PATOWMAC RIVER, 
65 
the federal city, it is one mile and quarter wide. 
The depth of water at its mouth is seven fa- 
thorns; at St. George's Island, live; at Alex¬ 
andria, four: and from thence to Washington, 
seven miles distant, three fathoms. ; The navi¬ 
gation of the Patowmac, from the CBesapeafe 
Bay to the city, one hundred and forty miles 
distant, is remarkable safe, and so plain that 
any navigator of common abilities, that has 
once sailed up the river, might venture to 
take up a vessel drawing twelve feet water 
without a pilot. This could not be said of 
any other river on the continent, from the 
St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. In its course, 
it receives several large streams, the principal 
one of which falls in at the federal city. 
This river is called the Eastern Branch of 
the Patowmac ; but it scarcely deserves that 
name, as it extends no more than thirty miles 
up the country. At its mouth it is nearly 
as wide as the main branch of the river, and 
close to the city the water is in many places 
thirty feet deep. Thousands of vessels might 
lie here, and sheltered from all danger, arising 
either from freshes, or from ice upon the break¬ 
ing up of a severe winter. Tims it appears 
that the federal city is possessed of one essential 
qualification of making it a place of impor¬ 
tance, namely, a good harbour, from which 
there is a ready passage to the ocean; it will 
von, i, f 
