THE State of North Carolina, one of the original members of the Union, lies between 33° 53′ and 36° 33′ N. latitude, and between 75° 25′ and 84° 30′ W. longitude. It is bounded on the north by Virginia and Tennessee, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by South Carolina, Georgia, and the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by Tennessee. Its extreme length, from east to west, is about 450 miles, and its extreme width, from north to south, about 180 miles.

TOPOGRAPHY.

In the southern and southeastern parts of the State, the surface is level and sandy, and often marshy. These swamp lands are owned by the Board of Literature, in trust for the Public Schools, and are now offered to actual settlers on very liberal terms. "The better class of these lands are generally covered with a heavy and dense growth of timber, vines, reeds, and grass; the soil is from five to fifteen feet deep, and consists of decomposed vegetable matter, fine sand, and finely comminuted clay. It produces exuberantly all the grains, grass, cotton, rice, peas, potatoes, turnips, pumpkins, melons, the garden vegetables, apples, peaches, and grapes; but the best test of its fertility is its growth of Indian corn, an exhausting crop, which it will yield in large amounts, from year to year, without manures or stimulants, and for an indefinite period. It will not produce as much per acre as the heavy clay soils in the highest state of improvement; but considering

the difference of the expense of production, the crops of the former are vastly the more profitable. The average yield of Indian corn per acre, without the application of fertilizers or stimulants, is from fifty to seventy-five bushels; and experience has proved that this will continue, from year to year, for more than a century; while science infers, from the facts of the past and from careful analyses, that even two centuries of close cultivation will not exhaust the natural and ever renewing fertility of these soils. The swamps of eastern North Carolina do not generate the malaria which, in the marshy regions further south, causes malignant fevers; and the experience of a large population devoted for over a century to open-air pursuits, will confirm the statement that the laborers here, in the woods, in the fields, and on the waters, are generally as healthy as in any part of the country.”

The great Dismal Swamp, already described, occupies the upper part of the counties lying immediately north of Albemarle Sound.

About sixty miles back from the coast, the surface begins to rise, and forms a fine hill country in the central part of the State. The western part is traversed by the ranges of the Alleghany Mountains, one of which (the Iron Mountains) forms the boundary between North Carolina and Tennessee. These mountains are rarely lower than 1000 feet. The principal peaks are Clingman's Peak, 6941 feet, and Mount Mitchell, 6732 feet high, which form parts of the Black Mountains, and Roan Mountain, 6720 feet, Grandfather Mountain, 5788 feet, and Grandmother Mountain, 2500 feet high.

The coast is lined by a chain of low islands or sand reefs, which lie between the mainland and the ocean, enclosing a series of sounds or lagoons, which are very shallow and difficult of navigation. Albemarle Sound, one of the most important of these, lies in the extreme northeastern part of the State, immediately south of the Dismal Swamp. It extends inland from the ocean about 60 miles, and is from 4 to 15 miles wide. Just northeast of it is a smaller body of water called Currituck Sound, with which it communicates by a narrow inlet. Communication is had with Pamlico Sound in the same way. Pamlico Sound lies immediately south of Albemarle Sound, and is separated from it by a swampy neck of land, which comprises the counties of Hyde, Tyrrel, Washington, and Beaufort. The Sound is 80 miles long, and from 10 to 25 miles wide. Its average depth is about 20 feet, but many shoals occur in it. It is connected with Albemarle Sound at its northeastern extremity by a narrow inlet, in which, halfway between the two sounds, lies Roanoke Island, famous as

having been the site of the first English colony in America, and the scene of a fierce and bloody battle during the late war.

The Roanoke and Chowan rivers are the principal streams flowing into Albemarle Sound, and the Tar and Neuse rivers the principal streams flowing into Pamlico Sound. The Roanoke River rises in two branches in Virginia, which unite at Clarksville, in Mecklenburg county, in that State. Its general course is east-southeast, as far as the northwest end of Halifax county (N. C.), where it enters North Carolina, and flows southeast to Albemarle Sound. It meets tidewater at Weldon in Halifax county, 150 miles from its mouth, but above that place is frequently broken by rapids. The length of the main stream is 250 miles. One of its branches, the Staunton River, is about 200 miles long, and is regarded by some writers as the true Roanoke. This would make the length of the river about 450 miles. The Tar River, the lower part of which is sometimes called the Pamlico River, rises near the western border of Granville county, and flows southeast into Pamlico Sound. It is navigable for small vessels to Tarborough, in Edgecombe county. The Neuse River rises in Person county, the central northern county of the State, and flows southeast into Pamlico Sound. It is about 300 miles long, and is the second river in size in the State. It is navigable to Waynesborough, 100 miles from its mouth, but light draught boats have ascended it 100 miles farther. Its lower part forms a broad estuary several miles wide, and about 25 miles long, through which it empties its waters. Extensive forests of pitch and pine lie along its upper waters, or more properly above Kinston. Goldsborough, Smithfield, Kinston, and Newberne are its principal towns. The Cape Fear River, the principal stream in the State, is formed by the confluence, in Chatham county, of the Haw and Deep rivers. It flows thence, in a southeasterly direction, through the centre of the State, into the Atlantic Ocean. At its mouth it is divided into two channels by Smith's Island. It is the only river of the State flowing directly into the ocean, and is navigable to Fayetteville, 120 miles. By means of canals, dams, etc., boats are enabled now to reach the coal mines of Chatham county. It is a little over 300 miles long. Wilmington, the principal city of the State, Fayetteville, and Elizabethtown are situated on its banks. Cape Fear, the most southern point of the State, is formed by the lower end of Smith's Island. The mouth of the river is defended by Fort Fisher, which was bombarded and taken from the Confederates by the naval and land forces of the Union during the late war. The Yad

kin (called the Great Pedee in South Carolina) and Catawba (Wateree in South Carolina), and several of the principal rivers of South Carolina rise in and flow for some distance through this State. The waters of North Carolina abound in fish. The fisheries of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds are amongst the most valuable in the world. There are several inlets breaking through the sand ridge lying along the coast, and several fine harbors within the limits of the State. The most prominent points of this ridge are known (commencing on the north) as Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, and Cape Fear.

SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, CLIMATE, MINERALS,
MANUFACTURES, etc.

From a communication from the Governor of North Carolina to the United States Commissioner of Emigration, we take the following description, which fairly represents the present condition of the State:

"The eastern section is mostly covered with pines, the middle and western with vast forests of oaks (of many species) interspersed with the poplar, hickory, walnut, maple, etc. Seven large rivers, with their numerous tributaries, traverse the State, furnishing unlimited

water-power as they flow down from the mountains through the middle section; and as they move with a moderate current across the champaign country, on the east, into the chain of sounds which skirt the coast, they furnish with these an aggregate of 900 miles of inland navigation, which might be doubled by carrying westward the system of slack-water improvements already commenced. With these navigable waters is interlaced the railroad system of the State, amounting to 998 miles completed, and 400 more in progress, which, with 350 miles of plank-roads and turnpikes, brings the sea-coast into ready communication with every part of the State.

"THE SOIL is very various; alluvial and peaty accumulations abound near the coast and along the rivers, while in the middle and western regions the soil is mainly of granitic origin, and represents every grade of sandy or clayey loam of various fertility.

"THE CLIMATE has also a wide range, being tempered on the seaboard to something like the mildness of that of the Gulf States, while in the mountain region it approaches the rigor of New York. In the middle section, which constitutes the larger part of the State, and represents the average climate, the mean annual temperature is 60 degrees (Fahrenheit)—the mean summer temperature 75 degrees; mean winter, 43 degrees; extreme summer (diurnal), 89 degrees; average absolute maximum, 99 degrees; extreme winter (diurnal), 20 degrees; average absolute minimum, 12 degrees. The annual fall of rain is 45 inches. The number of cloudy days in the year is 130; rainy days, 60.

“THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS are numerous. The most important are wheat, corn, oats, rye, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, rice, cotton, tobacco, turpentine, grapes, and fruits. Wheat and corn are produced with facility and abundance in all parts; rye, oats, and potatoes flourish in the middle and western regions; rice, sweet potatoes and peas in the eastern; tobacco in the middle; cotton in the southern counties of the middle, and in the eastern section; turpentine and pine lumber are peculiar to the east. The fruits most extensively and largely cultivated are the apple, peach, pear, and cherry, represented by numerous varieties. No part of the continent is better adapted to these than the middle and western regions. The principal grasses are the orchard, herd's, timothy, and blue, to which must be added clover and lucerne. All these flourish in the middle and western regions, and some of them grow wild; hence, stock-raising is easy and profitable. The stock chiefly raised are horses, mules, cows,