LatAm Digital Edition and Gazetteer

river Hudson. It is small, but has a great trade from the contiguity of the Iroquese Indians. It contains 350 houses, buiH afterthe Dutch fashion ; and that of the magistracy, which consists of a mayor, six aldermen, and a recorder, is very beautiful. The city is defended by a regular fort with four bastions, the rest of the fortification consisting of palisades. Here the treaties and alliances have been made with the Indians. It was taken by Robert Car in 1664, and added to this province by Colonel Dongan. [It is 160 miles «. of the city of New York, to which it is next in rank, and 340 s. of Quebec. This city and suburbs, by enumeration in 1797, contained 1263 buildings, of which 863 were dwelling houses, and 6021 inhabitants. Many of them are in the Gothic style, with the gable end to the street, which custom the first se^ttlers brought from Holland; the new houses arc built in the modern style. Its inhabitants are collected from various parts of tlie world, and speak a great variety of languageJ^, but the English predominates ; and the use of efery other is gradually lessening. Albany is urfrivalled for situation, being nearly at the head of sloop navigation, on one of the noblest rivers in the world. It enjoys a salubrious air, and is the natural emporium of the increasing trade of a large extent of country ay. and w. — a country of an excellent soil, abounding in every article for the W. India market; plentifully watered with navigable lakes, creeks, Snd rivers ; settling with unexampled rapidity ; and capable of aftbrdingsubsistenceto millions of inhabitants. The public buildings are, a low Dutch church, of ancient and very curious construction, one for Episcopalians, two for Presbyterians, one for Germans'or Higli Dutch, and one for Methodists ; an hospital, city hall, and a handsome brick jail. In the year 1609, Henry II udson, whose name the river bears, ascended it in his boat to Aurnnla, the spot on which Albany now stands. The improvements in this city have, of late years, been very great in almost all respects. Wharfs have been built on the river, the streets have been paved, a bank instituted, a new and handsome style of building introduced. One mile n. of this city, in its suburbs, near the manor-house of lieutenant-governor Van Renssalaer, are very ingeniously constructed extensive and useful works, for the manufacture of Scotch and rappee snuff, roll and cut tobacco of dilferent kinds, chocolate, mustard, starch, hair-powder, splitpease, and hulled barley. These valuable works are the property of Mr. James Caldwell, who unfortunately lost a complete set of similar works by fire, in Jidy 1791, with the stock, valued at

37,500 dollars. It is a circumstance worthy of remark, and is evincive of the industry and enterprise of the proprietor, that the whole of the pre« sent buildings and machinery were begun and completed in the short space of eleven mouths. These works are decidedly superior to any of the kind in America. All the articles above enumerated, even to the spinning of tobacco, are manufactured by the aid of water machinery. For the invention of this machinery, the proprietor has obtained a patent. These Avorks give employment and subsistence to 40 poor boys, and a number of workmen.] Long. 73° 42' w. Lat. 42° 40' n.

Albania, or Albany, a large river of New France, which takes its rise from the lake Christinaux, runs n. e. and enters the sea at Hudson’s bay.

Albania, or Albany, a fortress in New South Wales, N. America. [Lat. 32° 17' n. Long. 81° 51' a;.]

ALBARICOQUES, Point of the, a cape on the n. coast, in the head settlement of the island of Santo Domingo, and in the French territories. It lies between the Trou d’Enfers and Cape Bombon.

ALBARRACIN, Desert of, a very lofty mountain, always covered with snow, in tlie new kingdom of Granada.

ALBARRADA, a settlement of Indians of the kingdom of Chile, situate on the shore of the river Cauchupil.

Albarrada, another settlement, with the dedicatory title of San Miguel, in the head settlement of the district of Mitla, and alcaldia mayor of Tentitlan, in Nueva España. It contains 22 Indian families, and is seven leagues n. of its head settlement.

ALBARREGAS, a large and abundant river of the new kingdom of Granada, which descends from the mountains of Bogota, irrigates the country and the city of Merida, running n. of this city until it enters the lake Maracaibo.

ALBEMARLE, a county of the province and colony of N. Carolina, and that part of it which is most agreeable, fertile, and salutary. It produces various sorts of fruits and pulse, and the winter is very temperate. This colony was established in 1670 by the lords and proprietors of it, who equipped, at their own expence, three ships, and a coiisiderable number of persons, with provisions for 18 months, and an abundance of merchandize, tools, and arms fit for the new establishment ; to which they sent resources yearly, in the proportion . required, until it appeared tube in a fit

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state to maintain itself. Thus the colonists lived for some years, and in time the productions in which their commerce consisted, increased to such a degree as to have caused them to excel all the other English colonies,

ALUEMAur.E, another county or part of Vir ginia, washed by the river Fluvana on the s. which divides itself into several branches, and adds much to the fertility of the country. It is bounded e. by the county of Goochland, w. divided by a chain of mountains of Augusta, and by that of Louisa on the «. [It contains 12,585 inha bitants, including 5579 slaves. Its extent, about S5 miles square.]

Albemarle, a strait, which is the mouth or entrance into the sea of the river Roanoke.

ALBERTO, a small settlement or ward of the head settlement of the district of Tlazintla, and alcafdia mayor of Ixmiqailpan, in Nueva Espana.

[ALBION, New, the name given by Sir Francis Drake to California, and part of the n. w. coast of America, when he took possession of it. A large uncertain tract of the n. w, coast is thus called. Its limits, according to Mr. Arrow smith’s chart, are between 27° 12' and 41° 15' 71. lat. Humboldt asserts, that, agreeably to sure historical data, the denomination of New Albion ought to be limited to that part of the coast which extends from the 43° to the 48°, or from Cape White of Martin de x\guilar, to the entrance of Juan de Fuea. Besides, he adds, from the mis sions of the Catholic priests to those of the Greek priests, that is to say, from the Spanish village of San Francisco, in New California, to the Russian establishments on Cook river at Prince William’s bay', and to the islands of Kodiac and Unalaska, there are more than a thousand leagues of coast inhabited by' free men, and stocked with otters and Phocre! Consequently, the discussions on the extent of the New Albion of Drake, and the pre tended rights acquired by certain European na tions, from planting small crosses, and leaving inscriptions fastened to trunks of trees, or the burying of bottles, may be considered as futile. The part of the coast on which Capt. Cook landed on the 7th of March 1778, and which some desig nate as Nezo Albion, is in n. lat. 44° 33'. e. long. 235° 10', which he thus describes : “ The land is lull of mountains, the tops of w hich are covered with snow, while the vallies between them, and the grounds on the sea-coast, high as well as low, are covered with trees, which form a beautiful prospect, as of one vast forest. At first the natives seemed to prefer iron to every other article of

commerce; at last they preferred brass. They were more tenacious of their property than any of the savage nations that had hitherto been met with ; so that they would not part with wood, water, grass, nor the most trifling article without a compensation, and were sometimes very unrea sonable in their demands.” See Calii^ornia, New.]

ALBOR, a small island of the N. or Atlantic sea, one of the Bahamas, between those of Neque and 8. Salvador.

ALBUQUERQUE, Santa Rosa de, a settle ment and real of the silver mines of the alcaldia mayor of Colotlan in Nueva Espana. It is 19 leagues s. w. of the head settlement of the district of Tlaltcnango.

Albuquehque, a townof New Mexico, situate on the shore of the Rio Grande (large river) of the N. [opposite the village of Atrisco, to the w. of tlie Sierra Obseqra. Population 0000 souls.]

Albuquerque, a small island, or low rocks, of the N. sea, near that of 8. Andres.

ALCA, a settlement of the province and corre gimienlo of Condensuyos of Arequipa in Peru.

ALCALA, a settlement of the province and alcaldia mayor of Chiapa, and kingdom of Gua temala, in the division and district of that city.

ALCAMANI, a branch of the head settlement of the district and alcaldia mayor of Igualapa in Neuva Espana, and two leagues to the n. of the same.

ALCANTARA, S. Antonio de, a town of the province and captainship of Maranam' in the kingdom of Brazil. It luis been frequently invaded by the infidel Indians, who destroyed its work shops, so that its inhabitants have been much reduced.

Alcantara, S. Antonio de, another settle ment in the province and district of Chanco, in the kingdom of Chile, near the shore of the rivec Mataquino.

ALCARAI, a small river of the province and government of Buenos Ayres. It runs e. and enters the river La Plata between those of Lay man and Gomez.

ALCATRACES, Ishmd of the, one of those which lie n. of St. Domingo, between the s. point of the Caico Grande, and the Panuelo Quadrado, (square handkerchief).

ALCIIICHlCd, 8 . Martin de, a ward of the head settlement erf the district and alcaldia mayor of Izucar in Nueva Espana, belonging to that of Santa Maria de la Asuncion.

ALCHIDOMAS, a settlement of the province of the Apaches in Nuevo Mexico, situate on the