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struggles that arose from the conflicting claims of the Dutch and English settlers, perpetuated the evils generated by the hostility of the original possessors of the territory. During the wars waged between France and England, in 1690, 1701, and 1702, the province suffered greatly from outrages perpetrated by the Indians, who readily lent their aid to harass the English settlers. In 1690, Schenectady was burnt by the savages, and many of its inhabitants ruthlessly massacred; and the memory of the destruction of the garrison at Fort William Henry, by the Indians in 1757, will long be preserved among the darker pages of the provincial annals. Of its share in the war with Great Britain, which resulted in the establishment of the independence of the country, we shall hereafter have to speak.

Within the vast area of the state of New York, every variety of geographical feature is comprised, from the rich and fertile plains of the western division of the state, to the bleak and sterile mountains of the eastern and north-eastern districts. On the southeastern side, the great chain of the Alleghanies enters the state from New Jersey and Pennsylvania-the range from the first-named crossing the Hudson at West Point, about fifty miles from the sea, and forming the highlands of that river; their picturesque and romantic scenery imparting an interest to its banks, only second to that inspired by the historic and traditional associations of the Rhine. After passing the Hudson, the range, under the name of the Taconic Mountains, pursues a northerly course, to join the Green Mountains in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The highest summit of the chain is | Round-Top, in Green County, 3,804 feet in altitude. The grandest chain, or rather range and group of mountains, lies north of the Mohawk river, between Lake Ontario on the west, and Lakes Champlain and George on the east.

This state is considered to possess a greater extent of navigable waters than any other of the Union. On its eastern side the Hudson traverses the country for about 350 miles, 150 of which are navigable for large steamers, and 120 for ships of large burthen. On the north-east it has the Lake Champlain, navigable for 120 miles; and on the west and south-west are Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the river St. Lawrence—all navigable for large steamers. In the south-east of the state rises the Delaware; and, in the interior, the Susquehanna, which passes south into Pennsylvania, and, in the high floods of spring and autumn, floats down the lumber and other products of New York, to the markets of New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The other rivers and lakes of the district are the Genesee, the Oswego, the Black river, and the Oswegatchie, Grass, Racket, and Regis rivers-the four latter being each about 150 miles in length, and joining the St. Lawrence. The Saranac and Au Sable rivers empty themselves into Lake Champlain; the whole of the rivers named being in the north-east of the state. The Mohawk, an affluent of the Hudson, about 160 miles in length, drains the central counties of castern New York, which abounds in small and picturesque lakes;-having, on the east, Lake George; and, in the centre, Lakes Oneida, Skaneateles, Owasco, Cayuga, Seneca, Crooked, and Canandaigua; in the south-west, Chautauque; and in the north-east, Black, Saranac, and Long Lakes. The larger of these lakes vary in length from ten to thirty-eight miles. The principal bays are New York Bay, opening into the Atlantic, and Sacket's Harbour, at the east end of Lake Ontario. Long Island Sound, 120 miles long, separates the island from Connecticut.

Long Island, about 115 miles in length, between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic; Staten Island, between New York Bay on the east, and Raritan Bay and Arthurhill Sound on the south and west; and Grand Island, on the Niagara river.

New York abounds in objects of attraction and interest; amongst which may be ranked foremost, the world-famed waters of Niagara, which rush over a precipice of 165 feet perpendicular height, into the river so named, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario. The Falls occur about twenty miles below the entrance to the strait, at the north-east extremity of Lake Erie, and fourteen above its junction with Lake Ontario ; and may be thus described:-About three miles below its commencement, the river divides into two arms, which embrace an island called Grand Island, twelve miles long, and from two to seven wide: here the banks of the Niagara river are low, and the current comparatively moderate. Nearly three miles below Grand Island the Rapids commence, and, after a course of rather more than half a mile, terminate in the Grand Cataract. Goat Island, a quarter of a mile wide, and half a mile long, from north to south, extends to the brow of the precipice, and divides the Fall into two portions, the higher of which is on the American side; but the greater body of water is on the Canadian. The American Fall is again subdivided by Iris Island: below the Falls the river runs between perpendicular cliffs for three or four miles, in a channel of from 300 to 400 feet wide, with great force and impetuosity, until it passes the Queenstown Heights, when the stream widens, and flows tranquilly into the Lake Ontario. Between the Falls and Queenstown, where navigation commences, are two rapids, caused partly by the narrowing of the bed of the river, and partly by the rocks at the bottom. At the head of the first rapid, two miles below the Falls, the river is spanned by a suspensionbridge, 800 feet in length, and 230 feet above the water. At the southern extremity of the first rapid, an angle in the river causes a reflux in the current, forming a number of eddies, called the Whirlpool, more remarkable for the heaping up of the waters in the middle of the river by the impetus of the current, than for any peculiar violence of the whirlpool itself; and below this pool is another rapid, of about half a mile in length.

Besides those of Niagara, there are a great many Falls, which, in any other country but America, would be looked upon as objects of interest. The places of fashionable resort are numerous, and well attended in their respective seasons; and the scenery on the Hudson river has long constituted a great attraction to strangers. Almost immediately after leaving New York city, the Pallisades are observed on the New Jersey shore. These remarkable rocks vary from 200 to 500 feet in height, and lose themselves about thirty-five miles up the river, in the Highlands proper, which have a base of about twenty miles. Here, upon some occasions in the past, the Hudson has burst through the mountains, leaving on each side a rampart, of almost perpendicular height, of from 600 to 700 feet in elevation, above the level of the river. The Catskill Mountains, at a distance of about 100 miles from New York, run parallel to the river Hudson for about twenty miles; and are interesting from their sublimity, and from the enchanting views they afford of the country spread out at their feet. At Kantuckite Falls, a few miles from the Pine-Orchard Mountain-house hotel, a stream is precipitated down a fall of 180 feet, into a circular amphitheatre of great wildness, from whence it takes a second leap into a lower chasm. Mount Tahawus, or Marcy, 5,400 feet high, commands an extensive

panorama of mountain scenery, amongst which may be clearly distinguished not less than thirty lakes and ponds, many of them of surpassing beauty.

The climate of New York presents considerable diversities. In the north the winters are long and very cold, somewhat mitigated, in the western part, by the proximity of the great lakes, and the prevalence of south-west winds; and varied again, in the south-east, below the Catskill Mountains, by the effect of the sea air, which tempers the heat of summer, and chills the air of spring.

The state is filled with populous and thriving towns-their inland cities and villages exhibiting indications of wealth and taste, that "are seldom looked for but among the capitals of other countries." The metropolitan city is the great centre of the commercial enterprise of the United States.

MASSACHUSETTS.-The original settlers in this state were a body of Puritan emigrants, who, having fled from persecution in England, had found an asylum in Holland in the year 1608, and selected the town of Leyden as their temporary home. After a few years, circumstances, to which we shall hereafter refer, occurred to render their abode at that place distasteful to them; and they resolved to seek a resting-place on the American continent, to which they proceeded in the ship Mayflower, chartered for the purpose. On the 21st of November, 1620, the voyagers dropped anchor in the harbour of Cape Cod; and, after a careful examination of the coast by parties dispatched for that purpose, on the 22nd of December, 1620, they landed upon a place which, in memory of the last spot in England their feet had pressed, they called Plymouth. Thus originally settled, Massachusetts was for a long period almost exclusively occupied by people of nearly unmixed English descent. This exclusiveness has of course been long broken in upon; but whatever may be the origin of the present generation of their successors, there is no question that the citizens of Massachusetts, in point of morals, education, and intellectual culture and development, are not to be surpassed by the inhabitants of any other portion of the vast Union to which they belong. This state has given birth to a great number of eminent authors, inventors, and statesmen.

The original charters of Massachusetts embraced the territory of New Hampshire. In 1679 a separate charter was given to the latter, under which a new government was organised. The present state of Maine was a part of Massachusetts until the year 1819, when the legislature relinquished all authority over the district of Maine, upon certain conditions. The state of Massachusetts was then reduced within its present defined boundaries, having a connected domain; and the district of Maine was organised into a state, and admitted into the Union, in 1820, as one of the national sovereignties.

The area of this state is 7,800 square miles; the middle, eastern, and north-eastern portions are hilly and broken; the south-eastern, level and sandy; and the western portion, although slightly mountainous, is but inconsiderably elevated above the sea; Saddle Mountain, in the north-west extremity, 3,505 feet in altitude, being the highest land in the state. The next eminences of any consequence are-Wachusett Mountain, near the centre of the territory, having an elevation of 2,018 feet; Mount Tour, on the west of the Connecticut, of 1,200; and Holyoke, on the east side, of 910 feet. Saddle Mountain is a peak of the Green Mountain range, which enters the state from Vermont, and passes through it into Connecticut.

is not inferior to any of its neighbours. On the east and south-east borders it is indented deeply with capacious bays; a gulf of considerable extent penetrates the land between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, for sixty-five miles in a south-easterly, and twenty-five miles in a south-western direction. Buzzard's Bay, Cape Cod Bay, and Plymouth Bay, are also each important harbours. The Connecticut river passes through the western division of the state, and is the largest of its streams, although, from its rapid descent, it is not navigable here without the aid of canals and locks. The Merrimac, from New Hampshire, runs for thirty-five miles within the north-east boundary of Massachusetts, and, by its falls and rapids, furnishes abundant water-power to the great manufacturing towns of Lowell and Lawrence. The next important stream is the Taunton river, also celebrated for its water-power. This runs from the north-east part of the state into Narraganset Bay, and, on its banks, are the manufacturing towns of Taunton and Fall River. Charles River, from the interior, separates Boston from Charlestown, and flows into Massachusetts Bay.

The principal natural attractions presented by the state of Massachusetts, consist in the unrivalled magnificence and diversified character of its scenery, as it is developed from the eminences of Mount Holyoke and the Saddle Mountain. In Stockbridge County, there is a deep ravine of extraordinary wildness, called the "Ice-Hole," to which the sun's rays have never penetrated, and from which ice is never absent. A singular fissure, in Adams' County, about 60 feet deep, and 500 in length, has been worn through the limestone rock, and is crossed by a natural bridge, some fifty feet above the waterlevel. In New Marlborough, also, is a rock, or Logan stone, of some forty tons' weight, which lies nicely poised upon a pivot. The Hanging Mountain, on the Farmington river, rises, as a perpendicular wall, to the height of more than 300 feet. Blue Hill, 635 feet high, eleven miles south-west of Boston, commands a fine panoramic view of Boston harbour and the ocean, and is the highest land in the eastern portion of the state.

The climate of Massachusetts is very cold in winter, and hot in summer. Neither the soil or climate of this state appear favourable to agricultural pursuits; yet the skill and industry of the inhabitants have compelled the scanty earth to yield rich harvests to the husbandman. The most important of its agricultural products consist of Indian corn, oats, potatoes, rye, barley, fruits, butter, bees'-wax, and honey; it also yields wine, flax, silk, and molasses to a large extent, annually. Though small in area, and with a soil and climate naturally unfavourable, Massachusetts, through the aid of her manufactures, is more densely populated, and more thickly covered with prosperous towns and thriving villages, than any other state of the Confederacy; and long since has stood far before her neighbours in the extent and value of her woollen and cotton manufactures-besides surpassing them in industrial and mechanical improvement. It had also, by the close of the first half of the 19th century, laid down more miles of railroad than any other section of the Union had effected in proportion to its population and area; and Boston, the capital, is enabled to communicate direct with every important town in Massachusetts, as well as with most of those of consequence in the neighbouring states.

In point of commerce, the state of Massachusetts also occupies a prominent position, being second only to New York in absolute amount; but, if its comparatively limited population is taken into account, it is first in the Union. The products of its whale

fisheries-bone and oil-are collected by its hardy sons for distribution over the world; while its citizens at home, calling to their aid the most ingenious machinery, and the powers of water and steam, manufacture millions upon millions of yards of stuffs, not only to supply the markets of their own continent, but also to be distributed through South America, the West Indies, Europe, and China. The trade with Hindostan and with Russia has long been nearly monopolised by this state.

With regard to education, Massachusetts is also entitled to claim honourable superiority over its neighbours. Within its boundaries began that system for the diffusion of knowledge among all classes, by means of common schools, which has since extended itself into the middle and western states; is now slowly penetrating to the southern; and, wherever it reaches, carries with it the spirit of enterprise, of which it is the only fitting herald and precursor. Its public institutions are numerous, and embrace objects of every possible requirement, physical and mental, upon a scale commensurate with the wealth, the intelligence, and the enterprising spirit of the inhabitants.

Massachusetts has been the theatre of some of the most stirring events known in the history of North America. It was at Lexington, in 1775, within her territory, that the first struggle with the power of the British crown, opened the door to freedom and independence, which never again was closed. Here, as we have noticed, the Pilgrim Fathers first planted the symbol of their faith, and laid the foundations of a religion which has never ceased to flourish, and of a system of education that has diffused its influence and its blessings wherever civilisation has penetrated. Boston, Lexington, Bunker's Hill, are names inscribed upon the annals of the country, over which they diffuse the lustre of patriotism, of valour, and of prudent resolve. Massachusetts has, in course of time, furnished its quota to the councils of the Confederacy, and has given two presidents to the government of the United States; namely, John Adams (1797-1801); and John Quincy Adams (1825-1829).

NEW HAMPSHIRE.-In 1621, Captain John Mason was granted, by the council of Plymouth, authority over certain lands lying between the river of Naumkeag and the river Merrimac; these were called the district of MARIANA. In 1622, another grant was given to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain Mason, jointly, for all the lands lying between the Merrimac and the Sagadahoc rivers, and extending back to Canada. This tract of land was called LACONIA: it included a part of the Mariana grant. In 1629, Laconia was divided. The region east of the Piscataqua was given to Gorges, and named MAINE; the west tract was given to Mason, and named NEW HAMPSHIRE, in honour of Hampshire county, England.

In 1641, a large number of the inhabitants came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. For many years there was a conflict of jurisdiction between many of the people of New Hampshire and the government of Massachusetts; and, for a long time, the same governor presided over both colonies, but with distinct commissions. In 1737, commissioners were appointed by the crown to adjust the long-subsisting controversy; and finally, the whole was, by agreement, submitted to the king for his decision. George II. decided in favour of New Hampshire. After this adjustment, the question of its western boundary arose; and, for a long time, New York and New Hampshire claimed the territory now known as Vermont. Both states issued land grants, and the

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