NEW YORK, FROM GOVERNORS ISLAND. London: Published by J. Duncan, Paternoster Row, Dec. 11829.

H. Adlard. Sc.

TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.

NEW YORK.

No commercial city can boast of a more striking or advantageous position, than that of New York. It stands upon the southern point of Manhattan Island. The Hudson or North River flows by it on the western side; a narrow part of Long Island Sound, familiarly termed the East River, washes it upon the other; while in front, a noble bay expands between the shores of Long Island and New Jersey, in which the united navies of the world might spread their canvas. Below the Bay are the Narrows, formed by heights which jut forward with a fine sweeping bend, giving a circular form to the magnificent basin, and facilitating the defence of the harbour. At various points above and below them are forts of such imposing strength, that it seems impossible that any naval armament can reach the city, unless with the co-operation of a powerful land force. Ice very rarely, now, obstructs the navigation ;* and about twenty miles from the city, the Atlantic opens to the vessels, without a rock or island to annoy them.

"Approaching the city at sunset," says a female Traveller, "I shall not soon forget the impression which its gay appearance made upon me. Passing

"Whiley Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Alexandria are choked up by ice in severe winters, (as in that of 1804,) New York scarcely suffers any inconvenience from it. This is owing partly to the saltness of the Sound and the Bay. The water at New York differs but little in saltness from the neighbouring Atlantic. The openness of the port is also to be ascribed in part to the greater ebb and flow of the tide."-Lambert's Travels, vol. i. p. 54.

slowly round its southern point, formed by the confluence of the Hudson with what is called the East River, we admired at our leisure the striking panorama which encircled us. Immediately in our front, was the battery, with its little fort and its public walks, diversified with trees, impending over the water, numberless well-dressed figures gliding through the foliage, or standing to admire our nearing vessel. In the back-ground, the neatly painted houses receding into distance; the spiry tops of poplars peering above the roofs, and marking the line of the streets. The city gradually enlarging from the battery as from the apex of a triangle, the eye followed, on one side, the broad channel of the Hudson and the picturesque coast of Jersey, at first sprinkled with villages and little villas, their white walls just glancing in the distance through thick beds of trees; and afterwards rising into abrupt precipices, now crowned with wood, now jutting forward in bare walls of rock. To the right, the more winding waters of the East River, bounded, on the one side, by the wooded heights of Brooklyn and the varied shores of Long Island, and on the other, by quays and warehouses, scarcely discernible through the forest of masts that were crowded as far as the eye could reach. Behind us stretched the broad expanse of the bay, whose islets, crowned with turreted forts, their colours streaming from their flag-staffs, slept on the still and glowing waters, in dark or sunny spots, as they variously caught or shunned the gaze of the sinking sun. glorious scene, and we almost caught the enthusiasm, of our companions, who, as they hailed their native city, pronounced it the fairest in the world.” *

It was a

Wright's (Frances) Views of Society in America, pp. 9-11.

"The harbour of New York," says another Traveller, to whom we are indebted for the most distinct description of this city," is one of the best in the country, and is capable of almost unlimited extension. The wharfs skirt both sides of the island, and piers project at right angles into the stream, leaving intermediate slips, which have many of the advantages of wet docks, and are free from several of their inconveniences. The tides rise and fall about six feet, but there is always water enough abreast of the piers to float the largest merchantmen. They do not, however, enjoy the advantage of dry docks, for the tide does not ebb sufficiently to empty them, and mechanical means have not yet been resorted to; but vessels which need repair, are heeled down in shallow water, first upon the one side, and then upon the other. Masts surround the city like reeds on the margin of a pool; and when one passes along the wharfs, and witnesses the never-ceasing operations of loading and discharging, warping out and hauling in, vessels of every description arriving and sailing with every breeze that blows, together with the bustling of shippers, custom-house officers, sailors, and carmen, he cannot but be impressed with the great extent of the commerce which can supply such extensive means with such unceasing employment."*

While nature has done so much for this city, as regards its pleasant and advantageous situation, art has as yet done little, at least in the way of ornamental architecture. Except the City Hall, there is scarcely a public building worth noticing. "The streets, in the lower and older portion of the city," says Mr. Duncan, are very narrow and crooked, and, what is

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* Duncan's Travels, vol. i. p. 26.