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The capital requisite to set a spindle in motion is 75 dollars. The whole amount of the cotton manufacturing capital of this state is 9,000,000 dollars. Of this there are three investments; one in houses, lands, machinery, &c.; another in raw cotton and manufactured stock in the hands of the weavers; and a third in goods in the market.

The most extensive manufacture of wool in this country has just commenced its operations at the north end of Providence. It is moved by a steam-engine possessing the power of thirty horses; and is intended to manufacture daily two hundred yards of broadcloth. None but Merino wool is used; and the cloths are of the finest quality. Mr. Sanford of Connecticut is the superintendant of this business.

The use of steam as a moving power is superseding that of water. Two new engines will soon be erected in Providence.

On Rhode-Island proper there are two small woollen manufactories, and one of cotton now erecting. The number of sheep on this island, according to an estimate made by three intelligent farmers, is 16,500, and is rapidly increasing. Permit me to add, that there is also on this island a coal-mine in full operation, which employs about fifty hands through the year.

In Patucket there is a manufacture of muskets, and in Smithfield one of swords. At the latter place, also, the business of plating is carried on to a considerable extent.

Few kinds of business have been pursued with more spirit, or with more success in the United States, than the printing of books. Within the last twenty years, many large works have issued from our presses; and all of them have found ample support. The Bible has gone through a vast multitude of editions, several of them expensive; among which are three of Scott's Bible, and one of Dr. Clarke's. The latter and one of the former are, however, not yet finished. Three Encyclopedias have been printed in this country; the British, the Edinburgh, and that of Dr. Rees. An edition has proceeded far of distinguished British writers, in sixty volumes. Pinkerton's Collection of Voyages and Travels, is another expensive work, the engravings in which would have been admired in any country. The American Ornithology, executed in a very superb style, was begun by the late Mr. Alexander Wilson,

and, it seems, with ample encouragement. The subscription price was one hundred and twenty dollars a set. It has however been completed in nine, instead of twelve volumes. Our best printing is little, if at all inferior to the best in Europe For a large proportion of the very expensive books printed in the United States, we are indebted to the presses of Philadelphia.

A great multitude of machines have been invented in America, both to abridge and perfect human labour, which are honourable to the ingenuity of my countrymen. The most important of these is undoubtedly the cotton gin of Mr. Whitney; next after this may be placed his machinery for the manufacture of muskets; Evans's machinery for manufacturing flour; the machine of Mr. Perkins of Newburyport, which cuts and heads two hundred thousand nails in a day, and other machines of the same ingenious artist; that of Mr. Whittemore for cutting, bending, and setting card-teeth at a single operation; and a stocking loom (the name of the inventor unknown to me), which will weave six stockings in a day. To these might be added an almost endless train of others, applied to various purposes of life.

The fabrics of the loom woven here are chiefly those which are worn by the middle and lower classes of mankind. Beautiful cloths are however made in considerable quantities, and of such a quality as not to be distinguished from the superfine cloths of Europe. For these, the Merino sheep furnish the material. Happily for us, this useful animal, instead of declining, as was expected, has visibly improved in our pastures; having increased both in its size and the quantity of its wool. For the introduction of this invaluable breed, the United States are greatly indebted to the Hon. David Humphries, formerly minister plenipotentiary at the courts of Lisbon and Madrid. They are now, together with the crossbreeds, filling the country.

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MASSACHUSETTS.

LETTER I.

The State of Massachusetts. Its Boundaries, Population, and Government.

DEAR SIR;

I AM now quitting Massachusetts, and will therefore take this opportunity to make some general observations to you concerning this state, the largest in New-England; and, when considered as to the extent of its territory, population, wealth, power, commerce, and advancement in civilization, one of the largest in the American Union.

The topography of this state has been already sufficiently exhibited, except in a small number of particulars, which will hereafter be occasionally mentioned.

Massachusetts Proper is divided into twelve counties. Berkshire begins at the western boundary: Hampshire* and Worcester extend across the breadth of the state fifty miles, and are entirely inland. Middlesex, which lies immediately east of Worcester, touches the ocean at its south-eastern corner. Essex, the north-eastern county, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Plymouth, are bordered by Massachusetts'-Bay. stable is washed on one side by this bay, and on the other by the ocean. Bristol is bordered on the south by the ocean. Duke's County is formed by Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Isles, and the county of Nantucket consists of the island of that name. The three inland counties contain 177,092

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* Since divided into three counties.

inhabitants: the maritime counties 294,948. The inhabitants of the county of Hampshire, amounting to 76,275, live all within less than twenty-five miles of Connecticut river, which passes through the middle of the county from north to south, and furnishes a conveyance for their produce to the ocean. Those of the county of Berkshire, upon its western limit, are at about the same distance from the Hudson. A considerable number of the inhabitants of Worcester county are not more remote from the harbour of Providence.

The face of the country is divided by nature in the following manner: the Taghkannuc range; the valley of the Hooestennuc; the Green Mountain range; the valley of the Connecticut; the Lyme range; a tract formed of hills and vallies, reaching from their eastern base to the ocean; and a tract of sandy ground, spreading from Bridgewater to the ocean, both eastward and southward, chiefly formed into extensive plains, but rising in several places into hills, some of them of considerable height, particularly in the county of Barnstable.

Massachusetts is subdivided into 290 townships, of which Berkshire contains 32 townships, and 35,907 inhabitants ; Hampshire 64 townships, and 76,275 inhabitants; Worcester 51 townships, and 64,910 inhabitants; Middlesex 44 townships, and 52,789 inhabitants; Essex 23 townships, and 71,888 inhabitants; Suffolk 2 townships, and 34,381 inhabitants; Norfolk 22 townships, and 31,245 inhabitants. Plymouth 18 townships, and 35,169 inhabitants; Bristol 16 townships, and 37,168 inhabitants; Barnstable 14 townships, and 22,211 inhabitants; Duke's 3 townships, and 3,290 inhabitants; Nantucket 1 township, and 6,807 inhabitants: total 290 townships, and 472,040* inhabitants.

There are no peculiarities in the character of these inhabitants, which are not marked with sufficient minuteness in the course of these Letters. Those of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Worcester so much resemble their neighbours bordering upon them in Connecticut, that a traveller is conscious of no sensible change when he passes within these limits from one state into the other. The only general characteristical difference which I have observed is, that the people of Massachusetts

By the census of 1820, Massachusetts contained 523,287 inhabitants. -Pub.

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