side of the country, where the first British settlement was made in January 1788: but this spot being found less favourable than had been supposed, another settlement was begun twelve miles more to the northward, on an excellent harbour or bay, called Port Jackson, on the south side of which is a creek called Sydney Cove, where the colonists are now established.

The natives of this remote region seem to be but few in number, and in many respects are very little superior to the quadrupeds of the forest.

In the neighbourhood of New Holland lie clusters of islands, some of them of great size, such as Papua or New Guinea on the north, New Zealand on the south east, and Van Diemen's land, separated by a broad channel from the southern promontory. About 1000 miles to the eastward is situated the small but fertile settlement of Norfolk Island.

The vast Pacific Ocean extending between Asia and America is studded with multitudes of small isles, many of which are celebrated by the circumnavigators of the globe. Of these, Otaheite is well known, and Owhyhee, on the Sandwich groupe, is remarkable for the melancholy death of the ever-memorable Cook, in 1779.

AFRICA.

This quarter of the globe, much larger than Europe, and much smaller than Asia, is enclosed by the sea on every side, excepting where the isthmus of Suez, about 70 miles in breadth between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, joins it to Asia. From the most northerly point on the Mediterranean opposite to Sardinia, to the southern extremity at the Cape of Good Hope, the extent in latitude is

about 72 degrees, or 4320 geographic miles: the extent in longitude, on the parallel of 10 degrees N. is about 68 degrees, or 4,080 geographic miles. As Africa is cut nearly in the middle by the equator, the climate is in general very hot: but the southern promontory advancing far into the sca, and the cold of the antarctic pole being much more severe than that of the arctic pole, the heats in the district of the Cape of Good Hope are greatly allayed by the sea winds.

Of this very extensive portion of the world, although inhabited from the earliest antiquity, very little is yet known. The want of inland seas or great navigable rivers, the multitude of scorched barren deserts of boundless extent, the violent heats of the climate, the rude and often savage manners of the natives, have hitherto, excepting in a few instances, discouraged the boldest adventurers from attempting to penetrate the wide unknown tracts of internal Africa; nay, many very considerable portions of the sea-coast are still laid down in our maps rather from conjecture than from certain information.

Egypt. This singular and long-celebrated country occupies the north-east corner of Africa; bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, and on the east by the Red Sea, or Arabian Gulf: on the west lie the barren deserts formerly known by the name of Libya. The only habitable and productive part of Egypt is a narrow level valley, watered by the river Nile, and bounded on each side by rugged ridges of rocks and mountains. From Syene, now called Assouan, down to Cairo, a distance of about 360 miles, the river flows through this narrow plain; but a few miles ibelow that town, the rocky hills subsiding, the river diverges nto two principal branches, spreading out as they approach he sea, and connected by a number of smaller collateral and parallel streams, watering and encircling a triangular

space

space of ground, which the ancients, from its general resemblance to the Greek letter Delta, usually called by that

name.

One singularity of Egypt is the extreme dryness of the climate, rain being little known, excepting in the Delta along the Mediterranean: the great fertility of that district, and of the vale of the Nile, being chiefly owing to the regu

inundations of that river, which, swelled by the rains falling in the interior of Africa, begins in May to rise in Egypt, and continues to the beginning of August, when it has increased 16 cubits above its ordinary height. Should the increase not come to the height until the middle of September, the country is exposed to the complicated evils of famine and pestilence. In addition to this inundation, in the summer months the dews fall so profusely as to supply the necessary food for vegetation. The periodical winds are another peculiarity of this country; blowing from June to September generally from the north: these winds were called by the ancients Etesian.

The chief city of modern Egypt is Cairo, situated a mile distant from the east bank of the Nile, and not far from the head or commencement of the great plain, or Delta. The streets are narrow, and through the principal one passes a broad canal, conveying water during the inundation from the river. On the rocky edge of a hill stands the castle, commanding a very extensive view of the town, the vale of the Nile, and the celebrated pyramids. The population is reckoned about 300,000, a number far exceeding that of any other town of Africa. Alexandria, occupying but a small portion of the ancient city of the same name, connected by a long bridge or causeway to the island once supporting the famous Pharos, a light-house which has given the name to many other similar structures, is conveniently situated between two harbours, or small bays, of

the

the Mediterranean, to the westward of the mouths of the Nile, and contains 15,000 inhabitants. Rosetta, on the western branch of that river, and Damietta on the eastern, both near the sea, are the only other places of note in the country.

Abyssinia. Immediately to the south of Egypt lies a widely-extended country, called Nubia, covered in the greater part by barren deserts, but watered by the Nile: and adjoining it, still farther south, lies the kingdom of Abyssinia, extending from N. to S. about 660 geographic miles, on a mean breadth of about 500 miles. It touches the Red Sea on the east, but on all other sides is bounded by tracts of desert, or countries very little known. The capital of Abyssinia is Gondar, situated in lat. 12° 34′ N., on the top of a hill of considerable height, containing, in time of peace, about 10,000 families. The houses are chiefly of clay, with conical thatched roofs. The religion is the Christian, but strangely corrupted by many peculiar practices: the government is hereditary in the family of an absolute king. Abyssinia is one of the most mountainous countries in the world; the vales however afford a black fertile soil. The chief river is the eastern branch of the Nile, after a considerable course uniting with the western branch which comes from a more distant source in the unknown parts of internal Africa. Coffee, dates, tamarinds, are a few of the vegetable productions of this country. The horses are small but spirited: cattle and buffaloes are numerous, and the forests abound with the lion, the panther, the elephant, and the rhinoceros; the hyæna is so ferocious as to haunt the streets of the towns in the night: the cro codile and hippopotamus swarm in the lakes and rivers.

Tripoli.-In following the shores of the Mediterranean westward from Egypt, after a dreary tract of sandy desert, appears Tripoli, the capital of a Mahometan state.

The

town