dense, dark, low evergreens cover the land closely, interspersed with clumps or groves of oak, beech, birch and hickory trees. On the south side of the lake the shore is bold, but less steep and mountainous. The old Fort of Mackinaw still stands in good order, and the new fort is a fine building. The Pictured Rocks are very beautiful, and well worthy of a visit from the passing tourist. At sunrise they appear more like some fancy painting than any earthly reality. Rising boldly to a hight of from three to five hundred feet, covered with trees that are century crowned, perforated with caves, worn and broken into fantastic shapes by the storms of ages, stained with every imaginable shade of coloring from the dripping of the springs in the rock upon mineral substances, it is impossible to fancy any thing more picturesque or sublime. The water at their base is very deep and transparently clear; at a depth of two or three hundred feet below the surface you can plainly discern the wreck of a steamer lying where it went down one fatal night some years ago. The richest copper mines · in the world are those of the Superior. The ore is taken out in immense bodies, often too large to be transported in any manner, and nearly pure. The region of the upper Superior is but sparsely settled, but since the location of the Northern Pacific Railroad is rapidly improving.

The mountain ranges most worthy of note are the Alleghany in the east, and the Rocky Mountains on the western side of the continent. The length of the Alleghanies is about 1500 miles. The Rocky Mountains are broken ranges, and although running from north to south, cover a district of a thousand miles in width. Between these ranges lie some of the most beautiful prairies, table lands or plateaus, in the world. The mountain passes, defiles and canons are awfully grand and sublime, and it is said by those who have visited both-even by Europeans themselves-that the Alps present nothing more wild and grand than the Sierra Nevadas, with their hoary, snow covered heads, piercing the clouds.

The soil of the United States presents every variety known upon the globe, from the soft, rich mould of the tropics, to the sterile sands of the desert, but with the exception of the dry plains or desert in the vicinity of Salt Lake, nearly the entire surface of our country is productive, and from the Atlantic

shores to the Pacific coast, verdure, beauty and wealth spread out in every direction.

The climate is as varied as the soil. Lying, as the Republic does, between such extremes of longitude and latitude, it is impossible but that our climate would embrace every variety which it is possible to produce. In the northern of the Middle States the temperature varies from one extreme to the other, and the changes are so rapid as to leave one wholly unprepared to meet them. In the East, we have longer winters, and steady cold or heat. In Florida the temperature is even, scarcely varying from January to January again; while in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Texas, California and New Mexico, the climate is very like that of Italy.

The mineral productions are extensive and varied. There is scarcely a mineral or precious stone known in the world, but is produced in America. Coal and iron are abundant in nearly every State in the Union. Nitrate of soda and potassa are found in quantities to supply the ages to come, in the caves of Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas; while the very desert of the Salt Lake country is a mine of inexhaustible wealth for its nitrate and carbonate of soda. Maine, Maryland, Texas and Arizona produce gypsum, while marble of every variety, for building or statuary, is found everywhere. Iron is found in every State and Territory, and Illinois alone is capable of furnishing all the lead required by the manufactories of the world. The richest copper mines are found in the Superior region, yet almost every State produces it in greater or less quantities. Zinc is found in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and tin in Maine and California. Gold is found in all the States bordering on the Atlantic coast, and previous to the discovery of the rich mines of the Western States, Virginia furnished nearly all the gold of the United States. These mines are all abandoned, however, since the discovery of the immense deposits in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Dakota. California also yields a limited quantity of platinum, and mercury in immense quantities, sufficient, indeed, to meet the great demand created by the goid mines for it. Osmium and iridium have been discovered in Oregon. Cobalt is produced by North Carolina and Missouri, and Pennsylvania yields nickel in abundance.

The people of the United States are from every land and every clime under the sun. In a few of the States you can trace, through the established habits and customs of the people, the origin of the first settlers; but in most places, the emigration from foreign lands constantly changes the characteristics of the inhabitants. The New England States, settled by the Puritans, retain something of their prim severity of manners. Maryland was settled by the Catholics, and they have always been, and still are, the strongest religious denomination in the State. Pennsylvania was settled by Quakers and Germans, Louisiana by the French, and Texas and California by Spanish. An immense number of Chinese have found homes on the western slopes of the continent, and promise to become useful citizens.

The agricultural interests of the Republic, already stupendous, are constantly increasing, and one looks over the statistics of produce of farm and garden in a bewildered way as he fails to grasp or comprehend the figures that testify truthfully of our national wealth, industry and prosperity. Indian corn is and always will be a staple product. In 1862, the number of bushels raised by seven of the Middle States, amounted to 482,250,800. Illinois alone produced 125,500,000. In the scale of importance, wheat stands next to corn, and the yield of 1862 counts up 264,146,950.

American wheat received the prize medal at the London exhibition. There is no question but ours is the best grown in the world. Rye, barley and oats are grown in all the States, also buckwheat, peas and beans, and as a field crop the two latter grow in importance every year. Rice is produced in all the Southern States, and has been grown in the Middle States, though it can never be made a profitable crop there, since the soil is too dry. The yield in 1860 was 187,140,173 pounds. In this, South Carolina leads off, having produced that year 119,100,528. The potato ranks next to corn and wheat. In 1869 the number of bushels grown of this favorite vegetable was 133,886,000. Hay, also is a valuable crop, and hops, as the demand increases, are receiving favorable notice. Tobacco is raised in almost every State in the Union, flourishing upon every soil and giving profitable returns for little labor. The crop of 1860 amounted to 429,390,771 pounds.

Sugar cane is raised in all of the Southern States, and the manufacture of sugar and molasses has long been a leading

branch of industry in that part of the Union. Of late years, with improved machinery and better facilities for performing the labor, the amount of sugar had increased steadily each year, until the war checked it, but it is again prosperous, and the latest returns credit Louisiana with the production of 297,816 hogsneads, and 15,535,157 gallons of molasses, for that year.

Sorghum is raised to considerable extent in the North, but it will not make sugar, and seems not to be really popular. In 1869 the yield of molasses in the Middle States, from sorghum, was 7,235,884 gallons, and the same year produced 40,863,884 pounds of maple sugar, and 1,944,594 gallons of maple molasses. The prairie lands of the United States furnish unlimited pasturage and hay, and stock raising and dairy-farming seem to follow as naturally as effect follows cause. The total amount of butter produced for market in the year 1869, was 470,536,468 pounds, and the same year also produced for market 114,154,211 pounds of cheese; and enormous as the amount seems, it was not a year remarkable for the quantity, which has steadily increased since. The cultivation of grapes for the purpose of manufacturing wine is becoming one of the leading enterprises of the country; and California has a prospect, at no distant day, of eclipsing the vineyards of France or Italy. Ohio also produces a large quantity of very fine quality of flax and hemp, which have been raised to a considerable extent, both for seed and material for the manufacture of linen and hemp goods; and the growing of wool, always a profitable and popular business, has received a great deal of encouragement for a few years past. Statistics prove that the growth of cotton in the United States is not as great as formerly, but has decreased in quantity for several years; 1869 produced 5,198,077 bales.

The commerce of the United States with foreign countries is very heavy. In 1869 the exports of the United States to foreign countries amounted to $373,189,274; while her imports amounted to $463,461,427. When we consider that America is made independent of every other country by her ability to produce everything in her own fields and factories which comfort or luxury demand, this excess of imports over exports would appear to be unnecessary.

In internal improvements the Republic of America ranks