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mountains, &c. with which its surface is diversified. It is a study, which at once amuses the imagination, exercises the memory, and strengthens the judgment; and is of primary importance in the education of youth, before the latter faculty is so far unfolded as to render the pupil competent to more severe studies.

Mr. Locke, in his treatise entitled, "Some thoughts concerning education," observes, "Geography, I think should be begun with; for the learning of the figure of the globe, the situation and boundaries of the four parts of the world, and those of particular kingdoms and countries, being only an exercise of the eyes and memory, a child with pleasure will learn and retain them; and this is so certain, that I now live in the house with a child, whom his mother has so well instructed in this way, in geography, that he knew the limits of the four parts of the world, could readily point, being asked, to any country on the globe, or any county in the map of England, knew all the rivers, promontories, straits, and bays in the world, and could find the longitude and latitude of any place, before he was six years old. These things that he will thus learn by sight, and have by rate, are not all, I confess, that he is to learn upon the globes, But yet they are a good step and preparation for it, and will make the remainder much easier, when his judgment has grown ripe enough for it; besides that it gets so much time now, and by the pleasure of knowing things, leads him insensibly to the gaining of languages.'

This science is not only of importance to be taught to children, but adults will derive great advantages from its cultivation. Scarce a page in history can be read, and its import understood, without the assistance of maps. They are indispensable in order to enable us to comprehend the causes and calculate on the consequences of the wonderful events, which are now developing on the grand theatre of Europe. Editors of Newspapers, and of other political and scientific periodical publications, whose duty it is to convey to the American public, correct information on the abovementioned subjects, will find themselves lost in a wil

derness of conjecture without the assistance of accurate maps, to be referred to whenever they hazard an opinion upon articles of important intelligence. Without a competent knowledge of the topography of the kingdoms, and republics, which have come within the vortex of the powers, which have convulsed the eastern hemisphere, and shaken the civilized world to its centre, the best written accounts of the efforts of the contending nations will be involved in obscurity, and afford the reader but little instruction.

Of such consequence was this science esteemed by the literati and politicians of France, that soon after the revolution they founded topographical schools, in which the knowledge of geography was carried to a pitch of almost incredible accuracy.. Aided by the labors and intelligence of the pupils of these schools, the French are enabled to explore every part of the habitable globe for the purpose of business, pleasure or conquest, without the necessity of recurring to guides, or the casual and precarious information, which may be gleaned from the inhabitants of the countries they visit. It is hoped that Americans will not suffer themselves to be surpassed by any nation in a science of such utility and importance.

PASSAGE OF THE POTOMAC THROUGH THE BLUE RIDGE IN VIRGINIA.

This is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain an hundred ms to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion, that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly, they have been.

dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that continuing to rise, they have at length broken over at this spot, and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion from their beds by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the impression. But the distant finishing which nature has given to the picture, is of a very different character. It is a true contrast to the foreground. It is as placid and delightful, as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountain being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain country, inviting you as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around, to pass through the breach and participate of the calm below. This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic. Yet here, as in the neighborhood of the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed their lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to survey these monuments of a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken the earth itself to its centre.

FALLS OF NIAGARA.

These falls have long been celebrated, as sustaining the first rank among natural curiosities. They are upon the outlet of Lake Erie, called Niagara river, which forms a part of the boundary between the State of New York and Upper Canada, 22 miles below the lake, and 12 miles above the entrance of the river into lake Ontario. The general course of the river is northerly. Its breadth is from one to two miles. The stream is divided at the great fall, by an island the lower part of which is a bluff, nearly on a line with the precipices over which the branches of the river pass. These branches are very nearly 2,500 feet wide. The height of the perpendicular fall is 156 feet; that of

the rapids above it, is estimated at 58 feet; and of those below it, at 67 feet; making the whole descent 281 feet. The country above the falls is an elevated plain, which extending a few miles below them, suddenly breaks off, and assumes a new level at the foot of. a declivity more than 230 feet below the former plain : and from the cataract to the lower plain, the river descends in a perfect chasm. Philosophical gentlemen, who have investigated the subject from actual observation, are of opinion that the falls were originally at the foot of the lower rapids; and that the channel from thence to the perpendicular fall, has been gradually formed by the long and constant operation of the

waters.

The roaring and foaming of the rapids for near a mile in full view, before the river arrives at the precipice; the green tint of the water, erged all the way down by curling folds of snow white foam; the immediate chasm of boiling snow into which the river pours; the mist which perpetually hovers over the gulf below, and through which you see at intervals the turbulence of the bottom; the trees of the island which divides the falls, and which seems to descend even below the precipice itself; the immense interminable mass of wood, which fills the whole of the surrounding country, and borders to the very margin every part of the watery prospect; and the rapidity with which the green and white current below drives along, as if in haste to escape from the horrible chasm in which it had been engulfed, form altogether a scene of grandeur and of beauty unrivalled.

WHITE MOUNTAINS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.

These mountains are visible at a great distance, serving as a landmark for a considerable length of coast, of difficult navigation; and are probably the highest in the United States; the principal summits having been estimated at 7,800, and even at 10,000 feet above the level of the sea; but Mount Washington,

the most elevated point, has been recently ascertained from a barometrical mensuration, to be 6,254 feet above the sea, and 4,460 above its base.

The traveller having gained the latter summit, is recompensed for his toil, if the sky be serene, with a most noble and extensive prospect. On the south-east side, there is a view of the Atlantic ocean, the nearest part of which is sixty-five miles, in a direct line. On the west and north, the prospect is bounded by the highlands, which separate the waters of Connecticut and Ameriscoggin rivers, from those of lake Champlain and St. Lawrence. On the south, it extends to the most southern mountains of New-Hampshire, comprehending a view of a considerable lake.

These vast and irregular heights, being copiously replenished with water, exhibit a great variety of beautiful cascades; some of which fall in a perpendicular sheet, others spread and form a bason in the rock, and then gush in a cataract over its edge. A poetic fancy may find full gratification amidst these wild and rugged scenes, if its ardor be not checked by the fatigue of the approach. Almost every thing in nature, which can be supposed capable of inspiring ideas of the sublime and beautiful, is here realized. Aged mountains, stupendous elevations, rolling clouds, impending rocks, verdant woods, bleak summits, chrystal streams, the gentle rill, and the roaring torrent, all conspire to amaze, to soothe, and to enrapture.

MOUNT ETNA.

Mount Etna, a celebrated natural curiosity, is situated in the interior of Sicily. The circuit of its base is 180 miles, and its height above the level of the sea is computed at about 11,000 feet. On the summit is a crater, of an oval form, above three miles in circumfer, ence. The phenomena attending an eruption, have been frequently and minutely described by different The pale white smoke, which continually issues from the crater, even in its most quiet state, be

authors.

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