MARYLAND.

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

Maryland, situated between the parallels of 37° 53' and
39° 44' north latitude, and the meridians of 75° 04' and
79° 83+'west longitude (the exact western boundary being
yet undetermined, ) is one of the upper tier of Southern
States. Its boundaries are: Mason and Dixon's line on
the north; the State of Delaware and the Atlantic ocean
on the east; on the south, a line drawn westward from the
ocean to the western bank of the Potomac river, thence
following the western bank of that river to its source; and
on the west, a line drawn due north from this source to
Mason and Dixon's line. Its gross area is 12, 210 square
miles, of which 9, 860 square miles. are land surface; the
included portion of the Chesapeake bay, 1, 203 square
miles; Assateague bay on the Atlantic coast, 93 square
miles; with 1, 054 square miles of smaller estuaries and
rivers.

The Chesapeake bay ascends to within a few miles of its
northern boundary, dividing the State into the Eastern and
Western Shores.

The rivers, excluding mere estuaries of the bay, are the
Potomac, Patuxent, Patapsco, Gunpowder, Susquehanna,
Elk, Sassafras, Chester, Choptank, Nanticoke, Wicomico
and Pocomoke, all emptying into the Chesapeake bay.
Besides these, the coast-line of the bay is deeply indented
with a multitude of creeks, coves, and other estuaries,
penetrating the land in all directions, usually bearing the
names of rivers, and often navigable to some distance by
vessels of light draft. Perhaps nowhere else in the world
is there a coast-line proportionately so extensive, or any
country offering such facilities for water transportation as
tide-water Maryland. Along the ocean frontier runs a nar-
row reef of sand, inclosing and sheltering Synepuxent and
Assateague bays, and giving inland navigation along the
whole Atlantic coast of the State.

Maryland is divided into twenty-three counties, of which
Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick, Carroll, Balti-