this is the room in which the Supreme Court sits. The House of Representatives is in the opposite wing, and is somewhat larger than the Senate chamber, and semi-circular. These several apartments are gorgeously furnished and ornamented with statuary and paintings, presenting to the eye a splendid realization of national extravagance.

The "WHITE HOUSE," the residence of the President of the United States, is situated at the junction of Pennsylvania, New-York, Connecticut and Vermont avenues, and is a splendid free-stone built edifice. The building is 170 feet long and 85 feet deep, and two stories high. It is ornamented on the front, facing on La Fayette Square, with a beautiful Ionic portico, and the garden front is embellished by a circular colonnade of six Ionic columns. The interior is splendidly arranged, and furnished in a style becoming the chief magistrate of a great nation.

Adjoining the president's mansion are the extensive buildings appropriated by the department of war, navy, state and treasury. The new treasury building is 300 feet long, and in the rear is a wing 100 feet long. Along the front is a splendid colonnade supported by thirty-two columns of massive dimensions. The "General Post-Office is a large and beautiful marble building, with two wings, and is highly adorned by large fluted columns of marble. It is situated corner of North and Seventh streets. The Patent-Office is also a large and splendid building, and exhibits great architectural skill. The upper part is at present appropriated as a depository of the National Institution. The Smithsonian Institute, when completed, will be a splendid edifice, and add greatly to the importance of Washington, and, at the same time, be a lasting monument of the munificence of the man, whose treasure was bequeathed for its foundation and endowment.

The navy-yard, about three-quarters of a mile from the capitol, has an area of 27 acres, and is enclosed by a substantial brick wall. Within this enclosure are the officers' quarters, shops, warehouses, two large ship houses, and an armory. These are all fine establishments of their kind, and are kept in the best of order. The navy magazine is an extensive building of brick, in which are employed a large number of artisans for the manufacture of combustibles for warlike purposes.

Within the limits of the city there are 27 churches, belonging to the different denominations. The variety, skill and taste in their architectural designs are highly creditable, and conduce much to the general symmetry of the city, and its appearance from a distance.

Numerous institutions of a benevolent, religious, educational and philanthropic character dignify the moral aspect of the capital. There are two orphan asylums, the Washington and St. Vincent's, which are supported, one by the ladies of the city and the other by the Sisters of Charity. The Howard Society is an establishment for supplying poor females with work at equitable prices.

Among the public buildings of Washington the theatres and places of amusement are not the least important. The Washington Theatre, the National Theatre, the Assembly Rooms, King's Picture Gallery, &c., are the most conspicuous of this class.

Columbia College is an excellent institution, and the building is an ornament to the city. It is situated on an elevation,_commanding a splendid view of the surrounding country. The Theological Seminary, the Columbian Institute, the American Historical Society, the Columbian Horticultural Society, the City Library, the Athenæum, the Na

tional Institution for the promotion of science, and some others, afford to .he citizens every advantage in the pursuit of knowledge, and the edifices are highly ornamented and rich in taste and design.

The "City-Hall," intended for the use of the corporate authorities of Washington, is yet in an unfinished state, but when completed, will furnish another magnificent structure in addition to the many which now adorn the metropolis. The penitentiary and city jail are large buildings.

The "Congressional Cemetery" is worthy of note. This last resting place of the "Worthies of America," occupies an area of ten acres, near the eastern branch of the Potomac, and about a mile and a half from the capitol. The grounds are surrounded by a high brick wall, and have a considerable elevation above the river, commanding an extensive prospect of the beautiful scenery which surrounds the city. They are tastefully laid out with ornamental trees and shubbery, and many of the tombs, enclosing the ashes of the eloquent dead, are remarkable for taste and appropriateness. Here rest some of the noblest and bravest of patriots and statesmen, whose voices have re-echoed through the land the watchword of freedom, and whose history is blended with the fairest page of their country's annals.

Washington is connected with the north and south by railway, and is accessible from the Atlantic for ships of the largest class.

During the last war with Great Britain this city was destroyed by fire, and many of the public records and works of art either consumed or carried off by the soldiers. This wanton act, perpetrated by Gen. Ross, who soon after met a retributive death at Baltimore, will ever remain a record of disgrace and infamy against a nation boasting of the highest civilization and humanity. No sophistry can palliate-no necessity could justify so foul a deed. Washington, however, soon recovered from the disaster, and is now advancing with rapid strides, and its population is increasing in a steady progression.

GEORGETOWN is divided from Washington by Rock Creek, and is distant from the capitol three miles. It is beautifully located, and from its elevated position commands a view of the splendid panorama of the Potomac and the surrounding country. It is a place of some consideration, enjoying a fair share of manufactures and commerce. The public buildings consist chiefly of some educational establishments, churches and public offices; the private residences are generally well built, and have a new and clean appearance. The Roman Catholic College is the most extensive building, and holds a high station for efficiency. The city is laid out regularly. Georgetown may be considered as a suburb of Washington. The Chesa peake and Ohio Canal commences at this place. The population has been almost stationary for twenty years, during which it has varied only from 7,360 in 1830, to 7,312, in 1840, being a diminution of 48. In 1850 it had increased to 8,366,

THE SOUTHERN STATES.

UNDER this head are included the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and the new state of Florida. These occupy a territory of 998 miles in length, from the line of Mason and Dixon to the southern point of Florida, and lie between the latitudes of 40° and 25° 30′ N., and the meridians of 74° and 89° W. longitude. They are bounded north by Pennsylvania; north-east and east by Maryland and the Atlantic. Ocean; south by the Gulf of Mexico, and west by the Gulf and the States of Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. The area of the whole is 251,786 square miles, or 161,143,055 acres.

The coasts of this region from the Potomac on the Atlantic, round the peninsula of Florida, to the Pearl River, on the Gulf of Mexico, are about 1,150 miles in length, and are indented with numerous inlets and bays, and lined with a large number of islands and reefs, which render navigation difficult and dangerous. No rivers of much commercial importance are found south of Chesapeake Bay, and few that furnish channels sufficiently capacious and deep for large shipping, and, as a consequence, little foreign commerce belongs directly to this section. The coasting trade, however, is very extensive, and somewhat compensates for these deprivations.

The inhabitants of the Southern States may be said to be entirely devoted to agricultural pursuits. Some manufactures, however, exist, and manufacturing industry is steadily progressing, especially in the more northerly of these states. The great staples are cotton, rice and tobacco. Some wheat and corn, perhaps sufficient for home consumption, are raised. The whole region being extensively covered with pine, is rich in pitch, tar and turpentine, which are sent northward in large quantities, and lumber is an article of export. In several of the states gold has been discovered, of which no inconsiderable amount is annually sent to the mint for coinage; and in Virginia, coal fields of a vast area exist, and in many parts this combustible is used as a common fuel, and for manufacturing purposes.

The Southern States were settled somewhat earlier than the northern and middle districts, and in the main by persons from the same countries. The increase of population, however, has not been so rapid as in either. The annexed table, the result of decennial cenuses, will exhibit with precision the amount of population at each period:

It is a remarkable fact that, with the exception of the few cities on the Atlantic coast, there are in these states no collections of people into villages exceeding in number 5,000. They are scattered over the country, or aggre gated in small masses on plantations. This disposition of the population has a decided effect on their character, and tends to that personal independence we observe in all their actions. Without systematic organization, each in

habitant is free to act for himself, and, untrammelled by the usages of society, enjoys almost a primitive state of existence.

Some few Indians still remain in these states, but the bulk of the tribes have been transported to the west of the Mississippi.

THE STATE OF VIRGINIA.

VIRGINIA, or the "Old Dominion," as it is popularly termed, is the largest of the Atlantic states, and has been the longest time settled by Europeans of any portion of the present United States, with the exception of those parts settled by the Spaniards. It is situated between 36° 33′ and 40° 43′ N. lat., and between 75° 25′ and 83° 40′ W. long., and is bounded north by Pennsylvania and Maryland; east by the Atlantic Ocean; south by North Carolina and Tennessee, and west by Kentucky and Ohio, the three last of which formerly constituted portions of its territory. It is 408 miles long and 212 broad, and has an area of 64,000 square miles, or 40,960,000

acres.

This extensive state may be divided into four parts, essentially differing from each other. The first, extending from the sea-coast to the termination of tide-water, at Fredericksburg, Richmond, &c., is low and flat-in some places fenny, and others sandy; and on the margins of the rivers composed of a rich loam, covered with a luxuriant, and even rank, vegetation. This division has been formed by a comparatively recent alluvion; marine shells and bones are everywhere found near the surface of the earth. The next division extends from the head of tide-water to the Blue Ridge. The surface, near tide-water, is level; higher up the rivers, it becomes swelling, and, near the mountains, often abrupt and broken the soil is divided into sections of very unequal quality, parallel to each other, and extending across the state. The parallel of Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, &c., is a thin, sandy, and, except on the rivers, an unproductive soil. That of Goochland, Cumberland, Prince Edward, Halifax, &c., is generally fertile: Fluvanna, Buckingham, Campbell, and Pittsylvania, are but poor; and Culpepper, Orange, Albemarle, Bedford, &c., have a rich, though frequently a stony and broken soil, on a substratum of tenacious, red-colored clay. The scenery of the upper part of this section is highly picturesque and romantic. The third division is the valley between the Blue Ridge and North and Alleghany Mountains, and extends, with little interruption, from the Potomac to Tennessee and North Carolina. It is narrower, but of greater length than either of the preceding sub-divisions; the soil is a mould formed on a bed of limestone, which often appears above the surface, in veins parallel to the mountains, and making every possible angle with the horizon. The surface of this valley is sometimes broken by sharp and solitary mountains, detached from the general chain, the sides of which, nearly bare, or but thinly covered with blasted pines, form disagreeable objects in the landscape. The bed of the valley is fertile, producing good crops of Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, hemp, flax, &c. The fourth and last division extends from the Alleghany Mountains to the Ohio River, and is

wild and broken, being in some places fertile, but generally barren. Here are mines of lead, iron, coal, and salt.

The forest, near the sea, is composed of pine, oak, cypress, cedar, juniper, holly, &c.; above tide-water, of pine, oak, poplar, hickory, locust, chesnut, gum, ash, sycamore, elm, &c.; in the valley, of nearly the same, with maple, scaly-bark hickory, fir, arbor vitæ, &c. In the more western parts of the state, buck-eye, sugar maple, and some other trees become common; but the body of the forest is the same as between the mountains and tide water; except, indeed, that the western forests are far more heavy, more lofty, and less intermixed with copse. In respect to mineral productions, few are found in the first zone, the soil being alluvial; the second section contains pit-coal of a good quality, within 20 miles of Richmond, on James River; the third region has many inexhaustible mines of iron ore, of a fine quality; and the fourth is distinguished for its various mineral

treasures.

The Alleghany Mountains pass through the western part of the state, from south-west to north-east; the Blue Ridge is east of the Alleghany range, and runs parallel with it, dividing the state into two parts, nearly equal. The peaks of Otter, in the Blue Ridge, are 4,260 feet high, and are the highest land in the state.

The principal rivers are Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, which rise east of the Alleghany Mountains, and flow into Chesapeake Bay; and the Big Sandy, the Great Kanawha, and the Little Kanawha, which rise west of the mountains, and flow into the Ohio; the Shenandoah runs between the mountains, and discharges itself into the Potomac.

The natural bridge over Cedar Creek, in Rockbridge county, is one of the most magnificent curiosities in the world. It is a huge rock, in the form of an arch, 90 feet long, 60 wide, and from 40 to 70 feet deep, thrown over the river more than 200 feet above its surface, and supported by abutments so gracefully curved, so long and light, and springing, as to appear scarcely more heavy than the capital of a Corinthian pillar. There is another natural bridge in Scott county, of nearly the same height, but less beautiful. The falling spring, in Bath county, forms a beautiful cascade, streaming from a perpendicular precipice 200 feet high. The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge at Harper's Ferry, is celebrated for its grandeur and magnificence. There are many mineral springs in Virginia. The hot and warm springs of Bath county, the sweet springs of Monroe, the sulphur springs of Greenbriar, those of Montgomery, and the baths of Berkely county, are much frequented.

In consequence of the great extent and varied surface of Virginia, the climate is very different in different situations. In the greater part of the country, below the head of tide-water, the summers are hot and sultry, and the winters are mild, though the cold is sometimes severe. From the head of tide-water to the mountains, the air is more elastic and pure, and both summers and winters are several degrees of temperature below that of the low country. Among the mountains, the summer weather is generally fine, though the heat is sometimes very oppressive; to the westward the climate is more mild than to the eastward. Except in the neighborhood of stagnant waters in the low country, Virginia has, upon the whole, a salubrious climate; the greatest heat at Monticello, near the middle of the state, has