the James River, at City Point. It is a handsome and thriving town, and has a large trade tobacco and flour. Above the town there are falls, which are applied to manufacturing purposes, but below, the river is navigable for vessels of 100 tons. Population, 10,000. Fredericksburg is on the south side of Rappahannock river, 110 miles above the Chesapeake. The river is navigable for vessels of 130 tons, and the town is surrounded by a fertile country. It is neatly and regularly built, and pleasantly situated. The trade of the place is considerable. Population, 4,000.

Lynchburg, on the south side of James River, 100 miles west of Richmond, stands on the slope of a hill, and is surrounded by a broken and mountainous country, abounding in fertile valleys. The town has a great trade in tobacco, and the neighborhood is populous, and well cultivated. Population, 4,000. Williamsburg is situated between York and James's rivers. It was once the capital of the State, and contains the College of William and Mary, a Statehouse, a court-house, and a State lunatic hospital. The plan of the town is regular, and the principal street is a mile long. The houses are chiefly of wood. York, or Yorktown, on the south side of York River, has an excellent harbor and some trade. It is memorable for the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army, in 1781. These towns are in a languishing condition.

Mount Vernon, on the western shore of the Potomac, 15 miles from Washington, is worthy of the traveler's attention, as the residence of Washington, and the spot which contains his tomb. The mansion still remains, and is a wooden building no way remarkable for its appearance. There are handsome lawns and gardens around it, and the tomb is a simple excavation in the earth, walled with brick, and overgrown with cedars. It is often urged as a national reproach, that the remains of this great man do not repose in a sepulchre of suitable magnificence. In Westmoreland County, some distance below, is shown the spot of his birth, and a stone has been raised to mark the place.

Jamestown deserves notice, as the site of the earliest English settlement in the original United States; but while places of recent origin have grown into a magnitude, rivaling the great cities of Europe, Jamestown has fallen into decay, and is now completely desolate. The ruins of a church steeple mantled with ivy, and surrounded by tombstones, overgrown with shrubbery and wild flowers, are all that remain to mark the spot. The situation is emi

University of Virginia.

nently beautiful. On every side is a charming and variegated succession of woodlands, meadows, pastures, and cultivated fields; in front, is the broad expanse of James River. The hills opposite are picturesque, some entirely covered with wood; others partially cultivated, and exhibiting patches of waving corn, and dark forest, while here and there are scattered over the landscape, many elegant mansions of the wealthy planters. The whole view is strikingly rich and variegated. Charlottesville, near the foot of the Blue Ridge, contains the University of Virginia. Population, 2,000.

Danville, in the southern part of the State, on the Dan, is a place of some trade. Population, 2,000. In the Great Valley, Winchester, in the northern part, is the principal town; its business is extensive. being the mart for a considerable part of the valley. Population, 4,000. The flourishing town of Harper's Ferry contains a United States Arsenal of construction. Population, 2,500. Staunton, further north, is a thriving village, with 2,000 inhabitants; here is the Western State Lunatic Asylum.

The city of Wheeling, second in population only to the capital, stands on the Ohio, at the head of steamboat navigation during the season of low water, and at the western terminus of the Cumberland Road, or the eastern division of the great National Road from Cumberland to Alton. The city being built at the foot of the river-hills, which here approach very near its

bed, occupies a long, narrow belt of about a mile and a half in length; and to supply the necessary space for its extending business, Lane's Island, directly in front of the town, has been fixed upon and has received the name of Columbia City. Wheeling is one of the most flourishing manufacturing towns in the country, and owes its prosperity to the inexhaustible beds of coal that surround it, and to the easy transmission of its manufactures through the vast agricultural regions of the west and southwest; coal is delivered at the manufactories for from 2 to 3 cents a bushel. In 1820 its population was 1,567; at present, it exceeds 11,000. There are in the city 30 steam-engines and 140 manufacturing establishments, producing annually goods to the value of 2,000,000 dollars; and within a circuit of 25 miles, there are 134 flourmills, making annually 280,000 barrels of flour, worth nearly as much more. Among the manufactories are ten iron-founderies, steam-engine and machine shops, and rolling-mills, 6 glass-works, paper-mills, tanneries, &c. The trade of Wheeling is also extensive; the annua arrivals and departures of steamboats being 1,600, and the flat boats and wagons constantly employed, the latter on the National Road to the east, are numerous. Wellsburg, further up the river, owes its growth to the same causes, containing several cotton and woolen factories, glass-works, paper, flour, and saw mills, iron founderies, &c. Population, 2,000. Charleston, on the Kanawha, has about 1,000 inhabitants.

3. Canals. The works for the promotion of internal communication in this State have been mostly executed by incorporated companies, with the assistance of the government. The Internal Improvement Fund, vested in a Board of Public Works, consist of a productive capital of about 2,000,000, yielding an annual income of about 115,000 dollars. In 1837, the legislature appropriated upwards of 4,000,000 to aid in the execution of certain works, several of which have not, however, been begun. The navigation of the Shenandoah, Rappahannock, James, Appomattox, Rivanna, and Dan, has been improved by short canals, locks, and dams, at an expense of about 2,000,000 dollars. The Dismal Swamp Canal, connecting Chesapeake Bay with Albemarle Sound, extends from Deep Creek, a tributary of Elizabeth River, to Joyces's Creek, an arm of the Pasquotank in North Carolina, 22 miles, with a feeder of 5 miles from Lake Drummond, and a branch, 6 miles in length, to the Northwest River; it was completed in 1822, but has since been enlarged; cost, 879,864 dollars. Lake Drummond is connected with the river Nansemond by a canal 10 miles in length. The James River and Kanawha communication is the most important work that has been undertaken in Virginia. Canals round the falls above Richmond, and those in the Blue Ridge, afford a navigation in high stages of the water to Covington. But in 1832, a company was incorporated with a capital of 5,000,000 dollars, of which the State has subscribed two fifths. for extending these works; the project embraces a continuous canal from Richmond to Covington, of which 150 miles, to Lynchburg, are now far advanced towards completion, and a railroad from Covington to the Great Falls of the Kanawha.

4. Railroads. A continuous line of railway extends across the State from the Potomac to the Roanoke, of which the following are links:- The Richmond and Potomac Railroad, extending from Potomac Creek in Stafford, through Fredericksburg to Richmond, 70 miles; the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, between those two cities, 22 miles; and the Petersburg and Roanoke Railroad, from the former place to Blakely, in North Carolina, 59 miles; the Greensville Railroad, from near Belfield to Gaston, on the Roanoke, was constructed for the purpose of striking the river higher up; the City Point Railroad, extending from Petersburg to the James River, 10 miles, connects the Roanoke with the deep water of the Chesapeake; the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad forms a second junction of the Roanoke and Chesapeake, extending from Weldon to Portsmouth, 78 miles; the Chesterfield Railroad connects the coal-pits of Chesterfield with the James at Richmond, 13 miles, and there are other shorter roads extending from coal mines to the James River above Richmond; the Louisa Railroad extends from Louisa court-house to the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad, near the mouth of the South Anna, 40 miles; the Winchester and Potomac Railroad extends from Winchester to Harper's Ferry, 30 miles, where it is connected with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, by a viaduct over the Potomac.

5. Agriculture. Agriculture has always been the chief occupation of the inhabitants, but not to the exclusion of other branches of industry. There is a great diversity in the agriculture of the State, but it is for the most part badly conducted. The old practice of cultivating land every year until exhausted, and then leaving it to recover from its own resources, still continues in many places. In others the three-shift system prevails; that is, first, a crop

of Indian corn, second, wheat, rye, or oats, and third, the year of rest, as it is called, m which the stock are permitted to glean a scanty subsistence from the spontaneous vegetation; after which it is again subjected to the same process, while little attention is paid to the application of manures or the artificial grasses. This system prevails particularly on the south side of the James River. On the north side of that river, especially towards the Potomac, cultivation is much better; rotation of crops is attended to, grass seeds are sown on the small grain; manures are judiciously applied, and gypsum is used to a great extent. In the valley district, also, a good system of cultivation is pursued, and irrigated meadows are common and very productive. On both sides of the Blue Ridge, maize or Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, and buckwheat, are the principal grain crops. Tobacco is the principal staple of most of Eastern Virginia, but in the valley is cultivated only in the southern portion, and not at all beyond the Alleghany. In the eastern and southern counties, cotton is planted to a considerable extent. On the shores of the Chesapeake, barley and the castor-oil bean are cultivated, and on some of the best lands above tide-water, hemp is raised to advantage. The Trans-Alleghany country, being exceedingly mountainous and remote from market, is chiefly devoted to raising live stock. No more grain is raised than is sufficient to supply the country itself, and the travelers and stock-drovers who pass through it; the climate and soil are very favorable to grass, and afford excellent pastures.

The culture of tobacco was begun as early as 1616, and that plant formed the staple of the

colony. During the latter half of the last century the annual export amounted to 60,000 and 70,000 hogsheads; of late years the amount produced in Eastern Virginia has fallen off considerably on account of the exhaustion of much of the land suited to this crop, but its cultivation has been much extended beyond the Blue Ridge. The crop does not now exceed 40,000 hogsheads. Cotton is raised chiefly for home consumption; the crop amounts to about 30,000 bales. Indian corn was a long time almost the only grain raised in Virginia, and it was not until toward the close of the last century, that wheat became the principal agricultural staple of the State. At present, Richmond is one of the great flour markets of the country, and the Richmond brands have a high reputation in foreign ports. The quantity of flour annually inspected is from 500,000 to 600,000 barrels, but this does not indicate the whole amount produced. In the Eastern Shore counties the palma christi or castor-oil bean is an important crop; the land requires the same preparation as Indian corn, and the bean is sown like that grain, and the subsequent tillage is much the same; the yield is from 25 to 40 bushels per acre, and a bushel of seed by pressure and boiling, gives about 2 gallons of oil, the pumice or refuse matter furnishing a valuable manure. Neat cattle, horses, mules, and hogs, wool, beef, pork, bacon, butter, and lard, are exported from the grazing district.

Tobacco Plant.

6. Manufactures. The manufactures of Virginia are by no means inconsiderable in value and extent, but they are not in general of the class which involve the nicer and more complicated process of art, consisting rather of those simpler operations, which convert the native growth of the forest, the products of the mineral kingdom, or the fruits of agricultural labor, into articles of home consumption or commerce. Thus the preparation of ginseng and maple sugar, of lumber and scantlings, of tar, pitch, and turpentine, the manufacture of salt and saltpetre, the quarrying or mining of coal, lead, iron, &c., and the manufacture of cast and bar iron, tanning, the manufacture of flour, linseed, cotton seed, and castor-oil, snuff, cigars, and chewing tobacco, the making of hats, shoes, and boots, household furniture, agricultural implements, cordage, pottery, &c., ship and boat building, are among the prominent branches of mechanical industry; but cotton and woolen goods, paper, glass, steam-engines, cannon, firearms, &c., are also enumerated among its products.

The forests and the coal beds furnish a cheap and easy supply of fuel, and the numerous water-falls offer an almost unlimited motive power for economical purposes, and within the last few years several cotton mills have been erected, partly for spinning, and partly for spinning

and weaving, in which white operatives have sought employment; there are now about 20 of these cotton-factories, chiefly in Eastern Virginia.

7. Commerce. The exports of Virginia consist chiefly of the agricultural products already mentioned, lumber, salt, castor-oil, ginseng, coal, gold, some furs, &c.; their actual amount we have no means of ascertaining; the value of the direct exports to foreign countres is about 5,000,000 dollars, but the trade with the Northern States, the overland trade with Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and North Carolina, and the river-trade by the Ohio and Tennessee, must exceed that sum. The annual imports from foreign ports are less than 1,000,000; but Virginia receives her supplies of manufactured goods, foreign and domestic, and other foreign productions, chiefly from northern ports. The fisheries of the Chesapeake and its tributaries are valuable. The shipping owned in the State amounts to 50,000 tons. 8. Government. The legislature consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The senators are 32; they are elected by districts, and hold their office 4 years, one quarter of their number being renewed every year. The representatives are chosen yearly. These elections are made vivâ voce, and not as in other States, by ballot. The Governor is elected for 3 years, by the two branches of the legislature, and is eligible but once in 6 years. There is a council of 3, chosen like the Governor; the senior councillor is Lieutenant-Governor. The right of voting comes very near to universal suffrage. Clergymen are ineligible as legislators. No legislative provision can be made for religious worship. The State sends 21 representatives to Congress.

9. Religion. The most numerous sect in Virginia are the Baptists, who have 437 churches; the Presbyterians have 120; the Episcopalians 65 ministers; the Methodists 170. There are also Lutherans, Catholics, Unitarians, Friends, and Jews in small numbers.

10. Education. William and Mary College was founded at Williamsburg in 1691. King William endowed it with 2,000 pounds, 20,000 acres of land, and a revenue of a penny on every pound of tobacco exported from Virginia. Other endowments were afterwards added, and its income was formerly 3,000 pounds a year, but it is now much reduced. It has at present 5 instructers and 110 students. Hampden Sydney College, in Prince Edward's county, was founded in 1783. It has 6 instructers, and 60 students. Washington College, at Lexington, was founded in 1812, and it has 40 students. The University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, was founded in 1819. It has 9 instructers, and 230 students. The library has 15,000 volumes. Randolph-Macon College, at Boydton, founded in 1832, has 100 students. The State has a literary fund of 1,550,000 dollars.

An

11. History. Virginia was the earliest settled of all the British American colonies. expedition was despatched by the London Company, under Captain Newport, who was accompanied by Gosnold and the celebrated Captain Smith. They entered the Chesapeake, and discovered James's River, in April, 1607. A settlement was immediately formed at Jamestown, but the colonists soon began to suffer severely by famine and the hostility of the natives. Smith was taken prisoner, and, when on the point of being put to death by the savages, was rescued and released by the romantic generosity of Pocahontas, the King's daughter. The affairs of the colony after this, fell into so bad a state, that all the settlers embarked, and were under sail to leave the country, when several ships arriving with supplies, they were induced to return. From this period, the settlement began to thrive, though much harassed by Indian wars. Charles the First conferred upon the inhabitants the right to elect representatives; in return for which favor, the Virginians adhered to the royal interests during the civil wars which preceded his overthrow. The parliament, in 1652, sent a fleet which brought them to submission, and for 9 years, Cromwell appointed the Governor of the colony. After the Restoration, Virginia was much disturbed by a civil war in her own territory, but the Governor continued to be appointed by the King till the beginning of the American Revolution. In 1776 a new constitution was formed; and in 1830, it was revised by a Convention for that purpose. The inhabitants of Virginia were from the beginning strongly averse to the introduction of slaves, and their legislatures passed many laws to prohibit it, but the refusal of the higher officers of government to sanction the laws, rendered these efforts fruitless.

CHAPTER XX. NORTH CAROLINA.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

1. Boundaries and Extent. North Carolina is bounded north by Virginia; east by the Atlantic ocean; south by South Carolina and Georgia, and west by Tennessee. It extends from 33° 50′ to 36° 30′ north latitude, and from 75° 25' to 84° 30′ west longitude. It is about 450 miles in length, by 185 in breadth, with an area of 50,000 square miles.

2. Mountains. The western part of the State is traversed by the 3 easternmost chains of the Appalachian system, the Southeast Mountain, the Blue Ridge, and the Kittatinny Mountains. The latter chain, under various local names, as the Stone Mountain, Iron Mountain, Bald Mountain, and Smoky Mountain, form the western boundary of the State. Black Mountain, in this region, reaches the height of 6,475 feet, being the loftiest summit east of the Mississippi. The Roan Mountain is 6,000 feet high, and there are others little inferior. Mount Ararat, or Pilot Mountain, is a lofty pyramidal peak, in Stokes county. King's Mountain is a hilly ridge, extending from Lincoln county, into York District in South Carolina. 3. Rivers. The Roanoke and Chowan, which rise in Virginia, empty themselves into Albemarle Sound, in this State. The latter is navigable for small vessels to Murfreesboro'. The Roanoke has a course of 400 miles; it is navigable for small vessels 30 miles, and for boats to the head of the tide at Weldon, 75 miles. Above the falls at Weldon, it is navigable for boats, by the aid of canals, 244 miles, to Salem. The Tar, or Pamlico, and Neuse, flow into Pamlico Sound. The former is navigable for vessels drawing 9 feet of water, 30 miles, and for boats to Tarboro', 90 miles. Cape Fear River is the principal stream, which has its whole course in this State. It rises in the north part, and traversing the State in a southeasterly course of 280 miles, falls into the Atlantic at Cape Fear. It is navigable for vessels of 11 feet draft to Wilmington, and for boats to Fayetteville. The Yadkin traverses the western part of the State, from north to south, and passes into South Carolina, under the name of the Great Pedee. The Catawba rises in the Blue Ridge and flows south into South Carolina From the opposite slope of the mountains, descend the head streams of the river Tennessee. 4. Islands. The coast is skirted by a range of low, sandy islands, thrown up by the sea. They are long and narrow, and enclose several shallow bays and sounds. They are generally barren.

5. Sounds and Bays. The largest is Pamlico Sound, lying between the mainland and one of the abovementioned islands. It is 86 miles in length along the coast, and from 10 to 20 broad. It communicates with the ocean by several narrow mouths, the most common of which for navigation is Ocracoke Inlet. A little to the north is Albemarle Sound, which extends 60 miles into the land, and is from 5 to 15 miles wide. It communicates with Pamlico Sound, and with the sea, by several narrow and shallow inlets.

6. Shores and Capes. The shores are low and marshy, and the navigation along the coast dangerous, on account of the shoals. Cape Lookout and Cape Fear, indicate by their names the dread with which mariners approach them. But the most formidable is Cape Hatteras, the elbow of a triangular island, forming the seaward limit of Pamlico Sound. Its shoals extend a great distance from the land, and render it one of the most dangerous headlands on the American coast.

7. Face of the Country. The eastern part of the State, for a distance of about 60 miles from the sea, is a low plain covered with swamps, indented by numerous shallow inlets from the ocean, and traversed by sluggish streams, which the low and level surface allows to spread out into broad basins. To this maritime belt, succeeds a fine, undulating country, irrigated with fresh, running waters, and presenting a surface agreeably diversified with hills and valleys. The western part of the State is an elevated table-land, rising to a general elevation of about 1,800 feet above the level of the sea, independently of the mountainous summits.

8. Climate. In that small part of the State toward the west, which is mountainous, the climate is temperate, and the air salubrious; this region is one of the most healthy in the country, and though the days in summer are hot, the nights are refreshed by cool breezes. In all the eastern parts, the climate is unhealthy, and intermittent fevers are common in summer and autumn. The inhabitants have a pale, yellowish, and bilious complexion. The winters are