Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-03-17
the uor,hern boundsriea Of America.

ees OF geographical Information, have ap-
peared within ;hefe few years, than at suy
period whatever OF literary hiaory.
In this work the eiTeoce OF ianumerable
books Of travels aod voyages will be found
to oe extracted; and lueh produdions have
been the tevori.e a,nuiemsnes Of the c,o6
diRiaguilbe3 n,inde, in all perioda and conn
,'iei. as combining the variety. novelty, and
adventure, Of poe,ical and romantic uarrsti-
on, WITH the t}udy OF man and the benefits
OF practical ineruaion. IL is nnneeeilsry
TO repeat the nance OF Mouteigue, Locke,
Montsfquieu, &c. Or that of my late friend
Gibbon, whole collection of voyages and
travels formed the mod choien part of bic
library, Why did ne hot write Geogrs-
ply WHY has Strabo been denied to
modern timce
Nor mutt she rapid advances of Natural
Hiaory be forgotten, which now cop'er
tuch hyperion preciiion Gu the Natural Ge-
ography OF mot countries. Not ooly have
| Zoology and Bo,any received the grssteit
improvements but Geology and Inc'a
gY have. within thcle tweoty years, become
eatirely new and grand feiencey the iuLasn-
ces being accurately Arranged, and deierib-
ed with iuch cicaracis, sha, throughout the
literary world they are exaA!y known and
Differentiated.
Ye. cven with fnch advantages Geogra-
ply ia far from being perfect and the ia
niiiar exclamation OF d'Ansil!e in hio old
! age may fill be adopted q; All nv friends,
mere a'e many errors in Geography" This
fcicnce may indeed be regarded as Imperfect
| in i,s very na,uTc, AZ no reaiOnab!e hope can
De entertained that all the habitsbe lands
haA, at any period Of time. pals under a
trigouometricsl lurvey, the only fsndard of
complete exaetueis. The chief defeas are
the io'erior parts of Africa, aud many por-
,ions even of the flores Tibet, and fome
othr. General regions Of Ala; nsy even Per.
tia, Arabia. aud A;iatic Turkey the west
ern parts of North America and the Spa
uiIh le,tlemeute in chat part fthe new CON
tioent; with the General aud fouthern parts
OF South America. OF New Holland little
is known, except the azores and many Off
coveres remain to be made in the Pacific
Ocean, particularly the exseut cod interior
part OF New Guinea aud other large ilands
liz that quarter: Even ia Europe the Geo
grsphy of Spain sad Portugal, ia very imper
Eet, though moi 70 detective as THAI Of Eu-
ropean Turkey; nor can we loudly boat
while, as M aior Rennel informs ne, there 10
no cxa4 char, o. the brtiih Chsn1el and
the ,rigoaometcicsl furVey, 70 far as it has
extended, has detected grofS eyrosa in The
maps OF the countres. We have indeed
been generally more attentive 10 remote re-
gion0. than 20 our native country; and couid
ne.9 (yRen have been puS!ifhsd wish more
advantages, than in he Kingdom which has
given 5iEih 10 ,he greatea modern dilc5ge-
ries, aud Improvements in Geography?
The rapid progrefs of Science has slfo,
VILLA like ihort period. greatly improved
the naps aud charto of mott countries, al
ways to be rsnked among the chief objects
of Geography +; though unaccouu;sbly the
coulpilers OF modern iyfemS le-m 20 write
aithous the infpsaion of any map whatever,
or at leaf n yer make any references OF that
nature. Tho 10 tie more iurpriiing, as &C.
cural: maps aud charts may be iaid TO form
I the vsfY foundation Of Geographical know
ledge. The author the prelent work has
been Cednouo 10 difcoyer the lateft and hcA
maps OF all SOtNlIic5 Ia WINCH I GiSss CT nae
been ibcrally affixed By our b:f practical
seosra pliers, The fmal maps which accom-
plny the work are drawn with great care,
under the directions ana reyiiion Of Mr. Ar.
row.mith, VINO is well known by ,be iuduG-
try and attention which he employs in fe-
Letting ;he mott rscen; aud accurate materi.
ale and improvements, The lmsllnefs ofthe
iizc viii Of courle prevent them from fupply-
Ing the place of large and complete atlas
bn, they will be found TO conRirctc an uGe.
fni ieJro6uaion to fucb collection. as they
- yc3ncsd from rae bef large maps, and he
authorities added az the boitom, While they
sreillrara,ed With many important featured
Of rae countries, aud intereGug names, de-
rived from works Of natural and civil hso-
ry, for which large aud expenGvc atlas Ray
be conluIted in vain. The later had be9
be formed by the reader hioIlslf, for which
purpo(e lid of the bef maps 10 giysn &C the
ead Of the iecnnd volume, afFotding msteri-
als for Election OF The great, OF the middle,
or Of the fmall kini 10 the fca clsis, for
example, may De sGigned CsGini's map Of