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The most remarkable features of Africa are the immense Deserts of Sand, the chief of which, called Sahara, or the Great Desert, is about 3000 miles in length, and almost 1000 in breadth. The sand is here carried by the wind like waves in the sea, or rather like immense moving columns, which not unfrequently overwhelm whole caravans of the unhappy travellers, who attempt to cross these perilous deserts. Frequently also both themselves and their camels perish for want of water.

Below the Straights of Gibraltar, are the Madeira Islands, two in number, belonging to Portugal, and below them the Canary Islands, or Fortunatæ Insulæ of the antients, belonging to Spain, seven of which are inhabited. The chief of the Canary Islands is Teneriffe, where is the celebrated mountain called the Pike of Teneriffe, which is an almost extinct volcano, about 12,138 feet above the level of the sea. Below the Canaries are the Cape Verd Islands, ten in number, lying off Cape Verd, and belonging to the Portuguese, the chief of which is St. Jago. North of Congo is the Island of St. Thomas, belonging to the Portuguese, and very considerably to the West of it the Island of Ascension, below which, to the South East, is the small Island of St. Helena, belonging to the English, where the homeward bound East Indiamen touch for refreshments. Off the coast of Mosambique is the Island of Madagascar, which

is one of the largest in the world, being 840 miles long, and 240 broad; it has been very little explored, and presents a rich prospect to the industry of future speculators. East of Madagascar are the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, lately called the Isles of France and Re-Union. The smaller African Islands on the coast of the Red Sea are not worth particular notice.

The religion of Morocco, the Barbary States, and Egypt, and many of the Northern tribes of Africa, is Mahometan. The Abyssinians are nominally Christians, but their doctrines have been grossly corrupted. The Central and Southern tribes of Africa are generally Pagans.

CHAPTER VI.

AMERICA.

THE immense Continent of America, forming rather another hemisphere than a quarter of the globe, was discovered by Columbus. In his first voyage he discovered the Bahama Islands, October 12. 1492, and soon after Cuba and St. Domingo. It was not till his fourth voyage that he discovered the main land of South America, in the year 1502; previously to which time Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine, had published an account of the islands discovered by Columbus, and from this 'circumstance, has given his name to the New World. The first discovery of North America was made by Giovanni Cabot, a Venetian, in the service of our Henry VII. A. D. 1497.

North America is bounded on the East by the Atlantic, on the West by the great Pacific Ocean, on the South by the Isthmus of Panama, on the North, above Hudson's Bay, its boundaries are unknown. Above it lies Greenland, both West or New, and East or Old Greenland. The British possessions in North America lie above five vast Lakes-Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, which discharge themselves, through the River St. Lawrence, into the Atlantic Ocean. At the mouths of the River St. Lawrence are Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The country lying above the River St. Lawrence is called Lower Canada, that above the Lakes is called Upper Canada. Above Lower Canada is Labrador, or New Britain, and above Upper Canada is New South Western side of Hudson's Bay. Hudson's Bay, are Davis's Straights and Baffin's Bay. A North West passage to the East Indies has been hitherto in vain attempted through these straights and Baffin's Bay; but an expedition has just sailed (1818) on this voyage which it is hoped may be successful. The savage tribes of Indians in this vast and thinly-peopled country are not worth enumerating. Below the River St. Lawrence and the five Lakes are the United States of America, formerly provinces of Great Britain, but severed from it, and re

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cognised as independent by the peace of 1782. These States, now sixteen in number, may be divided into Northern, Middle and Southern. The Northern States contain what was formerly called New England, and consist of New Hampshire, at the back of which is Vermont, below them Massachussets Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Below these are the Middle States-Westward is New York, with Long Island, and below it Pennsylvania, to the East of which, on the Atlantic, is New Jersey, and, below New Jersey, Delaware, between the Delaware and Chesapeak Bays. The Southern States are Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. At the back of Virginia and North Carolina is Kentucky, below which, but separated by the country of the Tenassees, is Georgia, reaching even to the coast of the Atlantic. The remainder of North America belongs to Spain, consisting of East and West Florida, Louisiana (a country claimed by the Spaniards and Americans), and West of it New Mexico, and still Westward California, lying between the shores of the Pacific and the immense Gulph of California. Below these is Mexico, or New Spain, divided into various provinces, at the lower part of which is Honduras, where logwood is cut. The last province in North America is Veragua, near which is Panama, giving name to the Isthmus which

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