THIS vast country extends from the 80th degree of north, to the 56th degree of south latitude; and, where its breadth is known, from the 35th to the 136th degree west longitude from London; stretching between 8000 and 9000 miles in length, and in its greatest breadth 3690. It sees both hemispheres, has two summers and a double winter, and enjoys all the variety of climates which the earth affords. It is washed by the two great oceans. To the eastward it has the Atlantic, which divides it from Europe and Africa; to the west it has the Pacific or Great South Sea, by which it is separated from Asia. By these seas it may, and does, carry on a direct commerce with the other three parts of the world.

NORTH AND SOUTH CONTINENT. America is not of equal breadth throughout its whole extent; but is divided into two great continents, called North and South America, by an isthmus 1500 miles long, and which at Darien, about Lat. 9° N. is only 60 miles over. This isthmus forms, with the northern and southern continents, a vast gulph, in which lie a great number of islands, called the West Indies, in contradistinction to the eastern parts of Asia, which are called the East Indies.