college at Mount St Mary near Emmittsburg, is also a Catholic institution, and was founded in 1830. It has 25 instructers, 130 students, and a library of 7,000 volumes; it has one vacation of about 6 weeks. Commencement is in June.

St John's College, at Annapolis, was founded in 1784; it has 5 instructers, 76 students, and a library of 2,100 volumes. Commencement is in February. 11. HISTORY. Maryland was first settled by Catholics. That sect being persecuted in England, Lord Baltimore, one of its members, formed a plan to remove to America. He visited and explored the country, and returned to England, where he died while making preparations for the emigration. His son obtained the grant of the territory designed for his father, and gave it the name of Maryland, in honor of Henrietta Maria, the Queen of Charles I. He appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, governor of the colony, who set sail in 1633, with 200 settlers, principally Catholics. They purchased land of the Indians, and formed a settlement at St Mary's, on the Potomac. The colony was increased by refugees from Virginia, and the other neighboring territories, who were attracted by the toleration here given to all religions, and it began to flourish, but was soon disturbed by Indian wars and rebellions. The Catholics were tolerant to other sects, but soon found themselves outnumbered, and became subject to the persecution which they had fled from at home.

These troubles, however, were allayed at the restoration of Charles II. in 1660. At the revolution of 1688, the charter of the colony was set aside, and the government assumed by the crown; but in 1716, the proprietor was restored to his rights. At the beginning of the American revolution, the authority fell into the hands of the people. The existing constitution was formed in 1776.*

*It was supposed that the rights of the Baltimore family had long since ceased; but we understand that the heirs have recently set up claims, founded upon the ancient charter, to a considerable part of the territory. It is scarcely possible that these can be substantiated.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. The Middle States are bounded on the N. by Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the river St Lawrence; E. by New England and the ocean; S. by Virginia, and W. by Virginia and the lakes. They extend from 38° to 45° N. lat.; and from 73° to 79° 20′ W. lon.; comprising an area of 111,255 square miles.

2. MOUNTAINS. These states exhibit the most extensive mountainous tracts in the Union. The Apalachian chain spreads to its widest limits in Pennsylvania. None of the eminences of these mountains equal in height the loftiest summits of the N, Hampshire ranges, but their general elevation is not much below that of the other mountains in New England. They are almost universally covered with forests, and there are many wild solitudes among them, which are seldom or never visited by man. In Pennsylvania, there are vast tracts among the mountains, where the most timid of all wild animals find a secure and undisturbed abode.

3. VALLEYS. The great streams have generally rocky banks, with little interval land; but here and there extensive valleys occur. The broadest is that of the Hudson, which in one part of its course widens to the breadth of 40 miles.

4. RIVERS. The largest rivers of the Atlantic States are in this region. The Hudson and Delaware rank with the finest of our navigable streams. The Susquehanna, notwithstanding its length, is little available without the artificial help of canals.

5. LAKES. The great lakes, Erie and Ontario, are important features in the physical character of this region, but we shall reserve them for our description of Canada. The small lakes of New York give an additional charm to the scenery of that state, but, as navigable waters, they are of little

consequence.

6. SHORES. The whole sea-coast of this region is low and flat. Nearly all the maritime territory is alluvial, and the sea washes no part of the primitive formation in these states.

7. CLIMATE. We can offer no general remarks under this head that

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will apply to all parts of the country. The diversity is much greater than in New England. The climate of the mountainous parts of Pennsylvania and New York has little in common with that of the level plains of Maryland. With the exception, however, of the southern part, it may be characterised generally as subject to great extremes.

8. SOIL. The soil is much better on the whole than in New England, although vast tracts of the land are unproductive. With such an extent and diversity of surface, there must, of course, be every variety. A small proportion of the territory only is under cultivation.

9. ANIMALS. All the quadrupeds which we have mentioned in our general view of New England, are found in the Middle States. The Moose is only met with along the northern border of New York. The common deer is found in small numbers on Long Island, and is abundant in the northern and western parts of New York, and in the mountainous regions of Pennsylvania. The traveller over the Alleghany mountains, will frequently dine upon venison, and as he passes along the romantic banks of the Juniata, will hear the hounds in pursuit of the deer, and will see the hunters at their several stations, waiting till the tired animal seeks refuge in the stream, that they may shoot him down. The American Elk, which we shall notice more particularly hereafter, is also occasionally found in the deep solitudes of these mountains. Bears,* and wolves are met with in the Peruvian and Catskill mountains in New York, and in the Alleghanies of Pennsylvania.

*The following descriptions are extracted from the Cabinet of Natural History, and will convey a good idea of the manners and habits of some of the wild animals in the Middle States.

A BEAR HUNT, in Delaware County, New York.

'On the day of the present hunt, I was joined by a very particular friend, and a great huntsman, and we took with us, for our day's sport, nine dogs, and two men, to assist leading the dogs. Five of these animals were experienced and well broken, but the other four were young, and about, for the first time, to range the forest after a bear.

'It may, perhaps, be worthy of remark, for the information of those who know but little of these animals, that old bears seldom tree, to clear themselves of dogs, if there is any possibility of escape without it; and when necessity compels them to this course, they will, on the approach of a human creature, in despite of every obstacle which may oppose them, descend to the ground, and take to flight; young bears, however, will climb trees immediately, and often suffer hunters to approach beneath, and shoot them. Knowing the present animal to be an old and formidable antagonist, and judging from the noise of the dogs, that he was in a tree, my companion thought it most advisable to destroy him at once, lest he should kill more of our dogs, as by this time he had killed one, and disabled two others; he, accordingly, approached with much caution, until within about eighty yards of the tree in which the bear had taken refuge, when, with much deliberation, he fired at his head, and, being a first rate shot, I felt confident that the animal would have fallen dead; but to our great surprise, the shot did not take effect, owing to the ball having struck, and glanced from a small dead limb, which was immediately in front of the bear's head, but completely unnoticed by my friend. At the report of his rifle, the bear descended backwards, for about ten feet, then doubled himself in the form of a hoop, and fell to the ground.

It is well known among hunters, that, should an old bear be surprised on a tree, he will never descend by sliding down, but, like this bear, roll himself up and fall, sometimes from a most astonishing height, even forty or fifty feet; in which case, he always alights on his rump, and when on the side of a hill, will roll like a hoop to the bottom. I have, in several instances, shot them after such falls, and found the extent of injury received, was a few slight bruises, near the root of the tail. Experienced dogs are aware of this stratagem of the bear, and, so soon as he lets go his hold, they will run from under the tree, to avoid his fall. This plan also, the bear adopts to clear himself of dogs, as he knows, that should he descend the tree gradually, he must encounter a host of enemies, the moment he reaches the ground. In the present instance, the dogs knew the character of their antagonist, and ran so far from under the tree, that the bear had recovered from his fall, and ran three hundred yards ere they could overtake him.

'The battle now began to rage most furiously, and we were alarmed for the fate of our dogs, and endeavored to shoot him, but found it impossible to do so, without endangering

The Cougar, which is now seldom seen in the settled parts of our country, still finds a secure retreat in the gloomy forests of Pennsylvania. This animal, which passes under the various names of panther, painter and catamount, in

this country, and in South America is called puma, and sometimes the South American lion, is the largest of the cat family which inhabits North America. He is about 5 feet in length, with a long body, and rather short legs. The upper part of his body is of a silvery fawn color; the under parts are nearly white. He is of a cowardly disposition, but like most cowards, is very sanguinary, and will often kill more than he can eat. In seizing his prey, the cougar crawls upon his belly through the shrubs and bushes; as soon however, as he can reach his victim, he springs upon his back with one bound,

some of the dogs. He then laid on his back, and would frequently drag some of the dogs to him, in order to squeeze them to death, but being broad across the chest, failed to effect his purpose. This, the old dogs knew well, and the moment he would seize them, they would close in with his breast, and slip out backwards from him.

Our presence excited the dogs to fight with the utmost ferocity, and exceeding courage, for half an hour, but the bear was an overmatch for them, and we were fearful that he would bite them in pieces, and escape at last, without our being able to get a ball into him. Amongst our dogs, was a favorite old dog, we called Drive' and, without exception, the best dog to hunt I ever saw, and, withal, the most courageous. He had been our companion, both in toil and pleasure, for several years, and his encounters with wild animals were so numerous, that, often has been the time, that we have carried him from the field of battle, helpless and mangled, for miles, to our houses, but always on recovering. he was eager to engage in deadly strife with any monster of the forest. This old dog, in the present battle, had seized the bear, by the back of the neck, with so firm a hold, as to disable him, in some measure, from injuring the other dogs. The bear, however, endeavored to rid himself of Drive, in every possible way, but to no effect; thinking now it would be a good opportunity to despatch him, I resolved to try the virtue of my hunting knife, and approached him with a view of stabbing him; but the bear immediately broke away from the dogs, and then threw himself on his back again, and when in this position, I set my rifle against a tree, and attempted to make the fatal stroke. The bear anticipated my intention, and met my blow with a stroke of his paw, with so much force, as to knock the knife from my hand to the distance of thirty feet, and then arose, and made a bold push at me; but I showed him a light pair of heels, and being again seized by the dogs, he was deterred from further pursuit. We then thought of other means, and commenced cutting large clubs; but whilst engaged at this, the bear, disrelishing his new enemies, cleared himself of the dogs, which were so disabled by this time, that they could hardly fight more, and made off at full speed. I seized my rifle, and just as he was springing over an old hemlock log, I fired at him, but being afraid of shooting the dogs, I shot too high, and only cut him across the rump, as he pitched over the log. This

and soon tears it to pieces. He climbs trees with agility, and often descends with a sudden and fatal leap from the branches, upon the unsuspecting deer. This animal is found in all the unsettled parts of the United States. He will seldom attack a man, yet instances are recorded in which individuals have fallen victims to his rapacity. Dr Godman gives an account of a sportsman who was killed by a cougar in the Catskill mountains, a few years since, and whose body was soon after discovered in the possession of the animal, upon one of the branches of a large tree.

The Opossum is found from Pennsylvania to Brazil. He walks awkwardly, and seldom runs; a man can easily overtake him without hastening his steps. He climbs up trees with great facility, hides himself in the leaves, to catch birds, or hangs himself by the tail from a branch. He sometimes remains a long time in this situation, without motion, his body hanging head downwards, while he silently waits for his prey. Though he is voracious, and even greedy of blood, which he sucks with avidity, he feeds also upon reptiles, insects, potatoes, roots, and even the upper bark and leaves of trees. He is neither wild nor ferocious, and may be rendered domestic. The savages of the western country hunt the opossum, and feed heartily upon his flesh. The most remarkable circumstance in the natural history of this animal, is the pouch which is formed under the belly of the female, as a retreat for her young ones. This they leave to seek subsistence, and return when terrified, or in order to sleep. The mother, when she flies, carries them all with her.

put him to a stand, and he ascended a tree, to the height of about forty feet, when I approached, and shot him through the heart."

The following extract is a part of an account given of a wolf who was run down by some hunters, who resided in the village of Deposit, in Delaware county, New York. This animal had lost three toes from one of his feet, and on this account, was called the 'three legged wolf.' He was particularly famous for his depredations among the sheep, and had been frequently pursued, but from his great sagacity had hitherto escaped. No less than forty-five persons had originally started in the chase, on the present occasion; but it was now the third day, and two only had sufficient perseverance to continue the pursuit.

By the time it was fairly light, we were at the spot where we had left the wolf the night previous, and we had not proceeded more than three hundred yards up the hill, before we found his bed. This he had left of his own accord, and walked to the top of the hill, which was about a mile and a half to the summit, and then took to another road