Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/345

Rh through a variety of regions distinguished by dissimilar climates and natural productions. Minnesota is its north, with the pine-forests of the north, and northern winters, with bears and elks, with the wild roses and the berries of the north, with primeval forests and Indians. Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennesee in the east, Iowa and Missouri, and a part of Arkansas in the west, are situated within the temperate zone. Agriculture and civilisation are extending there. These States, like their neighbouring States in the east, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, constitute the great corn-magazine of America, and the central portion of the Mississippi Valley. Beyond these, to the east, extend the Alleghany Mountains, and the Eastern or Atlantic States. Beyond the Mississippi States, to the west, extends the Indian Wilderness, Nebraska, and the Rocky Mountains. With Tennesee on the east, and Arkansas on the west, we enter the region of cotton; with Louisiana, the region of sugar, the south, and summer life.

Illinois and Iowa are still free States; to the south of these lie the Slave States. In Illinois and Iowa there are Swedish and Norwegian settlements; but farther south they have not yet advanced. The central Mississippi States are occupied more by Germans and Irish; and more southern still, by French and Spaniards. All these are governed by the laws and manners of the Anglo-Norman race. It is the same with the Jews, who are very numerous in America, especially in the west. But they also enjoy all civil rights like natives of the country, and are much less distinguished from the European population here than they are in Europe. So little, indeed, that I have scarcely ever thought, “that is a Jew,” it being hardly possible to distinguish a Jew in this country from a dark-complexioned American.

We are now within sight of Nauvoo, formerly the capital of the Mormon district, and the magnificent ruin