grand and silent, in primeval loneliness, except when enlivened by the clumsy bateau, or the rude flat-boat.

In 1807 Fulton launched the Clermont, which made a passage to Albany in thirtytwo hours. At that time the mode of travel was by schooners and sloops, which were frequently six days on the passage. The improvement was certainly great; but what would Fulton now say, to see the steamboats running the same distance in eight hours, and some of them large enough to stow the Clermont on their forward decks.

No steamboat had broken the waters of the Mississippi previous to 1815. The voyage from Cincinnati to New Orleans was an undertaking which occupied more time than a steamboat would now take to circumnavigate the globe. At present, it is calculated that there are no less than 3,000 steamboats in America.

A person can travel a greater distance in thirty days now, by steamboat, than he could in one hundred days in 1800. Just fancy Benjamin Franklin being almost wrecked in going from New York to Amboy, and the vessel which he was in occupying thirty-two hours on the passage, a distance which is accomplished every day by our steamboats in one and a half hours: a great change, truly!

In Europe, steamboats were unknown until 1811, and no sea was regularly navigated by them until 1818. The progress of Marine Navigation is remarkable. In 1838 no steamship had ventured across the stormy Atlantic to establish ocean navigation. Now we have communication every week with Europe, by regular steam mails.

If the last half century had given us no other invention than the steamboat, that alone, considering its importance, is enough

to immortalize it. In 1800 there was no steamship in the wide world. Where is the country now in which they are not seen, and where they are not exercising a most important influence?

On the Hudson, Mississippi, on all our lakes, rivers, and seas, and on all the oceans of the world; on that sea where the waters rolled up in walls to allow Moses and the Hebrews to pass dry-shod; on the ancient Nile, where Cleopatra's galley spread its silken sails to the breeze; on the Ganges of Indus in the East, and the Sacramento in the West, there now may be seen numerous monuments to the inventor of the steamboat ;-the steamship "Rules the Waves."

Look at that Iron Horse, moving out of his stable, screaming and panting to start on his journey. That is the steam engine in its most perfect state; it is a near approach to the spiritual and physical combination. Behold how easily he drags the ponderous train, at the rate of thirty miles an hour; thus conveying hundreds of passengers, in concert and safety, to a distance which, but a few years ago, would have taken them nearly a whole day to accomplish, by stages.

Only a few months since, the Queen of England was transported from the interior of Scotland to London, a distance of four hundred miles, in ten hours. In 1800 the same journey could not have been accomplished in less than eight days. If the steamboat has revolutionized intercommunication by river and sea, the locomotive has done more to revolutionize travel by land.

In 1800 there was not a single locomotive in the world, nor for nearly twentynine years afterward. On the 6th day of October, 1829, the first locomotive, Rocket, ran on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, at the average rate of fifteen miles per hour. From that moment we date the commencement of a new and most astonish ing era in the history of discovery.

In England there are now 5,600 miles of railway constructed, and as many more proposed, at a cost of more than $500,000,000. In the United States there are about 8,000 miles of railway; and there is probably about 30,000 miles of railroad

now in operation in Europe and America. But neither Asia nor Africa can yet boast of a single line completed.

What were the old Roman roads in comparison to the footpaths of our iron horses? In 1835 there were only fifteen miles of railway in the State of New York, now there are about 1,500, and a traveler can journey as far in one day as he could in eight days fifteen years ago.

Among the grand discoveries of the last half century, the Electric Telegraph stands out in bold relief. It has given to man the power of transmitting his thoughts to his fellow-man, thousands of miles distant, in a few seconds. "Electricity leaves her thunderbolt in the sky, and, like Mercury.. dismissed from Olympus, acts as lettercarrier and message-boy.'

In 1837, when Morse first proclaimed that he could write messages by electricity at any distance, wise people shrugged their shoulders, and looked with blank unbelief upon such a daring proposition; and, when the proposal was before Congress, in 1843, to appropriate $30,000 to test his system of telegraphing, it met with stern opposition.

In 1844 the first line of telegraph was completed in our country, between Washington and Baltimore; and since that time the progress of telegraph lines has been most surprising and astounding. All the important cities in our Union are linked together by the lightning tracks;, and wherever we travel, there we behold, suspended on slender poles, those attenuated threads, along which the lightning fleets with messages of love, hope, fear, or gain

The telegraph has produced most astonishing changes in the modes of conducting business. A few years ago, what a wear and tear of horse flesh it required to get news for our daily papers! What a trouble and delay there was in getting the news from Halifax during the winter season! Now what a change!

A steamship arrives at Halifax, Boston, or New York this morning, and the European news is published in the New Orleans papers in the evening. The speeches delivered in the halls of Congress to-day, are delivered to the readers of the newspapers in all our important cities next morning."

rude shanties marked the place where now stands the capital of the state. Detroit, formerly the capital, is the largest town, and contains 21,000 inhabitants.

The southern peninsula, which includes the principal settled portions of the state, has a belt of heavily-timbered flat land around the three sides, which border on the lakes. Inside of this the land gradually rises toward the center of the state, and becomes gently rolling. This central region is covered with fine forests, oak plains, and prairies. The largest and finest prairies are found in the southern portion of the state.

The country is well adapted to agriculture. Its principal staple productions are wheat, Indian corn, oats, potatoes, barley, and maple sugar. Besides these, the soil is adapted to rye, flax, hemp, the grasses, and garden vegetables. No part of the United States is better supplied with aquatic fowls, fish, and wild game. The forest trees are of great variety; among which the principal ones are the oak, hickory, sugar maple, beech, ash, elm, and pine.

The northern peninsula embraces the mineral regions and copper mines of Lake Superior. Its principal inhabitants are those who have gone thither for mining purposes. It is only about five years since these mining operations were commenced; thousands of tons of copper have already been obtained. Some of the best copper in the world is found in these mines.

It is on the southern shores of Lake Superior that the celebrated Pictured Rocks exist. They consist of a range of rocky bluffs along the shore, toward the eastern end of the lake. Stretching away for miles, they form so complete a barrier to the navigator that not even a canoe can effect a landing. Occasionally, however, an accessible point has been found by the Indian, where he has made, on the rocks, rude drawings, recording Indian exploits, and fragments of their history.

Beheld from the lake, these rocks present sublime and commanding views. They are composed of light-grey sandstone, and rise in an almost perpendicular wall, from the water, to the height of from one to three hundred feet. By being exposed to

ww

the fury of the waves, driven by the powerful north winds which sweep the lake, they have been worn out into numerous bays, caverns, and indentations. From a distance these present an array of dilapidated battlements, and desolate towers.

As a young state, Michigan has done much for the interests of education. It has a permanent school-fund for the support of schools and libraries in all the districts. There has also been established a Normal School for the education of teachers. The University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, has departments of literature, science, the arts, of law, and medicine. It is designed to have academic branches of the university in the principal towns throughout the state. Several of these have already been established. Besides this institution there is St. Phillip's College, near Detroit.

Michigan has about 370 miles of railroad completed, and many more internal improvemonts projected. The governor of this state is chosen by the people, once in two years. The elections are held the first Tuesday in November. The legislature meets annually on the first Monday in January.

The inhabitants of the peninsula state are chiefly from New York and New England. Rapid strides have been made in subduing her majestic forests and developing her internal resources. From the enterprise and industry which abounds there, the country is fast assuming the appearance of an old-settled state.