NEW YORK. 



195 



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conception, execution, and success of the project are wholly unparalleled in the history of 

 naval engineering. 



Leaving Bermuda, whither away ? To the real capital of America, New York. It 

 is true that English men-of-war, and, for the matter of that, vessels of the American navy, 

 comparatively seldom visit that port, which otherwise is crowded by the shipping of all 

 nations. There are reasons " for this. New York has not to-day a dock worthy of the 

 name; magnificent steamships and palatial ferry-boats all lie alongside wharfs, or enter 

 " slips," which are semi-enclosed wharfs. Brooklyn and Jersey City have, however, docks. 



Who that has visited New York will ever forget his first impressions ? The grand 

 Hudson, or the great East River, itself a strait : the glorious bay, or the crowded island, 

 alike call for and deserve enthusiastic admiration. If 

 one arrives on a sunny day, maybe not a zephyr agitates 

 the surface of the noble Hudson, or even the bay itself : 

 the latter landlocked, save where lost in the broad 

 Atlantic ; the former skirted by the great Babylon of 

 America and the wooded banks of Hoboken. Round 

 the lofty western hills, a fleet of small craft with rakish 

 hulls and snowy sails steal quietly and softly, while 

 steamboats, that look like floating islands, almost pass 

 them with lightning speed. Around is the shipping of 

 every clime ; enormous ferry-boats radiating in all direc- 

 tions; forests of masts along the wharfs bearing the 

 flags of all nations. And where so much is strange, 

 there is one consoling fact : you feel yourself at home. 

 You are among brothers, speaking the same language, 

 obeying the same laws, professing the same religion. 



New York city and port of entry, New York county, State of New York, lies at the 

 head of New York Bay, so that there is a good deal of New York about it. It is the 

 commercial emporium of the United States, and if it ever has a rival, it will be on the 

 other side of the continent, somewhere not far from San Francisco. Its area is, practically, 

 the bulk of Manhattan or New York Island, say thirteen miles long by two wide. Its 

 separation from the mainland is caused by the Harlem River, which connects the Hudson 

 and East Rivers, and is itself spanned by a bridge and the Croton aqueduct. New York 

 really possesses every advantage required to build a grand emporium. It extends between 

 two rivers, each navigable for the largest vessels, while its harbour would contain the 

 united or disunited navies, as the case may be, of all nations. The Hudson River, in 

 particular, is for some distance up a mile or more in width, while the East River averages 

 over two-fifths of a mile. The population of New York, with its suburban appendages, 

 including the cities of Brooklyn and Jersey City, is not less than that of Paris. 



The harbour is surrounded with small settlements, connected by charmingly-situated 

 villas and country residences. It is toward its northern end that the masts, commencing 

 with a few stragglers, gradually thicken to a forest. In it are three fortified islands. 

 By the strait called the " Narrows," seven miles from the lower part of the city, and 



A \>wn^ T>/Long Branch 



, V ..Freehold ./Deal 



MAP OF NEW YORK HARBOUR. 



