VIRGINIA, late one of the British colonies, now one of the United States of North America; bounded on the south by Carolina, on the north-east by the river Patowmack which divides it from Maryland, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Apalachian mountains; extending about 240 miles in length, and 200 in breadth.
The air and seasons here depend very much upon the wind, as to heat and cold, dryness and moisture. The north and north-west winds are piercing cold, and clear, or else stormy; the south-east and south, hazy and sultry hot. In winter they have a fine clear air, and dry, which renders it very pleasant. Their frosts are short; but sometimes so very sharp, that rivers three miles broad will be frozen over. Snow falls sometimes in pretty large quantities, but rarely lies above a day or two. Their spring is about a month earlier than in England; in April they have frequent rains; in May and June the heat increases; and the summer is much like our's, being mitigated with gentle breezes that rise about nine o'clock, and decrease and increase as the sun rises or falls. In July and August these breezes cease, and the air becomes sultry and hot: in September the weather generally changes suddenly, and heavy rains fall, and then the inhabitants are generally very sickly. It is to be observed, however, that here, and in all the other states, as the cultivation and population of them advances, the air grows better, to which the cutting down of the woods greatly contributes.
As to the face of the country in Virginia, it is generally low and flat towards the sea-coast, and for 100 miles up the country; so that there is hardly a hill or stone to be seen, except here and there some rocks of iron ore, and some banks of a kind of petrified oyster-shells. The whole country, before it was planted, was one continued forest, interspersed with marshes, which in the West Indies they call swamps. No country now produces greater quantities of excellent tobacco; and the soil is generally so sandy and shallow, that after they have cleared a fresh piece of ground out of the woods, it will not bear tobacco after two or three years, unless cow-penned and well dugged.
The forests here yield oaks, poplars, pines, cedars, cypress, sweet myrrles, chestnuts, hickory, live oak, walnut, dog-wood, alder, hazel, chinkapins, locust-trees, sassafras, elm, ash, beech, with a great variety of sweet gums and incense, which distil from several trees; pitch, tar, rosin, turpentine, plank-timber, mast, and yards. Virginia yields also rice, hemp, Indian corn, plenty of pasture, with coal, quarries of stone, and lead and iron ore.
Of spontaneous flowers there are a great variety here, particularly the finest crown-imperial in the world, and the cardinal-flower so much extolled for its scarlet colour; almost the whole year round the plains and valleys are adorned with flowers of one kind or another. In this country also is found the tulip bearing laurel-tree, which has the pleasantest smell in the world, and keeps seeds and blossoms several months together.
Silk-grass grows spontaneous in many places; the fibres of which are as fine as flax, and much stronger than hemp. Their trees are much loftier than our's,
and no underwood or bushes grow beneath; so that people travel with ease through the forests on horseback, and never want a fine shade to defend them from the summer heats.
Among other animals in Virginia are elk, but not common; red deer in great plenty; musk rats, raccoons, beavers, and wolves. As for reptiles, they have lizards, with several kinds of snakes, particularly the rattle-snake. Of birds, they have several sorts of eagles, hawks, and owls, mocking-birds, and humming-birds.
Besides the animals that are natives of the country, most of the quadrupeds of Europe have been introduced here; such as horses, cows, sheep, and hogs, which are prodigiously multiplied, great numbers running wild in their forests, besides what they have tame in their plantations. In February, March, April, and May, shoals of herrings come up into their very brooks; some of the size of ours, but for the most part much larger. They have great quantities in summer of those destructive worms that eat into the bottoms of ships, wherever they find the coat of pitch, tar, or lime, worn off the timber; these worms have a kind of horn or serow in their head, with which they force a passage through any wood to which they stick.
Four great rivers, namely James River, York River, Rappahannock, and Patowmack, which rise in the Apalachian mountains, run through this province, or along its borders, from the north-west to the south-east, and fall into the bay of Chesapeake. James River is generally about two miles over, and navigable at least 50. York and Rappahannock are not so large; but Potowmack is navigable for near 200 miles, being generally seven miles broad, and in some places nine. The great bay of Chesapeake runs up through Virginia and Maryland, almost due north, 300 miles and upwards, being navigable most part of the way for large ships. The two promontories that form the mouth of the bay, are called Cape Charles and Cape Henry.