clear blue sky, except near the border, | Chipola river, in Jackson county. At where it has a slight tinge of green, the foot of an immense limestone bluff from the reflection of the surrounding is an opening, only five feet in height, verdure, which hangs over it in droop- and thirty feet wide. Having entered, ing branches and waving festoons. The the visiter finds a descending passage of eastern side presents a rugged, rocky fifty feet, when he perceives that he has precipice; all else is an abyss of bound-reached a spacious apartment, a hunless depth. Squadrons of fishes are seen dred feet across and fifty in height, along careering round their own world, in per- the southern side of which flows a stream fect security. The water is moderately of pure, cold water, which soon disapcold, and highly impregnated with lime. pears. A narrow passage leads onward The beauty of the fountain, the luxu- to the northwest, with a pointed arch riance of the foliage around it, and the overhead, like a Gothic aisle. After calm retirement of the whole scene, proceeding sixty yards, a stream, twenty render this one of the most charming feet wide and five feet deep, crosses the spots that West Florida affords." path, which abounds in white cray-fish. The passage next turns northeastwardly, to a chamber one hundred feet long, with a floor of red clay, scattered with fragments of fallen rock, and blocks of stalagmite, formed by the water dripping from the numerous stalactites above. These, of different forms and sizes, almost conceal from view the lofty roof; while a collection of the longest, united in one undivided mass, extends from the ceiling to the floor, forming an immense, but well-proportioned column, which seems erected to support the rock above. The entrance of visiters into this hall with torches, disturbs a large flock of bats, which have their residence far above; and on their rapid wings, after fluttering about awhile, they disappear among the inner recesses of the extensive cavern, making a sound like that of a rushing wind.

Lime-Sinks.-All over the territory are scattered lime-sinks, or sink-holes, which mark the course of the subterranean rivers. Holes in the ground, where the earth caves in, and where the hollow is filled with water, form these lime-sinks. Williams says: They are often very deep, and from them I have often taken fine strings of trout. Two instances have occurred, within our knowledge, where persons have camped under the pines for one night, and the next, earth, trees, and all, have disappeared, and an unfathomable sink has supplied the place."

A narrow and winding passage next opens, to conduct the stranger to a new hall, from which several paths branch off in different directions, where several streams are observed rushing through crevices of different sizes, and annually

Caves.-A large part of Florida (that is, the limestone region) abounds in caves. The rock is porous and soft, and slowly dissolves in water. Swift-running streams rapidly wear and tear away mass after mass, and from time to time new channels are formed, by which means the old are left dry. In many places, channels are worn under ground, and there considerable rivers pursue their way, for greater or less distances, beneath the surface, some of which reappear, and others fall into the sea by un-producing changes in their subterranean known passages. Such is the nature of a number of streams in Europe, some of which have been connected with mythological traditions and poetical associations. Wherever an old subterranean channel is deserted, a cavern is left; and among those which have been discovered in Florida, the most curious, perhaps, is

The Arch Cave.-This remarkable excavation is about three miles from

courses. The stalactite formations, at the same time, gradually fill up some of the chambers in which they are found; and the beauty of these it is difficult to describe, and even to imagine. They are masses of small crystals, more or less regular, though endlessly varying in form. The sides of the cavern are covered with them in many parts, while the pendants above, like icicles, usually have a corresponding mass of the same

THIS state lies between thirty degrees ten minutes, and thirty-five degrees, north latitude, and between eight and eleven degrees, west longitude from Washington. From north to south it occupies a tract of land three hundred and seventeen miles long, and one hundred and seventy-four miles broad, containing forty-six thousand square miles. In 1850, the population was numbered at 771,650.

Alabama is situated in the valley of Tennessee, and the basin of Mobile, except its southeast and southwest angles. The southern part borders on the gulf of Mexico for the space of fifty or sixty miles, and is nearly covered with pines, and low and level. In the central part it is hilly and varied by prairies, and broken and somewhat mountainous in the north. The soil, in the northern portion of the The native trees state, is excellent; but in the southern, it is sandy and barren.

in the northern and middle sections are black and white oak, hickory, poplar, cedar, chestnut, pine, mulberry, &c. The arable land of southern Alabama, may be found mostly on or near to the water-courses, and is called by two different The intermediate has a kind of soil between names, alluvion and intermediate. the open pine woods and the alluvial river-bottoms. Although it comprises the much greater part of the state, it is sterile. It abounds more in the southern than in the northern sections.

Alabama has a number of fine rivers, of which the Mobile is the principal. The Alabama is a very fine river, and is navigable to Claiborne, sixty miles above its junction, for vessels drawing six feet of water. At the mouth of the Cahawba, one hundred and fifty miles further, it has four or five feet of water, and in the shallowest places, to the junction of the Coosa and Talapoosa, the rivers by which it is formed, it is never less than three feet.

The Tombigbee is four hundred and fifty miles long, and is navigable for schooners to St. Stephen's, one hundred and twenty miles, and for steamboats to Columbus, Mississippi. Indeed, it is boatable for the greater part of its course.