From this table it appears that the space occupied by the 1st degree of latitude from the equator, is 60484,5 fathoms, or very nearly 68,7324 English miles, while that occupied by a degree of longitude on the equator is 61029,62 fathoms, or very nearly 69,3519 miles, exceeding the 1st degree on the meridian by 545,12 fathoms, corresponding to ,6195 mile. It appears also, that until we arrive at latitude 58°, 42', 47" 4, the degree on the meridian continues less than that on the equator: and that we must go beyond the 60th degree of latitude before the degree of longitude be reduced to the half of one on the equator; whereas, on the supposition of the earth's being a sphere, the degree of longitude at the 60th degree of latitude ought to be precisely the half of one in the equator.

THE surface of the earth is irregularly divided into portions of land and water, the former occupying but about one half of the space covered by the latter. The land is much varied by a success on of mountains, hills, vallies, and plains: and some mountains are elevated upwards of three English miles perpendicularly above the surface of the great body of waters this elevation, however, being only about of the diameter, is such, that the earth may, in general, be regarded as presenting every where a smooth even surface.

part

The land on the globe is divided chiefly into two great portions; the one comprehending what was known to the ancients, and thence called the Old World, containing those tracts or quarters called Europe, Asia, and Africa, the other, which was only discovered in the end of the 15th century, and thence called the New World, containing North and South America.

Besides

Besides these vast masses of land, which, from the great space they occupy, are called continents, there are innumerable smaller portions scattered over the surface of the waters, and every where surrounded by them, which are hence called islands. Thus Britain, Ireland, Jamaica, Barbadoes, are islands, being on all sides detached from the continents, and inclosed by water. It is true, that both the Old and the New World are surrounded by water, and may, therefore, be considered as islands; but for distinction's sake, it is usual to apply this name only to smaller portions. of land.

When a body of land is almost entirely inclosed by water, having only a narrow communication with a larger body, whether an island or a continent, it is termed a peninsula; and that narrow communication is called an isthmus. Thus Africa is a great peninsula, being surrounded by the sea on all sides, excepting at the north-east corner, where it is connected with Asia by the narrow neck of land or isthmus of Suez: Spain and Portugal form a peninsula connected with France by a broad isthmus, across which extend the Pyrenean mountains; the Morea, or Peloponnesus, is a peninsula united to Greece by the narrow isthmus of Corinth; and North and South America are two peninsulas united in the middle by the isthmus of Darien.

A point of land running out into the sea is called a promontory, and its extremity is termed a cape, or headland; such as the Land's End and the Lizard, which are headlands at the extremity of the great promontory of Cornwall; Cape Finisterre at the extremity of a promontory at the north-west corner of Spain; the Cape of Good Hope near the southern point of Africa, &c.

The great body of waters surrounding the four quaters of the earth is in general called the sea or the ocean; but to particular portions of this sea particular names are given. Thus that part situated between Europe and Africa on the

VOL. II.

E

east,

east, and America on the west, is called the Atlantic occean; the sea lying between America on the east, and Asia on the west, is called the Pacific ocean; the Indian ocean washes the east coast of Africa and the south coasts of Asia. Small portions of the sea, in a great degree inclosed by the land, have also their proper naines, as the Mediterranean sea, which separates Europe from Africa; the Baltic sea, lying between Germany and Sweden, &c; the German sea, or ocean, between Britain and Holland, &c. the Irish sea, between England and Ireland ; and even the vast expanse of water situated in the interior of Asia, entirely unconnected with the ocean, is, on account of its size, and a certain degree of saltness in the water, termed the Caspian sea. A smaller portion of water, in part surrounded by the land, is termed a bay, or gulf: such are the Bay of Biscay, otherwise called the Gulf of Gascony, embraced by the west coast of France and the north coast of Spain; the Gulf of Venice,

part of the Mediterranean sea running in between Italy and Turkey in Europe; the Gulf of Mexico, dividing North from South America. Small indentings of the land, affording shelter for shipping, are also often called bays, as Torbay on the coast of Devonshire, Bantry Bay in Ireland. If such a place run but a little way into the land, it is generally called a road or anchorage, as the bay formed by the east coast of Kent, known by the name of the Downs, Yarmouth Roads, &c. When an opening into the land is made for the sea, at the mouth of a river, it is termed a creek or cove, and if of considerable size, a channel, as the Bristol channel. In Scotland such an opening or arm of the sea, at the mouth of a river, is called a frith or firth, such as the Frith of Forth on the east coast, and the Frith of Clyde on the west coast of that country. When two portions of the sea communicate together by means of a narrow pass or channel, such a pass is called a strait or straits; as, for instance, the Straits of Dover, by which the German ocean communicates with

the

the English channel; the Straits of Gibraltar, uniting the Mediterranean sea with the Atlantic ocean; the Straits of Babelmandel, by which the Red sea, or Arabic Gulf, communicates with the Indian ocean. In the northern parts of Europe such a strait is often termed a sound, as the Sound of Mull, on the west coast of Scotland; and the much frequented pass between Denmark and Sweden, connecting the German ocean with the Baltic sea, is, for distinction's sake, called the Sound.

A body of water entirely inclosed by the land is called a lake, in Scotland a loch, and in Ireland a lough, (both words being of the same sound, although differently written); such as the Lake of Geneva in Switzerland, Lake Ladoga in Russia, the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, (which, with many other pieces of water in England, are commonly called Meres); Loch Lomond, Loch Tay, Loch Leven, &c. in Scotland; Lough Neagh, Killarney Lough, &c. in Ireland. The terms loch and lough are, however, often applied to pieces of salt-water running deep into the land, but having an open communication with the sea; as Loch Fyne on the west coast of Scotland, and Löugh Foyle on the north coast of Ireland.

A large stream of water rising in the interior of a country, and flowing to the sea, or into some lake, is called a river; when the stream is small, it is termed a rivulet or brook: the word bourne or burn, so often met with in the names of places over England, and still used in its proper sense in Scotland, also signifies a rivulet or brook.

Although the sea appears to be stable, and confined to one particular situation on the globe, yet in many parts there are motions of the waters resembling the stream of a river: this stream is called a current, and in certain places it flows so rapidly as to require a strong wind to keep a vessel from being hurried along with it. When one current is opposed by another setting in a contrary direction, a circular motion