ALTHOUGH Maine was settled by Europeans several years before any other part of New England, it was not admitted into the Union as a state until 1820. Previously to that period it was a mere territory of Massachusetts, and long bore the title of the "district of Maine." In point of extent, however, and rapidity of growth, it ranks at the head of the eastern states; embracing, between its distant limits of Lower Canada on the north, New Brunswick on the east, the Atlantic on the south, and New Hampshire on the west, an area of 33,223 square miles.

A considerable part of the northwestern division of the state is mountainous, and there are rough tracts and peaks of considerable elevation in some other parts; but in the north the surface is generally even, although the height is considerable, dividing the waters of the St. Lawrence from those emptying into the ocean. The Allegany range, which first appears in Alabama, and traverses all the intermediate Atlantic states, with mountains or hills of different breadth and elevation, is considered as terminating in that cluster of wild and lofty heights which occupy the northwestern counties of Maine; beyond which no ridge is to be found, except that of the greatly rising land in the north just mentioned.

The highest land east of the Mississippi, excepting only Mount Washington, and a few of its neighboring peaks, in the heart of the New Hampshire White hills, is Katahdin mountain, on the Penobscot river, near the centre of this state. It is 5,335 feet high. The other most elevated points are Speckled, Whiteface, Bald, and Saddleback mountains, north of Androscoggin river, and not far from the western boundary of the state.

The rivers of Maine present some striking peculiarities. The surface of the state is divided into unequal parts by the courses of the Penobscot, Kennebec,