PART II. 

 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



The physical formation of Essex county unites peculiar and 

 striking characteristics. The beautiful and picturesque are sin- 

 gularly blended with the magnificent and imposing. Exhibitions 

 of impressive grandeur, scarcely transcended by the magnificence 

 of Niagara, are combined with scenes of incomparable sylvan 

 beauty and romantic seclusion. A very large proportion of the 

 county is formed by a general upheaval of its basis, which pro- 

 duced a common elevation of the whole region, except along the 

 shores of Lake Champlain. and some of its tributaries. It may be 

 pronounced, in the aggregate a broken and mountainous territo- 

 ry. Many districts, however, embracing large portions of entire 

 townships, exhibit a very high degree of native fertility and adap- 

 tation to tillage. 



The surface of these tracts is usually level, or presents gentle 

 and agreeable undulations. Extensive valleys, lying elevated 

 among the mountains, possess the richest soil, formed by the ac- 

 cumulation of ages, from the de])ris of the higher steeps. Allu- 

 vial flats of great extent and jiatural fertility, sj)read along the 

 margin of numerous stream^, and surround the hidden lakts and 

 ponds in the interior. 



The lillls and mountains, far up their slopes, often aflord a rich 

 and generous soil, yielding the choicest pasture and meadow lands. 

 Altliough these advantages may mitigate its general character, 

 the country presents a vast surface, rock-bound and inaccessible 

 in its cliffs and heights, and impracticable to rnltivation. A large 

 portion of this territory, stamped by nature with ruggedness and 



