Since the formation of the government, n_A Book of the United States Exhibiting its geography, divisions, constitution, and government ... and presenting a view of the republic generally, and of the individual states; together with a condensed history of the land, from its first discovery to the present time. The biography of about two hundred of the leading men: a description of the principal cities and towns; with statistical tables

greater interest, or elicited warmer discussion than this. By not a few

it was apprehended that the practical effect of such notice would be

a war between the two governments. The debate took a wide range, and

several were the modes suggested, or the resolutions offered, according

to the terms of which the notice should be given. But, at length, on

the 16th of April, the question was taken in the senate on a resolution,

which had originated in the house and been amended in the senate, to

give said notice, and decided in the affirmative by a majority of 40 to

14. On being returned to the house, the latter agreed to the senate’s

amendments, but added still further amendments. These latter, however,

were negatived by the senate, and the house insisting, a conference was

solicited by the latter. This being accepted by the senate, a committee

of conference was appointed, who reported the following preamble and

resolution, which passed the senate by a vote of 42 to 10, and the

house by a vote of 142 to 46.

“_A Joint Resolution concerning the Oregon territory._――Whereas, by

the convention concluded the twentieth day of October, eighteen hundred

and eighteen, between the United States of America and the King of

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the period of

ten years, and afterwards indefinitely extended and continued in force

by another convention of the same parties, concluded the sixth day

of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and

twenty-seven, it was agreed that any country that may be claimed by

either party on the north-west coast of America westward of the Stony

or Rocky mountains, now commonly called the Oregon territory, should,

together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all

rivers within the same, be “free and open” to the vessels, citizens,

and subjects of the two powers, but without prejudice to any claim

which either of the parties might have to any part of said country;

and with this further provision, in the second article of the said

convention of the sixth of August, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven,

that either party might abrogate and annul said convention, or give due

notice of twelve months to the other contracting party――

“And whereas it has now become desirable that the respective claims of

the United States and Great Britain should be definitely settled, and

that said territory may no longer than need be remain subject to the

evil consequences of the divided allegiance of its American and British

population, and of the confusion and conflict of national jurisdictions,

dangerous to the cherished peace and good understanding of the two

countries――

“With a view, therefore, that steps be taken for the abrogation of

the said convention of the sixth of August, eighteen hundred and

twenty seven, in the mode prescribed in its second article, and that

the attention of the governments of both countries may be the more

earnestly and immediately directed to the adoption of all proper

measures for a speedy and amicable adjustment of the difficulties and

disputes in respect to said territory――

“_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United

States, in Congress assembled_, That the President of the United States

be, and he is hereby authorized, at his discretion, to give the British

government the notice required by its said second article for the

abrogation of the said convention of the sixth of August, eighteen

hundred and twenty-seven.”

Thus was decided a question which had greatly agitated the entire

country, and which, in the progress of discussion, had occasioned

observations and reflections strongly calculated to disturb the

harmony of the two governments, and which, in the opinion of some,

were designed to produce such an effect. But the folly and guilt of

engendering war between two nations so allied, and in which Christian

principle was bound to hold sway, was, on several occasions, and by

some of the principal men of the nation, pointed out. Solemn warning

was given to those, who would madly have rushed to arms by setting up

claims of doubtful validity, and which, it was well known, would never

be acceded to by the British government. But, at length, the troubled

waters grew calmer; and, while to a small portion of congress and of

the nation, the resolutions adopted were still obnoxious, a vast

majority of the people were gratified at their mild and conciliatory

tenor.

It still remained to be known in what spirit this resolution would be

received by her majesty’s government: but it was devoutly desired that

it might lead to a final and harmonious settlement of all questions

pertaining to the territory of Oregon.

And so it resulted fortunately, for the peace of the two powers

immediately concerned, and to the peace of the continental powers of

Europe.

On the 28th of April, the President gave official notice to her

Majesty, Queen Victoria, that “the convention of August 6th, 1827,

would terminate at the end of twelve months from and after the delivery

of these presents.”

Before the delivery of this notice, however, the subject of an amicable

settlement of all questions relating to Oregon, had occupied her

Majesty’s government, and, on the 18th of May, Mr. M’Lane, our minister,

informed Mr. Buchanan that the British minister at Washington would

soon receive instructions to submit a new and further proposition, on

the part of the British government, for a partition of the territory in

dispute.

On the 10th of June, the President made a special and confidential

communication to the senate, informing that body, that such a proposal

had been made, and requesting their advice as to the action, which,

in their judgment, it was proper to take in reference to it. At the

same time he reiterated the views which he had expressed in his annual

message, “that no compromise which the United States ought to accept,

could be affected;” “that our title to the whole of Oregon” was

maintained “by irrefragable facts and arguments,” and that the claim

“could not be abandoned without a sacrifice of both national honor and

interests.” Such was the tenor of the President’s communication. But he

solicited advice.

On the 12th, the senate adopted, 38 to 12, the following resolution.

“_Resolved_, (two-thirds of the senate concurring,) That the President

of the United States be and he is hereby advised to accept the proposal

of the British government accompanying his message to the senate, dated

June 10th, 1846, for a convention to settle boundaries, &c., between

the United States and Great Britain, west of the Rocky or Stony

mountains.”

On the 16th of June, the President communicated to the senate a copy

of a convention, or treaty, which had been concluded and signed on the

15th inst. settling boundaries, &c., in relation to Oregon――whereupon

the senate by a vote of 41 to 14 advised and consented to the

ratification of the same.

The two principal articles of this treaty are as follows.

“Art. 1, From the point on the 49th parallel of north latitude, where

the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between

Great Britain and the United States terminates, the line of boundary

between the territories of her Brittannic Majesty and those of the

United States shall be continued westward along the 49th parallel

of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the

continent from Vancouver’s Island, and thence southerly through the

middle of the said channel, and of Fuca’s Straits, to the Pacific Ocean;

provided, however, that the navigation of the said channel and straits,

south of the 49th parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to

both parties.

“Art. 2, From the point at which the 49th parallel of north latitude

shall be found to intersect the great Northern branch of the Columbia

river, the navigation of the said branch shall be free, and open to

the Hudson’s Bay Company, and to all British subjects trading with the

same, to the point where the said branch meets the main stream of the

Columbia, and thence down the said main stream to the ocean, with free

access into and through the said river or rivers――it being understood

that all the usual portages along the line thus described, shall in

like manner be free and open. In navigating the said river or rivers,

British subjects, with their goods and produce, shall be treated on

the same footing as citizens of the United States――It being, however,

always understood, that nothing in this article shall be construed as

preventing, or intended to prevent, the government of the United States

from making any regulations respecting the navigation of the said river

or rivers, not inconsistent with the present treaty.”

Thus was finally settled (ratifications being afterwards duly exchanged)

a question which had involved the two governments in discussions long

and wearisome for a series of years, and which, in its progress, was

threatening the peace and amity of the two nations. The treaty thus

confirmed was not in all its provisions quite acceptable, nor was it

considered the most advantageous that could have been negotiated; but

the senate received, as it was entitled to, the thanks of the country

for terminating a controversy fraught with dangers every month that it

continued.

Several important bills were passed during the session, among which

was a bill to protect the rights of citizens of the United States

residing in Oregon――a bill for the establishment of the Smithsonian

Institute, for the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge among men――a

bill re-establishing the sub-treasury――a warehousing bill――a bill

for the improvement of certain rivers and harbors within the United

States――and a bill to indemnify citizens of the United States for

French spoilations. The two last of these bills, to the great regret

of persons interested therein, as well as many others who desired to

see the intents of navigation advanced and protected, and that numerous

class of citizens indemnified for losses which they had years since

sustained by reason of French depredations, and which, according to

agreement, the government of the United States were solemnly bound to

pay, were vetoed. Loud complaints were uttered against the President

for his course pursued in relation to these bills, which had been

discussed with signal ability, and had received the decided sanction

of both houses of congress.

Towards the close of the session, a bill for the reduction of the

duties on the importation of foreign goods and manufactures, passed the

house of representatives by a majority of nineteen votes. In the senate

it was carried by the casting vote of the vice-president. To those who

were satisfied with the tariff of 1842, the alterations proposed by

this bill were strongly condemned. They predicted as a consequence,

and one which could not be avoided, the ruin of several important

branches of manufactures, while it was exceedingly doubtful whether the

revenues arising under this new tariff would suffice for the wants of

the government. The Democratic party, however, stood pledged to alter

the tariff of 1842, and although the friends of protection for a time

cherished hopes that the interests of the manufacturers, and as they

believed, the interests of the country, would be regarded; those hopes

were dispelled by the action of congress on the subject.

On the 10th of August, at noon, congress brought its long and stirring

session to a close. It had lasted for 253 days, or more than two thirds

of a year. During few sessions were there ever more important subjects

under debate. The results of several measures adopted remain to be seen.

But, while it is occasion of congratulation, that our difficulties

with Great Britain have been amicably and timely adjusted, it is

matter of serious regret, that a war should be continued with Mexico.

The final result of this, in regard to Mexico, may, perhaps, not

be problematical――but the “end is not yet;” and before that end is

reached, the people of the United States may as much regret that it

was commenced, as the Mexicans themselves. The American army is at this

present time, September, 1846, on its way from Matamoras to Monterey

and other points. Santa Anna has superseded Paredes in the government,

but what are his wishes in regard to peace have not transpired. Should

he decide for war, the Americans can “apparently conquer a peace” only

by taking up their march to the “Halls of Montezuma.”

APPENDIX.

CANALS AND RAILROADS.

A CONDENSED SUMMARY OF THE CANALS AND RAILROADS

IN THE UNITED STATES;

THEIR LENGTHS AND TERMINATING POINTS.

Name. │ From. │ To. │Miles.

─────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┼──────

MAINE. │ │ │

_Canal._ │ │ │

Cumberland and Oxford │Near Portland │Long Pond │ 20,50

_Railroad._ │ │ │

Bangor and Orono │Bangor │Orono │ 10,00

│ │ │

NEW HAMPSHIRE. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Bow Falls │ │ │ 0,75

Hookset Falls │ │ │ 0,13

Amoskeag Falls │ │ │ 1,00

Union │ │ │ 9,00

Sewall’s Falls │ │ │ 0,25

│ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Eastern │Massachusetts │Portsmouth │ 15,47

│ Line │ │

Nashua and Lowell │Massachusetts │Nashua │ 5¼

│ Line │ │

Boston and Maine │Massachusetts │Exeter │ 14,00

│ Line │ │

│ │ │

VERMONT. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

White River Falls │ │ │ 0,50

Bellows Falls │ │ │ 0,16

Waterquechy │ │ │ 0,40

│ │ │

MASSACHUSETTS. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Middlesex │Boston │Chelmsford │ 27,00

Pawtucket │Lowell │ │ 1,59

Blackstone │Providence │Worcester │ 45,00

Hampshire and Hampden │Connecticut │Northampton │ 22,00

│ Line │ │

Montague Falls │ │ │ 3,00

South Hadley Falls │ │ │ 2,00

│ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Eastern │Boston │N. Hampshire │ 38,00

│ │ Line │

Boston and Lowell │Boston │Lowell │ 26,00

Boston and Portland │Wilmington │N. Hampshire │ 20,00

│ │ Line │

Lowell and Nashua │Lowell │N. Hampshire │ 9,00

│ │ Line │

Charlestown │Charlestown │ │ 1½

Boston and Worcester │Boston │Worcester │ 45,00

Millbury Branch │ │Millbury │ 3¼

Western │Worcester │West Stockbridge│116,00

Boston and Providence │Boston │Providence │ 41,00

Dedham Branch │ │Dedham │ 2,00

Taunton Branch │Mansfield │Taunton │ 11,00

Taunton and New Bedford │Taunton │New Bedford │ 20,00

Norwich and Worcester │Worcester │Connecticut Line│ 20,00

Quincy │Granite Quarry │Quincy Landing │ 3,00

│ │ │

RHODE ISLAND. │ │ │

_Railroad._ │ │ │

Providence and Stonington│Providence │Stonington │ 47,00

│ │ │

CONNECTICUT. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Farmington │New Haven │Massachusetts │ 56,00

│ │ Line │

Enfield Falls │ │ │ 5,50

│ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Norwich and Worcester │Norwich │Worcester │ 58,50

New Haven and Hartford │New Haven │Hartford │ 36,00

Housatonic │Bridgeport │New Milford │ 35,00

│ │ │

NEW YORK. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Erie │Albany │Buffalo │363,00

Champlain │West Troy │Whitehall │ 76,00

Chenango │Utica │Binghamton │ 97,00

Black River │Rome │Carthage │ 85,00

Oswego │Syracuse │Oswego │ 38,00

Cayuga and Seneca │Seneca Lake │Cayuga Lake │ 23,00

Crooked Lake │Pennyan │Seneca Lake │ 7,75

Chemung │Seneca Lake │Elmira │ 23,00

Branch of Chemung │Elmira │Knoxville │ 16,00

Delaware and Hudson │Eddyville │Lackawaxen │ 83,00

Genesee Valley │Rochester │Olean │119,63

Dansville Branch │Mount Morris │Dansville │ 11,00

Harlaem │Hudson River │East River │ 3,00

Croton Aqueduct │Croton River │New York │ 40,56

│ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Long Island │Brooklyn │Hicksville │ 27,00

Harlaem │New York │Harlaem │ 8,00

Hudson and Berkshire │Hudson West │Stockbridge │ 33,00

Catskill and Canajoharie │Catskill │Canajoharie │ 78,00

Rensselaer and Saratoga │Troy │Ballston │ 23,50

Mohawk and Hudson │Albany │Schenectady │ 15,86

Saratoga and Schenectady │Schenectady │Saratoga │ 21,50

Utica and Schenectady │Schenectady │Utica │ 77,00

Syracuse and Utica │Utica │Syracuse │ 53,00

Syracuse and Auburn │Syracuse │Auburn │ 26,00

Auburn and Rochester │Auburn │Rochester │ 80,00

Tonawanda │Rochester │Attica │ 45,00

Buffalo and Niagara Falls│Buffalo │Niagara Falls │ 23,00

Lockport and Niagara │Lockport │Niagara Falls │ 20,00

Falls │ │ │

Buffalo and Black Rock │Buffalo │Black Rock │ 3,00

Rochester │Rochester │Port Genesee │ 3,00

Ithaca and Owego │Ithaca │Owego │ 29,00

Bath │Bath │Crooked Lake │ 5,00

Port Kent and Keesville │Port Kent │Keesville │ 4,50

│ │ │

NEW JERSEY. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Delaware and Raritan │Bordentown │New Brunswick │ 42,00

Morris │Jersey City │Easton, Pa. │101,75

Salem │Salem Creek │Delaware River │ 4,00

│ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Camden and Amboy │Camden │South Amboy │ 61,00

Trenton Branch │ │Trenton │ 8,00

Jobstown Branch │Jobstown │Craft’s Creek │ 13,00

Peterson and Hudson │Jersey City │Paterson │ 16,30

Camden and Woodbury │Camden │Woodbury │ 9,00

New Jersey │Jersey City │New Brunswick │ 34,00

Trenton and Brunswick │Trenton │New Brunswick │ 27,00

Morris and Essex │Newark │Morristown │ 22,00

Elizabethport and │Elizabethport │Somerville │ 25,00

Somerville │ │ │

│ │ │

PENNSYLVANIA. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

◆ Central Division │Columbia │Hollidaysburg │172,00

◆ Western Division │Johnstown │Pittsburg │104,25

◆ Susquehanna Division │Duncan’s Island │Northumberland │ 39,00

◆ West Branch Division │Northumberland │Farrandsville │ 73,00

◆ North Branch Division │Northumberland │Lackawana │ 72,50

◆ Delaware Division │Bristol │Easton │ 59,75

◆ Beaver Division │Beaver │Shenango River │ 30,75

◆ Penn. Canals. │ │ │

Schuylkill Navigation │Philadelphia │Port Carbon │108,00

Union │Reading │Middletown │ 82,08

Lehigh │Easton │Stoddartsville │ 84,48

Lackawaxen │Delaware River │Honesdale │ 25,00

Conestoga │Lancaster │Safe Harbor │ 18,00

Codorus │York │Susquehanna │ 11,00

│ │ River │

Bald Eagle │West Branch Canal│Bellefonte │ 25,00

Susquehanna │Wrightsville │Havre de Grace │ 45,00

Minor Canals │ │ │ 24,00

│ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Columbia and Philadelphia│Philadelphia │Columbia │ 81,60

Portage │Hollidaysburg │Johnstown │ 36,69

Philadelphia City, &c. │ │ │ 6,00

Valley │Norristown │Columbia │ 20,25

│ │ Railroad │

West Chester │Columbia Railroad│West Chester │ 10,00

Harrisburg and Lancaster │Harrisburg │Lancaster │ 35,50

Cumberland Valley │Harrisburg │Chambersburg │ 50,00

Franklin │Chambersburg │Williamsport │ 30,00

York and Wrightsville │York │Wrightsville │ 13,00

Strasburg │Cumberl. Val. │Strasburg │ 7,00

│ R. R. │ │

Philadelphia and Reading │Philadelphia │Pottsville │ 95,00

Little Schuylkill │Port Clinton │Tamaqua │ 23,00

Danville and Pottsville │Pottsville │Sunbury │ 44,54

Little Schuylkill and │Tamaqua │Williamsport │106,00

Susquehanna │ │ │

Beaver Meadow Branch │Lindner’s Gap │Beaver Mead. │ 12,00

│ │ R. R. │

Williamsport and Elmira │Williamsport │Elmira │ 73,50

Corning and Blossburg │Blossburg │Corning │ 40,00

Mount Carbon │Mount Carbon │Norwegian Creek │ 7,24

Schuylkill Valley │Port Carbon │Tuscarora │ 10,00

Branches of Schuylkill │ │ │ 15,00

Valley │ │ │

Schuylkill │Schuylkill │Valley │ 13,00

Mill Creek │Port Carbon │Coal Mine │ 9,00

Mine Hill and Schuylkill │Schuylkill Haven │Mine Hill Gap │ 20,00

Haven │ │ │

Mauch Chunk │Mauch Chunk │Coal Mine │ 9,00

Branches of Mauch Chunk │ │ │ 16,00

Room Run │Mauch Chunk │Coal Mine │ 5,26

Beaver Meadow │Parryville │Coal Mine │ 20,00

Hazelton and Lehigh │Hazelton Mine │Beaver Mead. │ 8,00

│ │ R. R. │

Nesquehoning │Nesquehoning Mine│Lehigh River │ 5,00

Lehigh and Susquehanna │White Haven │Wilkesbarre │ 19,58

Carbondale and Honesdale │Carbondale │Honesdale │ 17,67

Lykens Valley │Broad Mountain │Millersburg │ 16,50

Pine Grove │Pine Grove │Coal Mine │ 4,00

Philadelphia and Trenton │Philadelphia │Morrisville │ 26,25

Philadelphia, Ger., and │Philadelphia │Norristown │ 17,00

Norrist’n. │ │ │

Germantown Branch │ │ │ 4,00

Philadelphia and │Philadelphia │Wilmington │ 27,00

Wilmington │ │ │

│ │ │

DELAWARE. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

New Castle and Frenchtown│New Castle │Frenchtown, Md. │ 19,19

Railroads from New Castle│ │ │

to Wilmington, and from│ │ │

Wilmington to Nanticoke│ │ │

Creek; are proposed. │ │ │

│ │ │

_Canal._ │ │ │

Chesapeake and Delaware │Delaware City │Back Creek │ 13,63

│ │ │

MARYLAND. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Baltimore and Ohio │Baltimore │Harper’s Ferry │ 80,50

Washington Branch │Patapsco River │Washington │ 30,35

Baltimore and Port │Baltimore │Havre de Grace │ 36,00

Deposit │ │ │

Baltimore and Susquehanna│Baltimore │York, Pa. │ 56,00

Reistertown Branch │6 m. from │Reistertown │ 8,00

│ Baltimore │ │

Wilmington and │Havre de Grace │Wilmington, Del.│ 32,00

Susquehanna │ │ │

Annapolis and Elkridge │Washington Branch│Annapolis │ 19,75

│ │ │

_Canal._ │ │ │

Chesapeake and Ohio │Georgetown │Hancock │136,00

│ │ │

VIRGINIA. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Richm., Fredericksb., and│Richmond │Aquia Creek │ 75,00

Potomac │ │ │

Louisa Branch │24 m. from │Gordonsville │ 49,00

│ Richm’d. │ │

Richmond and Petersburg │Richmond │Petersburg │ 23,00

Petersburg and Roanoake │Petersburg │Weldon │ 59.00

Greensville │Near Hicksford │Gaston, N. C. │ 18,00

City Point │Petersburg │City Point │ 12,00

Chesterfield │Coal Mines │Richmond │ 13,50

Portsmouth and Roanoke │Portsmouth │Weldon, N. C. │ 80,00

Winchester and Potomac │Harper’s Ferry │Winchester │ 32,00

│ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Alexandria Canal │Georgetown │Alexandria │ 7,25

James River and Kanawha │Richmond │Buchannan │175,00

Dismal Swamp │Deep Creek │Joyce’s Creek │ 23,00

Branches │ │ │ 11,00

│ │ │

NORTH CAROLINA. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Wilmington and Raleigh │Wilmington │Weldon │161,00

Raleigh and Gaston │Raleigh │Gaston │ 85,00

│ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Weldon Canal │Weldon │Head Roanoke │ 12,00

│ │ F’lls. │

Club Foot and Harlow │Club Foot Creek │Harlow Creek │ 1,50

│ │ │

SOUTH CAROLINA. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

South Carolina │Charleston │Hamburg │135,75

Columbia Branch │Branchville │Columbia │ 66,00

│ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Santee │Cooper River │Santee River │ 22,00

Winyaw │Kinloch Creek │Winyaw Bay │ 7,40

Saluda │Shoals │Granby │ 6,20

Drehr’s │Saluda Falls │Head of Falls │ 1,33

Lorick │Broad River │Head of Falls │ 1,00

Lockharts │Head Falls Br. │To Foot │ 2,75

│ Riv. │ │

Wataree │Jone’s Mill │Elliott’s │ 4,00

Catawba │At various points│ │ 7,77

│ on the Catawba │ │

│ │ │

GEORGIA. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Georgia │Augusta │De Kalb County │165,00

Athens Branch │Georgia Railroad │Athens │ 33,00

Western and Atlantic │De Kalb County │Tennessee River │130,00

Central │Savannah │Macon │193,00

Monroe │Macon │Forsyth │ 25,00

Macon and Talbotton │Macon │Talbotton │ 70,00

│ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Savannah, Ogeechee, and │Savannah │Alatamaha River │ 16,00

Alatamaha │ │ │

Brunswick │Alatamaha │Brunswick │ 12,00

│ │ │

FLORIDA. │ │ │

_Railroad._ │ │ │

Wimico and St. Joseph │Lake Wimico │St. Joseph │ 12,00

│ │ │

ALABAMA. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Alabama, Florida, and │Pensacola │Montgomery │150,46

Georgia │ │ │

Montgomery and West Point│Montgomery │West Point │ 87,00

Tuscumbia, Courtl’d., & │Tuscumbia │Decatur │ 44,00

Decatur │ │ │

Selma and Cahawba │Selma │Cahawba │ 10,00

Wetumpka │Wetumpka │ │ 10,00

│ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Muscle Shoals Canal │Head of Falls │Florence │ 35,75

Huntsville │Triana │Huntsville │ 16,00

│ │ │

MISSISSIPPI. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

West Feliciana │St. Francisville │Woodville, Mp. │ 7,75

Vicksburg and Clinton │Vicksburg │Clinton │ 54,00

Grand Gulf │Grand Gulf │Port Gibson │ 7,25

Jackson and Brandon │Jackson │Brandon │ 14,00

│ │ │

LOUISIANA. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Pontchartrain │New Orleans │Lake │ 4,50

│ │ Pontchartrain │

West Feliciana │St. Francisville │Woodville, Mp. │ 20,00

Atchafalaya │Point Coupee │Opelousas │ 30,00

Alexandria and │Alexandria │Cheneyville │ 30,00

Cheneyville │ │ │

New Orleans and Carrolton│New Orleans │Lafayette │ 11,25

Orleans Street │New Orleans │Bayou St. John │ 1,50

│ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Orleans Bank │New Orleans │Lake │ 4,25

│ │ Pontchartrain │

Canal Carondelet │New Orleans │Bayou St. John │ 2,00

Barataria │Near New Orleans │Berwick’s Bay │ 85,00

Lake Veret │Lake Veret │La Fourche River│ 8,00

│ │ │

TENNESSEE. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

La Grange and Memphis │La Grange │Memphis │ 50,00

Somerville Branch │Moscow │Somerville │ 16,00

Highwassee │Knoxville │West. & Atlan. │ 98,50

│ │ R. R. │

│ │ │

KENTUCKY. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Lexington and Ohio │Louisville │Lexington │ 92,75

Portage │Bowling Green │Barren River │ 1,50

│ │ │

ILLINOIS. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Meredosia and │Meredosia │Jacksonville │ 20,00

Jacksonville │ │ │

Coal Mine Bluffs │Illinois │Coal Mine │ 6,00

│ │ │

_Canal._ │ │ │

Illinois and Michigan │Chicago │Near Peru │105,90

│ │ │

INDIANA. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Wabash and Erie │Lafayette │Lake Erie │187,00

Whitewater │Lawrenceburg │Brookville │ 30,00

│ │ │

_Railroad._ │ │ │

Madison and Indianapolis │Madison │Indianapolis │ 95,00

│ │ │

OHIO. │ │ │

_Canals._ │ │ │

Ohio and Erie │Portsmouth │Cleveland │307,00

Columbus Branch │Columbus │Canal │ 10,00

Lancaster Branch │Lancaster │Canal │ 9,00

Hocking │Lancaster │Athens │ 50,00

Zanesville Branch │Zanesville │Canal │ 14,00

Walhonding Branch │Walhonding River │Canal │ 23,00

Miami │Cincinnati │Defiance │178,00

Warren Branch │Middletown │Lebanon │ 20,00

Sandy and Beaver │Bolivar │Ohio River │ 76,00

Mahoning │Akron │Beaver River │ 77,00

Little Miami │Cincinnati │Springfield │ 85,00

│ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Mad River and Lake Erie │Tiffin │Sandusky City │ 40,00

Ohio │Manhattan │Sandusky City │ 40,00

Monroeville and Sandusky │Monroeville │Sandusky City │ 15,00

City │ │ │

│ │ │

MICHIGAN. │ │ │

_Railroads._ │ │ │

Central │Detroit │Dexter │ 49,00

Erie and Kalamazoo │Toledo │Adrian │ 33,00

Detroit and Pontiac │Detroit │Pontiac │ 25,00

Palmyra and Jacksonburgh │Palmyra │Clinton │ 17,00

Southern │Monroe │Adrian │ 35,00

SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS

IN THE UNITED STATES.

Churches or Members or

Denominations. Ministers. Congregations. Communicants. Population.

────────────── ────────── ────────────── ───────────── ───────────

Baptists 4,239 6,319 452,000 }

Freewill 612 753 33,876 } 4,300,000

Seventh-Day 46 42 4,503 }

Six-Principle 10 16 2,117 }

Methodists 2,764 650,103 }

Protestant 400 50,000 } 3,000,000

Presbyterians 2,225 2,807 274,084 }

Cumberland 450 500 50,000 }

Associate 87 183 16,000 } 2,175,000

Reformed 20 40 3,000 }

Associate }

Reformed 116 214 12,000 }

Congregationalists 1,150 1,300 160,000 1,400,000

Catholics 389 443 800,000

Episcopalians 849 850 600,000

Universalists 317 653 600,000

Lutherans 267 750 62,226 540,000

Dutch Reformed 192 197 22,515 450,000

Christians 800 1,000 150,000 300,000

German Reformed 180 600 30,000 250,000

Unitarians 174 200 180,000

Unitarian Mennonites 200 30,000 120,000

Friends 500 100,000

Tunkers 40 40 3,000 30,000

Jews 15,000

Moravians or United

Brethren 33 24 5,745 12,000

Mormonites 12,000 12,000

Shakers 45 15 6,000 6,000

New Jerusalem Church 33 27 5,000

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

TABLE, EXHIBITING THE VALUE OF IMPORTS FROM, AND EXPORTS TO,

EACH FOREIGN COUNTRY, DURING THE YEAR ENDING ON THE

30TH SEPTEMBER, 1839.

Value of Exports.

──────────────────────────────────────

Value of Domestic Foreign

Countries. Imports. Produce. Produce. Total.

──────────── ──────────── ──────────── ─────────── ────────────

1 Russia $2,393,894 $434,567 $804,659 $1,239,246

2 Prussia 70,412 29,313 43,500 72,813

3 Sweden and

Norway 1,553,684 337,000 26,502 363,502

4 Swedish West

Indies 12,458 103,282 4,130 107,412

5 Denmark 80,997 50,634 38,177 88,811

6 Danish West

Indies 1,465,761 1,014,381 303,154 1,317,535

7 Hanse Towns

and ports

of Germany 4,849,150 2,067,608 733,459 2,801,067

8 Holland 2,149,732 1,677,352 295,651 1,973,003

9 Dutch East

Indies 692,196 86,619 396,934 483,553

10 Dutch West

Indies 582,284 282,042 70,975 353,017

11 Dutch Guiana 49,008 58,863 2,803 61,666

12 Belgium 465,701 541,641 66,269 607,910

13 England 64,863,716 54,615,327 3,953,108 58,568,435

14 Scotland 950,183 1,025,832 1,256 1,027,088

15 Ireland 150,689 330,719 330,719

16 Gibraltar 99,178 902,247 148,387 1,050,634

17 Malta 24,943 65,870 34,126 99,996

18 Mauritius 30,466 1,500 31,966

19 Cape of Good

Hope 43,059 88,379 5,020 93,399

20 British East

Indies 2,135,152 246,845 337,597 584,442

21 British West

Indies 941,699 2,472,833 90,642 2,563,475

22 British Guiana 14,215 34,906 218 35,124

23 British

Honduras 164,027 181,861 29,339 211,200

24 British North

American

Colonies 2,155,146 3,418,770 144,684 3,563,454

25 Australia 58,344 6,790 6,790

26 Other British

Colonies 2,360 2,360

27 France on the

Atlantic 30,918,450 14,919,848 2,088,655 17,008,503

28 France on the

Mediterranean 1,612,871 1,046,260 176,186 1,222,446

29 French West

Indies 702,798 585,916 105,905 691,821

30 French Guiana 1,643 1,643

31 Spain on the

Atlantic 263,193 316,144 32,014 348,158

32 Spain on the

Mediterranean 1,597,978 209,724 19,000 228,724

33 Tenneriffe and

other Canaries 196,755 15,572 11,939 27,511

34 Manilla and

Philippine

Islands 876,477 98,553 38,255 136,808

35 Cuba 12,599,843 5,025,626 1,091,205 6,116,831

36 Porto Rico 3,742,549 779,049 87,348 866,397

37 Portugal 587,778 59,711 6,093 65,804

38 Madeira 539,800 64,082 15,046 79,128

39 Fayal and the

other Azores 15,222 9,130 4,739 13,869

40 Cape de Verd

Islands 39,523 77,138 8,415 85,553

41 Italy 1,182,297 315,399 122,753 438,152

42 Sicily 592,951 192,462 84,607 277,069

43 Sardinia 1,348

44 Trieste 477,539 429,578 162,671 592,249

45 Turkey, Levant

&c. 629,190 83,320 266,054 349,374

46 Morocco and

Barbary States 96,493

47 Hayti 1,377,989 991,265 131,294 1,122,559

48 Texas 318,116 1,379,065 308,017 1,687,082

49 Mexico 3,127,153 816,660 1,970,702 2,787,362

50 Central

Republic of

America 192,845 111,752 104,490 216,242

51 New Grenada 90,514 35,219 29,585 64,804

52 Venezuela 1,982,702 413,245 272,736 665,981

53 Brazil 5,292,955 2,133,997 503,488 2,637,465

54 Cisplatine

Republic 625,432 50,998 38,302 89,300

55 Argentine

Republic 525,114 233,593 142,470 376,063

56 Chili 1,186,641 1,307,143 487,410 1,794,553

57 Peru 242,813

58 South America,

generally 23,618 27,257 50,875

59 China 3,678,509 430,464 1,103,137 1,533,601

60 Europe,

generally 128,105 128,105

61 Asia,

generally 63,525 158,321 400,431 558,752

62 Africa,

generally 419,054 443,218 47,061 490,279

63 West Indies,

generally 457,968 33,060 491,028

64 South Seas 318,143 85,938 39,750 125,688

65 Atlantic Ocean

66 Uncertain

places 11,944

──────────── ──────────── ─────────── ────────────

_Total_ $169,092,132 $103,533,891 $17,494,525 $121,028,416

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF EACH STATE.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF EACH STATE AND TERRITORY,

DURING THE YEAR ENDING ON THE 30TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1839.

Value of Imports. Value of Exports.

───────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────────

States and In American In Foreign Domestic Foreign

Territories. vessels. vessels. Total. Produce. Produce. Total.

──────────── ─────────── ──────────── ──────────── ─────────── ────────────

Maine $839,336 $143,388 $982,734 $878,434 $17,051 $895,485

New

Hampshire 50,665 742 51,407 74,914 7,030 81,944

Vermont 413,513 413,513 193,886 193,886

Massachusetts 18,622,681 62,542 19,385,223 5,526,455 3,749,630 9,276,085

Rhode Island 610,431 1,626 612,057 175,808 9,426 185,234

Connecticut 442,847 3,344 446,191 583,226 583,226

New York 88,360,867 11,521,571 99,882,438 23,296,995 9,971,104 33,268,099

New Jersey 3,782 400 4,182 78,434 19,645 98,079

Pennsylvania 14,023,150 1,027,565 15,050,715 4,148,211 1,151,204 5,299,415

Delaware 8,680 8,680

Maryland 6,079,985 915,300 6,995,285 4,313,189 263,372 4,576,561

Dist. of

Columbia 105,921 26,590 132,511 497,965 5,752 503,717

Virginia 828,300 85,162 913,462 5,183,424 3,772 5,187,196

North Carolina 217,304 11,929 229,233 426,934 992 427,926

South Carolina 2,210,635 875,442 3,086,077 10,318,822 66,604 10,385,426

Georgia 293,745 120,242 413,987 5,970,443 5,970,443

Alabama 614,849 280,352 895,201 10,338,159 10,338,159

Mississippi

Louisiana 9,723,230 2,341,712 12,064,942 30,995,936 2,185,231 33,181,167

Ohio 14,309 4,971 19,280 95,854 95,854

Kentucky 10,480 10,480 3,723 3,723

Tennessee 146 146

Michigan 174,169 2,052 176,221 133,305 133,305

Florida 186,943 92,950 279,893 291,094 43,712 334,806

Missouri 46,964 46,964

_Total_ $143,874,252 18,217,880 $162,992,132 $103,533,891 $17,494,525 $121,028,416

TONNAGE OF THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERRITORIES ON THE

30TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1839.

Tons and

State. 95ths.

────────────────── ──────────

Maine 282,285.37

N. Hampshire 29,224.07

Vermont 4,232.37

Massachusetts 526,364.21

Rhode Island 44,572.16

Connecticut 83,014.34

New York 468,593.58

New Jersey 62,540.87

Pennsylvania 112,359.17

Delaware 19,203.19

Maryland 116,203.87

Virginia 51,808.39

North Carolina 40,841.45

South Carolina 33,414.21

Georgia 20,942.83

Alabama 21,742.00

Louisiana 109,076.36

Tennessee 4,240.94

Kentucky 8,125.87

Ohio 23,925.55

Michigan 10,999.59

Missouri 9,735.00

Dist. Columbia 23,142.26

Florida 8,672.68

Total United States Tonnage in 1815, 1,368,127.78;

in 1820, 1,280,166.24;

in 1825, 1,423,110.77;

in 1830, 1,191,776.43;

in 1835, 1,824,940.14;

in 1839, 2,096,478.81.

TONNAGE OF THE SIX LARGEST DISTRICTS.

Tons and

District. 95ths.

────────────────── ──────────

New York 430,200.88

Boston 203,615.82

New Orleans 109,076.36

Philadelphia 96,862.09

New Bedford 86,524.75

Baltimore 71,533.14

Footnotes.

1 – J. T. Buckingham.

2 – Among the Enchanted Mountains, a name given to several spurs

of the Cumberland Ridge, are some very singular footprints

marked in the solid limestone rock. These are tracks of men,

horses, and other animals, as distinctly marked as though

but yesterday impressed in clay or mortar. Their appearance

often indicates that the feet which made them had slidden,

as if in descending a declivity of soft clay. The human feet

have uniformly six toes, with the exception of one track,

which is thought to be that of a negro. One of the tracks

is sixteen inches long, and thirteen inches wide from toe

to heel, with the ball of the heel five inches in diameter.

On the shore of the Mississippi is a similar impression

of the human feet in a mass of limestone. No satisfactory

explanation has been given of these singular appearances.

3 – Table Mountain, in Pendleton district, near the north-west

corner of South Carolina, is thus described by Dr. Ramsay.

‘Its height exceeds three thousand feet, and thirty farms

may be distinguished at any one view from its top by the

unaided eye. Its side is an abrupt precipice nine hundred

feet deep, and nearly perpendicular. The valley underneath

appears to be as much below the level as the top of the

mountain towers above it. This precipice is called the

Lover’s Leap. To those who are in the valley it looks like

an immense wall stretching up to heaven. At its base lie

whitening in the sun the bones of various animals that had

incautiously advanced too near its edge. Its summit is often

surrounded with clouds.

‘The gradual ascent of the country from the seacoast to this

western extremity of the State, added to the height of this

mountain, must place its top more than four thousand feet

above the level of the Atlantic ocean. Large masses of snow

tumble down from the side of this mountain in the winter

season, the fall of which has been heard seven miles. Its

summit is the resort of deer and bears. Wild pigeons resort

to it in such flocks as sometimes to break the limbs of the

trees on which they alight.’

4 – It is common in our own country, says the London Monthly

Review, for ground mists to assume the appearance of water,

to make a meadow seem inundated, and to change a valley into

a lake; but these mists never reflect the surrounding trees

and hills. Hence the _mirage_ must consist of a peculiar gas,

of which the particles are combined by a stronger attraction

of cohesion than the vapors of real water; the _liquor

silicum_ of the alchemists is described as exhibiting in

some circumstances this glossy surface, yet as being equally

evanescent.

5 – The following very graphic description of a flood on the

Mississippi, is from the pen of the celebrated naturalist,

Audubon:

‘There the overflow is astonishing; for no sooner has the

water reached the upper part of the banks, than it rushes

out and overspreads the whole of the neighboring swamps,

presenting an ocean overgrown with stupendous forest trees.

So sudden is the calamity, that every individual, whether

man or beast, has to exert his utmost ingenuity to enable

him to escape from the dreaded element. The Indian quickly

removes to the hills of the interior, the cattle and game

swim to the different stripes of land that remain uncovered

in the midst of the flood, or attempt to force their way

through the waters until they perish from fatigue. Along the

banks of the river the inhabitants have rafts ready made,

on which they remove themselves, their cattle, and their

provisions, and which they then fasten with ropes or grape

vines to the larger trees, while they contemplate the

melancholy spectacle presented by the current, as it carries

off their houses and wood-yards piece by piece. Some who

have nothing to lose, and are usually known by the name

of _squatters_, take this opportunity of traversing the

woods in canoes, for the purpose of procuring game, and

particularly the skins of animals, such as the deer and bear,

which may be converted into money. They resort to the low

ridges surrounded by the waters, and destroy thousands of

deer, merely for their skins, leaving the flesh to putrefy.

‘The river itself, rolling its swollen waters along,

presents a spectacle of the most imposing nature. Although

no large vessel, unless propelled by steam, can now make

its way against the current, it is seen covered by boats

laden with produce, which, running out from all the smaller

streams, float silently towards the city of New-Orleans,

their owners, meanwhile, not very well assured of finding a

landing-place even there. The water is covered with yellow

foam and pumice, the latter having floated from the rocky

mountains of the north-west. The eddies are larger and more

powerful than ever. Here and there tracts of forests are

observed undermined, the trees gradually giving way, and

falling into the stream. Cattle, horses, bears, and deer,

are seen at times attempting to swim across the impetuous

mass of foaming and boiling water; whilst here and there a

vulture or an eagle is observed perched on a bloated carcass,

tearing it up in pieces, as regardless of the flood as

on former occasions it would have been of the numerous

_sawyers_ and _planters_ with which the surface of the

river is covered when the water is low. Even the steamer is

frequently distressed. The numberless trees and logs that

float along, break its paddles and retard its progress.

Besides, it is on such occasions difficult to procure

fuel to maintain its fires; and it is only at very distant

intervals that a wood-yard can be found which the water has

not carried off.

‘Following the river in your canoe, you reach those parts of

the shores that are protected against the overflowing of the

waters, and are called _levées_. There you find the whole

population of the district at work, repairing and augmenting

those artificial barriers which are several feet above

the level of the fields. Every person appears to dread

the opening of a _crevasse_, by which the waters may rush

into his fields. In spite of all exertions, however, the

_crevasse_ opens, and water bursts impetuously over the

plantations, and lays waste the crops which so lately were

blooming in all the luxuriance of spring. It opens up a new

channel, which, for aught I know to the contrary, may carry

its waters even to the Mexican gulf.

‘But now, kind reader, observe this great flood gradually

subsiding, and again see the mighty changes which it has

effected. The waters have now been carried into the distant

ocean. The earth is every where covered by a deep deposit

of muddy loam, which, in drying, splits into deep and narrow

chasms, presenting a reticulated appearance, and from which,

as the weather becomes warmer, disagreeable, and at times

noxious, exhalations arise, and fill the lower stratum of

the atmosphere, as with a dense fog. The banks of the river

have almost every where been broken down in a greater or

less degree. Large streams are now found to exist, where

none were formerly to be seen, having forced their way in

direct lines from the upper parts of the bends. These are,

by the navigator, called _short cuts_. Some of them have

proved large enough to produce a change in the navigation

of the Mississippi. If I mistake not, one of these, known

by the name of _Grand Cut-off_, and only a few miles in

length, has diverted the river from its natural course,

and has shortened it by fifty miles. The upper parts of the

islands present a bulwark consisting of an enormous mass of

floated trees of all kinds, which have lodged there. Large

sand-banks have been completely removed by the impetuous

whirls of the waters, and have been deposited in other places.

Some appear quite new to the eye of the navigator, who has to

mark their situation and bearings in his log-book. The trees

on the margins of the banks have in many parts given way.

They are seen bending over the stream, like the grounded

arms of an overwhelmed army of giants. Every where are heard

the lamentations of the farmer and planter, whilst their

servants and themselves are busily employed in repairing

the damages occasioned by the floods. At one _crevasse_,

an old ship or two, dismantled for the purpose, are sunk,

to obstruct the passage opened by the still rushing waters,

while new earth is brought to fill up the chasms. The

squatter is seen shouldering his rifle, and making his way

through the morass, in search of his lost stock, to drive

the survivors home, and save the skins of the drowned. New

fences have every where to be formed; even new houses must

be erected, to save which from a like disaster, the settler

places them on an elevated platform, supported by pillars

made of the trunks of trees. The lands must be ploughed anew;

and if the season is not too far advanced, a crop of corn

and potatoes may yet be raised. But the rich prospects of

the planter are blasted. The traveller is impeded in his

journey, the creeks and smaller streams having broken up

their banks in a degree proportionate to their size. A bank

of sand which seems firm and secure, suddenly gives way

beneath the traveller’s horse, and the next moment the

animal has sunk in the quicksand, either to the chest in

front, or over the crupper behind, leaving its master in a

situation not to be envied.

‘Unlike the mountain torrents and small rivers of other

parts of the world, the Mississippi rises but slowly during

these floods, continuing for several weeks to increase at

the rate of about an inch in the day. When at its height, it

undergoes little fluctuation for some days, and after this

subsides as slowly as it rose. The usual duration of a flood

is from four to six weeks, although, on some occasions,

it is protracted to two months.

‘Every one knows how largely the idea of floods and

cataclysms enters into the speculations of the geologist.

If the streamlets of the European continent afford

illustrations of the formation of strata, how much more

must the Mississippi, with its ever-shifting sand-banks,

its crumbling shores, its enormous masses of drift-timber,

the source of future beds of coal, its extensive and varied

alluvial deposits, and its mighty mass of waters rolling

sullenly along, like the flood of eternity!’

6 – Lewis and Clarke.

7 – ‘The American Fur Company have sent their steam-boats

_twenty-one hundred miles_ above the mouth of the Missouri,

and in high water, steam-boats of light draft can ascend

_two thousand and six hundred miles_. The Mississippi is

navigable by steam between _six and seven hundred miles_

above St. Louis. These rivers pass through an exceedingly

fertile country; and when a just system of internal

improvement shall be carried into operation, not only New

Orleans and the great valley of the Mississippi will be

benefitted, but every portion of the United States will feel

the invigorating influence of such a course.’――_St. Louis

Republican._

8 – Lewis and Clarke

9 – Appropriations have recently been made by Congress for the

removal of obstructions in the Arkansas and Red rivers.

The officer employed on that service is confident in the

practicability of removing the Raft by means of boats.

10 – Long’s Expedition.

11 – On the banks of this stream, about twenty miles from the

Ohio, are extensive salt-works, owned by the United States’

government.

12 – ‘The river expands into a noble bay, four or five miles-wide,

called the Tappan Sea, about thirty miles from New York, at

the top of which, ten miles farther on, the banks approach

each other so closely, that the channel through which the

river has at a distant period forced its way by some violent

convulsion, is not perceived until you almost enter it.

Here we suddenly found ourselves in a narrow pass between

precipitous mountain tops, rising on both sides from the

water’s edge to an elevation of twelve or fifteen hundred

feet. These mountains or hills, as we should call them,

are what are called the Highlands of the Hudson; and the

entry to them seemed to us the most remarkable point on the

river, not to be contemplated without feelings of the deepest

interest. The river course continues to run in this defile

among romantic hills covered with wood, sweetly inlaid with

plateaus of green pasture, and of table-land for about

twenty miles. The farm-houses and villages look as if they

hung on the cliffs, or rose by terraces from the water’s

edge. The river is of various breadths, from a mile and a

half to two miles. The projecting rocks often force it to

change its direction, so much, indeed, that you frequently

appear to be sailing in a lake, from which you cannot

discover an outlet.

‘After leaving the Highlands, the banks of the river are

comparatively low, one hundred, or one hundred and fifty

feet in height. The hills through which we had passed

incline to the right, and do not break off till they reach

the St. Lawrence. The river, for sixty or seventy miles,

frequently opens into beautiful lakes and bays, with

projecting and marked shores. Great part of this district,

which is called the Valley of the Hudson, consists of

good land and fine corn-fields, and is one of the richest

parts of the state of New York. The town of Newburg on the

one side, the village of Fishkill on the other, the noble

terrace of Hyde Park, the Dutchess County, famed for its

fertility, are all situated in the southern part of this

reach. On the upper part of it, the grand range of mountains

called the Catskills, about three thousand feet high, which

are a spur from the Alleghanies, and the populous city of

Hudson, strikingly placed on a fine promontory, are the most

prominent objects. From Hudson to Albany, about forty miles,

the Hudson has more the appearance of a river than below. It

is here ornamented with many islands, the shores become less

steep, the country rich looking, and more peopled. Villas on

the banks appear more frequently in approaching Albany, the

view of which, from the river, is very striking. The oldest

part of the city reaches to the water’s edge, but a great

part of it is on a fine elevation on the face of a hill.

‘Whether the glorious scenery of the Hudson be superior to

that of the Rhine, the Danube, or any of the European rivers,

which many of the Americans who have travelled in Europe

maintain, I, who have not seen the greatest of those rivers,

do not pretend to say; but I am very much mistaken, if there

be any where continuously in Great Britain, so remarkable a

combination of natural beauty and romantic scenery as on the

Hudson between New York and Albany. Nowhere in the British

dominions can so great a variety of interesting and pleasing

objects be seen in the course of a single day. The Trosachs,

though in miniature, resemble the passage through the

Highlands of the Hudson, in all respects but one, the

grandeur of the bounding objects. The lofty mountains of

the Highlands of Scotland impart a character of sublimity

to those justly celebrated works of nature, which is here

to a certain extent wanting.’――_Stuart’s America._

13 – We set off a little before sunrise; and about an hour

afterward entered the first lake formed by the Columbia. It

is between eleven and twelve leagues long, and about one and

a half in breadth; the current smooth and steady, and pretty

free from snags or sunken trees. The shores are bold and

well wooded with a variety of timber of fine size; and in

the distance we first caught a view of the most western

chain of the Rocky Mountains covered with snow. A head wind,

during the greater part of the day, considerably retarded

our progress; and we encamped late, near the upper end of

the lake, where a few Indians visited us. They appeared

to be very poor, and brought about a dozen beaver skins

to trade, which we told them we could not purchase, as we

were obliged to cross the mountains; but that our party,

going downwards in the autumn, would stop a few days with

them, and trade all the skins they had. They were rather

disappointed; but a little tobacco, and some trifling

presents, sent them away in good humor.

Shortly after embarking on the morning of the 18th, we left

the lake, and entered that part of the river called the

straits, which separates the upper from the lower lake. It

is only a few miles in length, and quickly brought us to

the upper lake, which is not so long as the first. The high

hills in its immediate vicinity were covered with snow, the

chilling influence of which we sensibly experienced by the

cold blasts from the shore. Encamped at sunset at the upper

end of the lake, on a fine sandy beach. During the day we

struck on two sand-banks, and were slightly injured by a

sunken tree. Saw no Indians.

19th. About two miles above our encampment of last night,

the Columbia becomes very narrow, with steep and thickly

wooded banks, covered with immense quantities of fallen

trees. The current is very strong, and, owing to the great

height of the water, the men at intervals had scarcely

any beach on which to walk in dragging up the canoes. Our

progress was consequently slow; and we put ashore for the

night about fifteen miles above the lake. At nine o’clock

on the morning of the 20th we reached the second Dallas, or

narrows, which are formed by a contraction of the channel

of the river into a very small compass. There are high and

slippery rocks on each side, which make it a work of great

danger and difficulty to pass them. The baggage was all

carried by the men, and the canoes were towed up with strong

lines, after being in great danger of filling, from the

frightful whirlpools close along the shore. The weather

became much cooler from the proximity of the mountains.

Several patches of snow were observable on the beach during

the day, and towards evening some rain fell.

From dawn of day until noon on the 21st, we did not make

three miles, owing to the impetuosity of the current, the

shelving banks, and the extreme weakness of our men, several

of whom were knocked up. We were detained at one place

upwards of four hours to repair our shattered canoes, and

encamped about six o’clock on a low gravelly point. We had

several smart showers during the afternoon.

22d. About two, P. M. arrived at a place called the Upper

Dallas, where the river is again confined for a considerable

distance between a line of high slippery rocks. Got about

half way through this channel, and stopped for the night in

a small nook formed by the rocks, on which we lay scattered

and exposed to severe rain during the night.

We rose wet and unrefreshed on the morning of the 23d, and

in five hours passed the Dallas, the upper part of which

consists of a chain of whirlpools, which compelled us to

carry both canoes and baggage some distance over the rocks;

in the execution of which duty, some of the men narrowly

escaped with their lives. Those who carried our canoe, from

mere exhaustion fell several times, by which it was much

damaged; and we were detained until three, P. M. to get it

repaired. Encamped at dusk on a sandy beach, for which we

had been some time on the lookout. The rain continued during

the evening and the night to pour down in torrents.

Our progress on the 24th was equally slow. The various

tributary streams which we passed on this and the last

two days, and which take their rise from the surrounding

mountains, had by the recent rains been swollen into

torrents, the waters of which, as they rushed with headlong

force into the Columbia, repeatedly drove us back with

irresistible strength, and at times we were in danger of

filling. On two occasions, where the opposite shore of

the Columbia consisted of perpendicular rocks, we were

obliged after various fruitless attempts to pass the minor

streams, to unload and carry the canoes and baggage some

distance along the banks until we reached a smooth space of

current, when we crossed, and by that means surmounted the

difficulties of their respective embouchures.――_Adventures

on Columbia River._

14 – This is an Iroquois word, said to signify _the thunder of

waters_, and the word as still pronounced by the Senecas,

is _O-ni-áá-gáráh_, being strongly accented on the third

syllable, while the interjection O, is so feebly uttered,

that, without a nice attention, it may escape notice.

15 – The grandeur of these rapids is worthy of the cataract

in which they terminate. In the greater branch, the river

comes foaming down with prodigious impetuosity, and presents

a surface of agitated billows, dashing wildly through

the rocks and islands. This scene of commotion continues

till within about thirty yards of the Fall. There the

great body of the stream resumes its tranquility, and in

solemn grandeur descends into the cloudy and unfathomable

abyss. Never was there a nobler prelude to a sublime

catastrophe.――_Colonel Hamilton._

16 – The Table Rock was a favorite point of view for many years,

and the day preceding the night on which it fell with

tremendous noise, a number of visitors had stood with

careless security upon it.

17 – One of these, the Island of Yellow Sands, derives its chief

interest from the traditions and fanciful tales which the

Indians relate concerning its mineral treasures, and their

supernatural guardians. They pretend that its shores are

covered with a heavy shining yellow sand, which they would

persuade us is gold, but that the guardian spirit of the

island will not permit any of it to be carried away. To

enforce his commands, he has drawn together upon it, myriads

of eagles, hawks, and other birds of prey, who by their

cries warn him of any intrusions upon the domain, and assist

with their claws and beaks to expel the enemy. He has also

called from the depths of the lake, large serpents of the

most hideous forms, who lie thickly coiled upon the golden

sands, and hiss defiance to the steps of the invader. A

great many years ago, it is pretended, that some people

of their nation were driven, by stress of weather, to take

shelter upon the enchanted island, and being struck with the

beautiful and glittering appearance of the treasure, they

put a large quantity of it into their canoes, and attempted

to carry it off, but a gigantic spirit strode into the water,

and, in a voice of thunder, commanded them to bring it back.

Terrified with his amazing size, and threatening aspect,

they obeyed, and were afterwards suffered to depart without

molestation, but they have never since attempted to land

upon it.

‘Listen, white man――go not there,

Unseen spirits stalk the air;

Ravenous birds their influence lend,

Snakes defy――and kites defend.

There the star-eyed panther prowls,

And the wolf in hunger howls;

There the speckled adder breeds,

And the famished eagle feeds;

Spirits keep them――fiends incite,

They are eager for the fight,

And are thirsting night and day,

On the human heart to prey;

Touch not then the guarded lands

Of the Isle of Yellow Sands.’

――_Journal of Travels._

18 – Charlevoix observes, ‘when a storm is about to rise on

Lake Superior, you are advertised of it two or three days

previous. At first you perceive a gentle murmuring on the

surface of the water, which lasts the whole day without

increasing in any sensible manner; the day after, the lake

is covered with pretty large waves, but without breaking

all that day, so that you may proceed without fear, and even

make good way, if the wind is favorable; but on the third

day, when you are the least thinking of it, the lake becomes

all on fire, the ocean in its greatest rage is not more tost,

in which case you must take care to be near shelter, to save

yourself. This you are always sure to find on the north

shore, whereas on the _south_ you are obliged to secure

yourself the second day at a considerable distance from the

water side.’ Although we are not prepared to corroborate

this remark, yet something of the kind has this day been

witnessed, for notwithstanding the prevalence of a calm

during the whole day, with the exception of about two hours

in the morning, when the wind was however light, the lake

towards evening has been in a perfect rage, and we effected

a landing with greater hazard than has yet been encountered.

At the same time scarce a breath of air was stirring, and

the atmosphere was beautifully clear.――_Schoolcraft._

19 – There is reason to conclude, that a well conducted series

of experiments will prove that there are no regular tides

in the lakes, at least that they do not ebb and flow twice

in twenty-four hours like those of the ocean; that the

oscillary motion of the waters is not attributable to

planetary attraction; that it is very variable as to the

periods of its flux and reflux, depending upon the levels

of the several lakes, their length, depth, direction and

conformation――upon the prevalent winds and temperatures,

and upon other extraneous causes, which are in some

measure variable in their nature, and unsteady in their

operations.――_Schoolcraft._

20 – The mountains are all primitive: they form a double

barrier, between which the lake, scarcely a mile wide, but

occasionally expanded into a large bay, winds its way. They

are steep and precipitous to the very water’s edge. They

are still clothed with grand trees, and possessed by wild

animals――deer, rattlesnakes and bears. They give, in some

places, the most distinct and astonishing echoes, returning

every flexion of the voice with the most faithful response.

We saw them hung with the solemn drapery of thunder clouds,

dashed by squalls of wind and rain, and soon after decorated

with rainbows, whose arches did not surpass the mountain

ridges, while they terminated in the lake, and attended our

little skiff for many miles. The setting sun also gilded

the mountains and the clouds that hovered over them, and the

little islands, which in great numbers rise out of the lake,

and present green patches of shrubbery and trees apparently

springing from the water, and often resembling, by their

minuteness and delicacy, the clumps of a park, or even the

artificial groups of a green-house. Fine as is the scenery

at the southern end of the lake, and in all the wider parts

of it, within the compass of the first twelve miles from

Fort George, its grandeur is very much augmented, after

passing Tongue Mountain and entering the narrow part, where

the mountains close in upon you on both sides, and present

an endless diversity of grand and beautiful scenery. It

is a pleasing reflection, that even after this part of the

United States shall have become as populous as England or

Holland, this lake will still retain the fine peculiarities

of its scenery; for they are too bold, too wild, and too

untractable, ever to be materially softened and spoiled by

the hand of man.

The deer are still hunted with success upon the borders

of this lake. The hounds drive them from the recesses of

the mountains, when they take refuge in the water, and the

huntsmen, easily overtaking them in an element not their

own, seize them by the horns, knock them on the head, and

dragging their necks over the side of the boat, cut their

throats. There is a celebrated mountain about fourteen

miles from Ticonderoga called Buck Mountain, from the fact

that a buck, pursued by the dogs, leaped from its summit,

overhanging the lake in the form of a precipice, and was

literally impaled alive upon a sharp pointed tree, which

projected below.――_Journal of Science._

21 – From Lake Maurepas, to Fort Bute, or Manshac, on the

Mississippi, is sixty computed miles, following the course

of the Amité; and Manshac is one hundred and one miles

above New Orleans, by the windings of the Mississippi. From

Manshac to the Amité there is a natural canal of twenty-one

miles, navigable for vessels drawing four feet water, when

the Mississippi is high; thence the Amité is navigable all

the way to Maurepas and Pontchartrain Lakes, and thence in

the sea. This natural canal, which is dry for ten months

in the year, is very absurdly termed the river Ibberville,

for in the dry months, the surface of the Mississippi is

twenty-four feet lower than the bed of this natural canal.

The river Amité itself, even from where the Ibberville

joins in the inundations, is not navigable above four

months annually, for the first ten miles; but three mile

farther down, it has from two to six feet water; and all the

remaining part of its course to Lake Maurepas, there is from

two to four fathoms water.

22 – Every fact which tends to disclose that hidden operation of

nature, by which the salt springs of the west are produced,

is interesting to the geologist. I took a specimen of

the rock, called water limestone, from a hill adjoining

Nine-mile Creek, a few miles west of the Onondaga salt

springs. If this specimen be pulverized and examined ever so

minutely, it presents nothing to the senses resembling common

salt (muriate of soda.) I do not mean that the elementary

constituents cannot be found in it, but I do not propose

here to have any reference to a chemical analysis of the

rock. On exposing a fresh fracture of a specimen from this

rock, for two or three weeks in a damp cellar, it shoots

out crystals of common salt, sufficient to cover the whole

surface. It may be proper to state, that I have made the

trial only in very cold weather; during which time a fire

was sometimes made in the cellar room. I do not know,

however, that these circumstances had any influence on the

result. This proves conclusively, that one rock at least,

reposing over the floor of the salt springs, contains in

itself the materials for the spontaneous manufacture of salt.

I say the floor, because I have ascertained that all the

salt springs along the canal route from Lenox to Montezuma,

are supported on the same continuous rock.

It has long been a prevailing theory, that a vast mine

of salt exists in the vicinity of these springs, which is

continually dissolving, and thus yields the supply of salt

water. Much time and money has been spent without success,

in boring to great depths, with expectation of discovering

this mass of rock salt. But if such rocks as that of

Nine-mile Creek be found of sufficient extent, the origin

of the salt water of the west will find a more satisfactory

solution. And there may be many kinds of rocks, beside the

water limestone, which contain the elementary constituents

of common salt.――_Silliman’s Journal._

23 – The following letter, from the New York Journal of Commerce,

bears date the 8th of August, 1833. ‘The number of visitors

here at the present time is great beyond all former example,

and far exceeds the limits of comfortable accommodations.

Every house is full, and every thing which can answer the

purposes of a bed, is occupied. Many are fain to secure a

lodging in the railway cars. The number is estimated at

three thousand, and embraces age and infancy, belles and

matrons, invalids and dandies, from every quarter of the

Union. The public houses are reaping a good harvest; they

have already had a double season, and made ample amends

for the dull business of the last year. Ballston is also

crowded, contrary to the expectations of its inhabitants,

who apprehended that the rail-road to Saratoga would not

leave them a single visitor. The rail-road, for the whole

route from Albany to Saratoga, has proved to be capital stock.

More than five hundred persons are daily transported on the

Saratoga and Schenectady rail-road. It is said, that in the

last three days, the fifth, sixth, and seventh, seventeen

hundred dollars were received from it. As the entire stock

of the Company is but two hundred and seventy thousand

dollars, it must yield, at this rate, an enormous dividend.

The road is to be continued to Whitehall, crossing the

Hudson at Sandy Hill, above the bridge. In anticipation

of the great increase of company which the facilities of

travelling will hereafter bring to the Saratoga fountains,

extensive arrangements are making for accommodations of

increased space and elegance. A large and splendid hotel

is to be erected on the hill immediately south of Congress

Springs, a fine situation, shaded with forest trees, through

which extensive and beautiful walks are to be made. At the

north end of the village, some handsome hotels are to be

built. A number of pretty cottages are, it is also stated,

to be erected in the vicinity, as summer residences, by some

wealthy citizens of Albany and New York. We may well imagine,

therefore, that some few years hence, the little village

will present all the pomp, bustle and ostentation of a city;

and then, I fear, it will cease to be, what it now is, a

quiet and rural retreat. There is now, indeed, more of the

ostentation of wealth and fashion, and more of city-like

amusements and habits, than is consistent with the object of

rural retirement and healthful recreation. Besides the balls,

which take place twice a week, and extend to a late hour

of the night, there is a theatre which is open almost every

evening. All the itinerant showmen and minstrels also find

their way hither. Those who are disposed to attend church,

have occasional opportunities to hear some of our most

celebrated divines from different parts of the Union.’

24 – There are from fifteen to twenty thousand pounds’ weight of

wool annually produced on this island, the average quality

of which is acknowledged to be superior for manufacturing

purposes, to most of the native wool grown on the continent.

We have no woollen factories, and but very small quantities

of the staple article are wrought into fabrics by domestic

labor. Consequently, says the _Nantucket Inquirer_, it may

be an object for wool purchasers occasionally to look this

way for a part of their supplies.

25 – The shores of Staten Island are finely indented, and

sprinkled with the white, clean looking villas of this

country. The island rises quickly to a considerable height,

containing an area of about fifty-two square miles.

The quarantine establishment and the adjoining village are

pictures of cleanliness, all painted of a bright white. The

houses, hotels, &c. generally disjoined, and many of them

inclosed in small gardens. The whole buildings are situated

on a bank gently rising from the shore, and overhanging a

beautiful bay below, in which there were some large ships,

as well as a few of the elegant sailing craft, with which

the Bay of New-York is always adorned. Behind the village

the ground becomes abrupt, to a point at which a building

is erected called the Pavilion, expressly on account of

the splendor of the view, the top of which is, I think,

nearly two hundred and fifty feet above the sea, consisting

of handsome saloons, with balconies, piazzas, &c. on all

sides, and a look-out place from the summit, from which the

prospect is most glorious. I have never been more delighted

with any of the prospects of this description which have

charmed me most, on the Frith of Forth, the Clyde, the Bay

of Dublin, or in the Isle of Wight. I cannot help doubting

whether there be a more magnificent prospect in the world.

All the features which it contains are beautiful, and many

of them splendid. Then the moving ships, pilot-boats, and

small craft, never allow the view of the water to be for two

moments the same.

The view comprehends half a dozen friths, dividing, by

marked headlands, tracts of well wooded and waving country;

and it embraces not only the city of New-York, surrounded

with a vast mass of shipping, but the city of New-Jersey,

projected into the bay, quite as much as Burnt Island is

into the Frith of Forth, as well as the village of Newark.

The cities lie too low, but they serve to convince the

beholder that he is in the heart of a densely peopled

country. Peninsulas, promontories, islands, isthmuses,

land, in a variety of shapes, lie before him, and beyond

all, the boundless Atlantic. New-York, the magnificent

Hudson, the Frith of Newark, and lands and hills of Jersey

are on the north; Long Island and its Sound, the Narrows,

and the Quarantine Ground, with the Atlantic on the east;

and the coast of New-Jersey, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook, and the

Atlantic to the south; the whole forming a noble prospect in

the heart of as rich looking a country as is in the world.

I have hitherto seen nothing in this country to be compared

to the prospect which I have endeavored to describe from the

Pavilion at Staten Island. There are finer views of New York

itself from the opposite shores of New-Jersey, on the one

side, and from Brooklyn and the heights of Long Island, on

the other; but Staten Island is unquestionably the place

for seeing New York in combination with its noble harbor,

and the surrounding seas and the shipping which adorn them.

After I had once found my way under the guidance of my

friends to the Pavilion, I frequently bent my steps to it

when I had leisure, to spend an hour or two in the island,

and never returned without being equally delighted with

the scenery above the quarantine ground. Strange it is, but

not less strange than true, that I have never observed in

any of the published tours relative to the United States,

the slightest reference made to the beauties of Staten

Island, or to the prospect from the Pavilion. Captain Hall’s

Travels were brought me while I was writing the notes of

this excursion, but it does not appear from them that he

had ever visited this island, though only five miles from

New York, where he resided for a considerable period. At a

subsequent period I procured at Philadelphia, Mr. Darby, the

geographer’s, valuable view of the United States, and was

glad to find that he recommended Staten Island as possessing

the most variegated landscapes on the Atlantic coast of the

United States. ‘No traveller ought (he writes) to neglect it.

In a clear day, a single hour on some of the hills of Staten

Island is worth a voyage of considerable extent. How many

who visit New-York with all the means of gratification, and

who travel for mere amusement, lose the invaluable pleasure

of scanning the rich perspective from Staten Island.

Thousands and tens of thousands.’――_Stuart’s America._

26 – There are about one hundred and twenty-five islands of

considerable size, and a multitude of small ones, in that

part of the Mississippi between New Orleans and the junction

of the Ohio. Wolf Island, about twenty-four miles below the

confluence, is situate in a fine part of the river, where

the banks are high and the current rapid. This island is

about twenty miles in circumference, and contains fifteen

thousand acres of good land, with a fine prairie in the

centre.

There are many beautiful scenes in passing the islands

upon the river, which I saw to great advantage, it being

full, and yet only in a few places overflowing its proper

course; but natural beauties of this kind, where all that

sort of variety of feature is wanting which depends upon the

neighborhood of mountain and hill, and where nothing but the

forest is to be seen, excepting, at considerable distances

from each other, patches of cultivated ground, soon cease

to be very interesting, and the river, the prodigious length

of which, as well as its great volume of water, astonish

the beholder for the first time, is the only object that

on such a voyage as this continues powerfully to arrest the

attention.――_Stuart’s America._

27 – The Indian tradition concerning the name of this little

barren island is curious. They say that _Michapous_, the

chief of spirits, sojourned long in that neighborhood; and

they believe that a mountain on the border of the lake was

the place of his residence, which they still call by his

name. It was here, say they, that he first instructed men

to make nets for fishing, and where he has collected the

greatest quantity of fish. On the island he left spirits

named _Imakinakos_, and from these aerial possessors it has

received the appellation of Michilimackinac.

28 – The whole cost of this work was estimated by the

commissioners at two million two hundred and sixteen

thousand eight hundred and seventy dollars. The amount

hitherto expended is not far from one million dollars. Two

or three years more will be required, in order to carry

the work to its completion. When finished, according to

the original plan, it will afford a harbor sufficiently

capacious for the anchorage of upwards of sixty vessels.

‘The water surface will comprise an area of one mile square,

having a depth at low water of from three to six fathoms,

between the pitch of the cape and the western extremity of

the ice-breaker. This place will be completely secured from

all gales from the north-east and north-west, these being

the only points of attack which there has been a necessity,

in the plan of the work, to secure and fortify.’ There is

but one breakwater in the world that can claim a comparison

with it, viz. that at Plymouth, England, the length of

which is about a mile. Its cost was upwards of one million

rounds sterling, and the quantity of stone employed in its

construction, about two million tons.

29 – Fort Monroe is already finished, and is at this moment in

admirable condition, if its armament were completed. The Rip

Raps, when finished, will be a monument worthy of the people

who have lavished their means in its erection, and of the

genius of the engineers by whom it was planned. The area of

the structure, as originally staked off, includes five acres;

great part of which was twenty-two feet below the surface of

the sea, and that nearest the surface eighteen feet. To get

a foundation above water for the fort, or castle, an island

has been raised, by throwing rocks into the water, until,

by gradual accumulation, it has emerged above the tides. The

rock of which this island is formed, has been brought from

great distances and at vast expense.

After a foundation was obtained for the castle above high

water, the building of the castle was begun, and carried

up so as to form the first embrasures. It was found that

the settling of the artificial mound of stone, cracked

the walls. The building was, therefore, discontinued;

but immense masses of granite have since been brought and

lodged upon the line of the work, that the weight of the

material, designed for its completion, might be employed in

consolidating its foundations. For some years this marine

pyramid sunk between six and eight inches; during the last

year, although pressed with the weight of all the material

gathered for the superstructure, it settled about three

inches. It is stated that the erection of the castle may now

proceed with safety, and that its immediate completion is

contemplated by government.

30 – Washington Irving describes Hell Gate ‘to be as pacific at

low water as any other stream. As the tide rises, it begins

to fret; at half-tide it rages and roars, as if bellowing

for more water; but when the tide is full, it relapses

again into quiet, and for a time seems almost to sleep as

soundly as an alderman after dinner. It may be compared to

an inveterate hard drinker, who is a peaceable fellow enough

when he has no liquor at all, or when he has his skin full:

but when half-seas-over, plays the very devil.’

The borders of the sound, all about this strait, are broken

and indented by rocky nooks, and the bay towards the city

is so beautifully shaped, and the views on both sides so

interesting, that the shores and neighborhood of the bay are

adorned with a great number of handsome and expensive villas.

31 – Major Rennel considers the winds the principal cause of

currents in the ocean, in which opinion he is supported

by several eminent writers; but allowing to the wind great

influence, still that influence is not sufficient to account

satisfactorily for the various and contradictory facts which

are recorded concerning these mighty streams.

32 – When the course of this stream is stated to be three

thousand geographical miles, some idea may be formed of the

force with which it issues through the strait of Florida;

a force so great as to be destructive to the land in

that quarter. On the north side of Delaware Bay, the

encroachments of the sea average nine feet a year, from

observations made between 1804 and 1820, and at Sullivan’s

Island on the north side of the entrance to the harbor of

Charleston, South Carolina, the sea carried away a quarter

of a mile of land in three years; which destructive power

arises from the narrowness of the strait, and the great

volume of water that passes through it. As the narrowest

part of the strait of Florida is thirty-six nautic miles in

breadth, and the annual mean velocity about seventy-three

miles per day, a surface of two thousand six hundred and

twenty eight square miles of gulf water will be poured into

the Atlantic every day, or about two-thirds of a square

equatorial degree.

33 – Humboldt is of opinion that this weed is produced in large

beds, at the bottom of the ocean, and that from these beds

it is detached in a ripened state, and collects in large

masses on that part of the Atlantic called the Sargasso, or

Weedy Sea. Hans Sloane, in his history of Jamaica, quotes

many authorities for the weed’s being found on the shores

of the Cape Verd and Canary islands, as well as among those

of the West Indies, and that it is carried to sea, by means

of winds and currents. The opinion of Humboldt appears to

account more satisfactorily for the accumulation of such

vast masses than that of the historian of Jamaica.

34 – Magellan set sail from Europe in September, 1519, with five

ships, with the intention by sailing west and south, and

following a course never before attempted, to try to make

the Molucca Islands at least, by an entirely new passage.

Reaching first a southern part of the South American

Continent, where he rested for the winter and refreshed

his followers, he leisurely proceeded still southerly;

and in the October following, first discovered the strait

which now bears his name. Neither the dangerous currents of

this tempestuous region, however, nor the unknown nautical

terrors of the stormy Cape Horn, could damp the ardor of

this bold adventurer; and having at length surmounted all

the difficulties of the strait, and cleared the wild shores

by which they were surrounded, Magellan and his discovery

ships first emerged into the great South Sea.

Sea-room, almost boundless, the great delight of the sailor,

together with steady breezes and salubrious weather, carried

these first adventurers on into this new region, with high

hopes, and spirits dancing as the waves over which they rode.

Finding that the stream of wind which so pleasingly wafted

them into a warmer climate, followed the course of the sun

and blew steadily in one direction, in that manner which in

all similar cases has since been denominated trade-wind; and

that, favored by this breeze, the trader and his companions

proceeded on with an ease and rapidity beyond their most

sanguine expectations, the sea and sky seemed to Magellan

equally to be at peace with each other and with the hopeful

mariner who had intrusted himself to both; and thinking this

unexplored world of waters worthy to be called a _Pacific

Ocean_, he gave it the name, which, however inappropriate,

it will probably forever retain.

35 – ‘In the afternoon,’ says Mr. Stuart, ‘we hired a carriage to

take us to Gennessee, that we might have an opportunity of

seeing Mr. Wadsworth’s flats or meadows, which are thought

the finest and most productive in this country; they consist

of a great tract of low-lying land along the river side,

covered with luxuriant herbage. The farm of Mr. Wadsworth

is of great extent, about four thousand acres; but the

beautiful tract of alluvial land does not exceed sixteen

or seventeen hundred acres, of the most fertile soil that

can be conceived. A few noble oaks, single trees, which are

seldom met with here, adorn the fields. I measured one of

them, which was twenty-eight feet in circumference.’

36 – Before quitting New Orleans, I made a trip to visit the

Delta of the Mississippi, in one of the steamers employed

in towing vessels to and from the mouth of the river. Though

with three large vessels attached, our bark made good way

under the co-operative influence of steam and stream.

About seven miles below the city is the field of battle.

It is a plain about half a mile in breadth, bounded by the

Mississippi on one side, and the forest on the other. Below

is a bend of the river, which, from what reason I know

not, is called ‘the English Turn.’ Plantations continue at

intervals for about forty miles, when cultivation entirely

ceases.

Below this, nature is to be seen only in her dreariest and

most desolate aspect. At first, there are forests springing

in rank luxuriance from swamps impassable even by the foot

of the Indian hunter. But these soon pass, and nothing but

interminable cane brakes are to be seen on either side. From

the shrouds of the steam-boat, though the range of vision

probably extended for many leagues, no other objects were

discernible but the broad muddy river, with its vast masses

of drift-wood, and the wilderness of gigantic bulrushes

shaking in the wind.

There are four passes or outlets by which the Mississippi

discharges its mighty burden into the Gulf of Mexico. Two

of these are navigable, but changes are ever taking place,

and the passage formerly preferred by the pilots, is now

rarely attempted even by vessels of the smallest class. On

approaching the Gulf, verdure appears only at intervals, and

the eye rests on tracts of mere mud, formed by the deposit

of the river on the drift-wood which some obstacle has

arrested in its passage to the ocean. It is by this process

that land is formed, and it may be traced in every step of

its progress, from the island resting on a few logs, up to

the huge tract in whose bosom are imbedded many millions.

Encountering no obstacle, the river sends out arms in every

direction, which, after winding through the half-formed

region in a thousand fantastic flexures, are again united to

the main branches.

It would be difficult to convey an idea by words, of the

effect which this most dismal scene produces on the heart

and imagination of the spectator. It seems as if the process

of creation were incomplete, and the earth yet undivided

from the waters, for he beholds only an intermediate mass

which admits of being absolutely assigned to neither element.

He feels that he has forsaken the regions of the habitable

world. Above, beneath, around, there is nothing to excite

his sympathies, and, probably, for the first time in

his life, he becomes conscious of the full sublimity of

_desolation_.――_Hamilton’s America._

37 – It is fortunate that habit makes us so little observant

of what is disagreeable or inconsistent in climate. Every

nation thinks that to which it is accustomed, combines,

on the whole, the greater number of advantages. Colonel

Hamilton considers it preposterous to compare the climate of

the United States with that of England; and Count Pecchio,

an Italian exile, is much amused that the English should

attempt to persuade themselves that they have a climate

even endurable. We have placed the two following extracts

in juxta-position, to exhibit the respective views of these

intelligent travellers on the climate of the two counties:

‘When on the subject of climate, I may just mention, that

there is no topic on which Americans are more jealously

sensitive. It delights them to believe that theirs is, in

all respects, a favored land; that between the St. Lawrence

and Mississippi the sky is brighter, the breezes more

salubrious, and the soil more fertile, than in any other

region of the earth. There is no harm in all this; nay,

it is laudable, if they would only not insist that all

strangers should view the matter in the same light, and

express admiration as rapturous as their own.

‘Judging from my own experience, I should certainly

pronounce the climate of the northern and central states to

be only one degree better than that of Nova Scotia, which

struck me, when there in 1814, as being the very worst in

the world. On making the American coast, we had four days

of denser fog than I ever saw in London. After my arrival

at New York in November, the weather, for about a week,

was very fine. It then became cloudy and tempestuous,

and, during the whole period of my residence at Boston, I

scarcely saw the sun. At Philadelphia there came on a deluge

of snow, by which the ground was covered from January till

March. At Baltimore there was no improvement. Snow lay deep

on the ground, during the whole period of my residence at

Washington, and the roads were only passable with difficulty.

On crossing the Alleghany Mountains, however, the weather

became delightful, and continued so during the voyage to

New Orleans. While I remained in that city, three days out

of every four were oppressively close and sultry, and the

atmosphere was damp and oppressive to breathe.

‘During my journey from Mobile to Charleston, though

generally hotter than desirable, the weather was, in the

main, bright and beautiful; but the very day of my arrival

at the latter place, the thermometer fell twenty degrees;

and in the thirty-third degree of latitude, in the month of

May, the inmates of the hotel were crowding round a blazing

fire. On my return to New York, I found the population still

muffled in cloaks and great coats, and the weather bitterly

cold. Not a vestive of spring was discernible, at a season

when, in England, the whole country is covered with verdure.

During the last week of May, however, the heat became

very great. At Quebec, it was almost intolerable, the

thermometer ranging daily between eighty-four and ninety-two

degrees. At New York, in July, the weather was all that a

salamander could desire; and I embarked for England, under

a sun more burning than it is at all probable I shall ever

suffer from again.

‘In the northern and central states――for of the climate of

the southern states it is unnecessary to speak――the annual

range of the thermometer exceeds a hundred degrees. The

heat of summer is that of Jamaica; the cold in winter is

that of Russia. Such enormous vicissitudes must necessarily

impair the vigor of the human frame; and when we take into

calculation the vast portion of the United States in which

the atmosphere is contaminated by marshy exhalations,

it will not be difficult, with the auxiliary influences

of dram-drinking and tobacco-chewing, to account for the

squalid and sickly aspect of the population. Among the

peasantry, I never saw one florid and robust man, nor any

one distinguished by that fulness and rotundity of muscle,

which every where meets the eye in England.

‘In many parts of the state of New York, the appearance of

the inhabitants was such as to excite compassion. In the

Maremma of Tuscany, and the Campagna of Rome, I had seen

beings similar, but scarcely more wretched. In the “fall,”

as they call it, intermittent fevers come as regularly

as the fruit season. During my journey, I made inquiries

at many cottages, and found none of them had escaped

the scourge. But inquiries were useless. The answer was

generally too legible in the countenance of the withered

mother, and in those of her emaciated offspring.

‘It seems ridiculous to compare such a climate with that

of England, and yet there is nothing to which Americans are

more addicted. It is a subject regularly tabled in every

society. “How delightful our climate must appear to you,”

observed a lady, “after the rain and fogs of your own

country!”――“Whether, on the whole, do you prefer, our

climate, or that of Italy?” inquired a gentleman of New

York, in a tone of the most profound gravity. My answer,

I fear, gave offence, for it became the signal for a general

meteorological attack. “I was three months in England,”

observed one, “and it rained every hour of the time.”

‘Though attached to the soil of my country, I had really

no inclination to vindicate its atmosphere. I, therefore,

simply replied, that the gentleman had been unfortunate in

the period of his visit. But I was not suffered to escape

thus. Another traveller declared he had been nine months

there, without better luck; and as the nine months, added

to the three, precisely made up the whole year, of course,

I had nothing farther to say.

‘But this tone of triumph is not always tenable. During

the days, weeks, and months, when the weather is manifestly

indefensible, the Io Pœans give place to apologies. A

traveller is entreated, nay, sometimes even implored, not

to judge of the climate by the specimen he has seen of

it. Before his arrival, the sky was cloudless, and the

atmosphere serene. He has just come in the nick of bad

weather. Never in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, was

the snow so deep or permanent. Never was spring so tardy in

its approach, and never were vicissitudes of temperature so

sudden and frequent. In short, he is desired to believe that

the ordinary course of nature is suspended on his approach;

that his presence in an American city deranges the whole

action of the elements.’――_Men and Manners in America._

Count Pecchio holds the mirror up to the English with an

equally obstinate determination to expose the deformity of

their climate; though not quite so libellous, he is equally

amusing with the gallant colonel.

‘When on his first arrival in England, the foreigner is

seated on the roof of a carriage which bears him towards

London at the rate of eight miles an hour, he cannot help

believing himself hurried along in the car of Pluto, to

the descent into the realms of darkness, especially if he

have just left Spain or Italy, the favorite regions of the

sun. In the midst of wonder, he can hardly avoid, at first

setting off, being struck with an impression of melancholy.

An eternal cloud of smoke which involves and penetrates

every thing; a fog, which during the months of November and

December, now gray, now red, now of a dirty yellow, always

obscures, and sometimes completely extinguishes the light

of day, cannot fail to give a lugubrious and _Dantesque_

air to this immeasurable and interminable capital. He, above

all, who is just arrived from a sunny country, experiences,

as I said before, the same effect as when, from the bright

light of noon, he enters a half closed chamber; at the

first glance he sees nothing, but afterwards, by little and

little, he discerns the harp, the lady, the sofa, and the

other agreeable objects in the apartment. Caracciolo, the

ambassador to George the Third, was not in the wrong when

he said, that the moon of Naples was warmer than the sun

of London. In fact, for several days, the sun only appears

in the midst of the darkness visible, like a great yellow

spot. London is a “panorama of the sun,” in which he is

often better seen than felt. On the 29th of November, 1826,

there was an eclipse visible in England; the sky that day

happened to be clear, but nobody took the least notice of

the phenomenon, because the fog produces in one year more

eclipses in England than there ever were, from other causes,

perhaps, since the creation of the world.

A Book of the United States Exhibiting its geography, divisions, constitution, and government ... and presenting a view of the republic generally, and of the individual states; together with a condensed history of the land, from its first discovery to the present time. The biography of about two hundred of the leading men: a description of the principal cities and towns; with statistical tables · 第 35 / 37 章

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