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 151 BOOK III. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS MOUNTAINS, RIYERS, DISTANCES, AND PEO- PLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED. IlfTKODTJCTIOK. Thus far have I treated of the position and the ^venders of the earth, of the waters, the stars, and the proportion ot the imiverse and its dimensions. I shaU now proceed to describe its individual parts ; although indeed we may with reason iook upon the task as of an infinite nature, and one not to be rashly commenced upon without mcurrmg censure. And yet on the other hand, there is nothing which ought less to require an apology, if it is only considered how lar from surprisinff it is that a mere mortal cannot be acquainted with eve?}^hing. I shall therefore not follow any smgle author, but shall employ, in relation to each suhject, such writers as I shall look upon as most worthy of credit. ^ or indeed it is the characteristic of nearly aU ot them, that they display the greatest care and accuracy m the descrip- tion of the countries in which they respectively floui'ished; so that by doing this, I shall neither have to blame nor con- tradict any one. -n i v -^ i^ The names of the different places wiU here be simply given, and as briefly as possible; the account of their cele- brity and the events which have given rise thereto, bemg deferreu' ^o a more appropriate occasion ; for it must be remembered that I am here speaking of the earth as a whole, and I wish to be understood as using the names without any reference whatever to their celebrity, and as though the places themselves were in their infancy, and had not as yet acquired any fame through great events. Ihe^name is men- tioned, it is true, but only as iormmg a part ol the world and the system of the universe. . The whole globe is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, ind Africa Our description commences where the sun sets and at theStraits of Gadeswhere the Atlantic ocean,burstmg 1 Now the Straits of Gibraltar.