a territory of the United States of North America, bounded N. by British America; W. by the Rocky Mountains, which separate it from Washington, Oregon, and Utah; S. by Kansas; and E. by Iowa and Minnesota. It lies between N. Lat. 40. and 49., and W. Long. 95. and 113.; and has an estimated area of 335,882 square miles. The country is still in its wild, primitive condition, and little is known of its topography, except in the neighbourhood of the Missouri and Platte rivers. The greater portion is an immense plain, sloping gradually from the Rocky Mountains in the W. to the Missouri in the E. Little of it is mountainous, except that part contiguous to the Rocky range. The principal rivers are the Missouri and its affluents the Platte, or Nebraska, and the Yellowstone. The country on both sides of the former tributary, as far up as the Elkhorn, is described as an undulating plain, here and there broken by ravines of considerable abruptness. But farther up the quality of the land deteriorates, and, except in the immediate vicinity of the river, is unfit for cultivation. The section of the territory at the head of Platte River, called the Black Hill district, is more elevated and is well watered. Many of the hills are covered with pine and cedar, and the valleys are said to be luxuriantly clothed with grass. From Fort Laramie, on the same river, there extends, for a distance of about 90 miles, a remarkable tract of land called "the Bad Lands," on account of its great sterility and forbidding aspect. It is studded with a number of columnar masses of sandstone from 100 to 200 feet high, which give it all the appearance of a vast, though quaint old town entirely deserted by its inhabitants. An interest of another kind has also been imparted to this place by a number of fossil skeletons of various tribes of animals now extinct, particularly of the Pachydermata, being found here, among which the skeleton of a Palaeotherium was discovered 18 feet in length. The Platte valley forms one of the highways for overland emigrants to Utah and California. The river is from one to three miles broad, but yet so shallow, that, excepting at high flood, it is fordable at almost any part. The course of the stream is obstructed by numerous islands covered with cotton-wood, willows, and shrubs; while the shifting sand-banks and the rapidity of the current effectually prevent navigation. It rises among the Great River Mountains, and, under the name of the North Fork, flows E. by S., till joined by the South Fork, when it assumes the name of Platte or Nebraska River. It discharges its water into the Missouri near Plattsville, after a course of about 1200 miles. The Yellowstone River, which waters the northern part of Nebraska, though not so long as the Platte, has a greater volume of water. It rises in Sublette's Lake, N. Lat. 43. 40., and W. Long. 110., and after a north-easterly course of about 1000 miles, joins the Missouri at Fort Union.

From the condition of the soil and surface of Nebraska, Nebuchadnezzar, it will in all likelihood become an agricultural country of some importance. The climate is warmer than in the same latitude east of the great lakes. Owing, however, to the vast extent of prairie land, the temperature is subject to sudden changes, and the country is exposed to the north and west winds, which sweep over the plains with great violence. It is reported that minerals exist to a considerable extent, and coal is said to have been lately discovered here. Emigrants have not as yet flowed into the territory in large numbers; and hence it is that here the Indians are found in greater numbers, and in a less civilized state, than in any other part of the Union. The government have assented to the construction of several roads through Nebraska, which, when completed, will no doubt tend greatly to the increase of its population. The territory formed a part of the Louisiana purchase, and came into the possession of the Union in 1803. It then comprehended the territory of Kansas, which was separated from it and organized a territory of the Union in 1854. Nebraska, as it now stands, received a like privilege in the same year. The capital town is Omaha city, situated on the west side of the Missouri. The entire white population was estimated in 1854 at 6000.