The chief city is New York, containing above 12,000 inhabitants. It is situated on an island in Hudson's River, called York island.

This province is extremely pleasant and fertile, producing abundance of wheat and various other grain, fruits, &c. Much iron too is found here.

Several islands belong to it; the principal are, Long Island, and Staten Island.

New York was conquered by the English from the Swedes and Dutch in 1664, and took its name from James, duke of York, brother to King Charles the Second, to whom it was granted by letters patent from the king.

NEW JERSEY is bounded on the North by new York; and is divided into thirteen counties.

The chief towns are, Burlington, the capital; Perth-Amboy; and Brunswick.

The best cyder on the continent is made here.

There is a remarkable cataract here, on the river Passaick; and in New York is one on the Mohawk, called the Cohoes.

New Jersey was part of that tract of land which was given by King Charles the Second to his brother, as before-mentioned; the whole being then called the New Netherlands.

PENNSYLVANIA lies west of New Jersey and Maryland, and is divided into nine counties.

This province contains many very considerable towns; the capital is Philadelphia, which is beautiful and regular. It is situated between two navigable rivers, the Delaware and the

Schuylkill,

Schuylkill, which it unites, as it were, by running in a line of two miles between them. It is the finest town in America, and contains 120,000 inhabitants, who are chiefly Quakers.

The face of the country, air, soil, and produce, do not materially differ from those of New York.

The principal commodities are, timber, ships built for sale, copper ore, iron, grain, and flour.

Pennsylvania was settled by William Penn, a celebrated Quaker, in 1681; in whose family the patent still subsists.

DELAWARE consists of three countries, situated on the river Delaware, which were formerly under the same governor as Pennsylvania.

MARYLAND, so called from Mary, queen to Charles the First, is divided into fourteen counties. Annapolis is the capital, a small neat town.

This province was settled by Lord Baltimore, in 1635. Its chief produce is tobacco.

*

VIRGINIA is a very extensive tract of country, divided into twenty-four counties, mostly named after those of England.

Its capital is James-Town; besides which, Williamsburgh is a town of note.

This country is very fertile; flax, hemp, snakeroot and ginseng, are the chief commodities. From heuce we have the best tobacco.

Virginia was the first British settlement made. in America, and takes its name from our virgin

*The city of WASHINGTON, situated on the river Potowmack, partly in Virginia, and partly in Maryland, on a territory called Columbia, is considered as the capital of the United States. It lies in lat. 38° 53′ N. long, 77° 15′ W.

queen Elizabeth, in whose reign Sir Walter Raleigh made the first attempt to settle a colony, about the year 1483; and James-Town was the first town built by the English in the New World.

We derived our right, not only to this, but to all our other settlements, from the discovery of Cabot, who, in 1497, first made the northern continent of America, in the service of Henry the Seventh of England.

CAROLINA is about the same extent as Virginia, which bounds it on the north. It is divided into North and South Carolina, containing together seven counties. Its capital is Charles-Town, so called from King Charles the Second; which for size, beauty, and trade, vies with the first towns in America.

The climate here is milder than in the other provinces, and vegetation is incredibly quick. The Carolinas produce prodigious quantities of honey, of which they make excellent spirits, and very fine mead.

The staple commodities are, indigo, rice, and the produce of the pine-tree.

This country was first settled in 1663, by some English gentlemen, who obtained a charter from Charles the Second.

GEORGIA is the most southern of all the United States, its chief towns are Savannah, and Frederica.

The settlement of Georgia was first projected in 1732, when several public spirited noblemen, and others, subscribed a considerable sum, which,

with ten thousand pounds from the government, was given to provide necessaries for such poor persons as were willing to transport themselves thither from England.

The British parliament having passed an act, in 1774, laying a duty of three-pence per pound on all teas imported into America; the Colonists considered this as a grievance, denied the right of the British parliament to tax them, and in 1775, they sent deputies to Philadelphia, who assumed the title of the Congress of the Thirteen United Provinces," and all the powers of Government. The year following, the Congress declared the United States of America independent of the crown and parliament of Great Britain. A war between the Mother-Country and the Colonies was the consequence of these transactions; and after spending much blood and treasure, Britain declared them free, sovereign, and independent states, in 1783.

6. Patagonia.

7. Brazil, belonging to the Portuguese.

8. Guiana, which belongs chiefly to the British.

This southern continent is about 3900 miles long, and near 3000 miles at the broadest part.

It extends from the 12th degree North latitude to near 54° of South latitude.

SECTION XCVIII.

OF SOUTH AMERICA.

TERRA FIRMA, the first continent the Spa

niards set foot on under Columbus, after they had subdued the Caribbee Islands, is an extent of country 1400 miles long, and 700 miles broad, lying about the Equator.

It is divided into nine provinces: its chief towns are, Panama, on the Pacific;

Porto Bello, and Carthagena, on the north side of the Isthmus; which are the most considerable cities in Spanish America.

The soil of this country, like that of the greater part of South America, is wonderfully rich and fruitful in the inland parts, but the coasts are generally barren sands. The pearls found on these coasts make a considerable article in the merchandise here; they are fished up by negro slaves.

PERU