in the Cumberland mountains in Kentucky, and after a course of nearly 200 miles in that state, passes into Tennessee, through which it makes a circuit of 250 miles, when it re-enters Kentucky, and falls into the Ohio. In Tennessee it has several branches; it is a broad, deep, and beautiful stream; steamboats of the largest size ascend this river to Nashville, and keel boats, in moderate stages of the water, 300 miles further. The Obian, Forked Deer, Big Hatchee, and Wolf rivers, are in the western part of this state, and flow into the Mississippi; these are all navigable for boats. No part of the western country is better watered than Tennessee.

5. CLIMATE. The climate is delightful, being milder than in Kentucky, and free from the intense heat which prevails in the southern portion of the Mississippi valley. Snows of some depth are frequent in the winter, but the summers, especially in the higher regions, are mild. In these parts, the salubrity of the climate is thought to equal that of any part of the United States; but the low valleys, where stagnant waters abound, and the alluvions of the great rivers are unhealthy. Maize is planted in the central parts of the state early in April.

6. SOIL. The soil in East Tennessee is remarkably fertile, containing great proportions of lime. In West Tennessee the soil is various, and the strata descends from the mountains in the following order; first, loamy soil, or mixtures of clay and sand; next, yellow clay; thirdly, a mixture of red sand and red clay; lastly, white sand. In the southern parts, are immense beds of oyster shells, on high table land, at a distance from the Mississippi, or any other stream; some of these shells are of an enormous size. The soil of the valleys and alluvions is extremely fertile.

7. NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. Nearly all the forest trees of the western country are found in this state, but the laurel tribes are not common. Juniper, red cedar, and savin cover the mountains. Apples, pears, and plums, which are properly more northern fruits, are raised in great perfection. The sugar maple is very abundant.

8. MINERALS. Inexhaustible quarries of gypsum of the finest quality abound in East Tennessee. Marble in many beautiful varieties is abundant. Iron ore is found in plenty, and some lead mines have been worked. Salt springs are numerous, but the water is not sufficiently strong to admit of their being made profitable. Nitrous earth abounds in the saltpetre caves.

The gold region already described in the southern states, extends into the southeastern part of Tennessee. The spot affording the metal, is situated about 12 miles south of the Telico plains, near the Unika mountain, which separates this state from North Carolina. The gold occurs in small grains, and appears to have been produced by the disintegration of the rocks which compose the mountain. The gold is found in the small rivulets and brooks, and also on the declivities of the mountains, and very near their summits. It is contained in a stratum of the soil of 10 or 12 inches in depth, and is separated from the earth by washing.

Tennessee also contains an ore of zinc of excellent quality. The Cumberland mountains are rich in coal. Manganese, roofing slate, and magnetic iron ore, may be also numbered among the mineral productions.

9. CAVES. The mountains of this state contain a great number of caverns, which are among the most remarkable features of the country. They are of so frequent occurrence that very few have been explored; and little more is known of them, than that they abound in nitrous earth. One of them has been descended 400 feet below the surface, and found to consist of a smooth limestone rock, with a stream of pure water at the bottom sufficient to turn a mill. A cave on a high peak of the Cumberland Mountain has a

perpendicular descent, the bottom of which has never been sounded. A cave which may be descended some hundred feet, and traced for a mile, is an object too common to be pointed out to the traveller's attention. Some of these caves are 10 miles in extent.

Among the Enchanted Mountains, the name given to several spurs of the Cumberland Ridge, are some very singular footprints, marked in the solid limestone rock. These are tracks of men, horses, and other animals, as distinctly marked as though but yesterday impressed in clay or mortar. Their appearance often indicates that the feet which made them, had slidden, as if in descending a declivity of soft clay. The human feet have uniformly 6 toes, with the exception of one track, which is thought to be that of a negro. One of the tracks is 16 inches long, and 13 inches wide from toe to heel, with the ball of the heel 5 inches in diameter. On the shore of the Mississippi, is a similar impression of two human feet in a mass of limestone. No satisfactory explanation has ever been given of these singular appearances.

10. FACE OF THE COUNTRY. This state is more diversified in appearance than any other in the western country. Mountains and hills occupy a great portion of its surface, and the whole region offers in general the most striking and picturesque scenery.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.

1. DIVISIONS. This state is divided into East and West Tennessee; the former has 22 counties,* and the latter 40. The population is 684,822; of whom 142,382 are slaves.

2. Towns. Nashville, in West Tennessee, is the largest town in the state, and the seat of government. It stands on the south bank of Cumberland river, in a pleasant situation, near some high bluffs. It has a college, and is much frequented during the hot months, by the inhabitants of the lower country. The river is navigable by steamboats to this place. The State Bank of Tennessee, and a branch of the United States Bank, are established here. Pop. 5,566.

Knoxville is the chief town of East Tennessee. It is situated on the Holston, and is a thriving place, with some manufactories. Murfreesborough, in West Tennessee, was formerly the seat of government for the state; the country around it is fertile, but it is a small town. Memphis has a fine situation on the site of old Fort Pickering, on the Mississippi, at a point where the great western road strikes the river. It is a new settlement, but is a growing place.

3. AGRICULTture.

Cotton is the chief article of culture, but wheat, rye, barley, oats, and maize, are also raised. All the fruits of the United States,

East Tennessee.
Anderson

Bledsoe

Blount

Campbell

Carter

Claiborne

Cocke

Granger
Greene

Hamilton

Hawkins

Jefferson

Knox
Mc Minn

Marion
Monroe

Morgan
Rhea

Roane

Sevier

Sullivan

Washington

except oranges and figs, grow luxuriantly here. The attention of the farmers seems likely to be diverted from cotton, in consequence of the low price of that article, and the inferior quality which the lands in this state produce.

4. MANUFACTURES. The manufactures of iron, hemp, cotton and cordage are considerable in amount, but there are no large manufacturing establish

ments.

5. GOVERNMENT. The legislature is called the General Assembly, and consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The members of both houses are chosen biennially, as also the Governor, who is eligible 6 years out of 8. The Governor is elected by a plurality. Suffrage is universal. Clergymen are excluded from office. The state sends 9 representatives to Congress.

6. RELIGION. The Baptists have 141 ministers; the Methodists, 125; the Presbyterians, 80; the Lutherans, 10.

7. EDUCATION. Greenville College, at Greenville, was founded in 1794. It has 32 students, and a library of 3,500 volumes. The University at Nashville, was founded in 1806; it has 4 instructers, and 95 students; its libraries have 3,250 volumes. It has two vacations of 11 weeks. The College of East Tennessee, at Knoxville, has been recently established.

8. HISTORY. Tennessee is one of the oldest of the western states, and the first settlements were made between the years 1765 and 1770. The earliest inhabitants were emigrants from North Carolina and Virginia, and the country was included within the limits of North Carolina till 1790, when it was placed under a territorial government, with the name of the Territory South of the Ohio. In 1796, a constitution was formed, and Tennessee was admitted into the Union as an independent state.

CHAPTER XXV. KENTUCKY.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Kentucky is bounded N. by Indiana and Ohio; E. by Virginia; S. by Tennessee, and W. by Missouri and Illinois. It extends from 36° 30' to 39° 10' N. lat. and from 81° 50' to 89° 20′ W. lon. It is 300 miles in length from E. to W. with a mean breadth of 150. It contains 40,000 square miles.

2. RIVERS. The Ohio washes the whole southern limit: it will be described in the next chapter. The Mississippi forms a small part of the western boundary. The Cumberland and Tennessee rivers pass through the western extremity of the state into the Ohio. In the northern part, the Licking and Kentucky rivers take their rise in the Cumberland Mountains, and flow northwesterly into the Ohio. They are each about 200 miles in length. The latter is navigable for 150 miles, and has a width of 150 yards at its mouth. The current is rapid, and the shores are high. For a great part of its course, it flows between perpendicular banks of limestone. The voyager passing down this stream, experiences an indescribable sensation on looking upwards to the sky from a deep chasm hemmed in by lofty parapets. Green River rises in the eastern part, and flows westerly into the Ohio. It has a boat navigation of 200 miles. The Big Sandy forms a part of the eastern boundary, and flows north into the Ohio.

3. CLIMATE. This state has a temperate and salubrious climate, differing

little from that of Tennessee. The air, however, is somewhat moister. The winter begins late in December, and never lasts longer than three months. 4. SOIL. Kentucky is one of the most fertile of the western states. There are many tracts called 'barrens,' from being bare of trees, yet they have a good soil. The central parts of the state are the most productive.

5. GEOLOGY. Secondary rocks are the most common in this state. The whole country, west of the mountains, rests upon a bed of limestone, 8 or 10 feet below the surface.

6. MINERALS. Iron is abundant. Copperas, lead, and aluminous earths are also found here. Coal exists along the banks of the Ohio. The earth taken from the numerous caves, is strongly impregnated with saltpetre.

7. MINERAL SPRINGS. The salt springs are very numerous. Near the source of Licking river, are the Olympian Springs, which contain iron, sulphur, and carbonic acid. At Harrodsburg, near Kentucky river, is a spring holding in solution Epsom salts; this is the most frequented of all the Kentucky springs, and has good accommodations for invalids.

8. NATURAL CURIOSITIES. Like Tennessee, this state has a great number of caverns. Many of them are of a prodigious depth. The Mammoth

Cave, near Green River, has been explored to the distance of 16 miles.* Most of these caverns are in the southwestern part of the state, and are situated in a broken and hilly, but not mountainous country.

Its entrance is in the steep declivity of a hill. The dimensions of the mouth are about forty feet in height by fifty in breadth, decreasing gradually for the first half mile, till the cavern is no more than ten feet in height and as many in breadth; at which place a partition has been erected, with a door of convenient dimensions, for the purpose of protecting the lights of visiters. There is at this place a current of air passing inwardly for six months, and outwardly for the remainder of the year. Sufficiently strong is it, that, were it not for the door that has been made, it would be impossible to preserve an open light. It is called the mouth, as far as this place, on account of its being the extent of the influence of daylight, which here appears like a small star. Formerly,

In this state are also many singular cavities or depressions in the surface of the ground, called sink holes.' They are commonly in the shape of inverted cones, 60 or 70 feet in depth, and from 60 to 300 feet in circumference at the top. Their sides and bottoms are generally covered with willows and aquatic productions. The ear can often distinguish the sound of waters flowing under them, and it is believed that they are perforations in the bed of limestone below the soil, which have caused the earth above to sink. The common people imagine them to have been huge wells, at which the mammoths of former times quenched their thirst. Sometimes the ground has been opened, and disclosed a subterraneous stream of water at the bottom of these cavities, and in one instance, a mill was erected over the invisible river.

when the cavern was first discovered, this part of it was nearly filled with earth, which has been recently manufactured into saltpetre.

'Having prepared ourselves with a sufficient quantity of provision, oil and candles, and taking two persons as guides, we took our last view of the daylight, and proceeded forward, closing the door behind us. Immediately we found ourselves in thick and almost palpable darkness, the whole of our four lights spread but a feeble radiance about us. Such is the height at this place, that we were hardly able to discover the top, and to see from one side to the other was utterly impossible. From this place, extended several cabins, or, as travellers have named them, rooms, in different directions. This part of the cave is called the First Hopper. The soil at the bottom of the cave is very light, and strongly impregnated with salt. The sides and top are formed of.rock. We proceeded forward, passing several rooms on our right, and one on our left, until we arrived at the second Hopper, a distance of four miles from the mouth. About one mile in the rear of this, was pointed out to us by our guide, the place where the celebrated mummy was found, in a sitting posture, by the side of the cavern, enveloped in a mat, and in a complete state of preservation.

'We next entered the room denominated the Haunted Chamber. It is nearly two miles in length, 20 feet in height and 10 in breadth, extending nearly the whole length in a right line. The top formed of smooth, white stone, soft, and much resembling the plastering of a room. There is a small quantity of water constantly, though almost imperceptibly, falling from above, which in the course of ages has worn from the stone at the top, some beautiful pillars, which extend to the bottom of the room. They have the appearance of being the work of art. In one of them, there is formed a complete chair, with arms, which has received the name of Arm Chair. By the side of this, is a clear pool of water, strongly impregnated with sulphur. The sides of the room are likewise elegantly adorned with a variety of figures, formed from the stone at the top, and coming down upon the side of the cavern, like icicles in the winter, from the eaves of buildings, the reflection of our lights upon them forming a most brilliant appearance. At the end of this room we descended a kind of natural staircase, to the depth of near three hundred feet in many places, affording only room for one person to proceed. Here we found a beautiful stream of pure water, winding its way along between the rocks. The situation of this part of the cavern is rendered really awful, from its being associated with a variety of names that travellers have given it. The portrait of his Satanic Majesty is painted here upon the rocks, and a large flat stone, resting its corners upon four others, is called his Dining Table. A short distance from this, is a place said to be his Forging Shop. On the whole, they are admirably calculated to frighten the cowardly. We returned to the main cavern, and resumed our course, climbing over rocks that had evidently fallen from above, and passing a number of rooms on our right and left. With much exertion, we reached the place denominated the Six Corners, in consequence of six rooms or caverns here, taking different directions. Not having time to examine these, we proceeded to the first water fall, about two miles further, over a level plain. The track of persons who might have preceded us for ages, were as plainly visi ble in the sand as when first made. There is no air stirring that would move the slightest feather, or prevent the impression of a footstep from remaining for centuries. "We now directed our course to the Chief City, about one mile further. A large hill situated in the centre of the cave would have exhibited a most commanding prospect, if the darkness had not obstructed our vision. One of us, however, standing upon the top, with the lights stationed at different parts of its base, obtained a novel and interesting view of the cavern. There is an echo here that is very powerful, and we improved it with a song, much to our gratification. We started forward again, travelling over a plain of two miles extent, and about the same distance over the rocks and hills, when we arrived at the second water-fall. The water here dashes into a pit below of immense depth. A circumstance occurred here that had nearly proved fatal to one of us. The