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the bank of the United States.

vate insurance office, and eight

There is also a prichartered marine in

surance companies, in the city, the nominal capital of which amounts to about 4,000,000 dollars. *

Canals. Part of the Delaware and Chesapeak canal is to run in Maryland.

Inventions claimed by Persons in this State.

Boadley, (J. B.) an ice-house, which consists of a frame of logs, of greater or less dimensions, placed above or below the surface, lined within and without with straw, and covered with a roof, with a bason to receive the water from rain or the melted ice.

Books relating to the History and Geography, &c. of Maryland.

Laws of Maryland. Bacon's edition, 1654.

Acts of Visitation at Annapolis in Maryland. Folio, London. Douglas's Summary, article Maryland. 1755.

Eddis' (William) Letters from America, Historical and Descriptive, comprising occurrences from 1769 to 1777 exclusive. Lon. don, published by subscription. 1792.

Bozman's (John Leeds) Sketch of the History of Maryland, 1 vol. in Svo.

Godon's Observations to serve for the Mineralogical Map of Maryland. No. 50 of the Sixth Volume of the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia.

Moose, (Thomas) the Great Error of American Agriculture exposed, and Hints for Improvement suggested. Pp. 72. Baltimore.

Maps.

Griffith's (Denis) Map of the State, 3 sheets. Laid down from actual Survey of all the Principal Waters, Public Roads, and Division of the Counties.

Circular letter of Messrs Stump and Williams, merchants, Baltimore, March 1817.

CHAPTER XVIII.

VIRGINIA.

SITUATION AND BOUNDARIES.-Virginia is situated between the 36° 30′ and 40° 40′ north latitude, and between 1° 40′ east and 6° 20′ west longitude. It is bounded on the north by Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; south by North Carolina and Tennessee; east by Maryland and the Atlantic Ocean; west by Kentucky and Ohio. Its length, from the Atlantic on the east to the Cumberland mountains on the west, is 440 miles. Its greatest breadth, from north to south, is 290. Area, 70,000 square miles.

Aspect of the Country, and Nature of the Soil.Different ranges of mountains run across this state in a direction nearly parallel with the sea coast, which are known by the name of the Green and South Mountains, the Blue Ridge, † and Alleghany or Apalaches. Between these ridges are rich and fertile vallies. From

* This name was bestowed on it by the virgin Queen Elizabeth, of which title she was ostentatiously fond.

+ The height of the summit of the Alleghany ridge, about six miles west of the sweet springs, according to Colonel Williams's barometrical observation, is 2988 feet above the level of tide water in Virginia. The most elevated point, called the Peaks of Otter, is supposed to be elevated 4000 feet above the level of the sea.

The mountainous disbeyond which, to the

the sea to the distance of 100 miles, the country is low, flat, and abounding in swamps and stagnant marshes; the soil a mixture of loam, sand, and clay. Thence to the hills, 150 miles, the surface is uneven, gradually but irregularly rising, as it recedes from the coast to the Alleghany chain. trict is 100 miles in breadth; Ohio river, there is a regular succession of hills and vallies. In the western parts, and between the Blue and Alleghany ridges, it is a limestone country, with many caves, valuable for the quantity of saltpetre which they afford. The surface, at the falls of the rivers, is generally elevated from 150 to 200 feet above the tide. The shore, at Cape Henry, is but fifteen feet above high water mark. * The soil of the peninsula, between the Potomac and Rappahanoc rivers, is sandy, and in the county of Middlesex there are tracts unfavourable to vegetation; but these are of no great extent, and the state in general, in point of soil, is highly favoured by nature. The banks of James ri ver, and the intermediate surface to York river, are very fertile. Towards the West mountain, and be tween the Opechan creek and the Shenandoah, the line of country, for soil and climate, is far superior to that of the sea coast. In general, the fertile lands commence above the falls of the rivers. On the southern side of the mountains, vegetation commences earlier, and continues later than in other situations exposed to the action of the north-west winds. From tide-water to the

Latrobe, No. 68 of 4th vol. of Philosophical Transactions.

Blue ridge, the principal productions are-Indian corn, wheat, tobacco, oats, hay, clover, &c. Beyond the great ridge of mountains, wheat, hemp, Indian corn, and pasture. It has been calculated, that three-fourths of the summits of the mountains are fertile and susceptible of cultivation. The alluvial soil extends as high as Richmond, where the teeth and bones of sharks and other animals have been dug up from the depth of seventy-one feet, in the excavation of wells.

Caverns.-The most remarkable are Madison's Cave, on the north side of the Blue ridge, and Wier's Cave, in Augusta county, about fifteen miles from Staunton. The last, according to a description given of it in 1806, is half a mile in length, and contains more than twenty different apartments, some of which are 300 feet in length.

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Temperature.-Virginia and Maryland lie between those parallels which include the finest climate in the old continent-Morocco, Fez, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily, Naples, and the southern provinces of Spain. Mr Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, observes, that, proceeding on the same parallel of latitude westwardly, the climate becomes colder, till you reach the summit of the Alleghany ridge. Thence, descending to the Mississippi, the temperature again increases, and to such an extent, that the climate is several degrees warmer than in the same latitude on the shores of the Atlantic. This observation is confirmed by the phenomena of vegetation; plants which thrive and multiply naturally in the western states, do not grow on the sea coast. In the summer of

1799, when the thermometer was at 90° at Monticello, and 96° at Williamsburgh, it was at 110° at Kaskaskia.* Of late years, snow does not lie below the mountains more than a few days, and the rivers seldom freeze. The heat of summer is also more moderate. The extremes of heat and cold at Monticello, according to the observations of Mr Jefferson, are 98° above and 6° below zero on Fahrenheit's scale. The average temperature of the mornings of May, the season of rapid vegetation, is about 63° of Fahrenheit. The mean annual temperature of Williamsburgh, in latitude 38°, according to the calculations of Baron Humboldt, is 14°5′ of the centigrade thermometer, (57°21′F.) The temperature is much influenced by the winds; those from the north and north-west bring cold and clear weather; those from the south-east haziness, moisture, and warmth. The pleasantest months are May and June; July and August are intensely hot, and September and October are generally rainy. The annual average quantity of rain at Williamsburgh was 47.038 inches. It is observed, that, as agriculture advances, and the swamps are drained, the climate becomes gradually milder ; and it is believed, that, at no very distant period, oranges and lemons may be cultivated in the southeastern parts. In the year 1779, Elizabeth river was so frozen at Norfolk, that the American army crossed on the ice. Since that period, it has been once frozen to Crany Island, a distance of three miles.

Bays.-The Chesapeak Bay extends inland near

*

Page 138, first edition of Jefferson's Notes, 1782.

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