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the line. This is owing to the nature of the soil, which is marshy on each side, with banks supported by a thick growth of wood. A resolution lately passed the senate of Georgia, appropriating 100,000 dollars for the improvement of the internal navigation of the state; out of which sum 20,000 are appropriated for clearing the navigation of Savannah river; 20,000 for the Oconee ; 26,000 for the Oakmulgee; 8400 for the Altamaha, and 5000 for the Ogechee.

Minerals.-Iron ore is found in the upper country, on the surface of the ridge which separates the waters of Flint river from those of Chatahouche. Some of it yields 500 pounds of metal per ton. Lead ore exists in the Cherokee mountains, which yields two-thirds of its weight of metal. Black lead is mentioned by Mr Sibbald. Millstone, or burr stone, similar to that of Cologne, is now an article of commerce, a considerable quantity being shipped for the northern states. The rock extends from the Savannah river along the banks of the Oakmulgee, running across the counties of Burke, Jefferson, Washington, Laurence, and Twiggs. Oilstone, or whetstone, is found in abundance. Of freestone, four kinds exist in the neighbourhood of Augusta. About thirty miles north-west from the same place, a species of kaolin, or porcelain clay, has been discovered, of a white and red colour, and which is employed for the manufacture of common ware.* Ochre, of a white, red, and yellow colour exists in the neighbourhood of Augusta.

* Literary and Philosophical Repository, Vol. I.

Mineral Waters.-Near the town of Washington, in the county of Wilkes, there is a medicinal spring, the waters of which issue from the trunk of a hollow tree, four or five feet in length, and are found to be very efficacious in the cure of rheumatic and scrofulous disorders. In Madison county other springs have been discovered. In the county of Jefferson there is a mineral spring, known by the name of Cobbs, which is also frequented during the summer months; and cabins have been lately constructed for the accommodation of visitors.

Forest Trees.-The forest trees are oak, hickery, pine, red cedar, black walnut, and mulberry. In the southern parts, the olive, orange, fig, and pomegranate tree. The islands on the sea-coast are covered with oak, red cedar, pine, and hickery, palmetto and magnolia. Live oak and cedar abound in the neighbourhood of St Mary's and Darien. At the distance of nearly 100 miles from the coast, the long-leaved pine disappears, and the short-leaved pine, with oak and hickery, are seen in abundance. The low grounds produce oak, walnut, hickery, ash, poplar, dogwood, and chestnut. The tea plant also, introduced from India about the year 1770, now grows without cultivation near Savannah. The uplands are pine forests. The margin of all the rivers, to the distance of seventy miles below the falls, are bordered with reeds. The China briar grows on the low rich borders of streams; the whortle-berry in the swamps. Though Georgia lies more to the south than Carolina, the vegetable productions are the same. Oak, walnut, and

hickery, grow to a prodigious size, and at such distances from each other, as to admit the passage of a waggon, which is considered a great advantage to new settlers.

Animals.-The animals are the same as in the Carolinas. Those of prey are numerous around the swamps, and on the high ridges. Bears and deer are still abundant. An animal, called in this country the salamander, is found south of the Savannah river. In form and size it resembles the common rat, with a head and teeth like those of the squirrel, a small eye like that of the mole, and fine brown-coloured hair. Alligators are numerous in the Alatamaha, and are seen in Ebenezer creek, within twenty-two miles of Savannah; their eggs, deposited in the sand, are hatched by the heat of the sun. Instances have occurred of their taking provisions in the night from the boats fastened to the banks. But so little are they feared, that boys swim in the waters which they frequent, and since the date of the first establishment, only two persons have been killed by them. They often, however, destroy hogs and small animals which happen to pass along the borders of the rivers. They disappear in cold weather in autumn, and do not re-appear till spring. On the approach of rainy weather they make a noise like that of a man snoring. The muræna syren, or swamp puppy, in shape resembles an eel, about two feet long, covered with fine burnished scales; it has sharp teeth, and two short legs, furnished with toes and claws. When the male is se parated from the female, they make a noise like a young puppy, hence the vulgar name. They live upon frogs and water insects; in pursuit of which they cut holes

through the rice dams in the night, aud are very troublesome to the planter. The magopher, or gouffre, has a shell fifteen inches long, and twelve wide; and it can move along the ground with a man standing on its back. It lives on the pine barrens in holes ten feet deep, inclining downwards, so as to form an angle with the surface of about thirty degrees. It seldom ventures far from its den, and closes itself in its shell at the appearance of danger; in the bottom of its retreat young rattlesnakes have been found in the beginning of summer. It lives on vegetables. **

Honey-bees abound on the swamps eastward of Flint river. Musquitoes, and other winged insects, are numerous in low marshy places, and very troublesome in the summer evenings. In the southern parts the cochineal insect swarms on the leaves of the Cactus opuntia, and propagates in July; in winter they find shelter on the under side of the leaf. Sand-flies near the coast are also very troublesome in spring and autumn; and especially in cloudy evenings and mornings. The lantern fly, as it is called, is very common, and produces a pleasing effect in the summer evening, by the shining matter emitted by the dilatation of the two last rings of the abdomen.

Fishes.-The rivers abound with excellent fish. The most common are sturgeon, sheep-head, cat-fish, shad, whiting, bas, rock-fish, mullet. Shad has been

From the Savannah Republican, containing a brief view of the history and productions of the state.

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taken in the Savannah, at Augusta, 130 miles from the mouth of the river, near the close of January. The shell-fish are oysters, crabs, and shrimps. The oysters are very fine.

Population. The number of inhabitants,

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Increase of whites in the last ten years, 453 per cent.: of blacks,

733. According to the last enumeration, there were,

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In May 1817, the population of Savannah was 7624.

Civil or Administrative Division of the State of Geor gia, with the Population of each County and Chief Town, in 1810, the year of the late Enumeration.

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