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with 365 shops; another contains 200 shops; and Selim's mosk, on a hill, is a magnificent structure. The emperor's seraglio is two miles in circuit, exclusive of the gardens, which are much more extensive.

598. Commerce. From Turkey are exported cotton, silk, wool, camel yarn, lether, carpets, coffee, wine, rice, fruits, tobacco, honey, wax, cattle, marble, &c. The imports are woollens, corn, indigo, sugar, cochineal, spices, glass, hardware and East-India goods. In Turkey manufactures are neglected, but the natural productions are excellent, and in great abundance. Wallachia alone produces five million eymers of wine, each weighing 22 pounds. The honey and wax of Moldavia yield a revenue of 200,000 dollars to the prince. Macedonia, Candia and Livadia furnish yearly three million pounds of honey, a fourth of which is exported.

599. Decline of Arts in Turkey. While Constantinople was the seat of the Greek empire, it contained the literature and the arts of Europe and the east. But when the Turks obtained possession of that city, and of ancient Greece, that fine country soon became the prey of ignorance and bigotry. The Greeks, oppressed by their masters, have lost the spirit, tho they retain the elegant persons, of their ancestors. Their language is corrupted, their minds depressed, and their arts and ambition extinguished. Athens, that proud mistress of all that was correct and sublime in literature, and all that was elegant in the arts, contains not more than 6000 inhabitants, who live in mean hovels, among the ruins of splendid temples, and magnificent marble column

TURKISH ISLANDS.

600. Candia. The largest of the islands which belong to Turkey is Candia, formerly called Crete. This lies in the Mediterranean, to the south of the Cyclades, a cluster of islands in the Archipelago, between 23 and 27 degrees of east longitude, in the 35th degree of north latitude. It is about 200 miles in length and 50 in bredth. On this island is Ida, the mountain celebrated by the ancients as the place where Jupiter was educated. It was formerly very populous, containing ne

less than 100 cities, and governed by the laws of the illustrious Minos. It long resisted the Romans, but was at last subjected to their power, about 66 years before the christian era. This island was one of the first to receive the gospel from St. Paul. It was conquered by the Saracens, reconquered by the christian emperor, Phocas, and sold to the Venetians in 1194. In 1670, it was subdued by the Turks, after a memorable siege which lasted 24 years.

601. Description of Candia. The present name, Candia, was originally that of the capital of the island, derired from Khandah, the Arabian name of intrenchment, which the Saracens gave to the fortress that they erected when they conquered the country. It is far less populous than formerly, its 1000 cities and villages being reduced to 300. The climate is mild and temperate beyond description. It has rains in winter, but in summer, a cloudless sky, perpetual serenity, and the heat tempered by refreshing breezes from the sea.The inhabitants are handsome and well made, the females having a neck gracefully rounded, black sparkling eyes, a small mouth, a fine nose, and cheeks delicately tinged with the vermilion of health. The land produces corn, wine, oil, silks and honey, and the hills are overspread with balsamic and odoriferous plants.

602. Negropont. Negropont, the ancient Eubea, lies in the Archipelago, near the coast of Beotia, now Livadia, from which it is separated by a narrow strait, called formerly Euripus. It is about 100 miles long and 20 broad, and produces the same grain and fruits as the other parts of Greece. It is connected with the continent by a bridge, and the harbor of Negropont, its capital, is filled with ships and galleys. The capital contains 15,000 inhabitants, more than half of whom are christians. The strait of Euripus is remarkable for the irregularity of its tides, for they are regular only for some days at the full and change, but at other times irregular, flowing and ebbing twelve or fourteen times in 24 hours.

603. Lemnos and Lesbos. Opposit to the entrance of the Hellespont, or Dardanelles, lies Lemnos, now cal

From the

led Stalimene, which is 112 miles in circuit. number of its blacksmiths, in ancient times, the poets made it sacred to Vulcan. Its inhabitants are mostly industrious Greeks. Here is obtained the earth called terra sigillata, a species of clay, much extolled for its medicinal virtues, but probably without good reason.Lesbos, near the coast of Asia, is 160 miles in circumference, and remarkable for its fruits and excellent wine.

604. Chio. Chio, now called Scio, near the coast of Asia, is 32 miles long and 15 broad. It was anciently celebrated for its wine, and still produces good wine and fruits. The hills are covered with vines, and groves of orange, lemon and citron trees, interspersed with olive and palm trees, myrtles and jasmins, perfume the air with the odor of their blossoms, and delight the eye with their golden fruits. The commerce consists in the export of wine, silks, wool, cheese, figs and mastic; and the people are civil. The patridges here are said to be tame, being sent out to feed in the day, and called home by a whistle at evening. The inhabitants are computed to be 120,000, most of them Greeks.

605. Samos. To the southward of Scio, lies Samos, near the coast of Asia, and the ancient Ephesus. It is 32 miles in length and 22 in bredth, and extremely fertile, producing wine, and all the fruits of the climate.The silk is very fine, and the honey and wax of superior quality. The earthen ware of this island was highly esteemed by the ancients. The white figs are here of a remarkable size. Here are also iron mines, emery stone, and white marble. The poultry and wild fowl are in abundance. The inhabitants are about 12,000, mostly Greeks, who live at their ease, being moderately taxed by the Turks, whose dress they imitate. The females wear long hair, hanging down their backs, and fastened by plates of silver or tin.

606. Cyclades and Sporades. The Cyclades are a cluster of islands in the Archipelago, lying in the form of a circle. The principal of these are Delos, Menos, Naxos, Andros and Tenos. They are celebrated in antiquity for their valuable productions, and some of them as the birth place of illustrious men. Near the Asiatic

coast lie also a chain of islands, called Sporades, from their dispersed situation. The latter, with Samos and Chio, more properly belong to Asia, than to Europe.

VENICE.

607. Venice. This city, which has formerly constituted a republic of no inconsiderable power and distinction, was founded about the year 452, upon a number of small islands, at the head of the Adriatic, by men who fled from the destructive sword of Attila, when conquering and ravaging Italy. It gradually rose to a high rank, and in the 12th century was able to oppose the emperor of Germany. For some centuries before the discovery of a passage to the East by the Cape of Good Hope, a great commerce between Europe and Asia was carried on by the Venetians. But that discovery diverted the East India trade from Venice, which, with her continual wars, reduced her power, and she became an inferior state. During the late invasion of Italy by the French, Venice was taken by them, and ceded by treaty to the emperor of Austria. But since the invasion of Austria, and the battle of Austerlitz, Venice has been annexed to the kingdom of Italy.

608. Description of Venice. Venice being situated on about 70 low islands, surrounded by water, appears like a floating town. The shallow water around the city serves for a defense against an enemy; yet by the arms and the stratagems of the French, it has been subdued, and its independence annihilated. The streets are paved with white stone, and clean, but narrow and crooked, and no wheel carriage is used in the city. The city is intersected by canals, over which are bridges of white stone, the principal of which, called the Realto, is of marble, having an arch of 90 feet, and costing 250,000 ducats. On these canals ply innumerable gondolas, some of them elegantly built and decorated. The city contains many springs of water, but some of them are not good, and many persons preserve water in cisterns. The city contains many magnificent buildings, as the ducal palace, the mint, library, arsenal, the square and church of St. Mark, with immense collections of books, paintings and statu- ·

ary. The inhabitants of Venice are about 150,000, and their commerce and manufactures are considerable. Their principal manufactures are silks, velvet, gold and silver stuffs, brocades, paper, and particularly most beautiful glass.

609. Territories and Islands of Venice. Formerly Venice possessed, upon the continent, Istria, Dalmatia, and several large islands in the Adriatic, as Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, and others. But Istria and Dalmatia have been erected into duchies, and annexed to the kingdom of Italy; and the large islands were, a few years ago, formed into a republic under the protection of Russia. Corfu, the ancient Corcyra, contains 50,000 souls, mostly Greeks, and is fruitful in all the productions of Greece. Cephalonia, 80 miles long and 40 broad, is fruitful and well peopled. Zante, the ancient Zacynthus, is 24 miles long and 12 broad, and produces all the fruits of Greece, especially currants. The inhabitants are about 40,000, one half of which belong to the capital of the same name.

POLAND.

610. History of Poland. Poland was formerly a kingdom of large extent and power, between Russia, Austria and Prussia, being nearly 700 miles square, including Lithuania, Red Russia, Podolia, Volhinia, and other provinces, and containing 14 millions of inhabitants. But the crown was elective, and this was so great a prize, as to excite intrigues in favor of the candidates over all Europe, and the elections produced violent factions, barefaced corruption and bribery, and were sometimes terminated by force. At length, a coalition was formed by the courts of Russia, Austria and Prussia to dismember Poland, and in 1772 the scheme was effected, each power took a part, and Poland was stripped of five millions of its inhabitants. In 1793 a second partition took place, and the nation making some effort to vindicate its rights, the troops of Russia entered the country, took Warsaw, the capital, and the king of Poland formally resigned his crown in 1795. Poland, therefore, as a state, is blotted from the map of Europe.

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