Climate.-Upper Canada for six, and Lower Canada for five months in the year, have a mean temperature below the freezing point, and are buried in perpetual snow; after that period, without the intervention of a spring, the sun breaks out with great force. The winters of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are less severe, but heavy fogs prevail. The navigation of the St. Lawrence is blocked up for half the year by ice.

Produce and Trade.-Canada, especially the lower province, has many districts peculiarly fertile, and well adapted to the growth of corn; but the greatest portion of the country is covered with immense forests. The articles exported principally consist of timber, grain, furs, dried fish, fish-oil, turpentine, and pearl-ashes. The imports consist of woollens, cottons, and linens; earthenware, hardware, tea, sugar, and coffee; wine, brandy and rum; coal, &c.

Of furs, the beaver's is the one exported to the greatest amount and value, but the animal is now scarce on this side the Rocky Mountains. The cod fishery on the banks of Newfoundland has long been carried on to an almost unlimited extent; the hunting of seals is now becoming a trade of great importance to the settlers on that island.

Provinces.-Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Hudson's Bay territories.

Canada was formerly divided into two provinces, called the upper and lower, in relation to the river. They are now united.

Towns.-Kingston, on the east coast of Ontario, was the naval arsenal during the American war, and has recently been constituted the legislative capital of Canada. It has an excellent harbour and is strongly fortified.

Quebec is situated on the St. Lawrence, about 340 miles from its mouth; and is strongly fortified. General Wolfe fell in taking Quebec in 1759. Its commerce is considerable, and has been greatly increased by the facilities furnished by steam-boats for intercourse with Montreal, Halifax, &c. Population 30,000.

Montreal, on the St. Lawrence, where the Ottawa joins it: the centre of the fur trade and of the commerce between Canada and the United States. Large vessels cannot ascend the river so far, owing to its expanding into the Lake St. Peter, and becoming shallow.

Toronto, formerly called York, is on the N. W. coast of Lake Ontario. Halifax, capital of Nova Scotia ; the chief export is fish.

Population.-One million and upwards; it is rapidly increasing by emigration from Great Britain.

In Lower Canada a great portion of the inhabitants are of French extraction; the French language and manners prevail, and the Roman Catholic religion is generally professed. The rest of the population is chiefly of British origin, who are for the most part Protestants.

Government.-A constitution formed on the model of Britain is enjoyed by British America.

The legislature consists of the governor, a council, and a house of assembly. The council corresponds to the British House of Lords, and consists of members chosen by the governor for life; the assembly, corresponding to the House of Commons, is composed of the representatives of the people, chosen for four years. Any bill passed by the two houses, and obtaining the consent of the governor, becomes law if the king of England does not negative it, which he may do any time within two years after receiving it.

UNITED STATES.

Boundaries.-The United States claim the whole of America from ocean to ocean, between the British possessions on the north, and Mexico and the gulf of Mexico on the south; but all west of 94° W. long. is nearly unoccupied territory.

Rivers. The rivers unconnected with the Mississippi are,—the Hudson, which, rising near Lake Champlain, flows by Albany and New York; the Delaware by Philadelphia, expands into Delaware Bay; the Susquehana by Harrisburg, and the Potomac by Washington, run into Chesapeake Bay. The Catahouche and the Alabama flow into the Gulf of Mexico.

Canals. The Delaware and Hudson rivers are joined by a canal, 108 miles long. A canal unites the Hudson with Lake Champlain, thus opening a direct communication with Canada. Another, 363 miles long, runs from the Hudson at Albany to Lake Erie, and the Ohio canal, springing out of Lake Erie, at Cleveland, continues the

navigation to the river Ohio, and completes the water communication between the States of the interior and both the extremities.

One extends from Cincinnati to the western end of Lake Erie.

Another unites the Potomac at Washington with the Ohio at Pittsburgh. It is 360 miles long, and has a tunnel, four miles in length, to carry it through the mountains. The aggregate length of the canals in the United States is nearly 4,000 miles.

Railways.-Nearly 5,000 miles of railway have been laid down, or are in progress. A line runs from Boston to Buffalo, near the falls of Niagara. A series of lines runs from New York to Wilmington in S. Carolina, taking the important cities of Philadelphia, Washington, and Richmond in its course.

Commerce.--The commerce of the United States has attained an amazing magnitude; there is no part of the globe which is not visited by American merchantmen. The principal exports are cotton, tobacco, flour, and rice: the imports are exceedingly various, and consist of all the necessaries and luxuries of life not easily procured in the country itself.

Though cotton is now the staple production of the States, not a pound weight of it was sent out of the country before 1790. The best is grown on small sandy islands contiguous to the shores of Georgia and Carolina, or on low grounds along the sea. Tobacco is chiefly cultivated in Virginia and Maryland. The rice raised on the low marshy ground of Carolina is superior to any other.

Provinces.-There are 26 States in the Union, besides 3 territories, and 1 federal district.

1st. The six northern States; Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

These States are to the east of the Hudson, and constitute New England; in point of soil they are the least fertile, but they were the earliest settled, and are the most commercial, the most thickly peopled, and the most intelligent portion of the Union.

2d. The four in the Middle; New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

In these States the agricultural character is united with the commercial; they contain the greatest extent of cultivated land, and the largest and most prosperous cities.

3d. The six Southern; Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

The inhabitants are chiefly planters, and slave labour is employed. The cultivation of rice, cotton, and tobacco here takes the place of the common objects of agriculture.

4th. The Western States, ten in number, are,-Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

These States excite interest, not so much for what they are as for what they will be; the tide of emigration has set in strongly, not only from Europe but from the Eastern States of the Union.

The district of Columbia has been separated from Virginia and Maryland, and is under the jurisdiction of the supreme legislature of the Union alone.

The territories not yet erected into States are Florida, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Towns.-Washington, in Columbia, on the Potomac, the official capital of the Union; it consists at present of detached clusters of houses only, but it will, when complete, be a magnificent city. The capitol, in which Congress meets, is the noblest building in the Union. Mount Vernon, the seat of General Washington, is about 15 miles from the city. Pop. 23,000.

New York, the commercial capital of the States, is situated on the island of Manhattan, at the mouth of the Hudson. It is protected from the swell of the Atlantic by Long Island, which forms the channel called the Sound or East River; here the united navies of the world might ride. New York possesses half of the import trade of the United States, and has a greater amount of tonnage than any other city except London. Pop. 313,000.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in population the second, but in manufactures the first city of the Union. Printing is carried on to a great extent. Though in lat. 39° 57′ N., its harbour is occasionally shut up for a few weeks in the winter by ice. Pop. 229,000. Baltimore, Maryland, near the head of Chesapeake Bay; 70 years ago it was a village, now it contains a population of upwards of 103,000. New Orleans, Louisiana; on the Mississippi, about 105 miles from its mouth, enjoying a greater internal navigation than any other city in the world. The invention of the steam-boat has added greatly to its prosperity. The town is unhealthy. Pop. 102,000.

Boston, Massachusetts. Formerly the commercial and still the literary

capital of the States; the revolution commenced here; the birthplace of Franklin. Pop. 93,000.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; called from its extensive iron works the Birmingham of America; it suffered severely from fire in 1845.

Cincinnati, Ohio; called from the beauty of its situation the Queen of the West; extensive manufactures. Pop. 46,000.

Albany, the capital of the State of New York. Pop. 34,000. Charlestown, South Carolina; a considerable commercial town, but is unhealthy.

Louisville, Kentucky, on the r. Ohio, near the rapids.

Providence, capital of Rhode Island, the second city of New England in population and commerce.

Lowell, Massachusetts; next to Pittsburg the most important manufacturing town in the Union; it has extensive cotton manufactures. Newhaven, Connecticut; Yale college, which has its seat here, is one of the most distinguished literary institutions of America.

Population.-Upwards of 17 millions.

Government. The government is a federal republic. Each state is independent of the others, and has a separate legisla ture for the management of its internal concerns; but the defence of the country, the regulation of the commerce, and the united interests of the Union, are entrusted to a general government. The president is at the head of the legislature; he is chosen for four years by electors selected for the purpose from each state. The Congress, corresponding to the British houses of Parliament, consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of two members, chosen from each state by the State legislature; the House of Representatives consists of members elected by the people for two years, one representative is allowed for every 40,000 inhabitants.

Although the constitution of the United States is founded upon the maxim "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain and inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," slavery is sanctioned by the Congress in the district of Columbia, which is entirely under their own control, and nearly three millions of human beings toil in bondage in different States of the Union.

Religion. There is no national religion or established Church, the great bulk of the people, however, profess Christianity in some of its forms.

The clergy of all sects are supported by voluntary contributions; the most numerous denominations are in the order stated, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Catholics, and Episcopalians.