BOOK LXXIX.

149

THE DESCRIPTION OF AMERICA CONTINUED.

United States.-Nature of the Country-Mountains, Rivers,
Animals, Plants, &c.

We now approach a more genial climate, where the forests BOOK put forth a vigorous vegetation, and the fields are covered LXXIX. with abundant harvests. In this region man is every where Aspect of occupied in building houses, in founding cities, in opening the counnew lands, and in subjugating nature. We hear, on all try. sides, the blows of the hatchet, and the blasts of the forge: we see ancient forests delivered to the flames, and the plough passing over their ashes. We observe smiling cities, temples, and palaces, rise up within a short distance of cabins inhabited by indian savages. We now tread the soil of federal America, that land of liberty, peopled by numerous colonies whom oppression and intolerance forced to leave the British isles, and the other parts of Europe.

sketch.

It is but forty years since the revolutionary war closed, Historical and the United States took their station among the independent powers of the civilized world. From the peace of 1763, which rendered England master of all North America as far as the Mississippi, the colonies began to feel their strength. The attempts of the mother country to tax them, without the consent of their own representatives, kindled the flames of insurrection. The spirited resistance made at Bunker Hill in 1775, showed that the Americans would not be easily conquered, if they found an able leader,-as they

BOOK did find in the brave and prudent Washington. By and by LXXIX. the wisdom of Franklin was employed in fixing the basis of

Extent and limits.

a free (a) constitution, and the independence of the States was proclaimed on the 4th July, 1776. France and Spain concluded an alliance with the new republic, and the English, after having witnessed the humiliation of their arms by the defeats of Burgoyne and Cornwallis, were constrained to acknowledge the independence of the colonies in November, 1782. Since this period, their progress has been unexampled. There were thirteen States in the Union when the war commenced, and there are now twenty-four; and their population, which then amounted to two millions and a half, is now ten millions. In 1803, they acquired by purchase the vast territory of Louisiana,-under which name was then included all the extensive region, north of Mexico, lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. They claim also, in virtue of the right of discovery, the country on the west side of these mountains, watered by the river Columbia, and bounded on one side by the Pacific Ocean. And, in 1821, they obtained East and West Florida from Spain by cession.

The territory claimed by the United States extends from the 25th to the 49th parallel of north latitude, and from the 67th to the 124th degree of west longitude from London. Its extreme length, from the Pacific Ocean to Passamaquoddy Bay, is 2780 English miles; its greatest breadth, from the shore of Louisiana, to the river La Pluie, is 1300 miles; and its area, about 2,300,000 square miles. On the east, it is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean. On the north-east, a conventional line divides it from New Brunswick, extending from Passamaquoddy Bay northward to the 48th parallel, embracing the head waters of the river St. John,-of part of which tract, however, the British dispute the right of possession. From this extreme

(a) [The articles of confederation were adopted by the Thirteen States before the declaration of Independence; but the constitution was not framed till 1787. as is mentioned page 252.1-AM. ED.

northern point, the boundary line passes along the ridge of BOOK mountains south-westward to the 45th parallel, and then along LXXIX. this parallel till it strikes the St. Lawrence 120 miles below Lake Ontario. It then follows the river and the chain of Lakes, Erie, St. Clair, Huron, and Superior, proceeding from the last by the course of the river La Pluie to the 95th degree of west longitude, from which point it passes along the 49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains. On the west side of the mountains, the Americans have an unquestioned claim to the country from the 42d to the 49th parallel; and a more doubtful claim, which is disputed by Russia, to the country from the 49th to the 60th (a) parallel. On the south, the territories of the republic are bounded by the Gulf of Mexico; and on the south-west, the boundary extends in a zigzag line from the mouth of the river Sabine to a point in the Rocky Mountains, in north latitude 42°, and west longitude 108°, from which it passes along the 42d parallel to the Pacific Ocean. The Mississippi divides into two parts, very nearly equal, this vast region, which greatly surpasses in extent the Macedonian, Roman, or Chinese empires. The population, however, is yet comparatively small.

The Indian tribes, continually forced back by the advanc- Indians. ing tide of white population, are fast disappearing from the eastern section of the United States. Custom has reconciled some of them to live among the civilized inhabitants, and to adopt some of their modes; but more generally they sell their lands when the white settlers approach their residence, and retire farther into the wilderness. Dr. Morse states, as the result of his inquiries, that there are 8387 Indians in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania; 120,283 in the country east of the Mississippi altogether; and about 457,000 in the whole territories of the United States. (b)

Two great chains of mountains traverse the territory of Mountains. the United States, in a direction approaching to south and

(a) [The point lately determined upon, as forming the boundary between the

United States and Russia, is Lat. 54. 40. N.]—AM. ED.

(b) [The statement is given in Niles's Register for 15th June. 1822, and is ascribed to Dr. Morse.-AM. ED.

BOOK north; the Alleghany Mountains on the east side, and the LXXIX. Rocky Mountains on the west. They divide the country

into an eastern, a western, and a middle region, the latter comprising the great basin or valley of the Mississippi.

The Alleghanies are less a chain of mountains than a long plateau, crested with several low chains of hills, separated from each other by wide and elevated valleys. East of the Hudson, the Alleghanies consist chiefly of granitic hills, with rounded summits, often covered to a great height with bogs and turf, and distributed in irregular groups without any marked direction. Some peaks of the Green mountains in Vermont, and the White mountains in New Hampshire, rise to the height of 5000 (a) or 6000 English feet above the level of the sea. After we pass the Hudson, the structure of the Alleghanies appears to change. In Pennsylvania and Virginia, they assume the form of long parallel ridges, varying in height from 2500 to 4000 feet, and occupying a breadth of a hundred miles. In Tennessee, where they terminate, they again lose the form of continuous chains, and break into groups of isolated mountains, touching at their base, some of which attain an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet.*

The Rocky Mountains are upon a much grander scale than the Alleghanies. Their base is three hundred miles in breadth; and their loftiest summits, which are covered with eternal snow, rise to the height of 12,000 feet. They are placed at the distance of 500 or 600 miles from the Pacific Ocean; but between them and the coast there is another chain of mountains, of considerable elevation, but of which little is yet known.

On the west side of the Mississippi, and about midway between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies, lies a broad range of mountains, called the Ozarks, six or seven

(a) Mansfield Mt. highest of the Green mountains 4,279 feet high, Mt, Washington, highest of the White mountains, 6,234.]—Am. ED.

* Michaux, Voyage dans les Etats de l'ouest, p. 275. Melish's Geographical Description of United States. Philadelphia, 1822. p. 20.

+ Melish, p. 21.