A New and Comprehensive Gazetteer, being a delineation of the present state of the World ... constituting a systematic Dictionary of Geography ... Illustrated by a series of maps, forming a complete Atlas and a selection of appropriate views

Front matter

A HEW AHB IM FOUR YOLUMES. LONDON THOMAS KELX.Y, PATERNOSTER ROW MDCCCXXXIV. A NEW AND COMPREHENSIVE GAZETTEER; BEING A DELINEATION OF TIIE PRESENT STATE OF THE WORLD, FROM THE MOST RECENT AUTHORITIES: ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER, AND CONSTITUTING A SYSTEMATIC DICTIONARY OF GEOGRAPHY. By the Rev. G. N. WRIGHT, M. A.P.A. R.H. A. &c. ONE OF THE EDITORS OK THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OP GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, AND AUTHOR OP SCENES IN WALES, «&C. ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF MAPS, FORMING A COMPLETE ATLAS; ANU A SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE VIEWS ENGRAVED FKOM THE LATEST OBSERVATIONS AND DRAWINGS OF MODERN TRAVFLLLKS. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : THOMAS KELLY, PATERNOSTER HOW. M.DCCC.XXXIV. LONDON : I'RINTRD BV WILLIAM CI.OIVES, Duke Street, Lambeth.

Preface

. It has been well observed of Geography, that as there is scarcely any study yvhich bears more directly upon the real business of life, so there is none which it is more injudicious to neglect. The truth of this aphorism is now generally received : and Geography occupies, very properly, a prominent place in every enlightened system of education : indeed, its utility is manifest to every reader of a com mon newspaper, as he there finds places named, the ignorance of the situation of yvhich must be full as mortifying as the occurrence of yvords selected from a dead language. In short, the importance of Geography is so self-evident, that a laboured argument in its favour would be rather impertinent than useful ; and we may, without incurring the charge of abruptness, proceed at once to explain the plan upon which it is treated in tbe present publication.

The lexicon form has been adopted, as affording superior facilities of reference ; and in this state, it is presumed, our New and Com prehensive Gazetteer will supply the place of a geographical and historical library, to which it will likewise form a valuable appendage since its alphabetical arrangement presents, at a single glance, in formation which otherwise must be sought for, with great labour, from many voluminous works. A work like the present is generally one of the most pleasing in the whole circle of literature ; it enables the reader to travel, as it were, over distant countries, without fatigue or expense, free from danger to his person, or interruption to his comforts, to store his mind with a knowledge of their localities, and to study mankind in all its diversities of character, from the lowest grade of barbarism to the height of civilization ; and, when satiated with the review, he may in an instant return from his imaginary tour to his usual avoca tions, with his head improved and his heart expanded.

To the young, such ideal nights have a peculiarly beneficial tendency, in preparing them for their allotted parts in the drama of life : hence works of this kind have from time to time appeared, with great approbation, in most parts of the civilized world. But the political revolutions which are continually occurring, and the progress of discovery, soon render a system of geography obsolete, and call for its frequent revisal. A sufficient inducement may be found a

PREFACE.

. in such considerations for the present undertaking ; to say nothing of the diminutiveness of some existing geographical dictionaries, the unreasonable extent of others; and tbe circumstance that the best of them are now ten or a dozen years in arrears in their description of what the world is now. The most superficial observer of the recent political changes, and of the scientific voyages and travels which have just enriched our literary stores and improved our geo graphy, must be sensible that at the present time a new publication of the kind proposed is urgently required. To meet such demand, it is intended that this New and Com prehensive Gazetteer shall be of size sufficient to contain every needful particular, yet not be so diffuse as to put it beyond the reach of any class of readers.

The Editor's chief aim is general utility; and he has endeavoured so to blend the entertaining with the useful, as to render his performance equally acceptable to the man of business, the traveller, the student, and such as read solely for amusement. The work contains ample descriptions of every country, city, town, and place of importance, in the known world, of which au thentic intelligence could be obtained. The most recent voyages and travels have been diligently examined and collated with antece dent accounts of the manners and customs of the natives ; the newest and most approved tables of latitudes and longitudes have been consulted for positions ; and for coastings, boundaries, and divisions, the best modern maps and charts have been examined with great labour : the result of which is, a correction of what may not improperly be now called the antiquated geography of modern times, and the introduction of new countries and new people to the reader's notice.

The grand features of the earth, as mountains, hills, volcanoes, deserts, &c. are brought under review, in their proper places. Equal attention is paid to the hydrography of the globe : oceans, seas, lakes, straits, gulfs, bays, with their coasts, promontories, capes, peninsulas, islands, and remarkable rocks, are described from the best authorities ; and the courses of rivers are traced from their rise to their confluence, with all the precision that could be gleaned from recent observation and discovery. To geographical description, which necessarily constitutes the chief feature of a gazetteer, is added a compendium of the history, physical, political, and statistical, of every place of importance ; so digested and incorporated with the chief materials of the work, as to ensure entertainment, even when nothing more is required. In this department, and in the delineation of national character and manners, the greatest care has been taken to narrate with truth,

PREFACE.

. impartiality, and accuracy, — the fundamental qualities of a good historiographer. It cannot have escaped the notice of persons conversant with geographical works, that authors differ greatly in their orthography of the names of places, especially such as have been newly brought under general notice. So considerable, indeed, is this defect, that in some instances,* by the name alone, the identity of a place or people is with difficulty recognised, when mentioned by more than one writer. This want of agreement arises from the diverse com binations of letters, by which several persons endeavour to express the same sound, before it has been reduced to etymological rule. Now, though an uniform orthography is a desideratum rather to be wished for than hastily expected, much may be done in the way of approximation ; and it is presumed that, in consequence of a careful and critical collation of the modes of spelling adopted by different writers, this Gazetteer is not far from being a standard of local orthography.

As the larger portion of his readers will be British, the Editor has embodied in the general arrangement a complete Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland, in which every county, city, borough, township, parish, and village, in the United Kingdom, is introduced, according to its relative importance to the whole community, as respects its commerce, trade, and manufactures, its agricultural produce, or its mines and mineralogical treasures ; the value of its real property, as assessed in 1815 and 1828 ; the amount of its population, from the census of 1831 ; the number of its parliamentary representatives, if any, or the place with which it unites in the elective suffrage, agreeably to the provisions of the reform bills; and its ecclesiastical distinction of rectory, vicarage, curacy, &c. ; to which are added interesting extracts from the local histories, accounts of remarkable antiquities, and descriptions of natural curiosities.

For the purpose of compressing as much information as possible into the proposed compass of the work, a concise style has been adopted ; and certain abbreviations have been used, to avoid repeti tion, of which an explanation will be found in another page. For the illustration of the subjects treated of, a series of Maps has been constructed from the most recent and approved authori ties, upon a scale sufficiently large to deserve the appellation of a Complete Modern Atlas ; and likewise a selection of highly * For example: Owhyliee and Hawaii — Otaheite and Taheite — Afiom and Ofium — Iskend roon and Scandaroon — Aor and YVaiyoor — Koordistan and Curdistan — Azerbijan and Aderbitz-an cum multis aliis. VI

PREFACE.

. interesting Views, engraved from drawings made on the spot by com petent artists, or from accurate copies of them. With these embel lishments, the work forms an elegant and accurate digest of geography and history, in which man, under all the diversities of character impressed upon him by climate, habit, civilization, or the want of it, is faithfully portrayed in conjunction with the physical features ofthe spot he inhabits. The Editor feels it due to the Authors of the Geographical Tables he has consulted, to acknowledge the great assistance they have afforded him, as well in correcting the errors of former geographers, as in the enrichment of his compilation with many hundreds of articles to be found in no other gazetteer. Newington Green; March 28, 1833. CONTRACTIONS USED IN THIS WORK.

For tlie parpose of avoiding many circumlocutions, which would unnecessarily extend the descriptions, a few abbreviations have been resorted to, in places where the sense is so obvious that their signification can scarcely be misunderstood ; such as the following : abp. archbishop. abpk. archbishoprick of. anc. ancient, or anciently. archd. archdeaconry of. archdioc. archdiocese of. bar. barony of. pat. patron, patronage. penins. peninsula. perpet. perpetual; e.g. perpet. cur. perpetual curacy. pop. population ; from the Parliamentary Returns in 1831. bp. bishop. bpk. bishoprick of. bound, bounded, boundaries. can. canton of. prebend, prebendary. presb. presbytery of. princip. principality of. prov. province of. P. T. post town ; for places in Great Britain and Ireland. The figures immediately following, and inclosed with the letters in parentheses, denote the distance of such post town from the metropolis, ex. gr.

Abbaton, 4 m. S. Colchester, (P. T. 51.) signifies that Colchester is the post town for Abbaton, and 51m. from London. real prop, the annual value of real property, as assessed in April, 1815, in general; and for Middlesex, in March, 18^8. rect. rectory. relig. religion. chap, chapelry of. ch. tn. chief town. cir. circle of. co. county of. ded. dedicated to. depart, department of. dioc. diocese of. disch. discharged; e.g. disch. rect. discharged rectory. dist. district of. du. duchy of. gov. government of (as a province.) ham. hamlet of. hd. hundred of. incl. included. king, kingdom of. lat. latitude. long, longitude. m. miles. nv. river. sh. shire of. syn. synod of. tn. town. tnshp. township. vie. vicarage. marg. marggraviate of. mkt. tn. market town. mount, mountain. vil. vUlage. * Places with this mark prefixed are taken on doubtful authority, yet the best that can be obtained. The cardinal points are denoted by their initials, n, e, s, vv, &c. pach. pachalic of. par. parish of. paroch. chap, parochial chapelry.