Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

tralasia, but include all the islands of both divisions under the more general name of Australia.

PELEW ISLANDS. These islands, about 18 in number, lie east of the Philippines, near lat. 8° N. and lon. 134° E. In 1783, Capt. Wilson, commander of the Antelope packet, in the service of the East India company, was shipwrecked here. He describes the natives as mild, and simple in their manners, and hospitable, but they have no religion, though they appear to believe that the soul survives the body. None of the islands which the English visited had any kind of grain nor any quadruped whatever, except a few rats and meagre cats. After the return of Capt. Wilson, the East India company presented the king, in return for his kindness, a number of cows, goats, pigs, ducks and geese, all which have greatly increased.

CAROLINE ISLANDS. The Carolines consist of several groups, lying east of the Pelew islands, and stretching from 138° to 160° E. lon. and from 7° 40′ to 11° N. lat. They are claimed by the Spaniards, and are inhabited by a mild and friendly people.

LADRONES OR MARIANA ISLANDS. The Ladrones are 16 in number, and lie north of the Carolines, between 13° and 20° N. lat. The inhabitants are tall, robust, active and very ingenious. Their vessels, called by English seamen flying prows, will sail with a brisk wind at the rate of 20 miles an hour, and the skill manifested in their construction is a subject of admiration with European architects. These islands are the resort of pirates who infest the mouth of Canton river, and have long set the whole naval power of the Chinese at defiance.

SANDWICH ISLANDS. This cluster consists of 9 or 10 islands, lying between 18° 50′ and 22° 20' N. lat. and between 154° 55' and 150° 15' W. lon. The principal islands are Owhyhee, Mowee, Woahoo, Atooi, Morotoi, Ranai, and Oneehow. The number of square miles in the whole group is estimated at 6,000, of which Owyhee contains 4,000, and Mowee, Woahoo and Atooi, more than 500 each. The population is estimated at 400.000.

These islands were discovered in 1778 by Capt. Cook and Capt. King. The natives are generally well made, and above the middle size. During the short time since they became acquainted with Europeans, they have made very rapid advances. in civilization. Several Europeans have been encouraged to reside in the islands and have communicated a kao vledge of some of the useful arts. The worship of idols, and the sacrifice of human victims were formerly universally prevalent, and so deeply rooted were these pagan customs, that their abolition was pronounced hopeless. A most astonishing change, however, has recently taken place. In 1819, the government and people almost unanimously determined to abandon their idols,and to commit them with all the

monuments of idolatry to the flames. This was done at Owhy hee, at then Woahoo, and then at Atooi without the least opposition. Before the news of this revolution reached America, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign missions had resolved to establish a mission in these islands, and the missionaries had already embarked at Boston. The whole number of persons constituting the mission was 22, viz. 2 ordained missionaries, 2 catechists and schoolmasters, a farmer, a printer, and their wiyes and families; together with three natives of the Sandwich islands, who had been educated at the Foreign mission school in Cornwall, Connecticut. Accompanying the mission also was George Tamoree, son of the king of Atooi, who likewise received his education at the Foreign mission school. The missionaries on their arrival were well received, and their prospects of usefulness are very encouraging.

FRIENDLY ISLANDS.

This cluster lies east of the New Hebrides, and if we include the Feejee islands, extends from 175° to 185° E. lon. and from 15° 30' to 21° 30' S. lat. The principal island in the group is Tongataboo. The Feejee islands, Annamooka, Vavaoo, and the Hapaee islands are also important. The inhabitants were formerly represented as possessing many social qualities and much gentleness of character, but the accounts of recent visitors prove them to be capable of the greatest excesses of cruelty and revenge.

NAVIGATOR'S ISLANDS lie N. E. of the Friendly islands, between 169° and 172° 30′ W. lon. and below lat. 11° 25' S. They are about 10 in number and derive their name from the habits of their inhabitants, who live almost constantly in their canoes.

SOCIETY ISLANDS. These islands, 13 in number, lie east of the Friendly islands, between 16° and 18° S. lat. Otaheite, the largest of the group, is 120 miles in circumference. Among the rest Ulietea,Bolabola, Tubai, Maitea, Huaheine and Eimeo are also important. The climate of these islands is mild, the soil fertile, and the vegetation so luxuriant that they have been called the garden of Australia. Among the productions are bread-fruit, bananas, cocoa-nuts, yams and sweet potatoes, all of which grow spontaneously.

They

The number of the inhabitants is estimated at 100,000. are tall, strong and well built, particularly the chiefs, few of whom are under six feet in height. They were formerly idolaters, and practised infanticide, the sacrifice of human victims and many other cruel and degrading superstitions, but during the last 8 or 10 years a great change has taken place. In the years 1796 and 1800 the London Missionary Society sent out a number of missionaries to instruct the natives in the Christian religion. For a long period they labored with very little success, the number of converts in 1814 being only about 50. From this time, however, accessions were rapidly made, until at length all the

inhabitants of Otaheite, Eimeo, and several of the adjacent islands, with very few cxceptions, renounced idolatry and embraced Christianity. They have in consequence relinquished their former cruel customs, and now regularly assemble in congregations of 400 or 500, decently attired, for the purpose of Christian worship. About 6,000 in the several islands have learned to read in the Taheitean language, which the missionaries have given them in a written form. Schools have been established, many of the useful arts have been introduced, and the despotic power of the sovereign, himself a baptised convert of the missionaries, has been limited by a code of laws.

The MARQUESAS are a cluster of small islands lying N. E. of the Society islands. They extend from 138° 45' to 140° 30' W. lon. and from 8° 30′ to 10° 30' S. lat. Various accounts are given of the soil of these islands, but all navigators agree that the inhabitants are remarkable for the beautiful form of their bodies and the regularity of their features. They are all strong, tall and extremely active. The population is estimated at 50,000.

AFRICA.

Situation and Extent.] Africa is bounded N. by the Mediter ranean sea, which separates it from Europe; N. E. by the Red sea, which separates it from Asia; S. E. by the Indian ocean; and W. by the Atlantic. It extends from lat. 34° S. to 37° 30′ N. and from lon. 18° W. to 51° E. The area is estimated by Hassel at 11,652,442 square miles.

1.

Divisions.] Africa is divided into a great many petty kingdoms, but they may be conveniently classed under 5 divisions. Northern Africa, or the countries on the coast north of the tropic of Cancer; viz. Egypt, Barca, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco. 2. Eastern Africa, or the countries on the eastern coast between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn; viz. Nubia, Abysinia, and the small states south of Abysinia. 3. Southern Africa, or the countries south of the tropic of Capricorn. 4. Western Africa, or the countries on the west coast between the tropics. 5. Central Africa, or the countries in the interior between these four divisions.

Isthmus and Straits.] The isthmus of Sucz separates the Red sea from the Mediterranean, and connects Asia with Africa. The straits of Gibraltar connect the Mediterranean with the Atlantic. The straits of Babelmandel connect the Red sea with the Indian

ocean.

Capes.] Cape Guardafui is the most eastern point of Africa; cape Serra, the most northern; and cape Verde, the most western.

The cape of Good Hope is near the southern extremity, and capes Blanco and Bojador are on the western coast north of cape Verde. Mountains. The Mountains of the Moon commence near cape Guardafui, and running in a westerly direction completely across the continent, terminate at cape Verde. The eastern part of the chain is called also the Abysinian Alps, and the western part, the mountains of Kong. The central part has never been explored by Europeans, and the continuity of the chain cannot be considered as fully established.

The Mount Atlas chain commences on the western coast near cape Bojador in lat. 26° 16' N. and running at first in a northeasterly and afterwards in an easterly direction, passes through Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and Barca to the borders of Egypt. The highest and broadest part of the range is in the kingdom of Morocco, where it rises in some places to the height of 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. As it proceeds eastward through Algiers, it preserves its breadth but is less elevated, and in Tripoli and Barca it becomes narrow and gives birth to fewer streams.

Rivers.] The Nile rises in the mountains of the Moon, under the name of the Bahr el Abiad or White river, and after running for some distance in an easterly direction along the foot of the mountains, turns to the north and receives its two principal tributaries, the Abawi or Bahr el Azrek and the Tacazze, after which it pursues a circuitous course through Nubia, and near the frontier of Egypt forms two cataracts, the lowest of which is at Syene. Below the cataracts it continues its course in a northerly direction for 500 miles, till a little below Cairo it divides and discharges itself into the Mediterranean through two principal channels, which inclose between them what is called the Delta of the Nile.

The Niger, called also the Joliba, and by the Moors the Nile el Abeede, or Nile of the negroes, rises in the mountains of Kong, and flowing in a northeasterly direction passes near lon. 1° W. through lake Dibbie, beyond which the river has never been traced by a European. The various and contradictory rumors relative to its course and termination have excited an extraordinary degree of interest in Europe, and many expeditions have been recently fitted out for the sole purpose of determining this question. After the discoveries of Park, who traced the river through the early parts of its course, the opinion which became generally established, was that of Major Rennell, coinciding in some measure with the previous one of D'Anville, by which the Niger, after issuing from lake Dibbie, was supposed to flow eastward through the country of Houssa, and finally to lose itself in the lakes and marshes of Wangara. A very different hypothesis has been started by travellers into Northern Africa. Jackson and Hornemann both state the universal conviction there to be, that the Niger flows eastward and joins the Nile, being in fact the Nile itself. The Moors express their astonishment when they hear Europeans doubting the identity of the two streams.

Notwithstanding these testimonies, however, this opinion has been decidedly rejected by the ablest geographers. À more recent hypothesis, the fame of which has nearly absorbed every other, is that by which the Niger is supposed, after a long course to the south, to discharge itself into the Atlantic through the Congo or Zaire, which empties in lat. 6° S. This opinion is founded on the vast quantity of water which that river pours into the ocean, and on the fact that a great rise takes place at a period when no rains have fallen on the south side of the line. These arguments had so much weight with the British government, that they determined, in 1816, to fit out an expedition on a great scale, to settle this grand question in modern Geography. It was divided into two parts, one of which, of a military character, was commanded by major Peddie, and was destined to penetrate across the country to the Niger, and to descend its stream; the other, of a naval description, under captain Tuckey, was to ascend the Congo in boats. The hopes which were raised of the success of this expedition have been sadly disappointed. The party of captain Tuckey, overcome by fatigue and the heat of the climate, were seized with a pestilential disorder, which proved fatal to most of them. All the leaders of that of major Peddie fell also a sacrifice to the climate, before they had even approached the Niger.

The Senegal rises in the mountains of Kong, near the sources of the Niger, and flowing in a northwesterly direction, discharges itself into the Atlantic ocean under lat. 16° N, after a course of more than 1,000 miles.

The Gambia rises also in the mountains of Kong, and dis charges itself into the Atlantic under lat. 13° 30′ N. after a course of about 600 miles, for 400 of which it is navigable.

Deserts. Africa is distinguished from the other quarters of the world by its immense sandy deserts. The Sahara or Great Desert stretches from the Atlantic on the west, with few interruptions, to the Nile on the east, a distance of 3,000 miles; and from the Barbary states on the north to the countries watered by the Niger on the south, a distance of 800 or 1,000 miles. It is thus by far the most extensive desert in the world, and presents, almost throughout, the spectacle of a naked, burning plain of sand, destitute alike of water and vegetation, except in the few fertile spots, called oases, which are occasionally interspersed, and serve as resting and watering places for the caravans in their journies over these dreary wilds. When the caravans are disap. pointed in finding water at these places, in consequence of a peculiarly dry season, they frequently die from thirst. In 1805 a caravan of 2,000 men and 1,800 camels entirely perished.

71

« AnteriorContinuar »