Ocean. On the east this region is rich and well-wooded, in the middle it is divided into prairie and woodland, and extremely fertile; towards the west it is dry, sandy, and almost a desert.

Fifth. The eastern declivities of the Alleghany Mountains, and the maritime region, extending to the shores of the Atlantic. This is a region of natural forests, and of mixed but rather indifferent soil, requiring cultivation to make it productive.

And Sixth.-The great northern plain beyond the 50th parallel, fourfifths of which are a bleak and desolate waste, overspread with innumerable lakes, and resembling Siberia in the physical character of its surface and the rigor of its climate.

The MOUNTAINS OF NORTH AMERICA form several distinct ridges, the principal of which stretch in the direction of north and south. It has been generally supposed that the Isthmus of Panama is traversed by a mountain range, connecting the Andes of South America with the mountains of Mexico; but this is not the case. At the eastern extremity of the isthmus, between the mouth of the Rio Atrato and the Bay of San Miguel, a level plain extends from one sea to the other, apparently not many yards above the level of either Here, then, the mountains of North America commence.

The ELEVATIONS WITHIN THE ISTHMUS are very few, and the highest point of the road which crosses the ridge between Panama and the mouth of the river Chagres, has been found to be only 633 feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean. From that point to the table land of La Puebla, 1,400 miles north, no certain information has been obtained respecting the mountains. The most considerable elevations are on the south-west side; and there are no less than twenty-two volcanoes within that space. From Puebla to Durango, the Mexican mountains spread out to form a table land or elevated plain, from 5,000 to 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, and from 100 to 300 miles in breadth. Across this plain, in 19° north latitude, are five volcanoes in a line, east and west. Two of these on the eastern side of the continent, with a group of four or five other cones between Xalapa and Cordova, have an elevation of more than 17,000 feet, and are the only mountains in Mexico that exceed the line of perpetual snows, which is here about 15,000 feet above the level of the ocean. rullo, the lowest of the five volcanoes, rose suddenly from the midst of a plain, in September, 1759; it is 1,600 feet above its base, and is surrounded by a number of smaller cones, or burning masses, within a compass of four square miles, which have been heaved up in the form of a dome. Near the tropic the Mexican Cordillera divides into three branches, one of which runs parallel to the eastern coast, at a distance of 30 or 40 leagues, and terminates in New-Leon; another, proceeding in a north-western direction, sinks gradually as it approaches the Gulf of California, in the state of Sonora; the third, or central chain, passes through Durango and New Mexico, separates the sources of the Rio Gila and the Rio Grande or Bravo del Norte, rising to an elevation of 4,000 feet.

Jo

The ROCKY MOUNTAINS now commence, and from this point extend northward, gradually becoming lower, till at last their elevation hardly exceeds 2,000 feet. They also divide in their northern portion into fourteen or fifteen ridges, separated by narrow vallies, which altogether occupy a breadth of about 200 miles, and skirt the Arctic Sea at a short distance. Many of the summits of the Rocky Mountains rise above the snow line, and their elevation, where they were crossed by Lewis & Clarke, and also further south, has been estimated at 10,000 and 12,000 feet. A shorter

route from the valley of the Mississippi to the west coast has since been found, in the direction of the River Nebraska, (41° north latitude,) where an opening in the chain, called the South Pass, presents a passage so easy of access, that a wagon drawn by horses might travel through it.

From the southern point of California, a lower chain, the MARITIME RANGE, skirts the coast, as far as the volcano of Mount St. Elias, 60o north latitude; and between this chain and the Rocky Mountains several intermediate ridges occur, the whole forming, apparently, an elevated plateau, from 200 to 800 miles in breadth.

The ALLEGHANY or APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS, which form the eastern boundary of the great central valley, consists of three, four, and, in some places, five parallel chains, extending from south-west to north-east, from Alabama to New-Brunswick, a distance of 1,100 miles, with a breadth varying from 100 to 150 miles, and a mean elevation of 2,000 or 3,000 feet. They are almost everywhere clothed with forests and interspersed with delightful and fertile vallies. They present their steepest sides to the east, and the transition from their base to the maritime plain, which skirts the Atlantic, is very distinctly marked by a rocky ledge, over which the rivers fall, and to the foot of which, in the northern section, the tide penetrates. Trenton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Columbia, Augusta, Milledgeville, and Columbus, stand on or near the edge of this ledge, which from the last named place recedes to the north-west through Alabama and Mississippi, till the Atlantic plain merges in the Mississippi valley.

Between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, the OZARK MOUNTAINS extend along the middle of the great valley of the Mississippi in a northerly and southerly direction. The Arkansas and the Red River are the only streams that have forced a passage through these mountains, which, though low, occupy a great extent of country, and are covered with wood. The greater rivers of Eastern Texas have their rise in the southern declivities of these elevations.

From Labrador, westward, a line of elevated ground, not entitled to be called mountainous, as its greatest known elevation does not exceed 2,000 feet, forms the water-shed between the basin of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, and the streams which flow northward to Hudson's Bay. It is, however, cut through by the Nelson River; and after separating the vallies. of the Saskatchawan and the Churchill, it either sinks down into the great plains of this region, or extends north-eastward between Hudson's Bay and Great Slave Lake.

The following table will exhibit the points of culmination of the different peaks of the North American system of mountains:

Heigh above the 10

Feet

9,000

14,900

66

Fuego

.14,700

Alleghany, or Appalachian Range. Roan Mountains, N. C..................

.12,000

10,000

12,000

.10,000

..8,000

..14,750 . 17,900 .8,500

..6,038

..6,476

THE GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE of the North American mountains, particularly those of Mexico and Central America, is distinguished, like their physical form and arrangement, by some remarkable peculiarities. The Alleghany Mountains present their scarp or steepest side to the east, where granite, gneiss and other primitive rocks are seen. Upon these lie, first, a thin formation of transition rocks dipping to the westward; and next, a series of secondary rocks, including a very extensive coal formation, which reaches from Pittsburg to far beyond the Mississippi. The Ozark Mountains exhibit similar strata in the same order and position; and therefore, probably, consist of a western portion of the same beds raised to the surface by a slip or dislocation. In the Rocky Mountains, primitive rocks are found in the centre or axis of the chain, with old red sandstone, coal, and new red sandstone, containing rock-salt, leaning against its sides A great tract to the eastward of this chain is covered with granitic sands, and, near the bed of the Mississippi, there is a deep formation of alluvium. The Mexican table lands consist, chiefly, of transition slaty rocks, intermixed with which are two species of limestone, and enormous masses of porphyry, trachyte, syenite, phonolite, basalt, volcanic tuff and other rocks of igneous origin. The veins of silver and gold are found chiefly in the older porphyry, the granular limestone, the syenite and the transition slates.

The annexed table will show where the mineralogical productions of North America are chiefly found. It is not intended for any other purpose than a general review, as at many points, not mentioned, mineral products, of various descriptions, are in abundance. The principal mining districts alone are indicated:

GOLD.-Mexico, (North-western Provinces:) United States,

Carolina and Georgia;) Central America, (passim.)

(California, N & S

SILVER.-Mexico, (Central Provinces ;) Central America, (passim ;) United States, (in

the Lead Districts of Lake Superior, &c.)

TIN.-Mexico; United States, (California.)
MERCURY.-Mexico; United States, (California.)

COPPER.-Mexico; United States, (New-Jersey, New-York, and in the regions of Lake
Superior, &c.)

LEAD.-Mexico; United States, (Illinois, Missouri, New-York, &c.)

IRON.-United States, (New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South Carolina, New-York, Maryland, &c. ;) Mexico; Canada, (mines of St. Maurice &c.) and Central America, (passim.)

COAL.-Cape Breton; Nova Scotia; United States, (Pennsylvania, &c.) SALT.-United States, (New-York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and California;) Central America, (Honduras, &c.) Mexico, (Oaxaca, &c. ;) &c.

North America, noted for the vastness of its physical features, almost outdoes itself in the immensity of its plains: in no other part of the world are they so extensive. The enormous space from the outlet of the Mackensie River to the delta of the Mississippi, and between the central chain of the Mexican system and Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies, forms the largest plain, not of America alone, but of the world. It embraces the basins of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Churchill or Nelson, almost the whole basin of the Missouri, nearly the whole basins of the Saskatchawan and Mackensie Rivers, and the entire basin of the Coppermine River. Fourfifths of that portion of this vast plain, which lies beyond the 50th parallel of latitude, is a bleak and barren waste, overspread with innumerable lakes, and bearing a striking resemblance to Northern Asia; but its more southerly portion, or that lying west of the Alleghany chain and north from the Gulf of Mexico, differs widely in character from the other, being well wooded and fertile on the east side; bare of wood but fertile in the middle, and becoming almost a desert in the extreme west. In some of the flat parts of North America, large tracts of territory are met with, which, in respect to aridity of soil and of the sand by which they are covered, may be compared to the deserts of Asia and Africa. The most extensive and remarkable of these tracts, is the Desert of Nuttal, at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains, between the Upper Arkansas and Paduka, forming part of the great central plain.

The plain east of the Alleghanies, running along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, is a region of forests, of great variety of soil and much broken in surface, but in the main a fertile, and in the southern parts an exuberant, tract of territory. Here the first discoveries and settlements were made, and the first tree of liberty in America planted, which, watered by the blood of patriots, has spread its branches over the whole continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and is still expanding, and will expand, till he whole earth is overshadowed by its blossoms. This territory constiutes the old states of New-England, and part of the middle and southern United States, and is separated from the great basin of the Mississippi by he range of the Alleghany Mountains.

The country beyond the Rocky Mountains, and north and west of the elevated plateau of Mexico, is second only to the Atlantic plain in all the requisites for the progress of civilization. Scarcely discovered, and just emerging, as it were, from the darkness of ages, it has become the residence of thousands of our citizens, and is looked upon as the germ of future empires, such as exist in the other portions of our Union. Already the axe and hammer are heard in its midst, and smiling cities and peace

ful homes are dotted over the land, that but yesterday was the haunt of the Red Man, and the lair of the wild beast. The laws of civilization have taken root, and the American eagle, perched on the heights of the mountains, watches over the interests of its republican sons on the far-distant shores of the Columbia and Colorado. The country has a climate as mild and beneficent as that of the Middle and Eastern States, and its soil is fruitful in all that can make life happy and homes cheerful.

THE RIVERS OF NORTH AMERICA form one of its most prominent features; and it is a remarkable characteristic, that almost all are navigable throughout the greater part of their course.

I. The great central river, the MISSISSIPPI, has its sources in the brooks which form the small Lake Itaska, about 47° 10' north latitude, on a high table-land, 1,500 feet above the level of the sea, and 3,200 miles from the mouth of the river, following the windings of the stream, but only 1,250 in a straight line. Rising in a region of swamps and wild rice lakes, it flows at first through low prairies, and then in a broken course through forests of lm, maple, birch, oak, and ash, till at the Falls of St. Anthony. 1,100 miles from its source, it tumbles over a limestone ridge with a fall of I feet. The river is here 600 yards wide. Below this point it is bounded by !imestone bluffs, from 100 to 400 feet high, and first begins to exhibit islands, drift-wood and sand-bars. Its current is slightly broken by the Rock River and Desmoines Rapids, which, however, present no very considerable interruption to navigation; and 850 miles below the Falls of St. Anthony it receives from the west the stream of the Missouri. Between the mouth of the Missouri and the sea, a distance of 1,220 miles, it receives its principal tributaries;--the Ohio from the east, and the Arkansas and Red River from the west, and immediately below the mouth of the latter, it gives off, in times of flood, a portion of its surplus waters to the Atchafalaya. Below the Atchafalaya it discharges a portion of its waters by the Lafourche and the Iberville; but the greater part of its contents flows on in the main channel, which passes through a flat tract, and reaches the Gulf of Mexico at the end of a long projecting tongue of mud, formed by the deposites of the current. Near the sea it divides into several channels, here called passes, with bars at their mouths, on which are from 12 to 14 feet of water. Before the introduction of steam vessels, the river was navigated by keelboats, which, in going upward, were rowed along the eddies of the stream, or drawn by ropes along the shore; and by this tedious process more than three months were consumed in ascending from New-Orleans to the Falls of the Ohio, a passage which is now made in five or six days. The first steamboat was introduced in 1811; there are now upwards of 700 on the river.

The tributaries of the Mississippi are:

The MISSOURI, which is navigable to the foot of the great falls, and steamboats have gone up the stream 2,200 miles from its junction with the Mississippi. It rises in the Rocky Mountains, and some of its sources are within a mile of those of the Columbia. The falls in several parts of this river are only inferior to those of the Niagara. In a course of 17 miles it has a descent of 360 feet, and in that space, besides the Great Falls, of 90 feet perpendicular and 300 yards wide, and a fine fall of 50 feet, there are several others of from 12 to 20 feet. The Missouri hence flows through vast prairies, and soon after receiving the Yellow Stone, a large, navigable stream, takes a south and south-east course to the Missis