A. They are generally diftinguished by their fituation. Thus we fay the South Sea, the North Sea, the British Sea, and the Irish Sea, &c. The general term for a large extenfive fea, is an ocean; as the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America, the Pacific Ocean between America and Afia, and the Indian Ocean between Africa and the Eaft Indies. 2. What is a ftrait? A. A narrow paffage of water, inclosed by two fhores, as the Straits of Dover, between England and France, &c. 2. What is a continent? A. A large quantity of land, containing whole countries and kingdoms, and that is not furrounded by the fea; fuch as Europe, Afia, Africa, and America. 2. What is a gulph ? A. A gulph is a part of the fea that runs in between land; if it be very large, it is rather called an inland fea. 2. What is an isthmus ? A. A narrow neck of land between two feas, joining a peninsula to the continent: as the Ifthmus of Darien, or Panama, which joins North to South America. 2. What is a promontory? A. A A. A promontory is a high land that juts into the fea it is often called a cape, as the Cape of Good Hope in the south of Africa. 2. What is an island ? A. An ifland is a part of the earth that is furrounded by the fea or other water, as Great Britain, Ireland, Sicily, &c. there are also islands in rivers. 2. What is a peninsula, or almost an island? A. A part of land that is almost surrounded by the fea; as the Morea, which joins to Greece. 2. What is a lake ? A. A lake is a large extent of water, inclosed all round with land, that never dries, and that has no current, as the Cafpian Lake in Afia, moft commonly, but improperly called the Cafpian Sea. 2. From whence do rivers and brooks derive their stores? A. A river is a ftream of fresh water, formed from many fprings, which, running down by the vallies between the ridges of the hills, and coming to unite, form little rivulets or brooks; many of these again meeting in one common valley, and arriving at the plain, become a river, the magnitude of which is generally in proportion to the greatness of the mountain from whence its waters defcend. 2. What 2. What are fountains or springs? A. Fountains, or fprings, are those waters that iffue from the fides of hills and mountains, where they form natural pools or bafons, which overflowing, the waters defcend in rivulets, and, as before obferved, give rife to rivers. 2. What is a pond? A. A quantity of water flowing from a river, or fome other fource, and confined by a bank for the preservation of fish. 2. What is a marsh? A. A very fhallow, but ftagnant water, that is often dried by the heat of the fun. LESSON |