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Cape May

Parnes Geography Published by. Low. New York.

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ark, and the Raritan by Brunfwiek. The Hackinfack rifes in Bergen county, runs a fouthwardly courfe, and empties into Newark bay. At the ferry, near its mouth, it is four hundred and fixty yards wide, and is navigable fifteen miles.

Thefe

Bridges have lately been erected over the Paffaik, Hackinfack, and Raritan rivers, on the poft road between New-York and Philadelphia. bridges will greatly facilitate the intercourfe between these two great cities.

That part of the State which borders on the fea, is indented with a great number of small rivers and creeks, fuch as Great Egg-Harbour, and Little Egg-Harbour rivers, Navefink, Shark, Matticung, and Forked rivers, which, as the country is flat, are navigable for fmall craft almoft to their fources.

This ftate is remarkable for mill feats, eleven hundred of which are already improved; five hundred with flour mills, and the refl with faw mills, fulling mills, forges, furnaces, flitting, and rolling mills, paper, powder, and oil mills.

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Sandy Hook, or Point, is in the township of Middletown and on this point ftands a light houfe, one hundred feet high, built by the citizens of New-York. (See page 299.)

Soil and Productions.

THIS State has all the varieties of foil from the worft to the best

kind. It has a great proportion of barrens. The good land in the fouthern counties lies principally on the banks of rivers and creeks. The foil on these banks is generally a stiff clay and while in a state of nature, produces various fpecies of oak, hickory, poplar, chefnut, afh, gum, &c. The barrens produce little elfe but shrub oaks and yellow pines. Thefe fandy lands yield an immenfe quantity of bog iron ore, which is worked up to great advantage, in the iron works in these counties. There are large bodies of falt meadow along the lower part of the Delaware river and bay, which afford a plentiful pafture for cattle in fummer, and bay in winter; but the flies and mufketoes frequent these meadows in large fwarms, in the months of June, July, and Auguft, and prove very troublefome both to man and beaft. In Gloucester and Cumberland counties are feveral large tracts of banked meadow. Their vicinity to Philadelphia renders them highly valuable. Along the fea coaft the inhabitants fubfill principally by feeding cattle on the falt meadows, and by the fish of various kinds, fuch as rock, drum, fhad, perch, &c. black turtle, crabs, and oysters, which the fea, rivers and creeks afford in great abundance. They raise Indian corn, rye, potatoes, &c. but not for exportation. Their fwamps afford lumber, which is cafily conveyed to a good market. The fugar maple tree is common in Suffex county upon the Delaware.

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In the hilly and mountainous parts of the State, which are not too rocky for cultivation, the foil is of a ftronger kind, and covered in its natural state with flately oaks, hickories, chefnuts, &c. and when cultivated produces wheat, rye, Indian corn, buck-wheat, oats, barley, flax, and fruits of all kinds common to the climate. The land in this hilly country is good for grazing, and farmers feed great numbers of cattle for New-York and Philadelphia markets; and many of them keep large dairies, as there are large tracts of fine meadows between the hills.

Vol. IV.

The orchards in many parts of the flate equal any in the United States, and their cyder is faid and not without reafon, to be the beft in the world. It is pretty certain, that it cannot be surpassed in goodness.

The markets of New-York and Philadelphia receive a very confiderable proportion of their fupplies from the contiguous parts of New-Jerfey. And it is worthy of remark, that thefe contiguous parts are exceedingly well calculated, as to the nature and fertility of their foils, to afford these supplies; and the intervention of a great number of navigable rivers and creeks renders it very convenient to market their produce. Thefe fupplies confift of vegetables of many kinds, apples, pears, peaches, plums, frawberries, cherries, and other fruits; cyder in large quantities, and of the best quality; butter, cheese, beef, pork, mutton, and the leffer meats.

This State embofoms vaft quantities of iron and copper ore. The iron ore is of two kinds; one is capable of being manufactured into malleable iron, and is found in mountains and in low barrens; the other, called bog ore, grows in rich bottoms, and yields iron of a hard, brittle quality, is commonly manufactured into hollow ware, and used sometimes inflead of flone in building.

A lead mine has been difcovered in Hopewell township, four miles from Trenton. There is faid to be coul on Raritan river, below Brunswick, and at Pluckemin; and turf in Bethlehem, at the head of its fouth branch ; and allo at Spring field on Raway river, which is remarkable for mill feats.

In the upper part of the county of Morris is a cold mineral fpring, which is frequented by valetudinarians, and its waters have been used with very confiderable fuccefs. In the township of Hanover, in this county, on a ridge of hills, are a number of wells, which regularly ebb and flow about fix feet, twice in every twenty-four hours. These wells are nearly forty miles from the fea in a ftraight line. In the county of Cape May is a fpring of fresh water, which boils up from the bottom of a falt water creek, which runs nearly dry at low tide; but at flood tide is covered with water directly from the ocean, to the depth of three or four feet; yet in this fituation, by letting down a bottle, well corked, through the falt-water into the fpring, and immediately drawing the cork with a ftring prepared for the purpofe, it may be drawn up full of fine untainted fresh water.-There are fprings of this kind in various other parts of the State. In the county of Hunterdon, near the top of Mufhoneicony mountain, is a noted medicinal spring, to which invalids refort from every quarter. It illues from the fide of a mountain, and is conveyed into an artificial refervoir for the accommodation of those who with to bathe in, as well as to drink, the waters. It is a ftrong chaly beate, and very cold. These waters have been used with very confiderable fuccefs; but perhaps the exercife neceffary to get to them, and the purity of the air in this lofty fituation, aided by a lively imagination, have as great efficacy in curing the patient as the waters.

A curious fpring has been discovered, about two hundred yards from the fouth branch of Raritan river, from which, even in the, dryeft feafons, a fmall fream iffues, except when the wind continues to blow from the northwell for more than two days fucceffively, when it ceases to run; and if the water be taken out of the cafk placed in the ground, it will remain empty until the wind changes, when it is again filled, and flows as usual.

In the township of Shrewsbury, in Monmouth county, on the fide of a branch of Navefink river, is a remarkable cave, in which there are three The cave is about thirty feet long and fifteen feet broad.

rooms.

Each of

the rooms are arched; the center of the arch is about five feet from the bottom of the cave; the fides not more than two and an half. The mouth of the cave is fmall; the bottom is a loose fand; and the arch is formed in a foft rock, through the pores of which the moisture is flowly exudated, and falis in drops on the fand below.

Chief Towns.

THERE are a number of towns in this State, nearly of equal fize

and importance, and none that has more than about two hundred houtes compactly built.

Trenton is one of the largest towns in New Jerfey and the capital of the ftate. It is fituated on the north-eaft fide of the river Delaware, oppofite the falls, nearly in the centre of the ftate from north to fouth, in lat. 40° 15', and about 20 min. caft of the meridian of Philadelphia. The river is not navigable above thefe falls, except for boats which will carry from five to feven hundred bushels of wheat. This town, with Lamberton, which joins it on the fouth, contains upwards of two hundred houles, befides public buildings. Here the Legiflature ftatedly meets, the fupreme court fits, and most of the public offices are kept. The inhabitants have lately erected a handsome court house one hundred feet by fifty, with a femi-hexagon at each end, over which is to be a balluftrade. In the neigh

bourhood of this pleasant town are feveral gentlemen's feats, finely fituated on the banks of the Delaware, and ornamented with talle and elegance. This town, being a thoroughfare between the caftern parts of the state and Philadelphia, has a confiderable inland trade. There are one church for Epifcopalians, one for Prefbyterians, one for Methodists, and a Quaker Meeting. It lies thirty miles north east of Philadelphia.

Burlington city extends three miles along the Delaware, and one mile back, at right angles, into the county of Burlington, and is twenty miles above Philadelphia by water, and feventeen by land. The island, which is the most populous part of the city, is a mile and a quarter in lenght, and three quarters of a mile in breadth. It has four entrances over bridges and causeways, and a quantity of bank meadow adjoining. On the illand are about one hundred and feventy houses, and one thousand two hundred and fifty inhabitants. The Delaware, oppofite the town, is about a mile wide; and under shelter of Mittinnicunk and Burlington islands, afford a fafe and convenient harbour. It is commodiously fituated for trade, but is too near the opulent city of Philadelphia to admit of any confiderable increase of foreign commerce. There are two houfes for public worship in the town, one for the friends or Quakers, who are the most numerous, and one for Epifcopalians. The other public buildings are two market houses, a court house, and the best gaol in the flate.

Perth Amboy city took its name from James Drummond, Earl of Perth, and Ambo, the Indian word for point, and flands on a neck of land includ ed between Raritan river and Arthur Kill found. Its fituation is high and healthy. It lies open to Sandy-Hook, and has one of the beft harbours on the continent, Veffels from fea may enter it in one tide in almost any weather. Great efforts have been made, and legillative encouragements offered, to render it a place of trade, but without fuccefs. It is thirtyfive miles fouth west of New-York, north latitude 40' 25 min. weft longitude 74 deg. 50 min.

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