Hanging Gardens, in antiquity. See BABYLON, No. 5.

PENNSILVANIA, one of the United States of North America, had its name from the famous Quaker William Penn, son of Sir William, commander of the English fleet in Oliver Cromwell's time, and in the beginning of Charles II.'s reign, who obtained a grant of it in the year 1679. It is bounded on the east by Delaware bay and river; on the north by the state of New York; on the south by Maryland and Virginia; and on the west by Ohio. Its extent from north to south is about 153 miles; its breadth is about 273; its area is 24,500 square miles.

New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania, were discovered, with the rest of the continent of North America, in the reign of Henry VII. by Sebastian Cabot, for the crown of England; but Sir Walter Raleigh was the first adventurer that attempted to plant colonies on these shores, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and, in honour of that princess, gave all the eastern coast of North America the name of Virginia. Mr Hudson, an Englishman, sailing to that part of the coast which lies between Virginia and New England, in the beginning of the reign of James I. and being about to make a settlement at the mouth of Hudson's river, the Dutch gave him a sum of money to dispose of his interest in this country to them. In the year 1608 they began to plant it; and, by virtue of this purchase, laid claim to all those countries which are now denominated New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; but there remaining some part of this coast which was not planted by the Hollanders, the Swedes sent a fleet of ships thither, and took possession of it for that crown; but the Dutch having a superior force in the neighbourhood, compelled the Swedes to submit to their dominion, allowing them, however, to enjoy the plantations they had settled. The English not admitting that either the Dutch or Swedes had any right to countries first discovered and planted by a subject of England, and part of them at that time possessed by the subjects of Great Britain, under charter from Queen Elizabeth and King James I.; King Charles II., during the first Dutch war in 1664, granted the countries of New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania, of which the Dutch had usurped the possession, to his brother James duke of York; and Sir Robert Carr being sent over with a squadron of men of war and land forces, and summoning the Dutch governor of the city of New Amsterdam, now New York, to surrender, he thought fit to obey the summons, and yield that capital to the English: the rest of the places in the possession of the Dutch and Swedes followed his example; and these countries were confirmed to the English by the Dutch at the next treaty of peace between the two nations. The duke of York afterwards parcelled them out to under proprietors; selling, in particular, to William Penn the elder, in 1683, the town of Newcastle, alias Delaware, and a district of 12 miles round the same; to whom, his heirs, and assigns, by another deed of the same date, he made over all that tract of land from 12 miles south of Newcastle to the Whore-hills, otherwise called Cape Henlopen, now divided into the two counties of Kent and Sussex, which, with Newcastle district, are commonly known by the name of the Three Lower Counties upon Delaware River. All the rest of the under proprietors, some time after, surrendered their charters to the crown; whereby New York and the Jerseys became royal governments; but Penn retained that part of the country which had been sold to him by the duke of York, together with what had been granted to him before in 1682-3, which now constitutes the province of Pennsylvania. As soon as Penn had got his patent, he began to plant the country. Those who went over from England were generally Dissenters and Quakers, whose religion is established by law here, but with a toleration of all other Protestant sects. The Dutch and Swedes, who were settled here before Mr Penn became proprietor, choosing still to reside in this country, as they did in New York and the Jerseys, obtained the same privileges as the rest of his majesty's subjects; and their descendants are now in a manner the same people with the English, speaking their language, and being governed by their laws and customs. Mr Penn, however, not satisfied with the title granted him by King Charles II. and his brother, bought the lands also of the Indians for a valuable consideration, or what they esteemed such (though 20 miles were purchased, at first, for less than an acre about Philadelphia would pay now), paying them in cloth, tools, and utensils, to their entire satisfaction: for they had not hands to cultivate the hundredth part of their lands, and if they could have raised a product, there was nobody to buy: the purchase, therefore, was all clear gain to them; and, by the coming of the English, their poultry trade became so profitable, that they soon found their condition much altered for the better; and are now as well clothed and fed as the European peasantry in many places.

The air in Pennsylvania is sweet and clear. The fall, or autumn, begins about the 20th of October, and lasts till the middle of December, when the winter sets in, which continues till March, and is sometimes extremely cold and severe; but the air is then generally dry and healthy. The river Delaware, though very broad, is often frozen over. From March to June, that is, in the spring, the weather is more inclement than in the other seasons. In the months of July, August, and September, the heats would be almost intolerable, if they were not mitigated by frequent cool breezes. The wind during the summer is generally south-west; but in the winter blows for the most part from the north-west over the snowy frozen mountains and lakes of Canada, which occasions the excessive cold during that season. On the whole, the climate of this state differs not materially from that of Connecticut, except that on the west side of the mountains the weather is much more regular. The hot southwardly winds get chilled by passing over the long chain of Alleghany mountains. The mean annual temperature of Philadelphia, according to Humboldt, is 54.8°, of winter 33.8°, of spring 53°, of summer 75.2°, and of autumn 56.1°.

This is upon the whole one of the healthiest states in the Union. In 1793, and 1797, Philadelphia was visited by the yellow fever; but since the latter period it has been entirely exempted from this disease. Among the people called Quakers, who are the oldest settlers, there are instances of longevity, occasioned by their living in the old cultivated countries, and the temperance imposed on them by their religion. There are fewer long-lived people among the Germans than among other nations, occasioned by their excess of labour and low diet. They live chiefly upon vegetables and watery food, that affords too little nourishment to repair the waste of their strength by hard labour. The most general diseases are rheumatism and pleurisy. The first is very common in the interior, and often becomes chronic. The goitre is said to prevail in a slight degree at Pittsburg.

As to the face of this country, towards the coast, like the adjacent colonies, it is flat, but rises gradually to the Appalachian mountains on the west. Nearly one-third of this state may be called mountainous; particularly the counties of Bedford, Huntingdon, Cumberland, part of Franklin, Dauphin, and part of Bucks and Northampton, through which pass, under various names, the numerous ridges and spurs, which collectively form what are called the great range of Alleghany mountains. There is a remarkable difference between the country on the east and west side of the range of mountains we have just been describing. Between these mountains and the lower falls of the rivers which run into the Atlantic, not only in this, but in all the southern states, are several ranges of stones, sand, earths, and minerals, which lie in the utmost confusion. Beds of stone, of vast extent, particularly of limestone, have their several layers broken in pieces, and the fragments thrown confusedly in every direction. Between these lower falls and the ocean is a very extensive collection of sand, clay, mud, and shells, partly thrown up by the waves of the sea, partly brought down by floods from the upper county, and partly produced by the decay of vegetable substances. The country west of the Alleghany mountains, in these respects, is totally different. It is very irregular, broken, and variegated; but there are no mountains; and when viewed from the most western ridge of the Alleghany, it appears to be a vast extended plain. All the various strata of stone appear to have lain undisturbed in the situation wherein they were first formed. The layers of clay, sand, and coal, are nearly horizontal. Scarcely a single instance is to be found to the contrary. Every appearance, in short, tends tends to confirm the opinion, that the original crust, in which the stone was formed, has never been broken up on the west side of the mountains, as it evidently has been eastward of them.

The chief rivers are three, Delaware, Susquehanna, and Schuylkill. The Delaware, rising in the state of New York, takes its course southward; and after dividing this province from that of New Jersey, falls into the Atlantic ocean between the promontories or capes May and Henlopen, forming at its mouth a large bay, called from the river Delaware Bay. This river is navigable above 200 miles. Ships of the line can ascend to Philadelphia. The Susquehanna rises also in the state of New York, and running south through the middle of the province, falls into the bay of Chesapeake. It is not navigable near the sea, owing to rocks. The Schuylkill has its source within the state, and runs south, till at length, turning to the eastward, it falls into the river Delaware 6 miles below the city of Philadelphia. At navigable for boats 100 miles. The Allegany river traverses the north-western parts of the state, and joining the Monongahela at Pittsburg, forms the Ohio. All these rivers admit of boat navigation.

The principal mineral productions are, iron ore, which is found in great quantities in several counties, and of various kinds; copper ore, said to be found, but is not wrought; lead ore, yielding 20 per cent. of metal; black lead; slate of a good quality; freestone and limestone; marble, black, white, and variegated; coal of an excellent quality on the Susquehanna, Allegany, Monongahela, Lehigh, and Schuylkill rivers. There are also several mineral springs, some of which are in high estimation for their medicinal virtues. The salt springs of Conemaugh produce a hundred bushels of salt per day. In Venango county an oil spring rises from the bed of the Allegany river, which yields a gallon in the course of an hour or two.

Pennsylvania abounds in excellent wood, oak, chestnut, beech, elm, black walnut, basswood, butternut, locust and magnolia. The latter is not found farther north than this state. The sugar maple is abundant, and in the hilly parts near Lake Erie is found in the proportion of six or eight trees to an acre. About one million of pounds of sugar were made from the maple in this state in 1810.

The wild animals are now rare in this state, having retired as cultivation advanced. Deer are still common in the uncultivated districts; and the brown bear, wolf, wild cat, and fox, are met with occasionally. The muskrat is found in marshy places. The beaver and otter are nearly extinct: the cougar is rarely seen. The wild turkey, with some species of pheasants, grouse, and pigeons, are found. The rivers and creeks abound with salmon, trout, shad, carp, eels, rockfish, &c. The caterpillar sometimes does much injury to vegetation. The grass or meadow-worm is another destructive insect which occasionally visits the country. The musquito is sometimes troublesome in low valleys, but never in elevated parts. Mr Coggin states, as the result of his own observations and experiments, that even low situations may be kept free of this insect, if care is taken to remove all filth and putrid or decayed matter. The beetle, known by the name of tumblebug, is in many parts destructive to the Indian corn. The other kinds of grain are liable to be injured by a species of grasshopper, which appears at an interval of 17 or 18 years.

The population of this state at different periods was as follows:

| Year | Slaves | Free | |------|--------|------| | 1749 | 220,000 | inclosed. | | 1774 | 350,000 | Blacks. | | 1790 | 434,375 | 3737 | | 1800 | 622,549 | 1706 | | 1810 | 810,091 | 795 |

As it is believed that the rate of increase has not diminished, the number will probably be about 1,250,000 at present (1810), which gives about 42 inhabitants to each square mile. Pennsylvania is the third state in point of population; Virginia being the first, and New York the second. The chief town is Philadelphia, which is estimated to contain 120,000 inhabitants.

The constitution of this state is said to have been drawn up by the late Sir William Jones. The legislative power is vested in a general assembly, consisting of a senate and house of representatives. The senators are elected for four years, the representatives for one, by the free citizens of 21 years of age, who have resided two years within the state and paid taxes. A fourth part of the senate is renewed annually. Senators must be 25 years of age, and must have resided four years in the state; representatives must be 21 years of age, and must have resided three years in the state. The number of representatives cannot be less than 60, nor more than 100. The governor is elected by the citizens for three years, and is commander-in-chief of the army and navy, except when called into the service of the United States. Persons holding public offices are only required to acknowledge the being of a God, and a future state of rewards and punishments. The judges are appointed by the governor, and may be impeached or removed by him, on the address of two-thirds of both houses. Pennsylvania was the first state that carried into execution the ideas of philosophical writers on the subject of criminal law. Only the two crimes of murder and arson are punished with death; inferior crimes with hard labour. The laws are mild, and the grand object of making the punishment contribute to the reformation of the individual, is steadily kept in view. The prison of Philadelphia is the best conducted institution of the kind in the world; and its system of discipline has served as a model to the most enlightened states in Europe.

The militia of this state in 1812 consisted of 99,414 men, of whom whom 200 were artillery and cavalry. There are no taxes for the general government. Those for the expenses of the state government are very small. The most entire religious freedom exists here. Indeed Pennsylvania was the first among the North American states to set the example of complete liberty of conscience. In 1802 there were 36 congregations of Presbyterians, 84 of German Calvinists, 84 of German Lutherans, 54 of Quakers, 26 of Episcopalians, 15 of Baptists, 11 of Roman Catholics, 8 of Scotch Presbyterians, 8 of Moravians; of free Quakers, Covenanters, Universalists, each 1, and the Jews had two synagogues. In 1817 the number of Baptist churches was 60.

There are many charitable and benevolent institutions in this state. Those in the capital are very numerous, Pennsylvania, though it has but one considerable port (Philadelphia) carries on a very extensive commerce.

The whole exports in 1817 amounted to $8,735,592 dollars, of which $5,538,003 consisted of domestic produce, and $3,197,589 of foreign. The domestic articles of export consist chiefly of wheat and flour, beef and pork, flax seed, iron utensils, lumber, soap and candles; the imports, of British manufactures, wine, gin, rum, sugar, tea, mannequins, and silk. There were nine banks in the state in 1816, whose capitals together amounted to $10,534,130 dollars; the deposits including those due to other banks, to $8,449,474 dollars; and the notes discounted to $13,329,091 dollars.

There are three handsome bridges over the Schuylkill in this state. One of these consists of a single wooden arch of 343 feet span, and 42 feet in breadth. The Lehigh chain bridge is 475 feet long, in two whole, and two half spans. The wire bridge near Philadelphia is 450 feet long. The whole weight is only 475 tons pounds. There are many other bridges deserving of notice, though generally of wood: one at Columbia, over the Susquehanna, is above a mile in length; another at Harrisburgh, about three fourths of a mile. There are at other places steam ferry boats, for the conveyance of passengers across the rivers. There are also a considerable number of steam passage boats which ply on the Delaware.

It was proposed, so far back as 1790, to extend the water communication from Philadelphia to Lake Erie, a distance of 561 miles, by joining the Susquehanna and the Delaware by a canal to extend from the Swatara to the Schuylkill. Some progress has been made in this undertaking, but the means scarcely exist yet for the completion of such an extensive scheme.

The long ascendancy of the Quakers in this state has stamped the manners of the people with a character of moderation and order. Factions are less violent here than in the other states, and personal animosities less rancorous. The Pennsylvanians are less obstinate, selfish, and determined, than the people of New England, and less rash and impetuous than the inhabitants of the southern states. They are, comparatively speaking, obliging, well informed, and liberal in their opinions; but not distinguished for generosity, a high spirit, or warmth of character. They have abolished slavery, however, and have always been conspicuously active in works of humanity, and in promoting useful improvements. There is perhaps no part of the United States in which an emigrant from Europe will feel himself more comfortable than in Pennsylvania, so far as depends on the character of the people.

In the Philosophical Transactions for 1757, there is an account of a spring in Pennsylvania, which rises from a copper mine, and yields 800 hogsheads in twenty-four hours. The water is of a pale green colour, of an acid, sweet, astringent, inky, and nauseous taste. The saline matter which it holds in solution is probably sulphate of copper; for a piece of polished iron immersed in it is soon covered with a crust of metallic copper. It contains also, it is said, copperas or sulphate of iron.

Among the other curiosities of this province may be reckoned another spring, about 14 feet deep, and about 100 square in the neighbourhood of Reading. A full mill stream flows from it. The waters are clear, and full of fishes. From appearances it is probable that this spring is the opening or outlet of a very considerable river, which, a mile and a half or two miles above this place, sinks into the earth, and is conveyed to this outlet in a subterranean channel. In the northern parts of Pennsylvania there is a creek, called Oil creek, which empties into the Alleghany river. It issues from a spring, on the top of which floats an oil similar to that called Barbadoes tar, and from which one man may gather several gallons in a day. The troops sent to guard the western posts halted at this spring, collected some of the oil, and bathed their joints with it. This gave them great relief from the rheumatic complaints with which they were affected. The waters, of which the troops drank freely, operated as a gentle purge.

There are three remarkable grottoes or caves in this state; one near Carlisle in Cumberland county; one in the township of Durham, in Bucks county; and the other at Swetara in Lancaster county. Of the two former there are no particular descriptions. The latter is on the east bank of Swetara river, about two miles above its confluence with the Susquehanna. Its entrance is spacious, and descends so much as that the surface of the river is rather higher than the bottom of the cave. The vault of this cave is of a solid limestone rock, perhaps 20 feet thick. It contains several apartments, some of them very high and spacious. The water is incessantly percolating through the roof, and falls in drops to the bottom of the cave. These drops petrify as they fall, and have gradually formed solid pillars, which appear as supports to the roof. Thirty years ago there were ten such pillars, each six inches in diameter, and six feet high; all so ranged that the place they enclosed resembled a sanctuary in a Roman church. No royal throne ever exhibited more grandeur than this lusus nature. The resemblances of several monuments are found indented in the walls on the sides of the cave, which appear like the tombs of departed heroes. Suspended from the roof is the bell (which is nothing more than a stone projected in an unusual form), so called from the sound that it occasions when struck, which is similar to that of a bell. Some of the stalactites are of a colour like sugar-candy, and others resemble loaf sugar; but their beauty is much defaced by the country people. The water, which percolates through the roof, so much of it as is not petrified in its course, runs down the declivity, and is both pleasant and wholesome to drink. There are several holes in the bottom of the cave, descending perpendicularly, perhaps into an abyss below, which renders it dangerous to walk without a light. At the end of the cave is a pretty brook, which, after a short course, loses itself among the rocks. Beyond this brook is an outlet from the cave by a very narrow aperture. Through this the vapours continually pass outwards with a strong current of air, and ascend, resembling at night the smoke of a furnace. Part of these vapours and fogs appear on ascending to be condensed at the head of this great alembic, and the more volatile parts to be carried off, through the aperture communicating with the exterior air before mentioned, by the force of the air in its passage.