DEL 



596 



DEL 



Delaware, miles into the interior, the soil is commonly a rich 

 "^ ""Y*""'' clay, which produces large timber, and is well adapt- 

 ed to the purposes of agriculture ; but between this 

 tract and the swamps, the soil is light, sandy, and 

 of an inferior quality. In the county of Newcastle, the 

 soil is a strong clay. In Kent it is mixed with sand, and 

 in Sussex the sand greatly predominates. The produc- 

 tions of the soil are wheat, Indian corn, barley, rye, oats, 

 flax, buck wheat, and potatoes. The wheat is held in 

 the highest estimation, from its uncommon softness and 

 whiteness, and is always preferred in the foreign mar- 

 kets. In the county of Sussex there are excellent gra- 

 zing lands ; aad it exports great quantities of timber, 

 obtained from the Cypress Swamp or Indian River, 

 which extends about 6 miles from east to west, and 

 nearly 12 from north to south, including an area of 

 50,000 acres. 



The state of Delaware supplies Philadelphia with its 

 staple commodity. No less than 265,000 barrels of 

 flour, 300,000 bushels of wheat, 170,000 bushels of In- 

 dian corn, besides oats, barley, flax seed, paper, flat iron, 

 snuff, and salted provisions, &c. ai*e annually exported 

 from the waters of the Delaware state. The following 

 was the amount of exports from 1 791 to 1 796' inclusive : 



Years. 

 1791. 

 1792. 

 1793. 

 1794. 

 1795. 



Dollars. Cents. 



..119,878 93 



..133,972 27 



... 93,559 45 



..207,985 ,...33 



..158,041 21 



1796 201,142 



1801 440,504 



Wheat being the staple commodity of this state, large 

 establishments have been erected for manufacturing it 

 into flour. Of these, the mills in the Brandy wine are 

 most worthy of notice ; but as they are within half a mile 

 ofWiLMiNGTON,they will be described with more propri- 

 ety under that article. There are also well construct- 

 ed mills on Red Clay and White Clay creeks, and on 

 other streams in different parts of the state. 



The state of Delaware contains very few minerals. 

 In the county of Sussex, and among the branches of the 

 Nanticoke River, are large quantities of bog iron ore, 

 well adapted for casting. Before the revolution it was 

 wrought to a great extent, but since that event the bu- 

 siness has greatly declined. 



The Presbyterians are the most numerous and pow- 

 erful sect in the state of Delaware, and have no fewer 

 than 24 churches ; the Episcopalians have 1 4 ; the Ana- 

 baptists 7 ; and there is a great number of Quakers 

 and Methodists in the state, but particularly in the 

 counties of Kent and Sussex. 



The principal river in the state is the Delaware, or 

 Chihohocki, as it was called by the natives. The rivers 

 Pocomoke, Wicomico, Nanticoke, Choptank, Chester, 

 Sassafras, and Bohemia, rise in the western parts of the 

 state, and discharge their waters into Chesapeake Bay. 

 Some of them are navigable about 25 miles up the 

 country, by vessels of about 55 tons. Delaware bay is 

 about 60 miles long, from the Cape to the mouth of the 

 river at Bombay Hook, and is in some parts so wide, 

 that a ship in the middle of it is invisible from the land. 

 The river rises in two branches in the state ofNewYork; 

 the northernmost, called Mohawks, or Cockquago branch, 

 having its origin in Lake Ustayantho, in Lat. 42° 25'. 

 The bay and river are na/igable for 155 miles up to 

 the great or lower falls at Trenton, and a 74 gun-ship 

 may go up to Philadelphia, which is 120 miles from the 



sea. Sloops are able to go 35 miles above Philadelphia 

 to Trenton Falls. Boats of 9 tons can go 135 miles 

 above that city, and Indian canoes 185 miles above it. 



The state of Delaware was colonized by the Swedes 

 in 1628, and constituted a part of New Sweden, now 

 New Jersey. It was taken by the Dutch in 1656, and 

 was afterwards subdued in 1683 by the Duke of York, 

 who sold to William Penn the town of Newcastle, and 

 12 miles of the surrounding country. To this tract he 

 afterwards added the county which extends as far as 

 Cape Henlopen, divided it into three counties as at pre- 

 sent, and added it to Pennsylvania. In 1701, he sold 

 it to six individuals, who having obtained for it the pri- 

 vilege of a separate assembly, it took the name of the 

 three counties of the Delaware. These three counties 

 separated themselves at the revolution from Pennsylva- 

 nia, and assumed the name of the state of the Delaware. 



The population in 1790 was 50,097, of whom 8887 

 were slaves. More recently, the population has been 

 estimated at 64,273, of whom 6153 are slaves. See 

 Morse's American Gazetteer, Rochefoucauld de Lian- 

 courf s Travels in the United States of America, vol. ii. 

 p. 266 ; and the article Wilmington, (x) 



DELFT, in Latin Delphi, a large and fine city of 

 Holland, is situated on the river Schie, between Rotter- 

 dam and the Hague, in one of the finest districts of the 

 country. The city is nearly two miles in circumference, 

 and is defended from the sea by three dykes. The 

 streets are long, straight, and spacious ; the houses are 

 very handsome and good, and the town is divided 

 into several quarters by fine canals, 'planted on each 

 side with trees. The principal public buildings are the 

 town or guildhall, which is very magnificent ; the ar- 

 senal and four powder magazines, which were former* 

 ly the best supplied in Holland. Besides the reformed 

 Dutch church, there is a French church, a Lutheran 

 church, and some others for the Roman Catholics. The 

 two principal churches are adorned with the tombs of 

 Admiral Tromp, Admiral Piel Heyn, and the celebra- 

 ted naturalist Leewenhoek. The superb monument 

 erected to William of Nassau, shewing his faithful dog 

 lying at his feet, is particularly worthy of notice. The 

 palace is still shewn, where this prince was assassinated 

 in 1584. Delft has been long celebrated for its earthen 

 ware, which is manufactured in imitation of the porce- 

 lain of China and Japan. It is made of baked earth, 

 covered with an enamel. Fine and coarse cloths are 

 also manufactured here ; and M. Cauzius has lately es- 

 tablished a manufactory of instruments of physics, as- 

 tronomy, and surgery. Distance from the Hague four 

 miles. Population 22,200. (*■) 



DELHI, one of the soubahs or provinces of Hin- 

 dostan, is bounded on the east by Agrah, on the west 

 by Lahore, south by Agimere, and north by the Kum- 

 mow hills. Its length, from the town of Pulwul, near 

 Agrah, to the river Sutluz, is 160 coses; its breadth 

 is 140 coses, from the Kummow hills to the town of 

 Rewari. Delhi, once of considerable extent and im- 

 portance, is now a very miserable province. Ra- 

 vaged for more than half a century by incessant wars, 

 its boundaries have been greatly circumscribed ; many 

 of its towns have been destroyed ; and its fine coun- 

 try, formerly swarming with inhabitants, and teem- 

 ing with the richest vegetable productions, now pre- 

 sents only scenes of gloomy desolation. Wheat, rice, 

 sugar, indigo, millet, pulse, and fruits of various kinds, 

 are the almost spontaneous productions of its fertile 

 soil. No part of Hindostan enjoys a climate of so mild 

 a temperature ; yet its wretched inhabitants, groaning 



Delft, 

 Delhi. 



