ILLINOIS, one of the United States of North America, is bounded on the north by the territory of Huron; on the east by Lake Michigan and the state of Indiana; on the south by the Ohio river, which separates it from Kentucky; and on the west by the Mississippi, which separates it from the state and territory of Missouri. It lies between lat. 37° and 42° 30' north, and long. 87° 20' and 91° 20' west, being about 380 miles in length from north to south, and 210 miles in width from east to west, and comprehending an area of 58,900 square miles. Next to Louisiana and Delaware, this is considered as the most level state in the Union. There are a few hills, and some elevations that might be designated mountains; but by far the greater portion of the state consists of beautiful and fertile prairies, finely diversified with wood. These prairies or meadows, which are sometimes of vast extent, are distinguished by the names of wet and dry, alluvial and rolling. The wet prairies contain peat, logs of wood, and exhibit other indications of their having once been morasse^ in which wood grew. The origin of many of the rivers is to be traced to these prairies. Those of an alluvial nature are high and dry, of a rich black loam, which is exceedingly fertile; and they are covered with a coarse kind of grass, which grows to an enormous size. 1he high and rolling prairies are sometimes chequered with groves of sparse trees. Their soil is in general only of second rate quality, and they abound in springs. Grape vines are abundant; und they furnish an inexhaustible summer range for cattle. From the exceeding flatness of some of the plains, and their consequent want of inclination, the rain that falls is not carried off, but allowed to remain and stagnate, so that such situations are very unhealthy. Grand Prairie is the largest tract of land of this description. The first stratum of soil is a black, friable, and sandy loam, from two to five feet in thickness. The next is a red clay mixed with fine sand, and from five to ten feet in thickness. The third is a hard blue clay, of a beautiful appearance and greasy feel, mixed with pebbles, and, when exposed to the air, capable of emitting a fetid odour. This soil is of the first quality, and here the springs are found. Strawberries are raised in immense quantities, and of the very finest quality. Timber, however, is scarce, and good water is likewise deficient.

Between Carlisle and St Louis a tract of country fifty miles in extent, woods, streams, hills, limestone ledges, and a rolling country, present themselves. The hills here abound in stone coal, and limestone is also plentiful. A range of hills commences at the bluffs which bound the “American bottom,” near Kaskaskia, and stretches north-eastwardly through the state towards Lake Michigan. Another k ne-stone bluff breaks off almost at right angles to this chain, and stretches along the margin of the American bottom to the point nearly opposite the Missouri. This bluff has in many places a regular front of perpendicular limestone, not unfrequently 300 feet in height. There are other chains of bluffs, which are marked by the same grand natural features. The American bottom commences not far below Kaskaskia, and stretches eighty miles along the shores of the Mississippi. It is from three to six miles in width, and forms two belts, the one, which borders the Mississippi, having a heavy timbered bottom, and the other, which reaches the foot of the perpendicular bluffs, being prairie of the richest quality. For above one hundred years crops of maize have been raised on some parts of this tract, without the slightest exhaustion of soil having become apparent. Vegetation here flourishes most luxuriantly; but there is a counterbalance in the unhealthiness of the climate, particularly during autumn. On either bank of the Illinois, almost from its mouth to its source, there is a similar bottom, with bluffs and chains of hills similar to the preceding. The military bounty tract, which is distributed amongst the soldiers of the late war, commences in the neighbourhood of Lower Alton. It comprehends the northwest corner of the state, about 170 miles long and sixty broad, and is situated between the rivers Mississippi and Illinois. This district of country has great advantages; the t>oil is rich and extremely fertile, and much of the prairie ground is eminently beautiful; but the situation is unhealthy. Not only in this state, but over all the western territory, the lands seem to be distributed in bodies, either of rich or sterile, or of level or broken lands. On Rock River, the Illinois, the Kaskaskia, Embarras, between the Big and Little Wabash, on the Parassaw, the Macoupin, the Sangamon, and on all the other considerable streams of this state, there are very large tracts of first-rate land. The Grand Prairie, the Mound Prairie, the prairie upon which the marine settlement is fixed, and that occupied by a society of Christians from New England, are all exceedingly rich. The Sangamon district of country, in particular, presents a happy proportion of timbered and prairie lands, and a soil of great fertility, whilst accounts from various quarters concur in representing it as more healthy than any other part of the state. The prevailing trees are, the locust, black walnut, and pecean; and there is a vast summer range for cattle. Iron and copper ore, salt springs, gypsum, and stone coal, are abundant; and the whole district is now divided into a number of populous counties, and is thickly settled by thriving farmers. Along the course of the Kaskaskia or Okau, tracts of land equally extensive and fine are stretched. This river has a long course through the central parts of the state, and a country beautifully di [7:12:248]versified with hill, vale, prairie, and forest. On its banks is Kaskaskia, formerly the seat of government; and Vandalia, at present the metropolis. A late traveller (Stuart, Three Years in North America, vol. ii. p. 379) thus speaks of Illinois: “The general description of the state of Illinois is, that it contains 58,900 square miles; is the fourth state in point of extent in the union, only inferior in this respect to Virginia, Georgia, and Missouri, with a general level, not varying above sixty feet; and that it consists, with little interruption, of one vast prairie of admirable soil, extending from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan. It is the richest country in point of soil in the world. The French called it the terrestrial paradise.”

Count Marbois thus writes 'of this country generally: “At the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri, the lands lying towards the north-west are of admirable fertility. Emigration already inclines there; and these districts, though very remote from the sea, will one day be as well peopled as any other country in the world. The Mississippi, the Missouri, the Arkansas, and the Red River, and their tributaries, water 200,000 square leagues within the space of country called the basin of the Mississippi. This internal navigation, prepared by nature, has already been wonderfully extended and improved by canals, excavated by the labour of man; and steam-boats descend and ascend against wind and tide, brave the most rapid currents with more speed, and with more convenience, than the finest roads in Europe can be travelled. Wood and coal, indispensable agents in this navigation, abound on the shores of the rivers; and the steam-engine has put an end to the difíiculty of communication, heretofore one of the greatest obstacles that were ever opposed to the improvement of colonies.”

Illinois is particularly fortunate, not only in the number, but in the navigability, of its rivers. For a great distance on its northern extent it has the waters of Lake Michigan, and the boatable streams that are therein discharged; and by this means a communication is opened with the northern fronts of Indiana and Ohio, with New York and Canada. On the north-west is Rock River, a long, beautiful, and boatable tributary of the Mississippi. Its whole western front is washed by the latter river, and its northern by the Ohio. On the east is the Wabash, which has a course of about 130 miles, the greater part of it being navigable; and through its centre winds in one direction the Illinois, which connects the Mississippi with Lake Michigan by the Plein and Kankakee, whilst in another direction the Kaskaskia traverses the state for a distance of between 200 and 300 miles. At present the state is supposed to include 4000 miles of boatable waters within its limits. The Illinois, which gives name to the state, may be considered as the most important river in North America, having its whole course within one state. It is formed by the junction of two other rivers in the north-west part of Indiana, and, passing into Illinois, pursues generally a south-westerly direction, and flows into the Mississippi twenty-one miles above the Missouri. It is upwards of 400 yards wide at its mouth, is about 400 miles long, and is of easy navigation. Its current, which is very gentle, is unbroken by falls or rapids, and it passes through a fine country.

In this state there are prodigious lead mines, as well as those of coal and lime. There is also building stone in the bounty tract. Specimens of native malleable copper have been found, weighing from one to three pounds. On the Saline River, a branch of the Ohio, are salt springs, from which salt is manufactured at a cheap rate. About 300,000 bushels of this article are annually made. The lead mines are situated at Galena, on Fever River, near the north-west corner of the state. The working of them commenced in 1821, andjn 1824 there were made 175,220 lbs. of lead. In the year 1829 the produce had amounted to 13,343,150 lbs.

The prevailing forest tree in Illinois is oak, of which thirteen or fourteen different species are enumerated. Throughout the territory there are also found honey locust, black walnut, mulberry, plum, sugar maple, black locust, elm, bass-wood, beech, buck-eye, hack-berry, coffeenut, sycamore, spice-wood, sassafras, black and white haws, crab-apple, wild cherry, cucumber, and pawpaw. White pine is found on the head branches of the Illinois. The chief produce of the state is Indian corn, wheat, and the other agricultural productions of North America. From the extent and fertility of the soil, those articles which it is best adapted for are raised in far greater quantities than are requisite for the home consumption of the state. The immense prairies afford abundance of food for cattle, and grazing is extensively carried on. Great numbers of fine cattle and horses are regularly sent to New Orleans. Most of the clothing of the people is of domestic manufacture. The climate of Illinois does not materially differ from that of the same latitudes in the Atlantic states. The low and wet lands in the southern part are unhealthy, and the cold of winter is in some parts exceedingly severe. Amongst the diseases which afflict this state is one called the milk sickness, with which cows are seized, particularly in autumn, when the first severe frost begins. It is supposed to be occasioned by the eating of a luxuriant poisonous vine, to which the animals are compelled at this season of the year to have recourse for sustenance. Milk taken in any quantity seems to produce the same disease in other animals, and even in men, and it very often proves fatal.

We shall now describe a few of the principal towns of this state. Vandalia, the political metropolis, is pleasantly situated on a high bank of the Kaskaskia river, in the centre of a rich and thriving country. Although only founded a few years since, it contains many handsome brick buildings; and respectable houses for the accommodation of the government and the courts have also been erected. Edwardsville, on Cahokia Creek, twenty miles north-east from St Louis, is a county town of some consequence, and was, until within a few years, the seat of government. Belleville is in the centre of Turkey Hill settlement, eighteen miles south-east of St Louis, and a few miles east of the American bottom. It is a flourishing village, in the midst of a compact settlement, and most excellent lands. Alton is a new village, a little above the mouth of the Missouri. Its position is favourable, the situation is healthy, and it promises to become a considerable town. Carlisle is situated on the western bank of the Kaskaskia, on the great road from Cincinnati to St Louis. Boats of burthen can ascend the river to this place when the water is favourable. Cahokia is situated in the American, bottom, on a creek of the same name, a few miles below St Louis. It is one of the most ancient villages in the county, is of considerable extent, and chiefly inhabited by French. There is another French village of about the same size, called Prairie du Rocher. It is situated near a most beautiful limestone bluff, twelve miles above Kaskaskia. Kaskaskia is situated on an extensive plain, not far from the commencement of the American bottom, eleven miles from the mouth of the river on which it stands, and six miles from the nearest point of the Mississippi. This town was one of the first establishments made by the. French in the valley of the Mississippi, and is a place of higher antiquity than Philadelphia. It was once of greater importance than it is at present, the inhabitants, which were formerly 7000 in number, being now reduced to 1000. It is beautifully situated in the centre of a gently sloping basin, on a fine navigable stream, and in the midst of a country proverbial for its fertility. It is the seat of [7:12:249]justice for the county to which it belongs, and has a bank, a printing-office, a Catholic church, and a land-office. At about three hundred miles west from Vandalia stands Galena, which owes its origin to the rich lead mines in the vicinity. It contains forty-two stores and warehouses, between 200 and 300 dwelling-houses, and 1000 inhabitants. There is here a weekly journal, and the usual concomitants of a county seat. About 10,000,000 pounds of lead are annually exported from this place. The population in the vicinity is estimated at 10,000. Shawnectown is situated on the Ohio, nine miles below the mouth of the Wabash. The great United States Saline, situated twelve miles from this town, contributes to give it consequence. It is the seat of justice for its county, and has a bank with a large capital, and a land-office. Besides these, there are a number of towns or villages, which, however, do not require particular notice.

The territory of Illinois was formed into a state and admitted into the Union in 1818. By the constitution no more slaves can be admitted into the state. The legislative power is vested in a general assembly, consisting of a senate and a house of representatives. The senators are chosen for periods of four years, and the representatives biennially. The executive power is vested in a governor, who is chosen for four years, and is ineligible for the succeeding four years. There is a supreme court established by the constitution, and there are inferior courts established by the general assembly. The judges who are appointed by the assembly hold their places during good behaviour, but can be removed by the governor on an address of two thirds of each branch of the general assembly. Schools are supported by a grant of land amounting to a thirty-sixth part of each township; and three per cent, of the net proceeds of the United States’ lands sold within the state is appropriated for the encouragement of learning, of which a sixth part is required to be bestowed on a college or university. A further provision has been made for a university, by the grant of two townships of land by the United States. Illinois college, situated at Jacksonville, was founded in 1829, and has a fund of 13,000 dollars.

Though this state is in general favourable for the construction of roads, yet the low and clayey prairies are exceptions. Rivers furnish the most convenient means of transport, and various canals, which will make up for any deficiency, are in contemplation. It is also proposed to extend the national road from Indianapolis to Vandalia, and thence to St Louis. The history of this state forms part of that of Louisiana, under which head it will be given. With regard to the native Indians, they have by different treaties ceded the greater part of their territorial claims to lands; and those who still roam at large are rarely seen, excepting on the skirts of the state, in the character of hunters, or of vagrants. This state is divided into forty-eight counties, and the census of 1830 gives the population as follows: Whites, 155,176; slaves, 746; making the total 157,575. The number of inhabitants has been tripled in ten years. (r. r. r.)