PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Dodge's map, published in 1854, and finds it to be very nearly 8,8 1 8 

 square miles, although the explanations in the margin state the figure to 

 be 9,280. The scale given on this map is evidently incorrect, perhaps on 

 account of the usual want of correspondence between an original draft and 

 the printed sheet. Hence I have had the area carefully measured upon 

 the original draft of our new map, or the one which appears in the 

 accompanying atlas, and find it to be 9,336 square miles.* 



Our territory possesses a mountainous character, much more so than 

 the average among the states along the Atlantic slope of the continent. 

 It is situated about a third of the way from the north-eastern end of the 

 Atlantic system to the south-western extremity of the chain. Viewed 

 as a whole, there are two culminating points in this system. The land 

 rises gradually from the ocean level in the Gulf St. Lawrence till the 

 apex of the White Mountains is reached. Then it falls to the Hudson 

 river, reaching the ocean level along that valley. From this line it 

 ascends to the mountains in western North Carolina, whence the land 

 descends to the Gulf of Mexico. 



More particularly, there is a mountainous ridge following the eastern 

 rim of the Connecticut river basin entirely through the state. On the 

 east the country is low, scarcely rising above five hundred feet for three 

 fourths of the area outside of the foot hills of the White Mountains. 

 These mountains occupy nearly all the space east of the western ridge to 

 the Maine line, for a distance north and south of about thirty-three miles. 

 This district is mostly wooded, very mountainous, and scarcely inhabited. 

 Deep transverse valleys divide the White Mountains proper from a simi- 

 lar triangular area between the Androscoggin and Connecticut rivers. 

 There is a third mountainous district half way through Coos county, and 

 the fourth and last along the extreme northern boundary. On the other 



* The calculations were made by Mr. T. B. Mann, of Boston. There are two or three points in connection with 

 the calculation that need to he mentioned. The proper west line of New Hampshire is the west side of Con- 

 necticut river. At the mouth of the Passumpsic, where the Connecticut has three channels, the calculation has 

 omitted the narrow channel, and a large island next to the Vermont side. In Portsmouth harbor, no islands 

 outside of Newcastle are included. The centre of Salmon Falls river and the ponds between Wakefield and 

 Portsmouth harbor was regarded as the east line of the state. At Seabrook and Rye, the measurement includes 

 the bays at the mouths of rivers, running from headland to headland. The Isles of Shoals are not included, 

 which do not seem to cover more than one square mile. If to this figure we add a square mile for the neglected 

 channel in Monroe, and 54 miles for the belt of three miles of ocean over which our authorities exercise jurisdic- 

 tion, the total area may be stated at 9,392 square miles. 



