sition in a military point of view. Its harbor is capacious and easily accessible for ships drawing twenty-two feet of water. The entrance to the harbor is defended by Fort Taylor, a large, costly structure.

It is St. Augustine, one of the largest places in the State, is situated on the north side of Matanzas Sound, about two miles from the sea. the oldest town in the United States, and has for many years been a noted resort for invalids. It is defended by Fort Marion, erected by the Spaniards more than one hundred years ago.

Appalachicola, Jacksonville, and Fernandina are among the other principal towns in the State.

During the year ending June 30, 1870, the lines of the public surveys were extended over 407,333 acres, making the total quantity surveyed in this State up to that date of 27,103,768 acres.

Of the entire area of the State, 37,931,520 acres, there remained unsold and unappropriated at the date above mentioned, 17,287,909.31

acres.

The Islands of Cuba and San Domingo may be regarded as a prolongation of the Florida Peninsula, from which they are separated only by The introduction into narrow and comparatively shallow channels. these islands of modern agricultural improvements, the opening of their mines, and the invigoration of their industries by American enterprise and a stable government, will bring the people of the West India group into intimate connection with the people of Florida by railroad communication, extending to the southern extremity of the peninsula and eastward through Cuba, Hayti, and San Domingo, which would be broken only by ferries across the Strait of Florida and the Windward Channel respectively. By such a line a vast commerce would be built up in the exchange of the manufactures and agricultural products of the more northern States for the tropical fruits, woods, and minerals of the southern portion of Florida and the islands in the vicinity; and over such a thoroughfare also would throng multitudes seeking the milder latitudes for the winter months, or the bracing climate of the North during the summer heats. As an indication of the future of the West India Archipelago, the following facts as to the commerce which existed there prior to the revolution in Hayti are presented:

The exports of the French portion of the island in 1789 amounted to $38,000,000, and the aggregate produce of the island, including the Spanish portion, was nearly $92,000,000, while its imports were no less than $50,000,000. Sixteen hundred vessels and twenty-seven thousand sailors were employed in conducting all the branches of this colonial traffic.

The island is as prolific now as it was eighty years ago, and with modern improvements in cultivation, new processes of manufacture, and under a sound and permanent government, a commerce of much greater extent and value could, beyond doubt, be created within a short period of time, while the more perfect utilization of the resources of the country would not only induce a vast immigration, thereby adding to the value of real estate in this beautiful garden spot, but would furnish attractive and lucrative employment to elements of its population now without permanent industries.

ALABAMA

is bounded on the east by Georgia, on the west by Mississippi, on the north by Tennessee, and on the south by Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, having a gulf coast of sixty miles. A part of the State, form.

ing a narrow strip between Florida and Mississippi, extends to the Gulf of Mexico, in 30° 15' north latitude, but the main body of the State lies between 310 and 350 north latitude, and from 85° 10' to 88° 31′ west longitude, being 280 miles long, with a general breadth varying from about 140 miles in the north to about 200 in the south. The area of the State is 50,722 square miles, or 32,462,080 acres.

This State is of a level surface, except in the northern portion, which is mountainous, the Blue Ridge extending through it, but attaining here no great height. Declining generally from this region toward the south, the State presents a vast expanse of prairies with gentle swells, and reaching at length a point but little raised above the sea level.

The principal rivers are the Mobile, Alabama, Tombigbee, Chattahoochee, Black Warrior, and Tennessee. The last mentioned passes through the northern part of the State, with a circular sweep from east to west, receiving no considerable tributary on its southern side within Alabama, and flowing into the Ohio at Paducah, Kentucky. The other rivers mentioned flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly all the waters of the State fall into the Mobile River, by which principally the southern slope is drained into the Gulf. The eastern border is watered for several hundred miles by the Chattahoochee, a large stream, but having no considerable tributaries from this State. The Alabama and Tombigbee, both large rivers, form, by their junction, fifty miles above Mobile Bay, the Mobile River, which empties into that bay. A few miles below the junction the Tensaw issues as a branch from the Mobile, and reaches Mobile Bay at Blakeley, after having been augmented by another stream from the Alabama. The Tombigbee, coming from Mississippi, unites with the Black Warrior, which flows from Northern Alabama, and thus augmented, unites with the Alabama to form the Mobile. The Black Warrior is navigated by steamers for 285 miles, and the Alabama for about 300 miles, although with interruptions in the dry season. The Conecuh, Perdido, and Choctawhatchee are smaller rivers. Mobile Bay is the main outlet of the navigable waters of the State, being about thirty miles long and from three to eight broad, with fifteen feet of water at low tide at the main entrance. There is steam-boat navigation in the State for nearly 1,500 miles.

In the southern portion of the State is a region extending for 132 miles north from the Gulf of Mexico, and 40 from the Florida State line, across the State, and embracing an area of 11,000 square miles, which contains extensive pine forests, yielding excellent timber, tar, and turpentine, while on the lowlands along the rivers in the same district are found the different varieties of the oak and the cypress, noted for the durability of its timber. The soil in this region is naturally adapted to raising grapes, apples, peaches, and pears, and corn and cotton may be produced. It is also favorable for stock-raising, the pine forests affording natural pasturage for cattle. It is watered by the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, and there are also good railroad facilities. An abundant supply of fish and oysters is obtained from the waters of the Gulf and Mobile Bay.

North of this for about 102 miles on the western and 60 on the eastern line of the State is a section of country characterized by extensive prairies, an excellent climate, and rich soil, which is highly productive of cotton, corn, and provisions. This is one of the most fertile districts, most healthy and best adapted to agricultural pursuits of any in the South, while by its railroad and river facilities it has easy access to market. The land here will produce from 50 to 60 bushels of corn, or 800 to 900 pounds of seed cotton per acre; and tracts which, before the

late war, were held at from $30 to $50 per acre, may now be had at from $5 to $10.

For about thirty-five miles further north, across the State extends a section in which the soil is poor, but which is healthy, and where numerous streams afford good water-power, favorable to manufacturing purposes, and with good railroad facilities.

In the northeastern part of the State is the mineral region, extending about one hundred and sixty miles in a southwesterly direction, with an average width of eighty miles. Here are found white, black, and variegated marbles, soapstone, flagstones, graphite, or plumbago, and granite, with coal-fields, covering four thousand square miles, from one to eight feet thick, the coal being bituminous, and well adapted for generating steam, and for the manufacture of gas, coke, and iron. Near these coal-fields are extensive beds of limestone, sandstone, and iron ore. Throughout this mineral district there are numerous fertile valleys, in which wheat, corn, and cotton are produced, and which are well adapted to stock-raising.

The northwestern portion of the State is a stock and agricultural region, producing cotton, corn, grain, grapes, and stock, in which the climate is healthy, the soil rich, and before the war, cultivated lands were valued at from $30 to $50 per acre; now, for the same, the prices are from $5 to $10.

Alabama was originally a part of Georgia. The Territory of Mississippi was organized in 1798, including the present States of Alabama and Mississippi. Florida then belonged to Spain, and intervened between the Territory of Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, excluding the former from the sea. In the war of 1812, the United States took possession of that portion of Florida lying between the Perdido and Pearl Rivers, and it was afterward united to Mississippi Territory. After General Jackson, by his decisive war with the Creeks, removed all apprehension of Indian hostilities, the country fast filled up with population until, being divided, a part was admitted as the State of Mississippi in 1817, the other portion continuing a Territory until 1819, when it was admitted as the State of Alabama.

The State is well provided with schools and churches, newspapers, periodicals, and institutions of public benevolence, the Federal Govern ment having liberally appropriated from the public lands for the support of common schools and a State university, from which there has been realized, for the former purpose, $1,807,438 91, and for the latter, $300,000.

Among public institutions are the Alabama Insane Hospital, at Tuscaloosa; the Medical College of Alabama, at Mobile; the Alabama Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, at Talladega, and State University, at Tuscaloosa.

The railroads, completed and in prospect, present a very complete system by which all portions of the State will be united with the general railroad system of the country, there being now in operation over 1,036 miles of road, the cost and equipment of which is estimated at $36,421,000. The principal city is Mobile, the only seaport of Alabama, being located on the Mobile River, near where it enters Mobile Bay. It was founded in its present location in 1711, and was incorporated as a city in 1819. In 1860, its population was about 30,000. The city is well built, with streets regularly laid out, paved and lighted with gas, and handsome public buildings. Mobile has an extensive trade and some manufacturing business. It exports lumber, turpentine, rosin, oil, &c., but cotton is the principal article of export.

Montgomery, the capital of the State, is a city of over ten thousand people, improved with public buildings, churches, seminaries, banks, newspapers, marble yards, iron founderies, and saw-mills, situated on the Alabama River, 415 miles above Mobile, connected with other portions of the State by railroads and by river navigation open at all seasons of the year. Cotton is extensively shipped from Montgomery, which was laid out in 1817, and made the seat of government in 1846.

As places of less importance may be mentioned, Tuscaloosa, Wetumpka, Hartsville, Marion, Talladega, Florence, Athens, and Jacksonville, having a population of from one thousand to three thousand five hundred, and Batesville, Carrollton, Uniontown, Pickinsville, Somerville, Blakeley, Decatur, Eufaula, Tuscumbia, and Claiborne, with not exceeding one thousand.

Alabama has almost every variety of useful timber, as yellow pine, the several varieties of oak, sweet and black gum, poplar, ash, walnut, hickory, locust, chestnut, red and white cedar, dogwood, maple, and elm. In agriculture the State holds a high rank, and, considering its superior natural advantages, there is no reason why it should not also excel in manufacturing and in the development of mineral riches.

As a long-settled and highly-improved State, yet with comparatively low-priced lands, Alabama presents inducements to immigration not surpassed by those of any other. In addition to the large quantity of land in private hands, which may be had at a cheap rate, the United States still retain public lands there to the extent of 5,939,632.87 acres, all of which has been surveyed and is open to entry under the homestead law.

MISSISSIPPI

adjoins Alabama, having that State for its eastern boundary, with Tennessee on the north, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and Louisiana and Arkansas on the west, and lying in the shape nearly of a parallelogram between 30° 13′ and 35° north latitude, and 88° 7′ and 91° 41' west longitude. From the Pearl River on the west to the Alabama State line on the east extends a narrow strip of land south of the main body of the State below latitude 31° north to the Gulf of Mexico; the extreme length of the State north and south being 332 miles; average breadth, 142 miles, varying from 78 miles south of latitude 31° north to 189 on that parallel, and 118 on the north line; area, 47,156 square miles, or 30,179,840 acres.

The surface of Mississippi is of an undulating and diversified character, with a slope in general to the southwest and to the south, which is indicated by the course of the rivers, while of a small section the waters flow to the southeast and north. The State has no mountains, but there are numerous hills of moderate elevation, some of which, terminating abruptly upon a level plain, or the bank of a river, are called bluffs or river hills. The country contiguous to the Mississippi River contains many of these hills, from which circumstance it is known as the bluff region, extending from ten to twenty-five miles inland, and is one of great fertility.

This State is well watered, having the Mississippi on its western border for more than 500 miles of circuitous windings, with a great number of other streams, and several navigable rivers. The Tennessee River flows along the northeastern corner, and the Tombigbee, rising in the northern section, is navigable by steamboats to Columbus. The Yazoo River, formed by the junction of the Yallobusha and Tallahatchie, which rise in the northern part of the State, near the headwaters of the Tom

bigbee, flows into the Mississippi River, after a course of about 200 miles, and is navigable for some distance by boats. The Big Black, Bayou Pierre, and Homochitto are also tributaries to the Mississippi. The Pearl River, rising in the center of the State, the Pascagoula, formed by the junction of the Chickasawhay and Leaf Rivers, empty, by a southerly course, into the Gulf of Mexico and the lagoons connected with it. There are numerous other streams watering extensive districts and fertilizing the soil.

This region was visited first among Europeans by De Soto and his companions in their expedition, about 1540, in search of the new El Dorado then generally believed in and sought for by adventurers to America. The Spaniards, however, made no settlements, and the French afterward planted a colony here, having given the country the name of Louisiana. What is now Mississippi was ceded by the French to Great Britain in 1763, and after the Revolution, population having increased, the Territory of Mississippi was created by act of Congress in 1798, and its territorial limits having been variously modified, was at length admitted, as it at present exists, a State of the Union, in 1817. Its population in 1820, three years after, is given as 75,448, and in 1860, as 791,305.

Natchez, in this State, is a city situated on the east bank of the Mississippi River, 280 miles by water above New Orleans, built on the summit of a bluff 150 feet above the water, and on the narrow strip of land between the foot of the hill and the river, the latter portion being called Natchez Landing or Natchez-under-the-Hill; population in 1860, 6,616. The streets are regular, lighted with gas, generally graveled in the roadway, and lined with shade trees. The city is provided with churches, schools, newspapers, benevolent institutions, and the residences of many wealthy families are in the vicinity. The business is mainly in cotton. There is daily steam communication by the river with New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Memphis, and a stage-line connects at Brookhaven with the New Orleans and Jackson Great Northern Railroad. The climate is pleasant and salubrious, the thermometer seldom rising above 90°. Fort Rosalie was built here by the French in 1716, and this was the first capital of the Territory of Mississippi.

Vicksburg is another city situated on the Mississippi, 408 miles above New Orleans, and 444 miles west from Jackson, with which it connects by railroad. Population in 1860, 4,591; being the chief commercial town between Memphis and New Orleans. The residences are situated on a bluff, and the business portion of the town on the river bank below. It is well provided with churches, schools, seminaries, newspapers, and before the civil war exported from 100,000 to 130,000 bales of cotton annually.

Jackson, the capital of the State, is situated on the right bank of Pearl River, 45 miles east from Vicksburg, at the intersection of the Southern Mississippi and the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroads; population about 4,000. The Pearl River is navigable to this point, and from 30,000 to 40,000 bales of cotton are here annually shipped. The United States consolidated district land office for Mississippi is located at Jackson.

Grand Gulf, Warrenton, Princeton, Tallalula, Greenville, Bolivar, Commerce, and Concordia, on the Mississippi; Canton and Granada, on the Yallabusha; Holly Springs, Pearlington, Biloxi, Shieldsboro, Mississippi City, and Pascagoula, are important places.

Railroad improvement in this State has so far progressed that there are now about 898 miles of road completed, which, with the roads pro