ART. LXXVII. Dictionnaire Universe! de la Geographic Commerçante. Par J. PEUCHET, 4to. 5 vols. Universal Dictionary of Commerci Geography. IN proportion as the practice gains ground, among the opulent and the noble of Europe, of confiding to the upholsterer and the cabinet maker the fit ting up of library rooms, the demand increases for voluminous literary collections. Thirty or forty volumes of equal heighth and portly size in similar array, which just rank high enough above pe riodical publications to be splendidly bound, without the owner's passing for finical, form at present one of the great desidera trata of literature, or rather of the book manufactory. Who would not sooner see in the square a parade than a fair? or against this wall a file of volumes in uniform, than a rabble of books of all ages, sizes, languages, and countries? Writers who, like Buffon and Voltaire, stock a shelf at an edition, though the facts of the one be as equivocal as the erudition of the other, are secure of a welcome celebrity, only to be surpassed by the polypetalous tomes of an encyclopædia. Fortunate the author who measures the exact width of a compartment; the back of whose temple to fame presents an extensive colonnade! It was probably a furniture speculation of this kind, bespoken from the booksellers by the decorators of apartments, which the Russian and English visitors of Paris were expected to take off, that gave occasion to the enterprize of the Encyclopédie Méthodique. The original project was to employ not merely all the materials of the old Encyclopædia, but to add whatever erudition had collected, or talent discovered, since the time of Diderot; and to provide, besides, for the names of places and of men, that lodging room which had hitherto been denied them in a great degree, but not with severity, or systematic discrimination. The contents were to be classed par ordre de matières; so that the heads physique, metaphysique, police. geographie ancienne, &c. might each be the subject of a separate alphabet of articles, forming either parts of a whole, or wholes apart The exuberance of detail, the desire of completeness, was carried so far in this new lidskalfa, or (as M. Pougens might interpret) shelf of omniscience, that the single article assemblée nationale, contained a summary room. The progress of the French revolution has given, it seems, an inconvenient wound to the slow length of this huge undertaking. The opinions of the Encyclopædists have lost their genti ity; the running title nobody will put up; the separate dictionaries are, therefore, finishing off on a reduced scale, and one or two, perhaps, may merit popularity. Thus this boa constrictor of literature, which was to absorb and digest all human science, is chopt in pieces and sorely scotcht, and, like a minced polypus, is humbly soliciting for each of its sec tions a separate vitality. But these sections have not quite grown into natural proportions; the earlier volumes seem all stomach, glutted with raw and undigested masses of information; the later volumes seem embryo extremities, not yet expanded to sufficient size for use. The French are very fond of abecedary instruction. Every thing assumes with them the form of a dictionary. From an encyclopædia to a catalogue of rimes, the alphabetic is their fashionable clas sification. They are for distributing every thing into such segments as the 119th psalm. Like the toast-master at an ordinary, who after Miss A. calls for Miss B. and exacts an account of her attributes with "apt alliteration's artful aid;" even the metaphysician with them disdains the association of analogy, and seeks for his categories in the hornbook. Cadmus is their Aristotle. Anatomical systems are composed as an acrostic, and the skeleton of a course of medical comments is given not in first lines, but in first letters. Statistical lectures are promulgated like elopements, by their initials. Criticism, like an Anglo-Saxon code, exhausts the vocabulary of one letter at a time. The philologist places the progress of lan guage in its abbreviation into the inchoative elements, and, like the illumi nator of a manuscript, blazons in his pasigraphy only the capital of the paragraph; he declines, conjugates, parses, by annexations in alphabetic order. The chris-cross row is become the key not merely to the porch, but to the veiled sanctuary of science. Every treatise, like the spectre in the Apocalypse, is la. belled alpha and omega. The whole currency of mind must be marked with the bank bill nomenclature of Abraham Newland. The gamut has been transmuted into letters, with the preservation of a natural arrangement; the symbolic qualities of mathematicians are conveniently replaced by a, b, c; but it is surely the anagram of order to reduce philosophy, like the dethroned Diony sius, to turn abecedarian for a mainte nance. For the teaching of geography, this alphabetic distribution is peculiarly illadapted; the relative bearings and distances of towns are among the things to be learnt; whatever tends to unite in the mind the names of places by any other medium than the association of contiguity, tends by so much to impede the very acquisition in question. The memory of the geographer should arrange cities as on the map; he should concatenate with each name the peculiar and leading features of its history, its monuments, its condition, its productions. It is withdrawing the reflected illustration of the neighbourhood, to insulate these names in the recollection, and sort them, like merchant's letters, into pigeon-holes, by their signatures. The very horses of Juno would be puzzled in springing at a bound from Aalburg in Europe, to Abaski in Asia, and to Abassan in Africa, which are here contiguous. From Baalbeck in Syria, to Bachian in the Molucca-islands, one has to stride with more than seven-league boots, without As if crowned any intervening step. with the wishing cap of Fortunatus, one glides with the uninterrupted swiftness of thought from Cabinde to Cabul; and, like the elf, puts a girdle round about the earth in twenty minutes. Mr. Peuchet, however, does not annihilate time as well as space, to make his readers happy; for Babylon, Tyre, Carthage, and other seats of ancient commerce, are not included in his catalogue: it comprizes only modern geography. In the early letters of the alphabet, the list of names is profuse, the informa tion prolix, and the detail superfluous. The mere letter A fills a volume and a half, or more than a thousand quarto pages. The letters L to Z, on the contrary, are dispatched in a single volume. Here the catalogue is barren, the intelligence curtailed, the particulars scanty. While the task of Mr. Peuchet was new, it seems to have been agreeable; and he indulged in the most latitudinarian research, and the most longitudinal transcription; he was then the statistical to pographer. When it has outlasted the ardor of enterprize, the limitary meridians of his descriptions approximate to almost polar contiguity; and the geographer dwindles to the gazetteer. The notices of French towns are especially eked out with petty and insignificant particulars. In short, the work is exactly what one would expect from the Geographie Moderne of the Encyclopédie Méthodique. From each of the five volumes we will translate an article, that our readers may judge for themselves of the merits of the execution. Vol. 1, p. 96. "Alais, also written Ales, in the department of the Gard. It is boundis a part of the province of Languedoc, now ed on the north by the diocese of Mende, on the south by that of Nismes and Montpellier, on the west by that of Valres, and on the east by that of Uzes. Long. 21° 32′, lat. 44° 8'. Its extent is a length of 30,000 fathoms, on a breadth of 15,000; it measures, therefore, about 50 square leagues. The country is very mountainous; but the mountains are susceptible of cultivation, and the valleys are well cultivated. "The productions consist of corn, oil, and wine. The Abbé Expilly says the wine is not fit for transportation; this would be an exception to the other wines of Languedoc, which in general bear carriage well. It it worth inquiry, whether this defect does not proceed from some bad practice in the method of making wine. Silk is a more important article of produce; there are many mulberry trees, and worms in proportion. The silks of Alais are much esteemed; insomuch, that all those in the neighbourhood are sold as trames d'Alais or Alais organcine. The commerce in silk is considerable, both in raw and twisted silk. The purchases are made about the end of August, when the reelings terminate: in about a week the eight or nine hundred quintals. The quali whole crop comes to market; it consists of ties of these silks are divided into avantage, bonne, troisieme, and chiquet, which last is the name given to the cottony envelope of the cocoons, and is often converted into sew ing silk. The silks of Vivarais and Cevennes are also sold as silks of Alais. There are manufactories of different sorts of silken thread or twist, as of cotes, filoselle, estras, of which a coarse damask for furniture is made: but the manufacturers of Nismes take off the chief of these articles. They frequent the fairs of Alais, in August and January. "There are also manufactories of woollen goods, hats, silk stockings, ribbons, tanned hides, paper, glass, and vitriol. The woollen goods are serges and spring cloths; they are made of the home growth of wool, and are but ordinary. Before the revolution the manufacture of spring cloths was yearly estimated at about 400 pieces of 16 ells, some of which were sent to Piedmont. Some wool was intermingled, which came from Provence, and cost 80 livres the hundred weight. The manufacture of serges was estimated at 1000 pieces of 20 ells. There was no order of council to regulate the width of these goods, but the voluntary concurrence of the makers had settled it at 42 portées*. Another sort of serges, called polilaires, from the name of the original makers, were half an ell wide, and 55 ells long: of these about 800 pieces are made yearly. Stockings are another interesting produce of the industry of Alais: according to the account furnished us, 3600 dozens of silk stockings are made yearly; 51,800 dozens of cotton stockings, and 3940 dozens of worsted stockings. But our information is dated in 1779. Silk ribbands, lambswool hats, one paper-mill, one glasshouse, one vitriol laboratory, contribute to put industry in motion. The territory of Alais has no other mines than a lead one, near Durfort. The ore is called alquifeux, by the peasantry, who only toil for it when other work is scarce. It is used for the varnishing of pottery; and is preferred to that other native glazing which is dug in the Vivarais. There are forges near Alais, and sufficient forests to feed them. The chief towns after Alais are Anduze and Vigan. "The population of the ancient diocese of Alais is estimated by the Abbé Expilly at 72,156 souls, or 1650 the square league; a very numerous population, and the result of that wise administration, and equitable distribution of assessments, which the ancient states of Languedoc, had the merit of introducing and supporting. Vol. 2. p. 800. Berbices, a Dutch colony in Guiana, a province of South America. It is situate on a river of the same name, in north latitude 6° 20'. The mouth of the river of Surinam is about seven miles east of that of Berbices, that of the Issequebo three miles west. The river Berbices is shal mills. low, but broad; nearly an hundred plantations have been formed on its banks. The directors of the colony obtain from it chiefly sugar. It also supplies cotton, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, and a dving stuff called rokou. The goods carried thither are the same as those traded with in the rest of the West-Indies. "The Dutch laid the foundations of this colony in the beginning of the last century. About the year 1626, one Van Peere, of Flushing, began to send thither ships, which carried out Europeans, who staid there to trade with the Indians, and collect produce. By the year 1690, this colony was so far increased that the French, who made a hostile landing, could levy a contribution of 20,000 florins. This colony was compre hended in the charter of the Dutch WestIndia Company; but in 1678 an arrange-. ment was made with the family of Van Peere, who were in fact the founders and proprietors, by which it was granted to them as a perpetual and hereditary fief. This grant was confirmed in 1703, and was respected until 1712, when a flotilla of French privateers, under the command of one Cassard, went to attack the settlement. Baron Mouars commanded the troops who were landed, and who agreed for a contribution of 300,000 florins; which was eventually discharged by the house of Van Hoorn and Co. to whom the family Van Peere ceded three-fourths of the concern, under this condition. "The Van Hoorn company having become masters of the colony, applied to the Dutch East-India Company for leave to import slaves from Asia: this was not conceded; but an agreement took place to furnish annually, from the 10th of September, 1714, the number of 240 negroes, from the coast of Angola or Ardra, one third of them to be females. For these slaves the Van Hoorn Company were to allow 165 florins a-head. If a larger number of negroes became requisite, these were to be paid for at the rate of 250 florins a-head. The proprietors of the colony were to have the liberty of selling off their lands and slaves at pleasure; and were to levy 300 florins on every vessel that should go to Berbices. "These proprietors were apparently in a great degree successful; they extended the cultivation of sugar, of cocoa, and of indigo; they searched for mines, and invited settlers. They then proposed to raise a capital of 3,200,000 florins in 1600 shares, payable in eight instalments, of which the last was to fall due on the 1st of April 1724. For this sum the lands of the Van Hoorn Company were to be thrown into a sort of cominon stock, and cultivated at a joint expence; the shipping, the warehouses, the revenues of Portées technically gates in English: the number of threads reeled at once on the warping ANN. REV. VOL. I.. Ff the custom-house, the produce was all to be the property of the share-holders, and a dividend commensurate with the annual profit was to be made. The actual proprietors were to receive, in lieu of any indemnity or purchase-money, a number of shares proportioned to their occupations: thus they would become interested, it was supposed, in promoting the prosperity of the concern, and in raising its dividends continually. About 1,882,000 florins were thus raised and vested; dividends, which never exceeded three or four per cent. were made, and at length the shares fell from 2000 to 200 florins, and were chiefly bought in by the settlers, as titles requisite to the integrity of their property. A garrison of about 200 men was kept there before the (penultimate) war; but the colony, says the Abbé Raynal, was nevertheless scarcely in a condition to resist the crew of an enterprizing privateer. "In Holland, the colony of Berbices is administered by seven directors, who are chosen by and from among the share-holders. They receive a salary yearly of 200 florins; and give in their accounts to an annual meeting of proprietors, who name auditors. A secretary and two book-keepers suffice for the business of the concern at Amsterdam. On the spot things are conducted much as at Surinam. "The principal articles on which the revenues of the colony are levied, are a capitation tax on the white and black inhabitants, an excise on every fifty pounds of sugar made, a weighage toll of about two per cent. on all imports and exports, and a tonnage duty of three florins per last on the burden of ships. The directors have undertaken to erect fortifications on the Isle of Crabs; and have ordered, that to every fifteen negroes there should be one white. They grant passports to such inhabitants of Holland as desire to trade to Berbices, with the condition that for thirty florins a-head any passenger-colonists, recommended by the directors, shall be received on board, and if under twelve years of age, for half price." 66 Vol. 3. p. 55. Birmingham, a large and populous town of England, in the county of Warwick, celebrated for its iron works, the manufacture of which employs a great multitude of the lower class. It lies twentyseven leagues north by west from London. Long. 16. lat. 52°. 35'. Twenty or thirty years ago, Birmingham did not consist of more than 4 or 5000 souls. It now contains above 40,000. 300 houses are yearly built there. Mr. A. Young says, the popula tion there increased between 1750 and 1770, full 7:00. One entering Birmingham, one is struck with the difference between the populace there and at London. The number of deformed is considerable, which is attributed to the nature of the manufactory. There is a voluntary subscription among the labourers of Birmingham, to maintain one another in old age; they are 2000 in number, and the poor's rate is about 7001. 'sterling yearly. One may judge of our difficulty to procure any precise account of the commerce of the place by what happened to Mr. Young, who could not obtain the most simple informations from the extraordinary jealousy of the master-manufacturers, who justify their mistrust by accusing the French of having got from them much of their trade. All that this writer says of the wages of labour is, that they are paid from seven shillings to three pounds a week; the latter prices only for curious jewelry work; that the women make from half-a-crown to seven shillings a week, and the children from eighteen-pence to six shillings. The manufacture flourishes more during war than peace, but is on the whole increasing. "In the artificial productions of Birmingham, a distinction should be made between articles of luxury made to order, and the common articles of exportation. The former are dear, the latter cheap. Yet these are only sold cheap to wholesale dealers, for in a shop you pay as much as in London: this results from an agreement of the manufacturers. The current articles are greatly below the prices quoted in London invoices, as a discount of fifty per cent. is given for prompt payment. The objects manufactured at Birmingham are all sorts of tools and utensils; buttons, buckles, and trinkets of steel, copper, and plated ware. The merchants are not numerous, but pass for rich, and are called hardwaremen. "The canal of Birmingham communicates with Bristol, Hull, Oxford, Liverpool, and London. The plan was given by Mr. Bolton, about twenty years ago. It was then treated as a mad scheme; but after the execution of the Duke of Bridgewater's canal, every thing appeared practicable. A subscription was opened, and thousand pound shares were subscribed, which now pay a profit of seventy-five per cent, All the coals from Staffordshire come this way. "In 1785, a canal was also begun between Birmingham and Worcester, which passes near Bromsgrove, over a track of twenty-eight miles, and joins the Severn. It carries to Bristol the exports of Birmingham, and brings back bar iron, grocery, and other heavy goods. The agriculture, as well as the manufactures of the neighbourhood, profit by it; and coals have been cheapened four shillings a chaldron." Vol. 4, p. 589. "Han-Yang-Fu, a city of China, in the northern part of the province of Huquang, and separated from the capital of that province by the Ryang, and the liver Han, whence its name. It contains within its walls many lakes, full of fish and waterfowl. These advantages, and its favourable position for commerce, render the inhabitants very rich." Vol. 5, p. 737. "Xeres de la Frontera, a considerable city of Spain, in the province of Andalusia, situate one league from Puerto Santa Maria, seven leagues from Cadiz, and one hundred and four leagues from Madrid. Its territory is so fertile, that besides great quantities of wheat, fruit, and other commodities, it vields 60,000 pipes of wine annually. The cattle is very numerous; in the plains about are bred fine horses. The chief trade consists in the wine, which is sent to America, as well as throughout Europe." An idea of the fatiguing and useless detail, with which the early portions of this work are drawn up, may be formed by consulting the article Amsterdam, where all the commodities sold there are enumerated, so that we seem to be reading a London price current in blank, or a dry-salter's vade mecum. It has, however, the merit of busy compilation, and of containing, especially with respect to France, a multitude of materials no where else brought together, and full of statistical information. The reform of geographical orthography, ought surely by this time to be undertaken. The indolence of savages, and their want of dexterity in articulating, leads them to alter all foreign names into clusters of familiar syllables; but in proportion as civilization, and skill in speech advances, the foreign name is both written and pronounced as in its patria. Thus at the article Londres, one ought to be referred to London; as in an English gazetteer, at Leghorn, one ought to be referred to Livorno. If letters on the road to places so misnomered are to pass through the post-offices of different countries, they will probably be miscarried. Before the revolution, the French was one of the most ignorant rations in Europe; a smaller proportion of the people could write and read, a smaller proportion of the people could make themselves understood in a foreign tongue, than in England or in Germany; however intense the illumination of the few, it was not diffused. Hence the necessity the French have always been under of forcing their own language into diplomatic and commercial use; they could else not have found individuals enough to carry on properly the business of intercourse. Of late their exilements, and predatory excursions, have increased the number of foreign scholars among them; they consequently feriorities, and begin to disbarbarize. make comparisons, perceive certain inThey are now first studying the works of northern taste and reason; their æsthetic faculty is becoming more plastic and more comprehensive; the idiotism of bigotry and ignorance are disappearing from their language; their vanity is vanishing, and there is a prospect af their deigning to learn of each several country how to spell and to pronounce its appellations: their geographical dictionaries will then record names in the European or cosmopolite form, and not as they are maimed and mumbled by the pens and tongues of sailors and couriers. The preliminary discourse contains a copious, not a very discriminative, enumeration of those writers who have treated of the philosophy of commerce in French; it is chiefly derived from the introduction to the Physiocratie, a wellknown work of Dupont de Nemours. An introduction follows, which aims at compressing into convenient limits a history of trade. This relates too much to the commerce of the ancients, and speaks almost exclusively of those cities. whose names are excluded from the work it ushers in. It is drawn up with erudition, with the neatness and the perspicuity of a memoir, destined for the archives of the academy of inscriptions; and it advances much questionable opinion, mixed with far-fetched, with elegant, with apposite, and with interesting illustrations. On the authority of Montesquieu, Mr. Peuchet tells us that Tarshish was on the Red Sea; but Jonah, in his way from Jerusalem to Nineveh, embarks at Joppa for Tarshish. It must, therefore, have been situate a little to the north of Antioch, and is no doubt that very town afterwards deserted by the sea, where Saint Paul was born. The shipping which Solomon owned in partnership with Hiram of Tyre, is that which traded to Tarshish, not the Ezion-Geber shipping. Beside this antiquarian matter. there is a great deal of metaphysical matter, or of speculative reasoning concerning production and consumption. The compiler evidently inclines to the opinion that nature, not labour, is the only productive power; that the addition to the price of commodities, resulting from their manufacture, is a mere |