A General Gazetteer, in miniature ... The whole revised ... by A. G. Findlay. Second edition

Front matter

A 7 GENERAL GAZETTEER OR, COMPENDIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY: CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS OF EVERY COUNTRY IN THE KNOWN WORLD WITH THEIR TOAVNS, PEOPLE, NATURAL PRODUCTIONS, &c, AND THE VARIOUS REMARKABLE EVENT8 BY WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN DISTINGUISHED. ORlCINALLY COMPILED BT R. BROOKES, M.D. THE WHOLE REVISED, AND CORRECTED TO THE PRESENT PERIOD, BY A. G. FINDLAY, F.R.G.S. NEW EDITION.— ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS. LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG & CO., 85, QUEEN STREET, CHEAPSIDE, MDCCCLI. ENTERED IN STATIONERS' HALL. H'CORQCODALE AND CO., PRINTERS, LONDON, WORKS— NEWTON.

Preface

. There are few works in the English language that have been of more general service to British readers, than Brookes's Gazetteer. The very numerous editions that have been called for, since its first appearance in 1762, are a sufficient proof of the value of the author's labours. But, at the period when it was first drawn up, geographical know ledge, both political and physical, was in a very different condition from what is required at the present time. Since then, the entire range of geography has been re-modelled. Political convulsions have overturned a great part of the civil relations which then existed ; and the industry of modern science, more actively directed and pursued within the last quarter of a century, has rendered obsolete, except as matters of history and curiosity, the accounts and descriptions which previously had been current and received as accurate.

Professing to give the present position and character of Geography in a general view, Brookes's Gazetteer of 1762 would afford but a very imperfect picture of the world ; nor would the nature of the work admit a lengthened account of every important point : to exhibit in the most compact tabular form, even the major part of those places in which the world is now interested, would occupy a volume of

PREFACE.

. much greater bulk than the present. It must not be expected, then, that any minor features could be here introduced. This edition has been enlarged by nearly two thousand additional names ; and the very numerous changes which are constantly occurring in each important town and locality, have, it is believed, been adverted to. By comparing, then, the present volume with the first edition of the series, it will be found that scarcely a single line remains of the original as compiled by the author whose name it bears, but which has become identified with British literature. There is one remark that may be made relative to geographical orthography. There are few subjects which now cause greater em barrassment than this. For want of some authentic standard, each author, or traveller, according to his nationality or caprice, gives a different form to the same word, creating, in some instances, very great confusion.

A system of uniformity has been proposed for all European languages, and until some definite plan is adhered to by all, there necessarily must occur many discrepancies in a work of the present nature. Without implicitly adhering to any one system of orthography, the names, as most generally used, will be found : any variations from them, must be left to the reader's judgment. London,