United States of America, 11 



only as portions of the general scheme. The first of these will, 

 no doubt, be speedily accomplished, now that the spirit of in- 

 ternal improvement has been awakened ; the last will probably 

 be left to the general government, and may very possibly re- 

 main untouched, unless the necessity be rendered imperative 

 by national wants, as it would be in the event of a future war. 



To the second class of inland communications belong those 

 intended to admit a navigation from the sea-coast to the 

 Western States. These two great divisions of country are 

 separated by very marked natural boundaries, in the form of 

 mountains, dividing the streams that flow into the Atlantic from 

 those falling into the Mississippi or into the great lakes. In 

 Virginia, and the Carolinas, these mountains may be consi- 

 dered as forming four parallel chains ; and in these states 

 there is no valley that crosses all the ridges : indeed one of 

 them may be considered as entirely continuous, and constitut- 

 ing a complete barrier to artificial navigation, except by the 

 aid of long and difficult tunnels. In Pennsylvania, while the 

 eastern chain of mountains remains distinct, the others spread 

 out and become involved with each other, and the general 

 aspect of the country becomes that of a high table-land pene- 

 trated by a few large valleys. This great table terminates in the 

 state of New York, and descends, by a series of steps, to the 

 shores of Lake Ontario. Only a single ridge extends entirely 

 across the state of New York, and even this is cut through at a 

 great depth by the valley of the Mohawk River, {it the Little 

 Falls. The easternmost of these chains of mountains is of pri- 

 mitive formation, and may be considered rather as a series of 

 separate hills, than as one continuous ridge. Hence various 

 streams of large size run through the intervening valleys, but 

 none under circumstances to admit of an ascending naviga- 

 tion, except the Hudson. Its tributary, the Mohawk, breaks 

 through the sole remaining ridge by a valley opening from the 

 great basin of I^ake Ontario. Of all the other streams that 

 flow towards the Atlantic, none pass through all the mountains 

 with exception of the Susquehannah, whose branch, the Tioga, 

 rises on the w^estern side of the table-land we have spoken of, 

 and, consequently, forces its way entirely through all the 



