yorkshire; the Wie

kin, in Shropshire: and the Cheviot Hills, on the borders of Scotland. But besides these, there are numerous lofty hills, generally called Downs, scattered over the whole country, some of which form long ridges, as the Chiltern Hills, in Buckinghamshire ; the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire; the Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire; and the South Downs, in Sussex.

Vegetable, Animal, and Mineral Productions. The vegetable productions of England are very numerous, and too well known to require any specification here. The cattle of England are the finest in the world, whether for food or for draught; and yery great improvements have, within a few years, been introduced in the management and rearing of sheep; it is computed that not less than 8,000,000 fleeces are annually shorn in this country.

In former times, England contained large woods, if not forests, of chesnut-trees, which exceeded all other kinds of timber for the purposes of building, as appears from many great houses still standing, in which the chesnut beams and roofs remain undecayed, though some of them are more than six hundred years old. Among the minerals, may be named copper, lead, rock-salt, plumbago, manganese, &c. The tin-mines of Cornwall, also, deserve particular notice. They were known to the Greeks and Phenicians several ages before the Christian æra; and since the English have found the method of manufacturing their tin inte plates, and white iron, they have proved of immense benefit to the nation. The number of miners in Cornwall alone, is said to amount to 100,000.* Some gold has likewise been discovered in Cornwall; and the English lead is impregnated with silver. Devonshire, and other counties in England, produce marble. Pit and sea-coal is found in many counties of England, particularly in the north, but the city of London is chiefly supplied from the pits in Northumberland, and the bishopric of Durham. The cargoes are shipped at Newcastle and Sunderland, and the exportation of coals to other countries, is a valuable article of commerce. The fluor spar or blue John of Derbyshire, is found in large quantities, and forms an elegant article of manufacture, being made into urns, vases, columns, and all the infinite variety of shapes, which the ingenuity or fancy of the artist can devise. Cheshire is remarkable for the extent and value of its salt-mines and springs; particularly at Northwich. This town possesses mines of rock-salt. The discovery was made in 1670, about a mile from the town, in searching for coal. The rock-salt is found from twenty-eight to forty-eight yards beneath the surface

In the year 1800, the number of mines wrought was no less than 99. Of these, 5 were copper, 28 tin, 18 copper and tin, and the remainder of lead, silver, &c.