290 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION. 



(7.) The defcription of any diftinft country 

 or region is called chorography. 



(8.) Topography is a particular defcription of 

 any place, in fo exact and minute a manner, that 

 no one circumftance relative to it is omitted. 



(g.) Hydrography is, laftly, the defcription of 

 waters ; for there are charts that contain merely 

 the plans of thofe feas, rivers, ftreams or lakes, 

 by which a country is watered. 



IV. As the furface of our globe is divided 

 into land and water, geography makes ufe of 

 certain" terms in defcribing each of thefe, of 

 which it is necefTary to give here a brief expla- 

 nation, in order to facilitate the underftanding of 

 what we have further to fay on this fubject. 



A continent is a large portion of the earth, 

 that contains leveral contiguous countries, and 

 that is not furrounded by the fea. 



An ifland is a part of the earth that is fur- 

 rounded by water. 



A peninfula, called in Greek cherfonefos, is a 

 piece of land that is almofl furrounded by the 

 fea. 



An ifthmus is a narrow neck of land that 

 joins a peninfula to the continent, as the ifthmus 

 of Corinth, Panama, &c. 



A defile is a narrow and difficult pafiage be- 

 tween mountains. 



A ftrand is a flat and fandy more, which the 

 flux and reflux of the fea covers and leaves un- 

 covered each tide. 



A 



