10 



UNITED STATES. 



proper Alleghany chain, left almost alone, continues 

 its course to the south -west, and completes the boun- 

 dary of the two Carolinas and Georgia, where it re- 

 ceives the various names of White Oak, GreM Iron, 

 Bald, and Blue mountains. When it reaches the 

 angle of Georgia, it changes both its direction and 

 name, and proceeding due west to the Mississippi, 

 under the names of Apalachian and Cherokee moun- 

 tains, it becomes the line of division between the 

 basin of the Tenessee on the north, and the numer- 

 ous rivers that run south through the Floridas into 

 the Gulf of Mexico. The long continuity of this 

 chain has obtained it the name of the Endless moun* 

 tains from the northern savages : the French and 

 Spaniards, who first became acquainted with it in 

 Florida, applied to it, throughout its whole extent, 

 the name of Apalacjiian, which was that of a tribe 

 of savages, and is still retained by a considerable 

 river of the country:* but the English and Ame* 

 rican geographers, who knew it in the north, have 

 constantly given it the name of Alleghany, or End- 

 less, as it is rendered by Evans, who appears to con- 

 sider these terms as synonymous. For greater clear- 

 ness, I shall distinguish by the name of Apalachian, 

 that branch, which, as before observed, turns off at 

 the angle of Georgia, and which, less steep and lofty, 

 is divided into a number of hills and ridges, that 

 cover the country as far as the Mississippi, termi- 

 nating abruptly there in rugged precipices, called 

 cliSfs, which continue from the Natchez nearly to 

 ihe mouth of the Ohio. These hills do not cross 



* Apalachicola, a compouncl word^ cola being the term for river in 

 she_Creek language. 



