﻿963 



NEW SOUTH SHETLAND. 



NEW YORK. 



95* 



the Barrow, in 52" 24' N. lat., 6° 56' W. long., distant by road 

 24 miles W. by N. from Wexford, 84 miles S.S.W. from Dublin. The 

 population in ISol was 7941, beides 2028 inmates of the workhouse. 

 The borough returns one member to the Imperial Parliament. The 

 town is governed by 21 commissioners. New Koss Poor-Law Union 

 comprises 39 electoral divisions, with an area of 117,570 acres, and a ' 

 population in 1851 of 56,456. The town was surrounded with walls I 

 in 1269. In 1649 Cromwell, having obtained possession of the place, : 

 demolished the fortifications, of which however two gates and a small 

 part of the wall still remain. The town was attacked by the insurgents 

 in 1 798 ; but, after a conflict of 10 hours' duration, they were defeated 

 with great slaughter. New Ross obtained various charters from the 

 reign of Henry III. till that of Charles II. It returned two members 

 to the Irish Parliament. The older part of the town consists of a 

 long street on the summit of the high bank of the river, and several 

 steep streets descending from it. The modem part extends in regular 

 and well-built streets along the level margin of the river. Ro^ercon, 

 a suburb on the Kilkenny side of the river, consisting principally of 

 a single straggling street, is connected with the town by a wooiden 

 bridge 510 feet long, and a causeway of 150 feet The town is lighted 

 with gas, and supplied with water. The parish church, a neat edifice, 

 occupies part of the site of an old abbey, of which some portions 

 still exist. Rosbercon parish church is the restored chancel of a 

 conTentual church, of which the lofty tower and part of an aisle are 

 also preserved. There are chapels for Roman Catholics, Methodists, 

 Presbyterians, Independents, and Quakers. The other public buildings 

 are the court-bouse, the market-house, the com and fish markets, a 

 small cavalry barrack, Trinity hospital, or almshouse, the fever hospital, 

 lying-in hospital, dispensary. Union workhouse, and bridewell. Vessels 

 of 200 tons discharge at the quays at all times of the tide, and those 

 of 800 tons at spring tides. The quays are of considerable extent. 

 Barges can ascend the river to Athy, where the Qrand C'aoal continues 

 the communication to Dublin on the one side, and to Limerick on the 

 other. The number of vessels registered as belonging to the port on 

 December Slst 1853 was 18, namely — 2 of 69 tons aggregate burden, 

 and 16 of 5756 tons. During 1853 there entered the port 236 Teasels 

 of 25,536 tons, and cleared 100 vessels of 14,880 tons. The principal 

 exports are grain, flour, wool, butter, fowls, and bacon. A salmon 

 fishery, above and below the town, employs 300 nets and 1200 men. 

 There are tanyards, breweries, and a distillery. Quarter-sessions and 

 petty-sesaions are held. Fairs are held monthly, and markets on 

 Wednenlay and Saturday in each week. 



NEW SOUTH SHETLAND is a group of islands situated about 

 600 miles S.S.E. from Cape Horn, between 61° and 63° 30' S. lat, 

 fi3° and 63° W. long. They extend from cast-north-east to soutli- 

 south-west over a space of nearly 300 miles, and consist of 1 2 islands 

 of moderate extent, and a great number of rocks and clifis. They 

 were discovered in 1819 by Captain Smith, and have frequently been 

 visited since that time for the purpose of taking fur-seals and sea- 

 elephants, with which the shores abound. TIir hirgest of the islands 

 from east to west are Clarence, Elephant, King Qeorge, Strachan, 

 Mitchell, Sartorius, Livingston, Low, and Smith. The interior of 

 these islands consists of high hills or mountains. A mountain ou 

 Smith's Island attains the height of 6600 feet above the sea. They 

 ■re almost entirely covered with snow all the year round, and only 

 after Midsummer (in January) a few tracts, which are free from snow, 

 are ovei^grown with lichens and mosses, in some places intercepted 

 with a sort of straggling grass. The only inhabitants of these cold 

 regions are numerous sea-fowlx, as the idbatross, penguin, &a, and 

 the animals above mentioned. The surrounding sea abounds in 

 whales and fish. Most, if not all of these islands, are of volcanic 

 origin. Port Foster, an excellent harbour in Deception Island, has 

 donbtleaa been a crater. South of these islands is a wide strait, 

 called Bransfield Strait : the coasts which constitute the southern 

 shores of this strait appear to form an extensive country, of which 

 portions have been named Trinity Land, Graham's Land, &c. [SODTU 

 Polar Coostbies] (Weddel, Voyage ; Foster, Voyage). 

 NEW SOUTH WALES. [Wales, Nisw South.] 

 NEW TIT8CHEIN. [Mobatla.] 



NEW YORK, the must populous and wealthy, and one of the 

 largest of the United States of North America, is situated between 

 40° 45' and 45° N. lat, 71° 66' and 79° 55' W; long. It is bounded 

 E. by the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont; 

 N., N.W., and W. by the Canadas, from which it is separated by 

 the patsllel of 45° N. lat, known as the Canada line, the river 

 St Lawrence, Lake Ontario, Niagara lUver, and Lake Erie ; S. by the 

 ■tatea of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the Atlantic Ocean. The 

 area is about 46,000 square miles, or about 12,000 square miles less 

 than that of England and Wales. The population in 1 850 was 3,097,394 

 (of whom 49,069 were free coloured persona), or 67'33 to the square 

 mile. The inhabitants being all free the federal representative popu- 

 lation is the same as the entire population in 1850 ; this, according to 

 the preeent ratio of representation, entitles the state to send 33 repre- 

 sentatives to Congress — being 8 more than any other state. To the 

 Senate, like each of the other states. New York sends two repre- 

 •entativea. 



Bmrfact and Soil. — The state presents a very great variety of surface, 

 owing to its i n clwli n g portion* of three distinct mouutain ridges, all 



of which however are portions of the great Alleghany or Appalachian 

 system. These three mountain ridges are separated by wide valleya, 

 mostly of a peculiar description, and from the lakes Erie and Ontario 

 by a plain of considerable extent. Before they divide, near the 

 southern border of the state, in 41° N. lat., these mountaius are above 

 200 miles in width. The western ridges grow lower and less distinct 

 as they approach 42° N. lat, and north of that parallel they are lost 

 in an elevated plain or table-land, which has a hilly surface. The 

 eastern ridges continue as distinct mountain masses eastward to 

 74° 40', about 30 miles from the banks of the river Hudson, where 

 they unite with the northern extension of the Kittatinny Mountains 

 of New Jersey ; they are hero known as the Catskill Mountaius, or 

 Kaatsberg. This range continues northward to 43° N. lat, where one 

 branch turns westward nearly 50 miles, and terminates at the eastern 

 extremity of the table-land on which the western ranges of the Alle- 

 ghanies are lost The other appears to be prolonged northward, though 

 much broken, to the Adirondack Mountaius, which inclose Lake George 

 and extend along the western shores of Lake Champlain. West of 

 them is an elevated table-land, which on the south terminates in the 

 valley of the Mohawk River. The most eastern of the mountain 

 chains of the AUeghanies, known in New Jersey under the name of 

 the Blue Ridge, is divided from the range first noticed by the valley 

 in which the Pawling and Wallkill rivers flow south-west and north- 

 east It forms on the west of the Hudson River the Mattewan 

 Mountains or Highlands, and east of the Hudson the Fishkill Hills, 

 which constitute the south-western extremity of the extensive moun- 

 tain region which occupies a considerable portion of New England, 

 and extends through Lower Canada to the mouth of the St. Lawrence 

 River. The Fishkill Hills run from the banks of the Hudson north- 

 east and north through New York until they arrive at its eastern 

 boundary-line, where the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts meet, 

 and where they take the name of the Taghkanic or Taconic ninge. 

 From this point, continuing to the east of north, they constitute the 

 boundary between Massachusetts and New York, tmtil, by declining 

 more to the east, they enter Massachusetts and proceed into Vermont, 

 where they are <»lled the Qreen Mountains. Between them and the 

 ranges previously noticed extends the valley of the middle Hudson. 



New York contains several regions, dilferent in configuration of 

 surface and in fertility, aud to a considerable degree also in climate. 

 The regian of the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers comprises the 

 country which is surrounded on the east and north by the Catskill 

 range, and is drained by the upper branches of the Delawwe and 

 those of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna ; it extends westward 

 to about 76° W. long. The mountain range which surrounds it rises 

 in its highest part to above 3000 feet, the loftiest summits being 

 Round Top (3804 feet). High Peak (3718 feet), and Pine Orchard 

 (3027 feet). The valleys which descend from this range, chiefly in a 

 south-westeiii direction, contain rather wide and extensive bottoms of 

 great fertility, which in their natural state are overgrown with forests 

 of sugar-maple, black walnut, elm, beech, and other trees, indicating 

 a strong soil. The declivities of the mountains are rather steep, and 

 their soil of inferior quality ; they are mostly overgrown with pine, 

 among which oak, chestnut, and hemlock are intermixed. When 

 cultivated the valleys yield rich crops. 



West of this regiou, along the boundary-line of Peuneylvauia, lies 

 the elevated table-land on which the western ridges of the AUeghanies 

 terminate, and the western branch of the Susquehanna, the Alleghany 

 River, an affluent of the Ohio, and the Geuessee River originate. It is 

 from 20 to 30 miles wide, has a very broken and hilly surface ; is 

 almost entirely covered with wood, mostly pine, and is but thinly 

 settled. Some sheltered tracts between the hills exhibit a considerable 

 degree of fertility. 



From this table-land the country has a general but interrupted slope 

 towards Lake Ontario, rising however again somewhat as it reaches the 

 shores of the lake. "The depression between the table-land and this 

 rise, extending in the form of a trough east and west, is called the 

 Lake Country. It contains numerous lakes, of which the most con- 

 siderable are Canandaigua (685 feet above the level of the sea), Crooked 

 Lake (700 feet), Seneca (440 feet), and Cayuga (400 feet). The surface 

 of this depression is generally level or undulating, but the lakes lie in 

 deep and wide chasms, and the beds of the rivers are likewise much 

 depressed. In its natural state this country is covered with high 

 forest-trees, aud when cultivated yields most abundant crops, being 

 indeed the most fertile portion of the state. The central portion of 

 the Qrand Canal passes through the depression, but the westeru part 

 passes over the higher grounds which separate it from Lake Ontario. 



The surface of the higher ground, which occure north of this region, 

 is uneven aud broken, and the soil partly stoney aud gravelly, and in 

 general of iudifierent quality. From this higher ground the country 

 descends uniformly and gradually to Lake Ontario, except that, between 

 Niagara and Genessee rivers, a distance of 80 miles, it is traversed in 

 its whole length by an elevated tract of sand and gravel, known as the 

 Ridge Road, or Alluvial Way, the former shore of the lake, but now 

 raised 150 feet above it 



The northern regiou comprehends the country lying north of Lake 

 Oneida and of the valley in which the Mohawk River flows, as far east 

 as the mouth of the East Canada Creek. It is separated from Lake 

 Champlain by the deep depression in which that lake lies. It 



