OP THE UNITED STATES. 413 



To the east of Hudson's river, the primitive class prevails, 

 both in the mountains and the low lands, decreasing gradually 

 as it proceeds south; it is bounded on the side of the ocean by 

 the vast tracts of alluvial formation which skirt the great gra- 

 nite ridge, while it serves as a foundation to that immense su- 

 perstructure of transition and secondary rocks, forming the 

 great chain of mountains that occupy the interior of the con- 

 tinent to the westward. 



The primitive to the eastward of Hudson's river constitutes 

 the highest mountains, while the little transition and secondary 

 that is found, occupies the low grounds. To the south of the 

 Delaware, the primitive is the first rock, after the alluvial for- 

 mation of the ocean, the lowest step of the stair, that mounts 

 gradually through the different formations to the top of the 

 Alleghanys. 



To the eastward of the State of New-York, the stratification 

 runs nearly north and south, and generally dips to the east, 

 looking up to the White Hills, the most elevated ground; in 

 New- York State, and to the southward and westward, the stra- 

 tification runs nearly N. E. and S. W. and still dips generally 

 to the east. All the rivers east of the Delaware, run nearly north 

 and south, following the stratification, while the southern rivers 

 incline to the S. E. and N. W. direction. 



Throughout the greatest part of the eastern and northern 

 States, the sea washes the foot of the primitive rock; commen- 

 ces the deposition of that extensive alluvial formation at Lung- 

 Island, increasing in breadth to the south, forming a great part 

 of both the Carolinas and Georgia, and almost the whole of 

 the two Floridas and Lower Louisiana. The coincidence of the 

 Gult-stream, with all its attendant eddies, depositions, &c. &c. 

 rolling along this whole extent, from the Gulf of Mexico to 

 Nantucket, may create speculative ideas on the origin of this 

 vast alluvial formation, while the constant supply of caloric,* 

 brought by that sweeping current from the tropics, may per- 

 haps account for the sudden and great change in the tempera- 

 ture of the climate, within the reach of the Atlantic. 



•About 100 miles S. E. of Nantucket, in the month of September, Fahrenheit's thermo- 

 meter in the sea stood at 78°, while the air was only (56, and the sea in soundings 61, 



