266 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



most extensive, beautiful, and fertile plains in the world. Its eleva- 

 tions and depressions are just sufficient to give a gentle current to 

 its numerous streams, which flow in all directions. The magnitude 

 and luxuriance of its vast forests, indicate the strength and fertility of 

 the soil. Along the northern shore of the Ohio, the surface is in some 

 places a little broken, but the great body of this country is a low, 

 flat plain, frequently inundated by freshes. Large natural meadows, 

 called prairies or savannas, are seen extending many miles in cir- 

 cumference, and covered in spring and summer, with rank matted 

 grass, variegated with a rich profusion of flowers. These abound 

 from the Wabash to the Mississippi, and towards the borders of lake 

 Erie. Along the great chain of lakes which form the northern boun- 

 dary 01 the United States, the country wears a rougher and more 

 dreary aspect, and exhibits fewer indications of richness and strength. 



Mountains. ...The Allegany mountains, under different appella- 

 tions, extend, in parallel ranges, from north-east to south-west 

 through nearly the whole length of the United States. They origi- 

 nate in the province of Lower Canada, near the estuary of the St. Law- 

 rence, and running up that river gradually diverge from it, and sepa- 

 rate its tributary streams, from those flowing through New Bruns- 

 wick and Maine, into the Atlantic. The principal range forms the 

 frontier of the United States as far as New Hampshire. Here they 

 turn to the south, and pass through Vermont, under the appellation 

 of the Green Mountains, separating the waters of lakes Champlain 

 and George, from Connecticut river. Though a small range conti- 

 nues, the same bearing through Massachusetts and Connecticut, to- 

 wards the Atlantic, yet the principal one inclines to the west, and 

 crosses the Hudson river, bearing the name of the Highlands, at 

 West Point. Here they experience some little interruption. Above, 

 however, the continuation proceeds from the western banks of Hud- 

 son river, to the Kaats Kill Mountains, and a range which furnishes the 

 sources of the Delaware. From this place they branch off into several 

 parallel ramifications, and, having incorporated themselves with the 

 preceding chain, extend across the states of New York, Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, 

 and terminate in the Mississippi territory. Their distance from the 

 Atlantic still increases as they progress southward. In the different 

 states they are known under various appellations, which will be no- 

 ticed in their proper places. Cumberland mountain, the most west- 

 erly ridge, rises in Virginia, and passes in a circular direction, be- 

 tween the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, towards the Ohio. In 

 Georgia the principal range changes both its name and direction, 

 running due west to the Mississippi, under the name of the Apalachian 

 or Cherokee mountains, and dividing the waters of the Tennessee, from 

 the streams falling into the gulf of Mexico. The most eastern chain, cal- 

 led the Blue ridge, which commences in the highlands at West Point, 

 may be considered as a distinct range from what are properly called 

 the Allegany mountains, till it reaches North Carolina, where it 

 unites with a branch, diverging from those mountains, and becomes 

 the principal range, passing through North Carolina, and part of 

 Georgia. 



The Allegany mountains, properly so called, extend upwards of 

 J 000 miles in length, and vary from 200 to 60 miles in width. Some 

 of the northern aborigines used to call them the Endless moun- 

 tains. They divide the rivers flowing eastwardly into the Atlantic, 

 from those which fall into the Ohio and Mississippi. The large rivers 



