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Later Geographies 359
articles of dress. Every week the female fashions are
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changed, and every month there is a new cut for male attire.
From Woodbridge's Universal Geography', 1833, a large thick volume for advanced scholars, I make this extract: —
In 1790 the extent of post-roads in the United States was only 1875 miles; in 1827, it was 105,336. The great roads are usually turnpikes constructed by the state or incorporated bodies and supported by tolls. New England, and the greater part of the Middle States, are intersected in every direction by roads, which are usually well constructed and in good repair.
In the sandy, alluvial country of the Atlantic coast from New York to Florida, the roads are heavy, and not easily improved. The scattered state of population has prevented much attention to roads, in the states south of Maryland : and frequent impediments are presented by the want of bridges and causeways, over the streams and marshes.
In the Western States, during the wet season, many roads are scarcely passable for wheel carriages. The travelling in these states is chiefly by steam boats, on their noble rivers. The small streams are so variable that most of them can be forded during the dry seasons, and bridges are rarely built. The banks are high and steep, and the difficulty of passage is often very great. During high water, many of the streams become impassable, and the traveller encounters serious dangers.
The most important post-road in the United States is that which traverses the states on the Atlantic, a distance of 1,800 miles, passing through all the principal towns from Robbinstown in Maine to Florida. |
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