grounds.

Spots of

On those elevated summits, the winds have greater force in driving the snow into the long and deep gullies of the mountains, where it is so consolidated, as not to be dissolved by the vernal sun. snow are seen on the south sides of mountains as late as May, and on the highest till July. A southeast storm is often as violent, but com monly shorter, than one from the northeast. If it begin with snow, it soon changes to rain. A brisk wind from the W. or S. W. with snow or rain, sometimes happens, but its duration is very short. Squalls of this kind are common in March.

One of the greatest inconveniences suffered by the inhabitants of our country, is derived from the frequent changes in the state of the atmosphere. The temperature has been known to change 44° in twenty four hours. Changes are frequent, though seldom in the same degree. Changes from wet to dry, and from dry to wet, are at times unpleasant, and probably unhealthy. There is no month in the year which is not sometimes very pleasant, and sometimes disagreeable. In a series of years, our most pleasant months are June, September and October. Often the first two, and not unfrequently the first three weeks in September are, however, very warm. From the 20th of September to the 20th of October, the weather is delightful. The temperature is mild, the air is sweet, and the sky singularly bright and beautiful. This is the period denominated the Indian Summer. Some persons think June to be a more pleasant month than either September or October. In June, there are usually a few days of intense heat. In all other respects, except the brilliancy and beauty of the heavens, this month must be confessed to have the superiority over all others. The progress of vegetation is wonderful; and it seems as if the creative hand was, in a literal sense, renewing its original plastic efforts, to adorn the world with richness and splendor. All things are alive and gay. "The little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys are also covered with corn, and shout for joy." Health at the same time prevails in a peculiar degree. The Spring is often chilled by easterly winds and rendered uncomfortable by rains. The Winter months, when the earth is clad with its mantle of snow, is the season for relaxation and pleasure.

The number of fair days in a year compared with the cloudy, is as three to one. We have had but few meteorological journals kept. For several years past they have become more frequent, and it is hoped, that from the increasing attention to the subject, comparative results of the weather will become more numerous and exact.

NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. The people of New England, from the first settlement of the country to the present_time, have been

celebrated for their fine ships, nautical prowess, and commercial spirit. Their extended Atlantic sea coast, and their noble forests of ship timber, give them as great, if not greater facilities for these enterprises, than can be found in this or any other country.

The number of vessels built in the United States in 1833, was 1,188; tonnage, 161,626 tons; of which there were built in New England 590: tonnage, 95,146. The number of seamen employed in navigation in the United States, was 67,744, of which 37,142 belonged to New England.

In consequence of the absence of both natural and artificial. channels to the fertile countries on the borders of the great lakes, and west of the Alleghany mountains, the exports and imports of New England, compared with the whole of the United States, appears small; but it must be borne in mind that a large proportion of the ships and seamen employed in this commerce belong to New England, and that a vast amount of the exports from other states consist of the products of the manufacturing industry and fishery of that section of the country.

The value of the imports of New England, during the year ending 30 September, 1837, was $22,052,414. Exports, $11,878,324. The total value of the imports of the United States, in that period, was $140,989,217; of exports, $117,419,376.

During that period the American tonnage of New England, entered, compared with that of the United States, was as follows: New England, 1,944 vessels, 393,877 tons: United States, 6,024 vessels, 1,299,720 tons. During that time there were 949 vessels built in the United States; tonnage, 122,987 tons; of which 389 were built in New England, measuring 51,983 tons.

FISHERY. This important branch of industry, and one of the greatest sources of wealth to the American people, has, from time immemorial, been almost exclusively carried on by New England vessels, men, and capital.

In 1837, there were 508 vessels in the United States engaged in the whale fishery; the total tonnage was 127,239 tons; of which number 459 belonged to the New England states; measuring 115,194 tons. The same year there were 127,678 tons employed in the cod and mackerel fishery; 126,963 tons of which were owned in New England.

MANUFACTURES. From the first settlement of the country, to the general peace in Europe in 1815, New England was emphatically a commercial country. During the long wars in Europe, when the flag of the U. S. was the only passport among the belligerent nations, New England ships became the carriers of almost the whole of the eastern

continent. The change from war to peace, in Europe, shook New England to its centre. It however stood firm. During a pause, in which conflicting interests in regard to the tariff on imports were settled, the resources of the country were examined,and it was found that a large portion of the capital which had been accustomed to float on every gale; and subjected to the caprice of every nation, might profitably be employed at home,in supplying our own necessities, and placing our independence on a more sure foundation. A manufacturing spirit arose in New England, whose power can only be excelled by the magnitude and grandeur of innumerable streams on which it is seen to move.

Our statistics on this highly important subject are exceedingly imperfect those only of Massachusetts are attempted to be given. When we find that every state in New England are making rapid advances in this branch of our national wealth, particularly Rhode Island and Connecticut; and that the amount of manufactures in Massachusetts, in a single year, was $86, 282, 616, we may safely indulge the pleasing hope that the period is not distant when our exports will exceed our imports, and that our work shops will no longer remain in Europe.

ITEMS.

THERE are several items in this volume which do not strictly pertain

to the general character of the work.

Routes to the White Mountains,

Some of them are here noted.

See White Mountains.

Distances on Long Island Sound and Hudson river,

Saratoga and Ballston Springs,

Lake George, N. Y.,

Whitehall, N. Y.,

Long I. Sound. White Mountains.

66

66

Maine.

Sharon, Ct.

Long Island Sound.

Hancock, Mass.
Stamford, Ct.

Long Island Sound.

Hartford, Ct.

Lyme, Ct. Fundy, Bay

66

Darien, Ct

Dalton, N. H

Brave Women, Dustan's Island, Gorham, Me., and Dorchester, Mass

St. John's, N. B.,

A Congregation made Prisoners,

Hadley, Mass., and Woodbridge, Ct.

Alexanders' Lake, and Berlin, Ct.

Colchester, Ct.

Prices of sundry articles in 1750,

Gorham, Me.

Roxbury, Mass., and Haddam, Ct.

Tornadoes, Warner and New London, N. H., and Winchendon, Mass.