more properly called the Alleghany Mountains, have their southern beginning in the latitude of 34°, extending northerly through the United States, and running nearly parallel with the sea coast to the latitude of 41° north. The length of the chain is about 800 miles. Their height is not great, being in general not above 3000 feet. Their summits, in many cases, form a continued line, neither broken by transverse fissures, nor elevated into peaks. They include properly three or four distinct ridges, the westmost of which is called Laurel Mountain, and the eastmost Blue Mountain; and they thus cover a space of a hundred miles in breadth. Between these ridges the soil is generally excellent. The valleys are wide, and not steep, and the hills are often wooded to their summits. These mountains divide the United States like a backbone, and direct the course of the rivers on the one side to the sea, and on the other to the Mississippi. Chestnuts and small oaks are the trees that principally grow on these mountains, with some chinkapin and other small shrubs. The grass is thin, mixed with vetch and small pease; and in some places there is very little vegetable appearance.

The rocks of the Apalachian mountains are mostly of a light grey colour; some are of a coarse-grained marble like alabaster; others of a metallic lustre; some pieces are in the form of slate, and brittle; others in lumps, and hard; and some appear with spangles, or covered over with innumerable small shining specks, like silver. These frequently appear at the roots of trees when blown down. The different spars are found mostly on the highest and steepest parts of the hills, where there is little grass and few trees; but the greatest part of the soil between the rocks is generally a dark sandy-coloured kind of mould, and shallow.