CilAP.V.] Geography. 43 



doms, especiallj' on the sea-coast, were familiar to 

 the scholar, their internal limits and condition were 

 very imperfectly understood even by the best in- 

 formed. But since that time rich additions have 

 been made to our knowledge of this quarter of the 

 globe. 



Peter the Great, after the battle of Pultowa, sent 

 many Swedish prisoners into Siberia. Until that 

 time little had been known concerning the interior 

 of those northern regions. Strahlenberg, one of 

 the prisoners, employed himself in exploring the 

 country, for the promotion of geographical know- 

 ledge. He collected and published much im- 

 portant information ; and his map of that part of 

 -Asia which he delineated, and presented to the 

 public in l?^?? niay be considered as laying the 

 first foundation for any thing like accurate ac- 

 quaintance with that portion of the Asiatic con- 

 tinent. The knowledge derived from Strahlenberg 

 has been since greatly improved and extended by 

 the travels of professor Pallas and others. 



About the year 1716, Dr. Shaw, an English 

 gentleman of character, travelled into Syria and 

 Palestine, and collected much vahrable information 

 concerning those countries, particularly calculated 

 to elucidate and conhrm the sacred history. In 

 1720, Mr. Bell travelled, in the suite of the Russian 

 ambassador, from Petersburg to Pekin ; and, in 

 the course of his journey, made many curious ob- 

 servations on that part of Asia through which he 

 passed, which he afterwards presented to the public 

 in a very interesting form. At several later periods 

 Syria has been visited, and many additional ac- 

 counts respecting it given by the abbe Mariti, 



