HISTORICAL SKETCH.

Maryland, situated between the parallels of 37° 53' and
39° 44' north latitude, and the meridians of 75° 04' and 79°
33 west longitude (the exact western boundary being yet
undetermined,) is one of the upper tiers 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 cost, 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 hay. 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 pro-
portionately so extensive, or any country offering such facili-
ties for water transportation as tide-water Maryland. Along
the ocean frontier runs a narrow 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-
more, Harford and Cecil form the north tier; Howard, Mont-
gomery, Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles
and St. Mary's lie on the west; and Kent, Queen Anne's,
Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset and Wor-
cester on the east side of the bay. Of these twenty-three,
seven do not lie on navigable waters.