7. Vegetable Productions. Nearly all the forest trees of the western country are found in this State, but the laurel tribes are not common. Juniper, red-cedar, and savin, cover the mountains. Apples, pears, and plums, which are properly more northern fruits, are raised in great perfection. The sugar maple is very abundant.

8. Minerals. Inexhaustible quarries of gypsum, of the finest quality, abound in East Tennessee. Marble, in many beautiful varieties is abundant. Iron ore is found in plenty, and some lead mines have been worked. Salt springs are numerous, but the water is not sufficiently strong to admit of their being made profitable. Nitrous earth abounds in the saltpetre caves. The gold region, already described in the Southern States, extends into the southeastern part of Tennessee. The spot affording the metal, is situated about 12 miles south of the Tellico plains, near the Unaka mountain, which separates this State from North Carolina. The gold occurs in small grains, and appears to have been produced by the disintegration of the rocks which compose the mountain; it is found in the small rivulets and brooks, and also on the declivities of the mountains, and very near their summits. It is contained in a stratum of the soil of 10 or 12 inches in depth, and is separated from the earth by washing. Tennessee also contains an ore of zinc, of excellent quality. The Cumberland Mountains are rich in coal. Manganese, roofing slate, and magnetic iron-ore, may be also numbered among the mineral productions, and mineral springs are numerous. The great coal-field of Tennessee is co-extensive with the Cumberland Mountains, whose summit is occupied by the coal-measures. It extends into Kentucky across the Cumberland, and, perhaps, across the Kentucky River, and into Alabama across the Tennessee; the coal crops out at numerous points on the declivities of the mountains, and is worked in Fentress, where it is sent down the Obey River to the Cumberland, in Morgan, where Emery's River affords facilities for transporting it to the Tennessee, and in the Sequatchee Valley; from these points, and from the banks of the Cumberland Kentucky, it is carried down the rivers in flat boats as far as New Orleans.

9. Caves. The mountains of this State contain a great number of caverns, which are among the most remarkable features of the country. They are of so frequent occurrence that very few have been explored; and little more is known of them, than that they abound in nitrous earth. One of them has been descended 400 feet below the surface, and found to consist of a smooth limestone rock, with a stream of pure water at the bottom, sufficient to turn a mill. A cave on a high peak of the Cumberland Mountain has a perpendicular descent, the bottom of which has never been sounded. A cave which may be descended some hundred feet, and traced for a mile, is an object too common to be pointed out to the traveler's attention. Some of these caves are several miles in extent; they are in limestone. The Big Bone Cave, has received its name from its containing the huge bones of the mastodon and megalonyx.

Among the Enchanted Mountains, the name given to several spurs of the Cumberland Ridge, are some very singular foot-prints, marked in the solid limestone rock. These are tracks of men, horses, and other animals, as distinctly marked as though but yesterday impressed in clay or mortar. Their appearance often indicates that the feet which made them, had slidden, as if in descending a declivity of soft clay. The human feet have uniformly 6 toes, with the exception of one track, which is thought to be that of a negro. One of the tracks is 16 inches long, and 13 inches wide from toe to heel, with the ball of the heel 5 inches in diameter. On the shore of the Mississippi, is a similar impression of two human feet in a mass of limestone. No satisfactory explanation has ever been given of these singular appearances.

10. Face of the Country. This State is more diversified in appearance than any other in the western country. Mountains and hills occupy a great portion of its surface, and the whole region offers, in general, the most striking and picturesque scenery.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.

1. Divisions. This State is divided into East and West Tennessee; the former has 26 counties, and the latter 45.*

2. Towns. The city of Nashville, in West Tennessee, is the largest town in the State, and the seat of government. It stands on the south bank of Cumberland River, in a pleasant situation, near some high bluffs, and is much frequented during the hot months, by the inhabitants of the lower country. The river is navigable by steamboats to this place. The eminences, rising with a gentle inclination, afford many agreeable seats for the elegant mansions of the opulent citizens. The houses are generally neat and tasteful, and among the public buildings are the court-house, lunatic asylum, a penitentiary conducted on the Auburn system, 6 churches, the halls of Nashville University, academy, &c. The trade and business are extensive; there are about 15 steamboats employed on the river, beside great numbers of keel-boats and flat boats; and among the manufacturing establishments are several brass and iron founderies, rolling-mills, tanneries, &c. Population, 8,000. The inhabitants of Nashville are favorably distinguished for their intelligence and refinement, and its educational institutions are numerous and well supported. The Hermitage, the plantation of ex-president Jackson, is about 12 miles above Nashville. Gallatin, higher up the valley of the Cumberland, and Clarksville, on the river below, are flourishing villages.

Knoxville is the chief town of East Tennessee. It is situated on the Holston, and is a thriving place, with some trade. Knoxville was formerly the capital of the State, and it contains the halls of East Tennessee College. Population, 2,000. Murfreesborough, in West Tennessee, was formerly the seat of government for the State; the country around it is fertile, but it is a small town. Columbia, on Duck River, is a busy and flourishing village, with 1,500 inhabitants. Memphis has a fine situation near the site of old Fort Pickering, on the Mississippi, at a point where the great western road strikes the river. It is a new settlement, but is a growing place. Population, 2,000.

3. Agriculture. Agriculture forms almost the sole occupation of the inhabitants of Tennessee. A large proportion of the land is productive, and many of the valleys of East Tennessee, and much of the middle and western sections, are eminently fertile. Indian corn and cotton are the staples of the State, and a good deal of tobacco, hemp, and wheat are raised. Cotton thrives in almost every part except in the northeastern triangular section, and the crop is about 150,000 bales; but the climate of Tennessee is not so well adapted for this plant as that of the States south of the 35th parallel of latitude; the new lands of the western part have, however, been chiefly devoted to this crop; the tobacco crop is about 5,000 hogsheads. In East Tennessee, grazing is much attended to, and great numbers of live stock are driven out of the State, to the eastern markets.

4. Commerce. The pine forests of the eastern section of the country, afford tar, spirits of turpentine, rosin, and lampblack; these, with whisky, coarse linens, cotton bagging, live stock, pork, bacon, lard, butter, saltpetre, gunpowder, flour, coal, fruits, cotton, maize, and tobacco, constitute the exports of Tennessee. Estimated value of the exports, 8,000,000 dollars. The estimated value of real property in the State, is 150,000,000 dollars.

5. Railroads. The central part of the State transports its surplus productions and its im

ported supplies on the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Mississippi; but the eastern part has only the choice of the long and tedious course of the Tennessee through Alabama, interrupted by several serious obstructions to its navigation, or of the equally slow and difficult passage of the mountains, by wagons. Several schemes have accordingly been projected, to connect this district with the eastern ports by an easier route, and there is now a prospect of the speedy construction of a railroad from Charleston to Knoxville, through the valley of the French Broad River, and of another from the Savannah to the Tennessee. The State takes one third of the stock of any railroad, of which two thirds are secured from companies and individuals. The New Orleans and Nashville Railroad, will connect those two cities. The only works of this kind as yet executed, are the Memphis and Lagrange Railroad, 50 miles in length, with a branch of 13 miles, from Moscow to Somerville, and the Hiwassee Railroad, from Calhoun, on the Hiwassee, to Knoxville, 70 miles.

6. Manufactures. The manufactures of iron, hemp, cotton, and cordage are considerable in amount, but there are no large manufacturing establishments.

7. Government. The legislature is called the General Assembly, and consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The members of both Houses are chosen biennially, as also the Governor, who is eligible 6 years out of 8. The Governor is elected by a plurality. Suffrage is universal. Clergymen are excluded from office. The State sends 13 representatives to Congress.

8. Religion. The Methodists and Baptists are the most numerous sects; the former numbering about 30,000, and the latter about 20,000 communicants. The Presbyterians have 120 churches and 10,000 communicants, exclusive of the Cumberland Presbyterians, who are also numerous. The Episcopalians have 1 bishop and 12 ministers, and there are Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Friends, Christians, &c.

9. Education. There are 68 academies in the State, one having been endowed in each county, by grants of public land, but many of these are not in actual operation. The collegiate institutions are the University of Nashville, in that city, one of the most respectable educational institutions in the West, having 6 teachers, and 130 students; Greeneville College, at Greeneville; Washington College, in Washington county; East Tennessee College, at Knoxville; and Jackson College, at Columbia. There is also a Presbyterian theological seminary, at Maryville.

10. History. Tennessee is one of the oldest of the Western States, and the first settlements were made between the years 1765 and 1770. The earliest inhabitants were emigrants from North Carolina and Virginia, and the country was included within the limits of North Carolina till 1790, when it was placed under a territorial government, with the name of the Territory South of the Ohio. In 1796, a constitution was formed, and Tennessee was admitted into the Union as an independent State. In 1834, the constitution was revised and amended.

CHAPTER XXIX. KENTUCKY.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

1. Boundaries and Extent. Kentucky is bounded N. by Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; E. by Virginia; S. by Tennessee; and W. by Missouri and Illinois. It extends from 36° 30' to 39° 10' N. latitude, and from 81° 50′ to 89° 20′ W. longitude. It is 300 miles in length, from east to west, with a mean breadth of 150. It contains 40,000 square miles.

2. Rivers. The Ohio washes the whole southern limit; it will be described in the next chapter. The Mississippi forms a small part of the western boundary. The Cumberland and Tennessee rivers pass through the western extremity of the State, into the Ohio. In the northern part, the Licking and Kentucky rivers take their rise in the Cumberland Mountains, and flow northwesterly into the Ohio; they are each about 200 miles in length; the latter is navigable for 150 miles, and has a width of 150 yards at its mouth; the current is rapid, and the shores are high. For a great part of its course, it flows between perpendicular banks of limestone. The voyager passing down this stream, experiences an indescribable sensation on looking upwards to the sky from a deep chasm hemmed in by lofty parapets. Green River rises in the eastern part, and flows westerly into the Ohio. It has a boat navigation of 200 miles. Big Sandy forms a part of the eastern boundary, and flows north into the Ohio.

The

3. Climate. This State has a temperate and salubrious climate, differing little from that of Tennessee. The air, however, is somewhat moister. The winter begins late in December, and never lasts longer than 3 months.

4. Soil. Kentucky is one of the most fertile of the Western States. There are many tracts called "barrens," from being bare of trees, yet they have a good soil. The central parts of the State are the most productive.

5. Geology. Minerals. The mineral resources of Kentucky include iron ore, coal, salt, and lime. The geological character of the rock formations, the horizontal or slightly inclined position of the strata, which have been much furrowed by the agency of currents of water, and the nature of the included minerals, show that this State forms a section of the great TransAlleghany region of newer secondary deposites, whose extent has never been ascertained. Bituminous coal is widely diffused, and valuable seams are often exposed on the river-cliffs and other places, where the strata have been cut through. Some iron is made in different quarters, but the amount is inconsiderable. Salt springs are found in almost all parts of the State, and several hundred thousand bushels of salt are made at different works; but as this article is furnished at a cheaper rate from the Kanawha salines, it is not manufactured in large quantities. Saltpetre-earth, or nitrate of lime, is found in many of the caves which abound in this region, and during the war it was extensively used for making saltpetre. The salt springs received the name of licks from the early settlers, on account of their being the favorite resort of the wild animals, which were fond of licking the saline efflorescences so abundant around them; the same name is also applied to the sulphuretted fountains, which are very numerous. The Big Bone Lick, in Boone county, the Upper and Lower Blue Licks on the Licking River, Mud Lick, or the Olympian Springs, near Owingsville, Harrodsburg Springs and Greeneville Springs, Flat Lick and Mann's Lick near Louisville, White Lick in Union county, Elk Lick in Hart, &c., are among these numerous springs, of the chemical composition of which we know little. The hunters, who first visited this region, found them the favorite resort of the bison, elk, deer, &c., and, from the gigantic bones which have been discovered at Big Bone Lick, and have given that spot its name, it appears, that, at an earlier period, they were frequented by huge animals of extinct races. This lick occupies the bottom of a boggy_valley, kept wet by a number of salt springs, which rise over a surface of several acres. Burning springs also occur in the eastern mountainous district; these are, as is well known, currents of

Mammoth Cave.

"Its entrance is in the steep declivity of a hill. The dimensions of the mouth are about 40 feet in height, by 50 in breadth, decreasing gradually for the first half mile, till the cavern is no more than 10 feet in height and as many in breadth; at which place a partition has been erected,

carburetted hydrogen gas, issuing from the earth, which, on the application of fire, will sometimes burn for a great length of time. Oil or petroleum springs are found near Burkesville, in Allen county, and other places, and the oil is collected by the people, who attribute to it great and various medicinal virtues. It is well known further east under the name of Seneca Oil.

6. Natural Curiosities. Like Tennessee, this State has a great number of caverns. Many of them are of a prodigious depth. The Mammoth Cave, near Green River, has been explored to the distance of about 3 miles. Most of these caverns are in the southwestern part of the State, and are situated in a broken and hilly, but not mountainous country.

In this State are also many singular cavities, or depressions, in the surface of the ground, called "sink holes." They

with a door of convenient dimensions, for the purpose of protecting the lights of visiters. There is at this place a current of air passing inwardly for 6 months, and outwardly for the remainder of the year. Sufficiently strong is it, that, were it not for the door that has been made, it

are commonly in the shape of inverted cones, 60 or 70 fect in depth, and from 60 to 300 feet in circumference at the top. Their sides and bottoms are generally covered with willows and aquatic productions. The ear can often distinguish the sound of waters flowing under them, and it is believed that they are perforations in the bed of limestone below the soil, which have caused the earth above to sink. The common people imagine them to have been huge wells, at which the mammoths of former times quenched their thirst. Sometimes the ground has been opened, and disclosed a subterraneous stream of water at the bottom of these cavities, and in one instance a mill was erected over the invisible river. Considerable streams disappear in several places and afterward rise again to the surface, at some distance below, having evidently flowed through these subterraneous channels.

7. Face of the Country. Kentucky presents a waving and diversified surface, without be