NATIONS, EMPIRES, KINGDOMS, STATES, PROVINCES, CITIES, TOWNS,
FORTS, SEAS, HARBOURS, RIVERS, LAKES, CANALS,
MOUNTAINS, CAPES, &c.

EXTENT, BOUNDARIES, AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONS OF EACH COUNTRY; THE GO-
VERNMENT, CUSTOMS, MANNERS, AND RELIGION OF THE INHABITANTS; THE TRADE
MANUFACTURES, AND CURIOSITIES, OF THE CITIES AND TOWNS, WITH THEIR
LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE, BEARING AND DISTANCE IN ENGLISH MILES, FROM
REMARKABLE PLACES; AND THE VARIOUS HISTORICAL EVENTS, BY WHICH THEY

HAVE BEEN DISTINGUISHED.

ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS.

ORIGINALLY COMPILED

BY R. BROOKES, M. D.

THE WHOLE RE-MODELLED, AND THE HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL DEPARTMENT
BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT PERIOD.

BY JOHN MARSHALL, ESQ.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG AND SON, 73, CHEAPSIDE;

AND SOLD BY R. GRIFFIN AND CO., GLASGOW; T. T. AND H. TEGG, DUBLIN: ALSO BY

J. AND S. A. TEGG, SIDNEY AND HOBART TOWN.

1838.
L

INTRODUCTION

GEOGRAPHY treats of the figure, magnitude, position, and motion of the earth, and of the situation, extent, divisions, subdivisions, and boundaries of the different places upon its surface, to which is usually subjoined an abstract of the religion, history, character, government, manners, commerce, and population of every kingdom. This science is, however, in many respects so closely connected with Astronomy that it will be proper to give a general outline of the latter as well as the former—

THE UNIVERSE.

The term universe comprehends the whole frame of nature, to the utmost extent of Creation. How magnificent and exalted, then, are the ideas presented to the human mind by its contemplation! In the formation and preservation of this stu-pendous structure the wonders of Omnipotence are illustriously displayed, and, the more accurate and extensive our knowledge of the universe, the more elevated will be our conceptions of the Supreme Being.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM.

The solar system is that portion of the universe which comprehends the sun, planets, satellites, and comets. The sun is the centre of this system, and there are eleven planets which revolve around him, each in its orbit. The names of these, according to their distance from the Sun, are, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Ceres*, Pallas, Vesta, Juno, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Georgium Sidus. The first two, moving within the orbit of the earth, are denominated inferior planets; the others move without that orbit, and are therefore denominated superior planets. The Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Georgian, are attended by secondary planets, called satellites or moons, which revolve about them as centres, and are regulated in their motions by the same laws which regulate the motions of the planets in their orbits round the sun. The Earth is attended by one Moon, revolving at the distance of 210,000 miles, Jupiter four, Saturn seven, and the Georgian six. Saturn, also, besides his Moons, is encircled by two concentric rings, at a considerable distance from his body, which like Satellites or Moons revolve round about him in his planes.

The planets have likewise a motion of rotation each round its own axis; at least observation renders it certain that Venus, the Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, have such a motion; and it is natural from analogy to infer that the rest have a similar motion. The planets are opaque spherical bodies, and, having no light of their own, shine by borrowed light from the sun, which is both the centre of their motions and the source of their light and heat. They complete their revolutions in a greater or less time in proportion to their distances from the sun, there being a constant and very curious relation between their distances from him and their periodical times.

Ceres was discovered by M. Piazzie, astronomer royal at Palermo, on the 1st of January, 1801 to the naked eye it is not visible, nor will glasses of a very high magnifying power show it with a distinctly defined diameter. Pallas, which is stil. smaller, was discovered in 1802, by Dr. Olbers at Hamburg. Juno was discovered by M. Harding in 1804; and Vesta by Dr. Olbers in 1807.

It was first discovered by Kepler, a Prussian astronomer, that the squares of the periodic times of the planets are proportional to the cubes of their mean distances from the sun.

31 X 653

The following Table shows the distances of the planets from the sun; with their magnitudes and periods, according to the latest observations:

The fixed stars are distinguished from the planets by being more luminous, and by exhibiting that appearance termed the twinkling of the stars. They shine by their own native light, and are therefore by analogy, and with the highest probability, supposed to be so many suns, each illuminating a considerable number of planets or worlds, which circulate round it. Indeed, it is incredible to think that these vast bodies of light and fire should be placed at such immense distances in the infinity of space, for no other purpose than to give a feeble light to the earth and the other planets in our solar system. Their distance from our earth is so inconceivably great that, were the nearest of them to be removed out of its present situation 200 millions of miles in any direction, its change of place would not be in the smallest degree perceived by any observer on the earth, although aided by the best instruments; hence it appears that a luminous spherical body, 200 millions of miles in diameter, if viewed at the distance of the nearest fixed star, would appear as a mere lucid point, without any sensible diameter.

Besides the planets, there are other bodies belonging to our solar system, called comets, which also revolve round the sun as a centre, but the orbits of which do not approach so near to circles as those of the planets; for they are very long ellipses, having the sun in one of their foci. Hence it happens that, during one part of its revolution, a comet goes off to an immense distance from the sun, and therefore cannot be seen from our earth; and during another part it comes much nearer to him, and may then become visible for a short time. The comets differ also considerably in other respects from the planets; for the paths of the latter in the heavens are all found within the zodiac, which is a tract extending to a small distance on each side of the ecliptic, or the path which the sun appears to describe round the heavens : whereas the path of the former is found sometimes in one quarter of the heavens, and sometimes in another. The planets likewise move all in one direction about the sun, viz. from west to east, but the comets appear to move in all directions. They are also much more numerous than the planets, calculations having been made upon the orbits of upwards of eighty of them by astronomers.

FIGURE AND MAGNITUDE OF THE EARTH.

The earth which we inhabit seems comparatively a small point in the universe, the sun being above two millions of times larger than the earth, and there is reason to suppose that similar is the fact with respect to all the stars.

It is one of the fundamental principles in geography that the earth is of a round form, but this is not strictly accurate, for both theory and experience prove that it is a little flattened towards the poles. This deviation, however, is so very small, the equatorial diameter being to the polar nearly as 230 to 229, that no material error will be occasioned by considering the earth as a perfect sphere.