ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY. M 



ficulties, that render every calculation far from ac- 

 curate. 



ASPFXT OF THE COUNTUY* 



To an European traveller (says Volney ) and especi - 

 ally to one accustomed to the naked lands of Egypt, of 

 Asia, and on the borders of the Mediterranean, 

 the prominent feature of the American soil is a wild 

 appearance of almost uninterrupted forest, which 

 displays itself on the shores of the sea, and continues 

 growing thicker and thicker as you proceed into the 

 interior of the country. It is true, on the shores of 

 the Atlantic this continental forest displays some 

 openings, formed by the brackish marshes, and the 

 cultivated fields that are continually extending round 

 the absorbitig focus of the cities. It has also consi- 

 derable vacancies in the western coiiniries, particu- 

 larly from the Wabash to the Mississippi, toward the 

 borders of lake Erie and the river St. Lawrence, 

 in Kentucky, and in Tenessee ; where the nature of 

 the soil, and still more the ancient and annual con- 

 flagrations of the savages, lu-tve produced spacious 

 deserts, called /irrz/r/e^, covered with thick shnibby 

 plants, three or four feet high, exhibiting, during 

 Summer and Autumn, a rich tapestry of verdure 

 and flowers, very seidon^ to be seen in the bare and 

 naked deserts of Arabia. Throughout the rect of 

 the United States, particularly in the mourit.aTnous 

 parts of the interior country, fi'om which the riiers 

 flow in opposite directions, some to the Atlantic 



B 2 



