ence. By purchase from France and Spain, they procured Florida and Louisiana, and acquired thus an undisputed title to the country on and beyond the Mississippi, as far as the Rocky Mountains, and a portion even as far as the Pacific.

550. The territory is thus of immense extent, and its western part contains vast tracts of unoccupied land, in the valley of the Mississippi, open for settlers, who for a trifling sum can obtain a large lot. Hence great numbers arrive, both from the eastern states and from Europe. From this cause, and the facility of subsistence, the population has increased more rapidly than in any other country. In 1791 it was 3,900,000 ; in 1841 it had risen to 17,068,000. Of these, however, nearly 2,500,000 are negro slaves, which exposes the nation to much reproach and inconvenience. The people are most industrious in extending their agriculture and trade; they export vast quantities of cotton, timber, tobacco, grain, rice, pitch, potash, and skins. Their ships are to be found in every part of the world. Their imports and exports amount each to nearly 30,000,000/. sterling. They have, besides, a vast inland traffic on the Mississippi, Ohio, and other great rivers. This they diligently extend by canals, railroads, and steam navigation, which they were the first to introduce on a great scale.

551. The Republic of the United States is governed by a President, chosen every four years; a Senate, which consists of two members chosen from each state, for a term of six years, and a House of Representatives, consisting of one member for every 70,680 inhabitants, omitting three fifths of the slaves. The representatives are elected for two years. These two last compose the supreme legislative body called Congress, which holds its meetings at Washington, the capital of the Republic

552. The territory of the United States is divided into thirty states, each of which has a separate government, and the district of Columbia, and several territories- The following is a list of the States, their population in 1840, and their capitals.

553. Texas was an extensive province of Mexico, adjoining the United States, adventurers from which, having occupied it, defeated every attempt of the Mexicans to dislodge them. They at first proclaimed it an independent republic, but in 1844 it obtained admission into the American Union. The country is fertile, and the interior enjoys a fine climate.

554. Territories.—District of Columbia, 43,712, Washington; Oregon, 20,000, Oregon city; Western, or Indian

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(set apart for the permanent residence of the Aborigines); Minesota, St. Paul; Nebraska; New Mexico, Santa Fe; California, San Francisco. Washington^ on the Potomac river, in the district of Columbia, is the capital of the United States, and became such in the year 1800.

555. New York is the largest city in the United States and in all America, having more than 312,000 inhabitants. Its commerce is supposed to exceed that of any city in the world, except London. It has left far behind it Boston, which, however, has 105,000 inhabitants, and is distinguished by intelligence and literature. Philadelphia, founded by the Quakers, is a regular, well built, and orderly city, with 228,000 people. Baltimore, with 102,500, and Charleston, with 50,000, are flourishing seats of southern trade. New Orleans was a poor and middling place till the rise of the western states, when its situation at the mouth of the Mississippi made it the seat of a vast and rising commerce, which has given to it already 102,500 inhabitants, and must speedily augment it farther. It is still, however, in a somewhat rough and unfinished state. On a wild wooded spot upon the Ohio has sprung up, in thirty years, Cincinnati, a city of 100,000 souls, and carrying on a continual steam traffic. New towns, and even cities, are rising almost every year upon the great lines of river and canal. The seat of government is Washington, in the district of Columbia, beautifully situated at the junction of two branches of the Potomac. It was laid out with the view of its becoming a great city, but has not answered this expectation, the population not exceeding 23,000. The capitol, however, in which Congress here assembles, is the finest edifice in America.

THE NATIVE TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA.

556. Numerous small tribes, or hordes, of from 500 to 5000 each, occupy the vast extent of country from the United States to the Pacific Ocean; also Greenland, Labrador, the regions around Hudson's Bay, and along the western coast, all in a barbarous condition, and depending on the uncertain produce of the chase. The British