836 
GEOGRAPHY. 
i 
sequence their shadows projecting north at 
some seasons ot the year, and south at others, 
whence they were called Amphiscii,or having 
two kinds of shadows. 3. Those who live 
without the tropics have their noon-shadows 
alwa\s the same way, and are therefore call- 
ed Ileteroscii, that is. having onlv one kind 
ot shadow. It they are in north latitude, the 
shadows are always turned towards the north, 
and it in the southern hemisphere, towards 
the south. 4. When a place is so far distant 
from the equator that the days are 24 hours 
long, or longer, the inhabitants were called 
Periscii, because their shadows turn round 
them. 
Names have likewise been imposed upon 
the inhabitants of different parts of the earth 
from the parallels of latitude under which 
they live, and their situation with regard to 
one another. 1 . Those who lived at distant 
places, but under the same parallel, were 
call'd Perireci, that is, living in the same 
circle. Some writers, however, by the name 
of Periaeci distinguish those who live under 
opposite points of the same parallel, where 
the noon of one is the midnight of the other. 
2. \Vhen two places lie under parallels 
■-equally distant from the equator, but in oppo- 
site hemispheres, the inhabitants were called 
Antefcci. These have a similar increase of 
days and nights, and similar seasons, but in 
opposite months of the year. According to 
some, the Antaeci were such as lived under 
the same geographical meridian, and had day 
and night at the same time. 3. If two places 
are in parallels equally distant from the 
equator, and in opposite meridians, the inha- 
bitants were called Antipodes, that is, having 
their feet opposite to one another. When 
two persons. are Antipodes, the zenith of the 
one is the nadir of the other. They have a 
like elevation of the pole, but it is of ’different 
poles ; they have also days and nights alike, 
and similar seasons of the year, but they have 
opposite hoars of the day and night, as well 
as seasons of the year. Thus, when it is mid- 
day with us, it is midnight with our Anti- 
podes; when it is summer with us, it is winter 
with them, &c. 
From the various appearances of the sun, 
and the effects of his light and heat upon dif- 
ferent parts of the earth, the division of it into 
.zones has arisen. These are five in number. 
1 . The torrid zone, lying between the two 
tropics for the space of 47° of latitude. This 
is divided into two equal parts by tire equator. 
2. The two temperate zones lie between 
the polar circles and the tropics, containing 
a space of 43° of latitude. And, 3. The two 
frigid zones lie between the polar circles and 
the poles. In these last the longest day is 
never below 24 hours ; in the temperate zones 
it is never quite so much, and in the torrid 
zone it is. never above 14. The zones are 
named from the degree of heat they were 
supposed to be subjected to. 'The torrid 
zone was supposed by the antients to be un- 
inhabitable, on account of its heat; but this 
is now found to be a mistake, and many parts 
of the temperate zones are more intolerable 
tn this respect than the torrid zone itself. 
Towards the polar circles also these zones are 
intolerably cold during the winter season. 
Only a small part of the northern frigid zone, 
and none of the southern, is inhabited. Some 
geographers reckoned six zones, dividing the 
torrid zone into two by the equator. 
9 
j Besides these there are other technical 
; terms belonging to geography which it is ne- 
! cessary to explain ; some of these have rela- 
tion to the earth, and others to the water, 
j A continent is a large portion of the earth, 
; which comprehends several countries that 
j are not separated by any sea ; such are Tu- 
I rope, Asia, Africa, and America. An island 
j a part of the earth which is entirely sur- 
I rounded by water; as Great Britain. A pen- 
j insula is a tract of land almost surrounded 
with water, and is joined to a continent only 
by a narrow slip or neck ; such is the Morea 
in Greece. An isthmus, or neck of land, is 
that part by which a peninsula is joined to a 
continent, or two continents together; as the 
isthmus of Suez, which joins Africa (o Asia. 
A promontory, or cape, is a high part of land 
which stretches into the sea; dims the Cape 
of Good Hope is a promontory An ocean 
is a vast collection of waters surrounding a 
considerable part of the continent; as the 
Atlantic. A sea is a smaller collection of wa- 
ters ; as the Black Sea. A gulf is a part of 
the sea which is nearly surrounded with land; 
as the gulf of Venice, A hay lias a wider 
entrance than a gulf; as the Bay of Biscay. , 
A strait is a narrow passage that joins two 
seas; as the Strait of Gibraltar, which joins 
the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. A lake 
is a large collection of water entirely sur- 
rounded by land, having no visible commu- 
nication with the sea; as the Caspian Lake in 
Asia. A river is a stream of water that has 
its source from a spring, which keeps con- 
stantly running till it falls into some other 
river, or into the sea. 
lira popular point of view, geography ad- 
mits ot three divisions: 1. 'Tire antient or 
classical, which describes the state of the 
earth, not extending farther than the 500th 
year of the Christian icra. 2. 'That of the 
middle ages, which reaches to the 15th cen- 
tury, when the discoveries of the Portuguese 
began to lay broader foundations for this sci- 
ence. 3. Modern geography, the chief ob- 
ject of which is to present the most recent 
and authentic information concerning the 
nations and states which divide and diversify 
the earth. In some instances natural barriers 
have divided, and continue to divide, nations; 
but in general the boundaries are arbitrary, 
so that the natural geography of a country 
may be regarded as a sequel to the science, 
which is chiefly occupied in describing the 
diversities of nations, and the conditions of 
the various races of mankind. 
The antients considered the globe under 
the three grand divisions of Asia, Europe, 
and Africa. Here the distinctions were arbi- 
trary, as they often included Egypt under 
Asia, and they had not discovered the limits 
of Europe towards the N. F.. Modern dis- 
coveries have added a fourth division, that of 
America, which exceeding even Asia in size, 
might have been admitted under two grand 
and distinct denominations, limited by the 
isthmus of Darien. Till within these last 30 
years it was supposed that a vast continent 
existed in the south of the globe; but the se- 
cond navigation of captain Cook dispelled 
the idea, and demonstrated, that if any Con- 
tinent existed there, it must be in the uninha- 
bitable . ice of the south pole. The vast ex- 
tent of New Holland rewarded the views of 
eHterprize; this, which seems too large to be 
ranked among islands, and too small for a 
continent, eludes the petty distinctions of 
man: and while geographers hesitate whe- 
ther to ascribe it to Asia, or to denominate 
it a fifth specilic division of the earth, it is ’ 
not impi obablc that the popular division of 
tour quarters will still predominate over all tj 
sp ec n la 1 1 ve d i sc uss ions . 
Of the grind divisions of the earth, Asia 1 
has ever been esteemed the most populous; \ 
and is supposed to contain live hundred mil- ] 
lions of souls, if China, as has been averred I 
by the latest w l iters, comprizes three hundred 
and thirty m. I. ions. I lie population of Africa 
may be estimated at thirty millions, of Ame- 
nta at twenty millions, undone hundred and 
fifty millions may perhaps be assigned to 
Europe. 
Modern discoveries have evinced that 
more than two-thirds of the globe is covered 
with water, which is contained in hollow 
spaces, or concavities, more or 1 ss large. But 
the chief convexities or protuber nces of the 
globe consist of elevated uplands, sometimes 
crowned by mountains, sometimes rather 
level, as the extensive protuberance of Asia, 
in either case, long chains of mountains com- 
monly proceed from those chief convexities 
in various directions, and the principal rivers 
usually spring from the most elevated 
grounds. 
Tiie grandest concavity of this globe is 
filled by tiie Pacific Ocean; occupying nearly 
half its surface from the eastern shores of New 
Holland, to the western coast of America, - 
and diversified with several groups of islands, 
which seem in a manner the summits of vast 
mountains emerging from the waves. 'Tins 
ocean receives hut few rivers, the chief beiug 
the Amur from Tartary, the Hoan Ho and 
Kian Ku from China, while the principal 
rivers ot America run towards the east. 
Next to this in magnitude is the Atlantic, 
between the Old and New Continents ; and 
the third is the Indian Ocean. 'The seas be- 
tween the arctic and antarctic circles and the 
poles, have been sometimes styled the Arctic 
and Antarctic Oceans; but the latter is only 
a continuation of the Pacific, Atlantic, and 
Indian Oceans, while the Arctic bca is partly ■■n 
embraced by continents, and receives many 
important rivers. Besides these, there are 
other seas more minute, as the Mediterra- 
nean, the Baltic, and others still smal er, till 
we come by due gradation to inland lakes of 
fresh water. 
'i'he courses of rivers are sometimes mark- 
ed by oblong concavities, which generally at 
first intersect the higher grounds, till the" de- 
clivity becomes more gentle on their ap- 
proach towards their inferior receptacles. 
But even large rivers are found sometimes to 
spring from lowland marshes, and wind 
through vast plains, unaccompanied bv any 
concavity, except that of their immediate 
course; while on the other hand, extensive 
vales, and low hollow spaces, frequently oc- 
cur destitute of any stream, li vers will als > 
sometimes force a passage where nature has 
erected mountains and rocks against it, and 
where the concavity would appear to be in 
another direction, which the river mi-riit 
have gained with more ease. In like manner 
though the chief mountains of Europe extend 
in a south-easterly, and north-westerly direc- 
tion, yet there are so many exceptions, and 
such numerous and important variations in 
