‘We came to a high wall of black rock rising from the water’s edge on the south, above the cliffs of the river: this continued about a quarter of a mile, and was succeeded by a high open plain, till three miles further a second wall, two hundred feet high, rose on the same side. Three miles farther, another wall of the same kind, about two hundred feet high and twelve thick, appeared to the north. These hills and river cliffs exhibit a most extraordinary and romantic appearance. They rise in most places nearly perpendicularly from the water to the height of between two and three hundred feet, and are formed of very white sandstone, so soft as to yield readily to the impression of the water, in the upper part of which lie imbedded two or three horizontal strata of white freestone insensible to the rain, and on the top is a dark rich loam, which forms a gradually ascending plain, from a mile to a mile and a half in extent, when the hills again rise abruptly to the height of about three hundred feet more.
‘In trickling down the cliffs, the water has worn the soft sandstone into a thousand grotesque figures, among which, with a little fancy, may be discerned elegant ranges of freestone buildings, with columns variously sculptured, and supporting long and elegant galleries, while the parapets are adorned with statuary. On a nearer approach, they represent every form of elegant ruins; columns, some with pedestals and capitals entire, others mutilated and prostrate; and some rising pyramidically over each other till they terminate in a sharp point. These are varied by niches, alcoves, and the customary appearances of desolated magnificence. The illusion is increased by the number of martins that have built their globular nests in the niches, and hover over these columns; as in our country they are accustomed to frequent large stone structures.
‘As we advance, there seems no end to the visionary enchantment that surrounds us. In the midst of this fantastic scenery are vast ranges of walls, which seem the productions of art, so regular is the workmanship. They rise perpendicularly from the river, sometimes to the height of one hundred feet, varying in thickness from one to twelve feet, being equally broad at the top as below. The stones of which they are formed, are black, thick, and durable, and composed of a large portion of earth, intermixed and cemented with a small quantity of sand, and a considerable proportion of talc or quartz.
‘These stones are almost invariably regular parallelopipeds of unequal sizes in the wall, but equally deep, and laid regularly in ranges over each other like bricks, each breaking and covering the interstice of the two on which it rests. But though the perpendicular interstice is destroyed, the horizontal one extends entirely through the work. The stones, too, are proportioned to the thickness of the wall in which they are employed, being largest in the thickest walls. The thinner walls are composed of a single depth of the parallelopiped, while the thicker ones consist of two or more depths. These walls pass the river at several places, rising from thewater’s edge much above the sandstone bluffs, which they seem to penetrate; thence they cross in a straight line, on either side of the river, the plains over which they tower to the height of from ten to seventy feet, until they lose themselves in the second range of hills. Sometimes they run parallel in several ranges near each other; sometimes intersect each other at right angles, and have the appearance of walls of ancient houses or gardens.’
PART II.
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I.—POLITICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS.
UNITED STATES. The territory of the United States extends from twenty-five to fifty-four degrees north latitude, and from sixty-six degrees forty-nine minutes to one hundred and twenty-five degrees west longitude; comprising one million eight hundred and thirty-two thousand three hundred and fifteen square miles. It is bounded north by Russia and British America; east by the Atlantic and British America; south by the Atlantic, the gulf and territory of Mexico, and west by Mexico, Texas, and the Pacific ocean. This extent of country is divided into twenty-six states, six territories, and the district of Columbia. The states are familiarly classed under the Eastern or New England, the Middle, the Southern, and the Western states. The first division comprehends Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; the second, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland; the third, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; the fourth, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Arkansas and Missouri. The territories are Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, and Oregon. There are no territorial governments in the Missouri and Oregon territories. The whole extent of inhabited country includes more than eight hundred thousand square miles; and the whole population is seventeen million sixty-eight thousand one hundred and twelve.