Mountains

(with their parallel ranges and ramifications) and the ocean of that name, and forming a watershed of an estim. area of 995,000 sq. m. (inclusive of the E. seaboard of the Gulf of Mexico.) Next, we come to the great valley drained by the Mi i ippi and its chief arteries-the Ohio, Mi ouri, Arkansas, Red River, ., - constituting the vast area extending from the Alleghanies as far W. as the Rocky Mts., and which is computed at 1,218,000 sq. m. in extent. Thirdly, W. of the last-mentioned mountain chain, appears the Great Interior Basin of the States of Utah and Nevada, with the range of the Sierra Nevada separating it from the watershed called the Pacific Slope, and occupying a superficies of some 766,000 sq. m. To the N.E. the " Lake region" abuts upon Canada, and with its great inland seas presents a lacustral coast-line several hundreds of miles in length, extending over 3 deg. of long. On the Atlantic side, the principal oceanic inlets, besides the Gulf of Mexico, are formed by Ma achusetts Bay, Long Island Sound, Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. The Pacific coast is le indented: the Gulf of Georgia and San Francisco Bay being the only arms of the sea of noticeable importance and magnitude. The U. S. po e a riverine system almost unequalled in the world. The Atlantic receives, among numerous smaller bodies, the waters of the Penobscot, Merrimac, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, James, Roanoke, Cape Fear, Pedee, Wateree, Savanah, and Ocmulgee; into the Gulf of Mexico, besides the Mi i ippi, fall the A pal a chi cola, Alabama, Sabine, Trinity, Brazos, Colorado, and Nueces, with the Rio Grande, which latter river forms the frontier-line bet. this country and that of Mexico. The pp. rivers emptying into the Pacific include the Columbia, Klamath, Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Salinas. Lakes are interspersed over many parts of the country; particularly so in Minnesota, New York, Maine, and other of the N. States. Utah po e es her Great Salt Lake; and Pyramid Lake in Nevada, and that of Tule in California, are exceptionally large expanses of water. The climate ofa country extending over so many zones of latitude must naturally be one of a diverse character. Hence it is that extremes of both heat and cold are experienced. The mean annual temperature of Albany is about 49° Fahr.; of New York and Cincinnati, nearly 510; of Philadelphia, 540; of Natchez, 65°, and of Cantonment Brooke, in Florida, 72°. The temp. of the region bordering the Pacific is considerably higher than that of the same latitudes on the Atlantic seaboard, and the seasons are distinctly divided into a wet and a dry, the first lasting from April to Nov. The soil of the U. S. is of every variety, from the sterile deserts of the great Western plains, Utah, and Nevada, to the inexhaustible fertility of the Mi i ippi Valley, to the E. of which, except in Illinois and Indiana, vast forests of valuable timber exist, as beech, birch, oak, maple, pine, spruce, elm, ash, walnut; and to the S., live-oak, white-oak, cypre , palmetto, magnolia, the tulip-tree, . The climate is generally favorable to the production of abundant and excellent fruits. In the N. States, those peculiar to the temperate zone are grown in great plenty and perfection, along with, in the Middle States, peaches,pomegranates, and water-melons, the last growing to an enormous size, and probably superior to any in the world. In the S., figs, apricots, nectarines, almonds, oranges, olives, lemons, limes, citrons, ., abound in luxurious plenty and come to high maturity. Grapes flourish almost everywhere throughout the country, but the European varieties only in California and New Mexico. The fauna of the U. States comprises among its distinctive quadruman a, the American buffalo (or bison), the musk-ox, moose (or American elk), prong-horned antelope, Virgin i an deer, black and grizzly bear, the American fox, and numerous species of the canine and vulpine families. The feathered tribe include the great white headed eagle, several varieties of vultures, and quite a multiplicity of smaller birds of kinds generally common to the world, but a few of which, such as the Baltimore oriole, mocking-bird, ., are peculiar to this country. The reptilia furnish many varieties of both poisonous and innocuous serpents; the alligator is an inhabitant of the S. rivers, and venomous insects-mosquitoes in particular-are more plentiful than agreeable. The coasts and rivers of the Republic teem with fish of the finest edible descriptions - cod, mackerel, salmon, trout, ba , shad, .,- and the molluscs and cretacean varieties are amply represented. Min. The mineralogy of the U. S. is e entially rich, varied, and important, based for the most part upon the secondary strata of the geologists. Coal and petroleum are found in almost inexhaustible deposits, W. of the Alleghany Mts. in Pennsylvania and Maryland, as far as the Mi i ippi, and even to a considerable distance beyond that river. Of this mineral, anthracite forms a large component in the basin bounded E. by Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and W. by Illinois and Ohio. Iron is also very abundant; notably so in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tenne ee, and Ohio, and much of it is of the magnetic kind. Lead is largely found in Wisconsin, Mi ouri, and Illinois; while copper in immense quantities is obtained in the Lake Superior region to the N. of Michigan. It also occurs in Nevada and other States beyond the Rocky Mts. Gold too, in the last-named region, and as far as California, forms another grand source of mineral wealth, and is found also, but on a limited scale, in Georgia and others of the S.W. States. The salt springs are so numerous and copious in their produce as to appear nearly inexhaustible. Quicksilver, zinc, limestone, and several kinds of building-stone are other items in the mineralogical wealth of the Union. Agric. In a country so vast there must, of nece ity, be a considerable diversity of agriculture, which holds the first place in the record of national industry. Wheat is a general crop everywhere in the States; and maize, which comes next, is a grain indigenous to the country, and one cultivated to the greatest advantage in the Middle and W. States. Oats, rye, and barley are raised in all the N. and in the upper districts of the S. States. Hay, hops, potatoes, pulse, hemp, flax, and silk, are also produced in quantities much more than suffices to satisfy the home demand. Tobacco is chiefly cultivated in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky; yet is also grown in S. Ohio and Indiana, and to a small extent throughout the W. and S., but not in the Gulf States. The sugar-cane, nine-tenths of which is produced in Louisiana, is grown in the last-named States, from Texas to [s. 920]