A few things stand out. First, just how old it is. You can tell looking at the populations -- the population of England is put at 15m, of Ireland 8m, of Russia 52m, North America 50m.
Second, some of the rather amusing views on foreigners.
The Norwegians: 'robust, well made, patient under hardships and distinguished for their hospitality to strangers'
The Laplanders: 'low in stature, thick set, habitually filfthy. Not enjoying the blessings of education they are extremely ignorant and superstitious'
The Russians: 'Nobility are in general very wealthy and live in great splendour; but the peasantry are in the most abject state of slavery; they can neither read nor write; they live in houses of the most wretched description; and are bought and sold with estates'
The French: 'A gay, active and lively people, graceful in their deportment and very polite; posessing however not an inconsiderable share of vanity'
The Swiss: 'A robust people, noted for the simplicity of their manners and their love of liberty'
The Dutch: 'Slow and heavy but remarkable for their cleanliness, frugality and industry'
England: 'The intelligence, industry and enterprise of her people have raised her to a pitch of greatness enjoyed by no other power'
The Welsh: 'Brave and hospitable but inclined to be hasty in their temper and priding themselves extravagantly on their pedigrees and families'
The Scots: 'temperate in their diet, of robust and healthy constitutions and by superior management made very productive'
The Irish: 'Hardy, active and brave; the lower classes however are in general ignorant and superstitious and in a wretched state of poverty'
The Spanish: 'Grave and haughty people, posessing elevated notions of honour; but they are indolent and revengeful'
The Portuguese: 'Swarthy complexion with dark hair and eyes. The peasantry are very poor, living in wretched huts, almost without furniture and their diet consists of mainly bread and garlic'
The Italians: 'Discreet and polite people but extremely effeminate'
The Arabians: 'In the interior of the country the inhabitants lead a wandering life, addicted to robbery and plunder'
Persians: 'Handsome people and fond of display'
The Afghans: 'Brave people making considerable progress in agriculture and the arts. Fond of the chase but addicted to plunder'
Hindustan: 'A country of 140m people subject to Great Britain'
The Hindus: 'Small and elegan'
Tibet: 'Contains the highest pealk of Chumulari, 30,000 feet above sea level'
Japan: 'No intercourse with other nations except China and a restricted one with the Dutch'
The Japanese: 'A very ingenious and industrious people and surpass of the nations in the East in the neatness of their workmanship'
Sumatra: 'The inhabitants are fierce and warlike and in the interior they are supposed to be cannibals'
Australia: 'Australia or New Holland has a population is one million but it is rapidly increasing.'
Australians: 'The native inhabitants are black, and are supposed to approach nearer to the brute condition than any other savage race yet discovered'
New Zealand: 'Its inhabitants are in perpetual war with one another and some of them do not hesitate to eat the flesh of their enemies when slain in battle. The British are making strong efforts to civilise them'
Africa: 'The most striking features of Africa are the immense regions of barren sands, the numer and ferocity of its wild beasts, the intense heat of its climate and the degraded state of the greater part of its inhabitants'
Abysinians: 'Cruel and degraded people feeding on raw flesh, even unfeelingly cutting slices from the living animal and eating them warm from the body'
Cape Town: 'Population 20,000'
United States: 'This very extensive country comprises 24 states and four large divisions called territories. It contains 24m inhabitants and they still retain the language and customs of the mother country. They are rapidly increasing in importance and promise to become one of the leading powers in the world. Principal towns are Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Charles Town. New York is the largest with upwards of 270,000 inhabitants and its commerical transactions are probably of greater extent than those of any City in Europe, London excepted'
The West Indies: 'To these islands European states are indebted for their supply of sugar, rum and coffee. From her possessions hear Great Britain imports annualy to the value of eight millions of pounds of these articles'.
Patagonia: 'Little is known of this country but the inhabitants are reported to be of gigantic stature, totally uncivilised and extremely ferocious. With regard to their stature much exaggeration has probably been used, but it is allowed they are considerably taller than the other native Indians'.
posted by Matthew @ 1/12/2003 01:41:00 PM
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