2"8i2 Ar.uicurAuuAT. museum 



labours, loo sfrcat for private iiiclividiial entorprizf. 

 Therefore, without eniharrassifja^ this sketch with vain 

 regrets, at not beinjjf able to do moro, I will proceed to 

 state what I do know. 



As we approach the land from the grea^ watery regi- 

 on, the first kind of land we meet with, are beaches of 

 sand forming islands, and peninsuias, stretching along 

 the main land according to th^^ com-se of currcnis, or tiie 

 beating of the sui'f, or t!te form of the niain lands: and 

 dilVers from the most kind of land, in as inncli as it is 

 formed out of pure sand, pebbles, and undecaved nca- 

 sheH. The next kind is t!ie river form- d land, oi- a!iu\ i- 

 al region, formed by the sediment of rivers, and coin|)')- 

 sed of clay and sand, intermixed in nearly e(jnal projjor- 

 tions, at least when it is first depo>itc(l. Some write.-s 

 have extended tliis region to the ibot of the moun'ain'^; 

 and Evans, the geographer, and Volney, have e:\tciul- 

 ed the littorral or beachy region to the cascades 6r tide- 

 water. There may be some good reasons for thus 

 bounding these regions; bit as the rivers 1 conceive 

 have had the latest agency in the formation of the soil, 

 from the falU or cascades to the m auth of the rivers, ifc 

 appears to me, that that tract of country contained 

 within a line drawn from the head of tide water to 

 the mouths of the rivers, may more appropriately be 

 called the alluvial region ; and the beaches and islands 

 of sand, which stud, point, and ijinge the coast, alone 

 I call the littoyaL or beachy region. From tide water 

 t() the foot of the mountains, may safely be classed by 

 itself, and termed the hiilif or liddess region. The 

 m.)untauis and thvir vailics are properly denominated 

 the moiuit-inoua rcg'iO)t, or parent sod, from which, in 

 all tines, new sods are form.ng. Insufficient and in- 

 definite as these divisions are, they may serve as the 

 beginning of a systciu of classitication, and to establish 

 a few conspicuous land marks, to guide the inquisitive 

 farmer in bis researches. After having briefly described 

 a few distinciive features of each of these grand divi- 

 »io;;*j and gi>en some of the most pronvnent qualities 



