GENERAL CONFIGURATION. 17 



lias: and, in reality, here commences an American 

 Tartary, which has all the characters of that of Asia: 

 hot in its southern part, it becomes gradually cold 

 and sterile toward the north ; and in the latitude of 

 48 deg. it is frozen ten months in the year, destitute of 

 high trees, inundated with marshes, and intersected 

 with rivers, which, in a space of near three thousand 

 miles, have not fifty of interruptions, or carrying- 

 places. 



3. The Mountain Country^ 



The third parallel stripe is that line of mountain- 

 mis country, already mentioned, wliich extends from 

 the mouth of tlie St. Lawrence to the confines of 

 Georgia, divides the waters of the east and west, 

 and forms a lofty rampart or terrace between the 

 countries of the Atlantic and Mississippi. Its length 

 may be estimated at a thousand miles, and its breadth, 

 which is very variable, pretty generally from seventy 

 to a hundred and twenty. 



This division, though comparatively very narrow, 

 lias notwithstanding great influence on the tempera- 

 ture of the two adjacent, from which it differs in cli- 

 mate, soil, and even produce. Toward the south 

 the air is. more pure, more dry, more elastic, more 

 healthy: toward the north, commencing with the 

 Potowmac, mists and rain are more common, the 

 animals are larger and more lively, and the forest- 

 trees, without being as large as those on the west, 

 are superior to those of the east, and excel both in 

 elasticity. 



