I have never wandered over the Island of Roanoke without a feeling of melancholy, as intense as that of Byron whilst contemplating the fallen greatness of Greece. The days of her glory are over, and gone with those beyond the flood; but still she is to me an island of the heart, for her shores are the graves of the warlike and the wise. The native Indian built his Machicomack on her hills; and there, too, stood the City of Raleigh, the birthplace of the Anglo-American; and thus was Roanoke known long before the beach of Jamestown was settled or the rock of Plymouth consecrated. She is the classic land of all English America, and will live in the future story of our Republic as the mother-earth of American liberty. The illustrious names of Raleigh, of Cavendish, of Grenville and of Drake—the heroes of the reign of Elizabeth—are a part and portion of her history. Hariot, the mathematician and philosopher of the age, for the space of a whole year studied its natural resources and Indian History; and nearly two hundred and fifty years since gave to the world a book unequalled for the accuracy and the interest of its details. It would seem, indeed, as if the chivalry and learning of that age had contributed this splendid representation, to give a dazzling brilliancy to the early history of that State on whose shores the flag of England was first unfurled, and in whose valleys, and over whose hills, the mountain Goddess Liberty first shouted the cry of American independence. Bear witness, Mecklenburg, on the 20th of May, 1775.

But it is not historic association alone which makes sacred the shores and the vine-clad forests of Roanoke. Nature seems to have exerted herself to adorn it as the Eden of the New World. The richest garniture of flowers, and the sweetest minstrelsy of birds, are there. In traversing the northern section of the island, in the spring time of the year, flowers and sweet-scented herbs, in the wildest luxuriance, are strewn along your winding way, welcoming you with their fragrance to their cherished isle. The wild rose bush, which at times springs up into nurseries of one hundred yards in extent, “blooms blushing” to the song of the thousand birds that are basking in her bowers. The mocking-bird, too, whatever ornithologists may say of its “chimney habits,” makes this his favorite haunt; and I myself have seen him pillowed on the highest cluster of roses, and swinging with his weight the slender tree, as he warbled out his most exquisite song. It may be, however, that Roanoke is the very spot where, in imitation of the Eastern queen of song, the mocking-bird fell in love with the rose.

There are stately pine forests extending along the centre of the island; but the most beautiful of its trees are what are commonly called dogwood, the laurel, and a delicate species of the white oak. I have seen a forest composed of these trees, the branches and limbs of which were literally intertwisted and knitted together by the embraces of the Roanoke vine, which here, in its native garden, grows with extraordinary exuberance.

Within the deep shades of these reclining vintages, the spirit of solitude at times reigns in undisturbed majesty. At midday, when the heat of the summer's sun is too glowing for exertion, there is not the chirp of a bird to break the solemnity of the spot. The long and slender vine snake, which at other hours is seen industriously threading his way through the mazes of the vintage, has now suspended himself on a twig, and hangs as idle and as still as a black silk cord. If you hear the tread of footsteps, it is not of man, but the stealthy retreat of an unsuspecting fawn, which hath slept too long, and which now, like a woodland nymph, hies away on the approach of man. But in the morning and in the evening this scene of quiet and of repose is all changed. It is then the granary of the island, and the birds have all assembled and are warbling in bacchanal confusion their morning or evening hymn. The scenery of Roanoke is neither grand nor sublime. There are no Alpine summits to mingle with clouds, but a series of gentle undulations, and a few abrupt hills, in the valleys of which the richly dressed scenery I have described may be found. If it should ever be the lot of the reader to stroll under the vintage shades of Roanoke—made impervious to the rays of the sun by the rich foliage and clustering grapes above him—he will not venture to discredit the highly wrought sketches of Hariot, nor mock the humbler enthusiasm of the volume now before him. I remember once to have stood upon the loftiest eminence of the island, and to have watched the progress of a sunset. It was on a summer's eve which had been made peculiarly clear by a violent thunder squall the preceding night, and not a film of a cloud or a vapor was to be seen about the horizon or in the blue vault of heaven. There was not a breath of air to stir the slender leaf of the few lofty pines that straggled around me, and even the mocking-bird seemed to have hushed his capricious song, to enjoy the intense feeling of the moment. To the westward of the island, the waters of the Albemarle crept sluggishly along; and in the winding current of the Swash several vessels stood, with outspread but motionless wings. Away down to the south, the Pamlico spread itself out, like an ocean of molten gold, gleaming along the banks of the Chikamacomico and Hatteras; and, contrasted with this, were the dark waters which separate Roanoke from the sea-beach, and which were now shaded from the tints of the sunset by the whole extent of the island.

A sea of glory streamed along the narrow ridge—dividing the inland waters from the ocean; and beyond this the boundless Atlantic heaved her chafed bosom of sapphire and of gold against the base of yon stormy cape. I enjoyed and lived in that sunset and twilight hour. I thought of the glorious destiny of the land on which I trod—as glorious as the waters and the earth then around me. I thought of the genius and the death of Raleigh—of the heroic devotedness of Grenville—of the gallantry of Cavendish and Drake—of the learning of Hariot—of the nobleness of Manteo, the Lord of Roanoke—of the adventurous expedition of Sir Ralph Lane up the river Moratock—of the savage array of the bloodthirsty Wingina—of the melancholy fate of the last of the Raleigh colonies—of Virginia Dare, the first Anglo-American—of the agony of her mother—and I then thought of those exquisite lines of Byron,

The Roanoke Colony Memorial Association was organized in the Spring of 1894. The chief agents in its organization were Prof. Edward Graham Daves, of Baltimore; Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and Mr. Talcott Williams, of Philadelphia. Earlier than this Prof. Daves, who was a North Carolinian by birth, had made a tour in North Carolina, lecturing for the benefit of the scheme.

At the first meeting, which was held in May, 1894, Prof. Daves was elected president; Mr. W. D. Pruden of Edenton, vice president; and Dr. J. S. Bassett of Trinity College, secretary and treasurer. In the succeeding July Prof. Daves died, and the vacancy thus made was filled by the election of his brother, Maj. Graham Daves, of Newbern, N. C.

The Company has bought the site of the Raleigh Fort on Roanoke Island, which it has marked clearly, and it intends to preserve the site as it stands, and to erect permanent memorials of the Lost Colony.

An organization under the above title has been effected in North Carolina. The object of the Association is to erect a permanent memorial to the memory of Virginia Dare. Mrs. Florence P. Tucker, of Raleigh, is president, and Mrs. Sallie S. Cotten, of Falkland, is secretary.

Virginia Dare was the first white child born in North America, of English-speaking parents. It is also significant that the first Christian sacrament in America was the baptism of Manteo, an Indian, and Virginia Dare, infant native white American, which occurred on Roanoke Island. North Carolina, in August, 1587.

After the Revolution the State steadily increased in population and wealth, albeit hindered by two causes. In the first place, as she then had no good accessible harbors within her limits, she was denied the striking evidences of prosperity which attend the building of great cities. The handling of her products enriched the merchants of Charleston, Norfolk, Richmond, Baltimore and New York. Then the opening for purchase at government rates of immense areas of fertile lands in the West and Southwest carried off many of her citizens with all their substance to build up Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and other States.

The following table taken from the census books shows that there was no backward step:

YEAR. . . . . . POPULATION. 1790 . . . . . 393,751 1800 . . . . . 478,103 1810 . . . . . 555,500 1820 . . . . . 638,829 1830 . . . . . 737,987 1840 . . . . . 753,419 1850 . . . . . 869,038 1860 . . . . . 992,622 1870 . . . . . 1,071,361 1880 . . . . . 1,399,750 1890 . . . . . 1,617,947

This population is of a singularly homogeneous character. The immigrants in early days, Virginians (mainly English), Pennsylvanians (mainly Scotch-Irish and German), Scotch-Irish, Scotch Highlanders and Lowlanders, Swiss, French, Huguenots, Germans from the Rhine and elsewhere, have fused by inter-marriages or business or social communication into a homogeneous people of steady, orderly and friendly habits. The relations between masters and slaves were singularly free from cruelty on the one side and insolent spirit of rebellion on the other. And after emancipation there was little friction in the adjustment of the new relation of employer and employee.

The attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh having signally failed, no further attempts at colonization were made for three-quarters of a century. In 1629, a charter was granted by Charles I. of England to Sir Robert Heath of the Southern part of Virginia, Latitudes 31° to 36°, under the name, in honor of that king, of Carolina. As Heath did nothing under it, a renewal was granted in 1663 to eight Lords Proprietors, and an enlargement to 36° 30' and 29°, two years afterwards. The first permanent settlement in the limits of North Carolina was called the County of Albemarle. The Lords Proprietors appointed Governors of Albemarle, and then Governors, or Deputy Governors, of North Carolina until 1728. Seven of them then sold their interests to the Crown, Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl Granville, yielding the right of government, but retaining his one-eight interest in the land of all Carolina. In 1744 he obtained a grant in severalty of about one-half of North Carolina, next to the Virginia line. The colony was therefore under the crown from 1728 to the Revolution.

The colonists have been charged by some historians as of a turbulent character, but it seems certain that their civil commotions were on account of real grievances, and were not more frequent nor violent than in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Virginia and South Carolina. They had the wisdom to discern attacks on their rights and bravery to resent them.

The Tuscarora war of 1711 brought terrible losses of life and property to the young colony. By the aid of troops from South Carolina the uprising was quickly suppressed. Afterwards in the Yemassee Indian war, North Carolina repaid her neighbor by sending prompt and efficient succor under Col. Maurice Moore. She likewise sent troops to aid the unsuccessful attempt on Carthagena, and to Virginia and New York to fight against the French and Indians.

North Carolina was not forward in adopting secession. The people by a small majority in February, 1861, voted down the proposal to call a convention to consider Federal relations. But when coercion by the United States Government was resolved upon, a convention was called, and, on May 20, 1861, an ordinance of secession was passed by unanimous vote, and it was supported by large levies of money and troops. It was not the policy of the Confederacy to defend seriously the North Carolina coast, and by the Spring of 1862 the whole of the country from Beaufort to the Virginia line was in the hands of the Federals. Plymouth was, however, recaptured with nearly two thousand prisoners by the Confederates under General Hoke, but in a few months it was lost again, the Confederates having previously been ordered to Virginia. Fort Fisher at the mouth of the Cape Fear was defended with conspicuous courage for many months, thus enabling Confederate vessels to evade the blockade and introduce large supplies of necessaries, such as cloth, blankets, shoes, medicine, &c., for the use of our soldiers. And this was brought about by the efforts of Governor Zebulon B. Vance, seconded by the votes of the Legislature in authorizing large increase of bonds and treasury notes. A sharp but indecisive battle was fought at Bentonsville near the close of the struggle, but the valor and the sacrifices of the soldiers of North Carolina were chiefly in the great campaigns of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and to a less extent in Tennessee and South Carolina.

The records of the War Department at Washington, comprising forty-nine volumes of about one thousand pages each, furnish a statistical history of the war. The result is impartial and represents the combined labors of five Federal and two Confederate officers. The casualties on both sides are recorded. The tables of dead and wounded show that on the Confederate side North Carolina lost more soldiers killed than any other Southern State, as follows: 14,522; and that she headed the list in the number that died of wounds, and that 20,602 of her soldiers perished of disease. Her military population in 1861 was 115,369, yet she furnished 125,000 to the Confederate cause.

This is so sharply and distinctly defined, and embraces so large a portion of the territory of North Carolina, as to merit a somewhat extended reference to its magnitude, its elevation and its characteristics. Broadly considered it may be treated as a high plateau, bounded on the east by the irregular chain known as the Blue Ridge, extending across the State in a general direction from northeast to southwest, until, reaching the southeastern border of Henderson county, it turns to the west and forms for a long distance part of the southern boundary of the State, passing at length by a southwest projection into the State of Georgia, and again reuniting with the chain of the Smoky Mountains, to which it had made near approach on its entry into North Carolina in the counties of Ashe and Watauga.

The average elevation of the Blue Ridge is nearly 4,000 feet, though on the southern and northern extremities it drops to 3,000 feet, its lower gaps being a little above 2,000 feet over the main level of the Piedmont country. Seen from the east, the chain presents the aspect of a steep and rugged escarpment springing suddenly from the Piedmont plateau to an altitude of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above it. From the west the appearance is that of a low and ill-defined ridge, in some places, as in parts of Henderson and Macon Counties, presenting almost a smooth, unbroken horizontal line; again uplifting itself in bold prominence, attaining the height of nearly 6,000 feet, as in the Grandfather, and the Pinnacle, the conspicuous summits so attractively visible near Round Knob, on the Western North Carolina Railroad.

The western boundary of this division is that long chain known under the various names of the Iron, the Smoky, and the Unaka Mountains, and forming the dividing line between North Carolina and Tennessee, and enclosing with marked definiteness the plateau of Western North Carolina. The area of this division approximates 6,000 square miles. The plateau is the culminating region of the Appalachian system, and contains not only its largest masses, but also its highest summits. It is divided by a number of cross ridges, and consequently into a number of smaller plateaus or basins, each bounded on all sides by high mountains and having its own independent system of rivers or drainage. It is this connection or interlacing of the outside bounding chains by the agency of the numerous cross chains that gives Western North Carolina its marked mountain character, its alternation of high mountain ranges with corresponding valleys and their attendant rivers, and the numerous lateral spurs, penetrated also by their valleys and their mountain torrents, and all arranged with an order and a symmetry as rare as it is beautiful, and also presenting facilities for communication from the opposite sides of these chains of inestimable value in the construction of works of internal improvement not often possessed by mountain countries.

The chief of these in exceptional elevation is known as the Black Mountains, consisting of a single short ridge extending in a northly direction from the point where it leaves the Blue Ridge. Its total length is only about fifteen miles, but within this short distance there are a dozen peaks that rise to an elevation of more than 6,000 feet above the sea, and one of these—Mitchell's Peak—the highest mountain on the eastern half of the continent, has an altitude of 6,711 feet. Between the French Broad and the Pigeon rivers stretches the long ridges of the Pisgah and the New Found mountains, interrupted by the valley of Hominy creek, the opening of which offers convenient passway to the next parallel ridge, the Balsam mountains, which extends in unbroken continuity from the South Carolina line on the south to the Smoky Mountains on the Tennessee border on the north. This range has a mean elevation of about 5,500 feet, with fifteen summits exceeding 6,000 feet; and across the range are only two pass-ways or gaps suitable to the passage of wheeled vehicles, one of which, traversed by the Western North Carolina railroad, is 3,357 feet above sea-level; the other, Soco Gap, being 4,341 feet high. Then comes the Cowee mountains, extending nearly across the State, and separated from the Great Smokies by the narrow valley of the Tuckasegee river. The mean height of this ridge is about 4,800 feet, the highest summit, at the southern end, being Yellow mountain, 5,133 feet. Then succeeds the massive and very bold double chain of the Nantahala and Valley River mountains, with a mean height of 5,000 feet, the two branches of which lie in close parallelism from the Georgia State line on the south as far as the Red Marble Gap on the north, where they separate, one branch directed westward and known as the Long Ridge, and uniting itself with the Smoky mountains in Cherokee county; the other extending to the northeast, under the name of the Cheowah mountains, and ending without definite connection in undefinable ridges or isolated peaks.

On the east side of the Blue Ridge and extending into the Piedmont region are a series of short and irregular ridges or spurs. Among these are the Saluda, Green River, Tryon and Hungry mountain masses, which are more or less separated from the Blue Ridge by the deep valleys or gorges carved by the river torrents which have cut through them and thus unite with the waters flowing toward the Atlantic; the waters on the west of the Blue Ridge, on the contrary, all directing their courses toward the Mississippi or its tributaries. Two other and more prominent ridges extend into this Piedmont plateau for considerable distances. The South mountains, commencing as foot hills of the Blue Ridge in western McDowell, extend in a general easterly direction, south of the Catawba river to western Catawba county, a distance of some fifty miles. They reach their maximum development near the junction of Burke, McDowell and Rutherford counties, where several knobs have an elevation of near 3,000 feet. The other of these two ridges, the Brushy mountains, cut off from the Blue Ridge at the west by several tributaries of the Catawba assumes definite proportions in eastern Caldwell county and extends northeast more or less parallel to the Yadkin valley and Blue Ridge on the north, as far as the Sauratown mountains in Stokes county, a distance of some eighty miles. In Yadkin and Surry counties these mountains nearly disappear, but they reappear in Pilot, Eaton and Moor's Knobs to the northeast.

The Linville mountains, though a distinct spur from the Blue Ridge, are so coincident with it in perspective and in general characteristics as to need no mention as a distinct ridge.

The above embrace the whole mountain system of North Carolina, and in the western section unmistakably present the culmination of the great Appalachian system, as illustrated by the highest summits lifted up in all the territory of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and also as the source from which many large rivers radiate to flow towards the opposite directions of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi river and its tributaries.

Along the Blue Ridge, along the Smoky mountain range, and along the cross chains are found the following summits which exceed 6,000 feet in elevation:

IN THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS—Mount Buckley, 6,599; Clingman's Dome, 6,660; Mount Love, 6,443; Mount Collins, 6,188; Mount Alexander, 6,447; Mount Henry, 6,373; Mount Guyot, 6,636; Tricorne Knob, 6,188; Raven's Knob, 6,230; Thermometer Knob, 6,157; Luftee Knob, 6,232; Cataloochee, 6,159; Roan (High Knob,) 6,313; Roan (High Bluff,) 6,287; Grassy Ridge, (Bald), 6,220; Cold Spring, 6,015.

IN THE BALSAM MOUNTAINS—Enos Plotts' Balsam, 6,090; Jones' Balsam, 6,224; Rockstand Knob, 6,002; Brother Plott, 6,246; Amos Plott's Balsam, 6,278; Rocky Face, 6,031; Double Spring Mountain, 6,380; Richland Balsam, 6,370; Chimney Peak, 6,234; Spruce Ridge Top, 6,076; Reinhardt Mountain, 6,106; Devil's Court House, 6,049; Sam's Knob, 6,001.

IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS—Blackstock's Knob, 6,378; Potato Top, 6,393; Black Dome, 6,502; Mount Gibbs, 6,591; Mount Hallback, (or Sugar loaf,) 6,403; Mount Mitchell, 6,711; Balsam Cone, 6,671; Black Brother, 6,619; Cattail Peak, 6,611; Hairy Bear, 6,681; Deer Mountain, 6,233; Long Ridge, (middle point,) 6,259; Bowlen's Pyramid, 6,348.

IN THE CRAGGY RANGE—Big Craggy, 6,068.

In all forty-three peaks of 6,000 feet and upwards. And there are eighty-two mountains which exceed in height 5,000 feet, and closely approximate 6,000, and the number which exceed 4,000 and approximate 5,000 are innumerable.

The general contour of all these mountains is gentle, the summits generally presenting smooth rounded outlines, occasionally rising into sharp pointed peaks, and, except on the southern border, presenting but few precipitous slopes. There, some of the most stupendous cliffs or precipices east of the Rocky Mountains present themselves, such as Cæsar's Head and Whiteside Mountain, the latter presenting a sheer perpendicular front of naked rock eighteen hundred feet in height.

Otherwise the mountains are covered with deep rich soil, clothed with massive forests to their tops. To this general condition there is the remarkable exception presented by the locally named balds, natural meadows found on the rounded tops of many of the highest mountains. Their elevation is generally near, or above, 6,000 feet. The heavy forest growth of the valleys and lower slopes of the mountains is gradually dwarfed towards the bald summits, so that these are surrounded by a fringe of stunted, scrubby oaks, beeches, &c., the balds themselves being covered with a rich herbage of grass, pasturage to which large herds of domestic animals are annually driven to remain until the return of cold weather.

The great elevation of these mountain heights is indicated by the botanical features of the vegetation, which shows a predominance of firs, hemlocks, white pines, and other trees of high latitudes.

In respect to those timber trees found here, in common with the other sections, the Mountain region has the advantage of possessing an unbroken forest. In comparison with the extent of forest lands, the clearings here are mere patches.

There is little hazard in saying that there is nowhere in any of the States an equal area of land covered with timber trees of such

The Piedmont Plateau region is intermediate between the Mountain region, already spoken of, and the Coastal Plain region, which extends to the ocean. It comprises nearly one-half the territory of the State. In passing into this region from either of the others, a marked change is at once observable in topography, in production, and largely in industrial pursuits. The tumultuous continuity of mountains subsides into gentle undulations, a succession of hills and dales, a variety and charm of landscape, alike different from the high, uplifted mountain elevations and the flat monotony of the plains or levels of the east. Every step brings to view some new charm, some new arrangement of the rounded hills, some new grouping of the tracts of forest which still cover so large a part of the country. The hills, indeed, in their gracefully curving outlines, present lines of beauty with which the eye of taste is never satiated. These are attractions which depend upon permanent features of the landscape, and which, though infinitely heightened in their effects by the verdure of spring and summer, are only brought into fuller relief by the nakedness of winter. The variations of surface, though less defined at first, become more marked towards the west, and towards the Blue Ridge the country assumes a bold and even rugged aspect.

The hand of improvement is more visible in this than in any section in this State. Almost the entire region is now dotted over with thriving villages and towns. The homes everywhere indicate a high degree of thrift and comfort. An unusual proportion are built in modern style, and tastefully painted. Nestled amidst yards and gardens, enclosed with neat painted palings, flanked with orchards of fruit trees, in which a space is generally allotted to choice grape vines, they give abundant proof of ease, plenty, and, in many instances, of no small degree of luxury.

It is in this section that the great water-power of the State—estimated by the late State Geologist, Prof. W. C. Kerr, at three million horse-power—finds its greatest development and employment. It is through this section that flow the upper waters of the Dan, the Roanoke, the Tar, the Neuse, the Cape Fear, the Yadkin, and the Catawba, and their numerous affluents. All of those have been partially utilized by the erection of corn, flouring and saw-mills in every neighborhood, and cotton and woolen mills on almost all of the rivers and their tributaries. Within the last few years the number of cotton-mills has largely increased. Those erected lately are spacious buildings, and equipped with the best machinery. Within the same period all or nearly all of the older ones have been enlarged and new machinery put in. The fact begins to be more and more recognized that within the cotton States there are advantages for the manufacture of that staple that cannot be found elsewhere. Here the cotton is at the door of the manufacturer, and the prime cost of the material is therefore less. Wages are less here than in the northern States, and a lower rate of wages here affords a more comfortable living than a higher rate there, for the necessaries of life are cheaper, and less of food, clothing and fuel are required. Less fuel, too, is required for heating the mill in winter. The laborer can make substantial additions to his means of subsistence from his garden, which is always allotted here to the head of the family. Here there is no obstruction to machinery from ice in winter, and no greater suspension of work from drought in summer, for our rivers are as long as those of New England and have as many tributaries. The original cost of the site and of the building here is very much less than the same cost there. The force of these reasons cannot be long resisted, and, indeed, the phenomenal growth of cotton milling now observed in the State fully asserts the truth of the claims set forth.

In subsequent chapters in this volume the water powers and manufacturing will be treated at more length.

The soil of this Piedmont Plateau presents a blending of the soils of the Eastern and Western regions, the tertiary formation of the first pushing itself sometimes far towards the west until it comes into proximity with the older formations of the Piedmont region, and often, in its extreme western extension, partaking of the character of the formations of the mountains. A soil so composed or diversified, in connection with favorable climatic conditions, offers great agricultural possibilities, and in this section we find the widest range of production. It is here that we find the largest area devoted to the cultivation of the most profitable varieties of tobacco, and it is here that the culture of cotton is largely extended and profitably pursued; and it is here also that all the cereals and all the grasses are cultivated in their highest perfection, enlisting the leading agricultural interest of the population. Here also the fruits of the temperate zone find congenial home—apples, peaches, pears, cherries, the small fruits and grapes being unexcelled in excellence, variety and abundance. In this section are also widely distributed the richest veins and deposits of the valuable ores and metals, including the precious metals, gold and silver, iron, copper and lead, and the only two coal formations found in North Carolina. These ores, and the mining operations connected with them, will be treated of in a chapter in this work. This region also abounds in varied and extensive forest wealth, which will be referred to in its proper place.

The whole eastern portion of the State consists of a vast plain, stretching from the sea coast into the interior of the country, a distance of from one hundred to a hundred and fifty miles. Traversing this section from north to south are tracts of country which vary little from a perfect level. The Carolina Central Railroad has a stretch of one hundred miles where there is neither curve, excavation nor embankment. From east to west the surface rises by easy gradations at the rate of a little more than a foot to the mile. The rise, however, is not perceptible to the traveler. But though level in parts, it is in general relieved by slight undulations. Along its western border, as in the county of Moore, it attains an elevation of about five hundred feet.

The western boundary may be roughly defined by a line extending from the western part of Warren, through Franklin, Wake, Cumberland, Chatham, Moore, Montgomery and Anson. This line marks what, at an earlier period of the earth's history, was a line of sea-beach. Over this whole section the primitive rocks are covered with a deep stratum of earth, principally sand. Along the western border there is a broad belt of unequal width, but generally from thirty to forty miles across, where granite, slate and other rocks are sparingly distributed, mainly near water-courses, where the more recent formations have been removed by the erosian agencies. The belt of primitive rock here mentioned extends to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, from the Virginia line to Goldsboro, and from thence to a line drawn through Averysboro to the South Carolina line about where the Pee Dee enters that State. From the line there indicated to the sea coast not a stone of any size, except along the water-courses, and scarcely a pebble, except at a few points, is to be met with.

A bed of shell limestone underlies some portions of the region, cropping out at intervals. It forms a good limestone, sufficiently pure for all the common purposes of building, and in quantity large enough to supply a wide extent of country with quicklime. Examples of this are found nine miles below Waynesboro, in the north-west corner of Jones, in the northern part of Onslow, at Wilmington, and on the north-west branch of the Cape Fear to a distance of forty miles above.