ALTHOUGH Maine was settled by Europeans several years before any other part of New England, it was not admitted into the Union as a state until 1820. Previously to that period it was a mere territory of Massachusetts, and long bore the title of the "district of Maine." In point of extent, however, and rapidity of growth, it ranks at the head of the eastern states; embracing, between its distant limits of Lower Canada on the north, New Brunswick on the east, the Atlantic on the south, and New Hampshire on the west, an area of 33,223 square miles.

A considerable part of the northwestern division of the state is mountainous, and there are rough tracts and peaks of considerable elevation in some other parts; but in the north the surface is generally even, although the height is considerable, dividing the waters of the St. Lawrence from those emptying into the ocean. The Allegany range, which first appears in Alabama, and traverses all the intermediate Atlantic states, with mountains or hills of different breadth and elevation, is considered as terminating in that cluster of wild and lofty heights which occupy the northwestern counties of Maine; beyond which no ridge is to be found, except that of the greatly rising land in the north just mentioned.

The highest land east of the Mississippi, excepting only Mount Washington, and a few of its neighboring peaks, in the heart of the New Hampshire White hills, is Katahdin mountain, on the Penobscot river, near the centre of this state. It is 5,335 feet high. The other most elevated points are Speckled, Whiteface, Bald, and Saddleback mountains, north of Androscoggin river, and not far from the western boundary of the state.

The rivers of Maine present some striking peculiarities. The surface of the state is divided into unequal parts by the courses of the Penobscot, Kennebec,

and Androscoggin, which run nearly south, in directions nearly parallel and equidistant; while, as they approach the sea, a number of smaller streams flow in short courses between them, subdividing the coast into many capes and peninsulas, whose number is still further increased by bays and coves which set up into the land every few miles, and fringe the southern outline of the state along its whole extent of 221 miles, from Kittery point to Quoddy head. The northern part of the map presents countless small streams pouring into the main trunks of the rivers above-mentioned, of which they are the tributaries; while still above them, flowing with a long sweep, from north to east and southeast, the St. John's, the principal stream of the state, encircles the whole, marking out the present northern boundary, till it crosses the eastern boundary, and flows on through the neighboring British province of New Brunswick.

being almost entirely engrossed, on the
one hand, by the cutting of timber in
the interior, its transportation to the
mills at the falls of the rivers, the saw-
ing and exportation of it to the different
ports of the Union and the West Indies;
and, on the other hand, by the fisheries
along the coast.
The increase of pop-
ulation, however, with the rapid disap-
pearance of the forests in the immediate
vicinity of streams, together with the
diffusion of just views of the importance
and methods of agriculture, have pro-
duced great and extensive improve-
ments; and the benefits resulting to
the state are already incalculably great.
Manufactures have also been introduced
to a considerable extent, while the min-
eral resources have begun to be devel-
oped, as iron, slate, marble, and espe-
cially limestone, which is celebrated for
its excellent quality. Literary institu-
tions have been multiplied and well sup-
ported, and the common-school system
has been placed on a liberal foundation.

The valley of the Saco embraces 650 square miles, that of the Androscoggin Trade is much favored by the nature 3,300, the Kennebec 5,280, and the of the coast and the character of some Penobscot 8,200. The smaller streams of the principal rivers; and already great in the south part of the state, before al- improvements have been made by the luded to, are the Piscataqua, Sheepscot, construction of roads, railroads, and ca Damariscotta, Muscongus, Union, Nar-nals, and the establishment of steamboat ragaugus, and Machias. The region lines. The principal ports and places of between the Penobscot and the Kennebec, a distance of fifty miles, is remarkably well supplied with streams and inlets, so that almost every town has a navigable channel of its own.

trade are Portland, Hallowell, Bangor, Calais, Brunswick, and Belfast; and Saco, Machias, and Eastport, have also excellent harbors. The exports are chiefly timber, lumber, dried fish, salt pork and beef, lime, and pot and pearl ashes.

The soil along the Atlantic border, extending from ten to twenty miles back from the coast, is generally poor, alThe business of cutting, transporting, though varying from sand to gravel, and manufacturing timber, includes maclay and loam, producing small crops of ny laborious operations, and occupies a grass, Indian corn, rye, &c. The next considerable part of the population. belt of land, from fifty to one hundred Trees are felled in the winter, drawn miles wide, is of better quality, and by oxen to the nearest water-course, and yields, in addition to these articles, left upon the ice, marked with the axe wheat, oats, flax, and hemp, as well as in such a manner that they may most of the northern plants. The tract ognised by the agents of the owner, stabetween the Kennebec and Penobscot tioned on the lower parts of the main is remarkably favorable to grazing, and, river. In the spring, at the melting of when well cultivated, yields forty bush- the deep snows, the floods carry down els of corn, and from twenty to forty the timber with the broken ice; and, bushels of wheat, to the acre. Agricul- after a long voyage, every log is drifted ture was greatly neglected for many to the falls of the great stream on whose years, the attention of the inhabitants branches it has grown. Here numerous

be rec

On the islands opposite the town, are other ruins, the history of which is unknown, as is also that of those already mentioned. The following interesting facts afford a guide to their origin.

mills are kept in active operation by the of cellar-walls and chimneys are found, powerful currents, which bring down as also broken kettles, wedges, &c. At abundant materials to employ them. the head of the bay are the hulks of two Above these are long rafts, or floating or three large vessels sunk in the water; bridges, called buoys, formed of logs, and on the shore, the ruins of an old connected strongly together, and stretch-gristmill, where the present one stands. ed from bank to bank, to stop the floating timber. Men are continually employed with boats, in the spring, in bringing it to the shore as it comes down; and great care is taken to dispose of each stick according to the direction of the owner, whose name is known from the mark. The millers, with their circular saws and other machines, saw whole rafts of logs into millions of planks, boards, shingles, staves, headings, &c.; and vessels, lying at the foot of the falls, readily receive their cargoes of lumber from the doors of the mills, slid down upon their decks and into their holds; and, hoisting sail, steer away for many a distant harbor.

HISTORY.-The Jesuits in Lower Canada early began their intercourse with the Indian tribes in Maine, and soon established a mission on the Penobscot, which, according to custom, became a centre of intrigue and of military operations against the New England settlements. It was at length cut off by an expedition from Massachusetts, by which, in a sudden attack, the Jesuit chief, Ralle, was killed. The remnants of the Penobscot tribe are, to this day, chiefly Roman catholics. Previously to the landing in Massachusetts bay, a colony was commenced on the coast of Maine, by Gorges and Mason, under a grant from the council of Plymouth, England, to whom the territory had been granted by King James I., in 1606. The first settlements made, at Damariscotta and a few other points on the coast, were soon abandoned; and few traces are to be found of any of them. Few motives were offered to colonists, to counterbalance the inhospitable nature of the country, the severity of the climate, and the exposure to interference from the Indians and French.

Two or three miles from the road that leads between Linniken's bay and Damariscotta river, where was formerly an Indian burying-place, the remains

In the year 1605, Captain Weymouth, of Plymouth, in England, returned from an unsuccessful voyage made for the discovery of a northwest passage, bringing with him five American savages, whom he had taken on board in the Penobscot river. Sir Fernando Gorges felt so much, interest in these men from a new world, that, to use his own language, he "seized upon" them, and had three of them in his own family for three years; and "this accident must be acknowledged as the means, under God, of putting on foot and giving life to all our plantations." He obtained much information from the Indians, and became, from that time, deeply interested in schemes for the settlement of the New World, and an active member of the Plymouth company.

The first settlement was attempted by Englishmen, on the Kennebec, at the early date of 1609, the same year as that of Jamestown. King James having, by request, granted a patent, in 1606, dividing the coast into North and South Virginia, this part of Maine was embraced in the former, which extended from the 38th to the 45th degree of north latitude. While Gosnold, with Captain Smith for his agent, commenced planting a colony at Jamestown, Captains George Popham and Raleigh Gilbert led another to the mouth of the Kennebec. They landed near the island of Monheagan, a few leagues east of that river, and soon after entered the stream, and stopped at an island near its eastern shore, now forming a part of Georgetown. As ChiefJustice Popham had procured an accurate survey of the river the year before, it is probable that this place was chosen in England, before the sailing of the expedition.

But the history of this colony is short