CHAPTER II.

THE Map of the World is divided into two Hemispheres. The right, or Eastern Hemisphere, contains the three Continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, commonly called the Old World, as having been known to the antients. The left, or Western Hemisphere, contains the two Continents of North and South America, called the New World, having been only discovered by Columbus, in the year 1492.

Europe, Asia, Africa, and the two Americas, are commonly, but absurdly enough, called the Four Quarters of the World, bearing, as we shall see hereafter, a very great relative disproportion to each other.

*If the word quarter be taken in its proper sense for an equal fourth part, the term is absurd when applied to the divisions of the globe; but not if we use it in the sense of division, or region. Thus we speak of the quarters of an orange, of quartering ground, &c. and we say, In these quarters, for In these regions, or In this part of the World. Still the division of the world into four quarters is inconvenient, as it leaves us at a loss to which we must assign New Holland and the Islands in the South Seas.

Some recent geographers have divided the World into six, or rather seven portions: Europe, Asia, Africa, and the two Americas, Australasia, containing New Holland and the adjacent Islands, and Polynesia (from πολὺς and νῆσος), comprising the numerous Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is not probable, however, that this more scientific distribution will supersede the vulgar division, sanctioned by the general usage of preceding ages.

EUROPE.

Or the four generally received divisions of the world, Europe is the smallest, comprising in its greatest breadth about 3300, and in its greatest length about 2350 British miles. It is bounded on the North, by the Arctic or Frozen Sea, on the West by the Atlantic: an imaginary line, drawn through the Mediterranean, separates it from Africa, on the South; and it is divided from Asia, on the East, by another imaginary line, drawn through the Archipelago, the Black Sea, the Sea of Azoph, continued along the River Don, or rather perhaps along the Volga, and thence bent Eastward towards the Uralian Mountains, and from thence continued till it reaches the Arctic Sea,

under Nova Zembla; but the Eastern line of separation is not well agreed on, or defined.

The Island of Great Britain is in the West of Europe, comprising the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the Principality of Wales. The Southern part of Great Britain to the Solway Firth on the West, where the island is narrowest, and Berwick upon Tweed on the East, is called England; above it is Scotland; and on the West, between the Bristol Channel and Chester, is Wales. West of Great Britain is Ireland, and above Ireland is Iceland.

Below Great Britain is France, and below France to the West is Spain, and still to the West of Spain is Portugal. Below France to the Eastward is Switzerland, at the South-West of which is the Lake of Geneva and City of that name, and below it Italy, which resembles a Boot. The lower part of Italy is called the Kingdom of Naples. At the top of Italy, to the West is Genoa, and above, Piedmont, in which is Turin, the Capital of the King of Sardinia's Continental Dominions. At the top of Italy, on the East, is Venice, giving name to the Gulph of Venice, which separates Italy from Turkey in Europe. The lower part of Turkey in Europe is called Roumelia, antiently Greece, and the

lowest part of it is called the Morea, antiently the Peloponnese. Immediately above the Gulph of Venice is the Tyrol, and Carinthia, Istria, and Carniola, and above Turkey in Europe are the Dominions of the Emperor of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia. These, together with a considerable tract of country lying east of France,' and above the Alps, were comprised under the general name of Germany, containing formerly several petty States, and recently several newly-erected Kingdoms and Principalities, the chief of which are Saxony and Hanover in the North of Germany, Wirtemberg and Bavaria in the South. The parts on the Coast, North of France, are the Netherlands, or Low Countries, now called by their antient name of Belgium, and forming, to gether with Holland and its confederate States, the Kingdom of Holland. Next to these is Jutland, forming part of the Kingdom of Denmark, then Prussia, lying above Germany on the Coast of the Baltic. To the East of Germany, abové Hungary, was formerly the Kingdom of Poland, divided in 1793 between Prussia, Russia, and Austria; and the whole remainder of Europe, from the Black Sea upward to the East and NorthEast, forms a part of the immense Empire of Russia; that part of it which is contained between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoph is called the Crimea, or Little Tartary. On either side of

the Gulph of Bothnia is Sweden, and to the West of Sweden is Norway. Above the upper part of Norway, Sweden, and Russia, is Lapland, divided into Danish (or Norwegian), Swedish, and Russian Lapland, and between the Gulphs of Bothnia and Finland, is Finland, divided between Russia and Sweden. The Kingdom of Denmark consists of Jutland in the Continent, and several Islands in the Baltic, of which Zealand and Funen are the chief. Norway is now subject to the Crown of Sweden. * Between the Island of Zealand and the Coast of Sweden is the celebrated passage called the Sound, where a toll is claimed from all ships which pass, by the King of Denmark.

The principal European Islands are the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland, above which is Iceland. About midway between Europe and America, off the Coast of Portugal, are the Azores, the most remote of the European Islands. In the Mediterranean are Yvica, Majorca, and Minorca, off the Coast of Spain. is Corsica, with Sardinia below it. At the foot of Italy is Sicily, and below it the small but

Under Genoa

* Denmark and Norway, which had been sometimes under the same, and sometimes under different sovereigns, were united into one kingdom in 1417, and so continued till 1814, when Norway was ceded to Sweden.