The ridges of the Appalachian chain in New Jersey may be grouped in two main ranges—the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains and the Highland range. The first of these is an almost unbroken ridge from the New York State line to the Delaware Water Gap, and is the highest ground in the State, being at the Water Gap 1479 feet above the sea, and at High Point, near the New York line, 1800 feet high. Its level crest is clothed with forests, but the slopes are to a great extent cultivated. The Highland range, on the other hand, consists of a number of detached ridges, the highest of which is 1488 feet above the sea. These vary greatly in their surfaces; many admit of cultivation to the summit, while others are so covered with loose stones or bare rock that cultivation is impossible. The mineral wealth of the range is considerable.

The Red Sandstone central region is traversed by a number of irregularly distributed trap dykes, which are rough and wooded, and rise in the midst of a rich and productive district. These vary much in elevation, the highest being 868 feet. In southern New Jersey there are no rocky eminences or elevations worthy of the name of mountains. Its rounded hills are all earthy, and the results of denudation or erosion; the most elevated—the Navesink highlands— are about 400 feet high.

The southern half of the State is a great plain, sloping gently from its centre towards the Atlantic and the

Delaware, and has been eroded in the Drift period. It contains tracts of gravelly loam largely used for market gardens and vineyards. Extensive tidal marshes border the Atlantic and Delaware Bay, to the extent of nearly 300,000 acres. The Delaware river and bay receive all streams flowing from the western half of the State; the Passaic and Raritan are the most considerable rivers entirely within New Jersey.. In the north-western part are many beautiful lakes abounding with fish; the largest is Lake Hopatcong, 5⅜ miles long by 4∣ to 1∣ miles wide.

Geology and Minerals.— Nearly all the geological periods, except the Coal-measures, are represented in the State. It may be stated in a general way that all the stratified formations cross the State from north-east to south-west; that the Highland range, to which they run parallel, is made up of the oldest rocks in the State; that almost all of the Palaeozoic rocks, which are next in order, lie on the north-west side of these mountains; that the Triassic rocks lie next to the mountains on the south-east; and that the Tertiary and recent formations are then found in succession towards the south-east. The Azoic rocks occur mainly in the Highland range, and here consist chiefly of syenitic gneiss and white crystalline limestone, the former greatly predominating. This limestone is found chiefly on the north-west border of the gneiss, interstratified with and conformable to it. Magnetic iron ore abounds here, and occurs in beds or veins interposed between the strata of the gneiss. New mines are constantly being discovered, and the supply seems inexhaustible. Graphite is also found and worked. Valuable deposits of zinc ore occur in the crystalline limestone, and large quantities of excellent lime are made from this rock. The Potsdam limestone is found in comparatively small quantities, always near the borders of the gneiss and limestone. Magnesian limestone, found between the Highland range and Kittatinny Mountains, is extensively used for making lime, and contains haematite iron ore. Hudson River slate (used for roofing and flagging) exists most largely on the south-east slope of the Kittatinny Mountains. Water lime and Lower Helderberg limestone, which produce the Rosendale cements, are found in quantity along the north-west foot of the Kittatinny. Red sandstones and shales underlie the region immediately south-east of the Highland range, extending from the Hudson to the Delaware. They are in regular layers, dipping gently to the northwest, and form an excellent building material. Copper occurs in this formation, and was worked at an early period. To the south-east of the Sandstone formation follow plastic and fire clays, due to the decomposition of a ridge of granite which once formed the eastern edge of the Red Sandstone valley; these furnish clays of the purest and most refractory kind, suitable for fire-brick; very pure quartz sand is also found here, to mix with the clay, and kaolin, although not yet of the best quality. The greensand, marl, and sand beds occupy a belt some 90 miles long extending from Sandy Hook to the Delaware near Salem. This formation consists of three distinct beds of greensand, each from 12 to 25 feet thick, separated by beds of sand. The marl is clearly of marine origin, containing sea shells, bits of coral, sharks’ teeth, saurian bones, <fcc., and makes a good manure. Glassmakers’ sand is worked in the southern part of the State. Along the shore is an elevation of only 5 to 10 feet above the sealevel, having good alluvial soil, which must within a comparatively recent period have been beneath the sea. Since the first settlement of the country, however, the shore has washed away, and there is good reason to believe that a very gradual subsidence is now taking place. The entire sea-coast is rapidly becoming a continuous line of summer resorts, among which may be enumerated Long Branch, Sea Bright, Spring Lake, and Asbury Park in the northern portion, Atlantic City in the centre, and Cape May in the south. Some of these places, as Atlantic City, are frequented even during the winter months.

Commerce and Industry.— Although only the thirty-fifth among the thirty-eight States in area, it is the nineteenth in population, the eighth in the value of property, and twenty-fifth in value of agricultural products, the sixth in manufacturing and mechanical industries, while in some industries, as silk, pottery, and glass, it far exceeds any other State. The output of the non-precious minerals places it seventh in the list of States, it being the fourth among the iron-producing States, and first as to zinc ore. It has 1869 miles of railways, or 1 mile to every 4’25 square miles of area, exceeded in this by only one State. The average value of farming lands is considerably above that of any other State. In 1880 the total number of farms was 34,307, averaging 85 acres, or a total of 2,929,773 acres of farm lands, of which 24 ’ 4 per cent, were unimproved. The value of farm lands was §190,895,833; farming implements and machinery, §6,921,085; live stock, §14,861,412; all farm products, §29,650,756. Among the principal products were—Indian corn, 11,150,705 bushels; oats, 3,710,573; rye, 949,064; wheat, 1,901,739; hay, 518,990 tons; Irish potatoes, 3,563,793 bushels; sweet potatoes, 2,086,731 bushels; 86,940 horses; 9267 mulesand asses; 152,078 milch cows; 71,808 other cattle; 117,020 sheep; 219,069 swine; 9,513,835 butter; 15,472,783 gallons milk.

Omitting fishery products, gas, petroleum, refining, mining, and quarrying, the following table gives the general condition of the manufacturing interests of the State in the year’s mentioned :— [table]

Among the most important interests for 1880 are those given in the following table :— [table]

Population.— The population of the State was 211,149 in 1800, 277,426 in 1820, 373,306 in 1840, 672,035 in 1860, 906,096 in

1870, and 1,131,116 in 1880. The census of 1880 showed 559,922 males and 571,194 females, 1,092,017 white, 38,853 coloured, 172 Chinese, and 74 Indians. The inhabitants of foreign birth numbered 221,700. To every square mile of area there were 151’73 inhabitants, the State being the third in the Union in respect of density of population.

The largest cities, with population in 1880, are—Newark, 136,508; Jersey City, 120,722; Paterson, 51,031; Camden, 41,659; Hoboken, 30,999; Trenton (the State capital), 29,910; Elizabeth, 28,229; New Brunswick, 17,166; Orange, 13,207.

Government.— The executive power is vested in a governor elected by the people for a term of three years; no one can serve in this capacity two successive terms. The legislative power is in the legislature, composed of a senate and general assembly meeting on the second Tuesday of January each year at Trenton, the capital of the State. A senator is elected for three years by each of the twenty-one counties, one-third of the whole number being elected each year. The assembly consists of not more than sixty members, elected for one year, and apportioned among the counties as nearly as may be according to the number of their inhabitants, with the condition, however, that each county shall at all times be entitled to one member. The principal officers of the State are a secretary of state, attorney-general, adjutant-general, and quartermaster-general, all appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate, and a treasurer and comptroller appointed by the legislature in joint meeting. All judges and prosecutors of the pleas are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate; the election system for the judiciary has not yet reached New Jersey.

The judicial power is vested in (1) a court of errors and appeals in the last resort, consisting of the chancellor, the justices of the supreme court, and six judges of the court of errors; (2) a court for the trial of impeachments, consisting of the senate; (3) a court of chancery, consisting of the chancellor and two vice-chancellors; (4) a supreme court, consisting of the chief justice and eight associate justices; (5) circuit courts, held in every county by the justices of the supreme court; (6) an inferior court of the common pleas organized in each county, and consisting of three judges. In some of the sparsely settled counties the inferior courts are presided over by justices of the supreme court; in the other counties one of the three judges is a law judge and presides. The court of pardon consists of the governor, the chancellor, and the six lay judges of the court of errors; a majority of this court, of whom the governor must be one, can remit fines and forfeitures, and grant pardons, after conviction in all cases except impeachments.

State Institutions.— There are two lunatic asylums,—one near Trenton containing more than 600 patients, the other near Morristown capable of accommodating 800; the latter is probably unsurpassed by any similar institution; there are also seven county asylums containing 746 patients. An institution for the deaf and dumb, to contain 125 pupils, has been recently established at Trenton; the blind and feeble-minded are placed in suitable establishments in neighbouring States. The home for disabled soldiers, at Newark, accommodates nearly 400 men. The State prison at Trenton contains some 800 convicts, a large part of whom are employed in contract labour to an extent which pays about 54 per cent, of the cost of the institution. A reformatory school for boys, near Jamesburg, contains about 325 juvenile delinquents. An industrial school for girls, near Trenton, has 30 inmates. The board of health is steadily gaining in importance, and has accomplished much good in spreading useful information, collecting important vital and health statistics, and investigating matters affecting the public health. The labour bureau has done good service in collecting statistics affecting the questions of labour and capital, in bringing about a better understanding between the two, and in indicating new and profitable avenues for industry. The geological survey, of which the geodetic and topographical surveys have necessarily formed part, now approaching its close, is one of the most useful of the State institutions.

Education.— The Agricultural College, attached to Rutgers College at New Brunswick, is supported by the proceeds of certain public lands given by the United States to the State for that purpose. In connexion with this are the college farm and the agricultural experiment stations, which are doing admirable work in systematic and carefully conducted experiments (under the chief of the geological survey) with various fertilizers, and in testing various soils, crops, and methods of agriculture. The public schools are mainly supported by a State tax of §4 for each child between five and eighteen years of age, amounting in 1882 to§l,322,740, supplemented by an annual appropriation of §100,000 from the school fund, which latter now amounts to more than §3,375,000, and is rapidly increasing. Small additional special taxes are also levied in some of the school districts. A normal school has been in successful operation at Trenton for several years, and has nearly 250 pupils. The college of New Jersey at Princeton, and its sister theological seminary, although not State institutions, occupy places in the very front rank of American schools of learning.

Finance.— The only State debt is that known as the war debt, amounting at present to less than $1,700,000, and paid off at the rate of $100,000 per annum. The sinking fund for the redemption of this debt is valued at something more than $1,100,000. Independently of the general State school tax the receipts and expenditures for 1882 were $1,104,303’75, distributed as follows:—interest on debt, $90,000; charitable and reformatory, $269,793’19; courts, crimes, &c., $274,025’82; State government, $158,171’04; scientific, sanitary, &c., $47,880’49; military, $70,692’22; educational, $33,983’61; publication, $105,225’47; miscellaneous, $54,531’91. It will thus be seen that the State expended for educational purposes $1,356,723’61, as against $1,070,320’14 for other purposes.

History.— The first settlement within the present State was made in 1617 by the Dutch at Bergen opposite New York. Subsequently Cornelius May, who discovered the Delaware in 1623, built a fort on its banks opposite Philadelphia. During the early colonial period the region was the scene of many petty struggles arising out of the rival efforts of the Dutch, Swedes, and English to establish trading posts and settlements on the river. The Indians among whom these early settlers were thrown were generally divided into small tribes; but in the valley of the upper Delaware were the principal and most populous seats of the Leni Lenape—known by the English as the Delawares, a name still retained by the remnants of this most interesting and once powerful tribe in their new homes west of the Mississippi. On the whole the early intercourse between the whites and Indians was peaceful, but there were occasional collisions, some of a serious nature, too often brought about by the rapacity and bad faith of the whites. As a rule the title to the Indian lands was purchased, and after the province fell into the hands of the English the general policy pursued was one of humanity and good faith. At the time of the English accession it is estimated that the Indians in New Jersey numbered about 2000.

When Charles II. wrested their North American possessions from the Dutch—in fact before this was accomplished—he granted them in bulk to his brother the duke of York, who in turn granted what is now New Jersey to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, the conveyance (June 23, 1664) providing that “the said tract of land is to be called Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey.” The royal grant was of the proprietary character, that is, it not only conveyed the absolute estate and title to the land, but also the power to govern and rule, and therefore to establish such laws as “might be thought necessary, provided they were not contrary to but, as near as conveniently might be, agreeable to the laws, statutes, and government of the realm of England.” As all these rights and powers were assignable, the duke transferred to Berkeley and Carteret, not only the lands, but also the power to govern; and they in turn possessed, and finally exercised, the power to assign to others both land and power to govern. A form of government was accordingly established in a “concession and agreement” issued by them. The governor was appointed by the proprietors, and he appointed a council of from six to twelve members; the governor and council united formed the executive. The freeholders of the province elected not less than twelve representatives, who, with the governor and council, composed the general assembly, in whom rested the legislative power, limited only by the terms of the “concession,” especially the article securing entire liberty of conscience. The general assembly established the courts of justice, and took all measures necessary to preserve order and provide for the general defence; they regulated commerce, and determined the time and duration of their own sessions; they possessed the entire power of taxation, and it was required that the executive should neither impose nor suffer to be imposed any tax other than those imposed by the general assembly. The right of petition to the lords proprietors was secured to the freeholders. The first governor was Philip Carteret, a brother of Sir George, who arrived with a number of “adventurers” in August 1665, and established himself at Elizabethtown. Upon the capture of New Amsterdam by the English, their commander, Colonel Nichols, assumed the administration of the entire territory in the name of the duke of York. Ignorant of the grant to Berkeley and Carteret, Nichols at once offered inducements to settlers from New England and Long Island to move into New Jersey, advising them to purchase the Indian titles, and promising immunity from ground rents. In consequence of this promise, which occurred before Carteret’s arrival, serious difficulties afterwards arose.

The first general assembly met at Elizabeth, May 26, 1668; another session was held during the same year, but none other for seven years thereafter. In 1672 New Amsterdam and New Jersey were reconquered by the Dutch, but early in 1673 they reverted to England. Doubts arising as to the effect of the reconquest upon the validity of the original grant, the duke of York obtained a new grant from the king, and renewed his own to Berkeley and Carteret. Prior to this renewal the two proprietors had agreed to a division of their interests, and in the new grant the portion assigned to Carteret was the region east of a line drawn from

Barnegat Creek to the Rancoeus; to Berkeley was assigned the territory west of that line. In 1676, however, the line of separation was changed by the owners, so that it extended from Little Egg Harbour to a point on the Delaware in 40° N. lat.; this remained thereafter the boundary between East and West Jersey.

Immediately after the reconquest Philip Carteret returned to East Jersey as its governor, and on his arrival in 1674 presented a new charter, less liberal in many respects than the original. Berkeley meanwhile sold West Jersey to a firm of Quakers, who at once proceeded to colonize it, establishing their first settlement at Salem in 1675, and another shortly after at Burlington. For some years great annoyance was experienced both in East and West Jersey from the unjust interference of the governor of New York, and of the duke himself, with their internal affairs; these attempts were always met by a firm and spirited resistance, which eventually triumphed. In 1682, soon after Sir* George Carteret’s death, a society of Quakers under the lead of William Penn, encouraged by their success in West Jersey, purchased from his heirs their righ⅛ to East Jersey. It will give some idea of the progress already made to state that at this early period (1682) a smelting furnace and forge were in operation in New Jersey, making good iron, and that contemporary documents show that at the same date there were exported “great plenty of horses, beef, pork, pipe-staves, boards, bread, flour, wheat, barley, rye, Indian corn, butter, and cheese to Barbados, Jamaica, and other adjacent islands, as also to Portugal, Spain, the Canaries, &c.; whale oil, whale fins, beaver, mink, raccoon, and martin furs to England.”

Towards the close of the 17th century the number...