covered the coast of Labrador, and coasted northerly, as far as the 67th degree of latitude.

1497. In company with his son, Sebastian Cabot, he discovered Bonavista, on the N. E. side of Newfoundland; and, before his return, traversed the coast from Davis's straits to cape Florida.

1498. This year Columbus made his third voyage, and, Aug. 1, discovered the CONTINENT, at the mouth of the Oronoco, together with the island of Trinidad. He then returned to Hispaniola; and in October, 1500, was sent back to Spain in chains !!!

1500. Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on a voyage to the East-Indies, dis Covered Brazil.

1502. Columbus made his fourth and last voyage. He discovered the bay of Honduras, and coasted thence easterly 200 leagues, as far as the gulf of Darien. During this voyage, he was shipwrecked on the island of Jamaica. He returned to Spain in 1504. On his arrival he received the fatal news of the death of his patroness, Queen Isabella.*

1513. Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, from the mountains of the isthmus, discovered the Pacific ocean. He afterwards waded into it, and took a formal possession of it, in the name of the king of Spain. In the same year John Ponce, a Spanish captain, discovered East-Florida.

1520. Ferdinand Magalhaens, or Magellan, a Portuguese gentleman, in the employ of the court of Castile, discovered the straits of Magellan, and sailed through them into the Pacific ocean. No European before him had ever sailed on its waters. To him it owes its name.

1534. James Cartier, in the employ of Francis I. of France, on the day of the festival of St. Lawrence, discovered the gulf and river, which bear that name.

1553. Sir Hugh Willoughby discovered the island of Spitzbergen.

1578. Sir Francis Drake coasted along the whole western shore of South-America. In 1579 he discovered California, and took possession of the country under the name of New-Albion. He passed thence to the Moluccas, or Spice islands, Sept. 29, 1579, and arrived in England, Nov. 3, 1580, after an absence of two years and ten months.

1585. John Davis, an experienced navigator, sailed to the western coast of Greenland, and explored Davis's straits. On another voyage he proceeded as far north, as the island of Disco, and discovered Cumberland's straits.

This illustrious man was afterwards created duke of Veragua. He died of the gout at Valladolid, on the 20th of May, 1506, in the 59th year of his age; and was buried at Seville with this most honorable inscription.

A Castilla y a Leon

Nuevo Mundo dio Colon.

To Castile and to Leon

Colon gave a new world.

The body of Columbus was carried to the West-Indies, and buried in the the Cathedral at St. Domingo, in Hispaniola

1607. Henry Hudson explored the eastern coast of Greenland, as far as 82° north.

1609. In a second voyage, he discovered Hudson's river and ascended it, as far as Albany.

1610. This year Hudson made his third voyage, and discovered the straits of Hudson, and the large inland sea, known by the name of Hudson bay.

1616. Captain Robert Bylat, and William Baffin, went in search of a north-west passage to India. Baffin claims to have discovered that the body of water lying between Greenland and America is a bay, and not a strait; and, of course, that Greenland is not an island, but a part of the continent. Little credit, however, is given to his representations, and it is not yet ascertained whether Greenland is a peninsula or an island.

1728. Captain Vitus Behring sailed from Kamtschatka, N. E. as far as lat. 67°.

1745. In this year, the Aleutian or Fox islands, stretching west from the promontory of Alashka, were discovered by some Kamtschadale voyagers, who were driven by stress of weather near to the American coast.

1772. Mr. Hearne, while exploring the interior of North-America, discovered the Frozen sea, in about 110° west long. and in lat. 70° north. Mr. McKenzie, in 1789, discovered it in the same latitude, and in about 135° west.

Religions. The religions which exist in America are the Jewish, the Christian, and the Pagan.

A few Jews are scattered over the large towns of the United States, Mexico, the West-Indies, and South-America. This is almost the only country in which this scattered and devoted people have not been persecuted.

Of Christians, Roman Catholics are most numerous in America. They compose the chief European population of Canada, and the whole of that of Brazil and Spanish America. They are found, also, in considerable numbers in Maryland, in several of the capital towns in other parts of the United States, and in the West Indies.

Almost all the inhabitants of the United States are Protestants, as are those of Nova Scotia, New-Brunswick, New-Britain, Greenland, and the islands in the West-Indies, which were settled by the English.

The native tribes of North-America, a few converts to Christianity excepted, are Pagans; as are the nations in Amazonia and Patagonia, as well as most of the tribes in the conquered provinces of South-America.

Governments. The United States constitute a FEDERAL REPUBLIC; Greenland and British America are provinces; Brazil is now an independent kingdom; Spanish America is struggling to be free; Araucania, in Chili, is a republic; the island of St. Domingo calls itself an empire; and the Aborigines, where they are unsubdued, with the exception of the Araucanians of Chili, constitute numerous independent petty kingdoms.

Population. On this subject we have scarcely any thing to guide us but conjecture. That of the United States is known. That of British America can be nearly ascertained. That of Spanish America and Greenland can be guessed at; while at that of aboriginal America one would hardly venture to guess. From the best information which we have been able to obtain, we are however led to conclude, that it does not exceed 35,000,000. Nor do we believe that it falls greatly short of that number.

Climate and Seasons America extends through the torrid and northern temperate zones; through a great part of the southern temperate, and a considerable proportion of the northern frigid zones. The winters of North-America are colder, and the summers hotter, than those of Europe in the same latitudes. They bear a much nearer affinity to those of eastern Asia. The weather also is extremely variable. The equatorial regions of America are never subjected to the intense heat, which prevails in the same regions in Africa. The complexion of the aborigines of Peru and Brazil is red, and is but a few shades darker, than that of the indians of New-England. This milder temperature is owing to the vicinity of the Andes. The temperate regions of South-America are colder than the corresponding latitudes of North-America. It is also said, that the North-West Coast of America is much warmer than the N. E. in the same parallels.

Face of the Country. America contains no immense deserts similar to the Zaara of Africa, or the extensive sandy plains of central Asia.

Seas. HUDSON SEA (commonly called Hudson Bay) is considered as commencing at cape Chidley and cape Walsingham, that is, in long. 65° W. It reaches 30° of longitude; which, in lat. 60°, will be about 1050 miles. It lies between 51° and 69° N. lat. Its length of course is 1250 miles. Labrador bounds it on the E. and New North and New South Wales on the W. Its shores, from Moose river, or the bottom of the bay, to cape Churchill, are generally low and shallow, with a muddy or sandy bottom; and the lands are wooded with pines, birch, larch, and willows. From cape Churchill to cape Walsingham, the coasts are high and rocky to the very sea, and woodless, except the mouths of Pockerekesko and Seal rivers. Nor are there any trees for a great dis▸ tance inland. The whole western shore is faced with islands, at some distance from the land.

Caribbean Sea. The great mass of waters reaching from the peninsula of Yucatan, on the west, to the Windward Islands on the east, and having Porto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba, on the north, is usually called the Caribbean sea. It extends from 61° to 90° W. long. and from 8° to 22° N. lat. The bay of Honduras is near its western extremity. East of this bay lies the gulf of Darien.

Bays. The great bays or gulfs of the American continent are Baffin's bay; Hudson bay; the Caribbean sea; and the gulfs of St. Lawrence, Mexico, and California.

Baffin's Bay lies between Greenland on the east, and Labrador and the countries north of Hudson bay, on the west. According

to Baffin's narrative, it is a very large bay, extending not less than 1800 miles from N. to S. and near its northern extremity, not less than 600 from E. to W. Its width, near the southern extremity, in that part improperly called Davis's straits, is not more than 350 miles.

The Gulf of Mexico has East-Florida on the N. E. West-Florida and Louisiana on the N. and Mexico on the W. and S. It extends from 18° to 30° N. and from 83° to 98° W. It communicates with the Atlantic and the Caribbean sea, between cape Sable and cape Catoche. Its southern extremity is called the bay of Campeachy.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence has Labrador on the N. Newfoundland and Cape Breton on the E. and Nova-Scotia and Canada on the S. and W. It extends from about 46° to 52° N. lat. It has three communications with the ocean, one between Nova-Scotia and Cape Breton, called the gut of Canso; a second between Cape Breton and Newfoundland; a third between Newfoundland and Labrador, called the straits of Belleisle. The depth of this gulf is 240 miles, and its width at the mouth, 90 miles.

Gulf of California. This is a bay lying between the peninsula of California and Mexico. Its general course is from N. W. to S. E. It lies between lat. 20 20, and 32 30, N. and between long. 105° and 114° E. Its greatest length, from cape Corientes to the mouth of the Colorado, is not less than 900 miles. Its average breadth is about 200 miles. The gulf communicates with the Pacific ocean between cape St. Lucas, the southern extremity of the peninsula, in lat. 22 48, and cape Corientes on the Mexican coast, in lat. 20 20.*

The Gulf Stream is a remarkable current, occasioned by the general trade winds. Commencing at the equator, near the coast of Africa, by a westward course it crosses the Atlantic, and running along the shores of Guiana and Terra Firma, passes through the Caribbean sea, and coasts the gulf of Mexico. It then issues from the gulf, between cape Florida and the island of Cuba, and traversing the coasts of East-Florida, the United States, NewBrunswick, and Nova-Scotia, proceeds to the banks of Newfoundland. There it turns to the S. E; and, passing the Azores, it makes for the coast of Africa, near which, at the equator, it commences anew its former circuit. It is easily distinguishable from the other waters of the ocean by the gulf weed, with which it is every where interspersed; by being 8 or 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding sea; and by not sparkling in the night. In high latitudes, also, it is always covered with a thick fog. It passes about 75 miles from the shores of the southern states. The distance increases as you go northward. Its breadth is about 40 or 50 miles, widening to the north. Its common rapidity is 3 miles an hour, and it takes about 20 days for it to run from cape Florida to Newfoundland. Northeast and east winds narrow the stream, render it more rapid, and drive it nearer the coast. Northwest and west winds have a contrary effect. Skilful navigators, in their voyages from Europe to New-England, pass the banks of New

Venegas, Hist. California. Section II,

foundland in 44° or 459 N. lat. and sail thence between the northwestern limit of the gulf stream and the shoals and banks of Sable Island, George's Bank, and Nantucket.

Islands. The principal islands are Spitzbergen, Iceland, Terra del Fuego, Cuba, Hispaniola, and Newfoundland. The two first have commonly been considered as European isles; but they are much nearer to Greenland than to Norway. They will all be particularly described hereafter.

Lakes. The northern lakes of this continent may be considered under three great divisions. 1. Those whose waters are discharged into the Arctic ocean. 2. Those whose waters pass into Hudson bay. 3. Those which are emptied into the gulf of St. Law

rence.

1. Lakes whose waters are discharged into the Arctic ocean. Of these the two principal are lake of the Hills and Slave lake.

LAKE OF THE HILLS. This lake, according to M.Kenzie, reaches from 106° to 111 80 W. and from 58 40 to 59 40 N. lf this account be correct it is about 180 miles long, but every where narrow. Fort Chipewyan, the great rendezvous of the western traders, lies near its southwestern extremity, in lat. 58 40 N. iong. 110 30 W. It receives the waters of Elk river at the S. W. and and discharges them at the N. W. end. After running 20 miles due N. they flow into Slave river.

SLAVE LAKE. According to M'Kenzie's map, this lake lies between lat. 60 30 and 63° N. and between long. 110° and 119° W. Its length from E. N. E. to W. S. W. is about 270 miles; and its circumference, owing to its irregular shape, not less than 1000 or 1100 miles. Slave river enters it near the western end, and leaves it at the N. W. corner, in lat. 61 20 N. long. 118 30 W. where it first takes the name of McKenzie's river.

2. Lakes whose waters empty into Hudson bay. Of these, there are two classes: those emptied by Churchill's river, or the Missinipi; and those emptied by Nelson's river.

Of the former, lake la Loche, the source of the Missinipi, is 20 miles in length; Buffalo lake, 24 miles below, is 36 miles long and from 6 to 12 broad, and receives river La Loche at the N. W. end; lake La Crosse, still lower, is 35 miles by 12; Black Bear lake, à little more than 200 miles still lower on the stream than Buffalo lake, is 45 miles long. The Missinipi, leaving Black Bear lake, pursues an easterly course of 115 miles to portage de Traite, the height of land between the Missinipi and lake Winnipec, and thence runs N. E. to Hudson bay. We have mentioned these lakes rather on account of their connection, than their size.

Of the latter of these classes Cedar lake, 34 miles long and 12 broad, is the largest connected with the Saskatchawine before it falls into lake Winnipec; and Rainy lake and lake of the Woods are the two largest connected with Winnipec river.

RAINY LAKE. This is 45 miles long, but every where narrow, At the east end it receives Winnipec river, and discharges it at the west end. This lake is chiefly important as being part of the northern boundary of the United States.