stitutes by far the most important and interesting feature in our landscape.

This chain or system was called by the Spanish adventurer De Soto, Appalachian, and by the native Indians, from whose mellow-tongue most of our sweet euphonious local designations are derived, Allegheney, which means the "endless." They are well named in this respect, being nearly 1,500 miles long, extending from that part of Canada which lies between the New England States and the St. Lawrence, clear through the intervening space to Northern Alabama, where they melt into the plains which are drained into the Gulf. Their conformity to the coast line is remarkable. Before they reach North Carolina they have lost the coal and nearly all the paleozoic characteristics which they bear in other States, and present here only the features which mark them as among the oldest formations of the world. In respect to their geology, and the character and variety of their flora, they constitute a region of peculiar interest to the man of science. But I do not propose to deal with them in this light. I simply desire to give the reader some idea of their general features, and call attention to their capacities for agriculture and manufactures. another paper I shall attempt some pictures of their scenery.

In

Their general elevation is about 4,000 feet, and that of the land is about 2,500. Their direction is from northeast to southwest, and they consist of two great parallel ranges, known locally as the Blue Ridge on the east and the Alleghaneys on the west. These ranges at regular intervals are connected by huge traverse beams, running from one to the other. These force the waters which rise between the ranges to run east and west, meeting each other in the deepest valleys, which burst through the western chain northward, at right angles to the main direction. Ten of these deep right-angle valleys sweep away the waters of ten thousand smaller intermediate valleys, forming some of the largest rivers in the United States-as

the Tennessee and the great Kanawha. The main ranges are remarkable for their parallelism, pursuing almost precisely the same line of direction, turning in new courses simultaneously, and preserving the relative distance between them with great uniformity. They will average about fifty miles in breadth, and their spurs and outlying ranges perhaps ten miles more. Their greatest elevation, Mt. Mitchell, is 6,711 feet, more than 400 feet higher than Mt. Washington. There are about twenty peaks over 6,000 feet, and fifty over 5,000 feet high. The Grandfather and the Roane are termed by Professor Guyot the gateways of this great group of Southern Highlands. Each of these mighty pillars is over 6,000 feet high, and they stand about twenty miles apart, nearly due east and west. The total length of the system in North Carolina is about 300 miles, and it covers one-fifth of the surface of the State, or about 10,000 square miles.

Four of the longest rivers in the United States have their sources in this region, within about forty miles of each other, and run towards opposite points of the compass-to wit, the Tennessee running west, the Great Kanawha running north, the Yadkin or Great Pedee running east, and the Catawba or Wateree running southeast by south. This marks the great elevation of the land unmistakably. The whole face of the landscape is covered with forests of most luxuriant growth. The very wildest mountains are densely wooded to their summits, which, with the exception of an occasional prairie, are crowned with brilliant diadems of arborescent glory. Indeed, this is the case with almost the entire State. Out of the 50,000 square miles which our area covers, but 10,000 have been stripped of their forests and reduced to cultivation. Full 40,000 square miles-an area quite as large as the present limits of Virginia-are still in virgin wilderness, waiting to become the homes of our children! And whilst it indicates that we have increased in numbers slowly, and are behind

our sisters in wealth and population in some degree, yet in many respects this vast store of reserved riches is to me a high source of congratulation and pleasure. Should our population grow in the future at the same rate as it has done in the past, our descendants will have ample room for a thousand years to come. The effect of our forests upon our climate, and the regular, unfailing flow of our streams, must necessarily be beneficial. In the course of my life I can remember but one drought which seriously affected the crops, which happened in 1845; and the distress caused by this was confined within very narrow limits. Doubtless the sheltering canopy of our vast forests have much to do with these results. The character of the trees varies with the soil and elevation. About 120 different species are found in the State, of which nineteen are oaks alone and nine are pines. The rich soils of the mountain coves produce the most splendid specimens of timber trees in the United States. In truth, after diligent inquiry and careful reading, I am prepared to assert that this Appalachian region of North Carolina is the most fertile and bountifully-wooded mountain range in the world; nor are their bosoms less rich than their surfaces. Within are found gold, copper, iron in great abundance, graphite, baryta, corundrum, manganese, marble, mica in vast quantities, buhrstone, porcelain clay, kaolin, and occasional diamonds in itacolumite belts at their bases. But this paper is too long and statistical already, and warning the ntimental reader to skip it altogether, I shall close.

EDUCATION.

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It is a source of unfeigned mortification to every North Carolinian that his State continues to be put down in the census reports at the foot of the list in regard to education. Though she has made considerable advancement, as compared with her previous condition, she has not diminished the distance which for forty years has intervened between herself and her sister States. A mountaineer, whom I once visited at his home on business connected with an approaching Congressional election, received me at his cabin door with a cordial greeting, and introduced me to his wife and nine children with the homely witticism: "Me and my wife begun life with nothing, Colonel, and you see we've held our own." I told him, and told him truly, that no man was poor who had nine strong and affectionate children. This is North Carolina's case: she began with poor chances for popular education, and has held her own. Though rich in the stalwart sons and noble daughters which have blessed her existence, she has not dressed and polished those corner-stones of her beauty as she should have done. It is written: "Lo! children are an heritage of the Lord. As arrows in the hands of a mighty Happy is the man that

man, so are children of the youth. hath his quiver full of them."

Does this state of things prove that North Carolinians are more indifferent to education than their neighbors? If such a presumption arises, I think it may be rebutted by our history. There seems to have been a fatality attending all our efforts in this direction, to which but few if any other of the American States have been subjected.

Notwithstanding King Charles, in his charter to the Lords Proprietors, was graciously pleased to say that they were "excited with a laudable zeal for the propagation of the christian faith," we know in fact that the whole scheme was for the purpose of gain. The grant was a largesse to the royal favorites, some of whom were men of broken fortunes and dissolute character. They were not even actuated by the common desire of reaping fame by the establishment of new communities and extending the power and glory of their country. Their great object in opening a wilderness to civilization was to make money. Aside from this, they had no care for the welfare of those whom they planted there. It is a most remarkable fact that in the entire 120 articles of the fundamental constitutions of Locke, prepared at the request of the Lords Proprietors, not one word is said about popular education, or education of any sort. The rights and privileges of the dignitaries, the formation of courts, the distribution of executive legislation and judicial powers, the establishment of the Church of England, and especially the taxes, profits and properties of the proprietors, are all provided for most minutely; everything except the most important of all-the mental improvement of the people. And as it was forbidden to change or add to these constitutions, it is to be fairly presumed that this subject was designedly omitted and was never to be inserted. The aristocratic elements of England still cling to the idea that their privileges were only to be preserved by the repression of popular intelligence. They were jealous of education as the sworn foe of tyranny and exclusiveness everywhere. It was yet many generations before they got rid of that baleful photophobia and acquired in its stead that enlightened and noble spirit which has made their descendants the strength and glory of their nation and the benefactors of civilization. Each of these grantees-except the Duke of Albemarle, who had been a Cromwellian-was a staunch royalist, and had