1840, a court house, gaol, market house, five churches-one Presbyterian, one Episcopal, one Baptist, one Methodist, and one Roman Catholic-100 stores, about 700 dwellings. There is a flouring mill, and various mills and manufactories on the river. From thirteen to fifteen steamboats navigate the river, and steamboats ply to New Orleans. A steamboat drawing five feet of water can ascend to this place at any season. A bridge from the town crosses the Chattahoochee river to the opposite bank in Alabama. Population, in 1842, about 4000. There were, in 1840, six foreign commission houses, capital 80,000 dollars; 106 retail stores, capital 473,000 dollars; three printing offices, three weekly newspapers, and one periodical. Capital in manufactures, 39,800 dollars. Population, 3114.-Official Returns, U. S. Gaz.

DARIEN, situated on the north side of the Altamaha river, twelve miles above the bar, at the entrance of St. Simon's sound. It contains a court house, a gaol, an academy, a Presbyterian church, a bank, and a printing office. It has an extensive trade in cotton. The bar has over it fourteen feet depth of water. The Oconee branch of the Altamaha has a steamboat navigation to Milledgeville; and the Ocmulgee branch is navigable to Macon; so that Darien forms the focus of the trade of the central parts of the state.

MACON, situated on the west side of Ocmulgee river, at the head of tide navigation. A great quantity of cotton wool is shipped at this town; and about twelve steam-vessels, and several tow-boats, &c., employed in the trade. In 1822, there was only one hut in this place. In 1840, there were nine foreign commission houses, capital 75,000 dollars; eighty-two retail stores, capital 785,000 dollars; nine timber yards, building yards, &c. Population, 3927.

MILLEDGEVILLE, situated on the south-west bank of the Oconee river, at the head of steamboat navigation; had, in 1840, a population of 2095 inhabitants, and some trade.

SAVANNAH, port of entry, is situated on the south-west bank of the Savannah river, seventeen miles from its mouth, in 32 deg. 8 min. north latitude and 81 deg. 10 min. west longitude from Greenwich, and 4 deg. 10 min. west from Washington. It is 118 miles south-west from Charleston; 123 miles south-east from Augusta; 158 miles east-south-east from Milledgeville; 662 miles south-by-west from Washington. The population, in 1810, was 5195; in 1820, 7523; in 1830, 7776; in 1840, 11,214-of which 4694 were slaves. There were employed in commerce, 604; iu manufactures and trades, 707; navigating the ocean, canals, &c., 241; learned professions, 131.

The city is built on a sandy plain, elevated about forty feet above the level of the tide. It was formerly considered unhealthy, supposed to arise chiefly from the rice grounds in the neighbourhood. On this supposition the citizens subscribed 70,000 dollars to induce the owners of the plantations to substitute a dry for a wet cultivation, by which the health of the place is said to have been much improved. This city is regularly laid out in the form of a parallelogram, with streets, many of them wide, crossing each other at right angles. There are ten public squares, containing two acres each, at equal distances from each other. These squares, and many of the streets, are bordered with trees, and particularly with the "Pride of India." Many of the houses are built of brick. On the east and west are marshes; and a pine-barren extends two miles to the south.

It has a good harbour. Vessels drawing fourteen feet of water come up to the wharfs of the city, and larger vessels come up to Fathom hole, three miles below. The city is defended by Fort Wayne on the east side, and by Fort Jackson at Fathom hole, three miles below. Much of the trade of Georgia centres in Savannah-the principal articles of which are cotton and rice. Twenty steamboats of a large size, and fifty steam tow-boats, navigate the river. On Tybee island, at the mouth of the river, is a lighthouse. One line of packets, consisting of two ships and four brigs, one vessel sailing from each place weekly and another, consisting of six brigs, ply between this place and New York. The Savannah furnishes great facilities for internal trade, and this river is connected to the Ocmulgee by a canal sixteen miles long, which terminates at Savannah.-U. S. Gaz.

There are an exchange and two banks. The tonnage of the port, in 1840, amounted to 17,930. There were, in the same year, two foreign commercial and fifty commission houses, with a capital of 943,500 dollars; 191 retail stores, capital 855 190 dollars; eight lumber yards, capital 49,000 dollars; paints, drugs, &c., capital 35,800 dollars; three brick and forty-five wooden houses built, cost 138,100 dollars; four printing offices, two binderies,

three daily, three weekly, three semi-weekly newspapers, capital 22,000 dollars. Total capital in manufactures, 105,460 dollars.-Official Returns.

353

VII. FLORIDA.

THE territory of Florida is bounded north by Alabama and Georgia; east by the Atlantic; south and west by the Gulf of Mexico. It lies between 25 deg. and 31 deg. north latitude, and between 80 deg. and 87 deg. and 44 min. west longitude, and between 3 deg. and 10 deg. 44 min. west from Washington. It is about 385 miles long, and from fifty miles to 250 miles wide, comprising an area of 57,000 square miles, or 37,000,000 British statute acres. The population, in 1830, was 34,723; in 1840, 54,477, of which 16,456 were white males, 11,487 were white females; free coloured persons, males 398; free coloured persons, females 419; slaves, males 13,083; slaves, females 12,679. Employed in agriculture, 12,117; in commerce, 481; in manufactures and trades, 1177; navigating the ocean, 435; navigating canal and rivers, 118; learned professions and engineers, 204.

Florida is divided into twenty counties, which, with their population, in 1840, and their capitals, are as follows: West Florida-Escambia, 3993, C. Pensacola; Walton, 1461, C. Euchee Anna. Middle Florida-Gadsden, 5992, C. Quincy; Hamilton, 1464, C. Jasper; Jefferson, 5713, C. Monticello; Leon, 10,713, C. Tallahassee; Madison, 2644, C. Madison. East Florida-Alachua, 2282, C. Newmansville; Columbia, 2102, C. Lancaster; Duvall, 4156, C. Jacksonville; Hillsborough, 452, C. Fort Brooks; Leigh Reed, 73, C. New Smyrna; Nassau, 1892, C. H. Nassau; St. John's, 2694, C. St. Augustine. South Florida-Dade, 446, C. Key Biscayune; Monroe, 688, C. Key West. Appalachicola District-Calhoun, 1142, C. St. Joseph; Franklin, 1030, C. Appalachicola; Jackson, 4681, C. Marianna; Washington, 859, C. Roche's Bluff.

A

Soil. The country is generally low and the surface undulating, except where swamps and numerous lakes occur. There are no mountains or high hills. A large portion is covered with pine trees, standing at a considerable distance from each other, without brush or underwood, but producing grass and flowers. The borders of the streams are usually skirted with hammocks, or clumps of hard wood covered with grape and other vines. great part of Florida consists of pine-barrens, and a very poor soil; but there are many extensive tracts of table land, gentle elevations, and swamp, of the richest soil, well adapted to the cultivation of sugar, rice, cotton, Indian corn, tobacco, and fruits. The barrens afford extensive grazing land, usually intersected with streams of pure water. Many parts of the territory abound in yellow pine, hickory, and live oak timber. Majestic cedars, chesnuts, magnolias, with their large white flowers, and cypresses, with a straight stem of eighty or ninety feet are found. The fig, pomegranate, orange, and date, are among the fruits of Florida. Cotton forms the chief agricultural production. The peninsula, which constitutes the southern portion of the district, presents a singular alternation of savannas, hammocks, lagoons, and grass-ponds, called altogether the "everglades," which extend into the heart of the country for 200 miles north of Cape Sable, and are drained northwardly by the St. John's river. The sea coast of Florida, especially towards the south, is low and dangerous; shoals extend far into the sea. Several low islands lie off the coast. The "Florida Keys" have always been the dread of mariners, and many vessels are annually wrecked among these islands and along the coasts. There are few, or rather no good harbours on the Atlantic coast.

Harbours.-There are many bays on the western side of the peninsula, which form good harbours; the principal of which are Perdido, Pensacola, Choctawhatchee, St. Joseph's, Appalachicola, Appalachee, Tampa, Carlos, and Gallivans. On the eastern side, rivers, inlets, and sounds, afford harbours for coasting vessels. The principal capes are Canaveral, Florida, Sable, at the southern extremity, Roman's, and St. Blas. There are many islands scattered along the coast, particularly a cluster off the southern extremity, denominated the Florida Keys, extending, in a curved form, 200 miles. Key West, on one of these, named Thompson's island, is a naval station, has a good harbour, which is well sheltered, and admits the largest vessels.

Live Stock and Agricultural Produce.-There were in this territory, in 1840, 12,043

horses and mules; 118,081 neat cattle; 7198 sheep; 92,680 swine; poultry, valued at 61,007 dollars. There were produced 412 bushels of wheat; 13,829 bushels of oats; 898,974 bushels of Indian corn; 264,617 bushels of potatoes; 7285 lbs. of wool; 1197 tons of hay; 124 lbs. of silk cocoons; 75,274 lbs. of tobacco; 481,420 lbs. of rice 12,146,533 lbs. of cotton; 275,317 lbs. of sugar. Value of the products of the dairy amounted to 23,094 dollars; and of the orchard, amounted to 1035 dollars.- Official

Returns.

;

Trades and Manufactures.-There were twenty-three commercial and twenty-one commission houses in the foreign trade, employing a capital of 542,000 dollars; 239 retail dry goods and other stores, with a capital of 1,240,380 dollars; ninety-two engaged in the lumber trade, with a capital of 64,050 dollars; sixty-seven persons were employed in the fisheries, with a capital of 10,000 dollars. Home-made or family articles manufactured to the value of 20,205 dollars; hats and caps manufactured to the amount of 1500 dollars; three tanneries employed fifteen persons, and a capital of 14,500 dollars; ten other manufactories of leather, as saddleries, &c., manufactured articles to the value of 6200 dollars, employing a capital of 4250 dollars; 136 produced bricks and lime to the value of 37,600 dollars; fifteen persons manufactured carriages and waggons to the value of 11,000 dollars, with a capital of 5900 dollars; sixty-two grist mills, sixty-five saw mills, and two oil mills, employed 410 persons, and produced to the value of 189,650 dollars, with a capital of 488,950 dollars. Ships were built to the value of 14,100 dollars. The whole amount of capital employed in manufactures, was 669,490 dollars.-Official Returns.

Rivers." The principal river on the eastern side is the St. John's, which rises within a short distance of the coast, and flows northwardly in a very circuitous course through several lakes. It is often from three to five miles wide, and at other times not one-fourth of a mile. It passes through a fine healthy country, and vessels drawing eight feet of water enter Lake George and Dun's lake, 150 miles from its mouth, which has a bar of twelve feet, where it is only one mile wide. The Appalachicola river is formed by the union of Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, about 100 miles above the Gulf of Mexico, to which place vessels drawing eight feet of water can proceed. The other principal rivers are the Escambia, Suwanee, Withlacoochee, Oscilla, Ocklocony, and Choctawhatchee. Rivers sometimes start out of the ground in a stream sufficient to turn a mill which seem to come from subterranean reservoirs, and sometimes suddenly sink into the ground and disappear."-U. S. Gaz.

Education. This territory has no college. There were, in 1840, eighteen academies and grammar schools, with 732 students, and fifty-one common and primary schools, with 925 scholars, and 1303 white persons, over twenty years of age, who could neither read nor write.

Religion. The Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Roman Catholics, have each a few congregations and ministers.

Banks.-At the commencement of 1840, the district had five banks and branches, with an aggregate capital of 3,976,121 dollars, and a circulation of 418,778 dollars. At the close of 1840, the debt of the territory amounted to 3,900,000 dollars.

Public Works.-A railroad extends from Tallahassee, twenty-two miles, to St. Mark's. One also extends from Lake Wicomico, twelve miles, to St. Joseph, and another from St. Joseph, thirty miles, to Iola, on the Appalachicola. Several other railroads and canals have been projected.

PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND SEAPORTS.

TALLAHASSEE city and capital of Florida, situated on an eminence, twenty miles north of St. Mark's, its port, 292 miles west of St. Augustine, 896 miles from Washington. A stream, flowing from several springs, runs along its east border, and falls fifteen or sixteen feet into a pool scooped out by its own current, and after running a short distance, sinks into a cleft of limestone rock. This city contains a state house, court house, gaol, a market house, a United States land office, an academy, a masonic hall, three churches-one Episcopal, one Methodist, and one Presbyterian; a bank, three printing-offices, three weekly newspapers, a tannery, about thirty stores, 400 dwellings, and 1616 inhabitants. In the winter of 1842

it contained about 2500 inhabitants. squares.

It is regularly laid out, and has several public

SAINT AUGUSTINE is a seaport. It is situated two miles from the Atlantic shore, on the south point of a peninsula, connected with the main land by a narrow isthmus, protected from the swell of the ocean by Anastasia island, not sufficiently high to obstruct the sea breezes or a view of the sea. The site of the city, though scarcely twelve feet higher than the level of the tide, is healthy and pleasant. It is a favourite resort of invalids from the north. Snow rarely falls, and frost is felt only one or two months in the year, and in some seasons it is not perceived at all. In the summer the sea breezes temper the heat, and the land breezes render the evenings cool and pleasant. This place is laid out in the form of a parallelogram, fronting east on Matanzas sound, forming an harbour sufficiently capacious to contain a large fleet. But a bar at the mouth of the harbour has not more than nine feet of water at low tide, within which it is eighteen or twenty feet. The principal streets cross each other at right angles, and are narrow, and some of the streets are very crooked. The houses are generally built of stone, two stories high. A large square opens from the Matanzas into the town; and on the west side of the square stand the public buildings. 1840, there were four churches, twenty stores, about 500 houses, and 2500 inhabitants. The trade is chiefly a coasting trade.

In

SAINT MARY'S, and a few other places which are settled along the Atlantic shores south to Key West, have a coasting trade, and many of the inhabitants are engaged as wreckers, and are described as leading far from creditable lives.

TAMPA BAY, called by the Spaniards Espiritu Santo, is the largest bay in the Gulf of Mexico. It is forty miles long, and in one place thirty-five miles wide, with from fifteen to twenty feet of water on the bar. It is easy of access, and affords a safe anchorage for any number of vessels. There are numerous islands at the mouth of the bay, and it abounds with wild fowl and fish.-U. S. Gaz.

APPALACHICOLA is a port of entry, 135 miles west of Tallahassee, situated on a bluff at the mouth of a river of the same name. It has a considerable export cotton trade. Several large and small vessels belong to the port, and more than twenty steamboats. The port is tolerably good, though intricate to approach; it has over its bar fifteen feet of water at low tide. PENSACOLA, a port of entry, and a naval arsenal; has about 2500 inhabitants, a wharf extending 600 feet into the bay, which has places of anchorage for large frigates and smaller vessels.

KEY WEST is situated on an island four miles long and one wide, one of the "Florida keys." It has a good harbour, admitting vessels drawing twenty-seven feet of water, but dangerous to approach. The inhabitants are chiefly employed as wreckers, and in making sea salt. The average number of vessels wrecked annually on the Florida keys are stated to be about fiteen. The following is a description of the Florida reef and of the wreckers :"There is no portion of the American coast more dangerous to the mariner, or where more property is annually wrecked, than on the Florida reef. Its contiguity to the gulf stream, and forming a sort of Scylla to that Charybdis, the Bahama islands, are the main causes which make it so dangerous to, and so much dreaded by, seamen. Lying in the way, as it does, of much important commerce, many ships of the largest class are compelled to encounter its dangers, and run the risk of an inhospitable reception upon its rocky shores

and sunken coral reefs.

“There is, on an average, annually wrecked upon the Florida coast, about fifty vessels, a very great proportion of which are New Orleans, Mobile, or other packets. The great destruction of property consequent upon this state of things, and the hope of gain, have induced a settlement at Key West, where, to adjudicate upon the wrecked property, a court of admiralty has been established. A large number of vessels, from twenty to thirty, are annually engaged as wreckers, lying about this coast to help the unfortunate,' and to help themselves. These vessels are, in many instances, owned in whole or in part by the merchants of Key West; the same merchant frequently acts in the quadruple capacity of owner of the wrecker, agent for the wreckers, consignee of the captain, and agent for the underwriters. Whose business he transacts with most assiduity, his own, or that of others, may be readily inferred.

"A residence of a few years on the Florida reef enables me to speak with some know