Parts 1 to 10 and Vols. I. to IV. already issued.

DELIVERED FREE TO SUBSCRIBERS IN ALL PARTS OF THE KINGDOM.

407

Under the Patronage of Her Majesty.

A GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD,

OR DICTIONARY OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE;

EDITED BY

A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

AND A

COMPANION ATLAS TO THE GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD.

EDINBURGH, June, 1851.

THE GAZETTEER of the World, now in course of publication, will form a complete body of modern geography, comprising the results of the most recent surveys and discoveries. It has been prepared under considerably higher advantages than any previous works of its class; and while fully acknowledging the labours of others in the same field, it aims to supersede them all by the accuracy of its information, the extent of its range, and by the care bestowed on its execution. And as geography is a progressive science, and as each day that passes brings a fresh accession of geographical and statistical knowledge, arising from the labours of our missionaries, from the explorings of our colonists, from the government surveys that are in progress in nearly every country in Europe, and in the United States of America, and from changes in the political distribution of territories, the GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD Will be found to supply an important want in the present day,— a want felt and acknowledged in every department of Government, in our public libraries, by all our diplomatists and consuls abroad, and by members of parliament, merchants, and manufacturers at home.

Its publishers, Messrs. A. FULLARTON & Co., have for a long period contemplated the work, and bestowed upon it great care and cost and labour. They many years ago engaged the late Mr. James Bell, author of the well-known "SYSTEM OF POPULAR AND SCIENTIFIC GEOGRAPHY," to prepare a general Gazetteer, and led him to employ his research and talents upon it during several of the last years of his life, and had received a portion of it previous to his lamented death in 1833. After some delay caused by the difficulty of finding a suitable successor to Mr. Bell, a recommencement was made by consulting several of the first geographers in the kingdom, by remoulding Mr. Bell's manuscripts, and by adopting an improved and systematic method of compilation; additional materials were obtained from many quarters; invaluable

facilities were afforded in some departments of Government;-and thus some years after the commencement of the labours of the present Editor, (revised and brought down to the latest date as they passed through the press,) the Publishers at last felt themselves, in the commencement of 1850, enabled to announce the issue of a GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD, which presented a firm though respectful claim of being MORE COMPREHENSIVE, MORE ACCURATE, and MORE GENERALLY ADAPTED TO USEFULNESS than any previous Gazetteer, and which is now well advanced in its progress through the press.

ITS COMPREHENSIVENESS is attained by the amplitude of its plan, by the studied compression of its matter, by the use of easily understood abbreviations, and by extreme compactness in the style of printing. Its articles will amount to nearly ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND, and will all be proportionate in length to the importance of their subject; and whilst some must necessarily be restricted to a few lines, others, such as those on the principal states and territories, will be complete geographical treatises not unfitted for separate publication.

ITS ACCURACY will be established by exhibiting, in the great majority of instances, the sources whence particular statements are drawn; and it has been secured by extensive collation of the best authorities, by consulting only such maps and charts as enjoy the confidence of scientific men, and by diligently examining all recent, statistical, official documents, published in the several states in Europe, and throughout the world.

ITS USEFULNESS, the publishers conceive, is, (in its best elements at least,) insured by its greater comprehensiveness and accuracy; and as a work specially designed for the use of the British public, by giving peculiar prominence to the possessions and colonies of Great Britain, and those regions to which British commerce and enterprise are chiefly directed. And as their aim is to insure the reception of the work in every region of the globe in which the language of Shakspeare and Milton is spoken, they have bestowed more than ordinary care in consulting the most recent and authentic sources on the United States of America.

Besides the above general terms, it may be desirable to mention rather more in detail some few points on which the GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD claims the notice and the support of the public. Its distinguishing features are as follow:

1. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. Under this head, besides the usual acceptation of the word, will be included the geology, botany, zoology, and climate of each country or region.

2. POLITICAL AND STATISTICAL GEOGRAPHY will receive that attention to which in the present age it is so justly entitled, from its value to the manufacturer and merchant; but it will not be permitted to exclude Physical Geography, as is too often the case.

3. The boundaries of countries generally will not be enlarged upon,-a single glance at a good map will convey more accurate information on this point than a page of letterpress.

4. The POSITIONS of places, comprising the three elements of latitude, longitude, and altitude, will be given for all points of importance, with the authority on which they rest, and the degree of dependence to be placed on them. No one who has not critically examined the common Gazetteers, can form a notion of their extreme imperfection under this head. In the GAZETTEER of the World seconds will seldom be given, except for the more rigorous

ly determined points. With respect to positions, the admirable tables of Positions Géographiques by M. DAUSSY in the Connaissance des Temps, and those of Lieut. RAPER, R.N., in the recently published third edition of his Treatise of Navigation, will be carefully consulted.

5. HYDROGRAPHY. As the desire of the publishers is to render their work a nautical as well as a general Gazetteer, they have spared no pains to give such a description of the several ports and harbours as shall render their work of real practical utility to the commander of a ship. They do not pretend to give sailing directions in detail, which they well know can only be drawn up by a competent nautical surveyor; but they promise accurate details as to position, depth of water, rise of tide, nature of supplies, as provisions, water, fuel, &c. The publishers are aware that on this head they are entering on a difficult task, and one which they could not have fulfilled but for the extreme liberality of Admiral Sir FRANCIS BEAUFORT, K. C. B., Hydrographer to the Admiralty, who has permitted them to have access to the unpublished nautical surveys, as well as to all the published charts issued by the Admiralty.

6. ORTHOGRAPHY. If existing Gazetteers are imperfect as to position of places, they are absolute confusion as to orthography. On turning to any Oriental or African name, it will be commonly spelt in the same article according to three different modes; the compilers of Gazetteers have indiscriminately, and apparently unconsciously, copied German, French, and English spelling, and in some cases have given the same word, in different places, according to the orthography of the author consulted; even in the more familiar European languages, Portuguese and Spanish names are commonly confounded. In the present work an effort has been made to reduce the orthography of Oriental, African, and unwritten languages, to a uniform system, adopting that sanctioned by the Geographical and Asiatic Societies of London, and generally by all the best European writers.

7. ETHNOGRAPHY. Bearing in mind that the "earth was made for man," and that mankind are of more importance than the physical condition and distribution of the earth's surface on which they live, the subject of Ethnography will, in this work, be restored to its proper position and prominence. The origin and migration of nations and the affinity of languages, are subjects that have recently had much light thrown on them by the invaluable labours of WILHELM ŠUMBOLDT, DUPONCEAU, PRICHARD, and others; and thus a store of materials is at hand that has ever yet been made use of, and which we propose to incorporate in our work, and to endeavour to appreciate the influence of climate, government, religion, education, and commerce upon the different communities of mankind.

The GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD will be illustrated occasionally by woodcuts of plans of harbours and diagrams in explanation of the text, as well as by a series of splendid ENGRAVINGS.

The ENGRAVINGS will consist of views of cities, localities, or natural objects throughout the world, important either in themselves, or by their historical or other associations. They are of unquestionable authenticity, and of a variety, originality, and artistic beauty, never before introduced into any publication of the class; and they present an amount of illustration of the scenic beauties and celebrated localities on the earth's surface, which is not to be met with in any one work that has yet been issued from the press. Besides these ENGRAVINGS, the general geography of the world will be illustrated, in the course of the publication of the Gazetteer, by separate MAPS in that work of the Polar lands, comprising the latest discoveries in the arctic and antarctic regions. Special maps of Iceland, Kamtschatka, and of the Ural and Caucasus mountain ranges, will farther elucidate portions of the geography of Northern Europe and Asia. The British Islands will be exhibited in some of their special features by maps of the Central Grampians and

of the Cumbrian mountains; and the dominions of the British Crown will be set forth in greater detail by those of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Jamaica, Trinidad, British Guayana, Ceylon, and several other important possessions, as well as by a highly interesting series of plans of their principal ports and harbours, imperial and colonial, which will also appear along with the letterpress of the Gazetteer. The hitherto difficult exhibition of German geography, and of that of Central Europe, will be aided by separate maps of groups of the smaller German states, of the Alpine regions, &c. The geography of France will be more detailedly explained by special maps of its more important districts, and by valuable plans of its principal ports and harbours. The regions of Central and Southern Asia will be made more familiar to the reader by separate maps of the Himalaya mountain-ranges, of its elevated Central Table-land, and of the more important portions of British India. The geography of South America will receive valuable illustration by maps of the Peru Bolivian Table-land, of Venezuela, and of portions of the Brazilian Empire, in addition to the British colonial maps above referred to. North America will be further illustrated by small maps of Oregon and California, the Alleghany mountains, the isthmus of Panama, &c. &c., and by plans of its principal ports and harbours. The still imperfectly known regions of Africa being necessarily left in abeyance, its known geography will be set forth in special maps of Lower Egypt, Abessinia, Central Northern Africa, the isthmus of Suez, the bights of Benin and Biafra, the island of Madeira, &c. These MAPS, of the size of the page, will exhibit details not to be met with in ordinary maps or atlases, will be engraved with the greatest care and accuracy, and with very rare exceptions, be prepared expressly for this work.

To a work of this kind, a complete ATLAS is not unfrequently considered an indispensable accompaniment. But many purchasers, it may be, are already in possession of a good Atlas. It is not therefore intended to incorporate one with the Gazetteer. To do so would, to such as already possess an Atlas, and perhaps even to some others, appear unnecessarily to enhance its price. At the same time, an Atlas of reference, as an adjunct of great convenience for the proper understanding of its letter-press, may be desired by many readers. To accommodate these, the publishers are preparing a SPECIAL ATLAS consisting of a set of the most useful general maps, on a large scale, and presenting several features of originality and utility, which they will be prepared to supply to the subscribers of the Gazetteer exclusively, during the course of its publication. The Maps in the COMPANION ATLAS TO THE GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD will, with one exception, exceed in size any that have hitherto appeared in a British atlas. They will be Forty-three in number; and in their general arrangement and proportions a proper regard will be had to the relative importance, present and prospective, of the countries they represent.

The New World, and especially that portion of it possessed by the descendants of Englishmen, will receive that share of attention which is justly due to its gigantic proportions and magnificent prospects. The great and growing Colonial Possessions of Britain will be carefully illustrated. The present limits of these will, in the respective maps, be assumed as the basis of their construction, and not merely superadded to, or reduced from, an earlier engraved boundary, as has been commonly practised by map-engravers.

Throughout the whole series of maps, the immense accessions which have been made of late years to geographical science will be employed by parties well capable of exercising a critical judgment on all available sources of information, not to create mere confusion or indistinctness of detail by multiplying names, but to exhibit existing features, true positions, and accurate boundaries. In representing the superficies of countries, unity will be aimed at. Each distinct political State, however vast, or extending into separate continents, will be represented in a single map, besides receiving further illustration, where necessary, in sectional maps. The Mountain and River Systems of each country and continent will be carefully set forth; and important levels and altitudes indicated without injury to the clearness of the topographical detail. The Plates will be engraved by the best workmen in Britain, will be all new, and are used in no other work. The colouring will be managed so as to show with clearness the outlines on each map, without obscuring its legibility. On this department, and on the printing of the maps, special attention will be bestowed.

In conclusion, the title of GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD has not been assumed without a due consideration of the requirements which such a title imposes upon the Editor and Publishers of the work. They feel, however, assured that the exertions they have made, and the liberal promises of assistance they have received from some of the most distinguished travellers and geographers, (whose names at some future day they hope to be permitted to make public,) warrant them in being sanguine of success; and they confidently, though respectfully, submit their GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD as deserving its title, and as not unworthy the patronage of the public.

Conditions of Publication.

1. The GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD is published in Parts at 5s., and in Divisions Besides numerous Woodcuts of (or double parts) at 10s. each, super-royal Svo. Charts, Diagrams, and Plans, interspersed throughout the body of the work, it will be illustrated with upwards of one hundred and twenty Engravings or Maps, executed in the very best style. To meet the wish of numerous subscribers it will also be issued in Vols. at 13s. each, handsomely done up in cloth.

2. It is expected that the work will be completed in about 28 Parts, or 12 such Vols.; but as additional matter may be received during the progress of publication, the precise number cannot be absolutely fixed. It is the desire, however, both of the Editor and Publishers, to restrict the work as nearly as possible to the extent here indicated; and the latter pledge themselves, that should it extend beyond 32 parts, or 14 vols., the surplus will be delivered to subscribers without further charge.

3. The COMPANION ATLAS to the Gazetteer will be completed in sixteen Parts at Five Shillings, or in eight Divisions at Ten Shillings each. The subscribers to the Gazetteer are not required to purchase the Companion Atlas, but the Atlas, as already stated, will only be supplied to parties who are subscribers to or purchasers of the Gazetteer.

4. The Publishers being pledged to complete the publication on the terms and in the manner above detailed, will hold each subscriber pledged on his part to take and pay for the work as it appears. No abatement or discount will be allowed to any party.