chief ports of the United States, at different times. Fifty steam-boats constantly pass between New York and the towns on the Hudson, Long Island Sound, and other waters in the neighborhood. There are sixty-one banks in the city; twenty-eight insurance companies; four hundred and sixty-three schools; forty bookstores; four hundred and fifty lawyers; ninety-eight clergymen; fifty auctioneers; three hundred oyster shops; fifty-six lottery offices; three thousand licensed groceries and taverns; two thousand three hundred and eighty licensed cartmen and porters; two thousand one hundred and ten paupers in the almshouse. The real estate of the city is valued at eighty-seven million, six hundred and three thousand, three hundred and eighty-nine dollars; the personal estate, at thirty-seven million, six hundred and eighty-four thousand, nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars: total, one hundred and twenty-five million, two hundred and eighty-eight thousand, five hundred and eighteen dollars.

PHILADELPHIA.

Philadelphia, the second city of the United States, in size, is situated on the west bank of the Delaware, one hundred and twenty-six miles from the sea. The river is navigable for ships of the line, up to the city. It lies three miles along this river, and its western limit is washed by the Schuylkill, which falls into the Delaware about six miles below. The ground on which the city stands is an almost unbroken level; so that it exhibits no striking appearance as the spectator approaches it. The streets are perfectiy rectangular; and Philadelphia is, probably, the most regular and uniform city in the world. It is at the same time one of the most agreeable. The climate is fine, the city remarkably clean, and abundantly supplied with the best of water. To this we may add, that the markets are among the best in the country, while the expenses of living are one fourth less than in Boston, and one third less than in New York. The streets are from fifty to one hundred and thirteen feet wide. The houses are mostly of brick, much darker in color than in the Eastern States, and resembling, at a short distance, the common red sandstone. The streets are generally paved and kept clean. The handsomest of the public buildings in the city, and perhaps in this country, is the United States Bank, in Chesnut-street. It is

of white marble, with a front on the model of the Parthenon. It never fails to excite an agreeable emotion when first seen by a stranger. The Old Bank has an elegant marble front, of the Corinthian order, but the effect is much injured by the sides being of brick.

The Bank of Pennsylvania is also a handsome marble edifice. The State-House is a somewhat antiquated structure, and is chiefly remarkable for containing the hall in which the Declaration of Independence was signed; adjoining this building is a beautiful inclosed walk, planted with trees. Another handsome public walk is Washington-square.

The city and suburbs have large manufactures of cotton, iron, glass, and china ware, besides the great variety of articles made in small establishments. The cloth annually manufactured, is estimated at twenty-four million of yards. In point of commerce, Philadelphia is the fourth city in the Union; the shipping amounted in 1828, to one hundred and four thousand, and eighty tons

BALTIMORE.

Baltimore, upon the Patapsco, fourteen miles from the Chesapeak, is a large city, and the chief commercial mart for all the country upon the bay and its waters. It is finely situated, and regularly built, chiefly of brick; the public buildings and monu. ments indicate, by their splendor, a high degree of wealth and enterprise in the inhabitants. The Catholic Cathedral is an edifice in the Ionic style, one hundred and ninety feet long, and one hundred and seventy-seven wide, surmounted by a dome and cross, which rise to the height of one hundred and twenty-seven feet. it has some fine paintings, and the largest church organ in the United States, containing six thousand pipes. The Merchants' Exchange is two hundred and fifty-five feet in front, and contains a hall eighty-six feet in length, lighted from a dome, ninety feet above the floor. St. Paul's Church, the Unitarian Church, the Court-House, and the Union Bank, are also elegant buildings.

The trade of Baltimore is great, and it may be considered the best flour market in the world. In commerce, it is the third city in the United States. The harbor is good, although vessels larger than two hundred tons, cannot ascend below the lower suburb, called Fell's Point; this is separated from the city by a small stream, over which there are several bridges. The shipping of Baltimore amounted, in 1828, to one hundred and six thousand, three hundred and three tons. There are within twenty miles of the city, above sixty flour mills; one of which has ground thirty-two thousand barrels in a year. Within the same space, there are also twelve cotton manufactories, and various others of cloth, powder, paper, iron, copper, glass, steamengines, chemical works, &c.

BOSTON.

Boston, the largest city in the New England States, and the capital of Massachu setts, stands on an oblong peninsula at the bottom of Massachusetts Bay, having a beautiful harbor shut in from the sea by a group of islands. The peninsula is hilly and in almost every part covered with buildings; the city exhibits a noble appear ance as the spectator sails up the harbor, or approaches it from the country. This splendid exterior, however, has not a corresponding regularity and symmetry within. The city was built, almost from the beginning, without any regard to plan, beauty, or future convenience, and the streets were left to fashion themselves into a tortuous intricacy that might have excited the envy of Daedalus of old. We must except, how ever, the happy reservation of the vacant spot called the Common, originally a cow pasture for the house-keepers of the town, but now a public park and promenade of unrivalled beauty. In the more ancient parts of the city, the streets are still narrow and crooked, and a great proportion of the buildings are of wood.

In the western and central parts, a style of elegance and comparative regularity prevails. Many of the streets are neat and spacious, and the improvements which

are going on yearly, in widening the old streets, and opening new ones, have done, and are doing much to remedy the defects of the original plan. In the greater part of the city the houses are either of brick or stone, and the old wooden structures are fast disappearing. A large number of the public edifices are of striking elegance, and the private buildings surpass in splendor those of any other city in the United States.

The largest building in the city is Fanueil Hall Market, a granite structure, two stories in height, and five hundred and thirty-six feet long. The centre has a dome, and at each end is a portico of four columns, each of an entire stone. This is the most elegant market in the United States, and probably in the world; on either hand it fronts on a spacious street, one, sixty-five, and the other one hundred and two feet in width, both showing a solid front of stone stores of uniform height and appearance. Old Faneuil Hall stands west of this spot; it is a lofty brick edifice, and the spacious galleries of its interior, still witness the throngs and the oratory of popular meetings. Painting and repairs have a little modernized the aspect of this venerable pile. The Old State-House, now the City Hall, is another relic of ancient architecture, and the scene of many events in revolutionary history. In this building are now the Merchants Reading room, the Postoffice, and other public offices.

The wharves of Boston surpass those of any seaport of the United States, for size and convenience. Long Wharf at the bottom of State-street, is sixteen hundred and fifty feet long, and has a line of lofty brick stores nearly its whole extent. Central Wharf is twelve hundred and forty feet in length, and one hundred and fifty wide, and contains fifty-four stores in a single pile, with a spacious observatory in the centre, where telegra phic signals are received from the islands in the bay. India Wharf has a double row of stores, six stories high; all these wharves have spacious docks, and wide and convenient landings, carriage ways, &c.

The Massachusetts General Hospital is a beautiful stone edifice, much commended for the convenience of its interior arrangements. The Houses of Industry and Cor. rection, on the peninsula of South Boston, but within the city limits, are of stone, each two hundred and twenty feet long, and of a uniform architecture. The Courthouse and jail, in Leverett-street, are of stone, and comprise three well built edifices. The United States Bank, in State-street, is a well built structure, but more remarka. ble for strength than classic proportion; the columns in front are the largest in the city, and are each of a single stone. The Washington Bank has a more symmetrical design and better effect. The Masonic Temple is a new building of granite, and has a fine front.

NEW ORLEANS.

New Orleans, the seat of government of Louisiana, and the commercial mart of all the western country, stands on the northern bank of the Mississippi, at a spot where the river makes a great bend to the north-east. It is one hundred and five miles above the mouth of the stream, by its windings, and ninety in a direct line. The ground is level, and the neighborhood a swamp. It consists of three divisions; the city proper, and the fauxbourgs or suburbs of St. Marie and Marigny. The two first are compactly built, and in all parts the streets are straight and regular, generally at right angles. In the city, the houses are built in the French and Spanish style, and are stuccoed of a white or yellow color. The fauxbourg St. Marie is built in the American fashion, and resembles one of our Atlantic cities.

As a place of trade, New Orleans has immense advantages. It is the outport for all the commerce of the Mississippi and its tributaries. It is accessible for ships of the largest size, and its levee is constantly crowded with all kinds of maritime and river craft. In the cotton season, its streets are barricadoed with bales. There are often fifteen hundred flat boats in the harbor at a time. Steam-boats arrive and depart every hour, and fifty may be often seen together.

ALBANY.

Albany is the seat of government of New York, and in point of wealth, population, trade, and resources, is the second city in the State. It is situated on the west bank of the Hudson, one hundred and sixty miles above New York, near the head of tidewater. It was settled by the Dutch, in 1612, and, next to Jamestown in Virginia, is the oldest settlement in the United States.

Albany is a place of great trade, and, during the session of the Legislature, it is much crowded with, strangers. The basin, where the canal joins the Hudson, is formed by an artificial pier, eighty feet in width, and four thousand and three hun dred feet long. It is connected with the shore by drawbridges, and covered with stores; in which immense quantities of lumber and merchandise are deposited. The basin contains a surface of thirty-two acres. The neighborhood of Albany is plea sant, and many beautiful and thriving villages are within a short distance. This city has a library of eight thousand volumes, eleven newspapers, and a population of twenty-four thousand, two hundred and thirty-eight.

CHARLESTON.

Charleston, the commercial metropolis, and formerly the seat of government of South Carolina, is built upon a point of land at the junction of Ashley and Cooper rivers. Its harbor is capacious, but difficult of entrance. The city is regularly built, and though the site is low the approach to it by water is particularly fine. Many of the streets are very handsome, and most of the houses are furnished with three piazzas to each story. In the outer parts of the city, the houses are surrounded with gardens, and ornamented by trees and shrubbery. Groves of orange and peach trees in bloom, present here a most inviting appearance to the traveller, who arrives from the north in the early season. Population in 1830, 30,289

CINCINNATI.

Cincinnati, the largest city in Ohio, and indeed in all the western country, stands on the northern bank of the Ohio, near the south-western corner of the State. Its

This plain contains about four square miles, and consists of two differen levels, one about fifty feet higher than the other. The city rises gradually from the river, but does not make a very bold or striking appearance. It is built with perfect regularity, on the plan of Philadelphia. The principal streets are sixty-six feet in width. The central part is very compact, yet the whole outline of the city is but partially filled up, and the greater portion of the buildings are scattered irregularly about. Some of the public edifices are of stone or brick, and many of the stores and houses are of brick. Here are four markets, twenty-three churches, a branch of the United States Bank, a medical college, eighteen public schools, a hospital, a theatre, ten news papers, (two of which are daily,) and many manufactories of iron, brass, copper, cotton, woolen, paper, &c. The city has a vast trade by the river and canal.

Cincinnati occupies the site of old Fort Washington; and the outlines of the city were marked in 1789. There were five hundred inhabitants here in 1795, and nine hundred and fifty in 1805. The first settlers were principally from New England and New Jersey. Since the peace of 1814, the city has augmented with wonderful rapidity; and in 1830, contained a population of twenty-six thousand, five hundred and fifteen.

PITTSBURG.

Pittsburg, in the west of Pennsylvania, is the next, in this State, in importance to Philadelphia. It stands upon a point of land at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, which here take the name of Ohio. It is built on a regular plan, upon the slope of an eminence, and a level plain at its foot. It is finely situated for

trade, and enjoys a communication by steam-boats, with all the great towns on the Ohio and Mississippi; but it is most distinguished for its large and flourishing manufactures of glass, iron, woolen, and cotton. The surrounding country is ex ceedingly rich in bituminous coal, which is delivered at the houses for three cents the bushel. The constant use of this fuel causes a perpetual cloud of black smoke to hang over the place.

WASHINGTON.

Washington, the seat of government of the United States, stands in the centre of he District of Columbia, upon the north bank of the Potomac, between the rver and