"Old Dominion" State, from which it seceded. It refused to join the Confederacy of Slave States, and was then recognized as an independent State. Its well-watered valleys are extremely fertile, and it has rich mines of coal and iron, and valuable oil wells and salt springs. WHEELING, a smaller Pittsburg, on the Ohio, is the only large town. PARKERSBURG is the centre of the oil region. Near CHARLESTON, the capital, are rich salt works.

THE SOUTHERN STATES.

The SOUTHERN STATES include the broadest part of the Atlantic Plain, together with the Gulf Plain, and the Lower Mississippi Valley. West of the Mississippi, the surface of Texas rises into a tableland; east of that great river, the only mountainous districts are in East Tennessee, which is traversed by the Cumberland Mountains and other ridges, and the adjacent Blue Ridge in North Carolina. Numerous rivers descend from these mountains to the Atlantic and the Gulf, and their lower courses are generally navigable. Swamps, such as the Dismal Swamp of North Carolina and Virginia and the Everglades of Florida, abound on the coast. The soil, especially along the Mississippi River, is remarkably fertile, and agriculture is the leading industry. Cotton is by far the most valuable crop-three-fourths of the cotton in the world are produced in these States. Immense quantities of rice and other cereals, sugar, and semi-tropical fruits are also produced. Cattle-rearing is extensively carried on on the great prairies to the west of the Mississippi. The inhabitants are mainly descendants of early English, French, and Spanish settlers and Negroes, who form more than one-third of the population and do most of the work on the cotton and sugar plantations and in the rice-fields.

The SOUTHERN STATES may be arranged into two great divisions, the one to east, and the other to the west, of the Mississippi; or they may be classified according to their situation, as (1) South Atlantic States, (2) Gulf States, (3) Inland States

The South Atlantic States' are North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

NORTH CAROLINA, the "Old North State," is sometimes called the "Turpentine State," from the large quantities of turpentine afforded by the pitch-pine forests which cover the low and swampy lands along the coast, and which also yield tar, pitch, resin, and lumber. The mountains are rich in minerals, including gold, coal, and iron. RALEIGH (13), the "city of oaks," is the capital, but WILMINGTON (20) is the largest city. It stands on the Cape Fear River near its mouth, and is the greatest market in the world for naval stores,' as the products of the pine forests are commercially called.

SOUTH CAROLINA, the "Palmetto State," produces more rice than any other State, and the famous 'sea island' cotton is produced on the islands and

swamps which border the coast. Two-thirds of the population are coloured. COLUMBIA (15) is the capital. CHARLESTON (56), the largest city and chief seaport, is an important cotton port, and also ships large quantities of rice, naval stores, and lumber. There are rich deposits of phosphates and marls near the city.

GEORGIA, the "Empire States of the South," is, like the "Empire State" of the North, both Agricultural and manufacturing. Rice and sea-island cotton are grown along the swampy coast, and cotton and maize in the interior, while coal, iron, and gold are obtained in the northern part of the State. AUGUSTA (33), the "Lowell of the South," at the Falls of the Savannah, COLUMBUS (17), on the borders of Alabama, and ATLANTA (90), the capital, are the chief manufacturing towns. SAVANNAH (54), the largest city, is the second cotton port in the Union and has a large general trade.

FLORIDA, the "Peninsular State," is low and swampy, its surface being nowhere more than 200 feet above the sea. It is noted for its mild and equable climate and its productive orange groves. The southern part of the peninsula formis the remarkable "Everglades "-a region of swamps and marshes, on the northern border of which is the shallow, jungle-surrounded Lake Okeechobee, the largest lake in the Southern States. The southern coast is bordered by a line of "Keys," on one of which is KEY WEST (18), a naval station and tobacco-manufacturing town of some importance. PENSACOLA has the best harbour on the Gulf Coast. TALLAHASSEE, the capital, is an inland town near the northern border. JACKSONVILLE (17), on the St. John River, is a great winter resort, and ST. AUGUSTINE, further south on the Atlantic Coast, is the oldest town in the United States. 2

The Gulf States are Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Florida is partly a Gulf and partly an Atlantic State.

ALABAMA is hilly in the north and level in the south. Coal, ironstone, and limestone are mined in the north, while lumbering is an important industry in the south. But the principal occupation of the people, one-half of whom are coloured, is agriculture, and immense quantities of cotton, sugar, and rice are produced. The commercial capital of the State is the great cotton port of MOBILE (31), on Mobile Bay, into which also discharges the Alabama River, a fine navigable stream, at the head of which is MONTGOMERY, the political capital. BIRMINGHAM (26) is the centre of the coal and iron "boom" in the north of this State.

MISSISSIPPI, the Bayou State" (so called from its numberless 'bayous ` or creeks), lies between Alabama and the Mississippi River, on which the riverports of VICKSBURG and NATCHEZ carry on an active trade. This State is heavily timbered, and the pine forests in the south yield 'naval stores' and lumber. The semi-tropical climate and rich soil are highly favourable to the growth of cotton-the staple product-maize, oranges, bananas, and other fruits. JACKSON, on the Pearl River, is the capital.

LOUISIANA, the Pelican State," embraces the delta of the Mississippi and the low-lying bottom-land, forest, and swamp to the west of the Mississippi and below its level, and preserved from inundation only by hundreds of miles of embankments or levees. Sometimes a break or crevasse occurs in these

levees, and the water then rushes through and converts miles of low country into a shallow lake. The great Red River, one of the giant affluents of the Mississippi, flows through the centre of the State; on its western border, and dividing it from Texas, is the Sabine, a river navigable for 400 miles from the sea. Along the coast are many salt "lakes" or rather arms of the sea. Louisiana is par excellence the sugar State-more sugar is produced on its fertile plantations than in any other State, but cotton and corn, rice, and semi-tropical fruits are also largely grown. Louisiana also has considerable manufactures and an immense salt trade. BATON ROUGE (10), on the Lower Mississippi, and SHREVEPORT (12), a cotton port on the Red River near the Texan border, are mere villages compared with the "Crescent City" of NEW ORLEANS (287), the great emporium of the Gulf States and of the Lower Mississippi, and the largest city in the Southern States. The city stands on either side of the Mississippi, about 95 miles above its mouth. It is the greatest cotton-exporting port in the world, and is also the chief outlet for the sugar, tobacco, wheat, and other products of the Lower Mississippi Valley.

TEXAS, the "Lone Star State," is the largest State in the Union-its vast area of over a quarter of a million of square miles is 4 times that of all the New England States taken together. On the dry but well-grassed plains in the west, great numbers of cattle and sheep are reared; while cotton, corn, and wheat are grown on the fertile prairie lands in the east. The finest sea-island cotton grows along the coast. Valuable timber and useful minerals abound, but the population, which is under 10 per square mile, is as yet too scanty to utilize a tithe of the rich resources of this vast State. AUSTIN, on the Colorado River, is the capital, but the largest city is GALVESTON (29), a great cotton port on an island off the coast. The Llano Estacado or Staked Plain in the west of Texas, and extending across the border into New Mexico, is a waterless, treeless, and grassless upland, from one to five thousand feet above the level of the sea. The great Rio Grande, a river navigable for some 500 miles, is the boundary between this State and Mexico, while the Sabine River divides it from Louisi ana on the east, and the Red River from the Indian Territory on the north. The former Indian Territory is a large tract of land enclosed by the States of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. This Territory was set apart by the United States Government for Indian tribes removed from their original homes east of the Mississippi. The civilised nations" in the eastern part of the Territory--the Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choc.aws, and Chickasaws (the two latter are politically united) cultivate the soil and rear cattle, and have schools, churches, laws, and governments of their own. From time to time, however, wide tracts of the Indian Territory were ceded to the United States, and opened to white settleIn 1890, the western half was organised into the Territory of Oklahoma, and in 1906 the inhabitants of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory decided to form themselves into a new state, to do which an Enabling Act has been passed by Congress.

ment.

"four

The new state is called OKLAHOMA, and includes the whole of the former Indian Territory, together with the former "PUBLIC LAND" district, a neutral territory on the north-west of Texas. The State of OKLAHOMA, the western half of which was opened to white settlement a few years ago, has a total area of about 70,000 square miles, and a population of 1,192,000. It is traversed by the Arkansas, the Cimarron, the

Canadian, and other rivers, and, is bounded on the south by the Red River. GUTHRIE, its capital, is situated on the banks of the Cimarron River. The town of OKLAHOMA is on the North Fork of the Canadian River. BEAVER is the only town in the former "Public Land" district.

The Inland States1 of the southern division are Arkansas to the west, and Tennessee to the east, of the Mississippi.

ARKANSAS, the " Bear State," extends from the swamps and bayous of the Mississippi on the east to the Ozark uplands and the great prairies on the west. The fertile soil of this well-watered State, which is traversed by the mighty Arkansas River and other affluents of the Mississippi, yields abundant supplies of cotton, corn, and wheat, but there are also valuable minerals, and its forests of pine and hard woods are practically untouched. The Arkansas is navigable for large steamers to LITTLE ROCK (25), the capital; smaller vessels can ascend as far as FORT SMITH (11), on the western border. The medicinal waters at HOT SPRINGS, a noted resort for invalids, have a temperature of 140°, hence the name.

TENNESSEE, the "Volunteer State," stretches eastwards from the Missis sippi to the Smoky and other mountains on the western border of North Carolina. The cotton and tobacco grown in the lowlands of Western Tennessee, are shipped to New Orleans from the river-port of MEMPHIS (103), or sent by rail to Norfolk on the coast of Virginia. The hilly region of Middie Tennessee, traversed by the Tennessee River and its tributary the Cumberland, is devoted to stock-breeding and the cultivation of corn and wheat; while the mountains of Eastern Tennessee abound in minerals, and much coal, iron, and copper are mined. NASHVILLE (81), on the Cumberland River in Middle Tennessee, is both the capital and the largest city-"a rare fact in the United States." CHATANOOGA (29), on the Upper Tennessee, has iron foundries and coal mines. KNOXVILLE is the business centre of Eastern Tennessee.

THE CENTRAL STATES.

The CENTRAL STATES, 8 in number, lie in the Mississippi Valley, with the exception of a small portion in the north-east, which is within the basin of the Great Lakes. The Mississippi River divides this group into two divisions of four States each-the East Central Division including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and the West Central Division, the States of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Three of the East Central States touch on the Great Lakes, namely, Ohio on Lake Erie, and Indiana and Illinois on Lake Michigan. The great natural features of this region, besides the Great Lakes, are the Mississippi and its tributaries--the Missouri on the west and the Ohio on the east-which are navigable throughout the year and form splendid highways for the internal trade, most of which, however, is carried on by the many railways which converge at Chicago on Lake Michigan, St. Louis on the Mississippi, Cincinnati on the Ohio, and other important trade centres. The greater part of these States is level or undulating

1. The area and population of these two inland | population 1,311,564; Tennessee, 47,050 sq. miles, States are as follows:-Arkansas, 53,045 sq. miles, population 2,020,616.

rising gradually from the Mississippi to the Great Plains on the west and to the Appalachian plateau on the east. The Cumberland Mountains, on the south-eastern border of Kentucky, and the Ozark Mountains, in Southern Missouri, are the only mountain ranges, but the Great Plains in the west, though apparently level, and the ascent almost imperceptible, are actually higher than either of these elevations. "Nature having given these States a rich soil, advantages for commercial intercourse, ample water power, mineral wealth, and in the north the best of timber, their inhabitants are extensively engaged in farming, trade, manufacturing, mining, and lumbering." Wheat-growing is the leading industry, but maize or Indian corn is grown in larger quantities than wheat. The wheat farms of the north are on an immense scale, and the corn fields of the south yield about three-fourths of the corn grown in the whole country. Exhaustless supplies of coal and iron occur both to the east and to the west of the Mississippi, and there are rich deposits of lead on either side of the Mississippi and in SouthWestern Missouri. Manufacturing is an important industry in the eastern division, where Illinois ranks as the fourth, and Ohio as the fifth, manufacturing State in the Union. Taken together, the Central States have nearly a third of the population and more than a third of the railways of the country. These railways, with the Great Lakes and navigable rivers, afford facilities for a very extensive commerce.

THE EAST-CENTRAL STATES.1

The EAST-CENTRAL STATES are Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. They extend from the Mississippi on the west to the Cumberland Mountains and the Upper Ohio River on the east.

KENTUCKY, the "Blue Grass State," is bounded on three sides by natural frontiers-on the west by the Mississippi, on the north by the Ohio (which divides it from the States of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio), and on the east by the Big Sandy River, a tributary of the Ohio, and the Cumberland Mountains. On the south, an artificial line divides it from Tennessee. The "blue grass' region in the north of this State is famous for its thorough-bred horses and cattle. It affords splendid pasturage, and produces more tobacco and hemp than any other part of the Union. LOUISVILLE (203), at the falls or rapids of the Ohio, is the largest tobacco mart in the world. COVINGTON (37, and NEWPORT (25) are suburbs of Cincinnati. The famous battle of Lexington was fought a month before the Kentuckian city of that name was founded. FRANKFORT, on the Kentucky River, is the Capital.

OHIO, the "Buck-eye State," extends from the river from which it is named to the shores of Lake Erie. It is the most densely peopled of all the Central