A Museum for Young Gentlemen and Ladies Part 9

[Ill.u.s.tration: woodcut of Egyptian couple]

_An Account of_ EGYPT.

EGYPT, a country in Africa, is parted from Asia by the Red Sea, and bounded on the north by the Mediterranean; on the east by Arabia Petraea; on the south by aethiopia and Nubia; and on the west by Barbary. The air of this country is very unhealthy, occasioned by the heat of the climate. The soil is made fruitful by the river Nile, which overflows the country annually, from the middle of June to September, and supplies the want of rain, of which there is very seldom any. It abounds with corn, and does not want for rice, sugar, dates, sena [sic], ca.s.sia, balm, leather, flax and linen cloth, which they export. Diodorus Siculus relates, that there had been formerly in Egypt, eighteen thousand great towns; the most noted of which was Alexandria. In the eastern parts, beyond the river Nile, is the famous country of Thebais, with its desarts [sic], where St. Anthony, St. Paul, and other anch.o.r.ets, had their cells. Beyond the Red Sea there is another desart, where the children of Israel lived forty years. The modern inhabitants are fine swimmers, handy, pleasant, and ingenious, but lazy. This kingdom was first governed by the Pharaohs; afterwards conquered by Alexander the Great; and in the sixteenth century, Selim, the Turkish Emperor, conquered the Mamulucks, or Saracens; for in the year 1516, defeating and killing Camson, Soldan of Egypt, and Tomumbey the next year after, Egypt was perfectly conquered by the Ottomans or Turks, who have governed it ever since by their Bashaws. The old religion of this country was idolatry, but now Mahometanism prevails most, through there are some few Christians.

_An Account of_ BARBARY.

BARBARY is bounded by Egypt on the east, Mount Atlas on the south, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the Mediterranean to the north.

Though this country be under the Torrid Zone, yet the mountains and sea coasts, between the Straits of Gibraltar and Egypt, are more cold than hot. The men of this country are allowed many wives though they seldom are married to more than one. The women are always veiled in the presence of men; so that a man knows no more of the beauty of the woman he marries, than what he learns from her parents, till they are actually married. The people are of a good mild humour, and such as live abroad under tents, as the Arabians or shepherds, are laborious, valiant, and liberal; but they who live in cities are proud, covetous, and revengeful; and though they traffic much, know but very little, and have neither banks nor bills of exchange. Their commodities are beef, hides, linen, and cotton; raisins, figs, and dates. It is a rich country, and governed, part of it, as Fez and Morocco, by Kings; and the other, as Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, by Bashaws from the Grand Seignior [sic]. As for religion, they have the Christian, Jewish, and Mahometan, and they who live in the mountains and fields with their flocke [sic], which are a great number, have hardly any at all. When any one dies, his friends have women that cry and scratch their faces, and take on seemingly with great grief for the deceased. They live mostly on rice, beef, veal, mutton; but wine is forbidden by Mahomet's law.

_A Description of_ ZAARA, _or the Great Desarts of_ AFRICA.

THE air of this country is very hot, so that the people are forced to keep in their little huts, or seek refreshment in caverns, the most part of the day; these desarts have a great number of lions, tigers, and ostriches. The inhabitants are unpolished, savage, and very bold, for they will stand and meet the fiercest lion or tiger.

They are divided into families or clans, each head of a family is sovereign in his own canton, and the eldest is always head; they follow the Mahometan religion, but are no strict observers of it.

The country is a mere desart, as the name imports, and so parched for want of water, that the caravans from Morocco to Negroland are obliged to carry both water and provisions, the province producing hardly any thing for the support of life.

_A Negroe Man and Woman in their proper Habits_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: woodcut of Negro couple]

_An Account of the Land of the_ NEGROES.

THIS country lies along the river Niger, on both sides of it, between Zaara and Guinea. It contains fourteen kingdoms. The inhabitants of the sea coast are somewhat civilized by their commerce with the Portuguese; but those that dwell up higher in the country are savage and brutal. They are continually at war with one another, and all the prisoners they take in war they sell for slaves. They sow neither wheat nor barley, but only millet; and their chief food is roots and nuts, pease and beans. The country is surrounded with woods, and abounds with elephants. They have no wine, but a pleasant sort of liquor, which they get from a certain sort of palm trees, in this manner--they give three or four strokes with a hatchet on the trunk of a tree, and set vessels to receive the distilling juice, which is very sweet, but in a few days grows strong, yet will not keep long, for in fifteen days it grows sour. One tree will yield near a gallon in twenty-four hours. The commodities of this country are gold, ostrich feathers, amber, gums, civit [sic], elephants teeth, and red-wood.

_An Account of_ aeTHIOPIA.

aeTHIOPIA is about one-half of Africa, and divided into the Upper and Lower aethiopia. This country is pretty full of mountains much higher than the Alps or Pyrenees, but level, s.p.a.cious, and well inhabited, and fruitful on the top; the soil near the Nile is fruitful, but at a distance chiefly sandy desarts. The people comely and well shaped, though black or swarthy. Their cattle are very large, their horses and camels courageous and stout. Their kings sit at table alone. Their messes not being very neat or costly, are served in black clay dishes, covered with straw caps finely woven; they use neither knives nor forks, spoons nor napkins, and think it beneath them to feed themselves, and so have youths on purpose to put the meat in their mouths. They have no towns, but live in tents, which are so very numerous where the King is, that they resemble a great city; and they have also their officers to prevent disorder, and things are so well managed, thatthey can remove speedily on all occasions without confusion. Their commodities are metals, gems, cattle, corn, sugar, canes, wine, and flax. They are a mixture of Jews, Mahometans, Pagans, and Christians. The government is subject to an Emperor, who is called Prestor [sic] John. In Lower aethiopia the commodities are silver, gold, ivory, pearls, musk, ambergris, oil, lemons, citrons, rice, millet, &c. The people have hitherto been esteemed barbarous and savage; but if the relations of Bruce, the celebrated traveller, are in the least to be depended on, we have done them great injustice in this respect; and we are well a.s.sured that they are not generally canibals [sic], as we have been accustomed to think them. The Hottentots inhabit part of the country, who are the most odious of all the human species, for they besmear their bodies with grease and all manner of filth, and adorn themselves with hanging the guts of bears about their arms, legs and necks.

_An Account of_ GUINEA.

GUINEA is a kingdom of Africa; the country is very extensive, and the people of Europe drive a great trade in it. The French were the first who discovered it, about the year 1346. The soil of this country is fertile, but the heat insupportable by any but the natives, who are counted the blackest of all the Negroes, and most of them go quite naked. Ignorance and stuperst.i.tion [sic] reign among them, and it is said that they offer human sacrifices. They look on G.o.d to be a good being, and for that reason only are civil to him; they wors.h.i.+p the devil, and pray earnestly he may do them no mischief. Their commodities are cotton, rice, sugar, canes, elephants, peac.o.c.ks, apes, and pearls. Several small Princes and states in the inland country, who are generally at war, sell their prisoners for slaves to the Europeans; others traffic to different countries for purchasing slaves, or steal them, and bring them down to the coast; and some will sell their children and nearest relations, if they have an opportunity.

AMERICA.

[Ill.u.s.tration: woodcut of American couple]

_An American Man and Woman in their proper Habits_.

AMERICA, the fourth and last quarter of the world, is divided into North and South America. North America contains Mexico, (or New Spain,) New Mexico, and California, Florida, Canada, (or New France,) Nova Scotia, New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsilvania [sic], Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. South America contains Terra Firma, the land of the Amazons, Brazil, Peru, Chili [sic], Paraguay, and Terra Magellanica.

_An Account of_ MEXICO, _or_ NEW SPAIN.

MEXICO is so called from its chief city; and New Spain since the Spaniards settled there. It has the sea of Mexico on the east, its gulph [sic], Florida, and New Mexico on the north, and the southern sea on the west and south. The air is temperate and healthful, and the soil fruitful, producing wheat, barley, pulse, and maize; and variety of fruits, as citrons, lemons, oranges, pomegranates, apples, pears, cherries, cocoa nuts, figs, &c. with great plenty of roots, plants, and herbs. There are some rich mines of gold and silver, in which about 4000 Spaniards continually work. The people are civil, and excel in painting and music: they are subject to the King of Spain: their religion is a mixture of Paganism and Christianity.

_An Account of_ NEW MEXICO, _or_ GRANADA.

THIS part of the world is not fully discovered by the Europeans.

The soil is sandy and barren, the air healthful and temperate, but not a little subject to hurricanes, thunder and lightning. There are some silver mines, turquoise, emeralds, crystal, &c. The natives are naturally good and civil, governed by a captain named Casich, whom they choose themselves. They are given to idolatry, and some adore the sun, others believe in a G.o.d, and some of them have no religion at all.

_An Account of_ FLORIDA.

FLORIDA is a large and fruitful country in North America, bounded on the north-east by Carolina, on the south, and some part of the west, by New Galicia and some countries not yet discovered. The air is very temperate, and soil extremely fertile, and produces grain, herbs, and fruit in great abundance. Ferdinando Soto, after the conquest of Peru, entered this country May 25, 1538, and gave it the name Florida, because the flowers were then on the ground, but died of grief, for being disappointed of the treasures which he expected. The native inhabitants were extirpated by the Spaniards, who disregarded every principle of humanity when the security of their acquisitions in the New World was in question; but this fine country was conquered from them by the English, to whom it was confirmed by the peace of Paris; its importance was however never sufficiently considered by them, and to gratify the jealousy of Spain it was restored to her at the peace of 1783. It was divided into East and West: St. Augustine and Pensacola are its chief towns; and its commodities furs, pearls, and the most delicious fruits.

The Spaniards regard it as forming a desirable frontier between them and the United States of America; but as the soil and climate are inferior to none in the world, it will doubtless one day emerge from its obscurity, become populous, and hold a high rank in the world.

_An Account of_ CANADA.

CANADA is the chief province now possessed by the English in America; it is bounded by New Britain and Honduras Bay on the North and East; by Nova Scotia, New England, and New York on the South; and by some of the great lakes, the new settlements of the United States, and the yet remaining possessions of the native Indians, on the West. The soil and climate are not very different from those of New England, though it has a much severer winter; but the air is very clear, the summer hot and pleasant. The meadow grounds are well watered, yield excellent gra.s.s, and breed vast numbers of cattle.

This country was originally settled by the French; and in so doing Louis XIV. seems to have formed the vast design of consolidating all North America under his dominion: the English, under Wolf [sic], Amherst, and Monkton [sic], conquered it in the years 1759 and 1760; and it was confirmed to us at the peace of 1763. The inhabitants were guaranteed in all their privileges; and the Roman Catholic religion is yet the most prevalent, though all others are tolerated. It has been lately divided into two provinces, Upper and Lower Canada, each having its separate government and legislature.

Its trade and population are annually and rapidly increasing.

Quebec, its capital, is situated at the confluence of the rivers St.

Laurence and St. Charles, about 320 miles from the sea, and is very strong both by nature and art; when taken by the immortal Wolfe it was supposed to contain about 15,000 inhabitants, independent of the garrison, and has since had considerable additions. The trade between Canada and England, the greater part of which centers here, is supposed to employ eight sail of s.h.i.+pping, and near 2000 seamen.

_An Account of_ TERRA FIRMA.

TERRA FIRMA, or the Firm Land, is a large country of South America, and contains eleven governments, subject to the King of Spain. The air here is extremely hot, though wholesome, the soil very fertile, when well manured. The natives are tawney [sic], robust, healthful, long lived, and go naked about the middle. The commodities are gold, silver, and other metals; balsam, rosin, gum, long pepper, emeralds, sapphire, jasper, &c. Here is one Spanish archbishopric and four bishoprics; but the natives are idolaters.

_An Account of_ PERU.

PERU is in South America, a large country, divided into six provinces. The air in some parts is very hot, in others sharp and piercing. The soil is the richest of all the Spanish plantations, abounding with exceeding high mountains and large pleasant vallies.

The commodities are vast quant.i.ties of gold and silver, valuable pearls, medicinal drugs, cochineal, tobacco, abundance of cotton, &c. The natives are of a copper colour, tall and well made; but are so depressed by the Spaniards, it is impossible to form any judgment of their genius, virtues, or vices.

_Of the Land of the_ AMAZONS.

THIS country is very little known, but as far as discovered the air is temperate, and the soil fertile. There are on the banks of the river Amazon about fifty nations of fierce savage people, said to eat human flesh. The commodities are gold, silver, sugar, ebony, cocoa, tobacco, &c. Their religion is Paganism, and language unknown.

_An Account of_ BRAZIL.

BRAZIL is in the east of South America, bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by some undiscovered countries between it and the mountains called Andes, on the north by Guiana, and on the south by Paraguay. It was discovered by the Portuguese in 1501, and is still in great part subject to them. The air is very temperate and wholesome, though under the torrid zone; the soil fertile, and the country produces red or Brazil wood, sugar, amber, rosin, balm, tobacco, train oil, confectionary, &c. The natives are reckoned cruel, but ingenious; have faint notions of religion, and speak several different languages, though they cannot p.r.o.nounce either of the three letters L, F, R. They are all naked, and neither sow nor reap, but live by hunting and by the fruits which the land produces of its own accord.

_An Account of_ CHILI.

CHILI is also a great country of South America, 400 leagues in length from north to south, is divided into three governments, and subject to the King of Spain. In summer the air of this country is very warm, but in winter so extremely cold that it often kills man and beast. The mountainous parts are generally dry and barren, but the vallies exceedingly fertile in maize, wheat, and other grain.

The people are white, tall, courageous, an warlike, but very gross Idolaters, the chief object of their wors.h.i.+p being the devil, whom they call Eponamon, i.e. powerful. The country is enriched with several mines of gold, and great quarries of jaspar [sic]. The commodities are gold, silver, maize, corn, honey, ostriches, and metals. Most of them use the Spanish tongue, but some their ancient jargon.

_A Persian Man and Woman in their proper Habits_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: woodcut of Persian couple]

_An Account of_ PERSIA.

PERSIA is a famous kingdom of Asia, called by the inhabitants Farsistan, and the Empire of the Sophy. It is bounded by the Caspian Sea, India, Persian Gulph, and Arabia Deserta. The air of this country is temperate towards the north, but very hot in the summer towards the south. Their grain is barley, millet, lentil, pease, beans, and oats; and all their provinces produce cotton, which grows upon bushes; their fruits are excellent, and they have vines in abundance, but in obedience to Mahomet's commands drink no wine, but sell it all to the Arminians [sic]. They are suffered to make a syrup of sweet wine, to which they add an acid, and it serves them for their common drink. They have a great number of mulberry trees for silk worms, silk being the princ.i.p.al manufacture in this country. The people are of a middle stature, well set and thick, and of a tawny complexion; are neat and sharp, have good judgment, are civil to strangers, and very free of their compliments. Thus a Persian that desires his friend to come to his house usually says, "I entreat you to honour my house with your presence: I so devote myself to your desires, that the apple of my eye shall be a path to your feet," &c. They are just in their dealings; and their commodities are rich silks, carpets, tissues, gold, silver, seal skins, goat skins, alabaster, metals, myrrh, fruits, &c. Their religion is Mahometanism, and their language has a great tincture of the Arabic. Ispahan is the capital city. The kingdom is hereditary, and government so despotic, that the Sophy, or King, makes his will his law, and disposes as he pleases both of the lives and estates of his subjects, who are very obedient, and never speak of their sovereign but with extraordinary respect.

_An Account of_ DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, _and_ YEARS.