in 47° north latitude, to its entrance into the sea in latitude 29° its winding course cannot be less than 1300 or 1400 British miles; and if we reckon to the rise of the Missouri, the principal stream, 600 miles may be added to the number. From the source of the Missouri, to the mouth of the Mississippi, the course of this vast river cannot be computed at less than 2000 miles. Besides the Missouri, and other streams from the west, the Mississippi receives the Ohio, the Illinois, and their numerous branches from the east. The Missouri is both longer, wider, and deeper than the Mississippi, and affords a more extensive navigation.* Their confluence, at the distance of above 500 miles from the sea,t forms a magnificent inland feature. Each of these rivers is about a mile and a half in breadth; but the Missouri is somewhat the widest, as well as the most rapid. The Ohio is a beautiful river. Its current is gentle, and its navigation easy and uninterrupted, except at the rapids. Its general breadth is about 600 yards, but it varies from 300 in the narrowest, to 1200 in the widest part. This river, and the Mississippi, are each about half a mile wide at their junction, in latitude 36° 46′ at almost 1100 miles distant from the sea. The course of the Ohio from Fort Pitt to its junction with the Mississippi, following all its windings, is, by the American geographers, computed at 1188 miles. The Ohio is formed by the union of the Monongahela and the Alleghany, which are both navigable streams. The Mississippi being swelled by the coalition of so many large rivers, forms a vast expanse of water, interspersed with numerous islands. During the spring floods, which commence in April, and subside in July, the rapidity of the current increases from two to five miles an hour, and the waters overflow the low lands on each side in approaching towards the Arrowsmith's Map.

* Hutchins apud Imlay, p. 389. Charlevoix, vol. 2. p. 218.

[The preceding account of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers is very incorrect. The whole length of the Mississippi, is about 3060 miles. And if we may credit the accounts of Clarke and Lewis, the whole course of the Missouri, from its rise in the Rocky mountains, to its entrance into the gulf of Mexico, falls little short of 5,000 miles. AM. ED] § Morse's Amer. Geog. From the same place to New Orleans, is computed at 2100 miles. Michaux's Trav. p. 63.

sea. Here also various streams divide the country into nume. rous deltas and islands. This vast river, rolling its floods through immense forests and plains, brings down astonishing quantities of wood. Vast collections of trees are daily seen floating down, and being cemented together by the mud, form' points and islands, which perpetually change the bed of the river and the face of the country. The island of New Orleans, and the opposite lands, are evidently of recent formation. In every part water and great numbers of trees are found in digging to the smallest depth below the surface. The voyage up the Mississippi, from New Orleans to the Illinois, is performedin spring and autumn in eight or ten weeks, in boats carrying above forty tons, and rowed by eighteen or twenty men.* The navigation of this important river is capable of great improvements. Its course is so crooked, that from the Ohio to New Orleans, á distance which does not exceed 460 miles in a straight line, is not less than 856 by water, although by cutting across eight or ten necks of land, some of them not above thirty yards broad, it might be reduced to about 600 at the most moderate computation. Several points have already been cut off, and the river diverted into different channels: as population and commerce increase, it will undoubtedly be reduced to its shortest line.

The majestic river of St. Lawrence is justly regarded as the second in North America. It is not less than ninety miles wide at its mouth, and about five miles wide at Quebec, to which place it is navigable for ships of the line, although at the distance of 400 miles from the sea. Even as far as Montreal, it is from two to four miles in breadth. This noble river, although impeded with some rapids, affords a navigation of 740 miles from its mouth as far as the lake Ontario. It is difficult to ascertain its source; but the name of St. Lawrence is confined to its course below the lake Ontario, although the Niagara might perhaps, without impropriety, be considered as the same river passing through the

* The voyage from Pittsburg to New Orleans, a distance of 2100 miles down the Ohio and the Mississippi, is performed in the spring by barges in forty or fifty days; but by an Indian pirogue, with only two or three persons, in twenty-five days. Michaux's Trav. p. 63.

lake, like the Nile through that of Dembea.

Names are ar

bitrarily imposed; but they make no changes in natural objects. The breadth of the river St. Lawrence is its grand characteristic. From the lake Ontario to its junction with the sea, its length cannot much exceed 740 British miles.

The extensive inland seas and majestic rivers of North America, are the most distinguishing and important characteristic of that portion of the globe. They may be considered as geographical circumstances, which, in a future period, when population shall be increased and diffused towards the interior, will greatly influence the moral state of that continent. The shores of the Canadian lakes, and the banks of the St. Lawrence, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, will one day become the seats of powerful states and flourishing cities, of letters and science, of arts and commerce. "Whoever," says a late writer, “will for a moment cast his eye over the town of New Orleans, and the immense country around it, and view its advantageous situation, must be convinced that it, or some place near it, must, in process of time, become one of the greatest marts in the world."t The view which the American geographer here presents, may be extended to wider dimensions. It may be added, that whoever will cast his eye on the map of the whole North American continent, and view its geographical advantages in connection with its existing moral circumstances, will see an immense field opened to probable, almost indeed to infallible conjecture. Fancy, perhaps, can scarcely delineate a more magnificent picture than this portion of the globe may one day realise. The philosophical reader may here compare the geography of America with that of Africa, and investigate the influence, which the contrast must have on the nations of those vast continents.

The extraordinary importance of these inland seas and rivers of the new world has seemed to call for a small deviation from the plan of descriptive arrangement generally adopted in this work. The mountains must be considered as occupying an

Vessels of 250 tons are built at Pittsburg, which, by the course of the Ohio and the Mississippi, is 2100 miles from New Orleans. Mi. chaux, p. 63, 64.

Morse's Amer. Geog.-Michaux expresses nearly the same opinion. Trav. p. 42.

1

inferior rank among the grand features of North American geography.k

Mountains.-The Appalachian, or Alleghany mountains, form the most celebrated chain. As they are laid down in the best maps, they seem to commence on the north of Georgia, and to expire in the territory of New Brunswick. The several collateral ridges are distinguished by different names, as the iron mountains, the bald mountains, the white mountains, the blue mountains, &c. with the Cumberland mountains, which form a sort of exterior skirt on the north-west. The breadth of these successive ridges is in some places not less than seventy miles. The Appalachian chain appears to extend not less than 900 miles, a length unequalled by any of the European ridges, except the Norwegian mountains; but their elevation is not very considerable. Though the height of the principal summits is not precisely ascertained, various circumstances concur to shew that they cannot exceed 3000 or 4000 feet above the level of the sea, as they are in many places clothed with forests; and even, on the highest, the snow melts during the summer.* The central part of North America appears to be a vast and fertile plain, watered by the Mississippi, the Missouri, and their numerous auxiliary streams.†1 On the west of this immense level a range of high hills proceeds from New Mexico, and joins the stony mountains, which extend almost to the arctic circle, forming altogether a chain of

[The preceding remark is not correct. The mountains of North America occupy a rank in the grand features of its geography equal, and corresponding, to that of its lakes and rivers. Two distinct ranges pass from south to north across North America, called the eastern and western. The former, called the Alleghany range, is described with tolerable correctness by Mr. Bigland, under the article which follows.— The western range, taken in its whole course through South America, is unequalled by any on the globe in its extent, in the height of its summits, and in the number and grandeur of its volcanoes. AM. ED.] * Kalm's Trav. vol. 2. p. 352.

It must, however, be observed, that Tennessee, Kentucky, and the territory on the Ohio, present in most parts a beautiful diversified champaign, rising in undulating swells, though not of any great elevation. Morse's Amer Geog. p. 506.-Michaux's Trav. p. 156.

[There is no foundation for this remark. No such immense level exists in North America. AM. ED.]

about 2400 British miles in length. The clevation of this extensive ridge, however, does not, from the best accounts, appear to be greater than that of the Appalachian mountains already described. According to the accounts given in Cook's Voyages, and those of other navigators, the western coast resembles that of Norway, presenting a wild alpine country, with shores indented by numerous creeks, and bordered with islands. The isthmus of Darien is almost entirely an assemblage of mountains; and there are ridges of considerable extent in Mexico; but their elevation is not ascertained. The mountain of Orizaba, the snowy summit of which is visible from Mexico, a distance of sixty miles, is supposed to be the highest in that region.* From this general view, which exhibits all that is known with certainty on the subject, it appears that the North American mountains car scarcely boast a greater elevation than those of Snowden, Skiddaw, Wharnside, Crossfell, and several others in Great Britain, being mere hillocks in comparison of the Alps, or even of the Pyrenees.† m

* D'Auctcroche Voyage to California, p. 33. Morse describes this mountain, which he also calls Pojaubtecal, as of a conical form, higher than the peak of Teneriffe, and ninety miles distant from the city of Mexico. Amer. Geog. p. 574.

† Dr. Cutler computed the height of the Alleghany mountains at 5,500 feet above the plain below, and 10,000 above the level of the sea." Morse, p. 294. Michaux supposes them to be highest in Carolina, about 360 miles from Charleston. Trav. p. 261.

neous.

m [This conclusion concerning the mountains of North America is erroA statement of the heights of several of the prominent summits of the Californian and Mexican ranges will show, that the mountains as well as lakes and rivers of Europe, must yield the superiority to those of North America. St. Elias, the highest summit in the Californian range, as measured by the Spanish navigators, is 17,875 feet.

Mount Blanc, the highest eminence in the Alps, and indeed in Europe, measures but 15,662 feet. A height surpassed by four at least of our North American mountains. AM. ED.]

n [It was not the Alleghany but the White mountains in New Hampshire, whose height was measured by Dr. Cutler. AM. ED.]