1

the representation will not fall very much short of the globe for exactness ; becaufe fuch maps might be joined together fo as to form a convex furface, nearly as fpherical as the globe itself.

CARDINAL POINTS.] The north is confidered as the upper part of the map: the fouth is at the bottom, oppofite to the north; the eaft is on the right hand, the face being turned to the north; and the weft on the left hand, oppofite to the eaft. From the top to the bottom are drawn meridians, or lines of longitude; and from fide to fide, parallels of latitude. The outermost of the meridians and parallels are marked with degrees of latitude and longitude, by means of which, and the fcale of miles commonly placed in the corner of the map, the fituation, diftance, &c. of places, may be found, as on the artificial globe. Thus, to find the diflance of two places, fuppofe London and Paris, by the map, we have only to measure the space between them with the compafles, or a bit of thread, and to apply this diftance to the scale of miles, which fhows that London is 210 miles diftant from Paris. If the places lie directly north or fouth, eaft or weft, from each other, we have only to obferve the degrees on the meridians and parallels; and by turning these into miles, we obtain the distance without measuring. Rivers are defcribed in maps by black lines, and are wider towards the mouth than towards the head or fpring. Mountains are sketched on maps as on a picture. Forests and woods are reprefented by a kind of fhrub; bogs and moraffes, by fhades ; fands and shallows are defcribed by small dots; and roads ufually by double lines. Near harbours, the depth of the water is expreffed by figures, reprefenting fathoms.

LENGTH OF MILES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.] There is fcarcely a greater variety in any thing than in this fort of meature: not only those of separate countries differ, as the French from the English, but those of the fame country vary in the different provinces, from each other, and from the ftandard. Thus the common English mile differs from the ftatute mile and the French have three forts of leagues. We fhall here give the miles of feveral countries, compared with the English, by Dr. Halley.

The English ftatute mile confifts of 5280 feet, 1760 yards, or 8 furlongs.

The Ruffian vorft is little more than of a mile English.

- The Turkish, Italian, and old Roman leffer mile, is nearly one English.

The Arabian, ancient and modern, is about 14 English.

The Scotch and Irish mile is about 1 English.

The Indian is almost 3 English.

The Dutch, Spanish, and Polish, is about 35 English.

The German is more than 4 English.

The Swedish, Danifh, and Hungarian, is from 5 to 6 English

The French common league is near 3 English; and

The English marine league is 3 English miles.

PART II.

OF THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS, LAWS, GOVERNMENT, AND COMMERCE.

HAVING, in the following work, mentioned the ancient names of countries, and even fometimes, in fpeaking of thofe countries. carried our refearches beyond modern times, -it was thought neceffary, in

drder to prepare the reader for entering upon the particular hiftory of` each country we defcribe, to prefent him with a general view of the hiftory of mankind, from the firft ages of the world to the reformation in religion during the 16th century. By a hiftory of the world, we do not mean a mere lift of dates (which, when taken by itself, is a thing extremely infignificant), but an account of the moft interefting and important events which have happened among mankind; with the causes that have produced, and the effects which have followed from, them. This we judge to be a matter of high importance in itfelf, and indifpenfably requifite to the understanding of the prefent ftate of commerce, government, arts, and manners, in any particular country it may be called commercial and political geography, and, undoubtedly, conftitutes the most useful branch of that science.

The great event of the creation of the world, before which there was neither matter nor form of any thing, is placed, according to the best chronologers, in the year before Chrift 4004; and in the 710th year of what is called the Julian period, which has been adopted by fome chronologers and hiftorians, but is of little real fervice. The facred records have fully determined the question, that the world was not eternal, and also afcertained the time of its creation with great precision*.

B. C.

It appears in general, from the first chapters in Genefis, that the world, before the flood, was extremely populous; that mankind had made confiderable improvement in the arts, and were become extremely vicious, both in their fentiments and manners. Their wickednets gave occafion to a memorable cataftrophe, by which the whole human race, except Noah and his family, were swept from the face 2348. of the earth. The deluge took place in the 1656th year of the world, and produced a very confiderable change in the foil and atmosphere of this globe, rendering them lefs friendly to the frame and texture of the human body. Hence the abridgement of the life of man, and that formidable train of diseases which has ever fince made fuch havock in the world. A curious part of hiftory follows that of the defuge, the repeopling of the world, and the rifing of a new generation from the ruins of the former. The memory of the three fons of Noah, the first founders of nations, was long preferved among their feveral defcendants. Japhet continued famous among the wefter nations, under the celebrated name of Iapetus; the Hebrews paid an equal veneration to Shem, who was the founder of their race; and, among the Egyptians, Ham was long revered as a divinity, under the name of Jupiter Hammon. It appears that hunting was the principal occupation fome centuries after the deluge. The world teemed with wild beasts; and the great heroism of thofe times confifted in deftroying them. Hence Nimrod obtained immortal renown, and by the admiration which his courage and dexterity univerfally excited was enabled to ac- B. C. quire an authority over his fellow-creatures, and to found at Ba- 2247. bylon the first monarchy whofe origin is particularly mentioned in hiftory. Not long after, the foundation of Nineveh was laid by Affur; in Egypt the four governments of Thebes, Theri, Memphis, and Tanis, began to affume fome appearance of form and regularity. That these events fhould have happened fo foon after the deluge, whatever furprise

The Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch, or five books of Mofes, makes the antediluvian period only 1307 years, 349 fhort of the Hebrew Bible computation; and the Septuagint copy fretches it to 2262 years, which is 606 years exceeding it; but the Hebrew

it may have occafioned to the learned fome centuries ago, need not in the smallest degree excite the wonder of the prefent age. We have feen, from many inftances, the powerful effects of the principles of population, and how speedily mankind increase, when the generative faculty lies under no restraint. The kingdoms of Mexico and Peru were incomparably more extenfive than thofe of Babylon, Nineveh, and Egypt, during that early age; and yet thefe kingdoms are not fuppofed to have exifted four centuries before the difcovery of America by Columbus. As mankind continued to multiply on the earth, and to separate from each other, the tradition concerning the true God was obliterated or obfcured. This occafioned the calling of Abraham to be the 1921*. father of a chofen people. From this period the history of ancient nations begins to dawn; and we learn several particulars of importance.

B. C.

Mankind had not long been united into focieties before they began to opprefs and deftroy each other. Chedorlaomer, king of the Elamites, or Perfians, was already become a robber and a conqueror. His force, however, could not have been very great, fince, in one of his expeditions, Abraham, aflified only by his houfehold, fet upon him in his retreat, and, after a fierce engagement, recovered all the fpoil that had been taken. Abraham was foon after obliged by a famine to leave Canaan, the country where God had commanded him to fettle, and to go into Egypt. This journey gives occafion to Mofes to mention some particulars refpecting the Egyptians, which evidently difcover the characteristics of an improved and powerful nation. The court of the Egyptian monarch is defcribed in the most brilliant colours. He was furrounded by a crowd of courtiers, folely occupied in gratifying his pasfions. The particular governments into which that country was divided, were now united under one powerful prince; and Ham, who led the colony into Egypt, became the founder of a mighty empire. We are not, however, to imagine, that all the laws which took place in Egypt, and which have been fo juftly admired for their wifdom, were the work of that early age. Dioderus Siculus, a Greek writer, mentions many fucceffive princes, who laboured for their eftablishment and perfection. But in the time of Jacob, two centuries after, the first principles of civil order and regular government feem to have been tolerably understood among the Egyptians. The country was divided into feveral diftricts or feparate departments; councils, compofed of experienced and select perfons, were established for the management of public affairs; granaries for preferving corn were erected; and, in fine, the Egyptians in that age, enjoyed a commerce far from inconfiderable. These facts, though of an ancient date, deferve our particular attention. It is from the Egyptians that many of the arts, both of elegance and utility, have been handed down in an uninterrupted chain to the modern nations of Europe. The Egyptians communicated their arts to the Greeks; the Greeks taught the Romans many improvements both in the arts of peace and war; and to the Romans, the prefent inhabitants of Europe are indebted for their civilifation and refinement. The kingdoms of Babylon and Nineveh remained separate for feveral centuries: but we fcarcely know even the names of the kings who governed them, except that of Ninus, the fucceffor of Affur, who, fired with the fpirit of conqueft, extended the

According to Dr. Playfair's Chronological Tables, the birth of Abraham is fixed at be fore Chrift 2060, and his being called out of Urr, at 1986.

bounds of his kingdom, added Babylon to his dominions, and laid the foundation of that monarchy, which raised to its meridian fplendor by his enterprifing fucceffor Semiramis, and diftinguished by the name of the Affyrian empire, ruled Afia for many ages.

Javan, fon of Japhet, and grand-fon of Noah, was the ftock from whom all the people known by the name of Greeks are defcended. Javan esta. blished himself in the islands on the western coast of Afia Minor, from whence it was impoffible that fome wanderers fhould not pafs over into Europe. The kingdom of Sicyon near Corinth, founded by the Pelafgi, is generally supposed to have commenced in the year before Chrift 2090. To thefe first inhabitants fucceeded a colony from Egypt, who, about 2000 years before the Chriftian æra, penetrated into Greece, and, under the name of Titans, endeavoured to establish monarchy in that country, and to introduce into it the laws and civil polity of the Egyp→ tians. But the empire of the Titans was foon diffolved; and the Greeks, who seem to have been at this time as rude and barbarous as any people in the world, again fell back into their lawless and favage manner of life. Several colonies, however, foon after paffed over from Afia into Greece, and, by remaining in that country, produced a more confiderable alteration in the manners of its inhabitants. The moft ancient of these were the colonies of Inachus and Ogyges; of whom the former fettled in Argos, and the latter in Attica. We know very little of Ogyges or his fucceffors. Thofe of Inachus endeavoured to unite the difperfed and wandering Greeks; and their endeavours for this purpose were not altogether unfuccessful.

B. C.

1850.

B. C.

But the hiftory of the Ifraelites is the only one with which we are much acquainted during thofe ages, The train of curious events which occafioned the fettling of Jacob and his family in that part of Egypt of which Tanis was the capital, are univerfally known. That patriarch died, according to the Septuagint verfion of the Bible, 1794 years before Chrift, but, according to the Hebrew chronology, only 1689 years, 1689. and in the year of the world 2315. This is a remarkable æra with refpect to the nations of heathen antiquity, and concludes that period of time which the Greeks confidered as altogether unknown, and which they have greatly disfigured by their fabulous narrations. Let us regard this period then in another point of view, and confider what we can learn from the facred writings, with respect to the arts, manners, and laws of ancient nations.

It is a common error among writers on this fubject, to confider all the nations of antiquity as being then alike in thefe refpects. They find fome nations extremely rude and barbarous, and hence they conclude that all were in the fame fituation. They difcover others acquainted with many arts, and hence they infer the wifdom of the first ages. There appears, however, to have been as much difference between the inhabitants of the ancient world, with regard to arts and refinement, as between the civilifed kingdoms of modern Europe, and the Indians of America, or the negroes on the coaft of Africa. Noah was undoubtedly acquainted with all the fcience and arts of the antediluvian world; these he would communicate to his children, and they again would hand them down to their pofterity. Thofe nations, therefore, who fettled nearest the original feat of mankind, and who had the beft opportunities to avail themselves of the knowledge which their great ancestor was poffeffed of, early formed themselves into regular focieties, and made confiderable improvements in the arts which are moft fubfervient to hu man life. Agriculture appears to have been known in the first ages of

the world. Noah cultivated the vine; in the time of Jacob, the fig-tree and the almond were well known in the land of Canaan; and the inftruments of husbandry, long before the difcovery of them in Greece, are often mentioned in the facred writings. It is fcarcely to be fuppofed that the ancient cities, both in Afia and Egypt, (whofe foundation, as we have already mentioned, afcends to the remoteft antiquity) could have been built, unless the culture of the ground had been practifed at that time. Nations who live by hunting or pafturage only lead a wandering life, and feldom fix their refidence in cities. Commerce naturally follows agriculture and though we cannot trace the steps by which it was introduced among the ancient nations, we may, from detached paffages in facred writ, afcertain the progress which had been made in it during the patriarchal times. We know from the hiftory of civil fociety, that the commercial intercourfe between men must be pretty confiderable, before the metals come to be confidered as the medium of trade; and yet this was the cafe even in the days of Abraham. It appears, however, from the relations which eftablish this fact, that the ufe of money had not been of ancient date; it had no mark to afcertain its weight or finenefs; and in a contract for a burying-place, in exchange for which Abraham gave filver, the metal was weighed in the prefence of all the people. As commerce improved, and bargains of this fort became more common, this practice was laid afide, and the quantity of filver was afcertained by a particular mark, which faved the trouble of weighing it. But this does not appear to have taken place till the time of Jacob, the fecond from Abraham. The refilah, of which we read in his time, was a piece of money, ftamped with the figure of a lamb, and of a precife and stated value. It appears from the hiftory of Jofeph, that the commerce between different nations was by this time regularly carried on. The Ifhmaelites and Medianites, who bought him of his brethren, were travelling merchants, resembling the modern caravans, who carried fpices, perfumes, and other rich commodities, from their own country into Egypt. The fame obfervation may be made from the book of Job, who, according to the best writers, was a native of Arabia Felix, and also a contemporary with Jacob. He speaks of the roads of Thema and Saba, i. e. of the caravans which fet out from thofe cities of Arabia. If we reflect that the commodities of that country were rather the luxuries than the neceffaries of life, we shall have reason to conclude that the countries into which they were fent for fale, and particularly Egypt, were confiderably improved in arts and refinement.

In fpeaking of commerce, we ought carefully to diftinguish between the fpecies of it which is carried on by land, or inland commerce, and that which is carried on by fea; which laft kind of traffic is both later in its origin, and flower in its progrefs. Had the defcendants of Noah been left to their own ingenuity, and received no tincture of the antediluvian knowledge from their wife ancestors, it is improbable that they should have ventured on navigating the open feas fo foon as we find they did. That branch of his pofterity who fettled on the coafts of Paleftine, were the first people of the world among whom navigation was made fubfervient to commerce: they were diftinguished by a word which in the Hebrew tongue fignifies merchants, and are the fame nation afterwards known to the Greeks by the name of Phoenicians. Inhabiting a barren and ungrateful foil, they applied themfelves to better their fituation by cultivating the arts. Commerce was their principal purfuit: and with all the writers of pagan antiquity they pafs for the inventors of whatever tended to its inprovement. At the time of Abraham they were re