THE

PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

OF

THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

"Than Geography a nobler, a wider, a more philosophical subject there
cannot be: it runs collaterally with the history of the crust of the earth, or
geology, on the one hand, and with the history of the human race on the
other."-Very Rev. Dr. Newman.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

Catholic Publishing and Bookselling Company, Limited,

CHARLES DOLMAN, MANAGER,

61, NEW BOND STREET, & 6, QUEEN'S HEAD PASSAGE,
PATERNOSTER ROW;

J. MULLANY, 1, PARLIAMENT STREET, DUBLIN.

1859.

201.9.56.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE subject of Geography, as connected with History and Commerce, forms, at this day, an important part of the education of the rising generation in all good schools, and of the course of study of our pupil-teachers during their five years' apprenticeship; afterwards, the subject must be more fully pursued during their residence in the training colleges. Therefore, while this has been the case for several years-thanks to the quickening and elevating agency of government inspection,— it became a subject of some surprise to the writer, that in this country, where somebody is found to cater for every real or imaginary want, no one had come forward to supply the longfelt want of a geographical treatise combining in itself these various requirements, and at such a price as to make it accessible to all. To remedy this marked omission in our school literature, the writer published this work; and the rapid sale of the first edition, and the high approval which the same has received, have far exceeded his expectations. He has spared no pains to render this second edition as complete and accurate as possible.

The text throughout has been carefully revised; in some places condensed, without erasing any important fact; and in others enlarged, by the addition of entirely new matter. The Colonial Geography has been considerably enlarged by the history of discovery and acquisition. This part of the book is compiled from the most recent and reliable sources of information; and it may be safely affirmed of it, that matter of so much importance to almost everybody, and in so convenient a form, is nowhere else attainable, even at double the price charged for the whole book. It has been found that the work has had a considerable amount of circulation among the trading, travelling, and other classes outside the schools, while it is admitted to have rendered some sort of service to the great work of popular education, the success of which no one has more dearly at heart than the author,

WESTMINSTER, March, 1859.

D. C. MACCARTHY,
Certificated Teacher.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE subject of Geography, as connected with History and Commerce, forms, at this day, an important part of the education of the rising generation in all good schools, and of the course of study of our pupilteachers during their five years' apprenticeship; afterwards, the subject must be more fully pursued during their residence in the training colleges. Therefore,

while this has been the case for several years-thanks to the quickening and elevating agency of government inspection,-it became a subject of some surprise to the writer, that in this country, where somebody is found to cater for every real or imaginary want, no one had come forward to supply the long-felt want of a geographical treatise combining in itself these various requirements, and at such a price as to make it accessible to all. To remedy this marked omission in our school literature, the writer published this work; and the rapid sale of the first edition, and the high approval which the same has received, have far exceeded his expectations. He has spared no pains to render this second edition as complete and accurate as possible.