GENERAL CONFIGURATION 



11 



the Mississippi, the opposite bank of which is low 

 and flat, being a marsh of Mty miles breadth on a 

 medium, from its mouth to that of the Ohio, which is 

 7 degrees, or 480 miles distant. There the conti- 

 nental forest terminates, and those ste/is or savannas 

 begin, which extend westAvard to the mountains on 

 the north of Mexico and the Stony mountains, which, 

 in the^ course of this work, will be called the Chipi- 

 wan chain, from the name of those savages, by whom 

 it is inhabited. 



From this arrangement of the lan'd, which has 

 just been described, arises a sort of natural division 

 of the United States into three long parallel coun- 

 tries in the direction of the coast, or from north-east 

 to south-west. 



The first of these is the eastern, lying between the 

 ocean and the mountains, commonly called the Atlan- 

 tic coast. 



Another is the western, situate between the moun- 

 tains and the Mississippi, and named the western or 

 back country. 



A third is that of the mountains themselves, being 

 intermediate to the other two. 



All of these countries having their climate, soil,, 

 configuration, and interior structure, marked by pe- 

 culiar characteristics, it appears to be proper, t© 

 enter into a few particulars respecting each. 



