domestic consumption, boots, shoes, hats, &c. There is a considerable retail trade, but very little of any other; the shipping business is carried on at Alexandria, and the inland trade at Georgetown. The inhabitants are a collection from all parts of the Union, and there are many foreigners among them. They are reputed to be orderly and correct in their morals, and have bent their attention very much to the subjects of education and general improvement.

Georgetown is pleasantly situated upon the side of a hill, on the northern bank of the Potomac, and is bounded eastward by Rock creek, which separates it from Washington city. It contains upwards of 300 brick houses, and several of them are elegant. The public buildings are five places for worship, an academy, and a bank. The Roman catholics have established a college here, for the promotion of general literature, which is in a flourishing state. The town is regularly laid out, and compactly built, and is a place of considerable trade, which, in consequence of the rapid settlement of the back country, is daily increasing.

Alexandria is situated on the west bank of the Potomac, in the south-east corner of the district of Columbia; its situation is elevated and pleasant, and the soil clayey. It is laid out on the plan of Philadelphia, the streets crossing one another at right angles, and they are broad and airy, commodious and well paved. The public buildings are a court-house, and jail, a bank, and an episcopal church. The inhabitants carry on a considerable commerce, principally in flour and tobacco; but when the navigation of the Potomac is completed, this city, in consequence of its vicinity to the seat of government, bids fair to be one of the most prosperous commercial places in the United States.

It has been, indeed, supposed by some, that Alexandria and Georgetown will draw the greater part of the country trade to themselves, to the prejudice of the federal city; and this opinion is founded upon the large quantities of produce that are sent down the Potomac to each of these towns, and the supply of foreign manufactures sent back in return. But there cannot be a doubt that in a few years Washington will completely eclipse the other two; for though Georgetown can furnish the people of the back country with European manufactures, it is at second-hand only, from Baltimore and Philadelphia. Alexandria, it is true, imports from Europe, but it is on a very contracted scale: more than one half the goods which are sent from

thence to the back country, are procured in the same manner as at Georgetown. Besides, the establishment of the national bank, the residence of the government, and the removal of many merchants of great capital to Washington, will afford the people of that city a decided advantage over Alexandria and Georgetown. Added to all this, both these towns being in the district of Columbia, which is subject to the laws and regulations of congress alone, so far as relates to trade and manufactures, it may be therefore naturally supposed, that encouragements will be held out by government to those who settle in the metropolis, which will be denied to such as fix in any other part of the district. Although Alexandria and Georgetown, then, may rival Washington while it is in its infancy, yet it cannot be imagined that either of them will be able to cope with it in the end,

STATE OF VIRGINIA,

Situation, Boundaries, and Extent.

THIS state is situated between 36° 30′ and 40° 43′ N. lat. and 1° 40′ E. and 6° 20′ W. long. It is bounded on the north by Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; south, by North Carolina and Tennessee; east, by Maryland and the Atlantic ocean; and west, by Kentucky and Ohio. Its length from east to west is 370 miles, and its breadth from north to south 220 miles, forming an area of about 64,000, square miles, or 40,960,000 acres; being nearly as large as the island of Great Britain.

Rivers and mountains.-James river is one of the most important in this state. It rises near the Allegany mountains, nearly 200 miles west of Richmond, and receives. the waters of the Appomatox, about twenty-five miles below that city. From thence it takes a crooked course of about seventy miles, and falls into Chesapeak bay, fifteen miles to the westward of Cape Henry; its whole. length, including its windings, being upwards of 300 miles. The. principal tributary streams to this river are the Rivannah,

on which stands Monticello, the seat of the late president Jefferson, the Appomatox, the Chickahominy, the Nansemond, and the Elizabeth, on which the city of Norfolk is situated. The whole of Elizabeth river is a harbour, and would contain 300 sail of vessels. The channel is from 150 to 200 fathoms wide, and at flood tide affords eighteen feet water to Norfolk. The Nansemond is navigable for vessels of 100 tons to Suffolk, 110 miles from Richmond. The Chickahominy has at its mouth a bar, on which is only twelve feet water at flood tide. Vessels passing that, may go eight miles up the river; those of ten feet water may go four miles further, and those of six tons burden twenty miles further. The Rivannah is navigable for canoes and batteaux twenty-two miles, to the Southwest mountains, and may be easily opened to navigation through these mountains to Charlottsville, eighty-one miles from Richmond.

A company has been formed for improving the navigation of James river, which at Richmond is obstructed by falls, Upwards of 200,000 dollars have been already expended, and a canal formed by which the falls are avoided; but much yet remains to be done; the company being

bound to remove all obstructions in the river as far as Pattensburgh, in the middle of the mountains, and distant from Richmond upwards of 200 miles.

York river, at Yorktown, seventy-two miles from Richmond, is one mile in breadth, and affords the best harbour in the state for vessels of the largest size. It has four fathoms water for twenty miles above York, to the mouth of the Propotank, where the river is a mile and a half wide, though the channel is only seventy-five fathoms. At the confluence of the Pamunky and Mattapony (which form York river) it is but three fathoms depth, which continues up the Pamunky to Cumberland, thirty miles from Richmond, where the width is 100 yards, and up Mattapony to within two miles of Frazer's ferry, where it becomes twenty-eight fathoms deep, and holds that depth about five miles: the Mattapony is navigable for loaded floats sixty miles from its mouth.

The Atlantic rivers having been noticed, the others are but few in number. The state is watered to the westward by the Ohio upwards of 240 miles, and Great Sandy river forms the boundary for above 100 miles between it and Kentucky. The most important river to the westward is the Great Kanhaway, celebrated for the fertility of the land on its banks, and still more, as leading to the head waters of James river; but it is doubtful whether its nume-"

rous falls will admit a navigation. The great obstacles begin at the falls, ninety miles above its mouth, below which are only five or six rapids, and these passable, with some difficulty, even at low water. From the falls to the mouth of Green Briar river is 100 miles, and thence to the lead mines is 120. The Great Kanhaway falls into the Ohio 252 miles below Pittsburgh, by a mouth 280 yards wide. The Little Kanhaway is a small navigable river which falls into the Ohio, by a mouth 150 yards wide, eighty-two miles above the Great Kanhaway; it can be navigated only ten miles.

The Shenandoah river rises in Augusta county, Virginia, and after running a north-east course of about 250 miles, through the great Limestone valley, falls into the Potomac just above the Blue mountains. It is navigable 100 miles, and may be rendered so nearly its whole course, at a small expense: when this is done, it will bear the produce of the richest part of the state to the city of Washington.

The mountains of the Blue ridge, and of these, the Peaks of Otter are thought to be a greater height than any others in Virginia, and perhaps in North America. The ridge of mountains next beyond the Blue Ridge, called the North mountain, is of the greatest extent; for which reason they are named by the Indians the Endless mountains. It is deserving of notice, that the mountains are not scattered singly over the face of the country; but commence about 150 miles from the sea-coast, and are disposed in ridges one behind another, running nearly parallel with the Atlantic ocean. In the same direction generally are the veins of limestone, coal, and other minerals, and so range the falls of the great rivers; but their courses are at right angles with these. The moun tainous district in Virginia is about 100 miles in breadth, and the ridges continue, as in Pennsylvania, to range from north-east to south-west. The Allegany chain, from which the rest take their name, is the great ridge which divides the waters of the Atlantic from the Mississippi, and its summit is more elevated above the ocean than that of the others; but its relative height, compared with the base on which it stands, is not so great, because the country rises behind the respective ridges like steps of stairs. The most elevated point does not exceed 4,000 feet, and few amount to more than 2,500.

Climate, face of country, soil, produce, &c.-The climate of Virginia is very various, as may be expected in

a country of such extent, and it is subject to great and sudden changes. In the greater part of the state, below the head of the tide-waters, the summers are hot and sultry, and the winters mild. From thence to the foot of the mountains the air is more pure and elastic, and both summers and winters are several degrees of temperature below the low country. Among the mountains the summers are delightful, and the heat never found to be so oppressive as it is in the Atlantic districts; the winters are so mild in general, that snow seldom lies three days together on the ground. The salubrity of the climate also is equal to that of any part of the United States; and the inhabitants have in consequence a healthy ruddy appearance. Perhaps there is no part of North America where the climate would be more congenial to a British constitution, than in that section of Virginia which lies west of the Blue ridge; and in particular, the fertile county of Bottetourt, which is entirely surrounded by mountains. Here the frost in winter is more regular, but not severer than commonly takes place in England. In summer the heat is, perhaps, somewhat greater; but there is not a night in the year that a blanket is not found very comfortable. Before ten o'clock in the morning the heat is greatest; at that hour a breeze generally springs up from the mountains, and renders the air agreeable the whole day. Fever and ague are disorders unknown here, and persons who come hither afflicted with them from the low country, get rid of them in a very short time. Except in the neighbourhood of stagnant waters, Virginia has, upon the whole, a healthy climate.

The soil in the low part of the state is sandy, except on the banks of the rivers, where it is very rich. Between the head of tide-waters and the mountains, it exhibits a great variety, and a considerable portion is good. Among the mountains there is a great deal of poor land, but it is interspersed with rich valleys; at the South-west mountains in particular, which are the first you come to in travelling from the sea-coast, the soil is a deep clayey earth, well suited to the culture of small grain and clover, and produces abundant crops. Beyond the mountains the soil is generally rich and fertile.

The face of the country is somewhat similar to Pennsylvania, Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The eastern part extends along the sea-coast about 115 miles, of which the mouth of Chesapeak bay occupies twelve; and this grand confluence of waters forms a great variety in this part of the state. From the sea-coast to the head of 'the