SECTION A. 247. an isthmus, apromontory, or a coast. See the plain description of all these, figure xiti. An island is a country or portion of land, compassed about with sea or other water, as Great Britain, Ireland in the British seas : Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, &c. in the Mediterranean Sea ; the Isles of Wight, of Anglesey, of Man near England : There are also islands in rivers. A continent, properly so called, is a large quantity of land in which many great countries are joined together, and not sepa- rated from each other by the sea,, such are Europe, Asia, Africa. This is "sometimes called the main-land. A peninsula is a part of land almost encompassed with wa- ter, or which is almost an island : Such is the Morea which joins to Greece, such is Denmark as joining to Germany, and Taurica Chersonesus joining to Little Tartary near Muscovy; and indeed Africa is but a large peninsula joining to Asia. An isthmus is a narrowneck of land between two seas, join- ing a peninsula to the continent, as the isthmus of Darien or Panama which joins North and South America : The isthmus of Corinth which joins the Morea to Greece : The isthmus of Sues which joins Africa to Asia. A promontory is a hill or point of land stretching out into the sea. It is often called a cape, such is the Cape of Good Hope in the south of Africa ;' the Land's End, and the Lizard Point are two capes at' the west of England ; Cape Finisterre on the West of Spain; &c. A coast or shore is all that land that borders upon the sea, whether it be in islands or continents : Whence it comes to pass that sailing near the shore is called coasting. That part of the land which is far distant from the sea is called the inland country. These are the divisions of the land. The water is divided into rivers or seas. A river is a stream of water which has usually its beginning from a small spring or fountain whence its flows continuallywith- out intermission, and empties itself into some sea. But the word sea implies a larger quantity of water, and is distinguished into lakes, gulfs, hays, creeks, straits, or the ocean. The ocean or the main-sea is a vast spreading collectionof water, which is not divided or separated bylands running between. Such is the Atlantic or Western Ocean between Europe and America : The Eastern or the Indian Ocean in the East-Indies : The Pacific Ocean or South Sea, on the West Side of America, &c. Note, The various parts of this ocean or main-sea that border upon the land are called by the names of the lands which he next to it : So the British Sea, the Irish Sea, theEthiopean Sea, the French and Spanish Seas. A lake is a large place of water inclosed all round with land,
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