NORTH CAROLINA.

GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.

SITUATION'.

North Carolina is situated on the Atlantic slope of the great Appalachian chain of mountains, which traverses the North American continent in a Northeast and Southwest di­rection from Canada to Georgia.

Its territory lies between the parrellels 34° and 3G|° North latitude, midway between New York and the Gulf of Mexico, the latitude being that of Southern Spain, and between the meridians 75|° and 84West longitude.

EXTENT.

The State has a coast line of more than 200 miles, and a length, from east to west, of 485 miles.

Its area is 50,704 square miles, which is a little greater than that of New York, and, almost exactly that of England.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

The State is naturally divided into three distinct and well characterized regions, east, middle and west. The latter, or

The Western Division is quite mountainous, and is about one-fifth of the area of the State, (10,000 square miles,) and consists for the most part of a narrow plateau, whose eleva­tion is 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea, lying in a Northeast and Southwest direction, between two parallel ranges of the