a large and beautiful city of Holland, situated on the river Amstel, and an arm of the sea, called Wye, a little eastward of the Zuyder-sea, in 4° 30' E. long. and 52° 20' N. lat.

It is computed to be half as big as London; and, in point of trade, equal to any town in the known world; there being people in it of almost every nation and religion of Europe, who apply themselves with the utmost diligence to heap up wealth, not with a view to enjoy it, but to have the pleasure of dying rich.

Amsterdam, is also the name of a town of the Caracas, in America; likewise the name of three islands, one of which lies in the Indian ocean, between New Holland and Madagascar; the second between Peru and and the islands of Solomon; and the third in the Chinese sea, between Japan, and the island Formosa.