UNITED PROVINCES

clearly and fully the view which the Synod takes of the teaching of Holy Scripture in reference to redemption, the divine decrees, man's depravity, salvation, the civil magistrate, the maintenance of the church, and liberty of opinion. Its form of church government is Presbyterian; but, unlike the Established and Free Churches, it has no intermediate courts between presbyteries and the supreme court, the Synod, really an assembly of the whole clergy, with one elder from each kirksession. It has a Theological Hall and Library in Edinburgh, and a staff of professors. Although inferior in point of wealth to the Established and Free Churches, the United Presbyterian Church has honourably distinguished itself by its general liberality and occasional munificence. Protracted negotiations for union between the United Presbyterian and Free Churches have been without result (see FREE CHURCH). In the year 1875 about 100 congregations of the United Presbyterian Church situated in England were transferred to the 'Presbyterian Church in England.' But the mother-church in Scotland counted in 1892 about 580 congregations and 185,000 members.

See works cited at SCOTLAND (ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY), ERSKINE (EBENEZER and RALPH), the work on the history of the Secession and of the Relief Churches by A. Thomson and G. Struthers (1848), and the Lives of the Fathers of the United Presbyterian Church (1849); the Rev. W. Mackelvie's Annals of the United Presbyterian Church (1873), and the short Handbook of the history and principles by the Rev. Dr Blair (2d ed. 1889). United Provinces. See HOLLAND. United States of America, the largest and most important republic of the world, embracing nearly one-half of the area of the Copyright 1892 in U S. North American continent, and by J. B. Lippincott about nine-tenths of its inhabit

ants.

Company.

Its area is more than three-fourths that of all Europe: including Alaska, it is almost equal to it; but its population is less than one-fifth of that of Europe.

GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL. The United States consists of two detached portions of the continent of North America and the islands which are adjacent to these sections. The isolated territory of Alaska has been for convenience considered separately, and the reader may be referred to the article on it. The United States proper occupies the central part of the continent, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. By natural and arbitrary boundaries it is separated from the Dominion of Canada on the north, and from Mexico on the south. It lies between the parallels 24° 30′ and 49° N. lat., and between the meridians 67 and 124 W. long. Its greatest length from east to west is about 2700 miles, and its greatest width from north to south about 1600 miles. Its total area is somewhat more than 3,000,000 sq. m. As compared with Europe, for example, the coast of the United States is relatively unbroken, and has few indenting bays or projecting peninsulas. The great indenting sea known as the Gulf of Mexico is of special climatic and commercial importance, but it is as much a geographical feature of Mexico as of the United States. On the coast of the New England states there are many indentations which, though small, furnish commodious harbours. Long Island Sound adds to the commercial importance of the harbour of New York, and farther south are Delaware and Chesapeake bays, Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and several small indentations such as those which form the harbours of Charleston and Savannah. On the Pacific border, with the exception of Puget

Sound, the Bay of San Francisco, and the harbour of San Diego, there is scarcely a noticeable break in the continuity of the coast-line. There are many small rocky islands along the coast of Maine, and on the southern New England coast is a group of islands to which belongs Long Island, the largest of the islands of the United States. Farther south, off the Atlantic coast, and also in portions of the Gulf of Mexico, are many low sand-spits lying parallel to the coast and having behind them shallow channels, lagoons, and swamps. On the Pacific coast there are no islands of importance except the Santa Barbara group off the southern coast of California.

The two great mountain-systems of North America, one along the western, the other near the eastern border, attain their fullest development in the United States, and form the framework or skeleton of its physical structure. The Appalachian system, in the east, though of secondary geographical importance, is the older of the two highland regions, and of primary interest when considered with reference to the history and development of the nation. It enters the country in the northern part of New England (in Maine without the appearance of regular ranges) and New York, and extends south-westward to Alabama and Georgia, being divided by the valley of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain, and that of the Mohawk River, into three distinct sections. The system is described in detail at APPALACHIANS. A coast-plain extends from its eastern base to the sea. It is narrow in Maine, where it terminates in a bold rocky coast indented by bays, and broken into projecting promontories and islands. South of Massachusetts Bay the coast becomes lower and more sandy, and the plain grows gradually wider, with the exception of a narrow belt at New York, until in North Carolina it attains a width of 200 miles. In the southern part of New England it is characterised by hills, and below New York by a distinct coast region and a more elevated slope. This higher region, which in Virginia and thence southward is marked by a somewhat abrupt terrace, varies in altitude from a few hundred to more than a thousand feet, and is known as the Piedmont Plateau.' The lower coast region is seldom more than 100 feet above the sea. It has a sandy soil, and in many places there are large swamps near the coast. Much of this swampy country is uninhabitable, but when reclaimed, as it has been in many parts of North and South Carolina, it makes valuable rice-land. Many acres of fertile agricultural land have also been secured in Florida by draining its swamps. The middle elevated region is diversified by hills and valleys, and has a productive soil. The dividing line between it and the low coast-plain marks the head of navigation of most of the streams, and also determines the sites of many important towns.

West of the Appalachian system and lying between it and the western highland is the Central Valley, forming part of the great continental depression which extends from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It is almost an absolute plain, rising gradually from the Gulf toward the chain of Great Lakes in the north, and toward the mountains on the east and west. The only important departure from its uniform level character is an elevation of from 500 to 2000 feet, running from southern Missouri through north-western Arkansas into Indian Territory, and known as the Ozark Mountains. This great valley occupies about one-half the entire area of the United States, and the fertile prairies and bottom-lands of the eastern and central portions make it the most important agricultural basin of the globe. From an irregular line west of the Mississippi River the

land rises in an almost imperceptible slope till it reaches the base of the western plateau. Much of this region, known as the Great Plains, has a light rainfall and is less favourably adapted for agricultural purposes than is the eastern portion, but it affords admirable and extensive pasturage.

The western or Pacific system of mountains forms a part of the vast elevation which extends from the northern to the southern extremity of the western continent. In the United States it is a great plateau of 4000 to 10,000 feet surmounted by a complex system of ranges, in its widest part more than 1000 miles broad. Of this Cordilleran region the Rocky Mountains form the eastern and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains and the Coast Ranges the western border. For the former, reference must be made to the article ROCKY MOUNTAINS. In the ranges of central Colorado alone nearly forty of the summits have an altitude of more than 14,000 feet. The culminating point of the Rocky Mountains is Blanca Peak (14,463 feet). In the Wind River Mountains, in Wyoming, are the head-waters of the Colorado, the Columbia, and the Mississippi, the three great river-systems of the United States; and in the north-western corner of the same state is situated the National Park, famous for its hot springs and geysers as well as for its magnificent scenery (see YELLOWSTONE). Between the Wahsatch Range and the lofty masses of mountains in Colorado is a region of peculiar interest, consisting of level plateaus, in which the changes of elevation from one plain to another are marked by abrupt descents and steep cliffs. It is furrowed by cañons or gorges, whose sides are nearly vertical; and the bed of the Colorado (q.v.) is in some places more than a mile and a quarter below the surface of the plateau. Between the Wahsatch Range and the Sierra Nevada lies the Great Basin (q.v.), an immense tract having at best but little rainfall, except upon the summits of the ranges by which it is traversed, and none of whose waters are drained to either ocean. Much of this region is at present an absolute desert, although within comparatively recent geological time the conditions were such that two great fresh-water lakes, one nearly as large as Lake Erie, the other more than twice that size, occupied the now arid area. The saline swamps, salt lakes, and sinks of Nevada indicate the former location of one of these lakes; Great Salt Lake is all that now remains of the other.

The Sierra Nevada (q.v.) and the Cascade Range (q.v.) are topographically continuous, and constitute a great mountain-wall which so far as the height of the peaks and the grandeur of the scenery are concerned is one of the most striking portions of the Cordilleran system. Most of the peaks of the Sierras are, however, of granite and metamorphic rock, while those of the Cascade Range are volcanic. The greatest altitude is attained between the parallels 36° and 37°, with Mount Whitney (14,898 feet) as the culminating point. The lofty character of the range is maintained throughout the greater part of California, and the sublimity of the scenery is justly celebrated (see YOSEMITE VALLEY). Between the parallels 39° and 40° the volcanic character of the peaks comes into prominence. From this point there extends northward one of the most remarkable groups of extinct or faintly active volcanoes to be found anywhere in the world: the lava overflows in this region cover an area of above 200,000 sq. m. The most prominent peaks are Mount Shasta (14,442 feet) in California and Mount Rainier (14,444) in Washington. In three separate places rivers have cut a passage through the volcanic portion of the range. The most notable is the passage of the Columbia River in a grand cañon more than 3000

feet in depth. The region which lies north of the Great Basin, between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, is known as the Northern or Columbian Plateau. Much of it is covered by material thrown out in volcanic eruptions, and has been eroded not only by the Columbia, but by its tributaries. The Shoshone Falls (q.v.) of the Snake River probably rank next to Niagara in grandeur. The Coast Ranges of Washington, Oregon, and northern California consist of numerous and approximately parallel chains, which as pitch off abruptly toward the sea, leaving no coastplain. Between the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range is a series of broad valleys, occupied mainly in Oregon by the Willamette River and in California by the Sacramento and San Joaquin. In southern California the mountains of the Coast Ranges diminish in height, but throughout their whole extent they are interspersed with picturesque and fertile valleys.

a rule

The drainage of the United States is determined by its physical structure, which is such as to make the country pre-eminent for the number and length of its navigable rivers, and for the abundance and size of its lakes. The lake region lies in the northern part of the country, forming a part of the great belt of lakes which sweeps in a broad curve around Hudson Bay as a centre, and extends from the Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean. Besides the chain of Great Lakes which forms a part of the northern boundary, there are thousands of lakes in the New England states and in New York, nearly ten thousand in Minnesota, and numerous mountain-lakes among the Cordilleras. The peculiar lacustrine character of the northern portion of the United States is undoubtedly a legacy of the glacial period, and it is also a fact worthy of notice that this belt of lakes lies mainly in the customary path of the great cyclonic storms. Most of the important rivers of the United States also have their origin in its northern sections. The drainage areas may be broadly classified as the Great Lake or St Lawrence, the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Great Basin or interior systems of drainage. The tributaries of the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence within the United States are rather insignificant, but the Lakes themselves form a feature of obvious importance. In the Atlantic system is included all the drainage which ultimately reaches the Atlantic Ocean, but for convenience the rivers might be further subdivided into two classes, one comprising the streams flowing directly into the sea, the other comprehending those of the Central Valley which discharge their waters into the Gulf of Mexico. The rivers of the Atlantic slope rise in the Appalachian mountain region, and are shallow and rapid until they reach the terrace which divides the highland from the true coast region. In this latter portion of the course they are as a rule navigable. The upper courses of the streams furnish available waterpower, and have played a conspicuous part in developing the manufacturing industries. Penobscot, Kennebec, Merrimac, Thames, and Connecticut in New England, the Hudson with its original commercial importance greatly augmented by the Erie and Champlain canals, and farther south the Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, James, Roanoke, Neuse, Cape Fear, Great Pedee, Santee, Savannah, Altamaha, and St John's are the prin cipal streams. The Mississippi-Missouri, with its tributaries the Ohio, Platte, Arkansas, and Red rivers, is the chief stream of the Central Valley. Its basin is second only to that of the Amazon, and in length and extent of navigable water it surpasses all other rivers of the world. East of the Mississippi are the Mobile and Appalachicola, and to the west the Sabine, Brazos, and Rio

The