from ten to fifteen in breadth. This current has The This science as it leads the mind to contemplate rhe grandeur and majesty of nature, also acquaints it with the most important, most interesting and most astonishing facts. "Look abroad upon the face of the earth," in the language of Malte Brun, "behold what revolutions have taken place! What mountains have been dissipated! What rocks decomposed! How many valleys have been filled up, how many lakes emptied of their contents, what inroads have the seas made upon the continents; what volcanick irruptions, what contests among the elements, slow or rapid, destructive or creative. must have preceded the actual state of our globe, a state which every where presents only the ancient ruins of an edifice, of the primitive proportions of which we are completely ignorant. Physical geography makes us feel the limits of our powers. We have ascertained the dimensions of the sun. We know the laws of gravity upon the surface of Jupiter. We have measured the elevation of the mountains of the moon, even the erratick comets seem to submit to the calculations of our astron. But the interiour of that very earth upon which we walk, baffles our researches. We have never penetrated one two-thousandth part of the diameter of the globe. Nay, even the very surface of the earth is not known to us throughout its whole omers. extent." Upon leaving the church we bent our way for about a mile to the southeast, where in a hollow of the mountains are to be seen a number of very beautiful natural wells, of various sizes, and depths, and of astonishing regularity of form, appearing almost to display the hand of art in describing their periphery. Many of these are accessible, and on our descent we were met by a gentleman with a fishing rod, who informed us that in some of these he found very excellent sport. As you ascend the mountain, the wells are seen at greater depths, until they attain to several hundred feet below the surface. The verge is well guarded by fallen trees and sapling rails, so that the sight may be enjoyed without the least degree of danger. Between the wells are large cascades, which add greatly to the grandeur The surface of the globe is divided into large of the scene, the foaming torrents of which afford a masses of land, which we call continents, and great beautiful and striking contrast with the crystal clear-cavities filled with water, which we term seas; as, ness of the wells beneath. Here, as at the church, in the parts covered with water, we observe small are found upon the fallen trees the records of the masses of land whose surfaces appear above it, which visiter, where, having inscribed our own also, we returned to the Stone Church Hotel, situated about we name islands, so are there upon the continents a hundred yards from the church, where we partook small detached spots covered with water, which we of an excellent repast furnished by the enterprising call lakes. If the sea penetrate into the interiour of proprietor, Mr. Perry, whose gentlemanly manners, a continent, it forms there a mediterranean, or inland together with the pains he has been at to render a sea. If the extent of such seas be less, and the visit to Dover agreeable and interesting, entitle him at least to this passing notice. openings larger, they are called gulfs or bays. The still smaller portions of sea, surrounded as it were by land, and which afford a shelter for ships, are called ports, creeks, or roads. The first term means a secure asylum; the second is applied to ports of a much smaller size, and which when improved or completed by artificial aid, are styled harbours, and the roads afford only a temporary anchorage and security from certain winds. Tongues of land shootPHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. ing into the seas, and connected with the mainland Physical Geography, or natural geography as it by only a small portion of their circumference, are is sometimes called, delineates all the leading fea- termed peninsular. If the projections of land reach tures of nature; the mountains that diversify the sur- but a little way into the sea, they are called capes, face of the land, and the seas that bound its outline; promontories, or simply points. A natural canal comthe valleys, the rivers, the caverns, the mines, and municating with the sea at both ends, and confined the volcanoes; the motions of the atmosphere and by two opposite shores, is called a strait: the rethe laws of temperature; and lastly the distribution verse is an isthmus, that is, a tongue of land running into their native regions of the animals, the vegeta-between two seas, and by which two masses of land bles, the minerals, and all the beings that are nour- are united. I should have mentioned that at the further extremity of the church is a magnificent waterfall, over which you may ascend by means of an artificial staircase to the height of forty or fifty feet, and that in the sides of the same are extensive ledges into which the spectator may place himself as in a gallery, so that the arrangement of the place naturally suggests the idea of a church, or place of worship. ished in the exhaustless bosom of the earth. Considering the globe however, under one gener The ocean is spread over nearly seven tenths of the globe; and the land and water are very unequally distributed between the northern and southern hemispheres. The following calculation will plainly exhibit this fact: Considering the whole space included in the northern part of the torrid zone, as equal to 1, the proportion of land is 0.297. On the same supposition, the proportion of land in the northern temperate zone is 0.559. And in the northern icy zone, 0.400. In the southern part of the torrid zone, the portion of land is 0.312. In the southern temperate zone, 0.075. In the southern icy zone, nearly none. northern hemisphere be represented by 16, the quan In other words, if the quantity of land in the tity in the southern will be scarcely equal to 5. al point of view, it presents us with but two great divisions, land and water. The land is divided into two great continents; one of which, viz., the old continent, contains the three great divisions, Asia, Africa and Europe, while the whole of the new continent is comprised under the name of America. America is divided into two distinct peninsulas, and we agree with Malte Brun, that one of them ought in strict historical justice to be called Columbia after its immortal discoverer, Columbus. Some geographers are disposed to rank New Holland as a third continent; but it can properly be called only the largest island in existence. The water of the globe properly speaking, is but one great sea or con- The general direction of the land in the two continuous fluid surrounding the land, and all the gulfs tinents is entirely different. In America it is from and inland seas are but branches of this great uni-pole to pole; in the old world it is from southwest to northeast. In both continents the direction of the versal ocean. The parts or branches of this great large peninsulas is similar, almost all of them runocean are distinguished by names, only for the sake ning towards the south. This is the case with South of convenience. America, California, Florida, Alaska, and Greenland in the new world, and in the old, with Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, Greece, Africa, Arabia, Hindostan, Malaya, Cambodia, Corea, and Kamtschatka. The only exceptions are the peninsula of Yucatan in Mexico, and that of Jutland in the northwest of Europe. The two continents differ from each other very much in the character of their outlines, for while the coast of the old world is broken on all sides by gulfs, bays, and inland seas, the new world has a series of openings on its eastern shore only. Of its western side, the only inlet of any magnitude is the gulf of California. We shall adopt the following classification and geographical divisions, which are found in the Treasury of Knowledge; and we desire our readers to test or verify their simplicity and justness by a reference to an artificial globe or a map of the world. I. The great basin of the Southern and Pacifick oceans, the waters of which cover nearly half the globe. It includes 1. The Antarctick Ocean, which is comprised between the antarctick circle and the south pole. 2. The Southern Ocean, the boundary of which on one side is the antarctick circle; on the other, a line drawn from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope; thence to Van Dieman's Land; and again by the south of New Zealand to Cape Horn. These two divisions are sometimes with propriety called the Great Southern Ocean. 3. The Indian Ocean, lying between Africa on the west, and the peninsula of Malaya with the islands of Sumatra, Java, &c. and New Holland on the east, and bounded by Persia and Hindostan on the north. The Red Sea or Arabian Gulf, the Persian Gulf and the bay of Bengal, are all parts of this ocean. 4. The Pacifick Ocean, divided by the equator into north and south, and enclosed between America on the east, and New Holland, the islands of Java and Sumatra, and the continent of Asia, on the west. On the north it terminates at Beering's straits. The seas of China, Japan, Okotsk, &c., form parts of this ocean. II. The great Atlantick basin, forming a channel Between the old and new continents. It includes 1. The Atlantick Ocean, commencing in the south, from a line drawn from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope, and terminated on the north by the arctick circle. It is divided into north and south by the equator, and its branches are the Mediterranean, the North Sea or German Ocean, the Baltick, Baffin's Bay, Hudson's Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. 2. The Arctick Ocean, surrounding the North Pole, and bounded by the arctick circle, and the northern shores of the two continents. The White Sea, the Sea of Kara, and the Gulf of Obe, are parts of it, MOUNTAINS. Mountains form the most considerable eminences on the surface of the earth. They are to be distinguished, however, from "plateaus" or upland plains, which consist of great masses of elevated land commonly forming the centre of continents or of islands, but the sides of which are long and extended, with but little apparent declivity, like those of Tartary, Persia, centre of Africa, and Croatia and Carniola in Europe. In their exteriour forms, mountains present every possible variety and eccentricity. They are the romance of nature, the amazing products of nature's fancy-freaks which fill the human mind with wonder and awe. Here you observe them lying like an immense pillow upon the surface of the land, smooth and indicative of tranquillity: beyond, they rise in wild and abrupt peaks, with bald and rocky summits, with their sides torn open and broken, exposing as it were, the very entrails of the mountain itself, and some of its parts extending themselves like tremendous arms from the top of a perpendicular side threatening the terrified valley below with impending destruction. In another place, a vast amphitheatre is seen rising in majestick and regular gradations, like the Kinnegulla in West Gothland. In another direction you will see a large extent of country occupied by a confused collection of needles, peaks, teeth, cones, domes, breaches, &c., and which the mind need not be slow to picture to itself the intimate resemblances of all kinds and all parts of animals and beings created or imagined, from the tamest to the most disordered and wild. At the Cape of Good Hope you will find an altar; in Bohemia a labyrinth of rocks rising like pillars; in the province of Dauphine a monstrous ninepin; near Envionne in the Valais the figure of an old French frizzled wig; in the highlands of the Hudson the profile of the human face; in Massachusetts the exact resemblance of a saddle, and a sugar loaf; in short, mountains present every possible variety of exteriour form, from the sharp crystal like and pyramidal peaks, to slight elevations and gentle declivities. Mountains bored through, is another eccentricity deserving notice; some of these perforations are so regular and complete, as to lead to the supposition that they have been accomplished in part at least by the industry of man. The Pierre-Pertiuse in Mount Jura, Pausilippo, near Naples, and perhaps the natural bridge in Virginia are instances of this kind. The Torghat in Norway is pierced by an opening one hundred and fifty feet high, and three thousand long. Near New Zealand there is a rocky arch through which the sea flows; Isle Perce in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Doreholm in Shetland, and the Pictured Rocks on Lake Superiour are also instances of this kind. passes of Caucasus, the Caspian passes, the pass of Issus, rendered celebrated by the victory of Alexander; that of Thermopylae, immortalized by the devoted patriotism of Leonidas and his band of Spartans; and the Candinae Turculae, where Rome saw the glory of her unjust arms deservedly tarnished." There is also a celebrated one between Sweden and Norway; ono at " Portfeld;" the passage of the Hudson river through the highlands is similar; there is one also in the Rocky mountains near the head waters of the Yellowstone; but the Cordilleras present the most stupendous passes of this kind, that are known; they are, according to Humboldt, from four thousand to five thousand feet deep. Plains, owing to their high elevation, have sometimes been considered as resting upon the "shoulders of the secondary mountains." The plains of Quito, for instance, are 12,000 feet above the level of the sea; and those of Karakorum, in Chinese Mongolia, are probably as elevated. The low plains, however, are of a different character, and seem many of them to have been once covered by the ocean, or to have been the basin of interiour seas. Such are the Tehama of Arabia, the Delta of Egypt, and the Caspian plains. The shores of the sea, and of lakes, also deserve attention, as appearing to be the extreme limits of our chains of mountains. The seacoast is in some Some mountains are completely insulated; some places abrupt and steep; as in Gallicia, Bretagne, in groups, and others in chains. The rock of Gib- Norway, and Scotland. In others we find it broken raltar, the fortress of Gwalior in Hindostan, Mount and notched, with clusters of small islands or rocks Aornos, and the Peak of Teneriffe, are instances of adjacent; such are the "garden of the king," and the first kind—the Alps of the second, and the Andes" of the queen," near Cuba, the archipelago of Merand the Rocky mountains of the third. The term gui in India, the coasts of New South Wales, the chain is applied to a series of mountains whose bases Skiergard of Sweden and Norway. Some coasts are continuous. Among the most remarkable are are perpendicular, and are called the steep coasts; the Cordilleras of the Andes, which continue for they are found in the Mediterranean and Black seas, thousands of leagues, nearly in one constant direc-and along the whole extent of the western coast of tion, having on both sides inferiour ranges, but send-America. There are also coasts formed by undula ing off very few secondary chains. The declivities ting hills, and flat coasts formed by sands and depoof mountains are various, and subject to no constant sitions from the sea. rule, some are rapid, others gentle, some rugged, others smooth, according to local circumstances. By the separation of chains of nountains, most singular valleys are formed. "We see in the Pyrenees," says M. Raymond, some valleys, whose salient and re-entering angles so perfectly correspond, that if the force which separated them were to act in a contrary direction, and bring their sides together again, they would unite so exactly, that even the fissure would not be perceived." Some are basins situated upon the top of a mountain; others highly 66 situated contain rivers and lakes which have no out lets. Some are extraordinarily deep and narrow passages, commonly called passes or defilés, and by the French the "gates of nations." "Such were the VOL. III.-3 "The character of mountains would seem to depend upon the sort of rock of which they are composed. Granite, when exposed, forms lofty and rugged elevations; gneiss is much less precipitous, and slate commonly not at all so. In this respect there is a remarkable difference, which Humboldt has noticed, between the old and new continents. In the former, the highest points of the Alps consist of granite; but in America granite is not found higher than 11,000 or 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, and the newest floetz; trap or whinstone, which in Europe appears only in low mountains, or at the foot of those of great magnitude, covers the tops of the Andes. Chimborazo and Antesana are crowned with vast walls of porphyry; and basalt, which in the old continent has not been observed higher than 4,300 feet, is on the very summit of Pichinca. Other secondary formations, among which may be mention ed limestone, are also found at greater heights in the new than the old world. The following is a table of the height of some of the principal mountains on the globe, reckoning from the level of the sea. Several mountains bear evident marks of having, at some distant period, been the outlet of fires; and on this account they are called extinct volcanes. It has sometimes happened, that new islands have been formed during submarine eruptions. An instance of this kind occurred in 1811, in the neigh bourhood of St. Michael, one of the Azores, which 15,668 lay about 800 miles west of Portugal. This new 15,527 island has since disappeared; more recently a new 13,730 island has appeared in the Mediterranean, near the 12,500 island of Sicily, which disappeared after the lapse 7,968 of a few months. 6,778 A considerable portion of the islands of the globe, 6,580 are found to be of volcanick origin. 11,427 Many islands, especially those in the South Sea, 11,275 owe their origin to the marine insects which produce 9,523 the coral. Some, are banks of sand, just raised 10,870 above the surface of the water." 3,932 It is remarkable that in the old continent the principal chains of mountains contain no volcanoes, and that islands, and the extremities of peninsulas, are alone the seats of these convulsions; while in the new world, the immense range which runs along the shore of the Pacifick ocean possesses more volcanoes, than are found in the old continent and its adjacent islands. Professor Jamieson has given the following esti mate of the number of volcanoes: Continent of Europe, 1 MEMOIR OF JACOB PERKINS. BY SAMUEL L. KNAPP. Jacob Perkins was born at Newburyport, on the Matthew Perkins, a descendant, in the third generaninth day of July, 1766. His father was Mr. tion, of one of the first settlers of Ipswich, which is one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts, and has, ever since its settlement, been remarkable for the longevity of many of its inhabitants. This gentleman died many years since, nearly ninety years of He retained his mental and corporeal facul12 age. ties in a wonderful degree, until the last days of his life. He was a man of a strong mind; an industri97 ous, good citizen, and a careful father, but brought 19 up his children in the strict school of Presbyterian discipline. Jacob early discovered marks of an inhe chanced to get into his possession a large watch, quisitive mind; for before he had learned his letters, which he opened with great care, and for a long time listened to ascertain what made the noise in it 8 58 No volcano has yet been discovered on the continent of Africa, but most of its groups of islands are distinguished by them. Those marked are volcanoes. His mother found him with it, and hastily took it this information. At twenty-four he invented the from him, thinking he must have done it some in-nail machine, which cut and headed nails at one jury; but the child earnestly requested her to let operation. him have it again, when he was a bigger boy, that he might see what made the noise. As soon as he could read words of three syllables, he was sent to the publick school, and was kept there until he was twelve years old. The schoolfellows of Perkins speak of him as a smart boy at that time, who was fair in all play, yet he was sure to be among the first in every game in which children amuse themselves. At twelve years of age he was sent as an apprentice to a Mr. Davis, of Newburyport, a goldsmith, to learn the art and mysteries of the trade. This was considered the best situation for the development of the lad's talents for the mechanical arts. His opportunities for acquiring information were, however, small, and these advantages, such as they were, did not continue long, for Davis died when Perkins had only served out three years of his apprenticeship. This was the best labour-saving machine that had ever been in use among us. Those, at first doubtful of its success, were at length convinced of the great utility of this invention; and it was generally considered as the sure foundation of the inventor's for tune and fame. Great offers were made him for a share of the patent. This was, indeed, a wonderful machine; such celerity of motion, such power of execution, such a combination of mechanical principles, had rarely, or never, been seen in this country. Those who foretold the success of the invention were right-time has proved it; but those who thought that great advantages would result from it, to the inventor, forgot that knaves might reap what industry sowed, and bargain-making men enjoy what genius had created. At this time, two unprincipled adventurers from abroad, with the appearance of great wealth, engaged with Perkins in erecting a This was a trying period for him, then a youth of factory for putting the machine in operation on a fifteen years of age, panting for knowledge, and large scale. The works were auspiciously comdesirous of reaching the metropolis to find instruc-menced, and continued to answer the expectations tion in his profession; but he made up his mind to of the publick for a year or two, and were becoming carry on the business of the shop, and this deter- more perfect every day, under the superintendence mination he religiously fulfilled; and the establish- of Perkins; when it was discovered by him that his ment, during the remaining years of his apprentice-copartners had but little money, and less honesty, ship, was more lucrative than it was in the life time and that their credit was lost. The establishment of his master. Gold beads were then worn on the neck of every class of respectable females, from the aged dame with Bible and spectacles, to the laughing and buoyant damsel of fifteen; of course there was an extensive market for this article; the workmanship of his beads was of the highest order; the honesty of so kind and faithful a young man was never questioned, nor could be, and the shop was the resort of all who wanted to purchase. This was a fortunate commencement; for people of every grade, from king Hiero, to the simplest maiden, whose industry had just reached the happiness of seeing a string of pure and shining gold upon her spotless bosom, dislike to be duped in matters of ornament, more particularly, perhaps, than in any other. Shoebuckles were then universally worn by all ages and classes, and Perkins turned his attention to the manufactory of them, and soon dis-other business, and they knew and acknowledged, in covered a method of plating them, entirely new, by which he could bring his work into the market at less prices than the imported ones of equal goodness and beauty could be afforded. But the fashion of this ornament soon passed away, and so entirely, that for the last thirty years scarcely a pair of buckles has been seen, and then only when worn by some pertinacious adherent to antiquated dress. During the old confederation, each state had a right to coin money for itself; Massachusetts had a mint, from which was issued copper coin only, stamped with the arms of the commonwealth. The art of making dies for this coinage was then, with us, in its infancy; and it was with great difficulty that a mechanick could be found, of sufficient skill, to undertake the task. After numerous failures of others, Perkins was employed by government, when he was but twenty-one years of age, and succeeded to the satisfaction of the master of the mint, the late Ebenezer Hancock, Esq., from whom the writer had was sold by them, and Perkins was suddenly left with the loss of all his hard labours, and the property he had put in the concern. This was not all; they left debts for which he was answerable, without any means for their payment. This disaster plunged him into the most extraordinary and vexatious embarrassments. By the assistance of his friends, however, Perkins soon overcame these difficulties and started with fresh vigour to apply his mind in his profession, and was successful in almost every thing he undertook, so far as to show that he seldom pursued an inquiry without some beneficial result to the publick. A set of liberal men had purchased the factory he and his copartners had abandoned, who employed him to put the factory in operation, and to add some improvements to the old works. This did much to amuse him, until he found a proper manner, the value of his services. The evil of counterfeit bank notes, in the market, was severely felt by all classes of people. The ingenuity of Perkins was called into requisition to avert in some degree this sore vexation and calamity. Nothing could be more difficult than to stop the practice of counterfeiting by detecting the authors of it; they flee from one place to another at a great distance from each other, with such security in a thinly-settled country, and find so many facilities in getting off spurious bills, that the race can never be extirpated by the terrours of the law, nor the vigilance of the police; something, therefore, was to be done, which would give the most ignorant in the community some guide by which he might determine, in some cases, the spurious from true bills. This was a progressive labour. The experiment was first made by a small stamp on the common bills; this answered a very good purpose, for the stamp was seldom imitated. Afterwards, the check plate was used, which was one of the best proven- ̧ |