Government. 3,821,384 Lutherans, Catholics, Jews. Constitutional 2,049,000 Lutherans, Jews, &c..... Estates 2,745,000 Calvinists, Catholics, &c..... Constitutional 3,791,000 Catholics, Calvinists.... Constitutional 24,304,799 Episcopalians, Catholics, &c. Constitutional 32,509,742 Catholics, Calvinists, &c.....Constitutional 13,950,000 Catholics 15,000 Catholics.... 3,530,000 Catholics 56,800,000 Greeks, Catholics, &c... Constitutional 117,800 Catholics, Lutherans, Jews.. Republic 33,061,610 Catholics, Greeks, &c... Absolute 13,842,000 Evangelists, Catholics, &c.... Absolute 129,588 Lutherans, Jews, Catholics.. Constitutional GERMAN CONFEDERACY. Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Brunswick. Holstein-Oldenburg Nassau 768 1,514 2,752 2,164 Anhalt-Bernburg. 340 Anhalt-Cothen.. 330 84,130 Lutherans, Jews... 250,100 Lutherans, Catholics, &c. ... Constitutional 251,500 Lutherans, Catholics, &c. ... Absolute 355,815 Evangelists, Catholics, &c... Constitutional 40,000 Calvinists, Lutherans, Jews. Estates 36,000 Calvinists, Lutherans, Jews. Estates 60,000 Calvinists, Lutherans, &c.... Estates 60,000 Lutherans, Catholics.... 51,767 Lutherans, Catholics.... 25,000 Lutherans, Jews.... Estates Estates Estates Estates Reuss-Schleitz.... 453 58,500 Lutherans, Hernhutters, Jews Estates Estates Hohenzollern.Hechingen 117 15,500 Catholics.. Estates Waldeck.. 459 56,000 Lutherans, Calvinists, Jews. Estates 5,550 Catholics Estates Kniphausen (Lordship). Absolute Hamburg 134 154,000 Lutherans, Jews, &c........ Republic Lubeck 122 47,000 Lutherans, Catholics, &c....Republic Republic Frankfort.... 113 55,000 Lutherans, Catholics, &c.... Republic 2,013,000 Calvinists, Catholics, Jews. Republic 4,300,000 Catholics, Calvinists, &c... Absolute Monaco (principality) 50 6,500 Catholics. Absolute Tuscany (Grand Duchy).. 8,759 1,275,000 Catholics, Jews. Absolute Parma... 2,250 440,000 Catholics.... Absolute Modena 2,145 400,000 Catholics Absolute Lucca Absolute States of the Church 17,572 2,592,329 Catholics, Jews.. Absolute San Marino (Republic). 22 8,400 Catholics Republic Naples 43,052 7,434,300 Catholics, Jews.. Absolute Ionian Islands 1,310 192,848 Greeks, Catholics, Jews Republic Turkey 206,000 7,000,000 Mahommedans, Greeks, &c. . Absolute Greece.. 21,000 752,000 Greeks, Catholics... Constitutional ITALY. AFRICA. AFRICA, a spacious continent, comprising nearly a third of the world known to the ancients, composes a peninsula about 4320 miles in length from north to south, and 4140 in breadth from east to west. Its shape is an irregular pyramid, at the southern extremity diminishing almost to a point; so that it has, properly speaking, only three sides. Its western coast, by far the most extensive, faces the Atlantic, which on the other side is bounded, at several thousand miles' distance, by the parallel coast of America. To the east, Africa looks upon the southern Pacific, but chiefly that mighty portion of it called the Indian Ocean, which has for its remote opposite boundaries, Hindoostan, the Eastern Archipelago, and New Holland. From Europe, Africa is separated by the Mediterranean, and from Asia by the Red Sea. Both these gulfs communicate with the ocean by narrow straits, at which Africa comes almost in contact with the opposite continents; but it is at their interior extremities that they are separated by that celebrated isthmus, only sixty miles in breadth, which connects this vast continent with that of Asia. Africa, in all respects except its vast extent, is the least favoured portion of the globe. Its prevailing aspect is rude, gloomy, and sterile. The character of desert, which elsewhere is only partial and occasional, belongs to a very great proportion of its widely extended surface. Boundless plains, exposed to the vertical rays of a tropical sun, are deprived of all the moisture necessary to cover them with vegetation. Moving sands, tossed by the winds, and whirling in eddies through the air, surround and continually threaten to bury the traveller, in his lengthened route through these trackless wilds. The watered and cultivated districts consist of little more than belts, with which this huge expanse of desert is begirt. The best known, and perhaps the finest, is that which borders the northern coast along the Mediterranean, and stretches for 50 or 100 miles inland. The famous range of mountains called Atlas, which ancient fable represented as supporting the heavens, with numerous chains branching from it across the continent, diffuses moisture and fertility over sands which would otherwise have been totally unproductive. Then follows the immense ocean of desert, nearly 3000 miles in length, and 1000 in breadth, reaching across the whole continent from east to west, and from north to south, between lat. 15° and 30°. The sterility of the scene is only interrupted by a narrow line, of not above half a mile, formed by the course of the Nile through Nubia, and by a few islands, or, as they are termed, oases, scattered at wide intervals over this immeasurable waste. These spots, affording springs, verdure, and a few dates, support a scanty population; but are chiefly valuable as affording places of rest and refreshment for the caravans. The traveller who has crossed this dreary interval is cheered by the view of a long line of territory exhibiting a different and much more smiling aspect. Lofty ranges, celebrated under the name of the Mountains of the Moon, cross the central part of the continent, and form perhaps an almost unbroken girdle round it. Thence descend many rivers of the first magnitude; the Nile of Egypt, the Senegal, the Gambia, and the famed mysterious stream so long sought under the name of the Niger. These set bounds to the empire of sand, which would else | overspread nearly all Africa; they inundate their banks, and fertilize extensive regions, which are covered with rich harvests, and peopled with nations that have made some advances in civilization. A great part of this country has been recently explored, though much still remains for discovery; but farther south, the greater part of the interior, as far as the Cape of Good Hope, a space of 40° of latitude, has never been trodden by any European. The districts on the east coast, however, are very well known, and still more those on the west. They present a totally different aspect from that of northern Africa; profusely watered by great rivers, in many places luxuriant with tropical products; in others, inundated and swampy, overgrown with huge forests and underwood. Some late observers, however, in travelling inland from the Cape, have caught a glimpse of vast expanses of desert, reported almost to rival those at the opposite extremity of the continent. Lastly, the southern angle presents to the stormy seas of the Southern Ocean broad table rocks and high rude plains, covered, however, in many places, with good herbage and vegetation. The political constitutions of Africa are rude, and in general despotic. The unlimited power of the sovereign is in general checked only by the turbulence of aristocratic chiefs, not by any well-regulated freedom on the part of the people. Africa, however, is divided into an almost infinite variety of states, whose political system can only be understood by considering each in detail. The processes of agriculture and manufactures, in Africa, are performed geuerally in a rude and imperfect manner. The soil, however, is cultivated almost throughout, to a greater or less extent; and some fine fabrics, particularly those of cotton, cloth, mats, and gold ornaments, are very widely diffused. Africa has scarcely any trade, except that which is carried on overland and across its oceans of desert, by caravans, consisting chiefly of camels. It is truly astonishing with what facility these companies now make their way to the remotest interior of the continent, in defiance of obstacles which might have been deemed insuperable. By these immense journeys, they procure considerable quantities of gold and ivory; but the importance of these articles is merged in a cruel and iniquitous traffic, of which Africa has always been the main theatre. Other parts of the globe have for ages depended upon its oppressed and unfortunate inhabitants, for supplying their demand for slaves. Whoever, throughout Africa, has the evil power of selling any of his fellow-creatures, is sure to find purchasers who will give in exchange the best products of Europe and the East. Some are condemned to slavery under a criminal code, framed by legislators who make it a study to multiply the number of such offences as may be made punishable in this lucrative manner; others are captives taken in war; but a large proportion are procured by mere slave-hunting expeditions, undertaken even by the most civilized states, against neighbours whom, with little reason, they account more barbarous than themselves. The number thus conveyed across the desert, to fill the harems of Turkey and Persia, has been rated at 20,000. These, however, serve merely as domestic slaves; and, though subjected to many humiliations, they are, on the whole, mildly treated. A much severer lot awaits those who, from the western shores of Africa, are carried off by the polished people of modern Europe. After suffering through the passage, under a confinement and pestilential air which prove fatal to a large proportion, they are sold to taskmasters whose sole object is, under a burning sun, to extract from them the utmost possible amount of labour. It is calculated that, during the flourishing period of the slave trade, 80,000 were annually transported across the Atlantic. At length, however, the wrongs of Africa were heard; Britain, roused by the voice of some generous philanthropists, took the lead in the cause of humanity. The resistance was powerful, and it occasioned many years of debate, signalized by the long labours of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and other friends of Africa, till, in 1806, Mr. Fox moved and carried Ithe bill for the final abolition of the trade of importing slaves into the British colonies. It has since been declared felony for a British subject to engage in this trade. America and France afterwards followed the example; and thus the export of slaves from the northern part of Guinea has been in a great measure prevented; though the numbers still procured from the southern quarters of Benin and Congo, by the Spaniards and Portuguese, are but little diminished. This vast continent is almost universally in a state of barbarism; yet in ancient times its northern states rivalled Europe in civilization. Egypt and Carthage, when in their glory, ranked among the most civilized and opulent states then existing. Even after the first ravages of the Saracens, learning and science distinguished the splendid courts established in the west of Barbary. The continued influence, however, of a gloomy superstition, and the separation caused by it from all the refined modern nations, have induced among these states a general relapse into barbarism. The population of the continent may now, in a large view, be divided into Moors and Negroes. The Moors, including the descendants of the original Arab invaders, and those whom conquest and religion have assimilated with them, fill all northern Africa and the Great Desert. They reach the banks of the Senegal and the Niger, which may be considered as the boundary of the two races, though they mingle and alternate on the opposite sides, where sometimes one, sometimes another, hold the chief sway. The Moors are a rough roving race, keeping numerous herds, chiefly of camels, with which they perform immense journeys through the most desolate tracts, and across the greatest breadth of the continent. Africa is indebted to them for all the literature she possesses; at least, few of the Negroes can read or write, who have not learned from them. The Moors, however, at least all that scour the desert, are a race peculiarly unamiable. A furious bigotry, joined to the most embittered hatred of the Christian name, renders them mortal foes to every European traveller who falls into their power. The Negroes, on the contrary, though inferior in arts and attainments, are generally courteous, gay, and hospitable. Like all barbarous nations, they are fond of war, and cruel to their enemies; but their domestic intercourse is friendly, and they receive with kindness the unprotected stranger. They are led away with fantastic superstitions, charms, witchcraft, ordeal, &c.; but these errors never impel them to hate or persecute those who entertain the most opposite belief. Their external aspect is well known, being marked by a deep black colour, flat nose, thick lips, and coarse hair like wool. The Moors are deeply embrowned by the influence of the sun, but have not the least of the Negro colour or aspect. In the animal kingdom at least, Africa is as rich in the number of its peculiar species as any other quarter of the globe. Of these, a large majority are found to the southward of the Great Desert. The quadrupeds of burden are highly valuable. The Arabian camel, or dromedary, is now spread over all the northern and central parts of the continent, and is indispensably requisite in crossing the long arid deserts which cover so great a portion of its surface north of the equator. The horses and asses of Barbary, those of the Bedoweens and of Egypt, yield in no respect to the finest Arabs either in beauty of form or spirit. The first of these races was introduced into Spain during the ascendency of the Moorish power in that country, and from it the noble Spanish breed of modern times is descended. On the West Coast, south of the Great Desert, the ass supplies the place of the camel, being extensively used in carrying on the inland trade of the country. Of horned cattle there are many different varieties. The most remarkable are the Sanga or Galla oxen of Abyssinia, with immense horns nearly four feet in length, and a kindred race in Bornou, the horns of which measure upwards of two feet in circumference at the base, and yet scarcely weigh two pounds apiece. Of sheep, the most remarkable variety is the broad-tailed kind, whose tails grow so fat and heavy that it is said they are frequently obliged to be supported on little wheel carriages. This animal is common in Barbary, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in other parts of the continent: other varieties of the sheep, and also several of the goat, abound in different quarters; the latter are common in many parts bordering on the Great Desert, feeding on the dry aromatic herbs which are in places thinly scattered. Of the wild animals, one of the most peculiar is the chimpanzee, of which it is thought more than one variety exists in Africa. It approaches much nearer to the human form than the Orang-outang of Borneo, Sumatra, &c. The adult of this animal has never been brought to Europe. Some of the varieties of baboons attain a very considerable stature, and from their great strength and malicious disposition, are much dreaded by the negroes. Carnivorous and ferocious animals are extremely numerous in all parts of Africa. The lion, the panther, and the leopard, lurk in the vicinity of the rivers and fountains, to surprise the different species of antelopes and other animals; but, unless pressed by hunger, rarely attack the inhabitants, though it is said the lion will often pursue the Hottentot in preference to all other prey. The various species of hyenas are, properly speaking, African; one species only being found in any other part of the world. They all live upon offal and carrion, and are of singular importance in the economy of nature, by preventing the accumulation of putrescent matter, and devouring dead carcasses and other garbage, which, under the influence of a tropical sun, would soon corrupt and produce the most noxious and unwholesome vapours. The hyenas are nocturnal, and nightly visit the towns and villages, where they prowl through the streets till morning. The true civet is found in a state of nature in most parts of Africa. Great numbers of these animals are also kept by the natives for the sake of their perfume. Nearly allied to the civet are the ichneumons. Of these there are four or five distinct species, which wage incessant war against the numerous serpents and other reptiles which infest every part of the country. The elephant occupies the first rank among the wild quadrupeds of this region. The African elephant, though long confounded with the Asiatic, is now well known to be a distinct species. Its ears are larger, the markings of its molar teeth are of a different form, and it has only four hoofs on the fore feet and three on the hind, whilst the Indian species has five before and four behind. In magnitude it does not yield to its Asiatic congener, and is even thought to exceed it; for, according to the statements of some travellers, it would appear that the African animal occasionally attains the height of seventeen or eighteen feet, and it is certain that the tusks of the latter imported from the coast of Guinea are considered larger than those obtained from India, often weighing from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty pounds, whilst the latter rarely exceed one hundred to one hundred and twenty pounds. These animals inhabit all the woody parts of Africa south of the Sahara, and are also found in Dar Fur. They live in herds of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred individuals. This animal is not now employed in the service of man, although the ancient Egyptians undoubtedly obtained war elephants from Ethiopia. The African rhinoceros, like that of Sumatra, has two horns, but is distinguished from the latter by having no front or incisor teeth. The horns, as in the East, are highly esteemed for their supposed medicinal virtues, and are also used by the natives as battle-axes. The hippopotamus is entirely an African quadruped, being found in all the large rivers and lakes south of the Great Desert, and appears to have occupied the same localities from the earliest ages. He delights in being in the water, and stays there as willingly as upon land. The zebra, the dow, and the quagga, are found in nearly all the known parts of central and southern Africa. These beautiful animals, equally remarkable for the symmetry of their forms, the rapidity of their course, and the regularity of their colours and markings, associate in large herds upon the open plains, and are the frequent prey of the lion. It is remarkable that these creatures and the ostriches seem to have a natural predilection for each others' society, and that the flocks and herds of these very different species are constantly found intermixed, though they refuse to associate with other animals; and the same fact was observed 2000 years ago, in regard to the ostrich and quagga, or wild ass, on the plains of Syria and Mesopotamia. The camelopard, or giraffe, is an animal peculiar to this continent, and is found from the Orange river as far north as Nubia, although it is said there is a difference between those of the north and south. Two or three species of the wild buffalo inhabit the woods and marshy grounds of the interior. The bos coffer, or wild buffalo of the Cape, has the base of the horns extending all over the top of the head and forehead, in the manner of a helmet. He is a savage, dangerous animal, and much dreaded by travellers. Antelopes and gazelles are numerous. Of the former there are more than sixty different species. Multitudes of these fall a prey to the lion, the leopard, and panther. Among the animals which inhabit the seas and coasts of Africa is the lamantin, which frequents the mouths of the great rivers on the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, and feeds upon the aquatic plants that it can reach along the shores. It was this animal which, from the pectoral situation of its mammæ, and from the habit of raising itself half out of the water, especially when in the act of suckling its young, gave origin to the fable of the mermaid, by which name it is often mentioned by ancient African voyagers and travellers. |