Daily National Intelligencer

TO THE EDITORS.

Gentlemen—I was not a little amused the other day, in looking over Bankes' Geography, a work published in England several years subsequent to the Independence of this country. It is an immense folio, printed especially by the king's license, in the most expensive manner; ornamented with upwards of one hundred maps and engravings, and is moreover called a Royal Geography, from being intended, I presume, more especially, for the instruction of the royal family of England. The following specimens of its extraordinary accuracy in treating of North America may serve to shew the degree of information a nation may be supposed to possess, upon which such ignorant absurdities are palmed, with impunity.

"Some of the rivers (in Canada) breed crocodiles, which differ but little from those of the Nile." p. 490.

"Niagara is distinguished by a famous cataract, between seven and eight hundred feet high."—p. 491.

Salem—"Its principal business is ship building, particularly the construction of fishing smacks."—p. 494.

New York.—"The face of the country resembles that of the neighboring colonies—is low, flat and marshy towards the sea." p. 494.

Saratoga. "Is a small fort to the northward of Albany, where a combined army of British and Hessians surrendered prisoners of war to the Americans."—p 495.

New Jersey. "The chief towns in New Jersey are, Perth Amboy and Burlington. Burlington stands commodiously for trade, is well built, has a large town house, and two bridges, called York and London, over a branch of the Delaware, which separates it from the main land."—p. 496.

Timber. "It may be farther remarked, that the timber of the Southern colonies is not so good for shipping as that of the northern, because it is less compact, and splits more easily" Live oak for instance!

The reverend and learned geographer Bankes then proceeds to state, that the principal towns in Pennsylvania, besides Philadelphia, are Germantown, Chester, Oxford, Radnor, Newcastle, &c.; and that "Baltimore contains some scattered houses, and scarcely merits the name of a town." The whole of that part of the work relating to the United States, is comprised in somewhat less than ten pages; and probably contains more blunders than were ever committed in the same compass. I will conclude with the following, which is gravely given as a picture of manners and modes among the better sort of people in Virginia, which the writer observes will answer generally for the rest of the states.

"A man of fortune usually rises about nine, and breakfasts between nine and ten. He then reposes (if in hot weather) on a pallet on the floor of the coolest room of the house, in his shirt and trowsers only, with a negro at his head and another at his feet, to fan him, and keep off the flies. Between 12 and 1 he takes a glass of bombo or toddy, a liquor composed of water, sugar, rum and nutmeg, which is weak, and kept cool. At dinner he drinks cider, toddy, punch, port, claret, or madeira, which is generally excellent here. After dinner he returns to his pallet, with his two blacks to fan him, and continues to drink sangaree or toddy all the afternoon."

Now this being a Royal Geography, published especially by permission of the king, handsomely printed, and ornamented with a vast number of plates, is most probably the work from whence the London Courier and the British ministry derive their principal information concerning the United States. The gentleman who presides over the abusive department of the Quarterly Review, also, no doubt frequently consults this valuable work, on the subject of America, and thence is derived that extraordinary insight into the resources, and present state of this country, from time to time displayed in the Courier, as well as that singular acquaintance with our habits and manners, exemplified in the Quarterly Review. For my part, I hope they will continue to consult this royal oracle. The British nation has suffered much, and will suffer more, from its total ignorance of the United States of America.

Yours, &c.

AMERICANUS.

June 18, 1818.