divided into feven great provinces, Terra Firma, Peru, Amazonia, Brazil, Paraguay, Chili, and Patagonia. Peru, the richeft province of America, fituated on the fouthern coaft, is about 1400 miles long, and 400 broad. Its chief commodities are gold and filver, quickfilver, pearls, cotton, tobacco, cochineal, and drugs; quinquina or the Jefuits' bark, the virtue of which is well known all over Europe, and tobacco of the finest flavour, are peculiar to this country. The climate of Brafil is temperate, and the foil fertile; its chief commodities are gold, diamonds, red wood, sugar, amber, &c. It is fubject to the King of Portugal, who draws great riches from it.

The foregoing is a very imperfect account of the terraqueous globe we inhabit. It is fo large in dimenfions, that even Teneriffe or Mont Blanc are, compared to it, but as grains of duft, upon an artificial fphere. Its diameter is 7970 miles, and its furface contains 199,557,259 fquare miles. Placed between the Orbits of Venus and Mars, it performs its courfe around the Sun at the rate of 68243 miles in an hour, and completes it annual revolution in rather more than 365 days.

Without a knowledge of Geography, no reader can have a clear idea of the fcene, where any occurrence takes place; but is liable to the groffeft miftakes by confounding one part of the world with another. It is equally applicable to modern as to ancient hiftory, and introduces the pleafing combination

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bination of the antient and modern names of places, and the characters and manners of the different inhabitants. It affifts the memory by the affociations of ideas, which it fuggefts; and the profpect of a country reprefented by a map, or a globe, recals to mind the memorable deeds which have been performed in it, as well as its illuftrious

men.

Perfons in various fituations of life are interested in the ftudy of geography, and may reap advantage from its cultivation. While it conftitutes a branch of knowledge effentially neceffary for the traveller, the merchant, and the failor, it furnishes abundant ftores of investigation to the naturalift and the philofopher. It is not only requifite for every reader of history, but for every one who peruses the daily accounts of the events which are taking place in various parts of the world, whether they are the feats of war or of commerce. It has long been confidered as a material branch of a polite education; at prefent indeed it is more particularly requifite that it should be fo, as the British commerce and colonies extend our connexions to fo many different countries; and as many voyages of discovery have of late years been made.

Chronology furnishes the standard by which the fucceffion of time is measured. By its affiftance we can calculate the rife and fall of empires, the length of lives, and the dates of all remarkable Occurrences. It includes eras and epochs. These fignify

gnify the time when, any memorable event takes place, as the Chriftian era means the birtir of Chrift.

Different nations have adopted different modes of computing time. The moft antient we read of is that of Mofes. In his defcription of the deluge he calculates by months, confifting each of thirty days, and by years, confifting of 360 days each P. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians reckoned in the fame manner, and from them probably Mofes adopted his method, as he was verfed in all their learning.

? This is afferted in general terms in Dodley's Preceptor, and the proof may be fatisfactorily made out in the following manner, by which the particular details of fcripture, relative to the deluge, in Genefis, chap. vii. will be made exactly to amount to the fum total in Genefis, chap. viii. v. 13.

Months 17 Days. The time when the fountains of the deep were dried up.

40 Days. Continuation of rain.

40...... Increase of the deluge.

...... Its continuation.

150...

40...... Its decrease.

7................ The dove fent from the ark the first time.

7. The dove fent out the fecond time.

301 Days divided by 30-10 Months 1 Day.

Add the 2 Months

2

12 Months 1 Day.

That is, the first month in the first day of the month, as stated in chap. viii. v. 13, when the face of the ground was dry, and th waters had intirely fubfided.

VOL. I.

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The

The Greeks calculated by Olympiads. An Olympiad is a space of four years, after the expi→ ration of which, that is in the fifth year, games in honour of Jupiter Olympius were celebrated with great pomp and feftivity by the Greeks near Olympia, a city in Peloponnefus. They were fully eftablished in the 3228th year of the world, 776 before Chrift. This mode of computation appears to have ceafed after the 364th, which ended A.D. 440, as we have no further mention of them in history.

The ufual mode of Roman computation was from the years which had elapfed from the building of the City, anno urbis conditæ, expreffed briefly by the letters A.U.C. This event took place in the 3252d year of the world, and the 752d year before Chrift.

The ordinary mode of reckoning the years of the world is to take 4004 before Chrift for the era of the creation, which is adopted from the Hebrew text of the Scriptures. Chriftians compute from the most memorable of all eras, the birth of our Saviour, which happened in the 27th year of the reign of Auguftus, and in the year of Rome 749. The Turks compute from the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet from Mecca; this happened in the 622d year of our Lord, when Heraclius was Emperor of the Eaft. The Julian, or old ftile, is fo called from Julius Cæfar, who regulated the Roman Calendar. He added a day immediately after the

twenty

twenty-fourth of February, called by the Romans the fixth of the Calends of March; as it was thus reckoned twice, the year in which it was introduced was called Biffextile, or what we call Leap Year.

This Calendar was ftill more reformed by order of Pope Gregory XIII. in 1532, from whence arofe the New Style, which is now observed in every European country, except Ruffia. The Julian year was too long by nearly eleven minutes, which excess amounts to about three days in 400 years: the Pope therefore, with the advice of able aftronomers, ordained that a day in every three centuries out of four fhould be omitted; fo that every century, which would otherwife be a biffextile year, is made to be only a common year, excepting only fuch centuries as are exactly divifible by four, which happens once in four centuries. This reformation of the Calendar commenced in the countries under the papal influence on the 4th of October, 1582, when ten days were omitted at once, which had been overrun fince the Council of Nice in 325, by the overplus of eleven minutes each year. In England this New Style commenced only in 1752, when eleven days were omitted at once, the 3d of September being reckoned the 14th in that year; as the furplus minutes had then amounted to eleven days. The Calendar thus reformed, which, by an Act of Parliament in the 24th of George II. was ordered to be obferved, comes very nearly to the accuracy of nature,

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