BOSTON, capital of Massachusetts, United States, is situated in bit 42° 21' n., and long. 71° 4' w. It stands at the w. end of Massachusetts bay, on an inlet, which, whether for defense or trade, forms one of the best havens in the world. This inlet. known as Boston harbor, the primary source of the city's growth and prosperity, has a seaward barrier of two headlands, the interval of 4 m, being so subdivided by an insular breastwork as to leave only three practicable entrances, the main one barely wide enough for two vessels to pass one another; while the inclosed space of about 75 sq.m. —at least half of it affording depth for the largest ships—greatly augments, with its islands and its peninsulas, both its military and commercial capabilities. On an oblong peninsula, of about 700 acres, running to the n.e., B. was founded in 1630, its original owner, John Blackstone, selling out Isis right and title, five years thereafter, for With so well chosen a site, and, doubtless, also through the industry and enterprise of its Puritan occupiers, the new town increased so steadily in wealth and population, that in less than a century and a,half it became the foremost champion of colonial independ ence. Since then it has overleaped its natural limits, swarming off, as it were. into an island towards the me., and into the mainland on the s.e., and consists of Old, East, and South Boston; Roxbury, annexed in 1868; Dorchester, annexed in 1870; and Charles town, Brighton, and West Roxbury, annexed in 1873; which are connected together by bridges. An immense dam, called the Western avenue, connects the whole with the inner side of the harbor, All the divisions of the city are of an uneven surface. Un dulation, in fact, is a characteristic of the entire neighborhood—continent, islands, and peninsulas, alike. From this irregularity, so different from the straight and formal lines of street in American cities, and also from built of a very neat kind of brick, B. has much the appearance of a substantial English provincial town; the resem blance being, perhaps, heightened by the dress, manners, and feelings of the inhabit ants, who are essentially of the old British type, as befits the descendants of the "Pil gritn Fathers." On a peninsula to the n. of East B., rises Bunker's hill, so famous in the war of independence; while the Dorchester heights, only less famous, occupy center of South B.; and, lastly, the peninsula of Old 13. seems to have originally taken the name of Tremont, from its three mounts or hillocks. Between 1840 and 1850 the population had swelled from 93,383 to 136,881; (1860) 200.000i (1870) 250,526; (1875) 341,919. Among _lite buildings, the principal hr4 thnistatc house, city hall Faneuil hall, Faneuil hall market, Massachusetts hospital, post-office, customhouse, county jail, houses of industry tied correction, two theatres, an athenaeum, an odeon, a library, a music-hall—said to be one of the fittest concert rooms iu the world—and 200 churches. Among other objects worthy of note ate the Common, a beautiful park of 50 acres, on the peninsula; the wharves and quays; and the bridges, sixteen in number, which unite together the different portions of Boston. The water-works demand more
special mention. To say nothing of an earlier enterprise of the kind on a smaller scale, the waters of lake Cochituate, distant 20 m., have since 1848 been conveyed by a brick conduit into the grand reservoir of Brookline, at the further end of the Western avenue, and thence been carried into the subordinate reservoirs respectively of the different sections of the city. The annexation of Charlestown brought with it the waters of Mystic lake. as the center—social, political, and commercial—of the best educated anti most intelligent state in the union, is pre-eminent throughout the republic in literature and science. Its trade, likewise, is marvelous: it is, in fact, more marvel ous, hi proportion to physical facilities, than even that of New York, for while the lat ter city, with the lakes on the oue side and the ocean ou the other, and with the Hudson as a link between them, drains red ons of vast extent and singular fertility, 13., to say nothing of rugged soil and ungental climate, is cut off from the interior, such as it is, by the entire want of inland waters. But what New York has so largely inherited from nature, B. has in some measure created for itself. By eight great systems of railway it reaches, besides the coasts to the n. and s., the St. Lawrence and lakes, the I halsoa and the Mississippi; while, as the transatlantic terminus of the Cuuard line, it virtually connects those channels of communication with Great Britain and its network of iron roads. In several departments of maritinte traffic, such as the coasting intercourse and the trade with Russia, India, and China, B. is understood to possess far more than its share; and as the port of the manufacturing districts of the union, it may be said to monopolize the carrying alike of raw material aud of finished goods. The chief exports are beef, pork, lard, tish, ice, woolens, cottons, paper, boots and shoes, cordage, hard ware, and furniture; while the imports, wafted from all corners of the world, com prise every article that has a name in commerce. The total number of vessels that entered the port hi the year ending June 30, 1874, was 2717, of 730,769 tons, and the total number that cleared was of 659,102 tons. The total value of the im ports in the same year was 02,212,405; and of the exports, $28,335,627. In 1877, the municipal debt was *26,159,777; the valuation of the city for taxation purposes was 030,427,200. The banks of the city possess an aggregate capital of $48,600,000; and there are issued 150 periodicals, nine of which are dailies. The charitable institutions, schools, and public libraries of B. are in harmony with the city's importance in other respects. The B. public library, with about 200,000 volumes, is the largest in the 'United States, after that of congress. In 1822, 11, previously ruled like an ordinary township by selectmen, adopted a municipal orgauization, with a mayor, aldermen, aud coun cilors.